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Quiet Man Cometh Quiet Man Cometh is offline
We're all mad here.
Default Good image editing and drawing software?   #1  
Hey hey. I'm going through a design course right now and I'm looking into image editing and graphics software in general, preferably free or dirt cheap as I'm poor right now. I've heard of programs like GIMP, Inkscape, Flare, Photoshop Elements, etc. but haven't used them. I've been messing with open office but find their drawing program awkward beyond the most basic things like resizing images and changing angles. I'm not usually making graphics as much as editing what I'm given but I like to be able to make my own stuff if needed.

I'll need to be digging up some layout software as well. I'm using MS Publisher right now and plan to look into InDesign.

Has anyone used such programs or have any recommendations to make for either type? If I could afford it I'd have both Photoshop and Illustrator but those are far away dreams right now. This is for school right now but I might need to be looking into some professional stuff in the future.
Old Posted 10-21-2012, 01:33 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #2   Merlin Merlin is offline
King Tonberry
I use GIMP quite a lot. I wish it had an actual line function, but I'm overall content with GIMP. I think I like it much better when I used a tablet though. It's a preference since I'm much more straight with my lines using a tablet rather than a mouse. Especially since I'm left handed and using a right handed mouse.
Old Posted 10-27-2012, 05:48 AM Reply With Quote  
Coda Coda is offline
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Default   #3  
Sevvy, GIMP *does* have a line function, and it can do it with almost any tool. You click once to set the start point, then hold Shift and click again (and you can hold the mouse button down to drag this point for interactive positioning) to draw a line from point A to point B.
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 10-28-2012, 05:52 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #4   Coda Coda is offline
Developer
Now for my own contribution to the discussion...

I find that GIMP is actually better than Photoshop for certain tasks. Photoshop is designed primarily for photo editing, with digital painting being a secondary design; pixel art is purely an afterthought in Photoshop's repertoire. GIMP meanwhile is used extensively by open-source developers to create icons and app graphics, so it's darn good at working at the pixel level even if it's not so good at photo manipulation.

GIMP is also relatively good at working with tablets; it's not as good at it as Photoshop because it doesn't have Wacom helping out directly, but it's good.
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 10-28-2012, 07:24 PM Reply With Quote  
Quiet Man Cometh Quiet Man Cometh is offline
We're all mad here.
Default   #5  
Photoshop elements was recommended to me as it apparently covers most of what one does with Photoshop anyway, and it's easier on your computer. Right now, image manipulation is more important to me than drawing and I don't have any tablets and have no plans to get one.

Other programs I'm looking at are In Design, which seems to be a reliable standard for tech writing which is what I'm learning right now.

Has anyone used Inkscape? One of my classmates swears by it. One of the important things is being able to add text to an image or diagram and have it look good.
Old Posted 10-29-2012, 01:43 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #6   Coda Coda is offline
Developer
Photoshop Elements is a piece of crap if you want to do anything more than just touch up actual photographs. If that's what you want, it's a good tool for the job and it's my father's software of choice. The moment you want to go beyond that, its limitations start getting in the way FAST -- it is NOT a scaled-down version of Photoshop and it doesn't offer most of the functions Photoshop offers. And if you don't need the power of Photoshop Elements, there are other tools that don't cost anything that can do simple things like cropping and level adjustments. (Actually, I think Windows's built-in image viewer can do that.)

InDesign is probably not what you want. It's a professional desktop publishing tool, for taking your printed materials to the next level in terms of layout and polish. You would use a tool like InDesign if you were hired to take the documentation written by the tech writer and turn it into a paperback manual or a CD case insert. Specifically: It's not a word processor and you'll get very annoyed by it if you try to use it as one. If you're looking for free software equivalents, Scribus fills that niche; it's pretty powerful and has good quality output but it's even harder to use than InDesign.

Inkscape rocks. It's like Illustrator, and it's one of the best open-source programs I've ever used -- and this is saying something because I was a heavy Linux user for a long time. That said, it's actually not the ideal tool for creating diagrams because it's intended for creating artwork. It can do the job and do it well, but other tools exist specifically designed for that job: Microsoft has a program called Visio, and there's an open-source imitator called Dia. Dia's not particularly user-friendly, though, so on a budget you might try both Dia and Inkscape and see which you're more comfortable with. (Inkscape will produce better results in the long run but you'll work harder to get those results. Visio's pretty good.)
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 10-29-2012, 02:26 AM Reply With Quote  
Quiet Man Cometh Quiet Man Cometh is offline
We're all mad here.
Default   #7  
gah. lost my post.

Making manuals and brochures and such from existing text is exactly what I'm doing right now. The hole I need to fill right now is image manipulation, but I will also need to look in to something for layouts for things like magazine articles, etc. I have limited experience with software outside of introductory knowledge of MS Office, Photoshop, and Illustrator. I don't expect to find one program to do everything. I'm more looking for a good mix to cover the bases.

Right now I'm largely using MS Word and MS Publisher. Publisher is okay but not perfect. I basically need to be able to manage word processing, image manipulation and creation, and design and layout.

I'll probably keep MS Word and in the Future will likely be working with Adobe Acrobat (those are the two choices for advanced program courses). I know from experience that Open Office doesn't do the job well if I need to work with anything else in the process.

I'll look at Inkscape and see how that is.
Old Posted 10-29-2012, 04:05 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #8   Coda Coda is offline
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Then I do suggest checking out Scribus. It's a bit clunky in terms of its UI but it is the best desktop publishing app money can't buy.

Note that Inkscape (and Illustrator) works with vector graphics. It won't help you edit photos.
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 10-29-2012, 10:21 AM Reply With Quote  
Quiet Man Cometh Quiet Man Cometh is offline
We're all mad here.
Default   #9  
I noticed when I installed it, but as far as graphics go, vector is better for print apparently than raster.

I'll look into Scribus, since I'd rather not keep dealing with Publisher. I'll use my current project as a test run for these things. Thanks. :).
Old Posted 10-30-2012, 12:25 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #10   Coda Coda is offline
Developer
Vector is better for print, yes. When you're dealing with mathematical lines and curves, it's always going to be perfect no matter how much you zoom in on it. Raster has a maximum zoom before you have to start inventing things to go between the pixels. But sometimes you HAVE to work with raster. In these cases you want to have the highest-resolution original possible. A 1-megapixel image at 600 DPI ("good" print resolution but not the best available) is less than four square inches. You can generally get away with a 2x zoom when printing a raster image, MAYBE 4x if you have a good scaling algorithm (150 DPI isn't terrible, especially if you have bicubic interpolation -- monitors usually have 75-100 DPI), but you lose quality.

And you're welcome. :) I'm always happy to help.
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 10-30-2012, 02:14 PM Reply With Quote  
Quiet Man Cometh Quiet Man Cometh is offline
We're all mad here.
Default   #11  
I think I'm following, just learning this stuff. :p

One question, but what is the ghostscript that Scribus is asking for? Is says I don't need it for most functions but I'm not sure what the functions are that I need it for and which one to get. There was quite a list.
Old Posted 10-30-2012, 08:03 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #12   Coda Coda is offline
Developer
Ghostscript is for Postscript handling. The only thing I'd be concerned about is that it might be necessary for PDF output.
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 10-30-2012, 09:14 PM Reply With Quote  
Quiet Man Cometh Quiet Man Cometh is offline
We're all mad here.
Default   #13  
Is that something I can add in after the fact? I know my instructor generally wants everything in PDF.
Old Posted 10-31-2012, 06:29 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #14   Coda Coda is offline
Developer
Should be. I don't think it's so poorly designed as to not re-check.
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 10-31-2012, 10:16 AM Reply With Quote  
Maro Maro is offline
On in to the future
Default   #15  
I usually use Photoshop CS3 or Paint, GIMP doesn't load on my computer anymore..

I've here good things about Paint Tool Sai though.
Old Posted 02-06-2013, 02:33 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #16   Coda Coda is offline
Developer
Have you tried running the installer for the latest version of GIMP? The older versions may not be compatible, but the current builds should be.
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 02-06-2013, 02:50 PM Reply With Quote  
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