Photoshop software can be expensive – especially considering that most of us don’t use it that often. Obviously the industry standard is Adobe Photoshop. This program has been a cornerstone in image editing and photography for years now. However, I’d like to share with the Crenk readers a great freeware Photoshop program that’s just as good – if not better because…well… it’s free!
At the minute, GIMP is in version 2.6 and is available to download here.
It has photo enhancement, a fully customizable interface, barrel distortion, digital retouching, great hardware support, numerous file formats and the ability to run on pretty much any OS.
Here are a couple of screenshots from GIMP:
So for all you artists, photographers and inquisitive geeks out there – GIMP.
GazoPa is an image search engine that allows you to scour the web for images not by entering a word – but by entering another image.
Its main function is to find similar images around the web to that of the one you entered. It’s like the service currently offered by Google Labs.
You can also draw a quick sketch of what you want your picture to look like and submit it so you get back photographs or artwork. You can then filter your results by colour, shape and size. The search engine will also bring back video content that is related to the images – it. If a picture is used as a thumbnail for a video on YouTube then GazoPa will retrieve the video as well.
A while ago I used to check out a new lads site SaltyMilk in which talked about the latest and greatest models on the planet. SaltyMilk used to post pictures from models profiles and photoshoots. About 3 months or so ago the site was sold and since then the owner has just been posting images straight from Magazines. Since this time I have completely gone off the site. I dont really see the point of just posting pictures from magazine photoshoots on a blog and hope for as much traffic as possible from Google. Whats your thoughts?
Adobe has some of the most expensive and best product solution in the world, but of course they come at a price. Below are the best 8 free solutions that challenge the Adobe Photoshop program.
GIMP stands for “GNU image manipulation program”, and it is one of the oldest and most well known alternatives to Photoshop in existence. Although it doesn’t quite have all of them, you’ll find most of the features included in Photoshop somewhere in GIMP. GIMP is cross platform and supported by a large community.
If just having the feature set isn’t enough for you, there is an alternative based on GIMP known as GIMPShop. It’s the same as GIMP, except the layout has been structured as close to Photoshop as possible, so anyone making the transition should still feel right at home.
Krita has been lauded for ease of use and won the Akademy Award for Best Application in 2006. Part of the Koffice suite for Linux, Krita is slightly less powerful than both Photoshop and GIMP, but does contain some unique features.
Paint.NET has grown out of a simple replacement for the well known MSPaint into a fully featured open source image editor with a wide support base. You’ll need Windows to run Paint.NET.
ChocoFlop is a design application designed exclusively for Mac, optimized for Mac architecture. It’s quick and fairly well featured. This program won’t always be free, but until a stable version is released (it’s currently in beta) they are allowing free use. The program works pretty well as is, and if you’re the type who doesn’t mind an occasional bug it’s certainly worth a look.
Cinepaint is designed primarily for video often used to make animated feature films by major studios, but it is also a great image editor capable of high fidelity 32 bit color. Currently there is no stable version for Windows.
Pixia was originally designed in Japanese but English versions now exist for this rich editor. Although the original focus was on anime/manga, it is a very capable editor in general. Some of the features are a little counter intuitive, but there are plenty of English tutorials available now if you want to give it a shot. The website seems to have changed recently, so be sure to use our link if you don’t want a Japanese error message. Pixia works for Windows.
Pixen is designed as a pixel artist’s dream, but has expanded into a smooth and well featured overall editor. It’s definitely best at animation though, if that’s your style. Pixen is Mac (10.4x or later) only.
Picnik is a web based photo editor that has recently taken off due to a partnership with Flickr. It has all the basic features plus a few advanced ones like layers and special effects. It is cross platform since you only need a browser.
Youtube seems to have added a very interesting feature to their off site video players. I’m really not too sure if anyone has already reported about this, but Youtube video players which are hosted off the Youtube site now have their own drop down search tool. I have added the video below so you can have a look:
This is a great idea! Now any Youtube off site video player is pretty much as useful as being on the Youtube site itself. Any video can be played in the one player. I admit because the player can be quite small at times, the search results don’t show too many results at once, so you have to be pretty specific to find the exact video you want. However this is a great addition from Youtube!
Additionally, when searching for an image to use I came across this,
When using Google image search instead of searching then finding an image then if that isn’t the right image, then you have to go back and keep doing the same process. Thus getting a little annoying. However, now you can search straight in Google image search while still looking at a page. I know, not big news but just thought someone actually might be interested in this.
Blender.org is the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License. I dont really know too much about this sector, but the quality of images made using this software is simply amazing. Im a really big fan of open source software and companies trying to offer a great tool to users for free, and Blender is no exception.
I have attached a sample of what has been made using the Blender tool. If you are in graphic or animation design, it would be great to hear your views on this tool.
Picnik is an imaging tool that is currently way ahead of the pack. Picnik allow you to tweak your photos with some amazing editing tools. You can tweak your images with different effects, font, shapes and frames.
With Picnik there are no downloads required or installations. Picnik is astoundingly fast and it is all done right within your browser. The service currently works on either a MAC, Windows or Linux platforms.
Picnik is an imaging tool that can be used by anyone. It is so simple to use and even my mother could use it!
Photoshop software can be expensive – especially considering that most of us don’t use it that often. Obviously the industry standard is Adobe Photoshop. This program has been a cornerstone in image editing and photography for years now. However, I’d like to share with the Crenk readers a great freeware Photoshop program that’s just as good – if not better because…well… it’s free!
