Image-editing programs (graphic software) with download links and descriptions. Tips for beginners too!
| OK so here are all those image editing programs you always hear about in this club. They are essential to doing graphic design (making your own wallpaper, profile About Me, etc). There is no best one, you just have to find whats best for what you want to do. I also provided download links for the trial versions, plus some are free! Under that you'll find a brief overview of how I would rate the program compared to the others on this list, its only based on my opinion and experience tho. Tips for beginners who wanna use these: Microsoft Paint Simple, limited program for learning basics about editing images (adding simple text or lines for example). However its simplicity is such that its not worth using except for resizing images in a flash. Graphic design coming out of it will tend to be very amateur looking. Source: All Windows computers come with this Cost: free Difficulty: very easy Speed: opens immediately Options: limited Usefulness: 2/10 JASC Animation Shop A animation program which also serves as a convenience tool, in between all the other programs with many useful standard options you'd expect from a image editor. It opens fast and is easy to use for even beginners, so I like to use it for fast cropping and pasting (and GIFs of course) which is a big part of MAL designs like About Me and it works well for that. I made her Sailor Moon About Me with JASC by just pasting and cropping images together. This program can also add cool animated effects and transitions for your profile. You don't really need anything else until you want to do more HD effects like color saturation, making fancy lines and borders, rendering, blurring, etc- use the next programs when you are ready for that. Source: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Graphic-Editors/Animation-Shop.shtml Cost: very long free trial, 20$ for complete Difficulty: easy Speed: opens in seconds Options: good Usefulness: 8/10 Gimp The best program for an intermediate user who wants to make better wallpapers and About Me graphics, fancy member cards, etc. Plus its free! It has excellent options, many more options than JASC and Paint- 99% of what most people will ever need even for high quality designs. However it opens slower and will be harder to use for a beginner, but playing around will make it easier to understand. Gimp is also available on Linux. Source: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ Cost: free Difficulty: normal Speed: a little wait to open Options: excellent Usefulness: 8/10 Paint.net Even tho its not really a website I call it Paint.net to distinguish it from the basic Microsoft Paint. It doesn't seem to have many different options then GIMP or Fireworks, but the interface might be better for you personally. Separates files in "layers" so its easy to go back to individual parts of previous designs. Source: http://www.getpaint.net/download.html Cost: free Difficulty: normal Speed: a little wait to open Options: excellent Usefulness: 8/10 Macromedia Fireworks I like this program but imo its become somewhat outshined over the years as Photoshop has gained better stuff and free alternatives like Paint.net and GIMP have come along to compete with this. However, it focuses on internet design and has extremely good coloring options. Source: http://marketsmaster.org/macromedia/fireworks_8/ Cost: free trial, full version over 30$ Difficulty: normal Speed: a little wait to open Options: excellent Usefulness: 8/10 Photoshop Very expensive but does everything for graphic design. Many fancy tricks and techniques can only be done right with Photoshop. An overwhelmingly advantage is the online tutorials for it, which will let you do many high-level techniques easily, or at least easier lol. It saves your designs in PSDs to give you better options for redoing your work and sharing it with others. It has a very complicated interface compared to the other programs, but by playing around in it and using tutorials online you will get a good grip on it over time. Even tho it does so much, you can still use other programs in place when its more convenient for you. Source: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Graphic-Editors/Adobe-PhotoShop-Trial.shtml Cost: free trials, full version can be very expensive (over 500$) Difficulty: hard, but much easier with online tutorials Speed: a little wait to open Options: most Usefulness: 10/10 |
Shishio-kunDec 18, 2012 7:41 PM
| Hi there ... I have read this thread ... and i must say that there were things that i didn't knew. For example ... you say that beginners should start with JASC, then GIMP and PAINT.NET. But the thing is ... i started taking interest for video motion desing, and at the same time Graphic Desing ... So i started using booth AFTER EFFECTS and PHOTOSHOP. And i am actually becoming a better Graphic Designer then Motion Designer, and i only have been using Photoshop and AE for my works. Anyway ... i am really glad i have found this Club, thanks for creating it :) |
| No.. actually under tips for beginners I said you should start with GIMP or Paint.net, and use Jasc if you are having difficulty with their interface. This is so people can do some advanced design easily without being overwhelmed (which causes people to quit). Photoshop can be good to start with but has turned away many casual and passive users due to its complexity so for starters I recommend people should begin with something easier but still will make use of their skills if they're not going to be too serious. Not everyone is going to become a hardcore designer, and if they do they can easily move on to PS later.. |
| Ohhhhh ... Ok ... My bad. I misunderstood the meaning of your words ... sorry bout that ... since i am Portuguese ... i tend to switch the meaning of the sentences. |
| Thank you, very good topic. |
| Actually I've got a quick question... I've been using GIMP and Photoshop as of late and I've always wondered if and how you could use commands to edit images. I've been using GIMP to put in the value's (like 200x200 select squares) myself in the tool options menu but this isn't going as good as I hoped. I'm guessing there's a plugin for this, but I've jet to find it so I was hoping someone with more experience might know about it. |
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| Shishio, since the image topic is a sticky, I was wondering if this topic shouldn't also be a sticky? |
| nah cuz I'm no expert on this subject, its just imo based on my own exp and alots outdated. Also I thought it was linked from all the proper topics if ppl really needed it, and ppl rarely ask where to find a design program last couple years. So it'd be another sticky which we have enough of (we discussed a long time ago to have few stickies as possible). Maybe I'll update it sometime tho, or link it more if it seems warranted |
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