What is Digg?58 Comments
- annjay, on 04/06/2009, -1/+19Few of them are really useful for simple work but Paint.Net and Inkspace is too good in the list. None of these can beat Photoshop.
- virtualmode, on 04/06/2009, -1/+13oh, come on, each time GIMP or Paint.NET is mentioned some "cool ultra-pro-designer" appears and says that "it can't beat Photoshop". So what? 99,9% of users don't need Photoshop, they can just take a free alternative and be happy. Just admit it.
- Dotcommer, on 04/06/2009, -1/+8So let me get this straight. One of the most powerful digital paint and photo manipulation programs in the industry used by thousands of graphic design, advertising, and FILM companies, as well as being the most well known program for the consumer to access to manipulate media, originally developed BY INDUSTRIAL LIGHT AND MAGIC.....
...Is over rated?
Jesus, what kind of god app do YOU use huh? We'd all love to know. - virtualmode, on 04/06/2009, -3/+9Normal Users don't care about Professional Designers. Dugg.
- dullnation, on 04/06/2009, -2/+8Apple Aperture, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. All you need to know if you're a pro.
- exspasticcomics, on 04/06/2009, -2/+7um... yeah.. KDE & Gnome aren't operating systems ...
- KSUdesigner, on 04/06/2009, -0/+4How, exactly?
- digitalArtform, on 04/06/2009, -0/+4A talented artist can make any one of these apps sing.
If you can paint, you can paint with a french fry dipped in ketchup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gvGDsIYrrQ - ArthurSucks, on 04/06/2009, -0/+4Inkscape also works in Linux.
- Blade9932, on 04/06/2009, -0/+4I love Paint.net. It completely replaces Photoshop for me. I works for all sorts of "image manipulation" and actually updates with new effects.
- Langford, on 04/06/2009, -1/+5Of course people are defensive of their preferred tool when they don't know how to use any other tool.
- Urrelles, on 04/06/2009, -1/+5Exactly. Why promote people to pirate Photoshop when there are tons of free programs with almost the same power. Might as well be law abiding and download a free program with support, updates, and no serial keys.
- log1k, on 04/06/2009, -0/+4Im pretty sure any sort of 'designer' would be using photoshop anyways, and not rely on all these free programs.
- stormgren, on 04/06/2009, -0/+4no, KDE and Gnome are desktop environments for X-Windows, which is a window managing system.
Windows is an OS which includes a GUI, built on the NT kernel.
OSX is an OS which includes a GUI, built on a BSD kernel. - katyalipich, on 04/06/2009, -0/+3Well. Its free.
- DarkProd, on 04/06/2009, -0/+3So, developers use the Tux Paint huh?
- hypografik, on 04/06/2009, -0/+3Although I totally understand your point, you should have simply mentionned "...Image Editors for Normal Users" instead of being a major douchebag and calling everyone else money-less children.
- SpookyET, on 04/06/2009, -1/+4I'm sick of these lists. How many lists do we need? I see the same lists every other day on Digg. No, these programs will never be Photoshop. No designer will use them besides toying.
Gimp could be decent if they completely rewrite the interface.
Paint.NET will always be a school project for University of Washington.
Inkspace is slow as hell.
The rest are just garbage. - FrothyA, on 04/06/2009, -0/+3Again PhotoFiltre isn't mentioned has another great editor.
- Urrelles, on 04/06/2009, -0/+3Adobe suite is one of the few major corporate products that actually delivers results better than competition and before the competition. Most other companies, like Alias, Autodesk, Microsoft develop popular key features AFTER some small business makes a plugin or art program of their own with better features.
A good example is unwrapping models in Maya. Headus UV layout made this real easy. 1 year after the official UV layout was released, Autodesk creates a Maya with the same features built in.....finally.
Im glad that Adobe actually puts effort into stayin ahead of the competition and bring out new useful features that actually work. - 7m7uf, on 04/06/2009, -0/+2Did i wake up in Bizarro World again?
- 1ofMany, on 04/07/2009, -0/+2Have you ever seen the first photoshop? All programs grow from rather humble beginnings.
http://creativebits.org/the_first_version_of_photo ...
Besides, these aren't to be use as a replacement for photoshop. These are programs that will handle the basic features that 95% of the people that pirate photoshop use. - Laminarcissus, on 04/06/2009, -3/+5Free, yes. Amazing, no.
- tnvwboy, on 04/06/2009, -0/+2For basic image manipulation Paint.NET is great. It has layers so you can do some good stuff with it. That said, I use it at work where I don't have access to Photoshop. At home it's Photoshop every time. There is no reason to use Paint.NET (or really any of the apps on this list) if you have a copy of the Creative Suite.
- exspasticcomics, on 04/06/2009, -2/+4LOL- 2 things-
1) my opinions may be (..or may not be..) extremely eccentric.. but really- calling me an 'idiot' just isn't polite.. you don't even know me.
2) read Dotcommer's & Urrelles' comments & you'll understand why I say it's 'highly over rated' (..or even... 'rated over highly'- LOL) -they do all the explaining for me. Photoshop is an artist's tool. it's a big expensive multi-purpose paintbrush. it's homogenized. I don't want a 'god-app' (..like you're making Photoshop out to be- I might add...) & I don't care if ILM developed it. (.. the Star Wars prequels looked like a toy factory...)
give me an inexpensive app with basic functionality- that does things it's own way (...more or less..) & asks me to download some guy's ugly hack in order to achieve the desired effect (..or function..) that I want.
Now ask me to try & make beautiful, professional looking art.
If I'm any good at what I do- I'll get there & the end result will benefit.
monopolist apps are bad. every OS shouldn't be windows... every album shouldn't be recorded on pro-tools.. every picture shouldn't be made in photoshop. there are many other apps that will give you the same (basic..) functionality.. for less money.. & will give you different results. (..& in the world of art- difference isn't a bad thing...)
photoshop is highly overrated. - Dotcommer, on 04/07/2009, -1/+3*****. I bet you're not even half as good as you make yourself out to be.
This "high and mighty" attitude of yours is making you take steps backwards in progress. Sure, I supposed you COULD manipulate an image with ms paint.. But think about this... you're doing that, because you're about not using overrated software to help you with your job, mean while, the guy next door, given the same project, will have it done a hundred times faster than you. He'll be keeping his job and getting paid. YOU on the other hand, will be let go because you are not quick or efficient.
Its like saying "what? A wheel?! Thats so overrated. I'd rather carry things one by one and make multiple trips transporting stuff." - friday1970, on 04/06/2009, -0/+2I agree with VirtualMode. I'm just a amateurish photographer, and don't have $600 lying around to buy the top photo editing app. So, I stick with what I can afford. And right now, that is GIMP. Sure, there is no support for CMYK and other higher formats. But, I get by with it and still produce some decent photos.
- shehejaan, on 04/07/2009, -0/+2Very nice info about graphics work. I am also a graphics designer but i am working just on corel draw, adobe photoshop CS. but i will try to use another graphics software. Thanks for sharing.
- SmartestDigger, on 04/06/2009, -1/+3That was a good article - better than the average linkbait.
I'm a big GIMP fan despite its limitations.
Gimp for Raster and AI for vector.
I'm too cheap to splurge for Photoshop again. - exspasticcomics, on 04/11/2009, -0/+2sigh.. on & on about the damn photoshop.
a) yes-we've already discussed how many people.. from ILM artists to people who work as graphic designers at newspapers use the damn photoshop.
b) yes- we've already discussed how many people believe that photoshop is the closest thing to a 'god app' in existence for artists. it has many tools.. big & small.. simple & complicated. & you're right.. it comes in many magic kool-aid flavors. (..several of which.. I've had to use..)
c) so far- during this entire discussion.. I've only really been suggesting one point- that being.. that quality work can be done on other apps besides photoshop- that photoshop is NOT the end all be all & it's view as such- makes it highly overrated. (& for that.. I've been called everything from an idiot.. to 'high & mighty' to an amateur during the course of this discussion...)
so- for all you college students from Maryland out there who are the future professionals & know what you are talking about.. may I humbly suggest something? (& I do this as a 'current professional' i.e. -being a graphic designer is what I do to pay my rent & put food on the table...)
someday, you may find yourself employed at a business.. & when they sit you down behind that computer desk- you will be horrified to learn that the IT budget for said business is.. a putrid mess (..to say the least..) .. you will be staring at a copy of adobe acrobat 5.. running on some late 90's apple knock off that's been Frankenstein'ed together. the ever important FTP server than runs in the other room is a scary thing running windows NT- that crashes & gives everyone the blue screen of death- all the time.. & no one ever knows why. some apps you depend on are surprisingly new.. while others are frighteningly old. -your boss will expect you to create highly professional work- & may even pull out examples from other papers & magazine (...that probably.. actually have a decent IT budget..) & expect you to be able to do comparable work on the ancient mechanisms you've been given to do your work on.
---you may also find that you are happily going along- doing your thing & one day (..out of the blue..) they take some of your equipment &/or software & throw it out & make you work on something completely different & new. (this always happens sooner than you expect.. & many times quite out of the blue..) & it may sound absurd to you at the moment.. but it's quite possible that even in just a couple of years- photoshop might be an outdated product- replaced with something completely new & different....
so here's my advice.. here are my opinions take 'em or leave 'em...
1) it's not how you do it or what you do it on- it's the end result that matters.
2) use anything & everything. (..this will help you adapt. )
3) Keep It Simple, Stupid.
4) people who don't know what they're doing- are going to end up teaching you more than you ever wanted to know.
5) don't panic.
man- I can't believe I've ended up writing so much about stupid photoshop. LMAO. I'm calling it a day. - mrBitch, on 04/07/2009, -1/+2Oh, are you talking about the Mac users who had been using Photoshop for many years before Adobe finally released a version for Windows ?
http://creativebits.org/the_first_version_of_photo ...
http://www.storyphoto.com/multimedia/multimedia_ph ...
"... Along with MacWrite, MacPaint, Mosiac - Photoshop stands as one of the 4 main revolutionary applications ... all concincidentially developed first for the Mac. " - dwright99, on 04/06/2009, -0/+1If you are looking for a good natural painting program, Artweaver is a good one.
Works and looks (way too much) like Corel Painter. Seems to me they reverse engineered Painter to make this program.
Inkscape is very good for vectors. - cosmotic, on 04/06/2009, -1/+2Considering the cost and clout of Photoshop, I would expect more. They worthlessly redo the entire UI every release, it's buggy, and poorly marketed alternatives like PhotoPaint offer nearly all the functionality for much less (although PhotoPaint is still quite buggy itself).
- sadatoni, on 04/06/2009, -0/+1Gimp is really slow to start. Paint.NET is slow too.
- Paulish, on 04/06/2009, -0/+1"Paint.NET will always be a school project for University of Washington."
Actually it was Washington State University. Those are two very different things.
Oh yeah, and on what grounds can you pronounce that Photoshop will never be dethroned? - Urrelles, on 04/06/2009, -0/+1SumoPaint.com, is not on here.
It is basically similar to Gimp or Photoshop. It's unique feature is that it works from your browser. So you don't have to install anything, just click their launch app button, load a pic fomr your computer, and start working. Then save the image back to your comp. so you can image manipulate at your local library computer, work comptuer, etc and not have to deal with the "no installation" setups these public computers have. - FrothyA, on 04/06/2009, -0/+1@SpookyET
Hahaha you're gonna making Washington State Univ. students pissed, it's they who created Pain.net. - Vortex22, on 04/06/2009, -1/+1I'm surprised the tools at Aviary.com didn't make the list. They are really good, and they all run in a browser... no download or install required. Check out Phoenix for a really good Photoshop clone.
- Urrelles, on 04/06/2009, -0/+0I wonder the same thing. But it's those graphic design blogs and affliate marketers trying to get hits to their pages by constantly posting of similar tutorials and products. They konw the Digg users will push them to front page in a matter of minutes. so each of these blogs post on Digg after every frigging update.
Vectortuts
Smashing Apps
Speckyboy
...are all doing this frequently along with many many other graphic design sites. - jbmcb, on 04/06/2009, -2/+2It's simple. Professional designers need comprehensive color separation support. Photoshop is the king for doing this in an integrated image editing environment, nothing else comes close.
If you only do web development, it's a different story, but all the professional designers I know still do a lot of print work, as well as web stuff. - mrBitch, on 04/07/2009, -2/+2@ stormgren, +1 for nice explanatory post, and +1 for being polite and not calling KentuckyBoy an idiot (although he obviously IS an idiot).
- illTech, on 04/06/2009, -1/+1... and heavily bloated
- Narcism, on 04/06/2009, -3/+3You notice the title said: 19 Amazing Free Graphic and Image Editors for ____Designers____ and not 19 Amazing Free Graphic and Image Editors for money-less children who think they're designers because they made their uncle's website?
- exspasticcomics, on 04/07/2009, -1/+1@ Dotcommer
wow- I never knew a piece of software could mean so much to someone. you've gone from suggesting it's the closest thing to a 'god app' in existence for artists... to name dropping ILM... to suggesting that I don't do 'professional work' (or to quote...'not even half as good as you make yourself out to be..') ..to suggesting that I'm 'high & mighty' -because I think people should support other apps besides photoshop & that quality work can be done on other apps... to going out & insinuating that my recommended alternative to photoshop is 'ms paint' (LMAO- no... it's not... I did say 'basic functionality'- I didn't mean that basic... talk about exaggeration..)
What? are you a sales rep for Adobe? Do I get a free toaster if I buy a copy now?
& since the assumption was thrown out there- I'll answer it.. I'm a graphic designer- I work for a newspaper (& hey! we use photoshop at work :P ).. I also self publish comics/ graphic novels & do the whole 'underground comix' thing (..as it were..) & I've done that for 11+ years now... the comic art runs the gambit- from pen & paper to paint & photography to computer work. the software (over the years..) from truly horrid to totally 'professional' & several things in between.
my whole reason for getting in on this conversation to begin with was that anytime these sorts of posts appear on digg- all the 'professionals' jump out of the woodwork & tell everybody that all the apps suck & are completely useless & the only way to produce anything 'professional' is to own a copy of photoshop.
well- owning a big chunk of marble doesn't make you a sculptor.
& lastly- like I said... I don't want one generic all purpose app for everything. variety is the spice of life. - nmoulana, on 04/07/2009, -0/+0Free ware? Oh yeah thats right.
- exspasticcomics, on 04/06/2009, -3/+3LOL... I meant 'highly over rated..'
- bchampion, on 04/06/2009, -2/+2ALL of the listed programs are modeled after photoshop. What do you have that's so much better. Photoshop is a professional program. You are an idiot, my friend.
- shiftyeyes, on 04/06/2009, -1/+0yuck. it hogs so much of the resources!
- Narcism, on 04/06/2009, -2/+1What can I say? I'm rough around the edges.
- bchampion, on 04/09/2009, -1/+0just because you don't use the more complicated functions of photoshop doesn't make it over rated, it just means you're using the wrong program (or wrong version). there are stripped down (MUCH cheaper) versions of photoshop that will probably serve your "pen and paper" needs. as a photographer/ interactive media artist at art school, i DO need the lesser used functions of photoshop. I'll admit, most people don't need a full version of photoshop, but that in no way makes it over rated. It is still one of the best performing programs with the most functionality out there. Here at MICA, graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, just about everyone who uses a computer, uses photoshop in their projects. these are current/ future professionals. we know what we're talking about.
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