11 Open Source (FREE) Photoshop Alternatives
// June 21st, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Apple, Applications, Design, Design Resources, Featured, For Geeks, Freeware, Geeks, Graphic Design, Graphics, I recommend, Photoshop, Software, Useful, Windows, art, free, web tools, webdesign, webmaster
I’ve been doing some research online tonight for a FREE alternative for Photoshop – my Photoshop installation recently became corrupt (no clue how but it might have something to do with the fact it was cracked..um yeh) Call me evil, I just call me poor.
Anyway, I can’t seem to completly uninstall Photoshop and so it won’t allow me to re-install it… and since Photoshop cost about USD $649 per copy... I’ll most likely be using an alternative until I can format my hard drive.
Anyway, I can not work with out some type of imaging software. Period. I’ll let you know which one I decide on.
11 Open Source (FREE) Photoshop Alternatives
Artweaver
Artweaver isn’t just a Photoshop alternative like GIMP, but a fair clone of Photoshop itself. While Artweaver lacks the polish and advanced feature sets of Photoshop, the menus are laid out like they are in Photoshop and the tools function close enough that use is intuitive. The programs are so similar, in fact, that seasoned Photoshop users will find themselves wondering why a feature is suddenly missing from the menu. While it isn’t a true replacement for Photoshop, Artweaver’s feature set is robust; it includes layer management, image cloning, a history function, transparency, pen tablet support, and a host of the common filters in Photoshop. Artweaver is available as a full install or in a portable version. Artweaver is a free download for Windows only.
Fotographix Beta 3
Fotografix is an amazing example of what creative developers can accomplish in less than one meg. The 680Kb portable application is a very capable image editor and provides nearly all the same functionality I utilize in Photoshop on a daily basis. It was a no-brainer to include in my list of 40 apps you can download in two seconds. Mirrored on Freeware Files.
GIMP
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.
Inkscape
Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format.
Krita
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 only] , Krita is slightly less powerful than both Photoshop and GIMP, but does contain some unique features. It has become very popular recently due to its ease of use. While it is not as feature-rich as the Photoshop, or even GIMP, it does contains the necessary tools to create/edit a professional image from scratch. In fact, the latest version contains some features that are not found in both GIMP and Photoshop.
ChocoFlop
ChocoFlop is a design application designed exclusively for [Mac only] , 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.
Picnik
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.
Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe actually has a free web based photo editor of their own. Adobe Photoshop Express has all the basic functionality you’d expect as well as a few advanced features (sadly though, no layers), and interfaces well with a number of photo sharing websites. Again, completely cross platform.
Paint.NET
Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.
CinePaint 0.23
CinePaint is a deep paint image retouching tool that supports higher color fidelity than ordinary painting tools. One of the advantage that it has over GIMP is that it is able to support 32-bits image (GIMP only supports 8-bits image). Cinepaint is mainly used by developers in the flim industry for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching. The current version runs on Linux, BSD, Mac OSX. Stable version for Windows is not available at the moment.
PhotoPlus
PhotoPlus [Windows only] is the amazing photo editing software that enables you to fix and enhance digital photos, create stunning bitmap graphics and even web animations.
Links
There’s also free web services that allows you to perform basic image editing online.
Here’s few examples:
- Picnik – Edit photo online
- Picnik – Add watermarks online
- Resize images online without Photoshop
- Fauxto – Free online Photoshop
