Graphics software question

[jakesteele]

I want to get into some kind of graphics software, but don’t know which way to turn.
I am not an artist who creates his own images. From my limited, unskilled viewpoint it seems like there are three major types; ones that are designed to primarily used to manipulate images like photo’s, ones that do things like make logos, business cards and such and some that are purely artistic for doing your own creations.

Right now I am messing around with Inkscape to embellish or add-on to, various images, primarily paintings. I have also downloaded Jasc PaintShop Pro, Gimp, Pixarra, Paint.net and Inkscape. Which one is which?

Inkscape is fun for now, but very intimidating. Pixarra is impressive just from the looks of it, but I get the impression that it’s for artists who do their own thing.

Can someone help me understand this a little better?

[thelurkinghorror]

GIMP is the most versatile. It’s pay equivalent is Adobe Photoshop.

Paint.NET has a nice, clean interface, and can probably do most of what 99% of people want. It’s an “upgraded” Microsoft Paint, and doesn’t really have a pay equivalent.

Inkscape is for making vector graphics. Most of the other programs are bitmap/raster. This generally means better quality, but less compatibility with other programs and more complexity. Pay equivalent is Adobe Illustrator.

Most of the other ones are pay so I don’t care for those. Freeware options will do most everything. Other freeware ones I can’t comment on.

I used Paint.NET for most stuff, and occasionally GIMP. I also use Irfanview, which isn’t made for creating images but for editing them (e.g. mass crop, recolor, etc.).

[si_blakely]

There are two sorts of images - bitmap (a fixed grid of colour values) and vector (where primitive objects are defined and combined on a page).

Photos are bitmaps, and traditional art media (oil painting, watercolours, ink, pencil etc) lend themselves to bitmaps. The tools used for photo editing are usually integrated into bitmap editing programs, and have been extended in ways that traditional photo editors and artists could have only imagined. Bitmap editing tools include things like brushes, spray brush, clone, smudge, erase, region/colour select. Bitmap editing is (in essence) destructive - if you smudge charcoal on paper, you can’t undo that. You can undo digitally, of course, but once you have made a change, the entire region you have changed is different (if you use layering, this is not entirely true - see later). Jasc PaintShop Pro, Gimp, Pixarra, Paint.net are all bitmap editors, with photo editing capabilities. Pixarra has more tools for a digital artist who wishes to create images from scratch, and can use tools like a tablet/digital pen etc. But all the bitmap editors can do this to some extent.

Vector images place objects (lines, curves, circles, text etc) on a page, with location information. You can modify colour, line type, thickness etc. Because each primitive is independent, you can select, move and modify it at any time. You can layer objects on top of each other, change the order, group and move things. Curved lines have control points so you can change the curve and edit it. Vector image editing is very powerful, but you generally have to start from a blank page. However, the image can be scaled to any size, re-edited, broken apart and recombined, recoloured etc. Vector editing is used for logos, signs etc. Inkscape is a vector editor. Others include CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator.

The higher-end packages of both types have some level of hybridization. Inkscape lets you import bitmap images and then draw vectors over the top, but you can’t really edit the underlying bitmap. Gimp and Photoshop allow you you to use vector-style paths for modifying regions or adding objects/text without changing the underlying bitmap. They also use layers - transparent bitmaps layered over the base image that you can apply changes to. This allows changes that are non-destructive, so you can delete the layer to undo the change. This makes the program more complex, and to use these features takes some time and experimentation. Sometimes you need to use both tools - Photoshop can import Paths and vector layers from Illustrator.

What the OP needs to do is to define what he wants to do, then choose a suitable package (or combination of packages) to do that.

Si

[control-z]

I’ve found that the OpenOffice Draw program allows me to do my simple layered graphic projects very easily. It would be good for business cards and simple posters and such.

[jakesteele]

@si_blakely

There are two sorts of images - bitmap (a fixed grid of colour values) and vector (where primitive objects are defined and combined on a page).

Photos are bitmaps, and traditional art media (oil painting, watercolours, ink, pencil etc) lend themselves to bitmaps. The tools used for photo editing are usually integrated into bitmap editing programs, and have been extended in ways that traditional photo editors and artists could have only imagined. Bitmap editing tools include things like brushes, spray brush, clone, smudge, erase, region/colour select. Bitmap editing is (in essence) destructive - if you smudge charcoal on paper, you can’t undo that. You can undo digitally, of course, but once you have made a change, the entire region you have changed is different (if you use layering, this is not entirely true - see later). Jasc PaintShop Pro, Gimp, Pixarra, Paint.net are all bitmap editors, with photo editing capabilities. Pixarra has more tools for a digital artist who wishes to create images from scratch, and can use tools like a tablet/digital pen etc. But all the bitmap editors can do this to some extent.

Vector images place objects (lines, curves, circles, text etc) on a page, with location information. You can modify colour, line type, thickness etc. Because each primitive is independent, you can select, move and modify it at any time. You can layer objects on top of each other, change the order, group and move things. Curved lines have control points so you can change the curve and edit it. Vector image editing is very powerful, but you generally have to start from a blank page. However, the image can be scaled to any size, re-edited, broken apart and recombined, recoloured etc. Vector editing is used for logos, signs etc. Inkscape is a vector editor. Others include CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator.

The higher-end packages of both types have some level of hybridization. Inkscape lets you import bitmap images and then draw vectors over the top, but you can’t really edit the underlying bitmap. Gimp and Photoshop allow you you to use vector-style paths for modifying regions or adding objects/text without changing the underlying bitmap. They also use layers - transparent bitmaps layered over the base image that you can apply changes to. This allows changes that are non-destructive, so you can delete the layer to undo the change. This makes the program more complex, and to use these features takes some time and experimentation. Sometimes you need to use both tools - Photoshop can import Paths and vector layers from Illustrator.

What the OP needs to do is to define what he wants to do, then choose a suitable package (or combination of packages) to do that.
Si

I guess I am more comfortable with taking some kind of image and altering it as opposed to creating an artist’s painting from scratch. I have Jasc Paint Shop Pro and I imported and I was able to smear the image as opposed to Inkscape where I get mainly angles. Keep in mind that I really don’t know how to much of anything on any program. I really want to alter images that are already there.

[Carmady]

@jakesteele

I guess I am more comfortable with taking some kind of image and altering it as opposed to creating an artist’s painting from scratch. I have Jasc Paint Shop Pro and I imported and I was able to smear the image as opposed to Inkscape where I get mainly angles. Keep in mind that I really don’t know how to much of anything on any program. I really want to alter images that are already there.

Try out the free trial of Paint Tool SAI.

It isn’t as versatile as Photoshop, but when it comes to actually painting and mixing colors it is the best I have used.

In particular, the watercolor tool seems like it would be very useful for you. You can use the watercolor brush on top of an existing painting to alter it in a natural way. It isn’t a blur tool, and it doesn’t make the color muddy. And it has very low system requirements, unlike watercolor tools in some other programs.