Good free alternative to photoshop?

[46andtool]

Im in the process of making a simple website for a friend and would like to know if there is any software out there that can help me with the graphic design aspects, its a pool cleaning service so he just needs a banner with the name of the company, some contact information a mission statement and the like.

Thanks!

 

[Scarinx]

GIMP
http://www.gimp.org/
good luck

 

[46andtool]

thanks haha, i actually found a link to that when i googled the same question i posed here, guess i should have done that first. in any case thank you, DLing it now!

 

[Fox5]

Gimp has some auto generated banner options too.

Other things to check out:
Gimpshop: a skin to make gimp look like photoshop
http://www.gimpshop.com/

Paint.net
http://www.getpaint.net/

And some books of using the gamp:
http://www.nostarch.com/gimp
http://www.nostarch.com/gimp2

 

[46andtool]

Gimp has some auto generated banner options too.

Other things to check out:
Gimpshop: a skin to make gimp look like photoshop
http://www.gimpshop.com/

Paint.net
http://www.getpaint.net/

And some books of using the gamp:
http://www.nostarch.com/gimp
http://www.nostarch.com/gimp2

I'm honestly not at all familiar with photoshop but I know its the golden standard, Im using http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Floating_Logo/ to get my foot in the door with the graphic design I will need for the site..I might just pick up that book you linked because I was asked to do a site for somebody else as well. I think my friends expect me to know more about web design than I actually do just because I'm a computer nerd

 

[brianmanahan]

the gimp. it's hard to use, but it usually does what you need it to do.

 

[smackababy]

IIRC Photoshop CS2 is free. And unless you're doing something highly specific, it should be just fine for you.

 

[slugg]

Unlike everyone else in this thread, my answer is totally different.

A good, free alternative to Photoshop does not exist.

There are some garbage alternatives, like The Gimp and Paint.NET, but nothing actually good. Sorry, buddy.

IIRC Photoshop CS2 is free. And unless you're doing something highly specific, it should be just fine for you.

Where is this supposed to be free? I'd love it...

 

[Fox5]

Unlike everyone else in this thread, my answer is totally different.

A good, free alternative to Photoshop does not exist.

There are some garbage alternatives, like The Gimp and Paint.NET, but nothing actually good. Sorry, buddy.



Where is this supposed to be free? I'd love it...

It's not free. Adobe created a version without online license checks for existing customers. Honestly, I don't understand, considering they could just virtualize their license server and keep it running forever using almost 0 resources.

http://www.techspot.com/news/51316-...-suite-2-for-free-but-they-didnt-mean-to.html

 

[smackababy]

It's not free. Adobe created a version without online license checks for existing customers. Honestly, I don't understand, considering they could just virtualize their license server and keep it running forever using almost 0 resources.

http://www.techspot.com/news/51316-...-suite-2-for-free-but-they-didnt-mean-to.html

Perhaps that is true, however, they have a download that only requires you to have an Adobe account to get it.

I wager they never "fixed" this because Adobe knows it isn't worth the time. Every person who uses CS2 and becomes a user that would purchase a suite of programs similar will go with Photoshop over some competition because they already know most of the software itself.

 

[douglasb]

The real question (and I'm surprised that nobody has asked this yet) is: What on earth does this have to do with programming? Why is it in this forum?

 

[DaveSimmons]

I use Paint.Net and PhotoShop for icons, bitmaps, etc. used in programs not just websites, so it's loosely related as a "programming tool" just like our favorite code editors.

 

[Tweak155]

I used Gimp for my sites. You could do some really complex things with it but I never became really good at it. Good enough to make some money though!

 

[Leros]

Perhaps that is true, however, they have a download that only requires you to have an Adobe account to get it.

I wager they never "fixed" this because Adobe knows it isn't worth the time. Every person who uses CS2 and becomes a user that would purchase a suite of programs similar will go with Photoshop over some competition because they already know most of the software itself.

Many years ago I read that Adobe was willing to let people pirate Photoshop so they could have dominance in the market. They also said that a lot of Photoshop tutorials and plugins were coming from users who pirated the software, so they were still adding value to Adobe in that they were supporting the Photoshop community, thereby making Photoshop a more desirable product to use. If they cracked down on piracy, I'd suspect that Photoshop would be a niche tool used by professionals only. They would probably be selling a lot less copies of Photoshop today too.

 

[Ken g6]

The real question (and I'm surprised that nobody has asked this yet) is: What on earth does this have to do with programming? Why is it in this forum?

Oh, right! If you want a good, free alternative to PhotoShop that's a "programming tool" (i.e. images are "programmable"), try ImageMagick.