The GIMP
Graphics editor and image manipulation

The GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages.

GIMPShop
GIMPshop is a modification of the free/open source GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), intended to replicate the feel of Adobe Photoshop. Its primary purpose is to make users of Photoshop feel comfortable using GIMP.

It shares all GIMP's advantages, including the long feature list and customisability, while addressing some common criticisms regarding the program's interface: GIMPshop modifies the menu structure to closely match Photoshop's, adjusts the program's terminology to match Adobe's, and, in the Windows version, uses a plugin called 'Deweirdifier' to combine the application's numerous windows in a similar manner to the MDI system used by most Windows graphics packages. While GIMPshop does not support Photoshop plugins, all GIMP's own plugins, filters, brushes, etc. remain available.

Last Updated 16 August 2010

Download Gimpshop here ( 7.5 MB windows installer )
Win 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7
Mac OSX (see web site)
Linux (see web site)

HeliosPaint

HeliosPaint is a feature-rich, easy-to-use and powerful paint program for editing photos, drawings and icons. It runs on Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, Linux and Unix.

Tools and features in HeliosPaint currently include:
Pencil for editing pixels.
Curved, straight and freehand lines with choice of width, dash pattern, line joint and arrow heads.
Paint Brush with adjustable size and edge feathering.
Eraser with adjustable size and edge feathering.
Spray Can with adjustable size and edge feathering or global spray option.
Paint Can with local and global replace. Colour bleed sensitivity allows nearby similar colours to be painted.
Shape tool for creating freehand, regular polygon, star, moon and heart shapes.
Text entry with choice of font, style, underline and rotation.
Image filters: RGB levels, HSB levels, HSL levels, contrast, gamma, temperature and tint, invert, gray, black and white, colour filter, sharpen, blur, edge feathering, edge detection, oil painting effect, emboss, unsharp mask, chrome, sepia tone, threshold.
Image colour and transparency adjustment by flat, round, rectangular and 'fit to shape' gradient patterns. This allows areas of the image to be darkened, brightened and colour enhanced.
Image flip, scale up, scale down, rotate, shear, perspective view.
Full colour pallet with adjustable transparency and colour grabber.
Full texture paint support with adjustable transparency. Texture paint images can be created, loaded and saved to disk or simply drag and dropped into HeliosPaint from the Internet.
Zoom in/out with optional zoom grid.
Text and image paste from clipboard. Image and image segment copy/cut onto clipboard.
Scissors, lasso and wand for selecting and moving an area of the image. Sensitivity of lasso and wand is adjustable. Transparency of overlaid area is adjustable. Scissors can cut out various shapes including regular polygons, stars and hearts. When part of the image is selected, all paint operations apply only to that area.
Save selected area as transparent gif or transparent png file.
Undo and redo.
Printing with auto fit to page.
Export image to PDF file.
Simple and easy to use help file.
Reads and writes image file formats: bmp, gif, jpg/jpeg, pct/pict, pcx, pgm, png, ppm, psd, ras, tga, tif/tiff, wbmp, xpm.
Supports images up to 12 megapixels in size (a high end computer is recommended for working with very large images)

System Requirements:
The Java Runtime Environment version 5.0 or greater

Last Updated 28 August 2010
Win 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7
Mac OSX (see web site)
Linux (see web site)

Inkscape
Source vector graphics editor

Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.

Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Inkscape also supports Creative Commons meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more.

It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats.

Inkscape's main goal is to create a powerful and convenient drawing tool fully compliant with XML, SVG, and CSS standards. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development.

Last Updated 25 August 2010
Win 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7
Mac OSX (see web site)
Linux (see web site)

Photoscape
Photo editing suite

Photoscape is the fun and easy photo editing software that enables you to fix and enhance photos.

Key Features
Viewer: View your folders photos, slideshow
Editor: resizing, brightness and color adjustment, white balance, backlight correction, frames, balloons, mosaic mode, adding text, drawing pictures, cropping, filters, red eye removal, blooming
Batch editor: Batch editing multiple photos
Page: Make one photo by merging multiple photos at the page frame
Combine: Make one photo by attaching multiple photos vertically or horizontally
Animated GIF: Make one animation photo with multiple photos
Print: Print portrait shot, carte de visite, passport photo
Screen Capture: Capture your screenshot and save it
Color Picker: Zoom in screen on images, search and pick the color
Rename: Change photo file names in batch mode
Raw Converter: Convert RAW to JP.

Last Updated 31 May 2010
Win 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista

Paint.NET
Image editor with layer support

Paint.NET used to be something of a complicated, high-end tool, but over the past year it has been transformed into a serious contender for the best image-editing software around. Despite a raft of powerful features, this latest version of the program remains easy to use and boasts excellent performance with fast response times.

There are a number of automated image optimisation tools integrated into the program such as colour adjustment, red-eye removal and conversion to black-and-white or sepia, but more advanced tweaks allow full manual control. Unlimited levels of undo, support for layers, a range of filters and a unique thumbnail preview when multiple images are open mean the program is suitable for all levels of ability and remains easy to navigate.

But it's not just the tools that make Paint.NET impressive: the interface itself is something to behold. Clear, well-sized buttons provide access to a wide range of options without looking cluttered or messy. A number of floating panels house layer, colour and history information, and when not in use they become slightly transparent so as not to distract from the image you're working on – hold the mouse over one and they will fade back into full view. Touches like this make the program an absolute joy to use

Requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

Last Updated 27 April 2010
Win XP/2003/Vista/7
Mac OSX (see web site)

PhotoFiltre
Complete image retouching program

PhotoFiltre is a complete image retouching program. It allows you to do simple or advanced adjustments to an image and apply a vast range of filters on it.

It is simple and intuitive to use, and has an easy learning curve. The toolbar, giving you access to the standard filters with just a few clicks, gives PhotoFiltre a robust look.

Filters
Its wide range of filters allows novice users to familiarize themselves with the world of graphics. You can find the standard adjustment functions (Brightness, contrast, dyed, saturation, gamma correction) and also artistic filters (watercolor, pastels, Indian ink, pointillism, puzzle effect). There are more than 100 filters to be discovered !

Vectorial selections
PhotoFiltre uses two types of vectorial selections. The first type uses automatic shapes (rectangle, ellipse, triangle, rhombus, rounded rectangle). The second type corresponds to the lasso and polygon.
They both allow a customized form by drawing a shape by hand or using a series of lines. Every selection can be saved into a seperate file, to be used later on.

Tool bar
The toolbar is primarily made up of drawing tools, such as pipette, displacement cursor, fill bucket, aerosol, brush, drop of water (blur), cloning stamp, smudge (finger) and magic wand.

PhotoFiltre has some standard brushes (round and square in different sizes), but also some more variedforms (oblique line, leave, star, etc...).

PhotoMasque module
With PhotoMasque you can create advanced effects of contour and transparency on your images by using preset masks. These masks are grayscale images, where white is the transparancy color, while
opacity increases as the shades of gray become darker. Black means complete opacity. PhotoMasquecomes with several basic masks to inspire you to create your own masks.

Last Updated 15 October 2009
Win 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista

Artweaver
Freeware program for creative painting

Artweaver is a simple Freeware program for creative painting, i.e. Artweaver offers you all artistic effects which you need for your work.

You can create sketches from photos and experiment with a wide range of brushes. The brush simulation is thereby so realistic as possible.

Artweaver Features
Support of many different digital brushes e.g. chalk, charcoal, pencils...
A wide variety of adjustment settings to customize the default brushes or to create new brushes.
Standard image editing tools like gradient, crop, fill and selection tools.
Support for the most common file formats like AWD (Artweaver), BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, TGA, TIFF, PNG, and PSD (no layer support).
Transparency and Layers support.
Effect filters like sharpen, blur, emboss and mosaic.
Editable text layers.
Pen Tablet support for a realistic feeling.
History function to und/redo last editing steps.
Expandable by Plug-In modules (Artweaver Standard).
Support for many languages through language files

Last Updated 20 November 2008
Win 2000/XP/Vista

Project Dogwaffle

Project Dogwaffle is a full featured paintbox application inluding natural tools, realtime filters, image warping, gradients, and more. The program is primarily designed for "unnatural painting" and includes realistic artist tools, paper, and media styles

It offers custom and procedural brushes and fill types as well as realtime image processing filters.

Dogwaffle supports many file types and supports multiple levels of Undo, alpha channels and seemless textures. The interface can be extended with the use of plugins.

Win 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7

Pixia
Powerful graphics editor

Pixia is the English version of a popular Japanese painting and retouch software for full color graphics. It supports mask, layer and many other editing functions.

You can use your own customized brush tips and even use an image file as a brush tip to create unique effects. Its user-friendly interface is suitable for beginners as well as experts.

Pixia supports the most common editing techniques and presents a user friendly interface.

Last Updated 28 October 2009
Win Me/2000/XP/Vista

MyPaint
A fast and easy graphics application for digital painters

MyPaint is a fast and easy open-source graphics application for digital painters. It lets you focus on the art instead of the program. You work on your canvas with minimum distractions, bringing up the interface only when you need it.

exists for several platforms
supports pressure sensitive graphics tablets
extensive brush creation and configuration options
unlimited canvas (you never have to resize)
basic layer support

MyPaint comes with a large brush collection including charcoal and ink to emulate real media, but the highly configurable brush engine allows you to experiment with your own brushes and with not-quite-natural painting. Before beginning it is a good idea to read the quick-start tutorial to see how the program is meant to be used.

Last Updated 08 May 2010
Win 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7

Photobie
Image editor with layer support

Photobie is an image editor that offers all the standard editing and paint tools, as well as image layers and Photoshop (.8bf) plug-ins. The developer did not put a lot of effort into the interface design, but sure crammed a lot of features under the hood, that are normally not found in free image editors.

The program includes screen capture tools, an image browser, a GIF animation tool and a Flash layer, as well as photo frames, channel adjustments and more.
The documentation is somewhat lacking but an active support forum can help you along if you run into problems.

Photobie is a .NET windows application, .NET framework 1.0 or higher must be installed.

Last Updated 30 June 2010
Win XP/Vista/7

AvancePaint
A good Microsoft-Paint replacement

A complete paint program designed with an intuitive user interface that makes AvancePaint easy to learn and use. It’s powerful enough to suit the advanced user and yet simple enough to please the beginner.

Open unlimited number photo´s or pictures and unleash your artistic talents as you will discover the advanced and powerful but easy to use graphical options!

A complete set of 20 photo-realistic filters and more then 40 textures are included.

Features:
Easy to use yet powerful
All functions of MS-Paint
Zoom
Powerful color settings
Size
Masks
Draw arrows in one click
Open JPG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, WMF, EMF, DIB, ICO files
Open as many photo´s as your memory allows!
Cut/copy/paste between photo´s
Darken, lighten, sharpen, soften, blur, replace colors, blend, transparent gif etc...
WYSWYG fonts
Multiple undo´s
Borders
Print preview
User definable rounded square corners
Rotate
Many symbols included
Uses only 2Mb diskspace

Version 2.0:
New: Draw advanced Polygons - move points, color, thickness etc...
New: Draw Advanced Bezier curves - move points, color, thickness etc...
New: Twain compatible! (Eztw32.dll)
import images/pictures from your scanner, cam etc. any twain compatible device!
New: Pencil now also acts as an Eraser when right mouse-button is pressed
New: 5 new pencil color mixes (user selected color, grayscales, pastel pink, blue, yellow

Last Updated 19 Febuary 2008
Win 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista