Are there any open-source applications out there that can be used to replace Photoshop?
I am currently unemployed, trying to learn web design/development, on a Mac, and without Photoshop and $$$.
Found someone who wants me to build a “simple” website that I may be able to handle, but then I just realized I have no way to basic graphics stuff like…
Cropping photos and images
Possibly making a simple logo
Making those rounded tab thingies
etc.
If I can do a good (and quick) job in the next couple of days, it means $$$ to help my wife and I stay afloat.
I am praying you guys can offer some solutions to help me keep this mini-project…
My 2 cents as a GIMP user for about 6 years. (I’m currently making a gradual move to using Corel Suite for everything)
Harder than most people tend to expect, particularly if you have little experience with an advanced layering raster editor like GIMP or Photoshop. I suggest you get a book such as GIMP: From Novice to Professional (http://gimpbook.com/). I haven’t read this or any GIMP book myself, though I’ve often wished I had instead of figuring everything out the hard way!
Is it open-source (i.e. free)?
Yup. Not only that, in my humble and totally subjective opinion it’s the best, most mature, free desktop app out there not supported by a major corporation (which Firefox & OpenOffice.org are).
If I could “wing it” using something like Gimp to crop some photos, make a simple Text Logo, Tabs, and Buttons, that is probably enough to keep this potential customer happy.
I would not expect to become productive in GIMP right away. I would definitely allow at least a few afternoons to play around and get familiar with it. Even if you don’t invest in a book, you could Google “making web buttons in GIMP” or something like that and you will come up with plenty of online tutorials.
Online version of photoshop may be the way to go for you. Just an idea. Not sure if you have something against photoshop or just do not want to buy it. Worst case just borrow a copy from a good friend.
No… not huge graphics. I’ve used it for minor web graphics and it does the job. I’ve actually implemented it as a value add service to clients (iframed it into their admin system to allow them to edit images) and haven’t heard complaints.
I’m in a bind here, because I was taking my time learning PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, etc to build an e-commerce site for my wife and I’s start-up T-shirt business, but wasn’t planning on building things for a few months.
Now some $$$ issues have come up, and I have a potentional side job, and I’m not ready to fly yet?!
If I could “wing it” using something like Gimp to crop some photos, make a simple Text Logo, Tabs, and Buttons, that is probably enough to keep this potential customer happy.
Hmm… It doesn’t for me. I get a fully blown website - oops. Shoulda realized - it’s a fully flash site, so you need to have flash for it to work…
It’s not that hard - I personally find it a little counter-intuitive for some things, but that’s just my preference - I prefer the fireworks or paint.net interfaces myself. You may find you need to get some of the plug-ins people have built over the years for it, but it works fine. For photo cropping and simple image creation, it’ll be fine.
And yes, it’s free and there is a OS X port (which you would have realized if you had checked out the link ;))
