Open Source Software for Designers

We understand that the cost to become a designer comes at an unreasonable price. The cost of running all of Adobe software may cost you a couple thousand dollars.  This is the main reason why we shall be featuring a series of open software applications to still let you produce those incredible projects. There is no need to break the bank or get left behind with some of these open software and freeware applictions. In this first series we searched the web and found some of the best Mac, Windows, and Linux applications.

GIMP – Windows / Mac / Linux

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. Using GIMP, you can easily perform photo enhancement and digital retouching.

Seashore - Mac

Seashore is an open source image editor for Mac OS X with Cocoa framework that enables the use of gradients, textures, text anti-aliasing, brush strokes, and other essential and basic image editing needs.

Photoscape -Windows

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

Paint.Net – Windows

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.

Inkscape -  Windows / Mac / Linux

An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.  Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more.

Paintbrush – Mac

Open source free paint and Bitmap Image Editor for Mac OS X . It is a replacement for windows Paint application.

Pencil – Windows / Mac / Linux

Pencil is an animation/drawing software for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. It lets you create traditional hand-drawn animation (cartoon) using both bitmap and vector graphics. Pencil is free and open source.

Comipro Plus - Mac OS X

If you create cartoons of any type, Comipro Plus is an excellent app. Designed in Japanese but usable to English speakers, this program helps create modern-looking comics, including editing and adding word bubbles.

PhotoPlus SE – Windows

PhotoPlus is the amazing photo editing software from Serif that enables you to enhance your digital photos and images, create stunning bitmap graphics and even web animations.

Drawberry – Mac

An alternative to Illustrator, Drawberry gives you all the possibilities of vectorial drawing offers you in a free, easy to use and powerful application. If you don’t need applications such Illustrator or Inkscape and you want to create some simple (or less simple) illustrations, Drawberry is for you.

Blender – Windows / Mac / Linux

Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems. It includes tools for modeling – fast subdivision surface and polygon tools, multi-resolution mesh sculpting, metaballs, NURBS, vector fonts, and curves; uv mapping; shaders and texturing – both paint based and node based; ik and fk animation tools with rigging, constraints, skinning, morph targets, drivers, deformers, and modifiers; simulation tools including hard bodies, soft body, cloth, and fluids; and particle systems including hair. Blender has integrated rendering with both its native renderer and the raytracer Yafray as well supporting many external renderers; and python based scripting.