Ren Tinith
Psychic Ranger
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2009
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Usually I compile my own list of free graphics program as and when I need to on a forum but this time during my hunt I found someone maintaining a site that does just that... So for those of you who want to do more then MS Paint allows you to, or those who want something designed specifically for pixel art read on.
Freebyte's free graphics program list.
Now that the link is out of the way here are my suggestions on some software mentioned there for various purposes.
Pixel Art:
Now here I have to admit the list linked to above is somewhat flawed as personally I'd suggest people use Graphics Gale. The free edition handles .png and for pixel art that's the best format there is, memory escapes me on if that includes transparency or not but I believe so. The other best bet is simple old MS Paint, although please evade .jpg at all costs. If you don't have any formats in your Paint that don't mess up the image colours then save it as a .bmp and then convert it t a .png with an image converter like IrfanView, just no more .jpg or low res .gif please people for the all that is pixel!
Sigs and the like:
Seriously here as well I'm surprised that the list I linked to is missing some software, yes gimp is all good and well for a freebie but I feel that Pixia is a much better alternate for that purpose. But this comes down solely to personal preference, please don't ask me to compare the two because I was a pixia user and then a photoshop CS2 user so I'm biased....
Vector Art:
This list I actually agree somewhat with although I have to advise people to try out Alchemy that program is getting used by and help in it's development from major players in the vector art and digital art community in general.
As for the rest I leave those up to your personal discretion, although I have to say that IrfanView is a must for all imaging purposes if you don't have the Windows live gallery and etc. I use those due to them being good at what they do and somewhat lazy, though my older desktop uses IrfanView for all it's purposes so that comes with a personal user recommendation.
If you want me to give you my honest opinion on a piece of software not on the list or that I've mentioned then post a link in this topic or send me it via pm and I will add it if I think it good for the purpose you mentioned it to me for. Though I will list any free software no matter what I feel about it, those I think are good for the job I will add to my sections of suggested software.
Freebyte's free graphics program list.
Now that the link is out of the way here are my suggestions on some software mentioned there for various purposes.
Pixel Art:
Now here I have to admit the list linked to above is somewhat flawed as personally I'd suggest people use Graphics Gale. The free edition handles .png and for pixel art that's the best format there is, memory escapes me on if that includes transparency or not but I believe so. The other best bet is simple old MS Paint, although please evade .jpg at all costs. If you don't have any formats in your Paint that don't mess up the image colours then save it as a .bmp and then convert it t a .png with an image converter like IrfanView, just no more .jpg or low res .gif please people for the all that is pixel!
Sigs and the like:
Seriously here as well I'm surprised that the list I linked to is missing some software, yes gimp is all good and well for a freebie but I feel that Pixia is a much better alternate for that purpose. But this comes down solely to personal preference, please don't ask me to compare the two because I was a pixia user and then a photoshop CS2 user so I'm biased....
Vector Art:
This list I actually agree somewhat with although I have to advise people to try out Alchemy that program is getting used by and help in it's development from major players in the vector art and digital art community in general.
As for the rest I leave those up to your personal discretion, although I have to say that IrfanView is a must for all imaging purposes if you don't have the Windows live gallery and etc. I use those due to them being good at what they do and somewhat lazy, though my older desktop uses IrfanView for all it's purposes so that comes with a personal user recommendation.
If you want me to give you my honest opinion on a piece of software not on the list or that I've mentioned then post a link in this topic or send me it via pm and I will add it if I think it good for the purpose you mentioned it to me for. Though I will list any free software no matter what I feel about it, those I think are good for the job I will add to my sections of suggested software.
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