09 August 2011

Free Design Software

We all know about Adobe Photoshop, Adobe illustrator and The Adobe Creative Suite. The suite is a creative industry standard and commands big bucks for a licence. If you have the money and nothing else will do then I advise you to go straight to the adobe site http://www.adobe.com/ for the proprietary software.

However, for those who want something different, on a modest budget yet still require quality software, read on. There are more options on the internet for designers than just Adobe.


Okay lets get straight to it, here is a breakdown of the main pieces of software I use for digital drawing. They are all legal and free, they are made by enthusiasts and professionals who believe that a program's code should be available to everyone to use and change.

GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a raster based editing tool, which means that it's good for photo's and images created from pixels. It's good for getting the best out of photo's, works with a graphics tablet so you can paint and draw and has some excellent brushes. It works with layers, similar to Photoshop, however, it's not fair to either programme to compare the two too closely.

Inkscape is a vector graphics creator and editor, which means the images can be scaled to any size and will retain their detail (good for logos). This happens because the software deals with lines and the geometry of the image, not the pixels themselves. This software allows you to use a graphics tablet and to draw freely. Illustrator is a vector based editor and so, if GIMP is my Photoshop, then Inkscape is my illustrator. Again it is unfair to compare these two pieces of software too closely.

Sketchup is a very intuitive and fun 3D modelling tool. Good for making just about any object you can think of in 3D. Great for using with GIMP as you can import textures and export raster images. Edit the models to perfection with some digital paint in GIMP.

This is an amazing if complex 3D content creator. If you want to bring your characters to life and enter the animation or gaming industry, this is the software on which to train your creative muscles. It is comparable to mid to high range commercial, proprietary software that fulfils the same market area. It has a range of tools to allow you to make 3D objects, animate them and edit the final movie.

So those are the main areas covered. Raster, Vector and 3D modeling. If you want to compare more software packages that cover the same areas, then I recommend you go to wikipedia and do some further research. Try here:


Next blog; Focus on getting the most from your digital art work.

No comments:

Post a Comment