Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: MrBump on May 01, 2009, 01:53:57 PM
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Can anyone recommend a decent design application?
What I'm after is something that I can design graphically fronts for BYOC pedals - I've got Paint Shop Pro - but I'm wondering if there's a free app out there that might be better suited...
Ta.
Mark.
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I'm no image editor guru, but the 2 most popular free ones are gimp and gimpshop which pretends it's photoshop, I've no idea how it compares
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If you eventually want to get overlays or stickers printed, your best bet is to use vector graphics. There'a pretty decent free vector graphics editor called Inkscape: http://www.inkscape.org
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Inkscape looks cool, cheers.
Mark.
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Just download GIMP.
It's fantastic and it's more intuitive than photoshop, where I can't find any of the tools because they aren't where one would expect.
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Inkscape is good, but can't seem to process .EPS's which I find easier to use. GIMP is my choice
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GIMP is definitely cool, but a little too much like PSP. I'm really after something more akin to a CAD type app, I think.
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Adobe Illustrator? If you only need it for a max 30 days that is, I'm sure theres a trial. You can always "fix" the trial to work forever if you feel you need it for longer :P
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Just download GIMP.
It's fantastic and it's more intuitive than photoshop, where I can't find any of the tools because they aren't where one would expect.
Its funny, but after using photoshop for years I have the same problem in reverse. :D
I've often found Inkscape to be handy for quick vector type stuff.
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haha yeah I hate gimp, cant find where anything is. The GUI is horrible compared to photoshop imo.
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Xara gets my vote for vector graphics, though it can't handle bitmap conversions so well.
It's dirt cheap too.
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meh, pirate photoshop. still king.
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meh, pirate photoshop. still king.
Of course Indysmith does NOT support the downloading of illegal cracked software from place like piratebay & demoniod at all.
(this message is brought to you by the 'saving your ass incase big corporations are watching' ;)
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:lol:
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I liked Freehand and Quark Express when I used to work for an advertising house doing advert layouts. Like someone has already said, vector graphics all the way - you'll get a sharper image and they will scale without pixelating.
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There are some handy freeware applications that make a good fist of converting pixel-based images into vector ones. As I've been using Photoshop for over 15 years now nothing's going to get me to change so when I came to doing some t-shirt design that had to end up as a SVG vector image I used:
http://delineate.sourceforge.net/
to convert my Photoshop line-art to a vector format.
The argument that vector graphics will be sharper than bitmap graphics is true but these days computers can handle files of massive resolution with ease so it has become less of a problem, especially when it's going to be something as small as a pedal. Find out what resolution your printer can output (lines per inch) and multiply that by the size of your pedal (in inches). That'll be the resolution you'll need to work at, if you use Photoshop or similar, to get the highest quality possible from your printer. Granted, a vector file will be small in filesize but again storage is cheap these days. I think, within reason, you can choose whether to use vector or bitmap on the basis of which software you're most comfortable with for something like your pedal designs.
The last magazine cover I did we rendered at 4K (4096 pixels across) and that was fine for a high quality photo style image.