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Any free image editing software?

A

al3000

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 16, 2005
273
0
England
Does anyone know if there is any basic photo software available free for mac? Although if there was something decent I wouldn't mind paying a little for it. All I need to do is crop one part of a photo and put it onto another one. Ive heard of something called GIMP but it says I need this thing off the mac osx disk before I can install it, which is at home (I am at uni).

Thanks in advance :)
 
~Shard~

~Shard~

macrumors P6
Jun 4, 2003
18,377
48
1123.6536.5321
GIMP is probably your best option, but as you say, you need to install X11 from your OS X install discs, so if you do not have them with you that is of little help right now. ;)

I have never heard of Seashore, I'll take a look at that one as well...

Other than doing a search on Versiontracker or MacUpdate that's about all I can think of.
 
Cromulent

Cromulent

macrumors 604
Oct 2, 2006
6,642
773
The Land of Hope and Glory
Just tried Seashore and the latest version (0.1.8) is not a Universal Binary. I'd stick with GIMP Shop if you are on an Intel Mac. In fact I'd stick with the GIMP anyway as it offers more features and runs well.
 
Cult Follower

Cult Follower

macrumors 6502a
Feb 20, 2007
541
0
North Dakota
~Shard~ said:
GIMP is probably your best option, but as you say, you need to install X11 from your OS X install discs, so if you do not have them with you that is of little help right now. ;)

I have never heard of Seashore, I'll take a look at that one as well...

Other than doing a search on Versiontracker or MacUpdate that's about all I can think of.
Click to expand...

How would I go about installing X11, are there any side effects? Is there an easy way to uninstall it?
 
7

72930

Retired
May 16, 2006
9,060
4
Cult Follower said:
How would I go about installing X11, are there any side effects? Is there an easy way to uninstall it?
Click to expand...

X11 is on your OSX disk, put the disk in and search with Spotlight. I recommend Seashore as well though, because it is simpler, and running in an X11 environment is not very nice. It looks like this...and Seashore here is Universal Cromulent
 
Cult Follower

Cult Follower

macrumors 6502a
Feb 20, 2007
541
0
North Dakota
Cromulent said:
It is on your Mac OS X install DVD. No bad side effects from it, if a program does not need it the system does not use it. No need to uninstall it, it is a part of the OS provided by Apple. Just not installed by default.
Click to expand...

That makes me feel a little better. How much space does it take, or is it already on my HD and i'm just installing it.
 
theBB

theBB

macrumors 68020
Jan 3, 2006
2,453
3
Cult Follower said:
That makes me feel a little better. How much space does it take, or is it already on my HD and i'm just installing it.
Click to expand...
I don't think it is in your harddisk. I am not sure, but it probably takes less than a few MB. If you are running Tiger, make sure you install X11 from your install DVDs, not the online version from Apple's website.
 
heySparky

heySparky

macrumors regular
Mar 8, 2007
224
0
Oregon
Cromulent said:
Just tried Seashore and the latest version (0.1.8) is not a Universal Binary. I'd stick with GIMP Shop if you are on an Intel Mac. In fact I'd stick with the GIMP anyway as it offers more features and runs well.
Click to expand...

That's funny, because I just downloaded Seashore and in the Info window it says that it is an Universal.

I say give Seashore a try. It is certainly worth the price you have to pay for it.
 
C

ChrisA

macrumors G4
Jan 5, 2006
11,996
938
Redondo Beach, California
Cult Follower said:
How would I go about installing X11, are there any side effects? Is there an easy way to uninstall it?
Click to expand...

It is on the Mac OS X install DVD. You simply click the icon It you do not have the DVD it is on Apple's web site as a free download. lacking that you can get it from "fink".

Gimp is the best of the free image editors. some of the others are based on older versions of Gimp. But I don't see the point, just go to http://www.gimp.org and get the lastest.

One advantage of Gimp if you have different kinds of computers, like say an MS Windows system and a Solaris box is that Gimp works the same on all of them


two things Gimp does not do well (1) handle color deeper than 8 bits per channel and (2) work easy with color management. But it has all the filters, brushes and tools you will ever need.
 
Doctor Q

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,346
6,394
Los Angeles
The disadvantage of Gimp is that you get a large and complex program when you may need only a tiny and simple one. User who want just a few options beyond what you can do in Preview or iPhoto often prefer simpler programs. That's why it's good to know a few choices.
 
R

redshift20

macrumors member
Jul 27, 2006
48
0
If you don't mind paying a little, I found Pixelmator to be very good. If I didn't already have Photoshop, I'd purchase it in a heartbeat.

I've tried different flavors of Gimp throughout the years.. it's never turned my crank, but all in all, it's very good too.
 
Cromulent

Cromulent

macrumors 604
Oct 2, 2006
6,642
773
The Land of Hope and Glory
Doctor Q said:
The disadvantage of Gimp is that you get a large and complex program when you may need only a tiny and simple one. User who want just a few options beyond what you can do in Preview or iPhoto often prefer simpler programs. That's why it's good to know a few choices.
Click to expand...

That is true. But if you are looking for a Photoshop alternative you have to assume that the user is looking for a complex program. Otherwise they would have asked for something else.
 
J

jeeplar

macrumors newbie
Feb 16, 2008
5
0
redshift20 said:
If you don't mind paying a little, I found Pixelmator to be very good. If I didn't already have Photoshop, I'd purchase it in a heartbeat.

I've tried different flavors of Gimp throughout the years.. it's never turned my crank, but all in all, it's very good too.
Click to expand...

Buck up and get PIXELMATOR,a sort of Ps for the Mac. It was designed for the Mac, no PC version available. I think I paid $59, but you can try it free for a month and see how easy and intuitive it is. A pleasure to use and, if you aren't a professional graphic designer, I see no reason to spend all that dough on Ps, or Cs3 or 4, etc. AMAZING APP.
 
Q

Queso

Suspended
Mar 4, 2006
11,821
7
Thread resurrection!!

I ended up buying Pixelmator in early 2008 and it has proven an excellent investment. Well worth the money.
 
Anonymous Freak

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Dec 12, 2002
5,519
1,082
Cascadia
Peace said:
Graphic Converter is good shareware.

http://www.lemkesoft.com/
Click to expand...

Shareware is *NOT* free.

Shareware is "free to try", but if you continue to use it, you are as obligated to pay for it as you are obligated to pay for Photoshop, Microsoft Office, et al.

Do not equate "shareware" with "free". It is a disservice to both truly free software, and to Shareware developers.

Back to the question at hand...

For OS X image editing, I like both Pixelmator and GIMP.app. GIMP.app is a OS X-native (aka Cocoa interface, not X11 interface,) port of GIMP. While the main X11 GIMP is "production quality", GIMP.app is, at best, "beta quality". It's much nicer to use than the X11 version, but it can be crashy. Save often if you use it. GIMP.app does have the benefit over Seashore that it includes the full GIMP feature-set, though.
 
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