Almost every PC user has ever been played with virtual brushes, painting horns in friends' photos. Someone has achieved such skill that allows you to edit the picture, change the contrast, brightness, sharpness, white balance. And units can use a computer like a paint artist to create masterpieces from scratch. In any of these cases, image editors are used , which will be discussed.
Paint Editor
It comes with Windows and is an integral part of it. This program was one of the first to allow editing and image creation. This product can easily cope with simple tasks that periodically arise for any PC user. It:
- reduction of resolution (size) of the image;
- crop (selection of a certain rectangular area with the removal of unnecessary parts);
- moving parts of the picture;
- add labels;
- saving the result in several compressed formats.
The graphical editor Paint provides the user with drawing capabilities, but today they are so primitive in comparison with other "players" that they are rarely used by anyone. Here are the main ones:
- drawing primitives (rectangles, circles, ovals, arrows), straight lines, curves and arbitrary stripes with a brush or pencil;
- choice of brush width and color;
- fill a limited area;
- airbrush;
- full erasure of image areas.
GIMP graphical editor
The GIMP program is distributed under an open source license, but professional programmers participate in the development - this is the main advantage of the editor. It can be downloaded and installed free of charge on any number of computers.
GIMP is suitable for those who are professionally involved in the processing of photographs, and for beginners in this matter. It is ideal not only for editing, but also for creating high-quality graphics.
The graphical editor GIMP is equipped with not the most familiar and convenient interface, but can be completely customized "for yourself". Program tools often coincide with Photoshop, although not always at the same quality level.
The software solution allows you to process multiple patterns at once. The developers have worked on the distribution of memory consumption so that GIMP does not unnecessarily overload the computer. But this approach negatively affects the speed of work here.
GIMP Functionality
Like other best graphic editors, GIMP uses layers (colorless plates that can be superimposed) when working with images. This technology is used by all modern designers, making up the whole of the parts. Erroneous actions made in GIMP can almost always be undone.
One of the main advantages of the product are its extensions. The possibilities that the editor provides will cover the needs of most users, but the most demanding ones will be able to install additional plugins. Such extensions add new functionality to GIMP or simplify working with existing ones.
It should be noted, GIMP has a huge number of official localizations. Here is such a graphic editor. In Russian, it can be downloaded from the official site.
Comparison of "heavyweights"
Photoshop is the "monster" of graphic editors, but the price of $ 700 makes it available only to corporations and professionals of the highest level. Can GIMP free software replace a commercial product?
Basically, the functions of the editors are similar: almost all Photoshop tools can be replaced with GIMP functions, but they are sometimes implemented differently or with their own peculiarities. GIMP lacks the tools required when preparing sketches for copies of printed materials. GIMP provides weak tools for processing text layers. Typed text cannot be deformed without prior rasterization.
In terms of image processing speed , these best graphic editors diverge significantly. If, when filling the canvas with a gradient or solid color, free software only loses to the commercial product twice, then the Gaussian blurring in Photoshop is already six times faster.
Extensibility
The best graphic editors presented use add-ons in their work. If their functions can be similar, then the implementation differs in absolutely everything. Well-known companies such as Kodak, Phase One are working in favor of Photoshop plugins. But I must say, the possibility of developing add-ons at GIMP is wider.
It provides a command console, scripting languages Perl and Scheme, it is possible to create additional C programs. Moreover, all these opportunities are used by independent developers, because the database of ready-made add-ons is huge.
Special interaction mechanisms of the modules allow immediately after installation to use all the resources of the add-on along with the existing functions. So, to create an interesting module, sometimes you need to write no more than ten lines of code.
Logical result
Comparing the best graphic editors, we understand that GIMP loses to Adobe in almost all respects. But the second is intended for professional use and is the top product, the standard of such programs. However, if the work involves an amateur or even semi-professional approach, the user will be able to get a high-quality product - GIMP absolutely free.
The creation of an open source graphics editor could not but affect its functionality. On the one hand, catching up with a more eminent competitor is not obtained in all aspects, on the other hand, powerful development tools that are not protected by licenses attract many enthusiasts.