Basic illustration app needed
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hi there,
i need a free or shareware app that would allow me to import a picture (say, something like a screen shot) and highlight parts of it using circles, boxes, arrows and the like. not a mammoth like freehand or illustrator but something basic.
any suggestions? TIA.
Posted By: edson mahfuz, architect
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Edson,
When you say "illustration," I infer you want something that's vector-based rather than raster-based (that is, more like Adobe Illustrator than PhotoShop). I also think you should have something with a bit more horsepower than bare bones basic, although not necessarily top-of-the line.
Therefore, I recommend either CorelDraw Essentials (a repackaging of CorelDraw 9, arguably the best version ever) or Xara Extreme, which is similar to CorelDraw in many ways but has a few outstanding features that Corel doesn't, although Corel has a few that Xara doesn't. They are both superb programs, both capable of combining bitmaps with vectors, and both a bargain at around $70 - $80 USD.
Posted By -Gully Foyle
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I don't know if this is an answer to your needs, but this little (free) program called "snippy" will copy anything you circle on the screen - a free hand pen is the default or you can hold "shift" and get a rectangular bounding box. The image can then be pasted into a word processor document for additional markups. Kind of handy, small rea-lestate in the hard drive and FREE.
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I often use this. More a point tool.
It is possible to use it with a screencapture Programm. But only a tool which is always in the foreground. (If you interested, it's also free )
Try it out
Otherwise if you search something for images you should look for free image editors or screencaptur programms.
This tools are mostly included.Burkhard
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Do a Google for 'The Gimp"..Great little FREE program..Used a lot over in the 3d world..
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Edson,
Something like this?
Try FastStone...it does basic to rudimentary editing and is a great little app for organizing and viewing images...and its free.
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm -
thank you all for the tips. i shall certainly check them all.
forgot to tell you i am on mac!
regards.
p.s.: just to give you sth in return, i found a very nice-looking little app called Rita, for basic drawing. just the icon is worth the try.
Posted by edson mahfuz, architect
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I sing for the GIMP and Faststone, both clever little buggers and very Free!! Faststone has sone neat frame masks and the GIMP, well not much different to the Adobe monster.....
IrfanView is great as a straight image editor so maybe download all and have a play, see what works!!
Later, -
Hello, is any body home? You guys, what do you think Layout is for, huh?
Susan Sorger
XMAS 10% Discount Entourage & Piranesi
http://www.entouragearts.com -
Susan,
I know what Layout is supposed to be for, but after an initial play with it and after an avalanche of negative feedback I have put it away for after.Smile
And as I understand it, Edson was talking about general images, including screen grabs rather than SU files.
I think a basic image editing app. would be a lot simpler and faster?
Stu -
Stu, the specifice functions that Edson mentioned are handled very well by Layout. Images can be brought in to Layout as easily as SketchUP models and hilighting with vector shapes and even clipping bits out with those vector shapes is very easily accomplished. Further moving things around and positioning them on the page is very easy becuase you use inferencing just as you would in SketchUP rathere than drawing a bunch of Guide Lines.
So while layout is missing some functionality, like the abiltiy to add dimension to an SKP, it is quite handy for exactly what Edson wants AND it is free AND he can import the SKP and treat it as an image without having to do a bunch of screen grabs.
Susan Sorger
XMAS 10% Discount Entourage & Piranesi
http://www.entouragearts.com -
susan, thanks for the tip.
i probably did not think of it because the idea was to get a very basic, intuitive app that i could learn to use in minutes. layout demands some time to get its basic functions. like stu, the previews had scared me off. i'll have a closer look at it.
cheers.
Posted by edson mahfuz, architect
MEMBERS: have you read the announcement about the new board? Please go ahead and register there!
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