looking for a good graphics program

[lazarus]

Hopefully cheap or free. Doesn't need to be Photoshop.

I already use IRFanView, which is one of the best freeware programs I've ever used. What I'm mostly doing is creating avatars for another board I post to.

So I need to shrink pics down to 60x60. IRFanView can do this, but the pic needs to start off square, it doesn't crop or anything.

What I'd like is a program that will do simple cropping of pics, and maybe allow me to put in some captioning. That's it. I think anything more than that (animated gifs, etc.) would require a bigger program. Wouldn't it?

How do people create animated gifs, anyway?

[dutchdemocrat]

1. Irfan View

Irfanview crops. Drag a square box over a part of your pic then go up and hit edit. There are several crops available.

Animated gifs are done like a small movie using frames...

I like Macromedia Fireworks a lot. It is cheaper than Photoshop but not free.

Paint Shop Pro is very well priced for the product. I have not used it but it looks pretty good.

http://www.jasc.com/products/paintshoppro/

[lazarus]

Too cool

I never realised it does that, thank you!

[SoCalDem]

12. also under "images" you can resize to anything you want

you can also zoom :)

[Lindsay]

2. I use 20/20

You can download it for free here

http://www.hotfreeware.com/2020/2020.htm

You can crop and add text and a whole bunch more. I don't find it the most intuitive program I've ever used, but there is a help section and I eventually get things figured out. Anyway, the price is right.

I used to have a freeware program for animated gifs on my old computer, but I didn't use it and don't remember now what it was.

[hyphenate]

3. Try compupic

http://www.photodex.com. It's not expensive, and you get a 30 free use of it to see if you like it.

OR conversely, you might go and buy Paint Shop Pro. I absolutely LOVE it. It's comparable to Photoshop on many levels, and its sister software, Animation Shop is ideal for creating animated gifs.

You can find previous versions of PSP at ebay--the latest version is 8.0. but previous versions are excellent as well. The ones on ebay are relatively inexpensive--I know someone who got a copy of 6.0 for $10.

[nostamj]

4. "animated gifs" ?

I use Flash for animated banners, etc. and have just added SwishMax to my arsenal... it is GREAT for text effects. only $100.

I was able to download photoshop7 for $100 too. essential, IMHO.

[NewHampster]

5. LviewPro or Paintshop

I use Paintshop Pro from www.jasc.com but I'm a pro. and it is the best Photoshop like tool.

I like http://www.lview.com/index1280.htm Lview as a cheapy

[SoCalDem]

6. asmallerimage is good and free..

:)

[cprise]

7. The Gimp

It's open source answer to Photoshop and supports animation.

http://www.gimp.org/

I runs on Windows, Linux and MacOS

[Sapphocrat]

8. If your main needs are scaling, cropping, & captioning...

Go to Alchemy Mindworks:

http://www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/alchemy.html

...and download Graphic Workshop Professional (shareware). It is unsurpassed as a thumbnail viewer, format converter (everything from .BMP to .GIF to .WMF to .PNG to you-name-it), catalog creator, etc. -- and scales, crops, and captions with very little effort.

I can't recommend GWP highly enough -- I've been using it for years, and nothing even comes close to quality, ease of use, and stability. It's the perfect complement to any "big" software package -- and surprisingly intuitive!

As for animated GIFs, stay at the Alchemy Mindworks site and and pick up GIF Construction Set, which is designed for little else than creating animated and/or transparent GIFs (tiny footprint and super-easy, too).

If you want a decent replacement for Photoshop, try The Gimp:

http://www.gimp.org

Does about 85% of what Photoshop does, and it's as free as a bird. A little clunky and prone to crashing, but the price is unbeatable compared to $600 for PS.

[lazarus]

9. about the Gimp

I've tried it, and the learning curve appears to be vertical on that one.

Is there an easy tutorial anywhere on the web? It's not very intuitive, and I got a headache last time I tried to figure it out.

[Sapphocrat]

11. 'Easy' tutorial, no...

Several user-made guides, which are better than the crappy docs that comes with the pgm. The best I can suggest is to Google for 'em -- I can't recommend one above the other, because there's not a definitive tutorial out there. My knowledge of Gimp has come in bits and pieces, and trial and error (lots of error).

The one thing that drives me crazy about Gimp is that there's no "grid view" -- they haven't built that in yet.

[no name no slogan]

13. GIMP (like most freeware) is awesome, BUT

like most freeware, it is NOT the most user-friendly for a newbie or non-propeller head. Like the saying goes, "Linux is free only if your time is worthless".

PaintShopPro, for the $$, is an fairly decent payware alternative. I've used it since 4.x for a variety of things on Windoze, and it does quite nicely. And it's a helluva lot cheaper than PhotoShop!

[Lisa0825]

10. I LOVE IrfanView!!! and yes, it does crop....

Have you checked into any of the plug-ins? Maybe they have plugins that can allow you to caption? I know you can cut and paste into a new image.

[ConcernedCanuk]

14. An absolutely FREE program that does some things PhotoShop wont !

.
.

Right off, I'll tell ya, it doesn't do .gifs, period.

Don't ask why, but it's not in its many formats

*.BMP *.PCX *.JPG *.PNG *.TIF *.TGA *.SKN *.ICO *.PBM *.PGM *.PPM *.DIB

hope you noticed, it even does icons ! (.ICO)

And, it will open "damaged" files, like a partial pic download, while PhotoShop (I'm running PS 5.5) will just give me an error message.

Oh, and the program is NOT available at the manufactures site - http://www.cursorarts.com/

But the FREE program is right here

Hmmm - was in Preview and checking the link (it's fine) and noticed that the info page says it does animations, so maybe this new version DOES do gifs. That'd be a bonus!

Anyhoo

Thanks for your curiosity.

I am running Version 3.31, and this is version 3.41, so I'm downloading the newer version right now!

Oh, and it's only 5 Megabytes !


on edit: re shrinking to 60 x 60 - just go to "resize" in the "Picture" choice in the toolbar, and a window comes up and just type in the #'s you want to resize it to !

[lazarus]

15. Thanks

Now I've got several to play with, this should be a fun week!