Open Source alternatives to Adobe Creative Suite (Gimp and Inkscape)
May 26th, 2007 by AndieCZ
Not every single person is rich enough to buy Adobe Creative Suite 3. It is really the best graphics and image manipulation suite on the market, but it is expensive as hell. In case you make some graphics occasionally, you have no chance to get money invested in the suite back.
Graphics and image processing was a big challenge for the developers of the open source software. But finally, they did develop applications, which are able to compete with commercial solutions available for Mac OS X.
The two best options in my own eyes are Gimp and Inkscape. Both applications are ported from Linux, which brings some limitations for Mac OS X users. Gimp and Inkscape need X11 to run on Mac OS X. It means, their user interface is not fully compliant with the Aqua look and feel of Mac OS X and you will not enjoy some benefits of Mac OS X. But, these limitations are not so big, that you could not use the applications at all.
Both applications are capable of using Wacom tablets and they are automatically recognized. You will just start the application and you can start to use your creativity to produce cute graphics.
- Gimp is an excellent application for image processing, mainly to make adjustments and corrections to your digital photos. The user interface of Gimp is very different from any other application and you will need several days of practice to get to used to it, but at the end, you will be able to work with the application with an ease.
- Inkscape is an alternative to Adobe Illustrator. The current version is 0.4x, but you do not have to worry. In open source world, it is pretty common, the applications have version numbers below 1, but they are really ready to be used. Inkscape is a vector image processing application and it has really mature features. It is not the application for professionals, but for home use – it has enough capabilities to produce excellent results. On the Inkscape website you can see samples of illustration done by the users of Inkscape.
To conclude, before buying Adobe Creative Suite try to search for alternatives. Maybe you will find Gimp and Inkscape fully meeting your needs.
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