Alternative to Photoshop or Paint.NET

Question

I have been moving toward Ubuntu from a long time Windows development background. The one program I cannot seem to do without is a graphic editor. I have seen recommendations for programs, but they turn out to be directed at children or tailored to working with personal photographs.

I am looking for something more for programming tasks like analysing colors, resizing, creating web graphics, etc. I have used Photoshop in the past and more recently have mostly used Paint.net for Windows.

Is there a program for Ubuntu that covers this area?

Answer 1

GIMP (install) should do the job.

Many people I know complained that GIMP has an awkward and unintuitive user interface, but hopefully you can get used to it and get the job done.

Answer 2

As others have said GIMP is an excellent graphics program. I personally have not had any problems with the interface - I find it pretty intuitive. It is one of the featured applications in the Ubuntu Software Centre.

For creating web graphics, Inkscape (also a featured app) may be a better tool. It creates files in SVG format and can export to the usual .png, .jpg, .bmp etc. SVGs are good because they are scalable, so don't deform when resized. They also have the ability to be interactive using Javascript. SVG is a web standard.

Specifically for the 'programming' side of things you could use ImageMagick. It has a command line interface and also has bindings to many popular languages (including C, C++, perl, python, ruby, java). The ImageMagick program and its various language bindings are available from the software repositories.

To automate simple processes such as resizing, you can use Phatch. It is available from the software repositories.

Answer 3

The only real issue interface wise is GIMP is not PhotoShop. So if you learned where things are in PS then GIMP will be a bit frustrating at first. Of course there are some folks who do there best to make GIMP like PS, like GimpShop (discontinued).

Here is a good rundown of Linux based graphics programs: http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/2008091312364896/Graphics.html

Answer 4

For paint.NET? Definitely Pinta. And if you don't mind installing KDE dependencies be sure to try Krita as well.

Personally I barely use anything other than Inkscape, but that's because I do more creating than modifying.

Answer 5

As GIMP does (several) things differently than the other software, may I suggest the following resources, which might help you get things done:

• http://www.gimpusers.com/
• http://the-gimp.deviantart.com/ (tutorials, brushes, etc.)
• http://gimp-users.deviantart.com/ (tutorials, brushes, etc.)
• http://www.gimpedtutorials.com/
• http://gimpguru.org/
• http://registry.gimp.org/
• http://tutorial-city.deviantart.com/gallery/24413134
• http://blog.meetthegimp.org (added 2013-07-22)

I hope they are useful to you.

Answer 6

For a Paint.NET alternative look here: Is there a Paint.NET alternative?

Answer 7

You can also try proprietary Pixel

Its interface is very similar to Photoshop.

Answer 8

Or, you could just go on line to http://pixlr.com/editor/ and use it for free without any download or installation. It will open your psd with layers, and has most of the same effects. Deal-breakers for me are no rulers or guides, and canvas size in pixels only, no option in inches, so not good for printing exact sizes.

Answer 9

I'm using GIMP most of the time for adjusting photos (f.i. color-balance, gamma-correction), retouching (removing unwanted objects) and even changing the background.

Picasa3 is a useful photo-management-program with some basic features (clipping, red-eye-removal, changing color-ratio, ...). Most of the people I know are happy with Picasa. I primarily use Gimp and use Picasa afterwards to upload the photos (sharing, printing, saving)

Sometimes I use Xara Xtreme to create some extra effects.

Answer 10

As far as I know, GIMP would be your best free alternative to Photoshop. By far. If you are unhappy with GIMP consider using Photoshop through WINE. To see how, Click here

Answer 11

Have a look at Bibble. This commercial photographic workflow program works fine, very fine, on my Ubuntu 64 bit machine. The look and feel are much like Photoshop.

Answer 12

GIMP should be the answer for both paint.net and Adobe Photoshop. I have been using GNU/Linux since 2002 and i am a professional photographer and graphic designer and i know the importance of Adobe Photoshop. I should say that more than 95% of what you can do in photoshop can be done in GIMP. This is your best alternative. Don't worry about the user interface, once you get used to it, you will become super-productive.