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Enat's Best of Free Newsletter

Issue: 3

Date: 9/12/03

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In This Issue: Paint Programs

1) Photoshop Alternatives

2) Enat's Freeware/Enat's Stuff

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Ok this issue is mainly about Photoshop alternatives. Sorry it took so

long...I really have no excuse other than laziness. I also lost half this

issue and like 2 of my subscribes when I reformatted my harddrive

(my backup broke but I had a month old backup). So if you know of anyone

who isn't still getting this tell them to resubscribe...thank you.

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1) Photoshop Alternatives

This section was hard to pick the best alternative for. Although I don't

have photoshop and I only used it once very briefly I have seen what it can do.

I compared what these programs can do to what I've seen done with Photoshop,

and unfortunately they aren’t even in the ball park. But I was able to pick the

best program that can do many of the things Photoshop can do. Ladies and

Gentlemen the "Best" free photoshop alternative is....The GIMP. I also have

written reviews of other programs I tried.

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-The GIMP-*-*Enat's Pick

This free "Image Manipulation Program" is fairly good. It is written under the Gnu

general public license (a.k.a. it's free). Today I am reviewing the Windows version.

It's written in Unix but there is a windows version, I think this is where the problems

begin. The Gimp isn't the prettiest of things because each toolbar and image has their

own menu so it's not so easy to always keep the toolbars on top of the image. I found

the GIMP to be fairly buggy and it crashed more than once on me. That is the bad stuff,

now on to the good stuff. The Gimp has your standard tools, pencil, paint brush,

fill can, airbrush, match color thingy, text, etc and for special tools it has

burn, smudge, blur, and it has a stamp. There is nothing too special there.

The GIMP can work with layers which is a very useful thing because then

you can have it so that as soon as you click somewhere else, you can

still move around what you just painted if you painted it in a new layer.

Where The GIMP gets it's lead is in the filters and plug-ins.

Along with some strange filters such as glass tile, ripple, and oilify

it has my favorite: puzzle which turns your image into a simple puzzle.

But the downside is the filters happen to be very buggy.

There is an item in the menu called "Photoshop" Plug-ins but I

haven't actually tried to see if any photoshop plug-ins work with

The GIMP. This program can kind of be confusing at first and downloading

it is even more confusing. You will need the GTK+ Runtime and The GIMP

for Windows. Both files are available a the link below:

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Windows Download:

Unix Like Os's:

OS/2:

For Macs this program is not free:( :

But Macs user's can enter the contest to get a free copy:) :

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-Orien's Enhancer

This program has TONS of advanced features, but it's lack of the basics

puts it well behind The GIMP. It has many a filter and effects to satisfy

you and has some very advanced features such as being able to tweak the RGB.

(Which you are also able to adjust in the GIMP) Unfortunately the Enhancer

lacks basic features such as layers and an eraser. It claims to be able

to make image executables, avi's, animated gifs, and screensavers. But

I wasn't even able to create a simple animated gif from scratch with the

help file (Which lacked directions on how to start). Maybe you will be able

to figure it out. When I tried to open an animated gif (which it has an option

to) it gave me an error. So this program will probably not work as your only

image editing program, but maybe it can be used to "enhance" the images

you have already created.

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Windows Download:

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-Pixia

This paint program just sounds like it is good. It has very limited

features and effects. It can draw a line, square, polygon, etc. but you need

to right click and choose fill to make it show up. The pencil stroke has a nice

smooth look to it. It can work with layers also. But unfortunately it can't

move around things at all (other than removing them if you use layers) It lacks

a eraser. It can paint with some texture:) It seems to be able to do more (by the

images from the website)...but I just can't figure it out...maybe you can.

They have a beta on the website for using photoshop filters and has

an extra filters on the site (I haven't tried either of them)

Apparently it was originally written in Japanese according to the website.

So unless you think you can get it to do good for you or nothing else works

I suggest you skip the download.

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Windows Download in English and other languages:

Tutorials:

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-Jans Painter 23

This painter isn't the prettiest of painters but it does it's job.

It has an array of tools including an airbrush and some shapes. Where this

program comes in best is it's spirographs. They look excellent! It limits

the size so they can't go off the screen but they still look good.

To get the spirograph tool at the top left is the tool next to an up and

down arrow...click the tiny down arrow to the left of the 2 other arrows.

In the lines part is the spirograph. This program even has a eraser (you

select a section and go to Range>Erase. This program can also add text labels

and some other things I don't understand.

This program at first look looks like it isn't good, but it turns out to be a good

program with a fair amount of features and excellent spirographs (If you don't know

what it is check out the program).

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Windows Download (3rd on the list):

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-Serif DrawPlus/Photoplus

This is really to program that really need to be put together to get

something out of them. Serif Draw Plus is a fairly good program. It can create

still or animated images. As for tools it has the basic pen, text, and fill can.

The only special one really is the transparency tool. It has some borders to select

from and can extract pictures out of a scanner or photo cd. The help file didn't seem

to work right on my computer...maybe it will on yours. This programs best part is

each stroke is a separate item that can be moved around...something lacking in almost

all of the other programs listed here. And that is about it for this program.

Serif Photoplus can also work with still or animated images. It can work with layers.

I suggest using it in conjunction with Draw Plus to add a few image editing tricks to

it such as blur and fixing red eye. Together these programs don't do half a bad job.

They earn a good second place because the Draw Plus lets you move around each stroke

you make.

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Windows Download:

Draw Plus:

PhotoPlus:

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So here I place the programs in order best to worst:

Gimp

Serif Draw/Photo Plus

Painter 23 tied with Orien's Enhancer

Pixia

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2) Enat's Freeware/Stuff

Please continue to use the address http://enat.cjb.net to go to Enat's Stuff.

The page is now ad-free:) Sorry for the downtime...apparently the server got hacked.

I hope to change some of the things on it when I get time.

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I NEED YOUR HELP!

Please suggest this newsletter to your friends. Just Send them to

http://enat.cjb.net and the Newsletter Link there is quite obvious.

I have gotten 1 new subscriber since the last issue. Hey, who doesn't

want free stuff?

Also if you wish to comment or give suggestions on anything in this newsletter

please feel free to send them to enat66@hotmail.com

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Legal Junk:

Enat is not at fault for problems the software he suggests causes.

Each software title may be copyrighted by the owner...see the website given

for individual copyrights. Photoshop is a registered copyright by Adobe.

--Enat