<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 8:27 PM, ed <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ezedtheamerican@gmail.com">ezedtheamerican@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
There seem to be a great number of packages to choose from.<br>
I am at a loss as to which one is the best to create static and animated images.<br>
Anybody else dabble in Graphics arts on their Linux box?<br><br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Ed, it really depends on what you are looking to do. You've mentioned creating "static" and "animated" images, and you've also asked "which one is the best". There are lots of tools that are freely available in the Linux world that will allow you to create static images, and probably animated images too. Some tools are really good at performing certain tasks, and are not so good at performing other tasks.</div>
<div><br></div><div>For myself, if I want to create custom graphics that I might be using for a website's graphical header, for a poster design, for a publication, or for some other graphical purpose of a professional nature, (more than just resizing or removing red-eye), I would prefer to use the Gimp.</div>
<div><br></div><div>There are also some really good online graphics tools that are now freely available. You don't have to download/install anything; the tool works through your web browser. Tools that readily come to mind are located at:</div>
<div>- <a href="http://pixlr.com/">http://pixlr.com/</a></div><div>- <a href="http://www.sumopaint.com/home/">http://www.sumopaint.com/home/</a></div><div>Another online tool that allows you to create some neat paint effects is located at <a href="http://www.psykopaint.com/">http://www.psykopaint.com/</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>If you are wanting to create custom illustrations, you might want to explore Inkscape.</div><div><br></div><div>As for creating animations, you could probably use Gimp to create animated gif's, but I've never tried that so I don't know for sure.</div>
<div><br></div><div>In my opinion, there is no one tool that fits the category of being "the best" because no one tool is necessarily "the best" at completing all tasks. Some tools just work better for certain tasks than others. However, for me, the Gimp pretty much will do just about anything that I need it to do. In my day-job, I will often choose between using Photoshop or Gimp, depending on which one is a better fit for the task at hand, but when doing freelance work from home (we're a Linux-only household...), the Gimp satisfies most of my needs. Perhaps for running a batch process or creating a favicon or something, imagemagick might be a better choice. Side note: another batch editing tool that I use quite frequently for resizing multiple images is the nautilus-image-converter tool (read more about this here: <a href="http://www.hilltopyodeler.com/blog/?p=265">http://www.hilltopyodeler.com/blog/?p=265</a>)</div>
<div><br></div><div>Some tools that you might consider looking at are gThumb, imagemagick, MyPaint, Inkscape, Shutter (screen capture and basic image editing), and the Gimp. For selecting colors, you might consider using gcolor2 (for specific colors) and Agave (for color palette ideas). My suggestion would be to explore all of the wonderful tools that you have available at your fingertips and see what works best for you, and what works best for accomplishing a specific task. Oh, and have fun in the process!</div>
<div><br></div><div>-Darrin</div><div><br></div></div><br>