Inkscape

What is Inkscape?

Inkscape is a free open source vector drawing program. If you do not know what vector is, just think of it as an image where you can increase or decrease in size without any loss of detail or pixelation as long as it is still in a particular format. Don't be too happy about it and go about resizing your image anywhere because for it to work , it got to be in a particular file format and using specialized programs like the commercial program Adobe Illustrator and the free and open sourced alternative Inkscape. For more details on Vector vs Raster click here

Why I use Inkscape?

I am not a big fan of vector art/illustrations. I am more towards digital painting.
Inkscape is free and lightweight meaning a slower computer may have problems running Adobe Illustrator but it can run Inkscape. Not saying that the Adobe Suite is bad, infact i've used Photoshop, Illustrator before and those programs are good, really good but you got to pay hundreds if not thousands for the softwares unless you are like me, using them in school.

Inkscape is also feature rich, like what i said in my GIMP POST : As long as you know the features of Inkscape you can do almost anything but not all that the commercial Adobe Illustrator can do...it is good enough for most people even professionals!

Since Inkscape is free, it is best suited for people like me who just love to do some "art" as a hobby during our free time...

A clock face I did few months ago.


I believe i've said this before: Open source programs inspires and encourages learning. Even kids can use Inkscape to doodle or draw various shaps all these without spending a single cent (Alright maybe your electricity bills).

More reasons to use Inkscape

There are plenty of free tutorials online and i'll list a couple of the best tutorials I've seen so far.

• Screencasters


• Inkscapetutorials

Of course don't forget about Youtube
There are plenty of tutorials out there.

In my opinion, I feel that the best way to learn is to try out the programs yourself. See the various functions of the tool, play around with it, do something with it. Tutorials can only help that much but your own creativity can help you achieve something much much better.

Future of Inkscape

Inkscape is always in development meaning developers are constantly improving the features of Inkscape. The latest version of Inkscape is 0.47.

Get it here

As usual with any open source graphic programs that I introduced here, I would like to end this post with a vector background I did specially for this Course blog.

SIWM!

Operating systems can be fun to use and explore.

This week i'm going to talk about my favourite operating system. Ubuntu 10.04 (codename: Lucid Lynx)

Ubuntu home page

Ubuntu is a Debian based linux operating system. I started using Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) 6 months ago. At first I was not used to it and i find that doing some stuff in Ubuntu is difficult but having got past the starting phase, I slowly started to enjoy using this operating system. I was a loyal Windows XP user till now...

Thing to note: This post is not anti-microsoft, each operating systems has its own advantage but i'll focus on the Ubuntu here.

Why I like Ubuntu?

It has a really cool interface, there are also advance desktop effects that are not found in windows for those who really like eye candy in their OS. It is easy to install, one can easily download the .ISO file and use a software and burn the ISO into the USB drive then proceed to try Ubuntu without installing or install ubuntu in your hard disk.

Of course having nice desktop effects is not the only reason why I enjoying using Ubuntu. Since Ubuntu uses very few resources, it can be installed on older computers, i've read that there are users who install Linux operating system in computers that are more than 10 years old...can you imagine if you install Modern OS (Winxp, Vista, Win7) on old computers? It will probably take you "Who knows how long" to start into windows.





My Ubuntu starts up in under 30seconds reaching the desktop and loading everything...now i don't remember windows having such a fast start up. I still remember my winxp(after reaching desktop) needed about an additional 2-3 mins to finish loading the anti virus, firewall and various start up programs...what a PAIN.

Any disadvantage of Ubuntu (Or other Linux distribution)?

Yes. Personally, i only have problems when I need to do a report or presentation. Since Microsoft office does not support Ubuntu, I have to boot into my winxp and do my presentation slides from there, also anything which has to do with Microsoft I cannot do on Ubuntu like Visual studio 2008 etc...I've also read from forums that some users have problems with their system after installing Ubuntu as the hardware like onboard graphic card is not supported but luckily for me, everything works out of the box.


Future of Ubuntu and other linux distribution.

Although Linux operating systems is getting more attention and attracting more users as people start to find out about the advantage, the market share of Linux OS is still nothing compared to the market share of Microsoft Windows. I don't see this as a bad thing, I will just see it as Linux is a NICHE product, good but not many people using it. I like being the "Special" one.

Screen shots of my Ubuntu desktop


Multiple work spaces a feature of linux operating system.

GIMP

What is GIMP?

GIMP Stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program.

It is widely regarded as a Photoshop alternative. Although not 100% on par with Photoshop, with enough knowledge of how each tools work, professional work can be done with GIMP. It is available in major operating systems like Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.

Visit GIMP's website

From what i read from various forums post and websites on the internet, users often complaint that it is difficult to navigate in GIMP or that it is too complex for new users.


Why I enjoy using GIMP?

Personally i like to use GIMP as it is free and it has the tools i needed for digital painting and more.
Having used Photoshop and GIMP, i think it is beneficial to invest some time learning it than to settle for any other less powerful programs as there are other alternative free programs other than GIMP




Latest version

The current stable version of GIMP is version 2.6.7 and the development release is version 2.7
As you can see from the image above, the windows are separated, you either love it or hate it. This will all end as version 2.8 will introduce the option of single / multi window mode.



Conclude

Concluding this post, GIMP is a powerful program and best of all it is free and open source. Open source means that the source code is available freely and many people can contribute to new features making it one day even more powerful than Photoshop. I'd like to end this with a digital painting.


My drawing using GIMP.

Introduction to my blog.

Purpose of this blog

In this blog, I will recommend some of the open source programs I used and also tell you why i use them. You can also learn about professional softwares alternatives that are FREE.

A little bit on Open Source

Some intro into what is open source so i can talk more about the programs in my other post rather than explaining what does "Open Source" means.

Most paid programs comes in a form that are only readable by computers and that means close source. It is extremely difficult to know how the program work since people have no access to the source code. This is why companies charge for softwares they developed since it will be difficult for others to copy their code of the program.

On the other hand, developers/programmers of open source softwares allows their source code to be freely available. Anyone with a good programming knowledge can modify the program to make it better and this is why open source programs are getting better and better and some can even run on all platforms (different operating system).

Visit Sourceforge for more open source projects and programs or even help to develop one if you have the required knowledge.

Why i support Open Source

In fact i'll say that open source programs encourages learning. How many of us can afford Adobe Photoshop or willing to pay for hundreds or even thousands (for Adobe full Suite); that is by going the legal way of obtaining the copy. Since there are alternative that can do what photoshop can do and they are available for FREE, many users who are interested in photo manipulation or digital art can now pursue their interest without worrying about cost.

The future of open source softwares will only get brighter as more users learn about the advantages.