• What free graphic programs are available?
• What software is available for editing avatars and graphics?
• How do I learn to use graphics software?
• How do you control the frame speed of animated GIF's?
• Where can I get Filters or plugins?
• What software can be used for screen captures?
• Where are some 3D Resources?

Yes, here is a package of free products that, when used together, make a very good graphics suite.

The Gimp - editing

Ifranview - view, resize and file conversion

Unfreez - Create an animated gif

Gifworks - resize, crop, compress and add transparency to an animated gif

More links provided here, here, and here.

**Note - Please review the licensing information on the above sites first, several of these programs listed are only free for personal use, and you must purchase a license to place the software on a business computer.**

got feedback? got feedback?

Any feedback you provide is sent to the owner of this FAQ for possible incorporation and shown publically as well.

by ColdinCbus edited by dandelion
last modified: 2009-08-23 23:11:26

The two most popular packages are Adobe PhotoShop and Jasc Paint Shop Pro. Both offer expandability through "plug-ins" and have a wide variety of tools to create and even animate your avatar and graphics.

PhotoShop is the "industry standard" for professional bitmap editing tools, but it's also the more expensive of the two packages. For more information, see Adobe.

Paint Shop Pro is quite capable of doing just about everything that PhotoShop can do, but costs a lot less money. For more information, see Jasc Software.

A much less expensive alternative to Paint Shop Pro or PhotoShop is Ulead Gif Animator. While not as powerful as PSP or PS in terms of tools and capabilities, it has the advantage of being compatible with all of their plug-ins and filters and comes with many of its own, allowing the user affordable albeit dynamic animation potential. For more information, see Ulead.

Submitted by: Rockster

Macromedia Fireworks is another alternative to the above software. It is a powerful stand-alone graphics editor, which is capable of manipulating animations, instead of using a separate program to do it. It supports all the plug-ins and filters that are available for Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, and is priced reasonably well. Student and various other discounts are available as well, making it even more affordable. For more information, see Macromedia Website.

Submitted by: lemekim

got feedback? got feedback?

Any feedback you provide is sent to the owner of this FAQ for possible incorporation and shown publically as well.

by Mospaw edited by wafen
last modified: 2005-07-28 22:12:40

Mastering graphics software takes at least a little bit of time and effort, but once you do, it's quite rewarding. Heck, some folks make a career out of it!

Unfortunately, detailing that knowledge is well beyond the scope of this FAQ. There is hope, however. Just check out Links & Things for a few different places to go for online graphics software tutorials.

got feedback? got feedback?

Any feedback you provide is sent to the owner of this FAQ for possible incorporation and shown publically as well.

by Mospaw edited by wafen
last modified: 2005-07-28 22:12:58

For PSP Animation Shop:

There are a few ways to change the frame rate in Animation Shop.
If you are only changing it in one frame, right click on the frame you want to change.
You should get a pop-up window, then go to Frame Properties and click on that.
If you want to change the frame rate of all frames to make them the same rate, left click on the first frame, them go to Edit/Select All.
All frames should be highlighted, now right click and go to Frame Properties and when you change the frame rates should be the same for all frames.
You can also do everything I mentioned in, Animation/Frame Properties, but the above I found to be the easiest.

For ImageReady:

To specify a delay time:

1. Select one or more frames.
2. In the Animation palette, click on the Delay value below the selected frame to view the Delay pop-up menu.
3. Specify the delay:
a. Choose a value from the pop-up menu. (The last value used appears at the bottom of the menu.)
b. Choose Other, enter a value in the Set Frame Delay dialog box, and click OK.
If you selected multiple frames, specifying a delay value for one frame applies the value to all frames.

Note: Delay time may not be accurate during an animation preview in ImageReady. For an accurate preview of delay time, preview animations in a browser.

Adjusting Animation Speed

Your browser will not show a frame speed less then 10 seconds, so to make the animation "appear" faster, the only possible way is to reduce/cull the frames. See also General Tutorials

got feedback? got feedback?

Any feedback you provide is sent to the owner of this FAQ for possible incorporation and shown publically as well.

by wafen edited by dandelion
last modified: 2007-11-01 08:06:14

There are many free and for purchase filters and plugins out there.

The three main places to get them are:

Alien Skin's Eye Candy Series
flaming pear
Filter Factory

There are may other sites, but these are the big three.

got feedback? got feedback?

Any feedback you provide is sent to the owner of this FAQ for possible incorporation and shown publically as well.

by wafen edited by dandelion
last modified: 2006-07-08 02:10:09

This question has come up several times recently, including this thread Below are the links from that thread plus a few others

Screen capture utilities (freeware)

Irfanview

Capture

PrintScreen

ScreenPrintGold

MWSnap

Screen capture utilities (shareware)

ClipNSave

SnagIt

HyperSnap

got feedback? got feedback?

Any feedback you provide is sent to the owner of this FAQ for possible incorporation and shown publically as well.

by RPM Jack edited by dandelion
last modified: 2006-07-08 02:16:23

Links For Bryce submitted by caffeinator

got feedback? got feedback?

Any feedback you provide is sent to the owner of this FAQ for possible incorporation and shown publically as well.

by dandelion