Resources

My Favorite Free Graphics Programs

Gallery and slide-show creator
JAlbum (http://www.jalbum.net/)
Web album and slide show software, free hosting and creative community. Skin-based functionality provides many choices for great-looking online album and slide show websites.

Desktop Color Sampler
ColorPix (http://www.colorschemer.com/colorpix_info.php)
Tiny floating UI makes it easy to capture colors from individual pixels, copy and past HEX and RGB values.

Image Viewer
FastStone MaxView (http://www.faststone.org/FSMaxViewDetail.htm)
Small and fast viewer for all major image formats. Allows viewing and editing of EXIF information and launching of external editing applications.

Basic Drawing and Vector Graphics Editor
Draw Plus 4.0 (http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/DrawPlus/default.asp)
Free earlier version of the very decent “Serif DrawPlus 8”.

Charting and Schematic Editor
OpenOffice.org - Draw (http://www.openoffice.org/product/draw.html)
Must install the entire OpenOffice Suite. Great free substitute for Visio. Has some interesting drawing tools plus3D objects and effects.

Advanced Vector Graphics Editor
Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org/)
XML-based Illustrator/Freehand-like open source software originally developed for Unix/Linux variants. Moderate learning curve. UI varies a little from “Windows standards”. Very capable program.

Image Manager, Viewer and Converter
FastStone Image Viewer (http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm)
Fast. Converts image formats, functions as an image viewer, has screen-capture utility.

3D Graphics Editor
SketchUp (http://www.sketchup.com)
Very cool easy to learn “3D drawing” software. Create 3D shapes in minutes, view them from any angle and “walk” around them in real-time.