
As a result, GIMP is best used as a photo editor. You can perform tasks such as adjusting image colors, adding brightness or contrast, sharpening, adjusting color temperature, increasing or decreasing color saturation, or adding a variety of effects that manipulate the image pixels in some form or another. This is because each individual pixel can be manipulated or drawn, giving you much more flexibility and control. Raster graphics are best used when editing or manipulating photos and when free-hand drawing. XCF (GIMP’s native file format – which allows you to save and reopen works that contain layers). GIMP can open up and export to a variety of file types, but the most common file types used in GIMP include. However, the more pixels you have in a defined area, the larger the overall file size will be. Typically, the more pixels that are contained within a defined area (within an inch in this case), the higher the quality of the final composition. On the other hand, a composition with a resolution of 300ppi will contain 300 pixels per inch. The number of pixels in a composition (image or design) will depend on the overall resolution of the composition.įor example, a composition with a resolution of 72ppi will contain 72 pixels per inch. When you zoom in on a design or photo within GIMP, you will notice that every color in the image corresponds to a pixel. GIMP, by definition, is a “multi-platform photo manipulation tool.” It uses raster graphics or a bitmap for display and editing purposes, meaning everything is displayed as pixels in a rectangular pixel grid.

#Inkscape free hand drawing code
Finally, web designers who prefer to directly code their designs into their websites will find Inkscape useful. Also, anyone who needs to print digital designs or send designs to a printer will prefer Inkscape over GIMP (unless you are printing photos). Graphic designers, marketers, business professionals, and vector artists should all use Inkscape. Inkscape is most similar to Adobe Illustrator – which also uses Scalable Vector Graphics. Additionally, any shape- or text-based artwork should be done in Inkscape, especially when that artwork is going to be printed or will need to be made available in a variety of sizes. This is why designing a logo is typically best left to an SVG graphics program like Inkscape. Plus, the color of these objects can be changed much more easily (usually with one or two clicks), which makes it more efficient for creating multiple color versions of a design or for going back and changing a design’s color at a later date. Vector graphics, another way of describing SVG graphics, are best used when drawing shapes, curves, and text, as they produce clean lines and can be resized or manipulated at any time without quality loss. HTML, as well as to animation files such as. Plus, Inkscape can exported to code documents such as. EPS, though it can also export to common file types such as.

Inkscape typically saves to vector-based filetypes, including. To be clear, Inkscape is not a photo editor, even though it can support photos being opened in projects and can perform very basic photo editing functions. In other words, you can bring photos into your Inkscape design projects – though the photos are typically already edited in another program such as GIMP prior to being brought in. It should be mentioned that although Inkscape uses SVG graphics, it can also import raster or bitmap graphics for use within vector designs.

This means that graphics drawn within Inkscape are formula or code based, and thus can be infinitely scaled up or down without any loss of quality. The Inkscape program, by definition, is “an open source drawing tool for creating and editing SVG graphics.” In laments terms, Inkscape is a program used for drawing Scalable Vector Graphics (or SVG graphics as it was referred to in the definition). However, there appears to be a decent amount of confusion as to which program you should use based on what you need out of a program.Īs a result, I have decided to put together this article to help shed a light on which program will work best for you based on the kind of work or personal projects your are doing.
#Inkscape free hand drawing software
GIMP – which one should you use? Both are great Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) options that can replace expensive premium or subscription programs.
