Image Editors
Market overview of recommendable image editors and graphics software in connection with the creation of technical documentation and user assistance
On this page:
Pixel-based general purpose image editors
Vector-based general purpose image editors
Vector-based tools for technical illustration
Miscellaneous graphics utilities
Adobe Photoshop Price: starting at approx. €12 per month Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Price: starting at approx. €12 per month PaintShop Pro Price: approx. €70 Xara Photo & Graphic Designer Price: approx. €70 Affinity Photo Price: approx. €55 https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/ Fotophire Price: approx. $80 GIMP Price: free (open source) Photopea Price: free (web application) ImageMagick Price: free (open source) Paint.NET Price: free (open source) CinePaint Price: free (open source) RawTherapee Price: free (open source) PIXLR Editor Price: free (web application) fotor Price: free (web application) MyPaint Designed for pressure sensitive graphics tablets. Price: free (open source) |
Microsoft Visio Price: approx. €399 (“Standard”), €739 (“Professional”) OmniGraffle Diagramming and drawing application for the Mac. Price: approx. $100 (Standard version) and $200 (Pro version) SmartDraw Price: approx. $197 (“Standard”) ConceptDraw PRO Price: approx. €199 CorelDRAW Graphics Suite Price: approx. €699 Affinity Designer Price: approx. €55 https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/designer/ InkScape Price: free (open source) Gravit Designer Price: free (web application and also downloadable) MyDraw Specialized on drawing diagrams. Price: approx. $69 Dia Price: free (open source) https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Dia draw.io Price: free (web application) Vectr Price: free (web application); also available as a free desktop version yEd Graph Editor Price: free (freeware); complex graphs require a paid version https://www.yworks.com/yed-live/ gliffy Collaborative charts editor. Price: starting at approx. $8 per month Method Draw Price: free (web application; open source) |
SOLIDWORKS Composer Price: not published Arbortext IsoDraw Price: not published CorelDRAW Technical Suite Price: approx. €999 Canvas Price: approx. $599 XVL Technical Illustration Suite Price: not published Some free CAD programs |
Blender Price: free (open source) Wings 3D Price: free (open source) |
JPEGmini Significantly compresses JPEG images without affecting perceptual quality. Price: web application free; desktop application approx. $29 PNGGauntlet Compresses PNG files without losing image quality. Price: free (freeware) TinyPNG Image compressor for PNG and JPEG files. Price: free (web application) Optimizilla Shrinks JPEG and PNG images. Price: free (web application) Potrace Command line tool that converts bitmap images to vector drawings. On the project home page, there are also some links to free third-party GUIs for this tool. Price: free (open source) http://potrace.sourceforge.net Vector Magic Commercial tool to convert bitmap images to vector images. Price: approx. $295 or $8 per month FontForge Allows you to edit outline and bitmap fonts. This can be a good alternative to using bitmap icons, for example, when you want to visualize specific keys from the keyboard or other user interface controls. The program an also convert between PostScript, TrueType, OpenType, CID, and SVG. Price: free (open source) Sign Builder Specialized program for creating safety, industrial, and general-purpose signs. Price: approx. $299; there’s also a free online version available http://www.stclaire.com/go/sign_builder/ Pencil GUI prototyping tool. Can also draw diagrams. Price: free (open source) Iconion Enables you to convert any icon font into png icons by adding color, shadow, gradient, etc. Price: approx. €64 |
Paletton Color scheme generator that helps you to find harmonic color combinations. Price: free (web application) Adobe Color CC Web application that lets you browse and create color themes. Also provides access to a wide variety of community created color combinations. Price: free (web application) https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/ Colormind Suggests colors that can nicely be combined with a given color. Uses a built-in leaning algorithm that learn from other peoples preferences. Price: free (web application) iWantHue Generates palettes of optimally distinct colors. Especially helpful for designing charts, diagrams, and infographics. Price: free (web application) http://tools.medialab.sciences-po.fr/iwanthue/ Picular Color search engine that provides a selection of colors based on a word that you enter. Price: free (web application) Web Color Data Retrieves the color scheme of an existing web site and shows a selection of web sites with similar colors. Price: free (web application) ColorHexa Versatile color tool with many functions. Price: free (web application) Color Hex Another great color tool. Price: free (web application) Vischeck Simulates colorblind vision. You can upload an image files or enter the URL of a web page. Price: free (web application) |
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This page was last updated 04/2019
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