Image Editors for Technical Documentation
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
For information on the indicated price levels , see Price Levels.
Adobe Photoshop Price level: medium Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Price level: medium PaintShop Pro Price level: low Affinity Photo Price level: low https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/ Fotophire Price level: low GIMP Price level: free (open source) Photopea Price level: free (web application) ImageMagick Price level: free (open source) Paint.NET Price level: free (open source) CinePaint Price level: free (open source) Krita Painting program designed for creating illustrations, line drawings, textures, comics, and animations. Price level: free (open source) RawTherapee Price level: free (open source) PIXLR Editor Price level: diverse fotor Price level: diverse MyPaint Designed for pressure sensitive graphics tablets. Price level: free (open source) |
Microsoft Visio Price level: medium OmniGraffle Diagramming and drawing application for the Mac. Price level: low SmartDraw Price level: medium ConceptDraw Price level: medium CorelDRAW Graphics Suite Price level: medium Affinity Designer Price level: low https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/designer/ InkScape Price level: free (open source) diagrams.net / draw.io Available both as a desktop program and as a web application. Price level: free (freeware) Lunacy Price level: free (freeware) yEd Graph Editor Price level: free (freeware) https://www.yworks.com/yed-live/ Gravit Designer Price level: low MyDraw Specialized on drawing diagrams. Price level: low Boxy SVG Price level: low gliffy Collaborative charts editor. Price level: medium Method Draw Price level: free (open source) |
SOLIDWORKS Composer Price level: not published Arbortext IsoDraw Price level: not published CorelDRAW Technical Suite Price level: medium Canvas Price level: medium XVL Technical Illustration Suite Price level: not published Some free CAD programs |
Blender Price level: free (open source) Wings 3D Price level: free (open source) |
Magic eraser (NEW ENTRY) AI-powered web application to remove unwanted items from photos. Price level: low JPEGmini Significantly compresses JPEG images without affecting perceptual quality. Price level: low Squoosh Image compressor that supports various file formats for input and output, many settings and a nice preview. Promises to work locally, so your images aren’t sent to an unknown place on the web. Price level: free (web application) PNGGauntlet Compresses PNG files without losing image quality. Price level: free (freeware) pngquant Command-line utility for lossy compression of PNG images. Preserves full alpha transparency. Price level: free (open source) TinyPNG Image compressor for PNG and JPEG files. Price level: free (web application) Optimizilla Shrinks JPEG and PNG images. Price level: 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 level: free (open source) http://potrace.sourceforge.net Vector Magic Commercial tool to convert bitmap images to vector images. Price level: medium 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 level: free (open source) Pencil GUI prototyping tool. Can also draw diagrams. Price level: free (open source) Iconion Enables you to convert any icon font into png icons by adding color, shadow, gradient, etc. Price level: low Sign Builder Specialized program for creating safety, industrial, and general-purpose signs. Price level: medium http://www.stclaire.com/go/sign_builder/ Mockup Generator by pixeltrue Can put a screen capture into a mockup of various vendor-neutral monitors and mobile devices. Price level: free (web application) RAWGraphics Calls itself the “missing link between spreadsheets and data visualization”. Can create advanced visualizations from spreadsheet data. The final images can be downloaded in SVG, PNG or JPG format. You can also save images in the tool’s own format for future editing. Price level: free (web application) Some free Favicon generators (NEW ENTRY) |
Paletton Color scheme generator that helps you to find harmonic color combinations. Price level: 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 level: 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 algorithm that learns from other people’s preferences. Price level: free (web application) iWantHue Generates palettes of optimally distinct colors. Especially helpful for designing charts, diagrams, and infographics. Price level: free (web application) https://medialab.github.io/iwanthue/ Picular Color search engine. Provides a selection of colors based on a word that you enter. Price level: free (web application) ColorHexa Versatile color tool with many functions. Price level: free (web application) Color Hex Another great color tool. Price level: free (web application) Vischeck Simulates colorblind vision. You can upload an image files or enter the URL of a web page. Price level: free (web application) |
This page was last updated 09/2022
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