Graphics software

[tim griffin]

Hi long shot but can any one recommend software for drawing ??
I need to make some graphics/ pictures for a long term project need to be able to draw ribs and sea states and stuff.

[codprawn]

Adobe illustrator seems to be very popular.

http://www.gimp.org/

Gimp is great for playing around with photos etc - don't know what it's like for drawing though - best thing is it's free!!!

[widey]

you could always use the filters in Photoshop, then convert some imported pics of ribs, seascapes etc into drawings. Illustrator is good for vector drawings (from scratch) but needs a lots of practice and learning and you will need a full version. Photoshop can come in an Elements version which (i think) gives you the filters etc. Gimp could be a similar thing, not used it though.

[tim griffin]

Sounds complicated but will have a look if not waterproof camera housing and me in the water will have to wait till April though
Thanks for that.
Cheers Tim

[codprawn]

Only a good artist could do what you want - if you can't draw you have no chance. Maybe you could ask someone at a local college and then scan them in?

Another possibility is to use 3d rendering software like Imagine or 3d studio max. My brother can't draw but he has done some amazing things with them - you construct things out of wireframes etc - my brother likened it to scratch building models out of plastic card.

[tim griffin]

Slim Tim
Has volunteered
The crazy fool and only in his Speedo's I shall be wearing a dry suit
This year temp was 7 degrees lets hope next April is a little warmer.

[Poly]

tim,

Inkscape is an OpenSource (i.e. free) package which will let you draw free hand etc, it is all stored as "vector graphics" rather than raster - so you can modify lines easily.

I recently had occasion to produce some drawings for product instructions. We has photos but the important points weren't very clear, and other bits of the photo were not how I wanted them. So I printed the photos. Traced the outlines in pencil then black ink - focussing on the detail I was interested in. Scanned them to a black and white tiff.

The tiffs were then imported into Inkscape and using the built in feature / filter / wizard thingy converted to line drawings. I tidied them up in inkscape and added some "flat" colours to help clarify things.

That all sounds complicated but it was pretty straight forward. I'm not artist - but think it looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

Neil

[tim griffin]

What is a tiff
Where can I get this soft ware and how hard to operate .
Plan A is Slim Tim in his Budgie smugglers and waterproof camera
Plan B is computer pictures
Plan C a mixture of both

[Mark Halliday]

CorelDraw Graphics Suite contains vector drawing, picture editing, raster tracing and animation packages and more.
Its not cheap, and it will take a while to master it.

Could be better to employ Tim or someone else.

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by tim griffin

What is a tiff

Isn't it your nickname?

[tim griffin]

My nickname is in my website url
Griff not Tiff close though

[Poly]

Originally Posted by tim griffin

What is a tiff
Where can I get this soft ware and how hard to operate .
Plan A is Slim Tim in his Budgie smugglers and waterproof camera
Plan B is computer pictures
Plan C a mixture of both

A tiff is a type of image file. TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format - it is quite a common graphics format - but actually any format should be fine e.g. jpeg etc.

Inkscape is FoC and available from www.inkscape.org

Assuming you are using Windows then you are probably just wanting the link below.

inkscape.modevia.com/win32-snap/inkscape-LATEST-EXE.zip

Learning curve depends on how good you are with a computer, and how good you are at understanding how these sorts of drawing packages work. I am by no means an expert, I do understand computers pretty well, I am not an artist, I have very little experience with PC Art packages. I took me less than one day to produce sensible artwork from 4 photos (i.e. 4 images) including downloading the software.

It seems a popular package (particularly for Linux geeks) and so there is plenty of info on the web, including "how to..." type tutorials.

As its work related stuff I don't want to post the images - but I will PM you the before and after so you can see the effect.

If its not hugely urgent, there aren't too many, and your expectations aren't great I could have a stab at your images if you decide you are not computer literate enough for the software.

[dctucker]

Originally Posted by Polwart

Inkscape is FoC and available from www.inkscape.com

I love open source! I was just having a conversation about open source alternatives to Illustrator with a friend of mine last night. She's publising a book and needs to handle some illustration stuff. Perfect timing. Thanks!

The correct link is http://www.inkscape.org/

[Poly]

Originally Posted by dctucker

I love open source! I was just having a conversation about open source alternatives to Illustrator with a friend of mine last night. She's publising a book and needs to handle some illustration stuff. Perfect timing. Thanks!

The correct link is http://www.inkscape.org/

Thanks for correcting that - I have now fixed the original link in case anyone doesn't get this far.

Has she discovered Scribus - its a DTP package which hasn't quite got the inkscape following yet. But if she is writing a book it might be useful.

Opensource is great in many ways - but I do think that there can be a temptation to release software before it is finished - and then release new versions every month - that winds me up.

[tim griffin]

Waaaay beyond me bloody clever
Polwart thanks for sending the pm with the art work amazing what you did with it.
Slim Tim it's gonna be cold mate best wear your thermal budgie smugglers in April

[dctucker]

Originally Posted by Polwart

Thanks for correcting that - I have now fixed the original link in case anyone doesn't get this far.

Has she discovered Scribus - its a DTP package which hasn't quite got the inkscape following yet. But if she is writing a book it might be useful.

Opensource is great in many ways - but I do think that there can be a temptation to release software before it is finished - and then release new versions every month - that winds me up.

True enough, but I've had pretty

She doesn't have to deal with DTP for the book. I do for some of my clients though, and Scribus looks a lot better than freeware version of Serif PagePlus that I've been playing with. I'll download Scribus and play with it a bit.

I've gone to Open Office and Firefox, I just need a decent open source replacement for Outlook, and I can be Micro$oft free, at least as far as my applications go. Open source feels a lot better than trying to steal M$ products

I'm not quite enough of a hardcore geek to make the move to Linux for my OS though.

[codprawn]

If you do try

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Prob the easiest to get the hang of - running one as our DNS server and it's great.