Mastodawn

Kutay Coskuner Nov 18

Top open source graphics apps, in no particular order. Replace your Windows apps with these!

1. Gimp (raster manip)
2. Inkscape (vectors)
3. Krita (painting)
4. Blender (3D)
5. Scribus (DTP)
6. Darktable (raw editing)
7. Natron (compositor)
8. Kdenlive (video editing)
9. FreeCAD 3D
10. Friction (AE-like anim)
11. Synfig (vector anim)
12. QCad/CAM 2D
13. Pencil2D (anim)
14. Pixelorama (pixel art)
15. Handbrake (video transcoder)
16. Cura or Orca (3D printing)

#foss #opensource #linux #graphics

Eugenia L Oct 30

A few more to add that are unique to what they do:

17. FontForge (font creation)
18. Xournal++ (pen-based note taking)
19. Dia (diagram decision maker)
20. Pencil Project (UI/X prototyping)
21. GLabels (printing labels)
22. OBS Studio (screen recording)
23. KiCad (PCB layout)
24. Sigil/PageEdit (e-book creation)
25. BRL-CAD (rocket/tank design!)
26. Siril (astrophoto development)
27. Weasis (MRI scans viewer)
28. PenPot (product design)
29. Vengi (voxel tools)
30. QGis (maps tool)

cuan_knaggs Oct 30

@eugenialoli also audacity or ardour for audio

@mensrea @eugenialoli I love these (incluiding Dia) but really wish Dia would make interacting with it less of a pain. Some of the interactions Visio had back in the 90s are still not bad and probably old enough to borrow.

@eugenialoli any experience / knowledge about Penpot as prototyping tool?

Moeveninsel Oct 30

@eugenialoli
Qucs-S Circuit simulation.

mausmalone Oct 30

@eugenialoli lol I was about to suggest Sigil but was unsure that book layout was graphics - but you got it in the follow up already!

MisterMaker Oct 30

@eugenialoli I like Pinta too instead of Gimp especially if you are doing simple image stuff.
https://www.pinta-project.com/

Pinta: Painting Made Simple

Pinta is a free, open-source program for drawing and image editing. It combines powerful features with an easy-to-use interface, making creativity seamless. Available for Linux, Mac, Windows, and *BSD.

Pinta

neoluddite Oct 30

@eugenialoli https://www.shotcut.org/ for video editing?

Edit: Ah, I see you already have a video editor in there.

Shotcut - Home

Shotcut is a free, open source, cross-platform video editor for Windows, Mac and Linux

Artem Ignatyev Nov 2

@neoluddite I like shotcut as well

Karel Brits 🔻Oct 30

@eugenialoli not really a graphics app, but I often use it as a base for 3D visualisations: QGis.

Milo 🍉Oct 30

@eugenialoli
Siril (astronomical image processing)

Tomi the Slav and 1024 others Oct 30

@eugenialoli + Pinta. It replaces MsPaint for me. For quick graphical editing tasks like resizing, sketching and when I don't feel like firing up the Gimp.

Asta McCarthy Oct 30

@eugenialoli Good to see that DIA is getting some development love again

You can also add https://www.drawio.com/ (similar functionality as DIA, but also supports simultanios editing)

draw.io

@eugenialoli Yay QGIS!

Alien🍉Oct 30

@eugenialoli just a moment ago for the first time after several years of Linux use I thought "I think I will look for a list of graphic design apps for my linux, I want to take a look" and suddenly this toot appears, I'm not even exaggerating. Magic.

Also thanks for the good stuff!

Barbara Sliwinska Oct 30

@eugenialoli at least 3 of first 4 are really old (i used gimp, blender, inkscape about 20-25 yrs ago) and still the best! 🤗

@eugenialoli Many thanks for this concise and useful list which I've kept for future reference. I already use GIMP and a couple of others. I don't understand several of the terms (e.g. raster manip, compositor, vector anim, anim) so will look those up. I'm trying to think of a descriptive name for the list so that my Copernic search facility can always find it.

Eugenia L Oct 30

@pacman101 i didn't have space to write longer descriptions, mastodon doesn't allow it, so I had to use smaller words. Anim is just animation, raster manip. means pixel editing in reality.

@eugenialoli Aaaah, OK. Many thanx.

@eugenialoli 22. RawTherapee

Eugenia L Oct 30

@fischli I didn't include duplicates, since DarkTable took that spot. Darktable and rawtherapee have the same functionality, while the various animation packages I included don't (e.g. one is vector the other one is raster, which is vastly different in usage, plus the after effects-like animation which is an animal on its own).

@eugenialoli I fully agree

vermaden Oct 30

@eugenialoli @fischli

Its worth to mention Rawtherapee because when I had more time and played with both Darktable and Rawtherapee there was always something missing in the other one - using them both for various things was more or less complete solution.

That was several years ago so things could have improved for both of them.

Eugenia L Oct 30

@vermaden @fischli I chose Darktable because it's more actively developed. Rawtherapee has one release per year, while Darktable has multiple.

Eugenia L Oct 30

@vermaden @fischli Also, if I was to suggest a second raw processor, it would be RapidRAW, not Rawtherapee: https://github.com/CyberTimon/RapidRAW This is very, very actively developed, and it does a few things that neither darktable or rawtherapee do well.

GitHub - CyberTimon/RapidRAW: A beautiful, non-destructive, and GPU-accelerated RAW image editor built with performance in mind.

A beautiful, non-destructive, and GPU-accelerated RAW image editor built with performance in mind. - CyberTimon/RapidRAW

GitHub

vermaden Oct 30

@eugenialoli @fischli

Looks good - thank You for suggestion - unfortunatelly its no in the FreeBSD Ports/packages :(

Benjamin Oct 30

@eugenialoli @fischli After Effects has been the hardest one for me to replace. Blender does an incredibly good job at it but I'm definitely on the lookout for one that has a closer workflow. Even many of the other commercial offerings don't quite nail the ease of working with vectors as well as AE (and AE is still pretty bad at it without third party plugins, but still relatively easier than the alternatives).

Eugenia L Oct 30

@BenjaminNelan @fischli have you tried Friction?

Benjamin Oct 30

@eugenialoli @fischli Yes! And was also a longtime Patreon supporter for enve (the open source project that Friction is a fork of).

Friction is definitely moving in the right direction. It's been awhile since I last scoped it out, I'm probably due another experiment session.

Moeveninsel Oct 30

@eugenialoli
http://lives-video.com/
video and as it is multichannel surround you can trick it in an synchronised indepentent 8 channel audio room system. 7+1 audio card makes 8 outs and the ...
Analog no problem but binary ...

LiVES Video Editing System - Because the media should be open

LiVES - Open media and free video editing and VJ software for Linux

Eugenia L Oct 30

@pr14minus This app is not updated anymore afaik

Moeveninsel Oct 30

@eugenialoli
Only development research releases since about 2020.
But it is open source, for instance the new qucs folks where faster than me ...
Bad for the gull, but that `s the way the clam bounces ...

Eugenia L Oct 30

@pr14minus i've no idea what you're saying.

Moeveninsel Oct 30

@eugenialoli
I wanted to be angry but i took a seat,

It is about keeping up the development of free software and they are old? Yes.

The
Qucs-S
Crew was faster than the gull. The gull is slightly indignated.
https://ra3xdh.github.io/

Programms aint bad because they are old.
Possibliy they are dangerous?

Well.

Sombody araound here using META AWS ABC M$ BittenFruits?

Qucs-S: Qucs with SPICE

John Carlsen 🇺🇸🇳🇱🇪🇺Oct 30

@pr14minus @eugenialoli

KiCad is not just PCB layout, but broader EDA ("electronic design automation"), which includes schematic capture. In theory, those schematics (and netlists generated from them) could also be used for circuit simulation and IC design.

I look forward to checking out Qucs-S and hope it integrates well with KiCad.

Moeveninsel Oct 30

@johnlogic @eugenialoli
I mainly use it to desigin way modules for passive speaker boxes. Those 400W + things ....

Moeveninsel Oct 30

@eugenialoli
https://brlcad.org/ Für 3D Design ist aber von den USForces. So ihrs nicht in einem Panzer an einer Lungenentzündung sterben mögt vielleicht eine Lösung.

BRL-CAD: Open Source Solid Modeling

retrimental Oct 30

@eugenialoli
Thanks for the list! I was looking for something like Inkscape. And I'm currently learning Darktable after using Lightroom for years.

Benjamin Oct 30

@eugenialoli A few others!

Graphite.rs (still in early development)
https://graphite.rs/

CasparCG (bit more niche, for those in the video production/livestreaming space)
https://casparcg.com/

Natron (node-based compositor like Nuke, Fusion, Blender)
https://natrongithub.github.io/

DJV (media player with additional tools for reviewing clips, visual effects etc)
https://darbyjohnston.github.io/DJV/

Free online vector editor & procedural design tool

Open source free software. A vector graphics creativity suite with a clean, intuitive interface. Opens instantly (no signup) and runs locally in a browser. Exports SVG, PNG, JPG.

Graphite

Eugenia L Oct 30

@BenjaminNelan Natron's there :)

Benjamin Oct 30

@eugenialoli It is too, thats even the post I was able to view while replying and still missed it! 😭

@eugenialoli gotta check out kdenlive. Also I'm replying so I can easily reference this list later.

Two? foxes in a trench coat Oct 30

@eugenialoli When it comes to video editing, the Shotcut was also nice when we tried it.

Eugenia L Oct 30

@foxes yes, but less capable than kdenlive

Cameron Bosch Oct 30

@eugenialoli Don't forget OBS Studio for screen capture. Despite being FOSS, it has become the standard for screen capture and recording! Yes, even on Windows!

Eugenia L Oct 30

@cameron_bosch it's on the first comment list, not everything fitted in the first list

Mitex Leo Oct 30

@eugenialoli I'm not into graphics design. But installed many of these anyway in case I need.

codepilot Oct 30

@eugenialoli good place to start... in the end, the final statement should be just "Replace your Windows!" ... nobody needs Windows if your apps are running on a free operating system.

Danish Akhtar Oct 30

@eugenialoli Thank you very much. 😀

arclight Oct 30

@eugenialoli I'm still on the hunt for a technical illustration package, something between FreeCAD and Inkscape. There's a $1300 Corel Draw suite that looks like what I need but nobody has that kind of money. The big problem is that the vector drawing programs are primarily aimed at artists and the CAD programs are inflexible and painful to use (FreeCAD especially; they made some "interesting" design choices...)

Fernando Álvarez Ruiz Oct 30

@arclight @eugenialoli

Perhaps LibreCAD?

Eugenia L Oct 30

@ferne @arclight QCad that's mentioned is better than librecad. In fact, librecad is a fork of a very old version of qcad.

@eugenialoli Do like a bit of Inkscape, managed to teach myself to use it well enough very quickly, despite having the artistic talent of a housebrick.

Kerplunk Oct 30

Nice List Eugenia.

Maybe one addition to the description of Darktable,
It is very good at Raw Image development.

Natron, I had to look, seems it is
similar in functionality to Adobe After Effects, Foundry's Nuke, or Blackmagic Fusion

synlogic4242 Oct 30

@eugenialoli vim for .txt .md .json etc

Sibrosan Oct 30

@eugenialoli LibreOffice Draw. I have no patience to deal with the UI of Inkscape

Ben the Bones Kinner Oct 30

@eugenialoli a good browser based photoshop alternative is PhotoPea! I use it for post work adjustments to my art, since iPad is notorious for making artwork darker/desaturated when transferring to a pc!

Diabolic Preacher Oct 30

@eugenialoli I love that this still matters even today

@eugenialoli
> Cura
what the heck? why do we need to use cooperative trash at the end of 2025?

@eugenialoli Self Hosted PenPot to replace Figma.