Image Editors

The Windows version of a popular Linux graphics editor and image manipulation software. It offers a ton of features, including advanced layer support, masks, filters, effects and many other features found in professional graphics programs. Beware however that the interface needs getting used to, and the program has a rather steep learning curve.

PhotoFiltre is a complete image editing and effects package, that will not only amaze you with features but also the fact that it is free (for personal use). It comes with many features that rival some commercial packages, as well as additional add-on that can be downloaded from the web site. PhotoFiltre offers all the standard editing features (selection, clone brush, paint brush etc.) as well as a large selection of image effects, photo masks, image adjustments, thumbnail browser and much more. The program also supports batch processing to apply filters, sizing, adjustments and transformations to a large number of images at once. PhotoFiltre comes with modern, well designed interface and is well suited for everything from simple resizing to advanced photo editing.

Photobie is an image editor that offers all the standard editing and paint tools, as well as image layers and support for Photoshop (.8bf) plug-ins and several other features that are usually not found in free image editors. The program also includes screen capture tools, an image browser, a GIF animation tool and a Flash player, as well as photo frames, channel adjustments and more. The documentation is somewhat lacking but an active support forum can help you along if you run into problems.

PhotoScape is a complete photo editing suite that includes image browsing/viewing, photo editing, picture page printing, photo resizing and renaming, and even RAW conversion. The photo editor includes standard editing features as well as automatic and custom adjustment options for brightness, contrast, exposure, backlight corrections and more. It also offers a variety of image effect filters and a collection of image frames and masks that can be applied to enhance the presentation of your photos. Photoscape also includes extensive printing options that allow you to create print layouts to combine multiple photos on a single page according to their print size. You can also create image collages from different layout templates, that can be saved as new JPG files. Other features include batch editing, GIF animations, EXIF display, slideshow and more. A very complete package that will meet most of your digital image editing needs.

Photo! Editor (formerly Photo Toolkit) enables you to perform a variety of popular photo editing functions on your images. You can adjust or correct colors, remove red-eye effects, remove JPEG artifacts, crop images to specific proportions and more. The program also includes a retouching option that allows you to remove cosmetic imperfections with a smoothing or healing brush, as well as a caricature tool that lets you apply warp effects to create caricature-like images from your photos. Other features include lighting effects, image resizing, photo straightening

Paint.NET is image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows XP or 2000. Paint.NET is jointly developed at Washington State University with additional help from Microsoft, and is meant to be a free replacement for the MS Paint software. The program offers a clean and easy to understand interface that includes all common editing tools, as well as clone stamp and various image effects. More advanced users will also appreciate the fact that Paint.NET supports layers with transparency and layer adjustments. Additional features include Red-Eye removal, image resizing, sharpening, multi-level Undo and more.

Pixia is the English version of a popular Japanese painting and retouch software for full color graphics. It supports mask, layer and many other editing functions. You can use your own customized brush tips and even use an image file as a brush tip to create unique effects. Its user-friendly interface is suitable for beginners as well as experts. Pixia supports the most common editing techniques and presents a user friendly interface.

FxFoto allows you to edit, correct and improve your digital images. You can import your photos directly from your camera, or from a local folder. The editing interface is divided into several sections, and allows you to improve your image in various ways by correcting common mishaps like red-eye and improper white balance, as well as skin blemishes and more. You can also apply different filters to make your picture look older (sepia), software, sharper, textured and more. In addition, FxFoto allows you to add text to the photo, draw objects and send optimized images by email. All these features can be used for free, however the program also offers some additional features like image collages, CD presentations, advanced slideshows and others, which require a purchase of the Deluxe version (if desired).

Visualizer Photo Resize enables you to batch resize and convert images in a folder. It supports different aspect ratios as well as customizable image dimensions (with background canvas) and JPG compression level. The program can also embed a small text in the image and add a visible watermark to each. Visualizer Photo Resize supports JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TGA, TIFF, PSD and PSP formats.

i.Mage is a fast and simple pixel editor that supports 8, 16, 24 and 32 bit images. The program offer most common drawing tools as well as a split zoom window, and is useful for tile editing, cropping and cleaning up images. Supports GIF, BMP, JPG, PCX and ICO formats.

Greenfish Painter is a painting program that allows you to paint with virtual brushes, calligraphic pens, charcoal, or chalk instead of the standard pain brushes. The results will look more like a real painting, created with traditional paint tools. Greenfish Painter provides a variety of ready-to-use brush presets (crayon, oil paint, marker, aquarel etc.) which can be customized or (with some effort) you can create your own brush presets. The result can be exported to BMP or JPG format.

BezierDraw is a simple vector graphics editor for creating complex geometrical designs suitable for greeting cards or similar purposes. You can design your drawing using 9 customizable shapes. The results can be saved and exported to .SVG format (Scalable Vector Graphic).

Image Analyzer is an image editing, enhancement and analysis tool that supports JPEG 2000, BMP, ICO, CUR, WMF, EMF, JPEG, PNG and PCX for read/write and RAS, PNM, PGM, PPM, HIPS for reading. Image Analyzer allows you to resize and crop your images, apply filters and perform advanced conversions and transformations (Color model conversion, Distance, Fourier...). The program also offers automatic color correction, red-eye removal, local contrast enhancement, fading of applied filters (as in Photoshop) and an option to create user specified filters in spatial and frequency domain.

Cartoonist is an easy to use image warping tool. Unlike most other warping tools, it uses a simple drag and warp technique, that requires no learning curve or technical expertise. Just select the area to warp, and drag with your mouse to achieve the desired effect. You can easily change facial expressions, turn people into funny, cartoon-like figures or any other things that may come to mind. Fun and easy to use.

VCW VicMan`s Photo Editor is an image editor with basic and advanced features, including selection by color, lasso, replacement of colour, deleting of objects, various paintbrushes and pencils, text, gradient and more. It comes with several pre-defined special effects and the option to add additional ones via plug-ins.

Popims Animator (formerly SmartMorph) is an image morphing program, that enables you to merge two images, so that the transition is animated and can result in a smooth transition effect, which can be saved as AVI video clip. As with all image morphing programs, the result depends on your skills and experience, as well as the choice of images. You can create image morphs, warps, and even stereograms, cartoons and more. Popims Animator provides you with the tools and a detailed tutorial. Additional features include cropping, resizing, preview, twain support and more. Animations can be output as AVI, BMP, JPG, PNG or PCX files.

DeKnop (dutch for "The Button") is a graphics editor that is designed to let you create buttons for your web site without requiring any graphic design exerience. It provides an easy to use step-by-step interface that lets you select the text, font style, color, 3D bevel, size and many other aspects. You can preview any changes that you make as it takes place, so it is easy to experiment a little until you decide on a design you like. It offers support for automatic up/down effects for use in mouseover java scripts as well as gradients and more. Files can be saved in PNG format. DeKnop also supports projects, allowing you to save a partial button and continue on it later or reuse it for other jobs.

Wood Workshop is a unique tool to create seamless textures, based on a variety of different wood types. It includes more than 100 preset textures, that can be modified and edited to your prefence, and rendered in a resolution to fit your needs. The editing process is done with simple sliders, and provides a preview of the effects, as well as final texture. The finished result can be exported to JPG, PNG, TIFF , BMP, or copied to the clipboard.

Image Enhance is a small bitmap editor (.bmp and .jpeg) that can you can use to apply effects to your images or enhance them. Among other things, you can adjust the brightness, contrast, sharpen the image, convert it to grayscale or even apply an old photo effect. Image Enhance also offers support for web cam images, allowing you to import an image snapshot directly from your web cam or scannersyour and digital camera using TWAIN.

Toolbar paint is a small and powerful paint package that is specifically targeted at developers who wish to design their own toolbar button graphics. It can open BMP images up to 64x64 pixel and allows you to visually design a toolbar, using various editing tools that include shapes, text, drawing, brush, selections and more. It also includes tools to replace colors, apply gradients and more. The toolbar graphics can be saved as 16 color, 256 color and 24 bit graphics. A tiny and powerful editor, written entirely in assembler. Additional plug-ins are available from the website that lets you save as icon file, add additional effects and more.