Image Editors

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.

Fly Free Photo Editing and Viewer is a photo viewer with additional features for sharing and editing of images. It offers a thumbnail browser and a slideshow viewer along with an image editor that includes several standard editing tools to crop, adjust, resize and rotate your images. The program also offers convenient buttons to upload images to Facebook, Flickr or Google and to send photos via MSN Messenger or Outlook. Other features include integrated Google image search, webpage screen capture, batch resizing and more.

FotoMix enables you to mix and blend pictures to achieve greenscreen/bluescreen effects. It allows you to blend a person or object from one photo into another background by simply painting over the areas you want to become transparent and then inserting the object into a new background. You can also use the software to remove or replace backgrounds, create photo collages, blend multiple images into one, and for many other fun projects. Once you have created the initial composition, you can fine-tune it with a variety of effect brushes and adjustments that allow you to smooth and blend edges, apply tint, adjust colors and more. You can get even more creative with the help of several artistic tools that let you deform the subject (caricature effects), add text overlays and apply image filters to achieve a unique result. FotoMix is easy to use and other than some creative inspiration, it does not require any graphic editing skills. The result can be saved as project file or exported as JPG image. (Note: The sample project shows a watermark example, there is no watermark added to your custom projects.)

Imagelys Picture Styles is a graphics editor, designed to create seamless backgrounds, wallpapers, textures and similar artwork. It allows you to combine multiple layers with adjustable transparency, using a variety of sample textures and image effects. You can create variations of a texture, create/edit masks, apply filters and more. Other features include standard image editing tools, web export, convert any image into a seamless pattern, image warping, flare effects and more. The program requires free activation after 30 days.

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.

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.

PicPick is screen capture application that includes an image editor and several on-screen measurement tools, including color picker, color palette, pixel ruler, protractor, crosshair and more. It allows you to capture the entire desktop, active windows, selected areas or window controls with the click of a button or via keyboard shortcut. The captured image can be loaded into the internal image editor for further editing, saved as image file (JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP) or automatically uploaded to your FTP server (upload the image and copy the URL to the clipboard). The PicPick image editor provides a variety of tools to add text, shapes, drop shadows, frames and other effects to your images. Other features include support for page scrolling, customizable hotkeys and more.

DeKnop (dutch for "The Button") is a graphics editor that is designed to let you create simple navigation buttons for your website without requiring any graphic design experience. 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 in real-time, so you can experiment a little until you decide on a design you like. The button images can be saved in PNG, GIF, BMP or JPG format. DeKnop also supports projects, allowing you to save a partial button and continue on it later or reuse it for other jobs.

Pixia is the English version of a popular Japanese painting and retouching 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.

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.

The GIMP is an advanced image editor and image manipulation software that is often compared to Photoshop. 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.

Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. It offers a wide array of basic vector graphics editing capabilities that enable you to create web graphics, technical diagrams, icons, creative art, logos, maps, and other illustrations. Among many other things, Inkscape supports layers, charts & graphs, shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and object grouping. A variety of tutorial and sample galleries are available from the project website.

Fotografix is a small (less than 1mb) photo editor that offers all of the standard editing tools along with support for layers and color channels, clone brush, magic wand tool, layers masks and more. The program also includes a variety of image filters to add effects or sharpen your images. Advanced users can also automate frequent tasks with custom scripts but this feature is not documented and may become useful in a later version. Fotografix supports some of the more common image formats including PNG, JPG, GIF, TIFF and some others. Portable software, no installation required.

RealWorld Paint.COM is an image editor that supports layers, masks and many other advanced features. It includes all the standard drawing tools and image adjustment options as well as support for Photoshop filters (.8bf), layer effects, custom JavaScript filters, image blending, drop shadows, reflections, custom gradients and other features commonly not found in free imaged editors.

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.

virtualStudio is a stand-alone photo editor that is able to run most Photoshop plug-in filters. It allows you to retouch and enhance your photos using the built in image adjustments that allow you to tune sharpness, brightness, gamma, color balance, curves, white balance and other photo details, as well as red-eye removal and photo effects from the included Virtual Photographer plug-in. You can extend the functionality by adding from the abundance of available Photoshop filters. Other features include support for 30 image formats, image framing, watermarks, image blending, auto-enhancement features, image resizing, IPTC editing and more.

S10 RedEyes is an easy-to-use tool to correct the red-eye effect that is often caused when an on-board flash is used with your digital camera. It offers a circular/elliptical eye selection tool that you can use to mark the area of the eye that you want to correct, and clicking on `Fix red eye` will replace the red with dark color. You can fine-tune the results based on the eye color of the subject and also adjust the pupil and eye brightness if needed. S10 RedEyes uses smooth pixel blending and maintains natural reflections within the pupil. For severe cases, it also includes an eye replacement tool.

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).

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

ArtRage is a unique painting software, that lets you draw on virtual canvas, using virtual drawing tools and produce a realistic (digital) painting. You can experiment with metallic paint for gold leafing, sprinkle shiny glitter, fill in large areas with the paint roller, and generally paint, smudge, and smear your way to your very own masterpiece. It even comes with a virtual water glass to dip your paint brush... and can load an image of your choice to use it as virtual tracing paper for your painting. The interface is nicely designed and provides maximum work space while keeping all tools and option easily accessible. You can use ArtRage with a mouse, but it works particularly well if you have a graphics tablet, or even a TabletPC. The paintings can be saved or exported to JPG, BMP, PNG or Photoshop PSD format. The free Starter Edition has some of the advanced features and painting tools disabled, a Pro version can be purchased for $25.

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.

Vicman Red Eye Remover enables you to easily remove a common `red-eye` effect from your digital images. All you need to do is select the area around the eye that you want to correct, and the program will automatically correct the pupil color. The results are instantly visible and can be undone with another click if you don`t like them. Red Eye Remover offers some basic adjustments to adjust the intensity of the correction. The program is probably one of the easiest to use, since it only requires you to mark the general area of the eye, and does not require and fine-tuning or exact outlining.

Mobile Photo Enhancer is simple image correction tool that is intended to correct low resolution camera phone pictures. It can automatically reduce the amount of digital noise and JPEG artifacts, adjust contrast and levels, remove vignetting (dark corners) and also increase the resolution of your image. You can preview the results and make additional adjustments as needed. Mobile Photo Enhancerm can perform operation for single or multiple images.

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.

Project Dogwaffle is a full featured paintbox application inluding natural tools, real-time filters, image warping, gradients, and more. The program is primarily designed for "unnatural painting" and includes realistic artist tools, paper, and media styles. It offers custom and procedural brushes and fill types as well as real-time image processing filters. Dogwaffle supports many file types and supports multiple levels of Undo, alpha channels and seamless textures. The interface can be extended with the use of plugins.

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 webcam, scanner 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.