When you makes the switch over to Mac it is a joyous occasion. You pull it out of the box, and you use it. However, there is one thing that is missing from your old PC. Your mac doesn’t have a native paint application. Paint is such a simple, easy to use, and completely necessary application to have. You can use it for many complicated things, to simply putting a mustache on your friends Facebook profile picture. The good news about all of this is there are many open source software packages out there to supplement your painting needs.
Paint Brush
My personal favorite for simple tasks is paintbrush by Soggy Waffles. This one is for the very basics. One of my favorite features that I haven’t seen anywhere else is “new from clipboard.”
As the name sounds, it creates a new image from your clipboard. It is the exact size as what you copied.
Pros:
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- It is easy to use.
- It is not bogged down with features you will never use.
- It’s interface mimics paint.
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Cons:
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- There are no rulers on the side.
- When you use the text writer you cannot see the text is in a pop up box not on the screen. You write the text and pick a font size, then you place it where you want it. The way they implement this feature is really un-user friendly
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Gimp
For slightly more complicated tasks I use Gimp. Gimp is slightly harder to use and get used to, but it has lots of features. When using it i feel that it is a good blend between paint and photo shop. You can layer, measure, transform, cut, and paste. The advanced features seem to work well but the more primitive ones are harder to use.
Pros:
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- It has lots of features.
- It is generally easy to use.
- The text input is visible while you write.
- The rulers
- Overall the most functional, while still remaining relatively simple.
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Cons:
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- The simple features like paintbrush, straight line, and shapes are slightly harder to use than other software
- Learning to use this software can take some amount of time.
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