Post-Production Mapping Software
Hey all!
Just started playing around with Gimp as a "post-production" tool for a map that I made in Campaign Cartographer. I was wondering what everyone thinks the best software for doing this is. I know Adobe Photoshop is supposed to be pretty awesome, but which version is most helpful for this? I am not really interested in touching up photos, my aim would be the most utility as far as beautifying my maps from CC3.
Any help would be appreciated!
Nick
Just started playing around with Gimp as a "post-production" tool for a map that I made in Campaign Cartographer. I was wondering what everyone thinks the best software for doing this is. I know Adobe Photoshop is supposed to be pretty awesome, but which version is most helpful for this? I am not really interested in touching up photos, my aim would be the most utility as far as beautifying my maps from CC3.
Any help would be appreciated!
Nick
Comments
Project Dogwaffle used to be available for free and it was almost as good as the GIMP in certain ways, but it's gone from free to trialware / shareware, and carries a different product name the last time I checked - which was like three or four years ago, (I forget what they're calling it now - but I vaguely remember it was named something like "Squirrel Art" or some such thing).
Anyway - I use another app called PAINT.NET with the GIMP that's an updated - "suped up" version of Microsoft Paint. That is also free and you can Google it.
You can also get other free apps like Cybia "IMAGE INC.", Mediachance "BWORKS", "PIXIA", etc. - All of which you can Google and find, and that are useful here and there for various things. The GIMP will except old Photoshop .8bf filters if you install the PSPI.EXE Gimp photoshop plugin (Google it), but be careful if you downlowd "filter forge" .8bf filters because the GIMP has a hard time reading the Filter Forge code - and you'll get a memory access error and the Filter Forge filters won't load in right. I would gladly send you the PSPI filter and all of the .8bf photoshop filters I have if it were legal - but I can't, to find the .8bf filters - your going to have to Google "8bf filters" or "Photoshop .8bf filters".
Here's a list of the .8bf filter sets that I use that you can look up (Google / Yahoo):
#1, AMPHISOFT,
#2, FLAMING PEAR,
#3, L'Amico Perry,
#4, Lokas Software,
#5, MV's Plug Ins,
#6, OPTIKVERVE LABS,
#7, Red Paw Media,
#8, Richard Rosenman Filters,
#9, Smart Refinement Filter,
#10, XERO FILTERS.
Again - these are useable in The Gimp - provided that you have the PSPI.EXE plugin, that you must install in the Gimp by moving it to C: > Program Files > GIMP-2.0 > lib > gimp > 2.0 > plug-ins.
I would then unzip / install each .8bf filter into it's own individual folder - and then put all of those filter folders into a single folder called "PS-Plugins", then you would "activate" them by
opening up the GIMP - searching the Filters for "Photoshop Plug-In Settings" - going into that - and hitting the little letter / file icon to browse for your "PS-Plugins" folder - which will tell GIMP where to find it the next time you open GIMP - in which case your filters will be immediately visible in your filters dropdown menu / directory (see graphic below).
Unless you own a Fortune 500 graphics company that is doing major league professional advertising or magazine work - I wouldn't spend a dime on Photoshop. Why spend anywhere from $135.00 to $465.00 on a piece of software - when The GIMP can do everything that your going to need it to do, and for free. Don't waste your money.
I've used Photoshop a few times myself - and it's a good app, I'm not knocking it at all, but I can see where your coming from because it would be kind of awkward to me to use it all the time when I'm so used to using GIMP. The interface arrangement of the menu items, tools, etc. On Photoshop 7 though didn't seem all that different than the current version of GIMP - so I'm not sure how much of an impact re-acclamating to The GIMP might make on time vs. Profitability. Admittedly Photoshop is a somewhat slicker app, but I don't know if it is slick enough to warrant the price tag - at least for basic, more common editing purposes.
It still seems perplexing to me though why some companies who may not need an app with all the glitz that Photoshop has, wouldn't at least consider shifting to a cheaper alternative - that would seem to me to be a "somewhat" profitable consideration, but then again - I'm not running a pipeline that has a set schedule or deadlines to meet - so I couldn't really say - I suppose.
When I used Photoshop - the GUI didn't seem any more intuitive to me than GIMP's, I really didn't find it any easier to use (this was back during the age of Photoshop 6 and 7). Admittedly
some of the tools (such as blur and smudge for example) had somewhat better qaulity results (a little less rippling and pixelating), but overall it "seemed" to me to be about the same in overall basic functionality in retrospect. That's just my opinion though - and granted, opinions aren't inately profitable in and of themselves. I guess it does - more or less - boil down to what your used to.
Undoubtably though - if your on a tight budget - I don't think that it can argued that The GIMP is not an excellent alternative.
It IS "the poor man's Photoshop", and it does an excellent job.There truly are no free graphics editors, (at least to my knowledge), that can hold a candle to it. It's a great app.