I need a decent editing program!

[Eskallon]

Ok well recently I got a macbook and I was was experimenting and I realised it was very hard to edit the images even the slightest and that I could barely edit them. I have already looked on the internet but I really don't want to spend time downloading,finding out how rubbish it is, deleting then searching. It dosnt need to be the best just needs to be able to do this kind of thing Here

So can anyone reccommend me a good program for a mac that is free?

P.S. I think this topic belongs here if not then please move it and I am very sorry.

Edited April 18, 2009 by Eskallon

[AwesomeStar]

I too use an iBook (or Macbook) G4 model, and I'm with you Eskallon, I can't find anything!

Grr!

[Captain Green Hair]

Well it isn't free, but i reccomend you get Photoshop.

[Jipay]

Gimp is a free photoshop-like program. Not sure if it's for macs though. You'll have to rethink your buyers' strategy though. You can't by a Mac and hope for as many free programs as for PCs.

[Shadows]

Gimp is a free photoshop-like program. Not sure if it's for macs though.

There is a Mac version. GIMP for Mac OS X

Be sure to read and understand the requirements and good luck, hope it works out.

[Skipper 24]

Well it isn't free, but i reccomend you get Photoshop.

If you want you can try the 30 day trial fist to see if you like it. Clicky

[Eskallon]

Thanks everyone for being so helpfull. I have downloaded the Gimp program and i am finding it good so far so thanks Imperial shadows. Also thanks skipper for provideing that link to the 30 day trial I will hopefully be posting some well edite mocs soon, so look out for them.

[pesgores]

The real question is: why people keep buying Macs knowing that most software is PC only?

I'm not saying that Macs are worse, I never touched any, but...

[Eskallon]

The real question is: why people keep buying Macs knowing that most software is PC only?

I'm not saying that Macs are worse, I never touched any, but...

Well most people are normally attracted to them because of their user friendlyness. Although the majority of the software available is for a P.C their is a lot of software available for a mac. I used to think that the macs were not worth it but since I got this one iwould really recommend them to anyone including all of you here at E.B. The hardest thing for using it on the lego side is that you pretty much have to find your own way of doing things. Not saying the tutrials dont help but it is different to the P.C version normally.

[Izzy]

We've had a Mac for a few years now and it is beautiful... I would cry for weeks if I had to go back to windows.

I recommend Photoshop! It is what came with our Mac and it is really easy to learn to use and has many great features.

[Jipay]

Well windows evolved a lot compared to the MAC imo. You should check one with vista. I'm not sure Macs are selling that well though. There's the Iphone and the Ipod to save the day, but if that changes, I wouldn't bet on the company's survival (finally).

[CopMike]

Oh, what a lovely discussion about LEGO News & General !?

CopMike

[Ricecracker]

Not saying the tutrials dont help but it is different to the P.C version normally.

This site might be useful to you, as might this one. I use both the apple website and this site to dowload apps.

Oh, what a lovely discussion about LEGO News & General !?

Isn't it ?

[benbever]

Mac computers are great for graphic design (and for everything else really except games, but there's gameconsoles for that, and you can even install windows on your macbook just for games.) I do all my digital photo editing on my 17" powerbook.

Photoshop is the best tool, it can do the most things. But it's pretty expensive. There are some cheaper versions around.

The free alternative is GIMP, it can do almost everything photoshop can do (except really professional print stuff) but it works very different compared to photoshop. Most image editing guides on the internet assume you are using the newest version of photoshop.

Other digital editing (free or not) programs are not as useful. You can try out things like arcsoft photostudio if you happen to get it free with a scanner or something, but I wouldn't recommend buying it (get photoshop instead.)

iPhoto and other photo programs can be useful too, but not for the real editing, just for rotating and fixing the colours and things like that. Aperture is very expensive, iPhoto is usually fine, and it's much simpler than photoshop. Some digital cameras also come with free photo editing software.

[Eskallon]

Well windows evolved a lot compared to the MAC imo. You should check one with vista. I'm not sure Macs are selling that well though. There's the Iphone and the Ipod to save the day, but if that changes, I wouldn't bet on the company's survival (finally).

I think vista is terrible actully. I have used it quite a bit and all I can say is what is the difference? I don't like them because they crash very easily and even after being taken apart and rebuilt they crash. That is a story from my dad that is true as he showed me on the touchscreen one I think it is called the XFR. Anyway now he uses a just windows one.

Anyway to keep this topic from being all about macs and windows here is a mac in lego here

[CP5670]

Modern OSs don't just crash. Any instability you run into is usually due to hardware faults, or occasionally a misbehaving background service.

Anyway, GIMP will easily do what the OP wants and has a Mac version available. Photoshop is more powerful, but it's expensive and not needed for something like this.

Edited April 19, 2009 by CP5670

[Deepwoods]

Modern OSs don't just crash. Any instability you run into is usually due to hardware faults, or occasionally a misbehaving background service....

being said totally sarcastic... right!

[CP5670]

Uh, no.

[Ricecracker]

Anyway, GIMP will easily do what the OP wants and has a Mac version available. Photoshop is more powerful, but it's expensive and not needed for something like this.

Any tips? It won't do anything at all for me.

[CP5670]

What exactly are you trying to do? The things described in Jipay's article are all basic functions supported by any of the well known graphics programs.

I actually use Paint Shop Pro myself since I like its interface better than Photoshop, but only that of the older, Jasc-developed versions of the program (before 10.x).

[WhiteHexagon]

I've been mac based for a couple years now and never looked back. I can understand the difficulty in switching at 1st but within a few weeks I'd found replacements for all my old windows stuff. For image work I use pixelmator. I found the gimp interface too non mac, and photoshop too expensive. If you keep an eye open, they sometimes do bundles of mac applications and I picked up pixelmator and a 10 others apps very cheap that way. Also you might want to grab parallels for running windows at the same time, great for some of the lego design programs that are windows only.

[Clone OPatra]

I have a Mac, and to make my pictures lovely I use a program that comes with all Macs nowadays called Preview. For those of you who work on Macs, this may comes as a surprise because Preview can't do barely anything. But what it can do is a nice Auto Levels, which corrects the pictures colors, and pictures can be easily and quickly resized. You can also tamper with the colors yourself if you don't like what the Auto Levels does for you.

What kind of program you need really depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If all you need to do is a little fixing (say, for a review like me), Preview really covers everything you need to do.

But if you also want to get rid of things, I've found that Keynote, Mac's PowerPoint equivalent, has a superb Instant Alpha that works really well. I've used it to cut out a scene (if you want to see the result, head over to the Train and Towns Forum and take a look at the first picture of my EBCTC entry). Keynote comes in the Mac iWork packages, which aren't that expensive, and you get a word processor and a spreadsheet program as well.

I hope my advice was helpful.