Paintshop help

**The_Highway_Man** · 20-07-2009, 19:59

I'm looking for a free paintshop type application I can download. It must have the ability to bend text I want to insert in a coin shape image.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

**All_I_Want** · 20-07-2009, 21:47

Bring on the GIMP

Or if you have torrents PSP

**msr** · 20-07-2009, 21:53

Try this: http://www.getpaint.net/

To be honest, if you are looking for a coin design, then the company which makes them will have a graphic designer working for them.

MSR

**The_Highway_Man** · 21-07-2009, 03:29

It's for an acquaintance who designs stuff for PMTTS, he's tried GIMP and getpaint.net but was unable to do what he wanted.

**Applehead** · 21-07-2009, 22:18

http://www.sumopaint.com/web/

This help?

**msr** · 21-07-2009, 22:28

Try one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...aphics_editors

Specifically this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkscape

MSR

**The_Highway_Man** · 22-07-2009, 00:22

I'll pass the link to this thread to the guy who made the original request and see if any of these links can help him. ;)

**Contrarian** · 22-07-2009, 00:46

What you really need for your task is not a raster (pixel based) application (such as Photoshop, GIMP, or Paintshop Pro). You need a vector application, the best being Adobe Illustrator. What this allows you to do is work much more accurately with lines and type (crucially using bezier curves) and allows images to be scaled infinitely without loss of quality. The final result can also be exported/converted to a raster image (.psd, jpeg, png, gif, bmp, tiff, etc) if need be. Photoshop does have some handy text tools (text on a path, etc) but they pale in comparison with Illustrator. Furthermore, raster images will tend to be less sharp and cannot be resized without loss of quality. Professionals use vector for this type of work.

I would advise you to convert type to outlines within the workflow.

Having had a quick look for freeware vector software I have come up with these, though don't know which is best or even good:

http://www.inkscape.org/

http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/drawplus/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...aphics_editors

Alternatively, you could go to WH Smiths and see if the magazine 'Computer Arts' has a trial copy of Illustrator on its free CD. Or you could go to Adobe.com and download a trial version.

Edited to add...ah sorry MSR..you came up with a list of vector programs before me