Free Graphic Tools

12 min readFeb 11, 2021

Free Graphic Tools used by web developers and graphic designers.

Tools You Can Use For FREE!

Free graphic design tools are available online for graphic designers, web designers, and web developers alike. Whether it’s a full-blown free application or a free trial, free graphics tools and web development software can be downloaded for free!.

Overall such tools will assist anyone during the website design process /web development process and even marketing campaigns. Though some free graphics tools may have limitations they are still a valuable arsenal during the process of generating visuals.

Following is a list of free graphics tools.

ZBrush 4R7

Title: Pixologic:: Pixologic:: ZBrush 4R7

Author: Pixologic

Founded in 1997, Pixologic Incorporated develops innovative software tools for the film and video, games, graphic design, and illustration markets. For example, ZBrush is a graphics application aimed at simplifying the science behind generating computer graphics.

In fact, ZBrush appeals to a wide audience by providing empowering tools that give users intuitive and visual control over the digital images they create.

By providing a unique synthesis of 2D and 3D capabilities in a single stand-alone tool, ZBrush collapses economic and ease-of-use barriers to creating stunning images.

Pixologic is privately owned and is located in California with offices in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. ZBrush retails for $795 and can be purchased online at store.pixologic.com. ZBrush is also available from Pixologic authorized Resellers for both Windows and Mac platforms.

Source: “Pixologic.com web site / Zbrush page” — linked to original Pixologic page

Various patents are pending. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

There is a 45-day trial version of ZBrush 4R7 (Free Graphic Tools). After that, the product is not free.

ZBrush is a 3D Modeling Graphic Tool

ZBrush is a digital sculpting tool that combines 3D/2.5D modeling, texturing, and painting. It uses a proprietary “pixol” technology that stores lighting, color, material, and depth information for all objects on the screen. The main difference between ZBrush and more traditional modeling packages is that it is more akin to sculpting.

ZBrush is used for creating high-resolution models (able to reach 40+ million polygons) for use in movies, games, and animations, by companies ranging from ILM to Electronic Arts. Also, ZBrush uses dynamic levels of resolution to allow sculptors to make global or local changes to their models.

Furthermore, ZBrush is most known for being able to sculpt medium to high-frequency details that were traditionally painted in bump maps.

The resulting mesh details can then be exported as normal maps to be used on a low poly version of that same model. They can also be exported as a displacement map, although in that case the lower poly version generally requires more resolution. Or, once completed, the 3D model can be projected to the background, becoming a 2.5D image (upon which further effects can be applied).

Work can then begin on another 3D model which can be used in the same scene. This feature lets users work with complicated scenes without heavy processor overhead.

Also per Wikipedia: Digital sculpting, also known as Sculpt Modeling or 3D Sculpting, is the use of software that offers tools to push, pull, smooth, grab, pinch, or otherwise manipulate a digital object as if it were made of a real-life substance such as clay.:

Again this product is only free for its 45 day trial period.

Vizualize.me

Title: Vizualize.me: Visualize your resume in one click.

Author: https://vizualize.me/aboutus (Free Graphic Tools)

This product and company is an infographics maker for resumes. Their concept is a new format for online resumes.

Paint.NET

Author: Rick Brewster, email contact@getpaint.net

Licensing: Paint.NET is a registered trademark of dotPDN LLC and a graphic tool. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Their website is Copyright © dotPDN LLC and Rick Brewster and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for PCs that run Windows. Per its website, https://www.getpaint.net it started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it.

Originally intended as a free replacement for the Microsoft Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple image and photo editor tool. Also, it has been compared to other digital photo editings software packages such as Adobe® Photoshop®, Corel® Paint Shop Pro®, Microsoft Photo Editor, and The GIMP.

Gimp

Title: GIMP — GNU Image Manipulation Program

Author: The GIMP Team, https://www.gimp.org/team.html

Web Site: https://www.gimp.org/ (Free Graphic Tools)

Terms: GNU Operating System Free Software, https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

Wiki: https://wiki.gimp.org/index.php/Main_Page

Gimp is another graphic tool: Per the GIMP web site: GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring. The terms of usage and rules about copying are clearly listed in the GNU General Public License.

GIMP is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows, and more operating systems. Also, as it is free software, you can change its source code and distribute your changes. GIMP provides you with tools to get your job done. In addition, you can enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins.

GIMP is a framework for scripted image manipulation, with multi-language support such as C, C++, Perl, Python, Scheme, and more.

DrawPlus Starter Edition

Title: DrawPlus X8 — Graphic design software from Serif (Free Graphic Tools)

Author: serif.com

Per the web site: All material, including text, graphics, and source code are the copyright of Serif or its partners. Any unauthorized use of the materials on this site is strictly prohibited.

The web site showed that it was last updated on 18th May 2009.

Serif develops and publishes the award-winning software range that includes PagePlus®, PhotoPlus®, DrawPlus®, WebPlus®, MoviePlus®, CraftArtist® and more.

Founded in 1987 with the aim to develop low-cost alternatives to high-end publishing and graphics packages, Serif has been repeatedly praised for its powerful yet easy-to-use software which has put professional effects and demanding publishing tasks within the reach of ordinary PC users around the world.

Now the winner of over 200 awards internationally, with over 6.5 million customers worldwide, Serif has 190 employees at its head office, development, and European sales center in Nottingham, UK.

After 25 years of developing products exclusively for Windows, in 2014 Serif will release its first-ever Mac product — Affinity Designer. This professional graphic design software is the first in a new range of creative applications developed by a dedicated research team at Serif.

The result will be the fastest, smoothest, most precise range of graphics products ever seen on the Mac.

Per the Serif DrawPlus page on the web site:
Discover intuitive tools for drawing lines, shapes, and pretty much anything you can think of in your creative world using DrawPlus X8.

Ready-made QuickShapes within the DrawPlus toolkit allow you to create shapes in just a few clicks.

It has more natural ways of drawing lines using B-Splines and hairlines.

Intuitive QuickShapes and a brand new Replicate Tool. Add a new dimension to your logos with the Instant 3D tool, as well as artistic text, and choose from thousands of Pantone® colors.

Creating technical drawings such as maps for your club event or a garden layout for your home with the technical drawing tools in DrawPlus X8. Use connector tools and perspective planes to create scaled layouts and isometric drawings. Then use preset Vector Pattern Fills such as hatching, as well as custom fills to add texture and detail to your drawings and sketches.

You can also import photos or convert drawings to pictures and enhance them using the PhotoLab, Cutout, and AutoTrace studios. It includes effects such as Black & White, Sepia, and Pop Art, as well as the essential edits like Red Eye, Cropping, Resizing, and Contrast.

Registered Offices: The Software Centre, 12 Wilford Ind Est, Nottingham, NG11 7EP

Skencil a Free Graphic Tool

Title: skencil.org

Author: https://www.skencil.org/ (Free Graphic Tools)

Skencil, formerly called Sketch is a Free Software interactive vector drawing application. Known to run on GNU/Linux and other UNIX-compatible systems, it is a flexible and powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams, and other purposes. It was released under the GNU Lesser General Public License and it is completely free since October 31, 1998.

A somewhat unique (for a drawing program) feature of Skencil is that it is implemented almost completely in a very high-level, interpreted language, Python. Python is powerful, object-oriented, and yet easy to use.

Ultimate Paint

Title: JTL Ultimate Paint Image Editor

Author: ultimatepaint.com

It is a full-featured 32-bit Windows graphics program for image creation, viewing, and manipulation. In the latest trial version, all basic functionality can be used without limitations. In addition, they have also introduced a new freeware version.

UP supports JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PCX, AVI (reading only), TGA, WMF/EMF, ICO (reading only), IFF/LBM, and WAP BMP image formats, and Twain compatible scanners. You can easily print your image, setting its size, position, and orientation.

Also, it has a flexible brush handling method that encourages creative drawing. It’s similar to what good old Deluxe Paint had, so if you’re familiar with DP, you will love Ultimate Paint.

You can also retouch and enhance photos using a comprehensive set of built-in tools and plug-ins. Other features include resizing, rotating, flood filling, text operations, and a lot more. Also, it comes with dozens (more than a hundred!) of cool plug-in filters, and Adobe plug-ins are also supported. All pictures are handled 24 bit.

The user interface is adjustable to the user’s experience level, thus both novice users and experts can use it conveniently.

Ultimate Paint (UPaint) is a bitmap graphics editor for the Windows platform modeled after Electronic Arts’ Deluxe Paint. Most functionality of Deluxe Paint has been implemented. While there are also some additions such as built-in filters/effects and support for Adobe plug-ins.

UPaint was originally created as an in-house tool at Megalux, a manufacturer of video boards and scoreboards.

The current developer is J-T-L Development.

Google Charts

Title: Charts | Google Developers

Author: https://developers.google.com/chart/ (Free Graphic Tools)

Google Charts provides a perfect way to visualize data on your website. From simple line charts to complex hierarchical treemaps, the chart gallery provides a large number of ready-to-use chart types.

The most common way to use Google Charts is with simple JavaScript that you embed in your web page. You load some Google Chart libraries, list the data to be charted, select options to customize your chart, and finally, create a chart object with an id that you choose. Subsequently, on the web page, you create a <div> with that id to display the Google Chart.

The Google Chart API is a tool that lets people easily create a chart from some data and embed it on a web page. In addition, Google creates a PNG image of a chart from data and formatting parameters in an HTTP request. Many types of charts are supported, and by making the request into an image tag, people can simply include the chart on a web page.

Currently, line, bar, pie, and radar charts, as well as Venn diagrams, scatter plots, sparklines, maps, Google-o-meters, and QR codes are supported.

Inkspace

Title: Overview | Inkspace

Author: inkscape.org (Free Graphic Tools)

Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format. it can be used to create or edit vector graphics such as illustrations, diagrams, line arts, charts, logos, and complex paintings.

While Inkscape can import and export several formats, all editing workflow inevitably occur within the guidelines of the SVG format.

Inkscape can render primitive vector shapes (e.g. rectangles, ellipses, polygons, arcs, spirals, stars, and 3D boxes), text, and regions containing raster graphics. It also supports image tracing, enabling the editor to create vector graphics from photos and other raster sources.

Also, created shapes can be subjected to further transformations, such as moving, rotating, scaling, and skewing. These objects may be filled with solid colors, patterns, radiant or linear color gradients, their borders stroked or their transparency changed. As of early 2016 (version 0.91), Inkscape does not support SVG animation or full Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) specifications.

Inkscape is free! This means it is free of cost, free to use and distribute, and open to peek into the source code. The Download page on inkspace.org lists released builds as well as some developmental and source code links.

The software development of Inkscape adheres to opensource standards and is intended to provide the user community with a solid, usable product. The process is an open, community-oriented development that focuses on a small core and extensibility.

Piktochart

Author: piktochart.com (Free Graphic Tools)

Piktochart is a web-based infographic application that allows users without intensive experience as graphic designers to easily create professional-grade infographics using themed templates. An important feature of Piktochart is its HTML Publishing capability, which generates infographics that are viewable online with multiple clickable elements for users.

Additionally, the program provides tools to add interactive maps, charts, videos, and hyperlinks.

Pixlr

Author: pixlr.com (Free Graphic Tools)

Pixlr is a cloud-based set of image tools and utilities, including a number of photo editors, a screen grabber browser extension, and a photo-sharing service. The suite was intended for non-professionals. However, the apps range from simple to advanced photo editing. In fact, it can be used on PCs, and on smartphones or tablets using a mobile app.

Apps like Pixlr-O-Matic, Pixlr Touch, and Pixlr Express has attracted millions of users all over the world. All these amazing apps are absolutely free.

Sumopaint

Author: sumopaint.com (Free Graphic Tools)

SUMO Paint is a free online Flash-based image editor similar to Adobe Photoshop. Steven Rosenberg (January 2, 2009).

“SUMO Paint: Like Photoshop, except free and on the Web”. The Daily News. Retrieved January 26, 2016. …online photo-editing product. Rick Broida (June 22, 2009). “Windows 7 Features on a Vista or XP System”.

PC World via the Washington Post. Retrieved January 26, 2016. …Try a Web-based paint program. Two good free options are Pixlr and Sumo Paint. Oncay’s class uses the free Sumo Paint website to edit pictures and graphics for the student publication.

Blender

Author: blender.org (Free Graphic Tools)

Blender is a professional free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, art, 3D printed models, interactive 3D applications, and video games. Today, Blender is free, open-source software. Apart from the Blender Institute’s two full-time and two part-time employees it’s developed by the community.

Some of the most notable Blender artists and developers began working on a short film using primarily free software, in an initiative known as the Orange Movie Project hosted by the Netherlands Media Art Institute.

Canva

Author: .canva.com (Free Graphic Tools)

Canva is an online graphic design platform. It offers free access to a wide assortment of design tools and options, as well as premium options for paying customers. The company operates on a freemium business model, providing free design tools and access to their library of images and offering additional paid designs, a marketplace for designers and tools specific for companies.

In addition, they released “Design School”, bringing together a range of educational content including tutorials, a daily blog, and workshop materials for Canva users to access free of charge.

PicMonkey

Author: picmonkey.com (Free Graphic Tools)

PicMonkey uses a freemium business model, offering ad-supported free features as well as a set of premium features “Royale” available for a subscription fee, on an annual or monthly basis. In addition, PicMonkey has basic features similar to Picnik’s (Crop, Rotate, Textures, Overlays, and one-click effects) and advanced features like Curves, Touch Up, Design, and Collage.

One other area to know is that the PicMonkey service is cloud-based. Thus allowing users to upload photos from their computer and services like Facebook, Flickr, and Dropbox. Individuals can then share to Facebook, Flickr, Dropbox, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and We Heart It.

Tec Smith

Author: techsmith.com/video-editor.html (Free Graphic Tools)

Tec Smith Corporation is a software company developing screencasting tools, including screen capture, recording, and editing software, for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS such as Camtasia and SnagIt. The main goal of this product is to share images and short videos with people quickly while IM chatting or emailing. Jing is free and contains a watermark on its images.

In fact, the free site offers control over privacy levels, links for content URLs and embed code, content view numbers, and allows other users to comment on videos among other features.

Takeaway

There are many website developer tools as well as graphic tools available online. It’s just a matter of finding one that fits your individual needs. Whether you specialize in web design graphics or lean more towards web developer tools, it’s always great to explore. You never know finding that tool will most likely help you in your day to day activates!

Other References: Seattle Website Design Blog