55 Open Source Replacements for Photo and Graphics Tools: Page 4

CAD

43. BRL-CAD

Replaces: AutoCAD

Now well over 20 years old, this solid modeling tool counts the U.S. military among its users. It includes more than 400 separate tools, utilities and applications for interactive 3D solid geometry editing, geometric analysis, image and signal processing, path-tracing and photon mapping, benchmarks and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X, others

Replaces: AutoCAD

Aimed at mechanical engineers, product designers, architects and other types of engineers, Free-CAD offers 3D design capabilities and a 2D sketcher, and it can import and export most types of CAD files. In the future, the project hopes to add drawing sheets, robot simulations, rendering mode and an architecture module. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X, others

45. Archimedes

Replaces: AutoCAD

This Java-based CAD program for architects offers a simple interface and an extensible architecture. It's not as full-featured as some other CAD programs, but adequate for basic tasks. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

Desktop Publishing

46. Scribus

Replaces: QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher

This open source software offers the sorts of features that professional graphic designers need to create press-ready or digital documents. Capabilities include color separations, CMYK and spot color support, ICC color management, PDF output and more. However, note that Scribus cannot import or export files from commercial desktop publishing software. Operating System: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X

47. MiKTeX

Replaces: QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher

While definitely not as full-featured as a these desktop publishing systems, MiKTeX is an excellent typesetting program based on the older app TeX. TeX was created by computer science legend Donald E. Knuth, who intended it to be used "for the creation of beautiful books -- and especially for books that contain a lot of mathematics." Operating System: Windows, Linux

Diagram Creation

48. Dia

Replaces: Visio

"Roughly inspired by" Visio, Dia makes it easy to create diagrams and flowcharts. It exports to a number of graphic file formats, and it can print graphics that span several pages. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

49. LaTeXDraw

Replaces: Visio

This simple drawing program creates images for use in documents created with LaTeX. It's best for mathematical or scientific images, charts, diagrams, etc. Operating System: OS Independent

Office Productivity Suites with Graphics Apps

50. KOffice

Replaces: Microsoft Office

In addition to word processing, spreadsheet and presentation apps with similar capabilities as Microsoft Office, KOffice offers two graphics-related programs: Kivio (which is still under development) is a flowchart and diagram program similar to Visio, and Artwork is a vector graphics program similar to Illustrator or CorelDRAW. The KOffice apps integrate with each other and import and export common file formats. Operating System: Windows, Linux

51. OpenOffice.org

Replaces: Microsoft Office

Now an Apache Foundation project, OpenOffice.org offers Office-compatible word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and database programs. In addition, it includes a graphics program called Draw, which can help create graphics suitable for business documents and presentations. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

52. LibreOffice

Replaces: Microsoft Office

A fairly new community-focused fork of OpenOffice.org, LibreOffice offers the same set of applications as OpenOffice.org, including Draw. However, it adds some tweaks, improvements and other capabilities that are not included in OpenOffice.org. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

RAW Photo Manipulation

53. Rawstudio

Replaces: PhotoDirector

Experts recommend saving your digital photos in their raw formats in order to preserve as much information as possible. Rawstudio handles batch processing of those images with features like image tagging and sorting, lens distortion correction, advanced noise reduction, intelligent sharpening, straightening and more. Operating System: Linux

54. RawTherapee

Replaces: PhotoDirector

Similar to Rawstudio, this two-year-old project also offers batch processing of raw photo files. It boasts "the most details and least artifacts from your raw photos thanks to modern and traditional demosaicing algorithms." Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

55. UFRaw

Replaces: PhotoDirector

This utility can be used on its own or as a Gimp plug-in. It allows users to manipulate and view raw images and convert them to other formats. Note that like the other tools for working with raw images, you'll need to have some expertise to use this app. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X