A free alternative to photoshop?

YellowYeti · Mar 2016

So recently some things came up and for the time being i can't keep paying for photoshop monthly, this will eventually change, but for the time being i don't want to not be able to texture anything i make(i also want to get into digital drawing so that might help if the program coudl do that). I've heard that Krita's wraparound tool is great, and actually better than photoshop's offset, and is also good for digital painting. Just want your opinions. Thanks!

PolyHertz · Mar 2016

Krita and Paint.NET are your best options. There's also GIMP, but I'm not sure how actively that's being developed anymore.

thomasp · Mar 2016

for an all-round future photoshop alternative, keep an eye on this: https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/ - coming to windows now.

it's not free but inexpensive. comes without subscription ties and mimicks the photoshop featureset very closely. so unlike a specialized painting app it has all the editing toolset and still comes with decent brushengine, -editor etc. imports and exports PSD. seems reliable so far and at only version 1.4 the major one it is still missing is batch processing which is on their roadmap. it's also much faster than photoshop for me here. handles huge files without stuttering.
ties in very well with their vector graphics app which i also use.

Fuiosg · Mar 2016

thanks for that, was jealous of affinity photo being mac only, but glad to hear it's coming to windows.

I've been using an old version of PS and I don't think any free program quite compares; though Krita is a no brainer as a tool in itself.

ivank_net · Mar 2016

What about Photopea? http://www.photopea.com . It is still missing many features of Photoshop, but it can import and export PSD. It can also work with layer structure and layer styles.

RN · Mar 2016

There's Clip Studio Paint, the PRO version costs US$50.
http://www.clipstudio.net/en/gallery

YellowYeti · Mar 2016

Thanks for the replies so far guys, i'll have some research to do with the suggestions, hopefully i'll find a keeper.

FourtyNights · Mar 2016

I'd say go with GIMP, after they release the version 2.10. That will support 16 bit images.
https://www.gimp.org/news/2015/11/27/gimp-2-9-2-released/

onionhead_o · Mar 2016

I say Krita, really good for making tilable textures since it has a wrap mode. It's got some really unique tools in there, like the dynamic brush that can do radial symmetry, fill brush...etc

root · Mar 2016

RN said:

There's Clip Studio Paint, the PRO version costs US$50.
http://www.clipstudio.net/en/gallery

I've been adjusting to CSP, it does a lot of the same things that Photoshop does, including stuff like actions and adjustment layers.

thomasp · Mar 2016

how's krita with large documents though? tbh i've found it a bit sluggish overall and rather crash-happy on the systems i have used it on (windows & mac). nice paint feeling to it for sure but can you entrust big texture files with a wild mix of layers to it?

onionhead_o · May 2016

hard to say I mainly used it on linux Centos 6 because my studio was too cheap to afford for more photoshop licenses

CreativeSheep · May 2016

Thanks for the link to PhotoPea, good alternative if I need to open a PSD quick without Photoshop. Due to our crappy dollar, I use to pay close to the $9.99 US / month as the dollar tanked, that has climbed. I recently did a subscription to Illustrator as well, not sure I'll be able to do it for the year, more expensive then Ps.

MmAaXx · May 2016

I often use krita too, but on windows the performace are not the best, especially when you deal with photobashing.

A free alternative to photoshop?

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