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7.1. Introducing Graphics Applications
Graphics applications form an integral part of Ubuntu. They enable you to organise your photo collection, create and edit photos and images, scan and send objects and more.
In this lesson, you will learn about the various graphics applications available on Ubuntu and which one to use when. These graphics applications are available either with the Ubuntu installation or in repositories (those libraries we mentioned earlier).
Applications Available with the Ubuntu Installation. The following applications are included in the Ubuntu installation package:
• GIMP Image Editor: An image editor used for advanced image creation and editing such as changing the contrast, colour or the texture of an image.
• F-Spot Photo Manager: A photo manager used to organise and manage photos. F-Spot enables you to tag (label), categorise and sort photos.
• XSane Image Scanner: An image scanner which also enables you to photocopy documents and fax or e- mail scanned images.
Applications Available in Repositories. In addition to the default applications, you can search through the repositories and install applications using the Synaptic Package Manager or the Command Line Interface (CLI).
Some of the graphics applications are available in Ubuntu software repositories:
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Agave: A colour scheme designer. After you select a base colour, Agave suggests the appropriate com- plementary colours or shades of the same base colour. You can also drag and drop a colour from another application, such as GIMP. Whether you are designing a Web page or a pamphlet or painting your house, this programme enables you to identify the appropriate colour scheme. Visit the Web site http://home.gna.org/ colorscheme/ for more information on Agave.
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Blender: An open-source 3D content creation suite. You can create 3D models and animations, add post- production effects or use it as a graphics editor to define interactive behaviour without programming. Blender has a distinctive user interface that is implemented entirely in Open GL and designed for speed. Python bindings for scripting and import/export features for popular file formats such as 3D Studio are available in Blender. Blender can output still images, animations, models for games or other third party engines and inter- active content in the form of standalone binaries or web plug-ins. Visit the Web site http://www.blender.org/ for more information on Blender.
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Dia: A diagram editor similar to Microsoft Visio. Dia offers the capability to produce precise and profes- sional-level graphics. You can draw entity relationship diagrams, flowcharts and network diagrams and export them to various formats, including EPS, SVG, XFIG, WMF and PNG. You can also print diagrams spanning multiple pages. Visit the Web site http://live.gnome.org/Dia for more information.
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Gcolor2: A simple colour selector and picker that facilitates quick and easy selection of colours. It also enables you to save new colours and delete existing ones. Visit the Web site http://gcolor2.sourceforge.net/ for more information.
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GNU paint: A user-friendly painting programme for GNOME. It offers easy-to-use drawing tools to per- form various image-processing operations. Visit the Web site http://gpaint.sourceforge.net/ for more infor- mation.
In addition, several third-party applications, such as Picasa, a free software download from Google, are com- patible with Ubuntu.
Picasa enables you to locate and organise all the photos on your computer, edit and add effects to your photos and share your photos through e-mail and print and post images on the Web. You can download Picasa from the following Web site http://picasa.google.com/linux/download.html.
The following section outlines the features of some of these graphics applications and how to use them.