Filed under: Design, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64
Fotografix is a simple, free Photoshop alternative in under 1MB
by Lee Mathews Apr 15th 2009 at 12:00PM
While graphic design professionals probably wouldn't be able to substitute Fotografix for Photoshop, it's certainly a capable free alternative for the average Joe.
In addition to being totally portable, Fotografix has a ridiculously small footprint. It's a 370Kb download and about 700Kb once extracted. Despite its size, most of the features I rely on in Photoshop are available. Fotografix supports layers, masks, and scripting, comes with a few key blur and stylization filters, and type layers are editable (unlike some other editors where text is a one-shot deal).
The usual editing tools are also provided, like rectangular and elliptical marquees, magic wand, rubber stamp, eyedropper, and gradient tool. For me, the only glaring omission was the lack of grid and ruler options. Regardless, I didn't have any trouble accomplishing my daily blog-editing tasks with Fotografix.
No, Fotografix isn't a replacement for Photoshop, but its good range of features, small size, and portability make it an excellent option for quick edits on the go. The price is hard to argue with, too.
Since the author's site is hosted by GeoCities and he allows redistribution, I took the liberty of mirroring the app with RapidSpread - just in case he hits his traffic limit before you get a chance to download.
In addition to being totally portable, Fotografix has a ridiculously small footprint. It's a 370Kb download and about 700Kb once extracted. Despite its size, most of the features I rely on in Photoshop are available. Fotografix supports layers, masks, and scripting, comes with a few key blur and stylization filters, and type layers are editable (unlike some other editors where text is a one-shot deal).
The usual editing tools are also provided, like rectangular and elliptical marquees, magic wand, rubber stamp, eyedropper, and gradient tool. For me, the only glaring omission was the lack of grid and ruler options. Regardless, I didn't have any trouble accomplishing my daily blog-editing tasks with Fotografix.
No, Fotografix isn't a replacement for Photoshop, but its good range of features, small size, and portability make it an excellent option for quick edits on the go. The price is hard to argue with, too.
Since the author's site is hosted by GeoCities and he allows redistribution, I took the liberty of mirroring the app with RapidSpread - just in case he hits his traffic limit before you get a chance to download.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jackoff said 12:55PM on 4-15-2009
exactly how this is a photoshop alternative?
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Sanskrit said 1:50PM on 4-15-2009
Rather, it's an alternative for Photoshop Elements than, say, CS4 Extended.
jcicak said 2:04PM on 4-15-2009
I'd say that this is an alternative in that it does a lot of what people need for a good price in a small package.
Remember, "alternative" doesn't have to mean something that exactly duplicates something else feature-for-feature. Riding a bike is an alternative to driving a car, and walking is an alternative to both of those.
maurits said 12:51PM on 4-15-2009
My alternative is paint.net. It's much bigger, but also much more configurable.
Reply
spundot.com said 2:07PM on 4-15-2009
i'm shocked that this even is possible in 700k. seems surprisingly decent -- with this, artweaver, and gimphoto i'm not missing photoshop much.
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Demo said 2:38PM on 4-15-2009
Does it support image resizing by putting in exact pixels or do you have to just drag it with the arrows?
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maf teechr said 4:07PM on 4-15-2009
After just installing, you can input exact pixels and also constrain proportions while resizing the image.
And with it being under 1 MB, why not just download and install yourself?
Demo said 8:58PM on 4-15-2009
Was at work, can't download things on the computers there.
Kenn.keeper said 5:06PM on 4-15-2009
For the average person this program would be good,easy learning curve. Besides Free is good.....
Kenn...
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similar to photoshop said 4:07AM on 4-16-2009
Hi, I've found at dooblet.com the following alternatives to photoshop:
***** illustrator
**** gimp
*** photoshop elements
*** fireworks
*** aperture
** paint.net
** paint shop pro
** lightroom
http://dooblet.com/a/_/photoshop/
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James D. said 8:25AM on 4-18-2009
This program looks very cool, for a very specific reason: Netbooks.
I can't really run CS4 painlessly on my HP Mini 1000, but this would work really well for basic image editing when away from my desktop computer. It could cover the things that Picasa won't handle, for the small edits that need to be done on the go.
Great find!
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