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... by Thorsten Lemke (Lemkesoft):

http://www.lemkesoft.com/content/188/graphicconverter.html

What's especially great with this software:
Thorsten is still supporting Mac OS Classic (i.e. Mac OS 9 running natively) users by providing specific versions of GraphicConverter for their OS.

Mac OS X being supported too, of course.

Walter.

No thanks! I've no intention of installing X11 just for one application. Merely because it's "free".

Particularly with an ass-backwards interface for something as simple as drawing a circle or square.

Graphic Converter @ US$30, performs a substantial subset of Photoshop actions, uses most Photoshop plug ins/filters, including the latest incarnation of Noise Ninja (image noise reduction), AND does CYMK, too.

It also draws circles and squares.

And all without installing X11.

So, tell me again, why should should I jump through all the hoops to use GIMP on my Mac?

And 'Cuz it's free, man! Free as in beer, that's why!" is not an acceptable answer/explanation/incentive.

WItness that Mac OS X 10.4 and later come with a complete set of Photoshop clone construction tools. See Acorn, DrawIt, Pixelmator and even later versions of GraphicConverter. Adobe dragged their heels too long.

GraphicConverter (I'm surprised no one has pointed you at this one):

http://www.lemkesoft.com/xd/public/content/index._ cGlkPTE1MA_.html

It used to come free with every mac, I wish it still did, but a good piece of software none the less.

http://www.lemkesoft.com/ I use it since 10 Years or so. It opens an image-browser if you drop a folder on it and can do about any image conversion in the known universe.

I can't tell what it is other than some sort of media viewer (i try to remain as pc-free as possible), but you might want to look at a combination of Preview.app, VLC and GraphicConverter, a venerable Mac app.

CADintosh from lemke software. Is $33 cheap enough? You might want to start hanging out at Architosh.

Could be the bit depth of the files you're working with. I don't know what the GIMP is capable of, but most filters in Photoshop only work in 8-bit color mode. This may not be true in the latest version (CS) but it's definitely true in PS7. If you open a 16-bit image, for example from a good film scanner, then a lot of options will be disabled for no apparent reason, until you drop down to 8-bit mode.

I've been led to believe that PS CS fixes some of this and adds expanded 16-bit color support, but I haven't been able to really experiment with it so far.

But if you're working with 8-bit images and the Filters menu is still disabled, then something is wrong with your installation of Photoshop. I can tell you that applying a filter is not a challenging task, and while there are a lot of legitimate criticisms of PS, that is not one of them. Something is wrong on your end, or there's some sort of undisclosed special case at work here.

IMO the biggest critism of PS is its cost. Even with educational pricing it's still $300, not an insignificant chunk of change for most amateur and even some semi-pro photographers. And if you don't qualify for the educational pricing they want an MSRP of $600, which as far as I'm concerned means that it ought to walk, talk, and carry your tripod around for you.

The best alternative to Photoshop that I've used -- and to be fair it's really not an alternative as much as a different tool -- is Lemkesoft's GraphicConverter for OS X. It's cheap ($30!), it's fast, it opens every graphic format I've ever heard of and a lot I haven't (190 of them, from MacPaint to Adobe RAW), and it has a quick edit mode for resizing, cropping, rotating and correcting folders of files. Also, it does batch processing. Hard to beat that with a stick.

GraphicConverter

Boy, you're right, that was hard

Which shareware programs used at Pixar? I would bet for Graphics Converter by Lemke for instance. http://www.lemkesoft.com/en/index.htm

Also it would be funny if they used haxies on those evil big macs.

Access to source code

Access to software

Licensing capacity

Since Quicktime is already included you already have access to its fairly extensive list of supported formats, as can be seen from the specifications.

BTW If you need a graphics program that supports a very extensive range of graphics formats, the GraphicConverter is your friend.

Since Quicktime is already included you already have access to its fairly extensive list of supported formats, as can be seen from the specifications.

BTW If you need a graphics program that supports a very extensive range of graphics formats, the GraphicConverter is your friend.

There has been CADintosh for quite some time. It is OS X native and cheap.

Also, last time I checked, Apple was bundling a registered copy of Thorsten Lemke's Graphic Convertor --- it'll open and manipulate damned near any image format.

what digital format will still be readable in 25 years?

I would argue that all of them will. My argument is based on the fact that almost every image format known to man, including those that were invented 20 years ago, are still readable by some form of shareware.

Take the program Graphic Converter, for example. It imports about 160 different image formats. I don't think I can name more than 20 formats off the top of my head.

The reason this is the case is that image data is very, very simple. It's a regularly-spaced rectangular array of color values. The most complicated part of the data model is the fact that color can be represented in different ways. It's nowhere near as complicated to write a reader for an old image format as it is for, say, scientific data.

I think that we're going to be able to read JPGs for many decades to come.

what digital format will still be readable in 25 years?

I would argue that all of them will. My argument is based on the fact that almost every image format known to man, including those that were invented 20 years ago, are still readable by some form of shareware.

Take the program Graphic Converter, for example. It imports about 160 different image formats. I don't think I can name more than 20 formats off the top of my head.

The reason this is the case is that image data is very, very simple. It's a regularly-spaced rectangular array of color values. The most complicated part of the data model is the fact that color can be represented in different ways. It's nowhere near as complicated to write a reader for an old image format as it is for, say, scientific data.

I think that we're going to be able to read JPGs for many decades to come.

Run OS 7.5.3, which they're giving away on Apple.com -- and download GraphicConverter. Unscrew the display, put it in a frame, and be done with it.

I'd wager GraphicConverter for OS X could handle it(since it handles like everything). Try taking out the .orig extension and drop it on GC and see what happens(I haven't tried it yet myself)

-Henry