Danie van der Merwe

Someone Vibe Coded a Free and Open Source Knockoff of Adobe Creative Suite

2026-10-08 11:33:05

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Someone Vibe Coded a Free and Open Source Knockoff of Adobe Creative Suite

“Using Claude Opus 5.5 and the programming language Rust, the creator of these apps, Atlanta-based Brandon Thomas, says he recreated Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Lightroom, Acrobat Pro, After Effects, and InDesign, and made them free to use. The new versions are technically called Photocraft, Vectorcraft, Filmcraft, Lightcraft, Printcraft, Effectcraft, and Designcraft. The overarching umbrella project is titled Artcraft.”

The Photocraft app (alternative to Adobe Photoshop) is a few days old on GitHub, and has been starred 23k times already. I know there is GIMP, which probably still does more than this app does, but many want a friendly and intuitive type interface. It certainly does not (yet) match Photoshop feature for feature, but it likely already has most of what any ordinary user would want to use.

It is fully compatible with Adobe's public specification for the PSD format (read that like Microsoft sticks to their own OOXML published format...). Another plus, is that it is ready for AI agent use, having an MCP server. What this means is that a graphics challenged type of user, like me, could ask my local AI agent to use that MCP server and do things for me in Photocraft.

It installs easily on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Linux has various distro version, but also Flatpak and AppImage binaries.

This is going to be very interesting...

See Someone Vibe Coded a Free Knockoff of Adobe Creative Suite

It's janky for now, but it sort of works.

#technology #opensource #alternativeto #graphics

technology opensource alternativeto graphics

Shutter Encoder is an open source converter designed by video editors

2024-10-19 15:18:10

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Shutter Encoder is an open source converter designed by video editors

Handbrake may well immediately come to mind. This is similar in what it does (conversion based on FFmpeg in the background) but it looks a lot better and easier to use, and has quite a few functions that do not convert video for example: Cut without re-encoding, Replace audio, Rewrap, Conform, Merge, Extract, Subtitling, Video inserts.

It also categorises the video conversions by separating editing formats for output type formats. It is cross-platform for Windows, macOS, and Linux (including AppImage format).

Furthermore, it also has a Watch Folder feature to watch where you may render videos too, and when that render is completed, Shutter Encoder can auto convert e.g. for output say of DaVinci Resolve on Linux, this can do the conversion to H.264.

See Shutter Encoder - Encoder|Converter video FREE PC|Mac

Open source software without any restriction - converter all formats video|audio|image professionals codecs and standards - Windows|OS X|Linux.

#technology #opensource #video

technology graphics editing alternativessto

7 reasons Photopea is the best free alternative to Photoshop and Lightroom, and 1 why not

2024-10-19 09:56:22

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

7 reasons Photopea is the best free alternative to Photoshop and Lightroom, and 1 why not

Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom have long been the benchmarks in the industry. However, their ongoing subscription costs can be a burden for students and hobbyists. If you're seeking an alternative to Adobe’s creative suite, consider trying Photopea. Unlike other free alternatives, Photopea isn’t just a watered-down solution with limited features. It’s a robust powerhouse that goes toe-to-toe with Photoshop and Lightroom, offering a surprising amount of advanced features without costing a dime.

So, whilst some very good reasons are given to use it, and many will want to because of the intuitive UI and cross-platform support, they are very clear that the product is free because it is paid for by adverts in the app. Adverts can be annoying, but they may also be intrusive in terms of privacy. That said, they do not look like they take over the interface.

While Photopea won’t rival the likes of Canva, its graphic design tools can surely challenge the likes of Krita and Illustrator. You can create vector graphics using pen, shape, and text tools, explore path manipulations, and use web design tools to create mockups. You surely won’t have a hard time sketching concepts, designing logos, and creating illustrations.

See 7 reasons Photopea is the best free alternative to Photoshop and Lightroom

Photopea is the free professional editor you have been waiting for

#technology #graphics #editing #alternativesto

technology graphics editing alternativessto

Create your own animations with open source Synfig motion graphics tool for Windows, Linux and macOS

2021-12-22 17:20:41

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

In animation, there's an old saying that animation is easy, it's the tweening that's hard. In traditional animation practices established in the 1920s, key frames are drawn by a lead artist, and staff artists draw the in-between frames. This is called inbetweening, or "tweening" for short. Today, computers are often recruited for the work of inbetweening.

That's why animation is (relatively) easy with Synfig Studio. As the animator, you only have to account for an element at the start and at the end of its movement. Synfig calculates everything else.

See Create your own animations with this open source motion graphics tool

#technology #opensource #animation #graphics

In animation, there's an old saying that animation is easy, it's the tweening that's hard. In traditional animation practices established in the 1920s, key frames are drawn by a lead artist, and staff artists draw the in-between frames. This is called inbetweening, or "tweening" for short. Today, computers are often recruited for the work of inbetweening. In the words of Tony DeRose, of Pixar:

technology opensource animation graphics

MightyScape: One Inkscape Plugin Collection To Rule Them All - There are 194 extension folders with 335 .inx files inside

2021-05-27 18:04:18

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Inkscape is an amazing piece of open source software, a vector graphics application that’s a million times more lightweight than comparable commercial offerings while coming in at the low, low price of free. The software also has plenty of extensions floating around on the Internet, though until now, they haven’t been organised particularly well. The MightyScape project aims to solve that, putting a bunch of Inkscape plugins into one useful release.

The current MightyScape release has a whole bunch of useful stuff inside, for tasks as varied as laser cutting, 3D printing, vinyl cutting, as well as improvements on areas where Inkscape is a bit weak out of the box – like CAD, geometry and patterning.

See One Inkscape Plugin Collection To Rule Them All

#technology #opensource #graphics

Inkscape is an amazing piece of open source software, a vector graphics application that’s a million times more lightweight than comparable commercial offerings while coming in at the low, lo…

technology opensource graphics