Can anyone recommend a good low-cost or preferably free image editor for the Mac? It would have to work well on an Intel iMac.
I’m looking for something to do quick and dirty modifications to textures like resizing them, inverting colors or appending an alpha channel.
As a Windows shop, it’s a pain to have to bounce back and forth between the two platforms for this kind of quick fix.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Pixel Image Editor looks like a straight PhotoShop clone that might be worth checking out.
It looks like the current version is running under Rosetta and the Universal Binary is currently in beta.
Anyone try Graphic Converter X?
There is always GIMP too, I think there is a little fuss with setting it up though. It also requires X11. Photoshop really is the standard though. It’s definitely worth the cost, how come your not looking for a more permanent solution for your mac?
Bill
Well, I’ve already got several copies of Photoshop on the PC side. I’m thinking of the Mac as a standalone Unity machine, really. The image editor would be for last minute texture tweaks rather than texture creation.
From what I recall, Gimp is pretty nerdy. Has its UI been improved?
I’m surprised that iLife doesn’t include an image editor.
I actually have not used it, but it looks decent. Remember it is free, so you have to draw the line some where.
I think iLife should have had a image editor in it a long time ago, although it is geared for digital “life” things, and image editing cant exactly capture a family vacation (commercial quote 
). iWork specifically Pages has some drawing and image editing but its not good at all. If any thing iWork should include a image editor. Apple probably feels like photoshop is every where and there is no need though.
Any ways, check out GIMP, I would be interested in a review. 
Bill
Bill, check that GIMP link… it points to a screenshot by Kevin. Then delete this post if you want.
Anyone know what x11 is? How does it run on Intel machines? Why does Gimp need it? (Inquiring minds want to know…)
Actually, my PCs are always giving me headaches because I install and uninstall so much random software and I’d really like to keep my Mac pristine!
Hey, and while I’m on the subject of pristine Macs, should I get a defragmenter for it?
I have not been pleased with PhotoShop lately. It douse more random crap than any app I have seen. Just randomly (and permenently) all the round brushes won’t work. Like if you have something that uses one of them and you click it only actualy works 5% of the time. I keep throwing away prefs and such and eventualy it works again.
A second problem is it gets stuck on the eraser and the problem above. So no matter what tool I select it thinks the eraser is selected. So If I grab a marique and click in the history it adds an eraser action. Also the round brushes don’t work. I’m curently stuck with this problem, and erasing the prefs isn’t helping, any ideas? If not I guess I might think of looking into other image editors for the mean time. Jeff
It’s probably just getting used to it. For example, I can’t find anything in Photoshop; while am able to use Gimp to some degree. But then, I never actually used Photoshop, while I have used Gimp quite a lot. And I am a nerd, so nerdy interface probably just suits me 
On OSX, the biggest drawback is the clunky X11. X11 comes as an optional install on OSX install discs. You can try Seashore, which is (a quite old) version of Gimp but with native OSX interface.
That said, on an intel mac Gimp at least runs much faster than Photoshop!
Outcast: Are you running Photoshop on a Mac? I’ve never tried it there, but I haven’t experienced what you’re describing with any version on the pc. I’m currently running CS2.
Aras: thanks for the info. I’ll give Gimp a try.
You could try Seashore
It’s based on The GIMP.
-Jon
edit: I should read the thread more carefully as it’s been suggested. 
But don’t older programs run very poorly on Intel machines?
EDIT: I just saw that a Universal binary version of seashore is available for testing.
ROFL, whoops, it was in my clipboard, thought I pasted the GIMP link. My bad. Sorry kevin, if you didnt want it seen.
Consider Photoshop Elements: it does a LOT of what Photoshop does, cheaper.
Photoshop on an Intel Mac will currently run slower than it will when it’s native, but by all reports you shouldn’t notice much slowdown when working with the small images that are used as textures. (A high-res magazine ad might be another matter!)
As for stability, I’ve never heard of Photoshop being anything but rock-solid on the Mac, and I’ve used it for years and worked with many others who have.
However, some corrupt file can make an app act up. I’d drag Photoshop’s preferences to the Trash (it will rebuild them at next launch) and see if that fixes the bad behavior. If not, you can always put the prefs back if you haven’t emptied the Trash.
I hadn’t considered Elements. I’ll check it out.
Here’s what I’ve got so far:
Seashore is very nice. Recently released in Universal binary, very simple install, easy to use. Unfortunately, it is very limited and doesn’t allow me to manipulate the alpha channels the way that I would like.
GraphicConverterX is very nice as well. Although I can create an alpha channel with it, I’m having difficulty saving out a useful file. The 32-bit files I create only show me the alpha channel, not the RGB+Alpha. I’m awaiting word back from tech support.
Gimp.App is great from what I can tell, but it doesn’t see my shared Windows drives. That must be a problem with X11.
For the moment, I’m back to editing the files on the pc. 
I got a free copy of Elements, and although it -looks- like Photoshop it doesn’t have any of the features you’ll want for what you want to do… starting with -channels-. Yup, can’t touch the alpha channels in Elements.
Even at free, Gimp is 10x better than Elements. IMHO nothing touches Photoshop, but CS is more than most game developers need (and it’s a power/memory hog). If you can’t live with GIMP, search eBay for a used copy of PS 7.0. You can probably find a copy for under $100 and it’s way better than Elements. I wouldn’t even waste the HD space on Elements… do you get the impression I didn’t like it?
Unfortunately, since I’m running on an Intel Mac, I can’t go the used software route (and run at a decent speed).
I just have to figure out why Gimp.app isn’t seeing the network drives and I should be good to go.
Oh, yeah, I forgot about the Intel thing. For help with Gimp try here: