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Brush Strokes Image Editor (FreeWare) from Paul Bird
By admin | May 23, 2007
This is rather simple image editor allowing to edit images fom a variety of formats (GIF, JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF, PCX, BMP, TARGA, AVI); create images for websites; create and view GIF animations; adjust colours in photos; apply filters and transformations; magic wand selections; use any picture as a brush or fill pattern; blur; sharpen.
The program is developed by Paul Bird from England. The program has a commercial version, too. The commercial and freeware versions are different in that help files, sample images, texture and fill patterns are available only in the commercial version. In the commercial version there are more filters, the 3D Shape Maker, Object to Bitmap Converter and the RAM Viewer. The commercial version is shipped by the developer on a CD-ROM. The freeware version has no on-line help.
Downloading of the freeware version of the application is available on the link http://www.download.com/Brush-Strokes-Image-Editor/3000-2192_4-10413828.html?tag=pdp_prod
The Main menu of the application has eight options: File, Edit, Selection, Toolboxes, Picture, Run…, View and Help.
The Help option opens the Help popup, containing options Brush Strokes Manual, General Tips, What Do I Do Next? and a standard option About (some information about the application and its developer). As a mater of fact, in the freeware version the option Brush Strokes Manual (the on-line application manual) is, in essence, disabled; it opens a window containing information that the on-line manual is available only in the commercial version. But the options of on-line tips (General Tips and What Do I Do Next?) work.
The option File opens File Dialog containing options of opening/closing image files (New…, Open…, Save picture as…), getting images from a digital camera (Capture from Camera) and from a video image file (Get frame from Video); printing images (Print… and Print Preview), cancelling the program execution (Exit) and a link to the web-site of the developer (Free Software Website). It must be noted that in the freeware version the option of printing images Print… doesn’t work; but the option of Print Preview works.
The option Edit opens Edit Dialog containing only the usual options of selecting and editing (Copy, Cut, Paste, Select All, and Crop Selection), clearing the window content (Clear), and undoing/redoing changes (Undo/Redo).
The option Selection calls the popup containing options for working with the current selection (Paint Background, Set Transparency - sets transparency level of the selection, Linear Interpolation - if checked it improves the quality of transformations in slight expense of speed, and Colour Tolerance - sets how colors and shades need to be considered part of the same selection).
The option Toolboxes calls the popup containing checkable options of opening/closing toolbars of the application (Pens&Brushes, Lenses&Filters, Selections, Transformations, Frame Tools), the option of opening the window of applying plug-in filters to the current image Plug-in Filters, the option of inserting some text in the image in the selected font Texts&Fonts, checkable options of opening/closing palette toolbars (for 16 and 256 colors), the option Greyscale Colors which actually replaces colors with shades of grey, and the option of resetting color palettes Reset Colors.
The option Picture of the Main Menu calls the popup containing options of changing the size of the image Change Size, swapping current frames Swap Frames (which is assigned the function key F1), Adjust Colors - calls the window of adjusting colors of the current image, and checkable options Use Only 16 Colors and Use Only 256 Colors.
The option Run… serves to call the plug-ins Object To Bitmap Converter, 3D Object Maker, and RAM Show. As has been mentioned above these plug-ins are absent in the freeware version; the corresponding options of the popup Run link to the webpage for ordering the commercial version instead.
The option View calls the popup of zooming the image and displaying it in full screen. This popup has the option of animation preview, too. An animation consists of several frames; in this option you can set the number of frames in the animation.
Under the Main Menu of the application there is the main taskbar containing buttons for various actions. If you want on-line tip for the button just press the right-hand button of the mouse while the mouse pointer points to the chosen button.
At the bottom of the Main window of the application are displayed information about the current position of the cursor and the composition of the color at this point (in shares of Red, Green and Blue).
The first button in the main taskbar with a question mark is present only in the freeware version. It calls the page warning about absent help files and inviting to visit the webpage for ordering the commercial version.
Topics: Computers & Software |