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Default Packages

The following software is included with the default installation of Ubuntu.

GIMP Image Editor

The GIMP is a powerful image editing application and is the default image editor for Ubuntu. It will happily open and save to most image file formats and offers a host of useful features, plus the scope to add more using its plug-in system. Filters such as Motion Blur, Cubism and Predator make advanced image editing fun and easy. The GIMP opens several windows by default, which act as 'toolboxes' from which you can tweak settings and select tools to work on your image with. For more information, tutorials and extensions, visit [http://www.gimp.org the GIMP website] or read TheGimpHowto.

attachment:IconsPage/navigate.png To start the GIMP, navigate to Applications -> Graphics -> GIMP Image Editor.

attachment:gimp.jpg

F-Spot

F-Spot is a personal photo manager. Import your pictures from your hard drive, a digital camera or even an iPod and F-Spot will quickly import them, ready for you to view. You can tag and categorise your photos, make a Photo CD, export to the online Flickr service, perform basic colour-correction and editing, and much more. Towards the top of the main F-Spot window is a timeline - just drag the slider to view the photos you took around a specific date. There is a fullscreen mode and a slideshow feature for showing your photos to others, and a full image metatdata display for the technically-minded. You can find out more on the [http://www.f-spot.org/Main_Page F-Spot website].

attachment:fspot.jpg

gThumb Image Viewer

gThumb is designed to help you organise your photo collection, but you can also perform simple editing tasks. You can use it to import pictures from your digital camera, make a photo CD or display a slideshow of your pictures for example, all in one easy-to-use package. Visit the [http://gthumb.sourceforge.net/ GThumb website] for details.

attachment:IconsPage/navigate.png To start gThumb, click Applications -> Graphics -> gThumb Image Viewer.

attachment:gThumb.png

XSane Image Scanner

You can use XSane to control a scanner and acquire images from it. With XSane, you can easily photocopy documents and save, fax or e-mail your scanned images. It can even save your scans as multi-page documents, instead of separate, one-page files. The [http://www.xsane.org/ XSane website] has more information.

attachment:IconsPage/navigate.png To start XSane, click Applications -> Graphics -> XSane Image Scanner.

attachment:info.png XSane can also be used from within The GIMP; just click File -> Acquire -> XSane to scan directly into an image.

Evince Document Viewer

Evince is the default viewer for PDF and PostScript files but can also display other formats, such as images. It is designed to make reading documents a simple and hassle-free experience, and has intuitive previewing, indexing and searching capabilities. You can even view documents in full-screen or presentation format, where each page is displayed like a slide in a slideshow. Details can be found on the [http://www.gnome.org/projects/evince/ Evince website].

Evince will start when you double-click a PDF file. If you want to start Evince without opening a file, press the Alt and F2 buttons on the keyboard simultaneously and type evince in the window that appears, or open a Terminal and type:

{{{evince & }}}

attachment:evince.png

Eye of GNOME

Eye of GNOME, or EoG, is the default picture viewer. When you open a photo, EoG lets you perform simple tasks like zooming in and out, rotating the picture and showing slideshows. While applications like gThumb and F-Spot are more suited to organising your image collection, EoG provides everything you need to simply enjoy your photos one at a time.

Eye of GNOME will start when you double-click an image file. If you want to start EoG without opening a file, press the Alt and F2 buttons on the keyboard simultaneously and type eog in the window that appears, or open a Terminal and type:

{{{eog & }}}

attachment:eog.jpg

Extra Packages

The following software is available in the Ubuntu software channels, but is not installed by default. See InstallingSoftware for information on installing packages.

Inkscape Vector Illustrator

Inkscape is an illustration program; draw shapes and curves, add text and graphics, and then output your colourful creations to a popular image format. By default Inkscape uses the SVG format, which lets you resize your drawings to almost any size without loss of quality. Inkscape has a helpful Tutorials section in it's Help menu which will get you started in no time at all. Take a look at the [http://inkscape.org/ Inkscape website] for more information, clip-art and examples.

attachment:IconsPage/apt.png Inkscape is available from the Ubuntu main software channel. To install it, you can click Applications -> Add/Remove... and then select the 'Graphics' category, tick 'Inkscape Vector Illustrator' and click 'Apply'.

attachment:inkscape.png

Blender 3D Modeller

Blender is a professional-level 3D-modelling application, which is capable of producing photo-realistic results. It has many advanced features, and can handle the animation, rendering, post-production and interactive playback of your models. For more information visit the [http://www.blender3d.org Blender website], where you can also view an 'art gallery' of images made with Blender.

Dia Diagram Editor

Dia lets you create and edit technical diagrams and plans. Whether its wiring diagrams, simple maps or even a plan of your kitchen, Dia has all you need to produce a precise, professional-looking graphic. For more information, extension scripts and extra shapes for your diagrams, visit [http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/ the Dia website].

attachment:dia.png

Scribus

Scribus is a powerful open-source desktop publishing application capable of producing commercial-grade PDF and PostScript output. Scribus offers a large number of page layout features previously available only in high-end commercial software:

  • Sophisticated image handling and typographic controls (support for TrueType, Type 1 Postscript and OpenType fonts, hyphenation engine)

  • Encapsulated Postcript (eps) and Scalable Vector Graphics (svg) export/import, support for tiff, jpeg, png and xpm image formats, OpenOffice (odt) document format

  • Advanced colour management (spot colors, CMYK support, ICC color management)

  • Professional-grade PDF output (support for interactive PDF forms, tranparency, gradients and layers, font embedding and subsetting, 128-bit security, advanced level 3/PDF 1.4 PostScript, PDF 1.5, “press-ready” PDF output in full compliance with ISO-standard PDF/X-3)

You can find more information about Scribus on the [http://www.scribus.net/ Scribus web site].

attachment:OfficeApplications/scribus.png

attachment:info.png The Scribus team also maintains a [http://www.scribus.net/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=4&page=1 software channel] that contains the latest version of Scribus and a number of Scribus-related packages, including a scribus-ng package (Scribus 1.3.x developmental series). scribus-ng can be installed in parallel with the scribus package from the official Ubuntu repositories. It should be noted that packages from this software channel are not supported by Ubuntu and may be unstable development versions, and so may not function as expected.

See ["Repositories"] for information on how to add additional software channels.

Other applications

Useful Graphics Resources

CategoryDocumentation