With professional software packages becoming increasingly expensive and many now wanting monthly subscription payments, why not take a look at some of the excellent free opensource alternatives available?

To start with I’ll be looking at Inkscape – a free opensource scalable vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator. That is perfect for Tshirt designs, logos, art for Cricut, digital art, etc.

The big difference between Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs) and rasterised images such
as digital photos, is that SVGs can be scaled to any size with no loss of quality. The images are created from mathematical descriptions (vectors) and not from dot or pixels, so the same design can be used for a tiny icon or to cover a billboard.

If Inkscape is not what you’re looking for, then subscribe and check back in the near future as I cover more free packages for Video Editing – Animation – Audio – Screen Casting – Office Docs – Image Manipulation – Digital Painting Desktop Publishing