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Wikipedia:Graphics tutorials

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Various Wikipedians have put together graphics tutorials. Some of these are still works in progress. It is preferred to work with open formats (such as PNG or SVG) and free licenses (such as public domain or GFDL) when possible. There are many free software programs available for creating and editing images.

Tutorials

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Vector graphics tutorials

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Application

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  • SVG with Inkscape - Fully featured SVG drawing program, also capable of PNG output
  • Using Dia - page not maintained - Well suited to technical diagrams & flowsheets - PNG output, limited SVG support
  • Using Microsoft Word - page not maintained - Familiar to many users, easy to use - PNG only, no SVG support

Specific tasks

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Bitmap graphics tutorials

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Photo editing tutorials

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Combination tutorials

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Filesize optimisation tutorials

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Open source programs

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  • pngquant - program that reduces PNG size by automatically reducing the number of colors. Visually lossless most of the time.
  • PNGCrush - Old tried and true program that reduces PNG sizes using multiple zlib compression trials on disk.
  • OptiPNG - Essentially a newer version of PNGCrush, it economizes the trial (reducing from 100s of short ones to a maximum of 7 longer ones) and does everything in memory. Usually produces identical results, and is much faster.
  • AdvanceCOMP - A group of programs designed to reduce ZIP compression in many contexts, including PNGs (using AdvPNG).
  • Jhead - A program for viewing, altering, or removing Exif data of JPEGs. Amongst other things, this allows for reducing file sizes.
  • FileOptimizer - A Windows GUI program (recommended for beginners) that uses multiple open source and freeware tools (including most of those listed here) to optimize a large number of media filetypes. Achieves better compression than any of the others used by themselves. Released under the LGPL.

Freeware programs

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  • PNGOUT - A program that optimizes PNGs by eschewing the usual zlib compression for a slower but more complete algorithm.
    • PNG Gauntlet - GUI for OptiPNG, PNGOUT, and DeflOpt (similar to AdvPNG in AdvanceCOMP)
  • Image Analyzer - Amongst other things, allows for lossy compression of PNG files. (Often, however, merely posterizing the image at a level that does not produce color banding results in smaller files of the same or higher quality.)
  • JPG Cleaner - Removes Exif data from JPEGs, making the files smaller.
  • JPGExtra and PNGExtra - Programs that losslessly optimize JPEGs and PNGs by cleanly removing all non-image data.

Software used for Wikipedia images

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Vector graphics software

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3D software

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Raster graphics (bitmap) software

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Word processors with vector-graphics facilities

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Panorama software

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  • Grokking the GIMP: a comprehensive on-line book covering the GIMP, as well as graphic and digital photo editing in general