23 replies to this topic

[nesseggman]

Guys, I'm not saying to absolutely ignore Adobe's products, just to try out the stuff that's available for free, and then update later if you think it's necessary. And if you start out using stuff like The GIMP 2, you get used to the way it does things, and it's easier to transition to Photoshop (than the other way around) since Photoshop makes a lot of things a little easier.

The author of this topic, from the sound of it, is not a professional artist. They just want to be able to whip together some basic artwork that they can put in their game to get it running, for now, and spruce it up later. It sounds like they are not even all that great at art (they've mentioned more than once that the graphical design is not their strength). Buying the most expensive tools will not make your art any better. If I give a baby fingerpaints, the picture they make is going to look pretty much the same whether I give them some scrap paper or a $1000 canvas to paint on.

I'm not saying the author of this topic is a fingerpainting baby or something. I'm just saying that Adobe's products are for committed professionals, and there's no reason to purchase them prematurely if something else will suit your needs perfectly fine.

EDIT: And you can make very professional art in free art programs. They're usually just a little more difficult to do the more "special effects" kind of stuff with. But I mean, people paint with traditional tools with no computers at are, and that's even less convenient than a computer with free software, and that's just as professional! I've done plenty of graphic design projects for companies and stuff using tools even as simple as OpenCanvas (which is pretty much MSPaint deluxe). I'm not trying to say I'm some amazing artist, but how you use the tools is the most important part.

Edited by nesseggman, 18 December 2012 - 09:21 PM.

[kloffy]

No, but it helps ... seriously, I would love to love Gimp and InkScape and I check up on them every few years to see if I can reasonably make the switch from Adobe products but it still seems like it would be hard.

In general, I agree with your point. However, you should also consider that switching from a complex piece of software to another is always frustrating. Of course, this is exacerbated if the new tool is missing some particular feature that you like. Yet, I find that the transition is the most difficult part.

I did the switch from Photoshop to Gimp a long time ago. It took quite some time for me to adjust. Now that I am used to it, Gimp allows me to do anything I need. Most of my image processing needs are fairly basic. But, if you are not a professional graphics artist and you are not already using Photoshop, you will probably be quite content with Gimp.

Edited by kloffy, 18 December 2012 - 09:28 PM.

[Arun Haridas]

It fully depend upon the tool you use to create game...

[SimonForsman]

EDIT: And you can make very professional art in free art programs. They're usually just a little more difficult to do the more "special effects" kind of stuff with. But I mean, people paint with traditional tools with no computers at are, and that's even less convenient than a computer with free software, and that's just as professional! I've done plenty of graphic design projects for companies and stuff using tools even as simple as OpenCanvas (which is pretty much MSPaint deluxe). I'm not trying to say I'm some amazing artist, but how you use the tools is the most important part.

Indeed, the expensive tools primarily save time, they don't improve quality (Allthough if you're under time constraints the more expensive tools can allow you to raise the quality to levels that would be too time consuming to reach with the cheaper tools).

Time = money, the important question should be: How much time will you save by using a more expensive tool ? (If you're a professional artist working 8h per day things like photoshop will pay for themselves within a few months even if you only boost productivity by a few percent)