Best free graphics editors
Online service converts bitmap images to vector graphics
Most images you see on the web are bitmaps. They are like pictures made up of lots of tiny dots. Common examples include GIF and JPG files. Vector graphic based images are not made of dots but rather sets of lines along with instructions how these lines are to be drawn. The great advantage of vector images is that the images can be magnified with little loss in quality. There are many "rasterization" programs that will convert vector images into bitmaps, but few that can reliably convert bitmaps into vector images. This site [1], recommended by long-time subscriber Stan Latta, does just that. It's not totally free but you do get two free conversions before you have to pay. Supported input bitmap formats include JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF and PSD, while output vector images can be in EPS, SVG, PDF or PNG formats.
http://www.vectormagic.com/
Best free digital image processing and design programs
This is a well chosen list of 45 freebies. It includes a lot of the products in my own freeware list but there are a number of specialist programs that I've never heard of. The one that caught my interest was FastStone Photo Resizer. Thanks to subscriber Todd Johnson for the suggestion.
http://www.snap2objects.com/2007/07/20/45-best-freeware-design-programs/
The best free 3-D graphics and modeling programs
Subscriber David Bruce recently sent in a series of suggestions in this category. I suggested he write them up as a webpage and he's done just that. Check out his suggestions at:
http://scoobysnacker.googlepages.com/3dartandgraphics
Impressive online Visio-like drawing program
The new generation of online applications continues to impress. Gliffy is essentially an on-line version of Visio. It's actually better in some respects in that it allows collaborative editing and online storage. You can create three documents for free but if you want more it will cost you. Registration is required. Thanks to JW for this one. Folks, when you look at Gliffy and similar products such as Fauxto you realize that what I alluded to in this month's editorial is happening fast. The era of running programs on your own PC is coming to an end. The future is browser based web applications.
http://www.gliffy.com/