OT: Graphics software for geometrical shapes

Jøran Toresen wrote on 9/15/2005, 4:55 PM
Graphics software for geometrical shapes

I’m looking for graphics software to create geometrical shapes that I can use as lower thirds or as other (simple and / or complex) graphical elements (and masks) in my videos. Power Point has the capability to produce some simple shapes (rectangles, ovals and so on) and it’s possible to fill these shapes with a solid colour or a gradient.

And my question is: Is there any other software that is more sophisticated than Power Point when it comes to creating graphical shapes that can be used as “lower thirds” and / or masks in videos? (I prefer software that doesn’t cost a fortune. And I know that Cayman can make some graphical shapes, but it costs $395.)

Joran

Comments

Jeff Waters wrote on 9/15/2005, 5:19 PM
I use a really old version of Macromedia fireworks for this. Works great. Usually save the stuff as .png with transparent backgrounds to bring into Vegas. Much like photoshop I think.

I think FW is like $300 new... but surely you could find an older version for sale somewhere dirt cheap.

Jeff
Coursedesign wrote on 9/15/2005, 5:37 PM
You can try [for free] what's going to become Acrylic, Microsoft's "Illustrator killer" at Acrylic

It can even do some things Illustrator can't (but is less effective in other areas). The price is right!
boomhower wrote on 9/15/2005, 6:05 PM
I have CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 and it has some really good graphic capabilities (even though I'm not a graphics guru - and will probably never use half of the tools). It has a "smart drawing" function that lets you draw a square, for example, and then it comes in, recognizes what you tried to draw, and cleans it up - levels it out etc. You can d/l a fully functional trial version and check it out. It comes with a great photo program (similar to CS2) along with some other stuff. Reasonable when you compare it to CS2.

There are a couple of open source graphics programs out there. I d/l one and it crashed my system....can't recall the name....I'll post it later when I think of it.

{edit} Inkscape is the program that freaked out on my system
rs170a wrote on 9/15/2005, 6:42 PM
From the site:
Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara.
And it's free as well :-)

Mike
Former user wrote on 9/15/2005, 6:44 PM
Where the heck does the link you provided for Acrylic go to?

Anyway, thanks for the tip to find "Acrylic" and download it. I just signed up for the trial period (I think it's 180 days).

Here's where I found it...

Acrylic

Jim
Coursedesign wrote on 9/15/2005, 7:41 PM
The odd-looking link I provided was from Google's cache, because that worked even as the original page was down when I checked.
Chienworks wrote on 9/15/2005, 8:25 PM
The link you've posted is http://127.0.0.1:4664 ... which points to your own computer (you being whoever clicks on it). It appears to be pointing to a cache on your own hard drive rather than Google's.
Coursedesign wrote on 9/15/2005, 11:17 PM
That is correct of course, I think I'm multitasking a bit too much right now.

It came from a previous successful access a week ago.
rs170a wrote on 9/16/2005, 6:55 AM
Inkscape is the program that freaked out on my system

Thanks for the heads-up on that. I've never used it as I have Corel Draw but thought it might be useful to other folks.

Mike