Recommend me a free alternative to photoshop
Sfariah D
Posts: 26,342
in The Commons
Please recommend me a free alternative to photoshop. I like Photoshop but don't like paying for it every month just to use a newer version than CS6. Does anyone recommend a free alternative to photoshop? Maybe something that can do well with 3D texturing too?
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Not used it myself but often when this topic comes up PhotoPea gets mentioned. There is also good-old GIMP too.
If you have CS6, you could keep using that. Gimp does a lot these days, very competent. If you like digital drawing and painting, Krita is excellent for that.3D texturing... Blender! There's a learning curve, but isn't that true of everything?
It's not a free alternative, but since the only free one I'm aware of is GIMP and it's already been mentioned, I thought I would jump in with a suggestion that you look at Serif's Affinity Photo. It's an excellent Photoshop-like program. Overall it feels very similar. As a 10+ year Photoshop user, I'm finding it quite intuitive. In some ways, I think I like it better. So if you find that the free options don't quite suit you or your workflow, you might take a look at it. It's a much less expensive one-time purchase.
I was thinking f Affinity, but I have never been able to get that to run on my system. It's weird! And if you know the secret to getting it to run, I'd love to hear. Currently, the installer pretends to start and just winks out of existence. So, even though I'd love to give it a try, it's a no-go.
Quixel Mixer for painting on 3d models (alternative to Blender or Substance Painter).
https://quixel.com/mixer
I'm downloading Quixel Mixer with texture packs now. Seems interesting, we shall see. Thanks!
Best free alternative I've seen is Krita followed by Medibang Paint.
I can confirm that Krita plays well with xp-pen monitor drivers.
All good suggestions above, another suggestion if it works for you is Photoshop Elements.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/595501/is-there-a-photoshop-that-doesn-t-require-a-subscription#latest
don't forget you had some suggestions in this thread too
Gimp is one of the best alternative to Photoshop.
I agree, PS Elements is also very good. This is especially true if you find it on sale bundled with Premiere Elements.
You might be able to find all sorts of Photoshop alternatives through AlternativeTo. Keep hitting the "Show more alternatives" at the bottom when you run out of the ones shown. I've been using this site for years.
https://alternativeto.net/software/adobe-photoshop - Press "Alternatives to Photoshop (223)"
Since it was mentioned here, I downloaded Quixel Mixer. I'm not in love with it. YMMV. A few notes:
1) The QM download includes optional texture packs and a library of up to 428 smart materials. It's around 28GB if you download them all with the software, and I did! These are licensed for commercial and noncommercial application provided that you incorporate them into custom textures for your models. Like any such package, you can't start selling the source textures or anything like that. These are separate from the megascan textures that are available for sale through epic games. If free is the key, the megascans are not going to help you unless you are using them exclusively in Unreal Engine. Then there is a special license for that, and it is not very useful for people using Daz Studio, Blender, or any program except Unreal Engine. So, off the bat, I will say Quixel Mixer comes with up to 428 free smart materials that you can use to get your party started.
2) There does seem to be a learning curve for QM. No surprise there.
3) It is sensitive to models with negative normals and won't load them.
4) The paint tools do not seem to have any pressure-sensitive capabilities for tablet and pen-monitor users. If they exist, I haven't found them anywhere yet. This might be a deal-breaker, actually.
5) The program feels a bit slow and heavy with the sample scenes, faster when I load my own test objects.
6) You do have to make an account to install the software, because of course you do!
Edited typos.
...I've been using Gimp for postwork since I started in 3D (couldn't afford the 600$ price tag for Photoshop back then). There have been several major improvements including the ability to load and use Photoshop brushes. The UI has also been revamped somewhat in the latest update. I also have Corel's Paint Shop Pro 2021 which I like better for some purposes like adding text to images (the editor is more intuitive) and manipulating layers as well as creating HDRIs..
I do have Krita as well which is more of a 2D paint programme similar to Corel's Painter.
Aw, that's a shame. I wish I was clever enough with computers to give you a good suggestion, but I usually have to resort to finding tech support when things like that come up. Maybe their customer support people would be able to figure it out with you. I have the latest Affinity software running on my PC and on Catalina on a MacBook, but haven't had any trouble with the installer as you describe. My parents are using Mac towers with Sierra (however many OS versions back that is) and can run older versions of Affinity but not the latest updates.
Thanks! I'll keep an eye on it. From what I can tell, I'm not the only one to have problems with their installer. It would be nice if I could get it to work..
+1 for Affinity products. They have a whole suite of programs that are good Adobe alternatives in general. Not free, but affordable one-time purchases.
AliveColors is also worth considering.
It has a free version in addition to the paid versions.
My wife swears by affinity https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/
And Paint.Net ( Windows Only )
While we're on the subject, darktable
https://www.darktable.org/
is a great free alternative to Lightroom
its not been mentioned and it is not free but there is Photoshop Elements . its a waters down version of photshop CC its pretty much does everything photoshop will include use PSD brushes and over layers.. only its a standalone app instead of Cloud. for a 1 time fee for $99 https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html
juts a another options if you still want to use you photoshop brushes you bought from daz
It was mentioned. I recommend looking for a sale with another retailer and there is a bundle with Premiere Elements. The two together are worth the $$.
I chime in for Affinity - I actually consider it an improvement for my workflow over Photoshop - it is far better at organizing all my Photoshop brushes, and they all perform flawlessly. I am using Version 1 on my Windows 7 clunker, so Photoshop removed itself from my world because of the login issues. I always hated the subscription model, so Affinity makes me happy in multiple ways :-)
Count me in in the Affinity bandwagon. I got the full v2 suite at 40% off recently. I'm still in the beginning of the learning curve though, but I dumped photoshop long time ago and found Gimp helpful but somewhat restrictive. However, I don't know how well Affinity Photo handles 3d content. Is relatively cheap if you can get it on sale.
GIMP!