Wikipedia:Graphics Lab/Resources/Software

Graphics Lab/Resources/Software

The Graphics Lab is a project to improve the graphical content of the Wikimedia projects. Requests for image improvements can be added to the workshop pages: Illustrations, Photographs and Maps. For questions or suggestions one can use the talk pages: Talk:Graphics Lab, Talk:Illustrations, Talk:Photographs and Talk:Maps.
This specific page is a list of free graphic programs that are useful in manipulating images for the graphics lab. If you have a question about a particular point in one of the programs, asking on WT:GL may help. For general help, try searching for "[program] tutorial" or "[] help" or similar.


Name and Function	Operating system(s)	Download
Inkscape, the general standard for creating and editing SVG files	Windows; macOS; Linux	All
GIMP, similar to Adobe Photoshop. Used for the retouching of images, and creating raster graphics (PNG, JPEG). Can also be used to create animations (GIF) when the GIMP Animation Package (GAP) is installed.	Windows; macOS; Linux; Solaris; BSD	Windows, Linux/BSD/Solaris macOS
hugin, for the stitching of panoramic images together into one big image, correction of perspective and various other things.	Windows; macOS; Linux; BSD; Other Unix Systems	All
QGIS, to create GIS maps' layers: topographic background, shaded relief, states/provinces polygons, rivers/lakes/coasts, urban areas, etc. PNG or SVG.	Windows; macOS; Linux; etc.	All
Open Jump GIS, to create SVG or PNG maps and GIS vector datasets.	Windows; macOS; Linux	All
Blender, for the creation and editing of 3D images.	Windows; macOS; Linux; Solaris; IRIX; C source	All
Scribus, a free desktop publishing application (DTP).	Windows; macOS; Linux; Unix; OS/2; eComStation; ArcaOS	All
POV-Ray, a free 3D ray tracer.	Windows; macOS; Linux	All
Dia, create and edit diagrams and graphics that only require basic shapes. Supports exporting to vector (SVG) and various raster file formats.	Windows; Linux; macOS	All

Examples of images created with the above programs.

Inkscape (see more)
GIMP
hugin
Blender
POV-Ray