ArtWeaver: a Viable, Free Photoshop Alternative?

Before the shouting begins, no, ArtWeaver is not a Photoshop "clone."

You won't find the same multitude of tools Photoshop offers, but ArtWeaver is a promising option for people wanting a slimmed-down alternative that offers the functions that beginning and intermediate users want.

Artweaver's interface is uncomplicated and should be comfortable for anyone who's used Photoshop before. The included help file is very detailed, and provides tons of information and useful tips to get you started.

So, what kind of tools does Artweaver offer?

• Selection tools: Rectangular and eliptical selection, freehand and polygonal lasso, magic wand
• Brushes: standard, airbrush, cloning, and a ton of "artist" brushes (like charcoal, chalk, felt pen, pencil, impasto)
• Shapes tool: rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, polygon, and custom shapes
• Eraser, paint bucket, stamp, crop, and move tools
  
• A nice set of color palettes (Windows, Mac, Web, etc.)
• Filters
• Grid and perspective grid overlays

Tablet input is supported, and Artweaver provides an easy calibration tool. Pressure settings can be tied to effects like opacity, grain, jitter, angle, and flow on your brush tool's advanced palette. It's also much less resource-intensive than Photoshop and runs very well on my Intel Atom-powered netbook.

Couple Artweaver's core functionality with the fact that it can be extended by plugins, it certainly has the potential to be a very competent Photoshop alternative.

Tags: alternatives, freeware, photo-editing, photoshop