Over the years digital paintings and 2D animation gained a lot of popularity due to their use in clickable web ads, creating banners, online marketing and advertising etc. There are a number of online as well as offline tools available for making these illustrations and images. The two most popular software are Inkscape and GIMP. These are used by a large number of companies due to their open-source nature and these are available for free. Both of these softwares have great features for 2D drawings, digital paintings, vector artwork, concept designing etc. along with these features they can be used on different operating systems.
What is Inkscape?
Inkscape is free and open-source computer software which is mainly used to create vector images. Its format is SVG which means Scalable Vector Graphic means the image’s pixels will not rupture on the zooming. It is available for different operating systems like FreeBSD, Linux, Mac, Windows etc. It was first released on 2 November 2003, and the stable release was in 2021 on 27 September. It is written in C++ and Python language. It has an easy interface with different manipulation tools for images like moving, rotating, scaling and skewing.
Advantages of Inkscape:
- It is free and open-source software.
- It comes with CAD and vector illustration tools which help in creating precise vector images.
- It is a small software of around 90 MB and is very easy to set up.
- It comes with node editing and object creation functionality.
- High-quality images can be produced as it has a large number of colour and gradients features.
Limitations of Inkscape:
- Saving files in jpeg or png format is not allowed in this software.
- It is a complex software which is difficult to learn.
- It is unable to edit .eps files.
What is GIMP?
GIMP is an open-source graphic editor which is used to edit and manipulate images and free form drawings. It was developed by the GIMP development team. Initially, it was released in 1998 and its stable version came in 2021. It supports various operating systems like Windows, Solaris, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD etc. It is developed using C programming languages. Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis is their original author.
Advantages of GIMP:
- It is free and open-source software so no money is required to use it.
- It comes with a simple interface which is easy to use so novice users can also learn it easily.
- Images of different formats can be easily imported and edited in this.
- It does not require any graphic card and runs on minimum specifications.
Limitations of GIMP:
- Photoshop and Illustrator files need conversion before opening in GIMP.
- It does not allow to open RAW files.
- Cropping feature of GIMP hangs many times.
Following is a table of differences between Inkscape and GIMP:
|
Inkscape |
GIMP |
|
| 1. | Inkscape can be understood as a vector image creating software which produces SVG images. | It is an open-source software used for editing free form and raster images. |
| 2. | It was developed by Bryce Harrington, Ted Gould, Nathan Hurst and MenTaLguY who are the founder members of Inkscape. | It was developed by the GIMP development team. |
| 3. | Images made in this software can be scaled to a high percentage. | Images cannot be scaled without losing quality. |
| 4. | It produces a smaller size image file. | Size of image files is bigger as compared to Inkscape. |
| 5. | It supports .svg file format. | It does not support svg file format but supports .png, .jpeg, .bmp file formats. |
| 6. | It is built using C++ and Python programming languages. | It is built using only the C programming language. |
| 7. | It retains image quality on the zooming. | It loses image quality on the zooming. |
| 8. | It is used in making logos, posters, architectural layouts etc. | It is used in editing photographs, designing ads, clickable banners etc. |