about that bandwagon

Think about it, the latest Hamster rock commercial for Kia's Soul is not only catchy but many people who winced at the Soul now think it is sort of kind of cool, maybe wink!! Ever since I got my first computer and browsed the net to see what the digital artist were doing I was sucked in. There was fantastic art, the equipment used and the software. OH, I had to have it to be able to do it. I've never been able to get that level of equipment or afford the software. So my skills were never nurtured from the beginning the way I had hoped. I became a electrical drafter of the pen and ink era, then a CAD (computer assisted/aided draftsperson/designer). I even designed printed circuit boards for a little while. That was a practical end as opportunities for my passions did not present themselves. Livelihood occupation yes, passion no. You can't put stuff on the back burner forever. 

It is a weird state of affairs when you do your job with conviction and your hobby with zeal, passion and great satisfaction. Sometimes if the hobby becomes the job you lose the heat. The gotta get a buck to payoff something is an awkward thing to manage at times. Back to the bandwagon. I got a reasonable PC and desire to draw. Finding reasonable software is hard. There is free-ware of questionable quality, trial-ware both feature limited, output crippled and full-featured time limited software, and the pro-ware. Talk about exasperation, I hate the idea that the usefulness of what I downloaded and installed will run out before I even get to learn it. Oh yeah, I forgot beta-ware. I had Rhino 3D when it was a trial beta version, man was that cool. Free and easy to use, all I had to do was supply the key code. When the beta period was over, so was free and somehow I lost one of the original six floppy's it was stored on. I went to the Rhino 3D site and it was $$$$ to get the real thing. There was a time-limited trial version however.

In walks Linux and Open Source Software. Now I'd been using Linux for a while and playing with the artist applications. I occurred to me, I was using Open Source art apps but still looking and comparing them to commercial apps on the MS and Mac platforms. This was stupid because I didn't have any intention on buying a Mac and MS software was also an economic strain. Let me look and see what I have already.

GIMP is sort of like Photoshop, emphasis on sort of like. Replacement is not accurate and alternative is not with exact duplication in mind. It has lots of the same tools, abilities and techniques, more and less.

Inkscape is sort of like Adobe Illustrator in the fact it handles vector drawing. Again replacement and alternative is a mileage may vary kind of thing.

My Paint is a natural paint app, it is what it is.

LibreCad is a drafting app, I think better than Qcad because it is closer to AutoCad in function and file formats.

There are many other Open Source Softwares that run in Linux and the Microsoft platform and some on the Mac. My point is the tools, same tools. Techniques may be different, better, worse, probably similar. Usually the main points of concern are file formats and support from users and vendor/developers. And above all Open Source Software is free to download, to install and use. Also free to change the code if you have that ability, you might even improve it for others. Any caveats? Well if you are born and bred in the Mac and Microsoft worlds, thinking what else is there, as if there is nothing else...............sorry you are wrong, incorrect and misinformed. I fact I'd say you were rock'in to MS and Apple's hamster commercials. I didn't know either, but now I do and so I tell you. Open Source Software, especially the artist apps can get you drawing today, no waiting to buy, no trial time-ou...........................