Serif PhotoPlus 6 and Friends
Quick and Fast: Serif makes some great professional programs and some of their programs are free. PhotoPlus 6 is only one of these, and can edit photos, draw and make Flash-type animations. DrawPlus, PagePlus, 3DPlus and WebPlus are also programs you should look into. Not for Commercial Use, Personal Use Only!
Where to get it:
PhotoPlus 6
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/photoplus/
DrawPlus 4
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/DrawPlus/default.asp
PagePlus SE
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/PagePlus/default.asp
3DPlus 2
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/3dPlus/default.asp
WebPlus SE
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/WebPlus/default.asp
I was very surprised when I opened PhotoPlus 6 and discovered that it can make animations. It’s possible to make some great stuff. As for editing photos, the controls are a lot like Photoshop itself, with a Layers panel, Colors panel and some familiar tools such as airbrush, paint bucket and gradient.
As it turns out, PhotoPlus 6 is a free version of PhotoPlus NE which costs about $10. The other Serif software also have free versions.
Other Serif Programs: Serif seems like an Adobe wannabe with names for it’s software programs that remind me of those made by Adobe: PhotoPlus (Photoshop, with Flash capabilities), DrawPlus (Illustrator), PagePlus (InDesign) and WebPlus (Dreamweaver). There’s also 3DPlus, which is cool. Each of these programs has a free version.
Altogether, Serif seems to have it’s own little niche which will probably get bigger the more people know about it. Seriously, this is great software for cheap, or even free! Look out, Adobe.
License and Use: Personal Use Only! Special permission is required for other situations. The website says:
“Please note – this free download is for personal use only and comes with a licence that allows you to install the software on only one PC. If you’d like to install Serif software in a multi-user or network situation – for example at a school or a large organization, then please contact edusales@serif.com for details of our affordable licence arrangements.”
