[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by teh603

GIMP. Takes a little getting used to, but I haven't had too many problems.

Thanks teh, I'm just having trouble getting used to it.

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Why don't you give Inkscape a try. It's free and, IMHO, much more user friendly than GIMP.

Haven't heard of Inkscape. Checking it out. Does it do all the basics GIMP does (resizing, cropping, layers etc.)? Thanks.

Originally Posted by gmw

I use GIMP for anything vaguely serious in the way of graphics work. The covers of my first two books were done using GIMP, and it's layer features were critical to getting the photos merged as I wanted. I use Irfanview for viewing and very basic manipulations (cropping, resizing, its auto-correct feature can be handy for fast adjustments) and for batch work.

Thanks GMW. Never heard of Irfanview, but checking it out it says 'for non-commercial use only.' Is it ok to use to make ebook covers? And really, why would you use it when GIMP does cropping and resizing?

Originally Posted by gmw

Yes, GIMP does take some learning, but it is very powerful. Learn to use the layers efficiently and all sorts of things become possible.

That's the thing, on paint.net the layers are so easy to use. On GIMP they're disappearing half the time. GIMP just seems unreliable.

Originally Posted by gmw

It's (GIMP's) text features I find particularly annoying.

Oh my gosh, yes. The text works properly sometimes, not at all others. And again paint.net's text is so easy to use and reliable. (But when GIMP's text does work it's quite good.)

Originally Posted by kennyc

There are some basic tutorials on line. It might be worth spending a bit of time learn, but that is all dependent on your need/desire/etc.

Thanks Kenny

Originally Posted by Katsunami

If you're not adverse to online browser-based programs, you could take a look at Pixlr.

Did not know about Pixlr. It's fun. The UI reminds me of paint.net. But the text graphics seemed weak.

Originally Posted by Katsunami

For better or worse, if you need a free image editor to do more than just basic stuff, you will eventually end up using GIMP.

Sounds like a sentence. "Ten years of hard labor!"