Painting and animation software can mimic traditional art tools.
With the rise of digital art applications, studio artists are no longer limited to traditional drawing, painting and animation tools. There are many software applications available that allow artists to create original pieces that can bear a striking resemblance to works created with oil, chalk, watercolor, acrylics, pastels, pencils and more.
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is the industry leader in illustration software. Users create vector-based artwork using an extensive set of drawing and effects tools. Illustrator is used by print, web, animation and video artists because the graphics created in the software can be exported and optimized in many different media formats. Illustrator can be purchased as a standalone product or bundled with other Adobe design products.
Canvas
ACD Systems' Canvas software is a competitor to Illustrator and a powerful application for drawing and editing vector and raster graphics. Many artists use Canvas because of its extensive paintbrush tools and its ability to import more than 100 types of file formats. Canvas is popular among technical artists because of its ability to import files and data used in the transportation, aviation and geological research. Canvas tools comply with Aviation Transportation Authority (ATA) and Petroleum Industry Protocol (PIP) standards.
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is primarily a tool for processing, editing, optimizing and managing digital images. Native Illustrator files can be seamlessly imported into Photoshop as well as many other file formats. Users can also draw raster graphics in Photoshop. Many designers use Photoshop to create low-bandwidth GIF animation to display on websites. Photoshop comes in several versions tailored to specific audiences and skill sets. In addition to the full version, the lightweight Photoshop Elements targets consumers with limited design knowledge while Photoshop Lightroom is tailored for serious photographers.
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is software used to create interactive and animated content for the web, mobile phones, kiosks and other devices. It is the leading tool for creating web animation. Flash has a limited set of tools for creating original graphics but it imports all types of media file formats. Interactivity can be enhanced using Flash's native programming language called ActionScript and with PHP and JavaScript.
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Corel's CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is an all-in-one application for vector-based illustration, digital painting, image editing, animation creation and page layout. It is a cheaper alternative to standalone or bundled Adobe products. A special feature of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is its inclusion of more than 1,000 professional fonts and a library of clip art and royalty free photos. Illustrations and animation created in the application can be exported in a wide range of file formats for different media, including web and print.
Tags: file formats, CorelDRAW Graphics, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, Graphics Suite, ability import
