Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternative)

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spicydog
Posts: 262
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:56 am

Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternative)

#1 Post by spicydog »

Like the title, looking for software to combine photos, text, arrows etc. ala PowerPoint alternative

- Move around and align the images, the text boxes and the shapes (either manually with the support of a grid/guide overlay or with an auto-alignment feature).
Last edited by spicydog on Tue May 17, 2011 4:11 am, edited 2 times in total.

-.-
Posts: 325
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:32 pm

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#2 Post by -.- »

most graphic editors can do this...
gimp comes to mind :S

but what do you want output file to be in and for what purpose

spicydog
Posts: 262
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:56 am

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#3 Post by spicydog »

-.- wrote:most graphic editors can do this...
gimp comes to mind :S

but what do you want output file to be in and for what purpose
Hello again friend :)

I should have probably mentioned this in my first post:

Mostly I will use this application for making small posters and graphic memos/tutorials.

Output format is not relevant as I mainly capture a screenshot of the created montage... Saving as any image format (png, jpg, bmp etc) would be a plus, but it is not a must since taking a screenshot is good enough.

What is important is the ability to overlap images with each other and with the other elements (text, shapes etc.).

Thanks for actively supporting my requests :mrgreen:

Any other suggestion? :mrgreen:

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Napiophelios
Posts: 610
Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:48 pm

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#4 Post by Napiophelios »

I use Photofiltre for lots of similar tasks.
Its kinda my speed (novice :) )
- Move around and align the images, the text boxes and the shapes (either manually with the support of a grid/guide overlay or with an auto-alignment feature).
This is the only feature I am not sure PhotoFiltre can do,
at least not the free version.

-.-
Posts: 325
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:32 pm

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#5 Post by -.- »

gimp would still be your best bet I think...
Great for making posters and you can move things around with layers. Also move them below/above other layers. Plus gimp has a lot of preset shapes you can use for arrows/boxes/circles

if you want something like powerpoint, openoffice has its own powerpoint like program.

edit: maybe this one? http://portableapps.com/apps/office/dia_portable havent used it before but sounds like what you want

spicydog
Posts: 262
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:56 am

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#6 Post by spicydog »

Napiophelios wrote:I use Photofiltre for lots of similar tasks.
Its kinda my speed (novice :) )
- Move around and align the images, the text boxes and the shapes (either manually with the support of a grid/guide overlay or with an auto-alignment feature).
This is the only feature I am not sure PhotoFiltre can do,
at least not the free version.
Hey Nappi, nice to hear from you buddy :)

I also use Photofiltre (for other stuff) but for the purpose I described earlier that app is unfortunately not suitable and just too roundabout, I really need something pretty basic to do in a straightforward way these few operations:

- copy 3 or 4 pictures from Windows Explorer
- paste them into the main task pane
- draw some arrows, some circles and some rectangles (eventually color them and adjust thickness)
- write some text (eventually format it and shuffle it around)
- arrange all elements (eventually overlap/resize some of them)
- align as needed... That's all... Then, as I said, I'll take a screenshot of the slide and I have what I need in image (mostly I use .png) format.

In PowerPoint all this is possible but I am looking for an alternative ;)

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I am Baas
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Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:51 am

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#7 Post by I am Baas »


spicydog
Posts: 262
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:56 am

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#8 Post by spicydog »

-.- wrote:gimp would still be your best bet I think...
Great for making posters and you can move things around with layers. Also move them below/above other layers. Plus gimp has a lot of preset shapes you can use for arrows/boxes/circles

if you want something like powerpoint, openoffice has its own powerpoint like program.

edit: maybe this one? http://portableapps.com/apps/office/dia_portable havent used it before but sounds like what you want
My feedback after testing Gimp and Dia: Both very nice apps (especially Dia which I will definitely keep for making flowcharts THANKS for your tip) but very far from the simplicity that I am looking for.

I already use "OpenOffice Impress" and obviously it does -in a less straightforward way than its M$ equivalent- the job that I need to do... I also tested "Ashampoo (also known as Softmaker) Presentations 2010" (a "Made in Germany" Office-like lighter suite with its equivalent to PowerPoint) and I found a number of pros and cons (mostly cons, actually) but the fact is that I would really try to say bye-bye to the PowerPoint concept and move towards something different... The question is... WHAT :mrgreen:

spicydog
Posts: 262
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:56 am

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#9 Post by spicydog »

I am Baas wrote:Give Fotowall a try... http://www.enricoros.com/opensource/fotowall/
Hey I am Baas, THANKS for your great suggestion!!!

Excellent, simple and fast program, definitely a keeper!!!

My feedback after a short trial of "Fotowall" (if you used the program for a while and you are familiar with its "hidden" features, if any, please feel free to correct my statement):

- "Fotowall" closed unexpectedly (and all of a sudden) a couple of times and my job was lost... Still a bit unstable, probably?

- Copy and paste and also drag and drop are both not supported, but adding images via the add toolbar command is pretty straightforward.

- Inserting shapes/elements (arrows, straight and curved lines, ellipses, rectangles etc.) is not supported unless you keep somewhere a collection of these shapes in .png (with transparency) format and you add them as images.

- I am missing an auto-alignment feature and/or a grid/guide overlay.

- I am also missing the ability to resize added images by inputting specific coordinates (% of the original size or actual X and Y dimensions in pixels or other unit). It is a pity that this is not an available feature because sometime I add a dozen of small images and I know that at say, 150% of their original size they render in the right way, so I just select them all and set the 150% magnification ratio and I am done... In "Fotowall" I have absolutely no control over the accurate size of one (or -most important- multiple) image/s.

- Text formatting is good but it is missing:

a) The option to wrap text (you have to hit the return key manually if you want text to fit a specific box size)

b) The option to align text within its box (very strange that it is not available, actually)... Maybe I overlooked that... As far as you know is it actually possible to center text or align it left/right?

c) The option to have text follow its box size. (Once a text box has been created you can only resize it as you would resize an image so if you drag the edges of the text box the text does not auto-fit the size of the box but it actually shrinks and keeps its original size and line formatting).

Probably -since I like this program a lot and it fits almost entirely my needs- it would be easier to send a short memo (resuming the points above) to the developing team and see if they are willing to add some of these features, what do you think?

Thanks again for the tip and if you know something I don't about the few "shortcomings" mentioned above and you have a moment I would really appreciate if you could send me a short comment :mrgreen:

spicydog
Posts: 262
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Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#10 Post by spicydog »

I have forwarded my requests to Fotowall's developer/s and I hope he/they will get back to me with some concrete feedback since the program at the current stage is not covering the tasks described in the various posts of this thread and it is a bit too unstable for elaborate jobs.

If somebody else in the meantime feels like forwarding more suggestions I would be very pleased to consider other alternatives.

Thanks again :mrgreen: and HAPPY WEEKEND to everybody!

lyx
Posts: 84
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:23 am

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#11 Post by lyx »

The task which you want to do has little to do with an image editor. Diagram-Editors are closer to what you describe.

Unfortunatelly, diagram editors also usually offer lots of feature-bloat which you do not need, and therefore too are not straight-forward.

However, "Diagram Designer" by Meesoft (freeware, portable) may quite possibly be closest to what you want to do. It's a very simplified kind of diagram editor (basically what paint is for image editors) - just the basic tools and not more.

lyx
Posts: 84
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:23 am

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#12 Post by lyx »

spicydog wrote:While the "Stealth" feature is not entirely there (Diagram Designer writes some settings to the registry) I am very happy to conclude that this is definitely the program I was looking for!
Not sure if its stealth, but the current version definatelly should write SETTINGS to a configfile - it may however be, that it only does that if one creates the configfile - not sure.
1) Hide the flowchart templates pane (selected by default)
You can already - just drag the seperator to the right.
3) Hide (or minimize) page breaks (selected by default)
Well, i doubt that much will happen there, because DD is basically build around the assumption, that you create one diagram per page (you noticed that you can have multiple ones, right?)
7) Add images drag-n-drop support (or even better copy-n-paste directly from Windows explorer)
That does already work here. I can just drag an image from explorer into a diagram.

P.S.: Diagram Designer only becomes really comfortable, once you create a template palette for your own needs. Once that is in place, most tasks indeed become a drag-n-drop job, without having to go into a properties dialog for every new object which you place.

lyx
Posts: 84
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:23 am

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#13 Post by lyx »

spicydog wrote: I have tested again and still it does not save settings to the app folder ... I have also tried making myself a DiagramDesigner.cfg file but no joy... I have extracted to a local folder the .exe I downloaded AND ALSO tried the other way by executing the downloaded file but no portability here :( What is the name of your .cfg file?
Try creating a blank file called "DiagramDesigner.ini" - that works here.
1) Hide the flowchart templates pane (selected by default)
You can already - just drag the seperator to the right.
spicydog wrote:Yes, that's what I figured, but if close DD and restart it, the panel shows again... This might be linked to the .cfg file matter. Solve ONE = Solve ALL :)
Not really, just checked - apparently, this setting is not saved.

Also I do not seem to be able to make DD keeping the default font settings (close DD and restart it and the font goes back to "Arial 10 black")... Is that working on your system?
If you want such things and more, then i'd instead do that via a customized palette. Short Version: ANY object which you can create on a diagram (including text in it), you can also have in a palette (in fact, the palette is just another diagram to drag'n drop from.

Font (and if you want to, color too) can be set inline in the text, similiar to html like for example:
\"Verdana"\012\BMyBold12PointVerdanaText
Check the upper area when editing text for more info.
spicydog wrote:Yes, I saw that but why so huge page breaks? And why on the right of the portrait view I have to waste so much screen space for that blue empty stripe?
Need screenshot. Though, you know that you set the page size, right?

Three last things which you may need to know: You can convert objects to "metafile objects".... those basically are like bitmaps but vector style - they can be in some cases useful to get features which normal objects do not have. For example, normally you cannot rotate text - but you can turn a textobject into a metafile and then rotate it.

Also, you can create new kinds of polygons yourself, by first drawing them with lines, and then choosing "convert to polygon".

Finally, to save a page as an image, you can use "Export Page" in the File menu.

lyx
Posts: 84
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:23 am

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#14 Post by lyx »

Spicydog, please stop acting like an attention-whore. Posting alternatives in a thread, okay. Preseting it in a way that is close to advertising.... hmm, okay. Sending people PMs, to tell them that they should read your post, nope, not okay.

Since you asked for feedback so hard, here's mine: .NET? No thanks.

spicydog
Posts: 262
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:56 am

Re: Combine photos, text, arrows etc. (PowerPoint alternativ

#15 Post by spicydog »

lyx wrote:Spicydog, please stop acting like an attention-whore. Posting alternatives in a thread, okay. Preseting it in a way that is close to advertising.... hmm, okay. Sending people PMs, to tell them that they should read your post, nope, not okay.

Since you asked for feedback so hard, here's mine: .NET? No thanks.
Jesus... touchy, aren't we?

Sorry if I disrupted your busy intellectual life with one PM... It won't happen again, don't worry!

I was very happy to have found something that does a lot more than Diagram Designer and felt like sharing it with you in particular since you participated quite eagerly to the thread but now that I see you are in full PMS I will keep the necessary distance.... And BTW, if you have the urge to mention your sister's profession do it at least in a PM and not in public!!!
Last edited by spicydog on Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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