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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

Any other suggestion?

I use Photofiltre for lots of similar tasks.
Its kinda my speed (novice )


This is the only feature I am not sure PhotoFiltre can do,
at least not the free version.

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"Defects are always more tolerable than the changes necessary to correct them"

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

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

Give Fotowall a try... http://www.enricoros.com/opensource/fotowall/

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bəʊɡɪ bəəs

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

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

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 and HAPPY WEEKEND to everybody!

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.

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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.


You can already - just drag the seperator to the right.


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?)


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.

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Try creating a blank file called "DiagramDesigner.ini" - that works here.


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.


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.