Design and Image Editing Resources
These are resources to help you with creating and prepping your images before you load them into Wunderfold.
Vector Design and Editing
These are editors that will help you create and edit vector images such as SVGs. They are ideal for creating crisp designs from shapes and text – perfect for book folding pattern design.
Inkscape
A free and open-source Adobe Illustrator alternative. Inkscape is very capable, powerful software, though a bit slow and clunky to use. The price is right though, so you might as well try it!
Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux
Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is a lower-cost Adobe Illustrator alternative. It’s very fast and user friendly. It’s my design software of choice. I use it every day! If you are doing enough graphic design to consider a paid option, this is the one I recommend.
Price: $55 (USD)
Platform: Windows, Mac
Adobe Illustrator
Much like Photoshop, Illustrator is the industry standard for vector design and editing. It is also the most expensive. Because of the price I don’t recommend it, though you might find free access to it at a local school, library, or maker space.
Platform: Windows, Mac
Photo Editing
These editors are designed for working with photos and other raster images (pixel-based images such as .jpg and .png). They are the best tools for doing detailed photo editing.
Gimp
GIMP is a free and open source Photoshop alternative. It’s very powerful, and fairly similar to Photoshop. It doesn’t have all the features Photoshop has, but it also has lots of plugins available. It’s free, so you might as well try it.
Price: Free
Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux
Affinity Photo
Affinity Photo is a lower-cost Photoshop alternative. It’s very fast and user friendly. It’s my photo editor of choice.
Price: $55 (USD)
Platform: Windows, Mac
Adobe Photoshop
The industry standard for Photo editing, this one is also the most expensive. Because of the price I don’t recommend it, though you might find free access to it at a local school, library, or maker space.
Price: $21+/Month
Platform: Windows, Mac
Background Removal
remove.bg
A quick and easy way to remove backgrounds. Lower resolution images are free, and high resolution images are paid. You can buy credits in bulk to lower the cost if you are doing a lot of background removal
Price: anywhere from $0.14 to $1.99 per image
Platform: Web
Clipping Magic
Similar to remove.bg, but allows you to edit the image to get perfect background removal. Low resolution images are free, and higher resolution images require a subscription.
Price: $3.99+ per month
Platform: Web
Vector Conversion
Sometimes you’ll want to convert a raster image (a pixel-based image such as JPG or PNG) to an SVG. This can smooth out lines and correct noisy images. While this can be done in Vector design software, it can be quicker and easier to use an online tool, though you might have to pay for it.
Inkscape
It’s worth mentioning that Inkscape has built-in tools for tracing images to vectors. Try this before you buy a dedicated tool for it.
Price: Free
Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux
Gimp
Though it’s a photo editor, GIMP also has the ability to turn an image into a path, which can then be exported to an SVG. If you already use GIMP for photo editing, give this a try.
Price: Free
Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux
Vector Magic
A nice vector conversion tool, but expensive at $9.99 per month. If you want a convenient tool and are willing to pay for it, you can give this a try.
Platform: Web