Graphics Design Tools

We use a carefully-selected collection of open source tools and applications for our graphics design work at MousePaw Media.

Warning

These exact programs must be used for internal company work – no substitutions are permitted without written approval from the department lead.

These installation instructions are only written for Ubuntu-based Linux distributions. If you’re using a different Linux distribution, you may need to adjust these instructions.

If you are working with Design and Production or Mass Communication, we strongly recommend installing all of these tools, regardless of your specific assignments.

Birdfont (v2.28 or later)

-Birdfont* is an open source font editor and creator. It allows you to design fonts with vector graphics, and export them in the TTF, EOT, and SVG font formats.

Birdfont can be installed on Debian-based systems from the official repositories:

sudo apt install birdfont

Blender (v2.82 or later)

-Blender* is the leading open source 3D modeling studio, and is used by professionals and hobbyists alike.

It can be installed in one of several ways (select ONE):

It’s available from the main repositories on Debian-based systems:

sudo apt install blender

It’s available via Snapcraft:

sudo snap install blender

Or, install via Flatpak from Flathub:

flatpak install flathub org.blender.Blender

Darktable (v3.0 or later)

-Darktable* is a RAW photo processor, generally considered on-par with Adobe Lightroom®. It gives you an extensive set of professional photography editing tools.

It can be installed in one of several ways (select ONE):

It’s available from the main repositories on Debian-based systems:

sudo apt install darktable

It’s available via Snapcraft:

sudo snap install darktable

Or, install via Flatpak from Flathub:

flatpak install flathub org.darktable.Darktable

GIMP (v2.10 or later)

GIMP is a feature-rich graphics editing tool, largely analogous to Adobe Photoshop®.

It can be installed in one of two ways (select ONE):

It’s available via Snapcraft:

sudo snap install gimp

Or, install via Flatpak from Flathub:

flatpak install flathub org.gimp.GIMP

Alternative, it’s available for Windows, macOS, and also as an Appimage. See their website for more downloads: https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

Gpick (v0.2.6 or later)

Gpick is a color picker and palette editor, which can import and export in multiple formats, including the *.gpl palette format that Glimpse and Inkscape use.

Gpick can be installed on Debian-based systems from the official repositories:

sudo apt install gpick

Inkscape (v0.92 or later)

-Inkscape* is a professional-quality vector graphics editing program, analogous to Adobe Illustrator®. It can be used to create SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) files, and can export to most major graphics formats.

It can be installed in one of several ways (select ONE):

It’s available from the main repositories on Debian-based systems:

sudo apt install inkscape

It’s available via Snapcraft:

sudo snap install inkscape

Or, install via Flatpak from Flathub:

flatpak run org.inkscape.Inkscape

Krita (v4.2 or later)

-Krita* is a vast and powerful raster drawing and painting application, intended to be on-par with Adobe Photoshop®. It has an extensive collection of brushes and tools for both realistic and hyper-realistic painting, and sports excellent graphics tablet support.

It can be installed in one of several ways (select ONE):

It’s available from the main repositories on Debian-based systems:

sudo apt install krita

It’s available via Snapcraft:

sudo snap install krita

Or, install via Flatpak from Flathub:

flatpak run org.kde.krita

MyPaint (v2.0 or later)

-MyPaint* is a painting and drawing application, best suited for situations where you just want to start drawing! It supports graphics tablets and offers a sizable collection of brushes.

It can be installed in one of two ways (select ONE):

It’s available from the main repositories on Debian-based systems:

sudo apt install mypaint

Or, install via Flatpak from Flathub:

flatpak install flathub org.mypaint.MyPaint

Scribus (v1.5 or later)

Scribus is an open source desktop publishing and page layout program. It is meant to functionally replace Adobe InDesign®, and supports many publishing and design industry standards.

It can be installed in one of two ways (select ONE):

It’s available from the main repositories on Debian-based systems:

sudo apt install scribus

Or, install via Flatpak from Flathub:

flatpak install flathub net.scribus.Scribus