Graphics Converter software for mac

Anyone else using this software? With a shareware fee of $30, it's a nice alternative to Photoshop and Paintshop Pro. I haven't tried Gimp. I use it to convert files to tga format and create transparencies.

Graphics Converter is an extremely useful software but it's in no way comparable to Photoshop or Gimp. If you're looking for something approaching PS but don't want to lay out the spondooliks take a look at this ...


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I downloaded and checked it out, it works well but as a seasoned photoshop user I won't be changing over to Gimp, but I was impressed with this version. The author has done a great job on the UI. ( It's almost a Mac app ! )

I know it's not on the same playing field a the others, but I've found it pretty handy for reformatting Mac OS files, for simple textures, and photos in that I don't have Photoshop installed on all the computers I use between work and home. Thank you very much for the link.

I use GC for most of my routine images uploads. It has some relatively powerful editing and image tools, including formatting to just about every image file type out there. You can edit picture content and also add alpha layer in the .tga format.

It is not Photoshop, but it is a nice app for quick an easy edits and reformatting.

I thought it might be a good suggestion to new members not geared toward a full blown career in SL along the photoshop line. I first used it because of its alpha layer capability when my photoshop computer was inaccessible for a week. I've introduced it to some teens interested in photography. I'm of a mind to want to encourage them to find ways to learn and develop their talents without the cost of a program like photoshop. Kids have a lot of "I've got to have this. It's so cool!" mentality about asking their parents for expensive stuff. It sets up unrealistic expectations and frustration when their on their own and faced with the reality of life without their parents financial support.

Please, I beg you, explain how to do alpha tranparencies in Graphic Converter. I have used it for years but never needed to do alpha transparencies before coming to SL.

.... and have not been able to figure it out on my own.

Many thanks,

I've used Graphic Converter - it does do almost any format at all.

But, I noticed that since upgrading to 10.4 Tiger, the Preview application can now save as TGA and BMP formats, with and without alpha!

So, for just conversion I use Preview. But if I need to rescale (often going from the correct aspect ratio to some power-of-two by power-of-two size), I use Graphic Converter to rescale and convert in one go.

For the record, I do most of my graphic work in MacroMedia's Fireworks. A good all around program.

I do my artistic work in Photoshop Elements, and the technical stuff, including alpha transparencies, in GraphicConverter.

What you do is make sure that the area you want to be transparent is all one color. Then make that the transparent color by clicking on it with the transparent tool selected (wand with a 'T' next to it). You'll get a visual indication of the transparency to make sure you haven't made a mistake.

Finally, choose 'Create Alpha/Mask Channel from Transparency' in the menus. Its location varies according to the exact version of GC - in v5.6, it's under 'Picture/Alpha Channel'. I think it was under 'Special/Alpha Channel' in v5.5

Simple, isn't it!

Fantastic, Thank you Lisse Livingston!!

As an aside GCon will save as Windows Icon format, which is handy for creating favicons for web sites. If PS can do that it's escaped me...

As always, horses for courses - which is why I have both Macs and PCs...

I'm a big fan of GCon since... uh... since Mac OS X came out, I expect. People are always assuming that I'm able to open any weird format and sending me the most strange files. I got GCon from the very early versions, and promptly registered it. It saved me a lot of trouble since then

I mean, how many programs do you know that open very esoteric formats like Atari or Psion image files? GCon does them all. You'd be hard pressed to find a format it doesn't support...

Then I got a PowerBook two years ago, and saw that I had an extra license from Apple in there Ah well, the same happened me over the years. It looks like all cool software I've registered, Apple tends to offer it after a few years. Since then I've been a bit more reluctant to pay for excellent shareware, lol.

Anyway, I use GCon a lot for generating favicon.ico's, hehe. Yes, so far, I think it's the only Mac app I've got that works very well in generating those, unless there is a command-line utility that does the same.

Also, I love the quite fast and incredibly efficient batch commands, not unlike Photoshop's, but with dozens and dozens more commands. You want to drop a PDF inside and export it to 24-bit TGAs for uploading to SL as a slideshow presentation? No problem — GCon will do that in a breeze, and even rescale each slide properly to a "power of two" , all automatically. Or generate movies in Quicktime from slideshow presentations (yes, beyond dealing with animated GIFs, or whatever fancies you).

As an alternative to Photoshop/PaintShop Pro/GIMP, it lacks a major feature: dealing with layers. It does recognize alpha channels, but that's all it does. Still, you can't expect much more from a $30 piece of shareware which started as a graphic converter utility and is now a full-blown bitmap editing tool, and not falling much behind GIMP in terms of plug-ins and/or filters.

So, what are it's biggest disadvantages? Rescaling algorithms and dealing with compression. Although you have several options for those — and you can even use the ones from QuickTime or Quartz directly — the end results are much poorer than the ones done by Photoshop, as a comparison. It's great for "quick and dirty" editing — when you don't wish to lose half a GByte of memory just to load Photoshop to convert a 2048x1536 TIFF into a 4 KB JPEG GCon usually gets much smaller files as a result, but, as said, their algorithms, at least for a beginner, are not really so great. You'll be disappointed if you wish to do a rescale at very high quality.

But for everyday usage, say, to quickly correct a scanned or photographed image, or for opening up that really weird file format nobody in the universe has ever heard about, well, on the Mac, nothing beats GCon. I'd say, it's a well-spent $30. And I'm still hoping for layer support one of these days ... it would be more than enough for an amateur like myself!

Does Graphic converter still keep a copy cached away privately of every image you have looked at recently, then one day suddenly reveal them all to your spouse after you thought they were deleted? My brother got given a real hard time over some pretty ladies he'd been admiring. Swore he'd never let the thing on his computer again.

GC has a File/Open Recent/ list of hte last 10 photos viewed.
But at the bottom of the list is a "Clear List" command. I dont know if GC actually caches away a copy or just keeps track of hte last place it was saved.


Most graphic programs have similar features.