Graphic Conversion and Manipulation Software

There are over a two dozen graphic file types in use today. Netscape only supports viewing GIF and JPG images. If you download a .gif image and need to convert it to the .tif format to use with Powerpoint or another software program, a conversion program would be needed. However, converting from one type of file to another is easy with use of a conversion program. Most graphics viewing programs include conversion capabilities. While there are a number of good graphics packages available that range from easy to use beginner's packages to extensive graphic art programs, two good mid-level packages are Graphic Workshop for PC's and Graphic Converter 2.2 for Macs.

If you don't already have a graphic viewer you can download the above mentioned one that is correct for your platform by clicking on the links below. Graphic Converter and Graphics Workshop are both shareware. Shareware is software that you can download and begin using immediately but that you are legally required to pay for if you continue using it past the "trial period."

FOR MACS:
To retrieve Graphic Converter click on: http://www.umich.edu/~archive/mac/graphics/graphicsutil/ graphicconverter2.2us.sit.hqx

This is the US (English language) version. There are German and French language versions available as well. To connect to the directory and look at all the graphics utilities available click here: http://www.umich.edu/~archive/mac/graphics/graphicsutil/

FOR PC'S:
To retrieve Graphic Workshop use the following URL:
ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win95/miscutil/gwsp20.exe

In addition to viewing and conversion, both programs allow manipulation of the image with sizing, drawing, and shading tools. You can change the image size, change the color saturation, cut images, and flip or rotate images. More sophisticated commercial image manipulation software is also available, such as Adobe Photoshop which costs around $600 retail. Adobe does offer an educational discount which may allow you to get Photoshop for considerably less. Photoshop allows many ways of altering an image, such as moving objects within the image or between images, and changing the file size by altering the resolution. Adobe Corporation also offers a desktop publishing program called Acrobat which saves files in Portable Document Format. Using the free Adobe Acrobat Viewer plug-in Netscape users can view PDF files in their Netscape browser allowing for more sophisticated desktop published documents to be included in web pages. This viewer, and information on Adobe's many image manipulation programs, are available at http://www.adobe.com

Activity:
1. If you don't already have a graphics package, get either Graphic Converter or Graphic Workshop from the sites above. Using the image you downloaded in part 1 of this lesson, convert the image to a different file type.