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Blender: An open-source 3D content creation suite. You can create 3D models and animations, add post-production effects or use it as a graphics editor to define interactive behaviour without programming. Blender has a distinctive user interface that is implemented entirely in Open GL and designed for speed. Python bindings for scripting and import/export features for popular file formats such as 3D Studio are available in Blender. Blender can output still images, animations, models for games or other third party engines and interactive content in the form of standalone binaries or web plug-ins. Visit the Web site http://www.blender.org/ for more information on Blender.

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Dia: A diagram editor similar to Microsoft Visio. Dia offers the capability to produce precise and professional-level graphics. You can draw entity relationship diagrams, flowcharts and network diagrams and export them to various formats, including EPS, SVG, XFIG, WMF and PNG. You can also print diagrams spanning multiple pages. Visit the Web site http://live.gnome.org/- Dia for more information.

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Gcolor2: A simple colour selector and picker that facilitates quick and easy selection of colours. It also enables you to save new colours and delete existing ones. Visit the Web site http://gcolor2.sourceforge.net/ for more information.

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GNU paint: A user-friendly painting programme for GNOME. It offers easy-to-use drawing tools to perform various imageprocessing operations. Visit the Web site http://gpaint.sourceforge.net/ for more information.

In addition, several third-party applications, such as Picasa, a free software download from Google, are compatible with Ubuntu.

Picasa enables you to locate and organise all the photos on your computer, edit and add effects to your photos and share your photos through e-mail and print and post images on the Web. You can download Picasa from the following Web site http://picasa.google.com/linux/download.html.

The following section outlines the features of some of these graphics applications and how to use them.

7.2 Viewing and Managing Photos with F-Spot

F-Spot is a personal photo management application for the GNOME desktop. You can import and view pictures from the hard disk on your computer, digital camera or even the ipod. You can attach tags to your photos and categorise them, build a photo CD, export photos over the Internet and share them online or perform basic colour-correction and editing. F-Spot supports 16 common file types, including JPEG, GIF, TIFF and RAW.

The following graphic shows the elements in the F-Spot interface:

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Figure 7.1: F-Spot Window

7.2.1Importing Photos in F-Spot

After importing the photographs, you can categorise and tag them as you would to create a playlist in a music player. To import photographs into F-Spot from the hard disk of your computer:

1.On the Applications menu, point to Graphics and click F-Spot Photo Manager. The F-Spot window opens.

2.Click the Import button on the toolbar. The Import dialogue box opens.

Figure 7.2: Importing Photos

NOTE:

You can also click Import on the File menu to open the Import dialogue box.

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3.In the Import Source box, the Select Folder option is selected by default. Retain the option, navigate to the folder that contains the photographs and click Open.

Figure 7.3: Selecting Photo Import Source

Figure 7.4: Displaying Images to Import

4. Click Import in the Import dialogue box.

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Figure 7.5: Importing Photos

The photographs are listed as thumbnails in the F-Spot window. Notice that the timeline slider is positioned according to the dates on which the images were saved on the hard disk of your computer.

Figure 7.6: Browsing Photos

NOTE:

The photographs listed in the F-Spot window are not associated with any category or parent tag.

To import photographs into F-Spot from a digital camera:

1. Click the Import button on the toolbar. The Import dialogue box opens.