27 SVG
Scalable Vector Graphics, bitmap image formats for the web—GIF, JPEG, WBMP, and PNG—describe images using a grid of pixels. The resulting files tend to be bulky, limited to a single (often low) resolution, and consume large amounts of bandwidth on the web. SVG, on the other hand, is a vector format that describes images as shapes, paths, text, and filter effects. The resulting files are compact and provide high-quality graphics on the web, in print, and even on resource-constrained, handheld devices. Users can magnify their view of an SVG image on‑screen without sacrificing sharpness, detail, or clarity. In addition, SVG provides superior support for text and colors, which ensures that users will see images as they appear on your Illustrator artboard.
The SVG format is entirely XML-based and offers many advantages to developers and users alike. With SVG, you can use XML and JavaScript to create web graphics that respond to user actions with sophisticated effects such as highlighting, tool tips, audio, and animation.
You can save artwork in SVG format using the Save, Save As, Save A Copy, or Save For Web & Devices command. To access the complete set of SVG export options, use the Save, Save As, or Save A Copy command. The Save For Web & Devices command provides a subset of SVG export options which are applicable to web-oriented work.
Paid Software
Adobe Illustrator (Win, Mac)
Adobe Illustrator was Initially released in 1988, the software has gone through more than two-dozen generations spanning 26 years. Needless to say, Adobe has had a long time to gather information about what users want and need. The tools and user interface are mature and familiar. Illustrator is the de facto standard by which all vector software is measured.
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7 (Win)
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7, with a fresh look, new must-have tools and major feature enhancements, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7 opens up a world of new creative possibilities. We’ve designed several new workspaces that reflect your natural workflow, so that everything is right where you need it, when you need it. Whether you’re creating graphics and layouts, editing photos or designing websites, this complete suite of graphic design software helps you design your way.
Affinity Designer (Mac)
Affinity Designer, by Serif Labs, is the newcomer on the block and is the Editor’s Choice winner on the Apple App Store at the time of this writing. Affinity Designer incorporates some familiar aspects of Illustrator’s user interface while adding its own touches and approach to vector design.
Sketch (Mac)
Sketch, by Bohemian Coding, is a two-time Apple Design Award Winner in 2009 and 2012. Sketch already has a lot of traction among icon designers. Sketch is quickly becoming the tool of choice for many app and web designers.
Photo&Graphic Designer11
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer is the perfect software choice for all your photo and graphic design work, with powerful photo editing and enhancement features, and truly flexible illustration and design tools.
DrawPlus X8
Serif’s DrawPlus X8 is full-featured graphic design software. The graphic program has the illustration tools you need to create anything, from a moving animation to a logo for a poster. It lacks some photo editing features; however, the software offers strong support and sharing options. The great features of this program make DrawPlus X8 our Top Ten Reviews Gold Award winner.
ConceptDraw Pro (Win, Mac)
ConceptDraw PRO is powerful business and technical diagramming software that supports the creation of business diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, floor plans, technical drawings, home and office layouts and the like. ConceptDraw 7 charts can be exported to a variety of file formats, including images, CAD documents and HTML. It also supports importing and exporting of Microsoft Visio XML files.
With ConceptDraw PRO, you can design professional-looking graphics, diagrams, high-end flowcharts, floor plans, engineering drawings and other intricate illustrations in minutes. ConceptDraw’s libraries include thousands of scalable objects. You can maintain business processes with clear visual documentation and present and communicate information in a clear and vivid way.
Through ConceptDraw Office, ConceptDraw PRO provides you with the tools you need to generate reports, documentation and presentations that entirely reflect project performance. It is a comprehensive tool that can be used to create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and to track a project’s status on an intelligent dashboard. It has the huge set of vector drawing tools that can compete with any professional illustration program. It runs on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Its latest version is 7.2 and costs $299.
Summary. ConceptDraw Professional is designed for people who need to create high-end flowcharts, engineering drawings, and other intricate illustrations. ConceptDraw’s libraries include thousands of scalable objects. If you have enough resources for a powerful leading vector graphics editor, ConceptDraw is definitely an option worth considering. Download ConceptDraw Pro. web-based.
ZCubes
ZCubes is a free Web-based software that allows you to create HTML-pages, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, albums and portals. ZCubes’ platform is a multi-functional platform that provides through a single interface large sets of functions that are typically delivered in separate applications.
You can instantly create Web pages using ZCubes online or on your desktop by using drag-and-drop functionality. The key differentiator is the omni-functionality: ZCubes is an immersive platform in which you can create and edit content while you browse. It combines features of several “document-creation” software apps available on the market and is provided on the Web, accessible to all.
The main advantage of the editor is in the mixing of slides, drawings, document pieces, pictures, music and videos (each as separate ZCubes) all in one page (named the “ZSpace”). The e-cards feature in ZCubes lets users upload media, such as videos, images and Zpaint drawings, to their greeting cards and add some handwriting.
Free Software
Inkscape (Mac, Win, Linux)
Inkscape, an open-source vector graphics editor, is similar to Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW, but its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as its native format sets it apart from others. Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.), and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. In Inkscape, it is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more. Inkscape has a powerful command-line interface and can be used in scripts for a variety of tasks, such as exporting and format conversions.
For Linux, Windows and Mac OS X (in a .dmg package). We know that Inkscape is successfully used on FreeBSD and other Unix-like operating systems.
Summary. Inkscape has a powerful command line interface and can be used in scripts for a variety of tasks, such as exporting and format conversions. It is a very mature and advanced editor that can serve as a good alternative for well-known commercial vector graphics editors. Download Inkscape.
DrawPlus Starter Edition
DrawPlus Starter Edition, a lite version of DrawPlus X8Create bespoke designs, logos, technical drawings, animations and so much more with our most complete and easy-to-use graphics studio yet. Download DrawPlus Starter Edition.
ZeusDraw (Mac)
ZeusDraw is a new vector drawing program with a fluid, graceful interface, great brushes and a host of other features. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher. ZeusDraw is a Universal Binary and can be run on Intel or PowerPC. Its current version is 1.3.1.
Quartz and Cocoa let ZeusDraw show you what you are doing as you do it. When you move or rotate an object, you see the object move or rotate, not its bounding box. ZeusDraw has a selection of vector brushes (smooth, shaded, multi-hair), and it also has an object brush that allows you to paint with any piece of artwork, either vector or bitmap. ZeusDraw simplifies bezier curves. With ZeusDraw’s path tools, you enter control points in order along the path (which is more logical and intuitive because the shape of a polygon made by the control points is a rough indicator of the shape of the curve). ZeusDraw comes with a version of the Shades Color Picker built in. In addition to working with normal full-color bitmaps (JPEG, TIF, PNG, GIF and BMP), ZeusDraw can use grayscale bitmaps as stencils.
Chromatic Bytes has announced the release of ZeusDraw Mobile for the iPhone and iPod touch. It’s available for purchase and downloading now from the App Store for $9.99. ZeusDraw costs $90. Download ZeusDraw.
Sodipodi (Win, Linux, 2013)
Sodipodi is general vector illustrating application for Linux/Unix and Windows. It uses W3C’s SVG as its native file format and in-memory image format and can do many neat things. Drawing tools include rectangles, ellipses, freehand drawing, text objects, imported bitmaps, fills and outlines. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), Public Domain. The operating systems it supports include all 32-bit MS Windows (95, 98, NT, 2000, XP), all BSD platforms (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Mac OS X), all POSIX platforms (Linux, BSD, UNIX-like systems) and Linux.
The user interface is similar to that of a regular drawing program. Both vector and bitmap objects can have alpha transparency and can be arbitrarily transformed. Sodipodi supports multiple opened files and multiple views per file, and it prints and exports to PNG bitmaps.
SK1 (Linux)
SK1 is an open-source illustration program for the Linux platform that can substitute for professional, proprietary software like CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator. Unique project features are a CorelDRAW formats importer, a tabbed multi-document interface, a Cairo-based engine, color management, etc. SK1 also includes CMYK colorspace support and CMYK support in Postscript.
SK1 can export documents to Adobe Illustrator 5.0 (based on PostScript), PDF, PS, SVG, SK/SK1, CGM and WMF. It can also import formats such as CorelDRAW versions 7 to X4, Postscript (PS) and Encapsulated Postscript (EPS), etc. Download SK1.
Skencil (Linux, 2010)
Skencil, formerly called Sketch, is a free vector graphics editor, released under the GNU Lesser General Public License. Running on GNU/Linux and other UNIX-compatible systems, it is a flexible and powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams and other purposes. A somewhat rare feature of Skencil (for a drawing program) is that it is implemented almost completely in Python, a very high-level interpreted language. Python is powerful, object-oriented, and yet easy to use. The rest of the program is written in C for speed. The software is now in version 0.6.17. It has versions compatible with Linux on the i386, DEC Alpha, m68k, PowerPC and SPARC architectures, as well as with FreeBSD, Solaris, IRIX64 6.4 and AIX.
In addition to the standard features that you expect from a vector drawing program, Skencil also has more advanced features, such as the possibility of bending text along a path. The current stable release is 0.6.17. Skencil is quite usable already, even for production use. The low version number is mainly due to a lack of some important features, such as good text support.
Some of its other distinguishing features are that rectangles, ellipses and bezier curves (in addition to ordinary horizontal and vertical lines) can be used as guides; text can be converted to bezier curves, though only if Skencil has access to the PostScript Type 1 font files (pfa or pfb); and blend groups allow for automatically updated interpolations of arbitrary objects. Download Skencil.
Xara Xtreme (Mac, Linux, 2006)
Xara Xtreme is a powerful, general-purpose graphics program for Unix platforms, including Linux, FreeBSD and (in development) Mac OS X. Formerly known as Xara LX, it is based on Xara Xtreme for Windows, which is the fastest graphics program available. Its latest version is 0.7.
Xara Xtreme for Linux is very fast and very slick to use. It offers some of the most powerful graphics tools available. Xara Xtreme has a small learning curve and is able to create a huge range of outstanding graphics. Xara Xtreme has behind it a huge amount of learning materials, tutorials, movies, tips and a very active, enthusiastic and growing user community.
The developers of the application claim that Xara Xtreme uses “the world’s fastest vector rendering engine”. And since performance matters when it comes to graphic editors, it is definitely a significant advantage. Download Xara Xtreme.
Source: SVG Editors