Drawing - an alternative to Paint for Linux
Description: Drawing is a simple image editor for Linux, inspired by Paint

This free basic raster image editor is similar to Microsoft Paint, but aiming at the GNOME desktop.

PNG, JPEG and BMP files are supported.

The app works on any GNU-Linux system regardless of the desktop environment: more traditional design user interfaces are available too, as well as an elementaryOS layout. The app should also be compatible with GNU-Linux smartphones.

For more screenshots, see the gallery.

## Installation

#### Flatpak

#### Native packages

#### Other methods

The recommended way to install the most recent version of Drawing is to use `flatpak`:

(version 1.0.1)

Permissions required: ipc/x11/wayland

The app is also available as native packages in the repositories of the following distributions:

You can use the package manager of your distribution to install the package `drawing`.

Alternative installation methods for Ubuntu:

- PPA repository (version 1.0.1)
- Snap package (unknown version?)

Gentoo package from an external overlay

## What's new

New features in version 1.0.2

- fix the default value of the text background option
- fix a scenario where saving without transparency would consistently fail
- automatically reload the picture after saving
- mitigate a bug concerning the initial state of the "filters" tool when "blur" is selected
- change the keyboard shortcuts to switch tabs
- remove from the highlighter the (ineffective) UI to change the active cairo operator
- change the UI of the selection tools to improve readability of various items
- fix typos in the user help manual

New features in versions 1.0.0 to 1.0.1

Drawing 1.0.1

- enable the highlighter by default
- less intrusive "what's new" message dialog
- non-linear zooming speed profile (to zoom faster when using extreme values)
- slower scrolling speed to have a better precision with higher zoom levels
- require itstool as a dependency even though it's some useless bloat
- fix the adaptativity of the elementaryOS layout
- better keep the image centered on the mouse pointer when changing the zoom
- avoid —again— insane attempts to open the binary as an image

Drawing 1.0.0

- enable tools with "alt+letter" mnemonics
- larger sidebar items, where the selected tool is easier to see
- new "skew" tool
- enable or disable specific tools options with the [shift] or [alt] keyboard modifiers
- show more numerous, more dynamic, more contextual help tips as the window's subtitle
- display cursor coordinates and other related data when pressing the [ctrl] keyboard modifier
- dynamically change the label of the "options" submenu in the menu-bar, to increase its discoverability
- scale tool option to set the size in percentage
- suggest to "apply & save" when trying to save while an operation is unapplied
- highlighter option to straighten the line, so it better follows the underlying text
- improvements to the "points" tool's numbers readability
- suggest to "apply & deselect" when trying to save while the selection is active
- more precise tools for tiny modifications required by pixel-art
- display pixels sharply when zooming deeper than 400%
- hide information messages after 4 seconds if they're not that useful
- disable the 'reload image from the disk' action if the image has never been saved
- new 'reset the canvas' action (ctrl+backspace)
- warn the user if they're opening an already opened image
- suggest to reload the picture if it has changed on the disk
- artificially limited framerate to avoid overloading the CPU
- menu item and action to change the theme variant preference
- toggle the menubar with ctrl+f2
- update the user help manual
- shorter appdata summary, to comply with guidelines
- update several translations

New features in versions 0.8.0 to 0.8.5

Drawing 0.8.5

- text tool option for a thicker outline
- visual feedback when the user moves the minimap preview

Drawing 0.8.4

- option to disable anti-aliasing with the text tool
- if "undo" is pressed several times in a short period, recompute only once
- disable the 'reload image from the disk' action if it has never been saved

Drawing 0.8.3

- draw a wider outline to the free selection when the image is zoomed out
- don't try to open the app binary as an image when running outside of a flatpak sandbox
- fix incorrectly huge height of the selection after rotating it

Drawing 0.8.2

- refactoring of the optionsbars (bottom panes) of the transform tools
- add a "lock line orientation" option to the line tool
- fix shift+f10 action when using a selection tool on mobile
- add an outline to the canvas, so its limit are always understandable
- fix the `-c` option when using Wayland
- lock image proportions by default when scaling with the numerical inputs
- fix an unexpected way the "crop" tool could expand the selection
- preview correctly the areas created by a transform tool before applying a change
- fix when the app starts with a transform tool, and this tool is immediately used and applied
- compatibility with older distributions (Ubuntu 18.04 LTS)

Drawing 0.8.1

- add an action "selection > define as current image"
- fix how the canvas was ERASED if it was being cropped on one side but expanded on the other side
- add an action "selection > expand image to fit [the size of the selection]"
- add a several ways of censoring information as an option to the eraser tool
- preference to select a theme variant (thanks to @alexislozano)
- add "nib direction" option to the calligraphic nib
- better pre-select the currently used font in the font chooser dialog
- add optional outline to the pencil, line, and curve tools
- better looking outline for the "insert text" tool
- install files in /usr instead of /usr/local

Drawing 0.8.0

- new, richer, more readable bottom pane for the selection tool
- add a "replace with" option to the eraser tool
- use an adequate layout on LXDE or LXQt
- force the release notes down users' throat
- rewrite the help manual to better force it down users' throat
- add color application mode support to the "shape" tool
- persist the text background style and the shape filling style options
- brush supporting pressure-sensitive input
- hairy brush supporting pressure-sensitive input
- airbrush supporting pressure-sensitive input
- calligraphic nib supporting pressure-sensitive input
- fix unexpected "jumps" when unselecting a selection that was defined by an undo
- improve the fullscreen mode, with a way to toggle the tools list
- add an "increase constrast" filter
- deleting the selection can now leave something else than transparency
- option to exclude the color left under the selection from the selection itself
- rewrite the UI for changing the color application mode
- remove the cool but deprecated GNOME Shell app menu
- improve flatpak CI

New features in versions 0.6.0 to 0.6.5

Drawing 0.6.5

- fix unexplained regression of bottom panes responsiveness
- mitigation of the "very quick series of ctrl+b" bug
- disable importing or opening an image using drag-and-drop with flatpak (it was broken)
- fix printing
- more pertinent movements of the view when holding and moving the middle-click

Drawing 0.6.4

- add more keyboard shortcuts
- slightly better "erase and replace" algo for the paint tool
- better handle attempts to open webp images
- better handle attempts to open incorrect file types
- remember the value of the antialiasing option

Drawing 0.6.3

- use submenus for the "tools" menu in the menubar
- fix arrows' heads when the line was semi-transparent
- fix arrows' heads with specific angles (#286)
- fix arrows' heads when the line had a square end
- add option for double-ended arrows
- add more options for dashed lines
- support for older distributions (pygobject older than 3.30)

Drawing 0.6.2

- add keyboard shortcuts for increasing and decreasing the tool width
- ensure all features are available with all layouts (e.g. "reload" with Cinnamon and eOS)
- suggest to reload when the file has been saved without transparency
- new 'copy to clipboard' action
- new "paint over the entire image" option to the paint tool
- fix Debian Buster (and PureOS Amber) support
- add option for the 'highlighter' tool to highlight on dark background

Drawing 0.6.1

- new 'save without transparency' action, that works with PNG
- add 'initial color' as a replacement for transparent pixels
- fix a bug in the 'rotate' tool that occured when the selection was flipped before being rotated
- add the additional tool 'points', to help captioning
- update the user help manual

Drawing 0.6.0

- remove the "windows" menu from the menubar
- refactor bottom panes management to allow several tools to share the same pane
- rectangle selection, freehand selection, and color selection, are now distinct tools
- the 'rotate' tool now handles horizontal or vertical flipping
- the 'rotate' tool now supports any angle when rotationg the selection
- tools producing shapes (circle, rectangle, polygon, …) are merged into a single 'shape' tool
- "close shape" action for the 'shape' tool
- "close selection" action for the 'free selection' tool
- replace the 'saturate' tool by a new 'filters' tool
- add several types of blur to 'filters'
- add color inversion, pixelization, partial transparency to 'filters'
- add "additional tools" section to the preferences window
- add specialized types of pencils (eraser, highlighter) as optional tools
- a fullscreen mode is now available
- zoom in (or out) using the minimap, the touch gestures, the mouse wheel, or keyboard shortcuts
- move the "color application mode" selection to the colors menus/popovers
- add "antialiasing" option to several tools
- fix how the canvas is displayed on HiDPI screens
- warn the user when they try to save despite the current operation not being applied
- rewrite the user help manual

## Tools

Tools to draw:

- Pencil
- Eraser*
- Highlighter*
- Insert text
- Points*
- Shape
  - Rectangle
  - Rounded rectangle
  - Circle
  - Oval
  - Polygon
  - Free shape
- Line & arrow
- Curve
- Color picker*
- Paint*

*these tools are disabled by default.

Tools to select a part of the image:

- Rectangle selection
- Free selection
- Adjacent color selection*

Tools to transform the canvas or the selected area:

- Crop
- Scale
- Rotate & flip
- Filters
  - Blur
  - Pixelization
  - Saturate & desaturate
  - Add transparency
  - Invert colors

(last update of this list: version 0.8.4

## Available languages

- Basque
- Brazilian portuguese
- Castillan
- Croatian
- Chinese (simplified)
- Chinese (traditional)
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- English
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Hebrew
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Polish
- Russian
- Swedish
- Turkish

Credits for these translations are available here and in the app's "about" dialog.

If the translation in your language is missing or incomplete, your contribution is welcome!