Mugtug offers beautiful, powerful sketching and image editing for the Web

Mugtug offers beautiful, powerful sketching and image editing for the Web: "

Filed under: Web services, Imaging Tips, web 2.0

Mugtug is one name (and website) for two distinct, and equally impressive, image editing/creation applications:

Darkroom is a sophisticated, in-page photo 'adjustment' software. Note that I don't use the word 'editing.' That's because you can't really make selections (unless you want to crop or mirror). You can, however, adjust any image parameter (such as white balance, exposure, contrast, or saturation) and apply specific effects. There's a live histogram, and you can also look at just one channel of the histogram.

Sketchpad is a drawing application with a complete set of tools (except that I couldn't figure out how to draw a straight line!). It's also very fast, responsive, and solid. You get gradients, swatches, multiple options per tool, and a GIMP-like interface with a draggable panel that you can move around.

What's so striking about Mugtug is that it is usable. There are keyboard shortcuts, it's fast and responsive, it's not Flash, and it really doesn't feel like a toy. When I first messed up with the drawing application, I instinctively hit Ctrl-Z to undo; it worked! I then hit it again, and it rolled me another step back. Ctrl-Shift-Z brought me forward again, just like on the desktop. That feeling extends throughout both applications.



I don't know if Mugtug will catch on as an application suite (although I do hope so), but at any rate, I think this is a prime example of where the Web is headed.

Mugtug offers beautiful, powerful sketching and image editing for the Web originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.