Graphics Applications Under Linux: a Brief Taxonomy

Essentially there are two classes of graphics applications; those that deal with vector graphics, and those that deal with pixels or picture elements. Vector graphics are essentially binary images (by that I mean only black and white) such as fonts and symbols. On Linux we are most familiar with Postscript as an example of vector graphics; a forth like language that can describe a great deal of graphical information in a small file. Pixel graphics tend to produce large files that contain grayscale image information that can can also contain color information. Pixel graphics can include photographs as well as line art, or any other sort of image.

A secondary classification system can be divided as follows:

1. Image Creators like XFIG and TGIF that, for the most part are used to make line drawings such as schematics and flow charts; fractal generators like XAOS and XFRACTINT as well as ray tracers like POV (PERSISTENCE OF VISION), RADIANCE, as well as their attendant modelers such as AERO, SCED and AC3D.
2. Image Manipulators like ADOBE PHOTOSHOP, CORELL PHOTO PAINT and the GIMP. I list non-un*x programs here because until the GIMP, there really weren't any image manipulators for un*x platforms.
3. Beyond that are what I like to think of as Image Editors and viewers like XV, IMAGE MAGIC and ZGV. These applications give the user a easy means to view images as well as a few basic image cropping and color correction tools.

There is a great deal of overlap between these three categories, XV for example has a surprisingly sophisticated color editor along with a few manipulation filters that put it beyond the realm of the average image viewer. Certainly more than one needs for viewing JPEGs from alt.binaries.pictures.whatnot.