JDraw

Images you come across over the web are not just raw picture taken with the camera. With the computer more powerful than ever, artists can even create realistic images from scratch. Far from realism, other utilities like JDraw provide the simple means of image editing, in order to add some details or create short animated clips.

The application isn’t meant for professional projects, and from the first look, you might consider it an advanced version of the Paint utility Windows comes bundled with. Just as the name might have you thinking, it requires Java Runtime Environment to function. However, it can also be run without an installer, which means you can take it with you on an USB Flash drive.

When it launches, the application brings up the main window and nothing else, with most functions and tools in plain sight. Organized in different panels, you get to select several types of brushes, as well as colors from a global palette, also fitted with gradient fills.

Needless to say there’s also a large canvas on which you express your inner talent. However, don’t think you can create works of art, with the canvas being highly-pixelated, being more suitable for this type of images.

The set of brushes, and general set of tools for that matter, is a bit shallow. The default brush is only capable of filling in one square of the grid, with no options for size. Other tools let you fill in specific areas, pic colors, and draw straight lines. There’s also a set of shapes, limited to filled and empty circles and boxes.

Another built-in feature gives you the possibility to work with multiple frames. Each new file you open reserves its own slot. In the end, you can use all of them to build a small animation. There’s an included preview function, and you can also set transition speed, but only for all frames at a time.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that JDraw is a simple approach on image building, with not too many advanced options. The canvas can’t be used for complex projects due to the small size and pixel layout, while the set of features leaves a lot more to be desired. Practicality suffers the most from functionality issues that prevent file open and load, which forces many to look for alternatives.