14 DAY TRIAL // Photo editing can hardly be called a job for professionals these days. Aneesoft Free Image Editor certainly adds up to easing this task for you, with its simple, yet very helpful graphic functions. It fulfills all the basic needs of the average user: crop, rotate, watermark and most attractive of all, various effects that you can play with to personalize your precious photos.
Everyone has at least one picture they’d like to modify. The software designed to assist you in photo editing can vary from applications as basic as MS Paint to the almighty Photoshop. If you’re somewhere in between and you’re looking for an app that is comfortable to work with, than you might want to take a look at Aneesoft Free Image Editor.
As it names clearly states, the application is free of charge and there’s the first thing you’ll love about it. It installs in a matter of seconds and is add-free, so you won’t be bothered by toolbars or annoying advertisements. The interface is not really its main strength, lacking any glamorous or fancy kind of looks that in some applications, take over the functionality of the software.
There’s always a certain advantage to simplicity. In the case of Aneesoft Free Image Editor, you’ll quickly come to realize that its raw appearance make it in fact more accessible feature wise. There are no menus involved, no hidden functions, the whole essence of the application being concentrated in a few buttons located in the upper side of the interface.
Just below them is where the magic takes place. This is the area reserved for previewing the modifications you have made to your images. Aside from processing existing pictures, Aneesoft Free Image Editor also helps users who want to create simple color and text based pictures. In this matter, you should know not to expect much, for there are no templates or embellishing elements that you can play with. The best you can do with this feature is to set up a banner or maybe a poster, but that’s the most you can make of it.
If you want the goodies to be revealed, go straight to adding the photo that you plan to do some experiments with. You can start with some text watermarking, if you’re in the mood for commenting some pictures and showing them off to your friends. Things couldn’t be easier with this feature. Take your pick from the wide range of fonts, choose or create a custom color for the text, pick a style (bold, italic, underline, strikethrough) and configure the level of opacity that you fancy. Seal the deal with a click on the spot you want to place the text and start typing. It’s really a child’s play!
Things will be looking pretty good with the crop function. There’s always something you want to leave out of a picture. Say no more, Aneesoft Free Image Editor will lend a hand. Cropping can be done by typing the figures in the corresponding boxes or easier, by drawing the area with the mouse. However, the second option allows you to visually get an idea about the selection you are making with the aid of a frame like shape that becomes visible while you’re making the cut.
Go for more with the effects provided by Aneesoft Free Image Editor. There are fifteen of those and they can give your photos a whole new enhanced and artistic feel. The all-time popular Grey, Sepia Embossment, Gamma and eleven others will do if you’re not too picky. It’s not like you can’t combine them and be delivered an unexpectedly good looking outcome.
One downside resides in the fact that it is impossible to customize in any way the effects individually, you’ll just have to experiment with all of them until you get a satisfying result. Something that needs to be mentioned about this feature is that if you have previously cropped the image, in the Effects window, it will still be shown in its original size, which prevents you from previewing the final outcome correctly. However, when you’re done applying the effects, it will be displayed in the cropped size in the main window.
The last of the application’s features is the rotation functionality. This allows you to turn your image by 90 degrees at a time, clockwise and counter clockwise. There is also an option for flipping pictures, horizontally or vertically and no option for mirroring it, which should be taken into consideration for future developments.
Once you’re done experimenting and you’ve reached the goal of personalizing your photos, you can hit the “Save” button. I was not at all impressed with the three output image formats (JPEG, BMP and PNG) provided by the developers. Even though these are some of the most popular formats, it will still be a disappointment to many users.
At all times, during the editing process, you can opt to reset the changes you made to your photos. Undo and redo are also a real helper, although they do not have the corresponding shortcut keys assigned (Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y). The Good
Aneesoft Free Image Editor supports a wide range of input image formats, from JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF to EMF and WMF.
The application’s ease of use and simplicity are very well welcomed for advanced and less experienced users alike. A well appreciated aspect that needs to be mentioned is the fact that you can preview the modifications you performed prior to saving the pictures.
The Bad
Aneesoft Free Image Editor has no support for drag&drop and can process only one image at a time. The support for output image formats is poor and not at all impressive.
Also, the built-in effects provided by the application are not customizable and although users can combine the existing ones for an enhanced and original look, saving the newly created effects is not possible.
For future developments it is recommended to either provide an option to save presets or come up with a richer palette of effects.
The Truth All in all, Aneesoft Free Image Editor will not rock the world of image editors, but will do just fine in accomplishing basic editing of pictures, such as crop, rotate or watermark. Keep in mind that it was not designed for fine artistry, but it will still deliver fresh and exciting looks for your pictures.
The ease of use is undeniable and it is free of charge, so you are most welcomed to give it a try and if proven useful, make it a permanent asset.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
