Have you ever wanted to create vector or bitmap graphics but did’t have all of the expensive programs to work in? Well I got wind of this website/project called Aviary which allows you to do just that. 

Aviary has created applications mimicking all of the popular graphics programs out there today. I will list the different programs, what they do and some examples of work created by people. I find it quite amazing what you can do with these programs — and they are all free.  Aviary uses names of bird species for each of their programs.

Image Editor (Similar to Photoshop, Paint Shop, Gimp, etc.) which is called Pheonix and is depicted by a very nice Peonix icon. Pheonix has all of the basic things you need to edit an image which include: clone tool, magic wand, filters, selection tools, smudge, layers and image resizing.

To Give Pheonix (image editor) a try click here.

Here are some of the popular images that I really like. These were created in Pheonix by regular users:

Apple Created with the Pheonix Editor

Flower graphic created with Pheonix

Vector Editor (similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, Signlab, etc) which is called Raven and is depicted by a Black Raven icon. Raven has some of the basic things you need to edit an image. Raven is new, so more features will be coming out. Some of the existing features include: pen tool, pencil tool, brush tool, basic vector object tool, gradient editor, layers and smart selection. They also have a simple bitmap to vector tool.

To give Raven (vector editor) a try click here.

Here are some of the popular vector drawings that I really like. These were created in Raven by regular users:

Great vector illustration created with Raven

Beautiful tree with a river and coy fish created in Raven

Visual laboratory (not much like it on the market) which is called Peacock and is depicted by the Peacock bird. Peacock enables you to create amazing images with the use of filters, images and other mathematical effects. This application can be daunting at first, so be sure to watch the video on how to use it first.

To give Peacock (color chooser) a try click here.

Here are some stunning images created using Peacock:

Effect created using Peacock

Created in Peacock

Color chooser and mixer (not much like it on the market) which is called Toucan and is depicted by the colorful Toucan bird. Toucan enables you to create correct color compositions and includes and complimentary, split, etc, color mixer/chooser. You really have to mess around with it to get what it does. It is important for any kind of graphic design when having to choose a number of colors and make them harmonic.

To give Toucan (color chooser) a try click here.

Many more. In addition to the above 4 applications they are supposed to be coming out with many more useful ones. This is a list of the ones I think are quite useful:

       Desktop Publishing (InDesign, Quark Express, etc) called Owl.

       Painting Simulator (Corel Paint, Photoshop, etc) called Pigeon — haha.

       Smart Image resizer (Genuine Fractals) called Woodpecker.

       3D Modeler (3DS Max, Maya, Blender, Sketchup) called Hummingbird.

       Font Creator (TypeTool, FontForge) called Ibis. (This one is particularly exciting to me).

There are more, see them all here.