As far as free graphics / deign related software's go, here's my top picks: Free Open Source Design Software's: (For Raster/Paint) GIMP Or GimpShop <<~~ This version is laid out like PhotoShop. (For Raster/Paint) Paint.Net (For Vector) InkScape (For FLASH) OSFlash (For 3D) Blender (For 3D Rendering) Ogre (For 3D Rendering) OpenSceneGraph (For 2D Animation) Synfig (For DeskTop Publishing) Scribus (For screenShots & Presentations) WINK (For Rendering) LuxRender (For Converting Batch Images) ImageMagick (For Diagrams) DIA (For Graph Plotting) Graph Totally FREE Full Versions, but not opensource Design softwares: (For Raster & image manipulating) Serif PhotoPlus 6 (For DeskTop publishing) Serif PagPlus SE (For Vector & Paint ) Serif DrawPlus 4 (For 3D) Serif 3DPlus 2 (For WebSite design) Serif WebPlus SE I've actually compiled a Free open source software list for personal referrence compiled with all sorts of cms's, project management systems, design, SEO, Desktop publishing, security, Development, entertainment, mmorpg games, & Much more. If you're curious, I currently have 229 free softwares in the list. Just click my "Free OpenSource Software's" link in my signature to check them all out... I hope you find the ones I listed here helpful