Tell me more ×
Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 12 down vote favorite
5

I would like to have a similar program as MS Paint for OS X such that I can fast and easily add trivial text to my pictures.

share|improve this question
1  
Also see this question: superuser.com/questions/11111/… – Nate Jul 27 '09 at 1:19
4  
I find it bizarre Apple don't include such a simple application with the OS, or add drawing tools to Preview (with the "Add [oval/box/note]" annotation tools) – dbr Jul 27 '09 at 3:48
3  
@dbr: Preview does allow for using the annotation tools on images. For 10.5 only through the annotation toolbar, and since 10.6 full support. – Arjan Sep 23 '09 at 22:47

closed as not constructive by 8088, Renan, Randolph West, Diogo, slhck♦ Jul 26 '12 at 5:06

As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance.

9 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted

Paintbrush for OSX could be what you're looking for. It's an almost identical clone with some tweaks based on the original MS Paint.

Its open-source too, if you're into that sort of thing.

http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/

share|improve this answer
up vote 13 down vote

One can even use Preview. Even though in 10.5 the items in menu Tools ยป Annotate are grayed-out unless you're viewing a PDF (and hence the keyboard shortcuts won't work either), the same annotation options from the toolbar are always active. So, add them to the toolbar and off you go. In 10.6, all is available for images as well, also including a much better Select tool.

For more annotation styles, look at the Annotations pane in the Inspector (Command-I). After saving the image, the annotations might be fixed in place even if you did not close Preview yet, so take care.

Annotations in Preview

share|improve this answer
up vote 4 down vote

Skitch

It's a nice sketching/screenshot/annotation tool.

It has nice features like the ability to select specific strokes and move/delete them (like a vector based drawing tool), and has a very intuitive resizing/cropping UI

share|improve this answer
Just to update this: you can point Skitch at any remote SFTP server and it will push the files there instead of going to myskitch. They may eventually charge a flat fee for the app itself, which I would gladly pay, but you're not bound to their upload service. – peelman Jul 6 '10 at 15:53
Since version 1.0.4, March 2011, an account is no longer required. – Arjan Jun 5 '11 at 9:44
@Arjan ah, excellent - thanks for letting me know! Updated my answer – dbr Jun 8 '11 at 14:09
In September 2012, Skitch 2.0 was released in the Apple App Store, but many regretted installing that update. After many complaints, Evernote made the last 1.0 version available for download outside of the App Store. Bonus: this download also allows for starting the program after logging in (right-click the dock icon). See Download previous version of Skitch for Mac (1.0) on evernote.com/skitch – Arjan Dec 1 '12 at 11:00
up vote 1 down vote

If you'd like to programatically overlay text on your pictures in an infinite* variety of ways plus be able to do an infinite* variety of other things, check out ImageMagick. Available for OS X, Linux, Windows, Solaris and FreeBSD. It's not a paint program, though, but in addition to command-line functionality it can be controlled from a number of languages including C, C++, Java, .NET, Perl, PHP, Python and Ruby.

* Literally

share|improve this answer
1  
That's spiffy for programmers, but it seems a bit like answering "what's a good car to buy?" with "here's how to build your own!" – Nathan Long Sep 23 '09 at 21:46
"...such that I can fast and easily add trivial text to my pictures" - ImageMagick makes that easy - especially if you need to do something like watermark a large group of photographs. – Dennis Williamson Sep 23 '09 at 22:25
up vote 1 down vote

GraphicConverter has quite a few painting capabilities and is free.

share|improve this answer
1  
It was bundled with Mac OS X for a while, but it's not free. – Paul Tomblin Sep 23 '09 at 21:35
up vote 1 down vote

I like scribbles lot. http://www.atebits.com/scribbles/

share|improve this answer
1  
Brilliant: "With Scribbles, you don't have to pre-define the size of your canvas." – Arjan Sep 27 '09 at 21:09
up vote 1 down vote

http://seashore.sourceforge.net/

share|improve this answer
...Paint-like? ;-) (Actually, the Win 98 Paint I know might have improved a bit meanwhile as well.) – Arjan Sep 28 '09 at 11:18
up vote 0 down vote

I used SuperPaint 3.5 using Mac OS9, and found it excellent for drawing annotated diagrams. It is no longer supported with the advent of Mac OSX, but I found that AppleWorks(v.6) also fulfills my needs. Since I need Chinese characters in addition to English, I find that it requires conversion to PDF format (easily done under the print command) to enable printing. Otherwise what you see on the screen is not what you see in print.

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

Check out PaintDS:

A paint program for Mac OS X

enter image description here

share|improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.