Today, I will be evaluating the vector graphic drawing application GlyphEdit. The program is written in java and runs on popular platforms including, Windows, Mac, and Linux. The basic features of this program allows the user to create simple vector objects using predefined shapes and lines. A few extra features allow you to group, rotate, scale, and even add text to the object.
The first question that comes to mind is, what reason is there to use GlyphEdit when there are already many open source graphic tools that do a lot more, e.g., GIMP. The one feature that stands out in GlyphEdit is the ability to save the graphic in the 3D geometry data format, OBJ. Which for the purpose of this blog, i.e., focuses on java, allows us to easily implement graphics in java applets without the constant guess work.
Sounds useful! But I downloaded another application and couldn’t figure out how to run it! No need to fret here, after unzipping the file, all that is needed to run the application was a click on a file corresponding file for your OS. The application’s GUI elements were made to mimic the simple clean look of a Mac OSX application. The button layout, standard to most graphic editing program, you choose a shape on the panel to the left and click on the canvas to draw.
The last useful thing about GlyphEdit is that it is written entirely in java. Browsing through the folders you will be able to find all the java files, then open and view them. The files are separated into the graphic objects and the applications GUI, all with full comments; allowing you to easily change the layout of the buttons or add new features such as color selection.
Overall, while overly simple, I found the application very practical and useful as someone who has tackled a java applet or two. Although there are some hiccups here and there with newer OS versions, it is definitely a keeper in my java archives.
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