label software

anyone know of a good free program for creating labels, MS word isnt really cutting it for what i want to do.

a bunch of us use The Gimp. it's a little confounding at first, but it's a very powerful graphics program.

-walker

thanks i'm downloading it right now. after looking at the BYO label contest winners i realized how cool some peoples labels are and now i want to make my own. ive tried before on word, but they all come out crappy, this program looks pretty intense though.

ok its downloaded but it doesnt seem to be running at all. it keeps asking me to select language, which i did, but its still asking me that. am i stupid, or is something wrong here?

edit- nevermind...i think i have it figured out.

Walker said:

a bunch of us use The Gimp. it's a little confounding at first, but it's a very powerful graphics program.

-walker

Click to expand...

confounding is right, and for some reason the help section wont work for me. you can take a picture and mess with it on here right? i cant seem to figure out how to insert an image.

I haven't been able to either....

Microsoft office publisher works well if you have it. It typically comes with MS Office. Easy to use.

If you want to stick with Office, PowerPoint is actually a pretty good graphic program. You can do all sorts of image manipulation with it.

drengel said:

confounding is right, and for some reason the help section wont work for me. you can take a picture and mess with it on here right? i cant seem to figure out how to insert an image.

Click to expand...

There are a load of good tutorials on the web which can help - look at the gimp website.
One think you may want to try is to use GIMPSHOP instead of GIMP - it's almost the same but it tends to put all the floating windows in one window, a bit like eg Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop would do.
The basics of the gimp though..
File ->Open will get you to open an image that you have saved on your hard disk. Alternatively you can get a webpage with an image you want, right click the image and copy it to clipboard (I use Opera - presume you can do this with all browsers). Then go to Gimp and either do File->New (select the default settings) and then Edit->Paste->As New and voila, you've got that image from the website.
One of the most important things to remember is that in programs such as gimp you have LAYERS. This means that you can make modifications to an image (eg add new text or whatever) and have it overlay an image - if you don't like it you just delete the layer, or move the layer around a bit on top of the original - you don't have to undo the image like you would with eg MS PAINT.
Seriously though, stick with it, you'll have a "eureka" moment and then it will all become clear. Don't force it, don't get frustrated, start small, maybe try to do some of the tutorials...
EDIT. By the way, Gimp is not so much a **drawing** programing as an **editing** program. Sure you can draw things in Gimp, but it's difficult enough. But for manipulating images, it's great.

I use PSP6 to make simple labels. It suites my simple mind.

ken- thanks, i actually figured out alot of stuff messing around with it, but still couldnt figure out how to insert an image...so thanks for that. i'll have to look for some tutorials, my help section doesnt work for some reason.

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

the holy grail!

Excel has been my choice for some time. Cut/past pics from the net, crop or fool with in any program such as Paint or a common pic program on a Kodak picture CD disc. Excel lets you draw, color, crop, etc. It also has WordArt depending on your version, etc. Lucky for me my wife's mom is buying me the home version of PhotoShop for Christmas...CAN'T WAIT!

I have been reading past posts and I will look at the Gimp website, but it appears that Gimp is a photo editing program but not necessarily related to "beer labels".

I use Photoshop and other programs, but what I was looking for was a "beer labeling" software program similar to CD label software programs, where you have a template, put the picture and text, and there ya go. Anything like that out there?

Georgian Novice said:

I have been reading past posts and I will look at the Gimp website, but it appears that Gimp is a photo editing program but not necessarily related to "beer labels".

I use Photoshop and other programs, but what I was looking for was a "beer labeling" software program similar to CD label software programs, where you have a template, put the picture and text, and there ya go. Anything like that out there?

Click to expand...

Microsoft Publisher can do this easily. I have used it, along with the blank template for Avery 5164 labels (6/sheet), then inserted graphics/clip art/text onto the label. Once done, I print them through my color laser printer (no runs when the bottle sweats that way) and on the bottle they go.

Excellent post my friend. Nice to hear of a Avery number/template that one can pick up at the ole Office Depot. Probably could make the collar labels from another template if one was creative enough. Frankly, just wasn't thinking the right way and appreciate that vine.

Love this freaking forum.
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I use MS Publisher to format & print my labels. On complicated designs, I use Photoshop & then import into Publisher for printing.

Georgian Novice said:

what I was looking for was a "beer labeling" software program similar to CD label software programs, where you have a template, put the picture and text, and there ya go. Anything like that out there?

Click to expand...

MS Word can definitely do that. If you're using Avery labels (or any other major brand of labels), the templates are already built in, too.