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I need to specify colors, font-sizes, space between elements, sizes, etc right in a mockup picture for people who will work on a layout. What is the best way for doing it?

UPDATE:

More details on what I am looking for. The app needs:

  • to work with raster images (plain jpg's)
  • to have a tool for annotating length (from one point to another, there are 140 px)
  • to have a tool that annotates the color (this point is #463dfd)
  • to be able to refer a color by the name I assigned to it (use "DarkBlue" instead of #004)
  • to have predefined set of font name/size/boldness parameters to quickly annotate a piece of text
  • to follow some standard graphic notation for annotation elements

I need something like this plugin for Fireworks: http://www.specctr.com/ but

  • working with raster images
  • being a separate app independent from anything
  • free

I have Photoshop and CorelDraw on a Windows 7, x64 machine, if that matters.

Trident D'Gao
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3 Answers3

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Any image-editing software that supports layers will do: Photoshop, Gimp, etc. Just add layers on top of the original image and write or draw your annotations there.

Your designers will be able to temporarily switch layers on and off to concentrate better on the elements they are working at the moment, if they are using the same image-editing software as you. Of course, if they don't, you'll have to export your annotated picture to PNG or any other widely-supported image format.

haimg
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  • Using whatever editor doesn't sound like the best way. How about using a right tool for this job? – Trident D'Gao Aug 12 '12 at 17:24
  • @bonomo I don't understand your comment. haimg's answer is valid. Are there any criteria you haven't mentioned? If so, please edit your question so we know what concerns you have. You don't even mention whether your image is raster or vector, what OS, what programs you have, etc. – Rich Homolka Aug 12 '12 at 17:33
  • Ok, I've updated the question. Of course I can use a general purpose editor, but it won't save me time to draw all annotations myself. This is what needs to be automated and this is what the question is about. – Trident D'Gao Aug 12 '12 at 18:02
  • Well good luck finding what you're looking for... I think that will be tough, and you might consider relaxing your requirements a bit. For example, consider a web service and not a standalone app, like one of these mentioned in nik's answer. – haimg Aug 12 '12 at 18:46
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A few more things to check (I prefer haimg's answer; these are just other things to look at).

  1. ImageMagick supports a lot of ways to annotate (but may not be comfortable to use directly -- I know not any GUI that would wrap these features)
  2. Mocku.ps is online -- may not be suitable because of that (?)
  3. Notable -- is online and not freeware
nik
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Because you are talking about a Raster image then there is no easy way for a plugin to know the size of fonts etc. Specctr works because each element has it's specifications if it's just pixels it's much harder for a plugin to identify image components.

Rupert
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