Gesticulate
A freehand drawing tool
GESTICULATE IS a simple drawing tool that was developed in reaction to the sometimes extravagant complexity of pro drawing tools which strive for precise control at the expense of usability.
Many apps strive to provide a wealth of functionality that only makes their interfaces opaque and intractable to the average user. Gesticulate is not geared towards graphic design and is intended to be used for more casual scenarios where it is required to be able to sketch an idea with some notation and then to be able to export to a variety of formats.
I should note that the original intention when the project started some years back was to leverage touch technology that did not at that time exist. It remains an unfulfilled aspiration, it is unlikely that the program can be modified for touch, but work continues apace on a reworking of the concept [1] [image] for touch-based devices using the JavaFX framework. My project Fondu is also a touch-enabled mockup of this concept.
Your sketches may be exported to common formats and there is a snapshot tool at top right, for instance a series of snapshots could form the basis of a presentation. Images in various formats may be imported and resized and annotated. A bonus feature is an online mapping widget based on a resizable image that takes maps from OpenStreetMap which could also be annotated.
Native platform versions of Gesticulate are supplied for macOS, Windows and Linux. If you are familiar I have provided SHA checksums of the application bundles below. Because I cannot afford a cross-platform signing certificate the user will have to accept a number of vexatious security warnings. I am sorry about this but this app is not a business nor am I trying to make a profit from it, it is a hobby. A minimal version is supplied if you have already installed a Java runtime which may be obtained from here.
[1] I am making GesticulateFX available open-source on GitHub
Features
Sketch
The app provides vector shapes and a curve-fitted sketching tool which allow grouping of shapes, arrow lines and other strokes including dotted, double and railway-tracks.
Type
Formatted text is supported including bold, italic, underlined and three fonts. Text boxes are single-lined but provide input methods and may be oriented at any angle for easy labels.
Images
Import images in the most common formats from the Tools menu to the drawing, scale them and rotate them and use the drawing tool to highlight them, adding arrows and text comments.
Snapshot
There is a screenshot button at the top-right which captures a snapshot of the current drawing to the Desktop. Capture a series of screenshots as the starting point for a presentation.
Maps
Mapping viewports based on an image that update from a variety of Open Streetmap and Bing Maps sources, maps are easily resized and highlighted with the drawing tools.
Export
Easily export a clean scalable vector (SVG) rendering of the current drawing for resolution independent output and export a bitmap version (PNG) for use in other applications.
Download
A summary of changes — Changelog.txt
Mac |
Gesticulate_2.0.14.8-aarch64.dmg |
40.9MB |
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— download and launch the bundle and then drag Note No separate java installation is required. |
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Windows |
Gesticulate_Setup_2.0.14.8.exe |
36.4MB |
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— download the setup application and double-click to launch,
following the setup wizard. Start Menu items will be created and the application
will be associated with documents created with the Note No separate java installation is required. |
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Linux |
gesticulate_1.0-2.0.14.8_amd64.deb |
37.9MB |
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— download the bundle and then execute Note No separate java installation is required. |
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Archive |
gesticulate-2.0.14.8-min.zip |
12.3MB |
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— unpack the archive to a convenient folder and double-click to launch
Note This will require a Java 17+ runtime to be installed. |
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Legal Notice: This software is free to download and use, but is provided at the user’s own risk and without warranty, express or otherwise. This software is not for redistribution.