Positives -
A nice Windows alternative to quick photo-effecting like you can do with a myriad of smartphone apps. Good range of effects and frames, including reasonable lighting/colour adjustments. Though didn't realise for a few minutes, clicking effect thumbnail (eg, "Blossom") toggles the effect on and off, so you don't have to scroll to a thumbnail called "No effect" or hit some other button. Crop/resizing was a bit confusing at first, but actually like it now. Drag n Drop a photo from Explorer.

Negatives -
Default save applies a "Vintager" watermark; you have to remember to uncheck the box every time you run the program (even with "member" activiated). A bit strange in the Windows world not to use classic Open / Close / Save / Save As / Cancel for file management, but I can live with the way it works. Collage functionality is weird; drop that capability and leave that task to Photoscape or similar! No screen size control - very odd in a Windows world, and even more of a strange omission for an image processing app - though practically a default in Android :)

Overall -
Some quirky functionality that takes some brain-training to get used to, and really needs a screen size control. But will keep as a quick-and-dirty photo-effecter for posting/sharing rather than lugging out my Photoshop/Lightroom editors.

It is impossible to activate this program.

Looks like this is a program for a smart phone not a computer as it is not scalable so I will pass on today's offer and continue to use Paint.net a free program to rival photoshop

http://www.getpaint.net/index.html

Comment Short Version Not bad.

The Details Installed without issues on Windows 10/64. It was easy to understand and easy to use, despite its total lack of help files for those who might need them. I was impressed by the number of different frames and effects that were available. I will keep this as one of my many editing programs, probably for the frames alone on simple pictures that are just used online or the like. I was not impressed (and apparently have a good deal of company in that) that a paid membership was required just to save the resulting picture in its original size. I mean, COME ON, AUTHOR! I know you probably need to raise money for development, but IMHO that is the -wrong- way to do it. I was totally liking the program right up to that point, but that one item alone was a MAJOR turn-off. Good luck with your future development, and thanks for participating in GAOTD.

program has to maximize, preview is too small

beside that everything else is quite good. effects are nice and this is indeed good replacement for Instagram

Installed without any errors displayed. Dragged a couple of .tiff files into it. Only all-black renditions were displayed. The display area is way too small. The program is not written to be scalable. You can't maximize it. Not professional quality in that respect.

Reminds me of trying to run graphics programs that were written long ago that didn't think screens would ever grow beyond 640 by 480.

If I can't see what I'm doing, then I won't use it.

Cute app that does what it says -- it lets you apply several different FX, along with several frames or borders, to your image much the same way you'd apply those same type of FX using the tools provided by a photo storage site or service.

RE installation, the only real note is that it adds ~300MB to your ProgramData folder. Activation is a bit unusual, hinting that some sort of on-line service or community is planned [the product site is more fancy than informative], but if you follow the directions in the GOTD readme.txt file, loading an image, going to settings, & clicking on "Use original photo size", the dialog pops up just like it should.

The idea or appeal of Vintager is that it's a quick way to jazz up a photo without spending a lot of time or effort. You can do more, & sometimes the same things better, using the tools at some storage sites, using different apps on your Android cell phone, & of course using a full fledged image editing program, but that's not the point of Vintager, which is to make adding FX quick, easy, & as painless as possible.

If you really want to go vintage, look for apps &/or plug-ins that let you mimic the actual characteristics of different films etc. used during whatever period you're trying to mimic. Or if you're really into it, look into what films etc. are still available -- yes, a relative few photographers still use that stuff, often combined with current digital tech.

Fr those wanting the Black layout, there is a temporary work around until the site owners decide to go back in black.
For Chrome users
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/invert-page-colors/hjhdnhiofjddcapmffbllcpaodjmdphn

example http://my.jetscreenshot.com/3161/20160207-djkf-226kb

for fire/waterfox
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/simple-night-mode/?src=api

example
http://my.jetscreenshot.com/3161/20160207-u3vx-282kb

the chrome version works with a black.white icon in your adress bar, the fox version is a righclick option

hope this helps many

I found this review on the internet................
Vintager enables you to turn your images into vintage-style photographs with the click of a button. You can pick from about a dozen different presets that simulate different vintages and file types.
In addition, you can add a photo frame and vignetting effect, adjust brightness settings and optionally rotate, crop or resize your photo.

For another Free alternative, I recommend ON1 Effects 10 Free. You can see a comparison chart between the Full version and the Free version, as well as examples of what can be accomplished with the Free version at....

https://www.on1.com/apps/effects10free/

Please note, however, that it does require at least 4GB ram to run, or 8GB ram if you are using it as a Photoshop Plugin. It also requires 1.5GB of your hard drive for installation. You will also need to give them your name and an email address for them to send you a link for downloading.

It is a very powerful program.

I have been using their full version software since Version 4 - (they are now at Version 10) and while I have had moments of frustration with both the software and the company in the past, they have continued to improve and I rate my experience with them as between 8 and 10 over the past 2 years.

This Gotd is very nice, but I don't like it's installation.
I forward it to my APP partition, but there it took only 16Mb.
On C it took 300MB to place all it's dat files. I'm sorry, this is not what I want.
How nice it might be I guess I will remove it in few days.

For those of you (Everyone) that wonders what this offering does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjJcFarqdh4

The name and description above of this Giveaway gives no clue as to what the Giveaway does. It is extremely poorly written. Please Exeone, learn how to properly describe your product other than making bold claims like; "The first effect based photo editor for Windows, which can successfully substitute popular mobile Instagram-a-like apps".

Including a "Save as" Button would have been nice. That way you could rename & choose file location in one easy step. It would also make it safer so as not to overwrite an original photo! One could also save a redone photo easier as you were making changes in case of a system crash, or be able to save a series of photo's as you went alone to compare later. Using an 'Apply" button infers that you are making changes to an original & not a copy. It's a little confusing to say the least! Having a "Save as" button leaves no question as to what you are doing and to where you are saving it to! Thanks for the chance to try out your software, I'll be trying out more functions in the up comming days of that you can be sure! Thanks again for making it available!

More information:
http://www.exeone.com/vintager
http://www.exeone.com/vintager-gallery

Program is very easy to use, sadly i could not enlarge the preview in a short test:

Before: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11463671/gotd/vintager/Cape_Town_Jun_09_s-700052.jpg
After: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11463671/gotd/vintager/Cape_Town_Jun_09_s-700052%20-%20vint.JPG
Before: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11463671/gotd/vintager/cfiles10549.jpg
After: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11463671/gotd/vintager/cfiles10549%20-%20vint.JPG
Before: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11463671/gotd/vintager/Quebec_city.jpg
After: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11463671/gotd/vintager/Quebec_city%20-%20vint.JPG

The activation process is absurd, requiring the user to become "a member" with a membership number, whilst registration eschews the usual 'About' menu and instead requires you to import an image, tick a box to ensure you keep the original size, and then segmentally -- segmentally, mind you -- laboriously copy and paste in your membership code.

In case you can't quite get to grips with this time-consuming farrago, there's a Help button to hand which ironically proves to be rather less helpful than the developer may've hoped, seeing as how under the 'Membership' option the following appears:

Vintager is a free application, however its development costs real money. This is why we introduced membership for all our users that are willing to donate a small amount and help us maintain Vintager as it is, superb and free of charge.

No mention of $29.95 there, then.

The size of this app is such that a lengthy download time isn't going to enamor it to those on slow speed connections, but at least there's some hope to be had that substance will equal quality. But no. So "superb" is this free-but-membership-required product that it doesn't even have a resizable window.

Instead, there's an 11.5cm x 8.5cm display which for all practical purposes might as well be a large thumbnail. It's so blatantly useless that not only is it well-nigh impossible to see the changes made by the various tonal filters, matters become downright hilarious when attempting to use the "Crop and Resize" function. As for the effects presets, one can only wonder not at the amount of skill which may or may not have gone into their creation but the amount of time expended in dreaming up their names -- everything from Billie and Candela to Fella and Amelia.

Verdict: whatever else this developer offers in the way of "Software for Professionals" this particular product is about as bad as it gets.

No-one with any understanding of image post-processing work would ever deliver something with a non-resizable window. Vintager doesn't come within a country mile of genuinely "superb" freeware like Paint.net and PhotoScape --

http://www.getpaint.net/index.html

http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php

neither of which require "membership" and neither of which are anything like the bloated mess that Vintager is (by contrast, PhotoScape is a mere 20Mb download.) Nothing about it explains why the developer has chosen to get into a software sector it all too clearly knows nothing about and has evidently made no effort to even find out.

Uninstalled.

Answers:
1) File size is quite a big cause it contains high quality layers
2) These layers on high quality photo and large size export features are available in this Member (Premium) version. Standard quality version is Free
3) This video will show more about features and what software does:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjJcFarqdh4

If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.

downloaded and installed fairly easy on win 10. Registration, had to attempt it twice, but finally got it working. After playing around, I must admit I am highly disappointed in this software. The filters are extremely basic (at best), and something that most photo editors can do while asleep. Whether this is a freeware or this version has extra "features", these effects are not worth the room on any of my drives.

Answers:
1) File size is quite a big cause it contains high quality layers
2) These layers on high quality photo and large size export features are available in this Member (Premium) version. Standard quality version is Free
3) This video will show more about features and what software does:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjJcFarqdh4

If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.

http://www.exeone.com/vintager

The file's gigantic 95 MB, perhaps it's an entire operating system !

Here is a video I found showing the effects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjJcFarqdh4#t=536

The Read Me file reads,
1) Run Vintager and open any photo;
2) Go to settings tab (gear icon) and click "Use original photo size";
3) You will be asked for the Member ID.

I followed the instructions and was never asked for the Member ID.
I can't even tell if it's registered from a previous giveaway.
I never understood why companies make registration something hidden or complicated enough to seek support to figure out.

Paint.net is free and using the Adjustments and Effects you can create everything this program does with more vintage varieties. To learn how, video search: 'Paint.NET tutorial number 90 - Vintage photo effect'

If you do not like to mess with those sliders and can figure out how to register this then it may be right for you.

If you want a preview, watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjJcFarqdh4

How about some examples of what it does? There's nothing at all there to inspire me to want to try the software even for free

Hi,
I've got a serial number but I don't know how/where to register the software...

Installed and registered; when details are filled in the registration code appears on the screen rather than by e-mail, the busy screen does not make this to easy to see.

On opening a rather washed out and not easily readable screen appears, things become clearer once an image is selected.

The main function appears to be modifying an image by applying different coloured washes over the image, putting frames around, and applying textures plus one I was unaware of called bokeh.
The latter is the ability to select an area of variable size and position in which the centre remained sharp but the surrounding areas become blurred, the size of these areas can be varied.

The functionality seemed a bit limited compared to the size of the download but having said that there are a large range of frames, overlays and textures that must make up the bulk of it.

It has the potential to change your images in many different ways both good and bad in these will only be found by experimentation, and there's certainly plenty of scope for that with so many combinations.

An interesting program that is worth having a dabble with but not one I would be inclined to buy but as it is free today I'll be keeping it.

Although it's a silent release, can we get some screenshots of the program? The Vintager website is not much of a use...