  Photometric data of galaxies covering the rest-frame wavelength range from
far-UV to far-IR make it possible to derive galaxy properties with a high
reliability by fitting the attenuated stellar emission and the related dust
emission at the same time. For this purpose we wrote the code CIGALE (Code
Investigating GALaxy Emission) that uses model spectra composed of the Maraston
(or PEGASE) stellar population models, synthetic attenuation functions based on
a modified Calzetti law, spectral line templates, the Dale & Helou dust
emission models, and optional spectral templates of obscured AGN. Depending on
the input redshifts, filter fluxes are computed for the model set and compared
to the galaxy photometry by carrying out a Bayesian-like analysis. CIGALE was
tested by analysing 39 nearby galaxies selected from SINGS. The reliability of
the different model parameters was evaluated by studying the resulting
expectation values and their standard deviations in relation to the input model
grid. Moreover, the influence of the filter set and the quality of photometric
data on the code results was estimated. For up to 17 filters between 0.15 and
160 mum, we find robust results for the mass, star formation rate, effective
age of the stellar population at 4000 A, bolometric luminosity, luminosity
absorbed by dust, and attenuation in the far-UV. A study of the mutual
relations between the reliable properties confirms the dependence of star
formation activity on morphology in the local Universe and indicates a
significant drop in this activity at about 10^11 M_sol towards higher total
stellar masses. The dustiest sample galaxies are present in the same mass
range. [abridged]
