In Gimp We Trust
As a long time Photoshop junkie and Gimp fan, this week has been a joyous overload. Gimp 2.6 released today and Photoshop CS4 has been announced (they need some time to hype before release). And again the all important question is being asked by some overenthusiastic Gimp lover whether we have finally come close to having a free, open-source Photoshop alternative.
The short answer is no. For most average image editing needs, Gimp is more than enough, but for developers and professional designers Photoshop is more than just a powerful, insanely over-priced, image editor; Photoshop is a brand name which is synonymous to “image editing”. But Gimp is the closest thing to having a free (legal) photoshop.
What changed in Gimp 2.6?
The latest Gimp is not just an incremental release, but a major one in terms of development. Apart from major changes in user interface and tool sets, under the hood Gimp has a new powerful graph based image processing framework called GEGL. One of the many advantage of CEGL is the ability to do “on the fly” image processing (like Gaussian Blur) with preview.
Lookout for GimPhoto.
GimPhoto is a modified Gimp release (not yet updated with Gimp 2.6 goodies), that mimics the look and feel of Photoshop. Apart from changes in user interface it also adds more brush-sets, gradients and patterns. Take a look and judge it yourself if this will replace Photoshop in the near future for you.
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Gimp 2.6 sounds pretty awesome, and I’ve never given GimPhoto a try, I’ll be sure to try it out once they update to 2.6 :-) Thanks for the info.
Me too, never want a PS clone. The Gimp is pretty well for me and work fine with linux and not with windows. The name should be sound this ….
Hi!,
I love that metacity + gtk theme (in the baby screenshot)!!!
Could you please any link to download it?
Thanks! :D
Oh!, about gimp… nice release! (sorry, I didn’t use it :D)
Hi minWi, the image was taken from gimp website. Not mine. Sorry. If I find any information about that theme, I will post it here.
Thx! ;D
Adobe is the major reason why I am still using Windows XP
Adobe is the ONLY reason I don’t have a fully ubuntu dedicated pc. Nothing like coding an entire site in ‘buntu, but having to boot xp to re-work some images.
I wish Adobe would release Photoshop for Linux. I would pay for it.
>But Gimp is the closest thing to having a free (legal) photoshop.
Huh? GIMP is the closest thing we have to a Free (as in freedom) Photoshop. I use it every day for work; I’m a professional designer and I also use Photoshop and teach it at a local college.
If GIMP were simply freeware, I wouldn’t be interested in it at all. Why waste time when PS can be had so cheaply via eBay or elsewhere? But it’s more than that.
There’s no way I would ever uninstall GIMP. It’s built on the same principles from which all creative endeavors bloom.
Aesthetically pleasing software, really. :-) I’m proud to use it and support people who believe in the same stuff I do.
The theme is Darkilouche http://art.gnome.org/themes/gtk2/1285
Whats the difference between GimPhoto and GimpShop?
you know what the main difference between gimp and photoshop REALLY is? photoshop is faaaar superior, and gimp isn’t. sure, there have been improvements in the gimp since the first release, but does the gimp have photoshop cs4’s 3d capabilities, image resizing capabilities, and overall stability? NO. is the gimp the graphic design standard? NO. therefore, it’s in NO way a competitor to photoshop.
The new version looks awesome. I hope they hurry up with the Win32 binaries. The Photoshop GUI looks interesting. I prefer the regular UI simply because I’m more familiar with it. (It would be nice if the GimpShop was just a preference setting in GIMP, but that’s pretty minor.)
I haven’t found any reason/feature/shortcoming that would make me want to use Photoshop. The new features look awesome. Nice Work.
@brokencrystal Stop lying, nobody pays for Photoshop, :p
Ill give Gimp another try to see but Gimphoto looks like a good idea.
My problem with Gimp and most free software is it doesnt do the most common things easily.
Take the 10 most common functions used in a program and dumb the steps down to a Mac level. Youll see that those 10 functions or uses make up the majority of use of a software.
Resize, crop, color/brightnes/etc, frame changing dpi and saving (including previews and sizes) is what most people use torrented Photoshop for.
I’d say that from the 70-80 people I know who use Photoshop only about a dozen of so are graphic artists (and I dont mean in the Mac sense where everyone is an artist or so they believe).
Maybe Gimphoto does that…
And if it does, then Gimphoto should be in the regular version as well.
For those of us of who have computers with different users with different skills levels.
Lets she what shes got.
Saurav,
Adobe is still the reason you are a whimp (rhymes with gimp, get it?). Don’t let proprietary software rule your life. If you want to make the switch to Linux do it. I guarantee you will find alternatives to virtually every windoze software you use. Its sad that you are stuck with windoze just because of that. You are reading a Linux post so I am guessing that you are already considering Linux. Switch gradually but make the switch. I promise you it will be worth your while.
the people at gimp need to realize that their interface sucks. Period. If they got their heads out of their consoles for a minute they’d realize that people go thru all the trouble of creating hacked versions of gimp that have interfaces like photoshop because users just want gimp to look that way. just make it an option so all the purists who want 5 friggin windows on their bar (GIMP, Layers, etc) could have it their way.
jeez… fix it already… you want people over from windoze?? make gimp ONE window with toolbars, etc. inside it and a nice gray background to tune out the desktop/other windows that are open.
ac
Rob Enderle: “[Gimp] doesnt do the most common things easily. [...] Resize, crop, color/brightnes/etc, frame changing dpi and saving (including previews and sizes) is what most people use torrented Photoshop for.”
- resize: select “Scale image” from the Image menu, enter width and height, click on “Scale”.
- crop: click on the knife icon (displays “Crop or Resize an image” on mouse hover), select rectangle with mouse, click on “Crop”.
- color/brightness/etc: select “Brightness-contrast” from the Tools menu, drag handles (shows live preview), click on “Ok”.
- change dpi: select “Print size” from the Image menu, enter X and Y resolution (or width and height in millimeters or inches), click on “Ok”.
How is that not easy? How do you do those in Photoshop?
ok, i tried the newest version of the gimp, and right away, i found all kinds of things about the program i didn’t like. one major thing being that the gimp STILL doesn’t have layer masking, or if it does, i sure as hell do not know where it is, and there’s just simply too many tools on the toolbar. seriously, does ANY person really need that many tools on the toolbar, or could some of them be done away with and relocated to a different area of the program? oh yeah, i also don’t like how the toolbar and layers palette BOTH like to play hide-and-seek whenever i click on the main screen, and i have to go down to my taskbar ALL THE FREAKING TIME and click on them just to get them back to the front of the main gimp window. a rival to photoshop? HARDLY!
For those that stick with windows because of photoshop or any other software (excluding 3D games). Google “virtualbox” OR “vmware”. Most linux distros have both of the above programs in their repository for easy installation. Basically it allows you to run windows and linux simultaneously.
Adobe is the major reason why I am not using Windows XP
Photoshop is broken by design, deliberately inhibited in certain ways. Terrible UI, although much better (from my muscle reflexes) than GIMP in some ways, GIMP actually has better workflow on a lot of actions (like SAVING VERSIONS!!!!)
I fucking hate adobe, and I hated macromedia, then adobe bought macromedia. I fucking hate them, and they tried to sue the guy who told everyone that their overpriced crappy shit pdf bollocks has no security.
Please does someone know the developers?
Please tell them to make it MDI.
I cannot work with tenths of minimized windows!
>Please tell them to make it MDI.
MDI is terrible. Window management is a task for the window manager. Also, learn to use GIMP’s image management tools and you won’t have to worry about lots of minimized images.
As a GIMP user, I wish people would try to learn the software as it develops, rather than complain about how it worked five years ago…
Hi guys. I’ve been using GIMP for a while and I love it. Now, I’m a college student and I have to pay for my own way through college. I thought about GIMP and remembering how it has helped me in the past, by retouching my and my friends’ images. At the time I wished there was an easy way for me and others to use the program. Then I decided to create 10 retouching image tutorials and recorded them on DVDs that was user friendly and easier for people to use. I would like to sell the DVD for $14.99, which would greatly help me through school. Please purchase this product to support my efforts and the GIMP community. Thank you very much. Ponphan Suwanakas, Western International University student. You can purchase my product at http://www.playpicsmedia.com
Thank you guys so much