Slashdot Mirror
GIMP 2.2 Released
wongn writes "Several weeks since the splash screen contest was first announced, the latest milestone release for GIMP has come about - GIMP 2.2.0 has just been officially released. Only the linux binaries and source have yet appeared. From the website: 'The GIMP developers are proud to announce the availability of version 2.2.0 of the GNU Image Manipulation Program. About nine months after version 2.0 hit the road, we have completed another development cycle and can bring a new stable GIMP to our users' desktops.'"
Alright, animated topic icons!
I thought i was seeing things.
Runnin' On Empty
If GIMP was not open source, would you use it? Does it have anything over Photoshop in terms of Functionality or Ease of USe?
Details of the release: http://wiki.gimp.org/gimp/WhatsNew2
GIMP 2.2.0 has just been officially released
Anybody have a link to a torrent?
Oh.... wait
Overall, GIMP is an incredible feat of OSS, so I dno't want it to seem that I'm being completely negative.
But, there's two problems I have with GIMP, and one of them might have been fixed and one definitely hasn't.
First is the interface. Much has been said about it, but it really is not intuitive at all. A UI overhaul would be very helpful, and could go a long way to get a lot of Adobe enthusiasts to check it out. I've been using Mac OS X a lot lately, and it's really pointed out a lot of the really horrid UI decisions that have been made with Linux-grown software. The right-click menu is horribly unintuitive, there's too many options cluttered on one screen instead of giving them a heirarchy of use and seperating them by tabs or other methods. There's a whole bunch of things that could be done to make the the interface better, enough to fill a whole research document, so I'll leave it at that.
Second is the name. It needs to change. This is not about being PC, it's about reaching out to as many people as possible, and getting them to try out the GIMP. Will universities ever teach classes in a program that's called 'the gimp?' Will companies ever take seriously an employee who says that he wants to install 'the gimp' on his computer? Y'all have to have gotten the same weird looks as me when you've suggested that people try 'the gimp'. Have you ever told it to someone who uses a cane or crutches or is in a wheelchair?
If you have, you probably felt like a real jerk right after it slipped out of your mouth.
C'mon, change the name, we're not kids anymore, alright?
You forgot one important statistic: 0% of the people here will take you seriously.
The splash screen that won the contest and some others that worth mentioning.
Windows torrent
Linux
And for the sake of everything holy, reseed and be nice to my tracker and server
-------
Support Indy Music. Buy
That open dialog really reminds me of something. Hmm. Oh well, keep innovating guys!
"Baka, baka, minna baka."
P.S: Lameness filter is soooo lame
My other Beowulf cluster is... er...
My problem is that I do not use the gimp daily, and therefore I forget where things are hidden. But, surely, it needn't be so difficult to guess.
One thing I do a lot is to edit the contrast of an image that I've scanned. But, every time, I have to try a lot of menus to find that function. Image? Layers? Tools? Dialogs? Filters? All of these seem to be likely candidates. So, each and every time I want to adjust the contrast, I click each of these things, often a few times, missing the brightness/contrast function I'm looking for.
Does it really need to be this difficult?
I am not writing to suggest a reconfiguration of the menus -- folks have got used to the present state -- but rather to suggest something simpler. How about a menu action that stores recently chosen menus? In my case, a buffer of previously-selected menu items would contain just 3 items: "open", "brightness/contrast" and "save as". I imagine quite a few folks would have a small list of recent commands.
Q: is it technically feasible to store recently-used commands in this way? It would seem to be, since so many applications have recently-used file menu items.
Very good point. This has been in their bugzilla (as a feature enhancement) since Sept '03.
Check this out, from their wiki:
What a joke! Without CMYK, the Gimp is a toy, useful for web graphics but little else. No good to design pros, or to anyone that wants to be able to produce documents to print -- I fall into that second category, and without Photoshop and/or Illustrator, or a Gimp with decent features like native CMYK, there's no way I'm shifting from OS X. Trust me, graphics people do not give a monkeys about Python-Fu .. they want decent tools, they want them to have professional features, they want a decent intuitive UI (anyone that claims the Gimp has this is either a fantatic, a troll, or has the pleasure nodes in his or brain switched with the pain ones). I am not saying this for my own sake, I'm happy using Photoshop, but for the sake of FL/OSS in general. The lack of a decent graphics package This may not sound such a big deal, but without a *n?x version of Photoshop, and the Gimp being in the state it is, this effectively cuts out the viability of using a FL/OSS OS as a graphics workstation.
[ UNSIGNED NOT NULL ]
Sorry, I use photoshop quite often, and GIMP is, among other things, exceedingly slow; filters that take a second or two in Photoshop CS take a half minute in GIMP. I got tired of watching the filter progress bar all the time, and switched right back.
Professionals buy new $3k Macs when there's a new model out if there is even 2-3 seconds difference in how long a task takes. Why should they "save" $650 on something that will take them ten times as long?
Nevermind that macros in GIMP are a royal pain in the ass. In Photoshop, you just do the action while recording it, and Photoshop makes the macro for you. You can then apply the macro to images in the image browser instantly, control where things go, have a report generated on failures/successes, the whole nine yards.
If the GIMP team wants Photoshop market share(which I don't think they do), then repeat after me: productivity, productivity, productivity. They'd do well to sit down with a bunch of pros and write down everything they say, and weigh it very heavily into future plans.
Please help metamoderate.
I've been using the Gimp for four years now in an educational setting. For a variety of reasons, it is a compelling choice. 1. Students can use the Gimp at school and at home. It's a natural to stop them from violating copyright law. 2. The Gimp is a remarkable testimony to GNU software's ability to create powerful application software. 3. With limited documentation, The Gimp is perfect for teaching kids how to actually learn a software package. 4. Once they "get it," they appreciate what the Gimp can do for them. 5. There's no better way to teach them the real nature of cell animation. 6. For Unix kids, the Gimp is an awakening. When they move from Windows Gimp to Unix Gimp, they suddenly discover that the difficulties inherent in Windows file structure are an impediment to their computing. 7. Even of they move on to Photoshop, learning on the Gimp provides them a much better understanding of the nature of image manipulation. 8. It's not an easy answer. Kids like easy answers. 9. Nobody can figure out what the icon is, and it's hilarious when a kid shouts out "I love the gimp!"
befuddled (noun) 1. Unable to create a pithy sig