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First Look at GIMP 2.4
Liam30 writes "Newsforge (ed: part of the OSTG family) is running a story that gives a first look at the next version of GIMP." From the article: " A major update to the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), widely regarded as the leading free software raster image editing program, is scheduled for this month. The 2.4 release is expected to include a number of new features and enhancements to existing features ... The first thing most users will notice about 2.4 is the addition of three new tools to the palette: the Align tool, the Foreground Extraction tool, and a new 'Simple' Rectangle Selector. The Align tool lets you vertically and horizontally align image layers -- a task you had to perform manually before. You can align an image to any edge or the center, specify an offset in any direction, and adjust vertical and horizontal alignment separately."
That 'SIOX' object selection stuff looks really really cute; you have to wonder if it would come in useful for machine vision/AI as well.
Anyway - good luck to the GIMP guys - a nice tool!
I agree with you in some degree, the problem I run into is I like useing the Gimp for little odds and ends jobs. Don't get me wrong the Gimp is a good application, I think of it as a middle weight tool. Something like a Flame, Flint or Inferno user views Combustion. Just like svg is the rave for icons so is a 32bit enviroment for images. This is not a feature that adds bloat, its more a feature of where the world is going.
As a Photoshop (and, occasionally, GIMP) user, I would be glad to know of what, in your opinion, is a good photo editing application for professionals? Am I missing out on something?
I would love to see a comprehensive listing of what can't be done with GIMP 2.4 that you can do with Photoshop. Then, tack on a list of what features can be covered by other applications (open source or commercial) from the list of missing features in GIMP. That would give me a very nice look at comparing the two and deciding which way to go. Also, it would give me a sense of how much money, if any, I have to spend to acquire the capability of Photoshop or being better.
Well, it's RGB CMYK conversion that's patented, not CMYK per se. Pantone+Hexachrome can't be supported in the GIMP either because of patent issues.
Well, I don't think it's too difficult to work around that. For example to have a lookup table + simple linear model locally. As for Pantone+Hexachrome it's copyright + trademark law, not patent law. GIMP should just create the framework of named colors, so they can have one for HTML colors, and you can define your own "My company" profile with "My foreground", "My background" and so on. The rest would probably sort itself out. It all depends on a much more complex color management than what is available though.
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