GIMP 2.6 Released

Enselic writes "The GIMP developers are proud to announce the release of GIMP 2.6. The release notes start with: 'GIMP 2.6 is an important release from a development point of view. It features changes to the user interface addressing some often received complaints, and a tentative integration of GEGL, the graph based image processing library that will eventually bring high bit-depth and non-destructive editing to GIMP.' The notes go on to say the toolbox menubar has been removed, the toolbox and docks now are utility windows, it's now possible to pan beyond the image border, the freehand select tool has been enhanced to support polygonal selections, and much more."

Comments

I just got 2.4!

[AKAImBatman]

Man, just after I updated 2.2 to 2.4! @#@!#*!!!

One area I hope the GIMP team focuses on in the future is font rendering. I absolutely love working with GIMP, but the fonts still don't come out as nice as they do in Photoshop. I'm not graphical design savvy enough to know why, only that my fonts look like crud when compared to the smooth output of Photoshop.

Other than that, GIMP is an incredible product. Anyone doing casual graphical editing, just learning, or otherwise does not need the top-end features of Photoshop will be well-served by this package. Kudos for doing such an incredible job, guys! :-)

Re:I just got 2.4!

[elrous0]

People laugh. But when I taught a web class for my company last year, that name kept me from using this as the recommended graphic program of choice (used Photoshop elements instead). It's typical developer thoughtlessness to use a name that most people associate with a disturbing scene in the movie Pulp Fiction for an application that supposedly wants to be taken seriously. You can have the greatest application in the world, but if you name it "FUCK" you're going to be spending every subsequent Thanksgiving sitting at the kid's table.

Re:I just got 2.4!

[oogoliegoogolie]

Gimp developers don't care what you think. People have been very vocal in requesting this product undergo a name (as well as UI!)change to something less silly, childish, and stupid since it came out in the late 90's, and they haven't done it so it ain't going to happen now. GIMP is destined to always conjure images about either: a) that disturbing dude from pulp fiction as you mentioned, or b) children who have some affliction or disability that causes them difficulty when walking.

Re:I just got 2.4!

[LearnToSpell]

There is a happy medium, where a programs function can be implied by a relevant name:
Winamp
[a digital current measuring program]

Photoshop
[an ecommerce program for selling Polaroids]

Yahoo Messenger
[a yodel-to-text converter for arranging bicycle deliveries].

Re:I just got 2.4!

[tolan-b]

Hate to feed the troll but...

"Drop the lame prefixes"

iPhoto, iWork, iPod, iMac, iPhone.

Prefixes are far from unique to Linux. Also, how long is it since you looked at Gnome apps? I can't of any that are "gSomething" or "gnSomething". Plenty are called "Gnome Something", but how is that different from the hundreds of "Windows Something" or 'WinSomething"? 'Winamp', 'Winzip', 'Windows messenger', 'Winrar'. Uhuh.

"This basically goes to show that the Linux desktop folk know they're names are completely dissociative, so they have to spell out exactly what each one does."

Skype, Flash, Adium, Daemon Tools. *Most* desktop apps have random names that don't mean anything, the only difference is that Ubuntu added labels to the names other people gave their apps to make it clearer.

CYMK

[Abreu]

A question, is there CYMK color separation support already?

Sorry if this was implemented already, I havent checked on the Gimp in a while.

Re:I just love Gimp

[Glytch]

I just love Gimp. But why does Gimp have to separate the windows like that? Can't it have everything as a multi-document all under one window?

Because MDI interfaces are an obscenity before god, and implementing one should be a corporal offense. Let window management be handled by the window manager.

Re:I just love Gimp

[TheBig1]

Can't it have everything as a multi-document all under one window?

Please, no! Multiple windows are great for multiple monitors and / or multiple documents being edited at once. I can't stand programs which force you into one window. If you want, you can combine all the tool docks into one, and thus have just a document window and a tool window, but please don't force us to do so!

Cheers

Re:It really didn't have this?

[Medievalist]

Does he advertise projects he works on in his spare time as being comparable to Photoshop?

I've never seen any "advertisements" for the Gimp anywhere. I guess I haven't been paying attention.

That being said, the Gimp is comparable to Photoshop. You can compare anything to anything if you want, obviously. I myself enjoy comparing apples and oranges in my copious free time.

More importantly the Gimp is a free alternative to Photoshop, with different strengths and weaknesses. Both products seem to have a hellish learning curve, so you would be foolish to abandon Photoshop if you are already invested in it, and I suspect it'd be equally foolish to start an investment in Photoshop today when there is a free alternative available.

Re:It really didn't have this?

[PitaBred]

For what 99% of people do with graphics, The GIMP DOES compete with Photoshop.

Or is Linux not a competitor to Windows because it doesn't do everything Windows does (even though it does many things better)?