The Gimp - free alternative to Photoshop [Archive] - Canon Digital Photography Forums

cosworth

4th of March 2008 (Tue), 20:08

GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program

GIMP - Frequently Asked Questions (http://wiki.gimp.org/gimp/UserFaq)

What is it and where can I get it?

GIMP is akin to a free version of Photoshop. Although not published by Adobe, it is an open source image editing suite that has some very powerful features.

It is a raster editor, which means that it performs operations directly on the pixels that make up the image, and not a vector editor. Other (proprietary) raster editors include Adobe Photoshop, Jasc Paintshop Pro and the humble Microsoft Paint. Users wanting to edit photographs will certainly want a raster editor like GIMP. Graphic designers and illustrators may prefer a vector editor depending on their tastes.

What about a Windows version?

See http://www.gimp.org/windows/ (http://www.gimp.org/windows/)

What about a Mac version?

http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/

Where do I get it?

Most (if not all) Linux distributions will support GIMP through their package management systems and may even come with GIMP preinstalled. You can follow these links to linux and UNIX (http://www.gimp.org/unix), Microsoft Windows (http://www.gimp.org/windows/)and Apple Mac OS (http://gimp.org/macintosh)for the latest binaries. Of course, this is free software (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html)so the source code (http://www.gimp.org/source/)is available to, along with instruction on how to compile it. Don't fret. If you are just looking for a Windows or Mac "installer", the links above have those. No Linux command line roadblocks for the casual user will be enountered.

Is there a user manual?

Yes. It is available at http://docs.gimp.org/ in HTML form, and at http://docs.gimp.org/download.html (http://docs.gimp.org/download.html)in PDF.

What does The Gimp look like?

Click here for the screenshots (http://www.gimp.org/screenshots/)

Are there tutorials? Why yes!

Click here for The Gimp tutorials. (http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/)

More: http://goingmanual.com/photo/

50 Tutorials To Get You Started With Gimp (http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2009/02/09/50-tutorials-to-get-you-started-with-gimp/)

Are there any POTN threads on the GIMP? Yes!

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=456007&highlight=gimp

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=457787&highlight=gimp

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=453000&highlight=gimp

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=451454&highlight=gimp

Thread discussion processing options:

Photoshop 7 vs Gimp

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=82735

Gimpshop 2.2.11

The entire 85 MB install

http://www.plasticbugs.com/blogimg/Gimpshop-OSX-2.2.11.dmg

It's a version of the Gimp called "Gimpshop" which mimics many of the keystrokes, menus, and tool names that Photoshop users are used to. It also makes it easier to follow Photoshop tutorials in the Gimp.

Currently, The Gimp only works in 8-bit not 16-bit.

Wikipedia's entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP

The GIMP (opinions)
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=122241

dpastern

4th of March 2008 (Tue), 21:02

Good stuff Jason, why not also mention KDE's Krita:

http://www.koffice.org/krita/

this is partly build on GIMP code I believe and is, like with gimpshop, a valid alternative.

Dave

E-K

6th of March 2008 (Thu), 08:05

To open RAW files in the GIMP you can use UFRAW (based on dcRAW). It is also free and can be found at http://ufraw.sourceforge.net.

e-k

Samanax

6th of March 2008 (Thu), 11:44

I didn't see it mentioned above so I'll mention the Grokking The GIMP tutorial (http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/) in this post.

:) Samanax

bits

8th of March 2008 (Sat), 18:36

Awesome thread! Free and useful... and did I mention free.

Coming over to the dark side from medium format film and I'd rather put my meager resources on one key piece of gLass and do as little PP as possible. It's old school, but hey, there's room for all flavours in here.

Tks.

sakurablossoms75

8th of March 2008 (Sat), 22:10

SlowBlink

8th of March 2008 (Sat), 22:20

This thread isn't comparing Gimp to Photoshop. It's a free alternative to P.S.

Jpatten

8th of March 2008 (Sat), 22:27

I like GIMP, haven't played with photoshop in a LONG time, and that was version 4.0 and before I really did any actual photography stuff. Gimp seems to have the ability to do a fair amount of processing and it falls easily into my price range

davidcrebelxt

16th of March 2008 (Sun), 14:44

With all respect, but IMHO comparing GIMP to Adobe Photoshop is like comparing VW to Porsche. GIMP has no chance!

VW makes some very nice, affordable cars to get you and your family from place to place reliably. Porsche makes very very nice cars that often aren't practical for families, maintenance is expensive, and initial cost is prohibitive. So yes, in some ways your analogy makes perfect sense.

Again, I would never suggest someone who already owns a legal copy of CS2 or CS3 to switch. But it is an affordable, powerful, and legal alternative to buying photoshop, which can give the results that many desire.

igotmilk

12th of April 2008 (Sat), 10:04

cosworth

14th of April 2008 (Mon), 12:56

"The GIMP team announced today the first release from the 2.5 development series. It is true that this version is unstable, but a little bird told me to give it a try and see what's it capable of. First of all, let me tell you that its interface is quite redesigned and I think that some users will have problems adjusting with it, but that's just my two cents. On the other hand, version 2.5.0 of The GIMP includes some hot new features, like the integration of GEGL (Generic Graphics Library) which will finally get support for higher color depths, more colorspaces and eventually non-destructive editing."

Promising news for you open sorcerers ;)

Mark1

14th of April 2008 (Mon), 13:12

With all respect, but IMHO comparing GIMP to Adobe Photoshop is like comparing VW to Porsche. GIMP has no chance!

Actually the Porsche Cheyenne IS a VW.

It is true That GIMP will never be a true match for Photoshop. But it is about 3/4 of a photoshop or a bit more. And for what a photographer needs it is fine. I started useing it when I was selling stuff in SecondLife. I got to be pretty good with it. So when I decided to make a come back in photo, GIMP was what I used.

I think most people poo-poo it because its free. They have to justify the cost somehow. Never mind they never used it. And just repeat what others say. When in fact it is a program well worthy of a healthy try out. It may be all that 3/4th of us ever really need.

superdiver

16th of April 2008 (Wed), 21:25

does it have the layers capability of PS or S3?

troypiggo

16th of April 2008 (Wed), 21:27

Absolutely! Layers, layer masks etc.

It doesn't have adjustment layers, but AFAIK it has all other layer capabilities. Many of the adjustment layer uses I've seen can be obtained using GIMP anyway.

Nick Pro

16th of April 2008 (Wed), 21:33

With all respect, but IMHO comparing GIMP to Adobe Photoshop is like comparing VW to Porsche. GIMP has no chance!

Sorry to quote this, but....

If you take a close look at many of the parts on a VW or audi, you sill see it says Porsche-VW-audi on it. My dad used to own a A4 avant and everything in the engine bay said porsche-vw-audi.

superdiver

16th of April 2008 (Wed), 22:55

Does it do levels too? and curves? How does it compare to Acorn?

troypiggo

16th of April 2008 (Wed), 23:11

:) We could be here all day if I were describe everything it can do.

It does levels and curves. In fact you can save commonly used curve shapes and use them as presets. I don't know if you can do this in other software. I use it a bit for common S-curve settings.

I've said it before - there is very little you can do in PS that you can't do in GIMP. Esp for photo-editing.

Sorry, no idea what Acorn is.

Mark1

17th of April 2008 (Thu), 00:13

GIMP is worth the download to try. You have to install the GTK runtime first though. GIMP is a very capable program. I think it is the best freeware deal period. I dont know of another program in any catagory that competes with such a powerhouse as Photoshop. And it does quite well. I doubt it will ever top Photoshop. But it will do just fine. Unless you are a Photoshop Wizard, GIMP is more than 90% of us need.

nadtz

25th of April 2008 (Fri), 15:18

Ah, looks like they've finally gotten around to addressing some of the more major lacks in gimp, I might have to check it out again.

charger912

25th of April 2008 (Fri), 17:18

Okay, ya'll got me interested! Right now I'm using the PhotoStudio 5.5 that I got with my Rebel XT last year. For those in the know, how would you say the two compare?

Mark1

25th of April 2008 (Fri), 19:59

Never used PhotoStudio.

troypiggo

26th of April 2008 (Sat), 21:33

Ah, looks like they've finally gotten around to addressing some of the more major lacks in gimp, I might have to check it out again.

Looks like in the next version coming out they're addressing more colourspaces, higher colour depths and eventually non-destructive editing.

And they're integrating the tools menu with the image window. Don't see much benefit in that personally, but I know many PS users complain if it's not like what they expect all software to be :)

Liesl

30th of April 2008 (Wed), 09:45

WOW! Thanks for the tip. Gimp will work great until I can save up for the big guns. Much appreciated! :)

Moin

7th of May 2008 (Wed), 13:31

Thank you for sharing :) - It looks nice (downloading).

dpastern

8th of May 2008 (Thu), 02:57

Looks like in the next version coming out they're addressing more colourspaces, higher colour depths and eventually non-destructive editing.

And they're integrating the tools menu with the image window. Don't see much benefit in that personally, but I know many PS users complain if it's not like what they expect all software to be :)

They've been saying that for years Troy ;-) If only they'd get rid of the very *ugly* GTK and use QT...GIMP is just plain ugly to look at (not to mention a host of other issues that I see such as horrible UI).

It's good, but a Photoshop killer it ain't.

Dave

troypiggo

8th of May 2008 (Thu), 05:35

Development seems to be progressing quite quickly at the moment.

I know we'll never see eye to eye on it. You're entitled to your opinion of course, even if it is wrong :D

dpastern

8th of May 2008 (Thu), 20:21

Ah well, I've been using open source since Redhat 5.2 back in 97, with Debian as my ONLY desktop from 2001 to 2006. I used to use Gnome up to version 1.2, when it become very unstable. I never did like the look or UI, even back then. Ugly as imho. I didn't know about KDE back then, since I was using Redhat 7.?, which only really supported the Gnome desktop environment. When I moved to Suse for a very short time (and I mean short, their support is horrendous and I'll *never* use or recommend their products again - I have a very long memory) I used KDE, but mainly took it up when I moved to Debian.

My experiences with GIMP are that development has been slow and haphazard, but it is getting slowly and surely better. It's not a bad piece of software by any means, I just simply don't like it for my own aesthetic and UI reasons.

Dave

donaldjl

9th of May 2008 (Fri), 22:29

I use Gimpshop over Gimp because the menus are made to navigate similar to PS. The only issue I have is that I cannot use GS it on my dual monitor setup because the menu bars get shifted to far up that you can't drag it down.

Like Chris, I've used Gimpshop more often than Gimp over the last couple of years. For someone coming from PS7 or Elements 4, the menu layout and function names are more familiar.

I'd love to see the Gimpshop UI ported to the newer developments of Gimp. For a lot of people, the basic functions and no-cost entry would be a great combination.

troypiggo

9th of May 2008 (Fri), 22:43

Gimp 2.5 release notes (http://gimp.org/release-notes/gimp-2.5.html) extract:

With the help of the UI team, the Toolbox menu has been merged into the image window. GIMP now always keeps an image window open and the default configuration treats the toolbox and docks as utility windows.

javaprog

22nd of May 2008 (Thu), 16:18

This guy seems to know this subject pretty well:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9706
Note: Krita doesn't run on Windows AFAIK

javaprog

22nd of May 2008 (Thu), 16:22

Gimp 2.5 release notes (http://gimp.org/release-notes/gimp-2.5.html) extract:
Looks like they finaly got he message and started implementing a 16 bit color space.

dpastern

23rd of May 2008 (Fri), 07:25

This guy seems to know this subject pretty well:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9706
Note: Krita doesn't run on Windows AFAIK

I'm pretty sure Krita runs on Windows if you download the alpha versions/builds of KDE4 - I could be wrong, but a *host* of KDE apps run on Windows now. Not necessarily the most stable pieces of software, but remember, it's alpha, has like 3 guys developing it I think from memory, and it's early days.

Dave

dpastern

23rd of May 2008 (Fri), 07:27

I think it is the best freeware deal period.

WRONG. It is NOT freeware. The GIMP is released under the GNU GPL v2 - it is copyrighted just like any other software, but the GPL gives you the right to both use it, and see the src code. Freeware is something completely and utterly different ;)

Sorry, but I really dislike it when GPL'd software gets the freeware comment (nothing personal against you!!!).

Dave

javaprog

23rd of May 2008 (Fri), 09:49

I'm pretty sure Krita runs on Windows if you download the alpha versions/builds of KDE4 - I could be wrong, but a *host* of KDE apps run on Windows now. Not necessarily the most stable pieces of software, but remember, it's alpha, has like 3 guys developing it I think from memory, and it's early days.

Dave

Good catch, I had no idea this was going on.
http://windows.kde.org/news.php

troypiggo

3rd of June 2008 (Tue), 00:05

Not sure if everyone is aware, but GIMP 2.4.6 has been released (http://gimp.org/downloads/). Mainly bug fixes.

The Windows binary link on the downloads page hasn't been updated from 2.4.5, but they are available directly from the Gimp-Win page (http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html).

This has been a community service announcement. :)

Jemmind

4th of June 2008 (Wed), 20:56

What's the difference between GIMP and GIMPSHOP?

dpastern

4th of June 2008 (Wed), 22:45

What's the difference between GIMP and GIMPSHOP?

Julie - the GIMPSHOP is the GIMP with a re-worked user interface (UI) to match Photoshop, so that people moving from Photoshop to the GIMP feel more at home.

Dave

davidcrebelxt

5th of June 2008 (Thu), 06:45

Is Gimpshop still several versions back of current Gimp? (ie: what features are missing? Color management, etc, still missing?)

dpastern

5th of June 2008 (Thu), 14:08

Probably...

Dave

luigis

11th of June 2008 (Wed), 16:25

nadtz

11th of June 2008 (Wed), 16:34

Meh, the gimp/gimpshop disparity is one of the things I dislike about open sores. To get what Id like to have I want to use gimp, for what is more comfy gimpshop, and I hate GTK, which makes me not want to use it on my winders box at all. *sigh*

troypiggo

11th of June 2008 (Wed), 17:56

Just wanted to say hi, I'm a huge Gimp fan and a user of free software mostly for photography.

I also like to code some scripts for Gimp mostly to automate a list of things you can do with a picture. For example to create a contrast mask or things like that.

Gimp rules!
Luigi

Welcome! Got more information on your scripts? Links? Have you seen or put them on the gimp plugin registy? What are your favourite ones?

I've had a bit of a first go at some scripts myself. Would like to get more into it. Still getting used to the language.

WesDigi

4th of October 2008 (Sat), 13:44

Just a note to let everyone know GIMP 2.6.0 was released 1 October, 2008.

If you haven't tried Gimp why not give it a try. It may save you lots of money leaving you more in your pocket for that next lens or camera upgrade.

Kentiger

6th of October 2008 (Mon), 20:03

For those who are new to PP (and digital cameras for that matter) would you happen to have a link for someone using Microsoft (think we have XP version right now if that matters).
I so need to get with the times.

E-K

6th of October 2008 (Mon), 20:55

Goto http://www.gimp.org, click on Downloads and there is a link to the Windows Installer.

e-k

TomPhotog

11th of October 2008 (Sat), 15:44

Currently, The Gimp only works in 8-bit not 16-bit.
That's a big drop in functionality if you want to process RAW, isn't it? What is that about, anyway?

René Damkot

11th of October 2008 (Sat), 16:20

It's no drop at all if you do all editing in the Raw processor.

It's only a drop in functionality if you need to do big luminance or color edits in the program itself. (So, when simply put, IMO, you didn't do enough in the Raw conversion stage :p) or when you are using a large Gamut color space (like ProPhoto RGB)

You will need 16bpc in the latter case, and you might in the former, for instance when you need to do a lot of local adjustments. I mostly prefer to use two conversions of one CR2 then however, and still use 8bpc.

It might become more important when a lot of printers support more then 8bpc ;)

DigitaLink

15th of October 2008 (Wed), 00:17

I've been using GIMP exclusively for a few years now. The link earlier to "Grokking The GIMP" is fabulous. Having never used Photoshop previously, I find it VERY hard to get started with, as it does everything differently than GIMP. Perspective ... it's all about perspective!

As for "ugly interface", who cares? It's your IMAGE you should be focused on, now the window decorations.

Krita is showing a lot of promise, but last I tried it was still a bit too unstable and resource hungry. Can't wait to get my hands on 2.0 final when it eventually arrives though!

I'm finding that LightZone for raw conversion and GIMP for tweaks is a winning combination on Linux. Worst case, PS CS2 DOES run quite well under the latest versions of Wine.

Viva la GIMP!

powerslave

15th of October 2008 (Wed), 11:03

I've been fiddling with GIMP for 7 years straight now. I never felt the need for photoshop. It has everything! If it doesn't have your favorite feature, just code it ;)

mzondeki

18th of October 2008 (Sat), 02:30

Any user of "ImageMagick" ?
This is an excellent utility that can do stuffs fast, in command line and batch mode.
This is my default utility for resizing, adding borders, matte .

snowboardgeek1

24th of October 2008 (Fri), 03:42

I definitely will look into using this program.

xMClass

26th of October 2008 (Sun), 22:22

Just downloaded it, giving it a try.

Seaboarder

29th of October 2008 (Wed), 03:42

Used Gimp for years some time ago but am very happy with PSCS3.
The Gimp is very hands-on and I haven't the brains or time for that.
If you can master the Gimp PS is a walk through.

Gimpy00Wang

30th of October 2008 (Thu), 18:49

Any user of "ImageMagick" ?
This is an excellent utility that can do stuffs fast, in command line and batch mode.
This is my default utility for resizing, adding borders, matte .

ImageMagick is good stuff.

- Chris

creme.brulee

1st of November 2008 (Sat), 16:54

Thought I added this link here. It's from Deviantart and it contains some GIMP actions (and brushes too - on the left).
http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/applications/gimpactions/?alltime=yes&order=9

DAKALLDAY

2nd of November 2008 (Sun), 01:40

arrrrggg. cant download it on my macbook. i dont run on leapard. :(

Gimpy00Wang

2nd of November 2008 (Sun), 07:02

Gimp 2.6.1 runs great on my Macbook running OSX 10.5.5. Did you download the correct version for your machine? You probably want:

Gimp-2.6.1-Leopard-Intel.dmg

- Chris

joebob25

20th of November 2008 (Thu), 21:38

cedm

20th of November 2008 (Thu), 21:53

A bit off topic, but does anyone know of a GIMP type Dreamweaver or other free webpage design program? Im looking for somthing more powerful than the tools that Google offers with their domain registrations.

Off the top of my head:

Kompozer (a fork of Mozilla HTML editor)
Seamonkey HTML editor (from Mozilla)
Amaya (from the W3C)

If you run on a Linux/BSD/Unix, there's also:

Bluefish
Quanta Plus

Or just a good old text editor :)

Gilestheblank

26th of November 2008 (Wed), 21:24

GIMP is the worst, it crashes all the time....

troypiggo

27th of November 2008 (Thu), 06:23

GIMP is the worst, it crashes all the time....

Nice flame attempt. It doesn't. What version are you supposedly using and on what OS?

Jpatten

27th of November 2008 (Thu), 08:23

Hmm I have had a total of 3 crashes of GIMP since I started using it, maybe a couple more, but I traced those to a bad USB dfriver conflict on my External HDD. Maybe try a Re-install... Or something besides Windows ME ;)

davidcrebelxt

27th of November 2008 (Thu), 22:04

GIMP is the worst, it crashes all the time....

I don't discount that some people have problems... I mean look at professional programs even (like Photoshop or Lightroom...) for some it works without a hitch, and for others its nothing but problems. And these are applications development budgets. Sometimes crashes can be traced to other underlying software/hardware problems that don't appear to manifest themselves anywher else except that one application. If you seem to be a lone-wolf having that type of problem when others don't, its a clue there is something else going on.

Programs like Gimp are updated regularly. One version I used about a year ago crashed every other time I used it, but reverting to previous version (or waiting for next release) solved that. That's another nice thing about open-source applications like this, they get updated pretty often... and if you know how to submit bug reports they can actually get addressed.

troypiggo

30th of November 2008 (Sun), 01:03

Recently completely re-installed Gimp version 2.6.3 (Windows). Thought I'd post here the scripts and plugins that I find invaluable and are the first things I installed before I even ran Gimp.

- Smart sharpen (redux) script (http://registry.gimp.org/node/108) with the refocus plugin (http://refocus.sourceforge.net/). The refocus plugin Windows version is a little harder to track down since the link from the smart sharpen script page is for source files only. I use smart sharpen as the last step after I've resized and just before I save for web.
Download smart sharpen (redux) here (http://registry.gimp.org/node/108)
Download refocus plugin for windows here (http://photocomix-resources.deviantart.com/art/Refocus-plugin-windows-OS-81588756) - click the "download" button top left.

- GreyCStoration plugin (http://cimg.sourceforge.net/greycstoration/) for noise removal. Note that when you go to the download page, it says for Windows users to install the Imagemagick libraries as well. Ignore that if you are only using it as a Gimp plugin. The libraries are only necessary if you're using it as a standalone program.

- Liquid rescale plugin (http://liquidrescale.wikidot.com/). This is a seriously cool piece of software. Check out the demo video (http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/watch/ci6DbhEI).

- Resynthesizer (http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/resynthesizer)- another cool piece of software. I've only had a bit of a play with it. Had a little trouble getting the synthesized texture scale to match where I wanted it to go. Will have to play more, but lots of potential.

- UFRAW (http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/)- RAW conversion.

That's all I can think of for now. I might add some more as I think of them.

Mathias927

2nd of December 2008 (Tue), 21:30

I downloaded a plugin from deviant art. I assume I am just supposed to put the file somewhere in the gimp folder? Where do I put it?

troypiggo

2nd of December 2008 (Tue), 22:12

For Windows, plugins go in c:\prog files\gimp\lib\gimp\2.0\plugins

marian

6th of December 2008 (Sat), 20:11

With Windows crashing all the time, I decided to go out and buy some removabale hard drive trays for my system. Now, after a lot of reinstalls, I have 2 drives for Linux (pop them in and out) and they have GIMP on them. I have been so pleased!

No more virus problems, no more pop ups on the net, no more slow system, etc.

I let my wife use the Windows drive and then I just replace the Windows drive when I want to use Gimp. As mentioned, it's a Photoshop Clone and you don't pay a penny for it. It's not a download for a Windows system. It's for Linux only.

troypiggo

6th of December 2008 (Sat), 20:33

I'm confused by some statements in your post, marian. I use both linux and windows, and am not biased one way or another. But...

1. With good management and software, you can avoid viruses, popups etc in windows.
2. Gimp is not a photoshop clone. It's completely different. Just has some similar features, but so do many other image editing programs that are also not photoshop clones.
3. It is not for linux only. There are windows and mac downloads readily available.

Amamba

6th of December 2008 (Sat), 22:41

Let's not get into Linux vs Windows debate shall we. To each their own.

Gimp is not PS and is not even close but it was never supposed to be and it's almost as good for an average home user. If I had to use it I'd sorely miss the highlights and shadows with preview (there's a couple of plugins that do that - sort of - but there's no preview and it's slow). Also selection tools aren't as good, and the interface is of a kind only Gimps mother could love. But for a free app it's amazing.

dcavldy2

7th of December 2008 (Sun), 16:19

I don't have photoshop but hope to one day and my question is I know that photoshop is hard to learn, would it be wise to learn on gimp before I buy photoshop, would that help me out, or would it just confuse me even more. I just thought if it is free it would be a good place for me to learn it and than invest in the photoshop.

Jpatten

7th of December 2008 (Sun), 19:44

i would say that depends on how savvy you are. The controls are all in different places on the two programs i believe, but it should let you play with the steps in Post processing and what works and what doesn't so when you get to photoshop you have an idea of what needs to be done.

davidcrebelxt

7th of December 2008 (Sun), 20:35

Go4EVA!

7th of December 2008 (Sun), 20:44

davidcrebelxt

7th of December 2008 (Sun), 21:14

Aperture I think is more suited to the RAW editing side of things I believe. Also it applies nondestructive edits (edits are just instructions used for aperture to display the edits. New files taking up disk space aren't created until you tell it to do so.

If you shoot raw and plan on using Gimp you're going to still need something for your Raw processing (canons DPP is a good choice.)

troypiggo

7th of December 2008 (Sun), 21:59

Or UFRAW or Rawtherapee :)

Go4EVA!

8th of December 2008 (Mon), 18:37

E-K

8th of December 2008 (Mon), 19:59

OK, I know this is a dumb question, and I should probably take a class, buy a book, or watch an on-line tutorial, but are you saying that I need to use DPP (or something) to convert my RAW files to .jpg and then import them over to GIMP for further enhancement?

For years, I was a jpg shooter, but lately I'm shooting RAW+jpg to hedge my bets....

It's just like PhotoShop in that sense. You can use an external program (like DPP) to convert and then use the output in GIMP OR you can use a Plug-in (like UFRaw) where you can open RAW files from within GIMP. Either way, you are still converting from RAW before you edit it further in GIMP.

e-k

René Damkot

9th of December 2008 (Tue), 12:22

Nicely put jpatten. I for one have no problem switching between gimp an ps. But I've been around computers nearly my entire life so adapting to user interface changes doesn't even phase me. Others seem to think gimps lack of UI eyecandy is an insurmountable obstacle... So it really is dependant on the user.

Just curious: What about keyboard shortcuts?

I hardly know where some things are in the menu, since I always use a shortcut, so I'm likely to get very frustrated very quickly if a shortcut is changed...

(Never used the Gimp, always PS.)

davidcrebelxt

9th of December 2008 (Tue), 12:37

Just curious: What about keyboard shortcuts?

I hardly know where some things are in the menu, since I always use a shortcut, so I'm likely to get very frustrated very quickly if a shortcut is changed...

(Never used the Gimp, always PS.)

Well, for one... although I had used Photoshop, I had never done so extensively before using Gimp... so I didn't really have shortcuts drilled into my head. (secondly, for people who already have PS CSx... why are you using Gimp anyway... If you've already got a legal copy of CSx, use it. I'm not deluded into thinking Gimp is BETTER than PSCS, just it is a MUCH more affordable alternative, and surprisingly powerful even compared to some other editors people might pay for.)

Finally, from the preferences menu you can remap shortcuts if desired.

troypiggo

9th of December 2008 (Tue), 12:41

René Damkot

10th of December 2008 (Wed), 13:02

Well, for one... although I had used Photoshop, I had never done so extensively before using Gimp... so I didn't really have shortcuts drilled into my head. (secondly, for people who already have PS CSx... why are you using Gimp anyway... If you've already got a legal copy of CSx, use it. I'm not deluded into thinking Gimp is BETTER than PSCS, just it is a MUCH more affordable alternative, and surprisingly powerful even compared to some other editors people might pay for.)

Finally, from the preferences menu you can remap shortcuts if desired.

Hahaha, agree; I'm not likely to be using Gimp anytime soon... But a friend of mine is looking into cheap or free editing software. And I'm thinking that it could be useful to set up gimp to use the same keyboard shortcuts as Photoshop (Elements) for example. Makes transition easier at a later time...

Nice to hear it's possible.

DunnoWhen

10th of December 2008 (Wed), 14:13

I am in a similar situation. Currently don't own Photoshop, and would like to get started with *something* soon. I'm torn between Photoshop and Aperture -- but wondering if GIMP would be a good place to start before investing in the more costly packages. Can anyone comment on how Aperture compares with GIMP?

OK, I know this is a dumb question, and I should probably take a class, buy a book, or watch an on-line tutorial, but are you saying that I need to use DPP (or something) to convert my RAW files to .jpg and then import them over to GIMP for further enhancement?

For years, I was a jpg shooter, but lately I'm shooting RAW+jpg to hedge my bets....

Aperture and Lightroom are basic Image Library tools which are capable of doing some GLOBAL edits eg Exposure/Levels Adjustments.

Gimp and Photoshop are geared more towards doing specific LOCALIZED edits eg selections, cloning and healing.

I use Aperture as my library application and to do basic adjustments. I use the Gimp for selective edits.

One is constantly learning new things about Post Processing. The gimp is an excellent application on which to learn the basics.

I've also be playing with PSCS4 this last week. So far, the only thing that I really miss for not being in the Gimp are Actions (although Gimp has it's own scripts one can use). However, my wallet will not stretch to those extremes.

As to the Gimp UI, I don't thinks it's bad at all.

Go4EVA!

10th of December 2008 (Wed), 18:31

Thanks 'DunnoWhen' that helps me a lot!

I'm saving up for a new iMac computer, and was hoping that I could get started with something like GIMP, and upgrade to Photoshop later. Regards!

René Damkot

10th of December 2008 (Wed), 19:00

Aperture and Lightroom are basic Image Library tools which are capable of doing some GLOBAL edits eg Exposure/Levels Adjustments.

Sorry, no.
LR2 (and I think Aperture 2 as well) offer localised adjustments.

The big difference is that Gimp and PS are pixel editors.

Spacemunkie

11th of December 2008 (Thu), 22:46

Wow.

I tried GIMP once around 6-7 years ago and HATED it! I've been using Photoshop since PS2, and it simply did not come close.

I work for a university and was asked about open source image editors, so I downloaded the latest version of GIMP and gave it a go yesterday. What a difference! It's a great piece of software now - a genuine free alternative to Photoshop. I plan to use it a lot more as I think it'll be invaluable to lots of our staff at the price! :D

Familiaphoto

29th of December 2008 (Mon), 09:33

I want to like GIMP. So far the UI is fine. The only thing which gets me is batch processing. I'm not a programmer and it seems far to hard for me to figure out. I've looked at the tutorial but can't seem to get things working.

Gipetto

29th of December 2008 (Mon), 21:04

I'd like it more if I could get the save for web to work. The pre-built plugin for OS X that I found doesn't work and I can't get it to build.

AngryCorgi

3rd of January 2009 (Sat), 21:52

E-K

4th of January 2009 (Sun), 14:15

Not that I need it anymore (just sold my XSi), but has anyone had any success with UFRAW and XSi RAWs? I got magenta-hue monochromic negatives when I tried, but it had no problem with old XT RAWs, 5D RAWs or D700 RAWs.

This might be helpful for anyone using an XSi, should someone here have a solution.

What version of UFRaw are you using? I believe support for the XSi was added in dcRAW 8.84. You would need at least version 0.14 of UFRaw(October 2008 ) which uses dcRAW 8.88.

e-k

PetPirate

5th of January 2009 (Mon), 01:56

I'm a Linux user, and use GIMP to process images. I use F-Spot to manage my image library, and it uses UFRaw as a plugin to work with RAW files. It handles the multiple files from the "RAW + Jpeg" setting quite nicely.

I had problems with UFRaw turning my 450D images pink too. I had to compile the latest UFRaw from the CVS source. It wasn't difficult, I just followed a tutorial I found via a Google search.

I wish GIMP would support adjustment layers. Other than that, I'm quite happy. I like PhotoShop, but I don't want to run it in a virtual machine, or run it under WINE. I much prefer the native (GNOME) interface to spoil it with Windows-style applications.

Amamba

6th of January 2009 (Tue), 23:22

Does anybody know how to export files from DPP into Gimp while maintaining EXIF data ? It seems that Gimp is unable to read EXIF info from a TIFF file so it strips it on save to JPEG.

AngryCorgi

7th of January 2009 (Wed), 14:27

What version of UFRaw are you using? I believe support for the XSi was added in dcRAW 8.84. You would need at least version 0.14 of UFRaw(October 2008 ) which uses dcRAW 8.88.

e-k

Oh, ok. That's helpful. ;)

davidcrebelxt

7th of January 2009 (Wed), 22:04

Does anybody know how to export files from DPP into Gimp while maintaining EXIF data ? It seems that Gimp is unable to read EXIF info from a TIFF file so it strips it on save to JPEG.

Some info on this from development community:
http://lists.xcf.berkeley.edu/lists/gimp-user/2008-September/012869.html

It appears that someone with coding experience needs to update the .tif plugin to handle the exif information correctly.

Amamba

8th of January 2009 (Thu), 10:48

Some info on this from development community:
http://lists.xcf.berkeley.edu/lists/gimp-user/2008-September/012869.html

It appears that someone with coding experience needs to update the .tif plugin to handle the exif information correctly.

Thanks. Do you know of any freeware that allows copying EXIF from CR2 or Tiff to JPEG ?

Amamba

8th of January 2009 (Thu), 10:53

Another question... it seems that if I edit a RAW file in DPP and save it as RAW (ie with edit recepie), only DPP knows that - i.e. if I then try to open same file in UFRaw or Irfanview the edit's not there.

Is it simply not possible, or do I have to do something differently ?

E-K

8th of January 2009 (Thu), 21:40

Thanks. Do you know of any freeware that allows copying EXIF from CR2 or Tiff to JPEG ?

This will allow you to do it: http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

Another question... it seems that if I edit a RAW file in DPP and save it as RAW (ie with edit recepie), only DPP knows that - i.e. if I then try to open same file in UFRaw or Irfanview the edit's not there.

Is it simply not possible, or do I have to do something differently ?

It's not possible. Only DPP understands the meta data that the recipe is stored as.

e-k

zelseman

16th of January 2009 (Fri), 17:58

Bought a very good book on gimp tutorials this week, extremely helpful and thurough.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Artists-Guide-to-GIMP-Effects/Michael-J-Hammel/e/9781593271213/?itm=2

eclipsechaser

18th of January 2009 (Sun), 17:22

Hi

This is a great thread! I'm very new to photography and processing. I have now downloaded Gimp to see if this is the tool I want to take my learning further with. However I was wondering if I could get some pointers. There is a thread here about street sceens which took my interest :

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=630554&highlight=topaz

The chap has taken some great shots and used topaz adjust on them. I have followed the links to the website and would love to apply some effects similar to this.

So my question is : are there any effects/filters/tools etc in gimp which would acheive something similar.

troypiggo

18th of January 2009 (Sun), 19:49

Don't know about Topaz, but there is a Gimp plugin called "pspi" which allows you to use some Photoshop plugins in Gimp.

http://www.gimp.org/~tml/gimp/win32/pspi.html

eclipsechaser

19th of January 2009 (Mon), 15:37

thanks troypiggo

also the site you mention, links to "flaming pear" which have some free plugins which look interesting.

mep42

24th of January 2009 (Sat), 15:55

This thing is AWESOME!

LV Moose

27th of January 2009 (Tue), 22:41

troypiggo

27th of January 2009 (Tue), 22:56

Has anyone else recently lownloaded GIMP version 2.6.4?

I tried following the "smart sharpening" tutorial (written in 2002!) and got quite frustrated. The instructions have apparently not kept up with the newer version's menus and options.

Do yourself a favour and get the refocus plugin (http://registry.gimp.org/node/3864) and the smart sharpen (redux) script (http://registry.gimp.org/node/108) to do it all for you. I'll assume you're using Windows for the refocus plugin link.

LV Moose

27th of January 2009 (Tue), 23:20

Do yourself a favour and get the refocus plugin (http://registry.gimp.org/node/3864) and the smart sharpen (redux) script (http://registry.gimp.org/node/108) to do it all for you. I'll assume you're using Windows for the refocus plugin link.

Downloaded refocus plugin, and can't get it to work. It's from April 2008, and for version 2.4

troypiggo

27th of January 2009 (Tue), 23:24

LV Moose

28th of January 2009 (Wed), 00:04

Works fine here on my Gimp 2.6. Just to be sure:
- you're using Windows?
- where did you put the plugin?
- did you get the smart sharpen script?
- where'd you save it?
- did you close and reopen GIMP?

I don't use the refocus plugin directly. I use the smart sharpen script and tick the "use refocus" check box in the dialog box.

Yes, windows XP
I put the plugin in my programs folder
didn't see smart sharpen script. maybe I'm missing something.
yes, I closed and reopened GIMP.

Thanks for trying to help me out.

troypiggo

28th of January 2009 (Wed), 00:17

Yes, windows XP
I put the plugin in my programs folder
didn't see smart sharpen script. maybe I'm missing something.
yes, I closed and reopened GIMP.

Thanks for trying to help me out.

No worries.

The refocus plugin should go in your plugins folder, something like:
C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.6\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins

The smart sharpen .scm script should go in your scripts folder, something like:
C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.6\share\gimp\2.0\scripts

Not sure what you mean by "you can't see the smart sharpen script". I linked both of them separately in one of my previous posts, they're from separate locations. It should be called something like EG-smart-sharpen.scm.

You access it by going filters->eg->smart sharpen (redux) in GIMP menu.

Hope that helps. Keep asking if you need more info.

LV Moose

28th of January 2009 (Wed), 00:44

No worries.

The refocus plugin should go in your plugins folder, something like:
C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.6\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins

done

The smart sharpen .scm script should go in your scripts folder, something like:
C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.6\share\gimp\2.0\scripts

I see the .scm script, but I have no scripts folder, and I'm unsure about how to download the script itself.

Sorry for being so thick :o

troypiggo

28th of January 2009 (Wed), 00:50

I see the .scm script, but I have no scripts folder, and I'm unsure about how to download the script itself.

What do you mean "you can see the .scm script", but "unsure about how to download the script itself"? Where do you see it? On the website I linked or on your computer?

If you mean on the website, just click the link, or perhaps right click and "save link as" or whatever your browser's equivalent command is. This should allow you to save it to the folder location I mentioned.

Pretty sure that scripts folder should be there. If not, just create it and put the .scm file in there.

LV Moose

29th of January 2009 (Thu), 18:41

troypiggo

29th of January 2009 (Thu), 18:57

Glad you persisted with it :)

Now I can complicate it even more for you :)
For me, I found I was using the same settings all the time in the smart sharpen (redux) script and they weren't the default ones - eg "use refocus" is not ticked by default. So I manually edited the .scm file to suit my defaults.

- Open the Eg-SmartSharpen.scm file with your favourite text editor.
- Edit the line that says:
SF-ADJUSTMENT "USM: Radius" '(2.0 0.0 50.0 1 0 2 0)
changing the "2.0" to whatever you want your default radius to be. I use "0.2".
- Edit the line that says:
SF-ADJUSTMENT "USM: Amount" '(1.0 0.0 5.0 0.5 0 2 0)
changing the "1.0" to whatever you want your default amount to be. I use "0.5".
- Edit the line that says:
SF-TOGGLE "Use refocus plugin" FALSE
changing the "FALSE" to "TRUE".

Hope that helps someone. :)

LV Moose

29th of January 2009 (Thu), 19:04

Well, it'll probably help someone else, but I'm leaving well enough alone! (For now). :lol:

cedm

29th of January 2009 (Thu), 23:56

Hope that helps someone. :)

I'll give it a go when I get back home. Haven't tried the smart sharpen and refocus scripts before, but if it gives better results than unsharp mask, it sounds very promising!

Thanks for the tips!

nuffi

1st of February 2009 (Sun), 01:48

Is there a list of things that GIMP lacks vs Photoshop4 anywhere?

cedm

1st of February 2009 (Sun), 05:09

Is there a list of things that GIMP lacks vs Photoshop4 anywhere?

I don't think the current version of Gimp lacks of anything compared to Photoshop 4. It's rather the opposite.

Photoshop version 4 is really old (mid 90's), or are you talking about CS4?

Nevtiger

1st of February 2009 (Sun), 05:37

Alrighty then!
I finally got "Smart Sharpen" to work!
Using the same Radius, Threshold, and Amount settings in both "Smart" and USM, Smart Sharpen gave my image a more natural look, with much less noise in the background.

Thanks for the help Troy.

By the way, I tried the Wavelet Sharpen (plug-in) also, and it seems to fall somewhere in between the other two as far as quality of the end result.

If it helps anyone i had the same problem of getting the Smart Sharpen to load up etc. I got a tip from Gimptalk - down load the FX-Foundry as it has this and much more as well. On my pc it self loaded once i hit the extract button on Winzip as a bonus!

Troy, thanks for the tips on how you use Smart Sharpen and what settings you use.

Cheers

Nev

bhardwaj.deepak

5th of February 2009 (Thu), 08:28

Hey, I am new to GIMP. I dont want to spend $$ on PhotoShop as of now, so GIMP is a good alternate for me. :)
any idea if I can create signatures in GIMP? How to create and how to use them on pics?

any pointers?

troypiggo

5th of February 2009 (Thu), 14:26

You sure can. In fact, you could probably follow most PS tutorials on this and just use Gimp's equivalent commands, many of which have the same names as PS's.

The basic idea is to open your photo in Gimp, add a new layer, add your signature to that layer, you may want to reduce the opacity of it from 100% to something like 50-80% to make it a little see-through, then save.

Haven't got time at the moment for a more detailed walkthrough, but if you search this forum for "watermark" or "signature" you'll find plenty of information about it. Don't be turned away if they aren't specifically for Gimp. As I said, many/most of the commands talked about for this are translatable from PS to Gimp.

PetPirate

8th of February 2009 (Sun), 09:16

Some info on this from development community:
http://lists.xcf.berkeley.edu/lists/gimp-user/2008-September/012869.html

It appears that someone with coding experience needs to update the .tif plugin to handle the exif information correctly.

It appears that the new UFRaw (v 0.15) can now do this.

J

LV Moose

8th of February 2009 (Sun), 18:49

Glad you persisted with it :)
For me, I found I was using the same settings all the time in the smart sharpen (redux) script and they weren't the default ones - eg "use refocus" is not ticked by default...

Speaking of "use refocus"...

Does anyone have a quick and dirty explanation on how to use this, or what the different "refocus" settings do? If it's been covered already, just show me a link. Thanks.

TomBrooklyn

24th of February 2009 (Tue), 01:04

It's no drop at all [in functionality from 16 bit to 8 bit] if you do all editing in the Raw processor. Hi Rene. What is the RAW processor and what do you mean by editing? (I may be using one and doing that but not understand the terminology.) I now upload RAWs to Canon DPP and then import to Lightroom 1.2. I need a program to do everything Lightroom 1.2 can't do. What I can think of at the moment that would include would be cloning, healing, teeth whitening, smoothing skin, isolating the subject and blurring backgrounds. Does that stuff work just as good in 8bit?

René Damkot

25th of February 2009 (Wed), 11:35

Hi Rene. What is the RAW processor
The Raw processor is the (part of) the application that handles the conversion from Raw (CR2) file to something that photoshop for instance can open. (tif, psd, jpg)
DPP is a raw converter, so is ACR, so is LR.
and what do you mean by editing? (I may be using one and doing that but not understand the terminology.) I now upload RAWs to Canon DPP and then import to Lightroom 1.2.
So, you convert in DPP, then open the resulting tif or jpg in LR?
You could also use LR for the entire workflow. That would be easier.
Then again, LR 1.4 (last version of LR 1, so upgrade ;)) does tend to be problematic with (some) colors in my experience, so DPP would have advantages there.
I need a program to do everything Lightroom 1.2 can't do. What I can think of at the moment that would include would be cloning, healing, teeth whitening, smoothing skin, isolating the subject and blurring backgrounds. Does that stuff work just as good in 8bit?
LR has (very limited) cloning. LR2 offers some(thing that can be used for) skin smoothing / teeth whitening.

For the rest, you'd need a pixel editor, like Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or the Gimp (To name the best know, from expensive to free).

All those things can be doen without problems on an 8bpc file IMO.
16bpc only offers advantages when doing big luminosity / color adjustments in Photoshop, or when using a huge color space (like ProPhotoRGB), to avoid banding.

jrm27

27th of March 2009 (Fri), 09:40

cedm

27th of March 2009 (Fri), 10:33

I'm startign to get pretty darn interested in Gimp. I use Photoshop CS at home and work very regularly. But, I've got a littl enetbook coming to me and think it might be fun to have Gimp installed for minor photo tweaks and such.

As a photoshop user will I have a big learning curve on Gimp? Is it a tough transfer? Also, it seems that Gimp only works in 8bit, If I convert from RAW in DPP to 16bit Tiff, can Gimp still open it? Any pointers? Thanks!

Gimp can open 16bit images without a problem. The only 'catch' is that all operations will be performed in 8 bit and it can only save at a maximum of 8 bit. Full 16 bit support is expected to arrive in one or two releases (6 to 12 months from now).

Most of the tools available in Photoshop also exist in Gimp, but have different names and are to be found in different menus. Gimpshop was a repackaged version of Gimp with menu items layed out to mimic Photoshop, but hasn't been updated in a long time.

KarlosDaJackal

29th of March 2009 (Sun), 07:23

Actually as of today internally gimp can work in 32 bit (16bit is so 2005 :p)

If you open gimp 2.6.x, click the colour menu and the option for "Use GEGL" you will turn on the experimental 32bit support. Under the tools menu you also have an option to use some GEGL tools for things like contrast, the standard tools still work in 8bit most of the time. Some plugins and other bits and pieces will turn GEGL back off, so do your 32bit wizardry first in your workflow.

Most files will be converted to an internal format when they are opened, TIFF's go to 8bit, Raws if opened in UFRaw (great lite fast raw converter) and passed directly to gimp may retain more "bits" but will still be output as 8bit on screen anyway, I imagine GEGL support will be the next thing added to UFRaw.

Colour profiles don't fully work yet, but gimp is aware of them so if you open a tiff/jpg with an embedded ICC profile (like Canon sRGB, or Adobe1988 ) you will see gimp quickly convert the colour profile to sRGB.

UFraw supports the various profiles so it can work in Adobe and output in sRGB, and display with your calibrated monitor profile, so if you really need them you can still use them. It only ships with sRGB. To use another profile you click the folder icon and point it at the ICC profile, the AdobeRGB and all the other profiles you can think of are in one of the folders from Canons DPP, so you can just load the ICC profiles canon gave you a license to use with there software ;)

GIMP is great, and is being developed at a very fast pace. It runs very well on lower spec machines and is very reliable. I don't think you will miss the 16-bits as your netbooks screen can only output 8 bits (in reality probably only 6 bits to keep cost down)

KSG Photography

31st of March 2009 (Tue), 04:55

Downloading this at the moment, well, it's free, so it's got to be worth a try hasn't it?

Familiaphoto

1st of April 2009 (Wed), 20:57

Gimp is always worth a try. Only thing I miss is true 16 and 32 bit support which I only miss when printing. Other than that it is a fantastic program.

troypiggo

1st of April 2009 (Wed), 23:35

Did you read 2 posts up?

kwhunter

5th of April 2009 (Sun), 11:51

troypiggo

5th of April 2009 (Sun), 15:42

Not sure about that tutorial you quoted. I've seen it before but haven't tried to follow it through word for word. Looks something like smart sharpening, and this is a tutorial on that written specifically for Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Smart_Sharpening/

There is also a plugin that does all this for you. See here - http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=7202708#post7202708

kwhunter

5th of April 2009 (Sun), 16:53

Looks similar in many ways, will try ans see.
Thanks.

I tried it, way more complicated than PS and didn't really work for me; think I'll pass on GIMP.

E-K

5th of April 2009 (Sun), 21:01

I asked the question in another thread, so I am posting in the proper place now: have just downloaded gimp and am trying to replicate the process described here:
http://www.the-aperture.com/EdgeMaskSharpen.htm
However, I stopped short of applying the mask as it doesn't work; found some help on gimp.org but not enough to complete the project.
Thanks for any help.

In the Gimp:

1. Add layer mask (Choose Grayscale copy of layer)
2. Show layer mask and edit layer mask.
3. Do the edge detect.
4. Do the levels/gaussian blur/levels; invert image depending on needs (white selected and black not selected).
5. Use "Mask to selection".
6. Turn off view selection.
7. Delete the layer mask.
8. Sharpen (will sharpen the selection).

You can save the selection to a channel if you want.

e-k

RagingBull

7th of April 2009 (Tue), 14:05

RagingBull

7th of April 2009 (Tue), 14:19

to clarify its like a slight blur comes over the entire image

Familiaphoto

7th of April 2009 (Tue), 14:48

Did you read 2 posts up?

I did, did you see all the conditions around its use? That is what I'm trying to avoid. For example, I don't want my TIFFs converted to 8bit.

E-K

7th of April 2009 (Tue), 20:20

Im having a major issue, when my pic is in on my pc...the quality is super sharp but when i upload to a myspace or facebook or any internet based application or website...the quality is lost...Helpppppp please....im d/l gimp now.

thanks

It sounds like the resizing algorithms are messing things up. Resize it to what you require for the given web page and then sharpen as needed.

e-k

Jeremiah Rosson

7th of April 2009 (Tue), 23:30

Does GIMP have an HDR function ?

KarlosDaJackal

8th of April 2009 (Wed), 01:56

Does GIMP have an HDR function ?

yes, via the many plugins available on http://registry.gimp.org/node/18 my favourite is called exposure blend

Familiaphoto

10th of April 2009 (Fri), 23:22

My understanding was that there is no true HDR for GIMP but some simulations or what I have heard people call "Fake" HDR scripts. Even Exposure Blend doesn't call itself HDR but Contrast blending in nature.

troypiggo

12th of April 2009 (Sun), 04:32

There's no native HDR in GIMP. The scripts are exposure blending basically using layer masks.

You might be able to use some of the HDR software that has PS plugin capability in conjunction with the pspi plugin for GIMP that allows use of PS plugins in GIMP.

kenyee

16th of April 2009 (Thu), 10:08

KarlosDaJackal

16th of April 2009 (Thu), 10:26

Anyone know of a "Patch tool" (from photoshop) equivalent in GIMP? I asked on the flickr group but no one knew and the only thing I've been able to dig up is someone asking about it on the developers list for gimp...

Explain what patch tool does and you'll have more luck. As a GIMP user I have no concept of how photoshop works or what certain photoshop plugins do, also you may find a similar result for something that works in a totally different way. So the how part may not be so important.

cedm

16th of April 2009 (Thu), 10:30

Anyone know of a "Patch tool" (from photoshop) equivalent in GIMP? I asked on the flickr group but no one knew and the only thing I've been able to dig up is someone asking about it on the developers list for gimp...

Have you tried Resynthesizer plug-in? This may be what you're looking for (I haven't tried it myself though...)

http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/resynthesizer

kenyee

17th of April 2009 (Fri), 11:00

Explain what patch tool does and you'll have more luck. As a GIMP user I have no concept of how photoshop works

It seems to be a lasso mated with a healing brush on steroids instead of using resynth. It's mostly used to clean up the dark circles under people's eyes.

Here's a youtube vid that describes the different tools in photoshop (GIMP also doesn't seem to have a healing brush...only a spot tool):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAnims63G7w

And here's how severe a skin condition you can use it on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNg1sqsQhoI

E-K

17th of April 2009 (Fri), 12:33

Here's a youtube vid that describes the different tools in photoshop (GIMP also doesn't seem to have a healing brush...only a spot tool):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAnims63G7w

It's the other way around. The GIMP's healing tool is more like Photoshop's healing brush in that you have to select a source unlike with spot healing.

e-k

KarlosDaJackal

17th of April 2009 (Fri), 16:31

GIMP 2.6.x has a clone tool (c) and a healing tool (h), both are beside each other in the menu, healing tool has like a pair of band-aids in the shape of an X. The method is a bit different, rather than have a separate tool for everything, the GIMP has options for the tools that make them more flexible. (if memory serves me correctly even 2.4.x had the heal tool)

So for instance to achieve the same result you would probably select the healing tool (h), select a soft sided brush of the appropriate shape+size, and set the tool to aligned mode, then ctrl+left click the source portion and paint it over the area you want to repair with a click. That is typically how you would do the same thing, you may ctrl+click at a two or three different points to match the souce and destination better, effectively you have more control if you need it. Resynth is an option also but probably not necessary.

Basically all that tool is doing is a copy and paste and then applying an aligned healing along the edges of the pasted area from what I can see, of course it gives a graphical preview of sorts which is a nice feature. But nothing is stopping you doing the same thing. The traditional GIMP healing brush way of doing it works out with about the same amount of clicks and mouse movement overall, so thats how I do it. In fact the C and H keys are most used on any portrait shots I post process, and both tools are set to aligned mode, for under eyes, I typically select 1 source point with a CTRL+Click, and do one stroke across the destination with a click and drag. With really bad eyes 2 or 3 samples with 2 or 3 drags seems to be enough.

The difference between setting alignment to "aligned" or "none" is a pretty huge difference, default is none.

kenyee

17th of April 2009 (Fri), 16:59

Thanks, Karlos. I always thought the GIMP's healing tool was the same as Photoshop's Spot Healing; I never tried dragging the brush as I used it :-P
What does "aligned" do?

E-K

17th of April 2009 (Fri), 20:45

What does "aligned" do?

There's a description of the Heal tool at http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tool-heal.html. The description for the alignment option is in the section 3.10 on cloning (follow the link in description of the heal tool).

Basically with none every time you lift the brush, it will start cloning/healing from the initial source position when you start brushing again.

With aligned, after you set the source position, the first click defines the relative position between the source and where you are cloning/healing. This relative position is maintained even if you lift your brush. If you want to reset the relation then you need to redefine the source location.

e-k

KarlosDaJackal

18th of April 2009 (Sat), 04:51

Thanks, Karlos. I always thought the GIMP's healing tool was the same as Photoshop's Spot Healing; I never tried dragging the brush as I used it :-P
What does "aligned" do?

There's a description of the Heal tool at http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tool-heal.html. The description for the alignment option is in the section 3.10 on cloning (follow the link in description of the heal tool).

Basically with none every time you lift the brush, it will start cloning/healing from the initial source position when you start brushing again.

With aligned, after you set the source position, the first click defines the relative position between the source and where you are cloning/healing. This relative position is maintained even if you lift your brush. If you want to reset the relation then you need to redefine the source location.

e-k

E-K got it, just wanted to add the why you would do aligned part.

Typical example is a portrait, someone has a running line under their eye or a wrinkle or something. With aligned on, you ctrl+click just below the left of the line on some good skin. You click and drag along the line, but the source of good skin moves in the same direction as you are painting/healing. So by the time you get to the right of the line, the sample of good skin is coming from directly below the right of the line. If alignment was none, you'd still be using that sample for the other side of their eye.

Pros are you get a much more natural looking results, especially with subtle changes of light or skin tone or texture. Downside is if something you don't want blocks you path, you need to stop once either side of it or risk painting the bad thing over what your healing.

In my experience aligned is useful for about 90% of the portraits I've PP'd but the other 10% where the model had freckles it was not as useful as I would end up painting partial freckles over any lines. But thats not GIMPs fault :rolleyes: