STICKY:  The Gimp - free alternative to Photoshop

cosworth wrote in post #5049513
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?

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) 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

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!

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

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 .

I definitely will look into using this program.

Just downloaded it, giving it a try.

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.

mzondeki wrote in post #6516413
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

Thought I added this link here. It's from Deviantart and it contains some GIMP actions (and brushes too - on the left).
http://browse.devianta​rt.com …ions/?alltime=y​es&order=9

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

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

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.

joebob25 wrote in post #6729252
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

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