Posted by Jamie Botdorf on September 12, 2006 at 5:14 PM
A friend of mine recently introduced me to a free-ware image manipulation program called The GIMP (www.gimp.org). Has anyone here used it? What do you think? It looks like it has quite a few nice features but I don't know how it rates with other programs (obviously nothing touches PhotoShop...) Not sure it supports RAW files...
Just curious what others think. Thanks!
Posted by Les Barstow on September 12, 2006 at 6:21 PM
The GIMP is great, but not quite up to using for photos yet - mostly on account of its lack of support for ICC color profiles and 16-bit images. It does support RAW files through the plug-in (also standalone) UFRaw. UFRaw supports 16-bit and color spaces, so you can do your level adjustments, etc. in UFRaw before loading in The GIMP (this is an acceptable printing workflow if you're printing to an online service like Snapfish, Winkflash, or other sRGB printing service...).
I use it for some touch-ups, and every file on my website has been touched by The GIMP because it does a good job at JPEG compression. The development version also has an innovative selection tool that allows you to 'paint' over a representative portion of your selection; the tool then selects an appropriate area... I like it better than Capture NX's U-Point method. The GIMP also has better edge-detection than PS (useful if you're using an Unsharp Mask only on edges...), and the development version has some interesting "Intelligent" tools that work somewhat like Smart Sharpen in PS CS2 - like an "adaptive/recursive" gaussian blur that doesn't blur edges, only relatively even gradient areas.
Overall, it's not bad at all, though the interface is a stretch for PS users. If you want to try the latest and greatest, make sure you get the development edition (2.3.x); a Windows installer is available at gimp-win.sourceforge.net (project download page pointed to by URL...)
Posted by Les Barstow on September 12, 2006 at 6:27 PM
PS - The GIMP is a great tool for creating Web buttons, logos, etc. Many "standard" effects are already scripted for logo creation. I believe the online site cooltext.com uses GIMP in batch mode to drive its online logo creator, if you want to see some of the logo styles GIMP is set up to create out of the box...
Posted by John De Bord on September 13, 2006 at 8:15 AM
Discussion
3 repliesJust curious what others think. Thanks!
I use it for some touch-ups, and every file on my website has been touched by The GIMP because it does a good job at JPEG compression. The development version also has an innovative selection tool that allows you to 'paint' over a representative portion of your selection; the tool then selects an appropriate area... I like it better than Capture NX's U-Point method. The GIMP also has better edge-detection than PS (useful if you're using an Unsharp Mask only on edges...), and the development version has some interesting "Intelligent" tools that work somewhat like Smart Sharpen in PS CS2 - like an "adaptive/recursive" gaussian blur that doesn't blur edges, only relatively even gradient areas.
Overall, it's not bad at all, though the interface is a stretch for PS users. If you want to try the latest and greatest, make sure you get the development edition (2.3.x); a Windows installer is available at gimp-win.sourceforge.net (project download page pointed to by URL...)