# Gimp, love or hate?



## KirbyCowFox (Apr 20, 2009)

Like many, I don't own photoshop and can't scrounge up the money for it.  I hear all the time that Gimp is just as good and, if not, better than PS in many ways.  I've downloaded it and tried it a while ago and have only a few complaints; it's glitchy as all hell, takes up a bunch of windows, forgets that my tablet also has a pencil on occasion and freezes many times.  Maybe it's my computer at fault for being so sucky, maybe it's the fact that I got the latest version and it's supposed to have bugs, whatever.  Gimp has some really good tools and handles pretty well, but with the problems mentioned above I can't find myself to get it again until I hear that the bugs have been dealt with.

But what's your opinion?  Do you love Gimp?  Hate it?  Why?


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## Arshes Nei (Apr 20, 2009)

When I tried it with windows, I wasn't happy with it. I found other alternatives like Manga Studio (40 bucks for the basic version aka Debut) Easy Paint Tool Sai (50 bucks) Pretty good. Now if you're working on stuff digitally and not for print you can find a lot of cheap and free alternatives out there. Art Rage, Artweaver, Open Canvas 1.1

Gimp has CMYK support (which is the mode needed for printing) but using it for painting, I didn't have much success. Though there is a "gimp for painters" but it's in Japanese. 

http://sourceforge.jp/projects/gimp-painter/releases/
http://kalaalog.com/2008/11/02/gimp-2-6-features-for-digital-painters/

It was very glitchy with my intuos so I dropped it like a bad habit.

Paint Net is for photo editing and you also need to get a plugin for CMYK mode like Gimp
http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4408&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Or you can convert it to a file format Scribus can read: http://www.scribus.net/

Of course again, CMYK is only for printing and the only reason you may want other programs, otherwise, there's Artrage (25 for the full version) and other freeware out there.


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## WarMocK (Apr 20, 2009)

I use GIMP with both windows and Linux and definitely wouldn't want to miss it. 
What version of GIMP do you use? 2.3.x or 2.4.x? The 2.3 is the unstable development version, while the 2.4 (now 2.6) is the stable release. As for the freezing: yep, that happens sometimes, at least with 2.4 (haven't tested it on 2.6 yet). I just googled for it, and I found a thread telling that this is not a GIMP issue but a problem with GTK:

*WARNING:* I cannot guarantee for what's behind the following link. Use at your own risk!

http://objectmix.com/graphics/389859-gimp-wacom-tablet.html

There's a workaround mentioned in the thread, but the link is dead. I'm going to look for it somewhere else.


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## Derricklesters2009 (Apr 20, 2009)

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

I think it is a wonderful program that is extremely easy compared to Photoshop and it is alot more bang for the buck... wait... it's free... EVERYTHING IS BETTER WHEN IT'S FREE!!!!


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## Ak-Nolij (Apr 25, 2009)

Love, simply because I'm satisfied with the results I can achieve with it. All I really do right now is scan my sketches and ink them, then get around to coloring afterward, etc.. I'm no way saying it's better than Photoshop in many aspects, because there are features I wish Gimp had that PS also sported.(ie: Blending Options) Then again, it's a two-way street(ISF Fractal and Flames render capabilities) seeing as there's a bunch of stuff Gimp has that I wished PS had.(...and the Ink tool)

It all comes down to what expectations you want your end results to meet with it. But I know from experience that functionality can really effect your work ethic because at this moment, I really can't vouch for Gimp's significance every time the GEGL crashes on my entire project. =__=

I wanna blame Vista..... but I'm not tech-savvy enough to validate so. That's just me, but it's up to you whether you wanna put up with it or put up the cash for the industry standard.

-Nolij


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## Stratelier (Apr 25, 2009)

WarMocK said:


> What version of GIMP do you use? 2.3.x or 2.4.x? The 2.3 is the unstable development version, while the 2.4 (now 2.6) is the stable release.


GIMP follows a versioning scheme where the 'odd' versions (2.1, 2.3, 2.5, etc.) are primarily for the developers and the 'even' versions (2.2, 2.4, 2.6) are the 'stable' versions intended for normal use.

Me, I must admit to being a bit biased towards GIMP, no Photoshop and I definitely needed something to get those kinds of functions done.  If you were already raised on Photoshop then GIMP's quirks will take a _lot_ of getting used to.

Me, on the other hand, I tried installing Photoshop Elements 4 at one point (it was bundled with my tablet) and -- EGAD! -- I couldn't stand it.  (My computer suffers from a slight bottleneck in the graphics department, but that's another story)

For the tweakers, GIMP also includes two scripting languages for writing your own add-ons (at your own risk, of course  GIMP's script engine isn't all that user-friendly).  I've scripted a few tools myself over the years, one to invert colors using the YCC colorspace, and another that adds in a few tools for converting between 'colomaps' (indexed colors) and GIMP palette files.


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## Aden (Apr 25, 2009)

KirbyCowFox said:


> Like many, I don't own *photoshop* and can't scrounge up the *money* for it.



Bahahahahaa

I mean... that is the right thing to do. *nods*


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## DrZed (Apr 25, 2009)

Gimp makes a good addition to photoshop, in my experience.


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## ArielMT (Apr 25, 2009)

The GIMP has a bit of a learning curve, and it's not as well laid out as it could be, but the price is hard to beat.

As far as stability goes, I can't remember it ever crashing or glitching on me once in the last five years.  My experience with it is limited, though; I've never actually used the GIMP in Windows, only in Linux.


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## Persona363 (Apr 25, 2009)

Well I used to use The GIMP, then I switched to Photoshop, then to Paint.NET. And I can safely say despite some wonky selection controls, Paint.NET has been my bestest buddy to far in terms of spriting. Well, that and GraphicsGale (But that's mainly for spriters only).

So, I'll have to say Hate, cause The GIMP often gave me more headaches than it was worth using.


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## ClosetMonster (Apr 25, 2009)

Gimp's a bit hard on the resources for my computer, slowing down my pen response with my Intuos tablet.  So, I use another program for sketching and inking, but then Gimp for when I color.  For the price, I can't complain.


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## Stratelier (Apr 26, 2009)

ClosetMonster said:


> Gimp's a bit hard on the resources for my computer, slowing down my pen response with my Intuos tablet.


That's not your fault, lagging Windows tablet support has been a known problem with GIMP since basically forever because they use the GTK interface to read from the tablet.  Last I heard GTK (basically) requests a Really High sampling rate from your tablet, and this is not a user-adjustable setting.

GIMP's overall SysRq are still much lower than Photoshop's.  I could run GIMP 2.2 @ 400MHz (sans tablet) with no problems.


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## Kangamutt (Apr 26, 2009)

It's okay. I really haven't found much problems, other than that all the toolboxes are considered separate windows, so you need to activate them to select the tools, and it doesn't support tablet capabilities like pressure and the eraser end. That or I never found the option to activate said capabilities.


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