does anyone here use GIMP?

[El Pollo Guerrera]

By that I mean GNU Image Manipulation Program... It's a free graphics artwork program. I use a similar program at work (Corel) and would like to have one at home but am too cheap to buy. I was just wondering if anyone here has had experience with GIMP and would recommend it to someone who wants to do home projects.

[mjr]

I use it. It can be a little clunky at times if you're familiar with Photoshop. But there are a number of resources online that can show you how to do pretty much anything you might want to do with it. There are some features that Photoshop has that it doesn't, as far as I know (A "drop shadow" effect, for instance. You have to manually do it in GIMP, at least the last time I checked you had to). Other than that, it has many of the same tools you would likely run into with Corel (I've never used Corel, though). And I've never tried, but apparently you can also use scripts with it (as in write small scripts for effects or whatever).

Also, you should look into InkScape if you want to do "Illustrator" type graphics (SVG, etc.). It's free as well.

[EricKei]

I use it as well, but as a rank amateur, for only minor stuff; I like it. It has a learning curve, but if you're used to Photoshop and the like, you should have little trouble adjusting. It's been around for long enough that it's quite robust and has plenty of free tutorials and guides out there made by end users to make it do pretty much anything you'd like it to do. One minor thing of note - If you want it to save a file as something other than its native format (XCF), you want "Export As..." from the File menu, not "Save As..." Note that it cannot read PS (et al) formats, though a converter or extension may exist that is usable for that purpose.

PS When searching for info related to it, you may want to use "thegimp" (one word) as a search operator.

[mjr]

Looks like it will do PSD, but not PSB files.
https://wiki.gimp.org/wiki/PSD_support

I would suggest that El Pollo Loco get both GIMP and InkScape. And if interested in 3D Graphics, check into Blender.

[RealUnimportant]

For other alternatives, there's https://jspaint.app which is a fully in-browser javascript clone of Photoshop, which is technically amazing in and of itself. For something installable locally, you could also check out https://www.glimpse-editor.org - this is a fork of GIMP, which is designed to be more user-friendly both in look, feel, and - let's be honest - name. it's also designed to be more Photoshop-ish in appearance and feel.

Commercially, Corel's been running all kinds of deals recently, I recently learned that they own Paint Shop Pro now which was the Photoshop alternative of choice twenty years ago! Clip Studio Paint is another very solid commercial alternative which often runs 50% off deals, and unlike Photoshop that's a one-time fee rather than a subscription.

[Monterey Jack]

"Bring out the Gimp."

[Nunavut Pants]

I've used the GIMP for quite a few years, since before they started insisting on saving everything to their own image format. I did not start scripting stuff, or getting into advanced features; I was just using it to either annotate an image or to blend two images together manually.

There was a lot of irritation from the user base when The Devs decided that their audience was the professional graphic artist, and that dictated a number of changes that interfered with the work flow of the amateur/casual users (which to me appeared to be the larger number of users). I was able to do stuff like re-name "Save As JPEG" to "Save" so that I didn't have to deal with the GIMP format; I was opening JPEG files and saving JPEG files, after all.

There's a definite learning curve, and while it can do most of the Photoshop things, it isn't Photoshop.

[mjr]

For something installable locally, you could also check out https://www.glimpse-editor.org - this is a fork of GIMP, which is designed to be more user-friendly both in look, feel, and - let's be honest - name. it's also designed to be more Photoshop-ish in appearance and feel.

I know at one point there was something called GimpShop. Is that what this is, but just under a different name?

[RealUnimportant]

No idea, it'll probably be on the site somewhere if it is.

[Rosco the Iroc]

I use it to clip images out of PDF's. I just can't get the editing functions right. If I need to add a text box or cover something I then use paint. Prob really good for someone who knows what they are doing.