I am a fan of the Gimp. I have never used photoshop, but when I was a windows user I would use Photodelux, and I like the gimp much more. Other than the fact that it runs on linux so you don't have the problems with windows (such as restarting the computer after 10 pictures), I really like the right click menu's. I can go through what I usually need much quicker than in photodelux.

Well, I'd also like to add that, I don't know if it's because I am a big Blackbox fan, but it's way easier to user The Gimp with Blackbox then then my second X (gnome). Blackbox has a cool function where the active window is the window the mouse is over. So you can easily switch to let's say, the layer window just pointing the mouse over it (no clicking, indeed) and boom, you are in the layer screen. Typing ctrl + n you make a new layer and just pointing the mouse in the new layer, you are in it ready to work. Blackbox + bbkeys + The gimp is a powerful combo IMHO .

The Gimp is just such a sweet program. Whenever you think you can't do something, it surprises you and does it very good. The color correction tools are just wonderful. I compare these to the color correction tools in Final Cut 3, and believe me they are very very good. No wonder the Hollywood people have been using their own version of the Gimp; CinePain or formely known as FilmGimp. I do video editing and also DVD authoring and I use the Gimp to create the menus for my DVDs. I haven't had the necesity to use Photoshop at all. Why pay lots of $$$ when The Gimp or CinePaint can do it for you?? It is beyond my mind.

Gimp You Rock!! I Love Open Source "Alternatives"!!!

Peace and Love,
Figa

i like the gimp but it is closer to print shop pro than it is to ps7. i cant find the patch and heal brushes. and when your a student adobe doesnt cost $700. and if you buy winex you can run it in linux. i like the gimp but it is no photoshop.

OK...... name something that you can do in photoshop that you CAN'T do in the GIMP. Personally, I have yet to find anything that I can't accomplish just as easily in either program.

Trinity, the point I was trying to make was that alot of people seem to compare PS and the GIMP apples for apples because they got BOTH of them free (i.e. by pilfering PS7 off of some file sharing proggie). I think this clouds one's judgement. If I sat 2 products in front of you and said "Both of these products do the same thing, but this one is free, and this one is $700, which one would you like?", I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't say you want the $700 one just cause you like the menu's better. I'm not trying to disuade you from PS7, it is a hell of a program. I just wanted to make sure you were using cost as a factor as well.

slight

yeah, i'm not about to pay 700 bucks for photoshop. and i never did. and i'm not complaning about gimp, i'm just saying its frustrating having to relearn things, thats all. it works amazingly well for being free and i'm sure once i get in the groove i can do better things in it than in photoshop.

my intention is not to criticize gimp, i think it is remarkable and much credit should be given to the people who make it.

when i have the time to look further into it again i will let you know the differences that i find. for now i will ask( because i really dont know) does it have a healing tool or a patch tool? these are a couple of the big changes between ps6 and ps7. they have a great effect on surfaces such as skin with removing imperfections such as under eye circles and blemishes (just as an example) quickly and effortlessly. the achieve the same result with other techniques say like clone brush and blending would take awhile. does it have an extraction tool? this would work on the lines of the magic wand except you high light the edge where you want the extraction to occur so you can left a whole section of image without focusing on any one color and without the hassle of the magnetic lasso. photoshop also incorporates well with premier and after effects. and although i have found the linux replacement for premier to be better i dont know if there is a suitable replacement for after effects because i havent looked yet.
and if your a college student or whatever i think the price of photoshop is like $300 which is still high but not so bad if you work with a lot of images since you probably have already spent $400 or$500 or more on a camera and another $500 at least on a dye sub printer. and another grand for a dv cam if your doing video editing as well.

since you all seem to be adept at the gimp, can anyone tell me how to create a 1px border around something? or a 1px line? that's my #1 aggrevation at the moment.

trinity

what i have been doing for just rectangular objects, make the square around the object with the square lasso tool. then right click on your image and go to "select --> border"; do a 1px border. then use the fill bucket tool on the border. also about the fill bucket tool (i didn't realize this for a long time), if you double click on the damn bucket a menu comes up.

the 1 thing i DO NOT like about gimp is that you can't make custom fill patterns with transparency!! sometimes i want that cheesy "grid" effect in the background of an image but it won't let me make a grid that has a transparent bakcground

I don't have the option for 1px though. It puts this ugly huge border around it when I use it. There seems to be no other option for it. I've got version 1.2.3.....is mine outdated or something? Or am i just an idiot?

trinity

Here are some good resources:

Grokkint the Gimp
http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html

http://linuxartist.org/

trinity, mine is also v 1.2.3

let me show you some screenshots of how i'm doing this

make the rectangle using the rectangle lasso:
http://feton.net/othershit/gimp1.png

right click on the image and go to "select-->border"
http://feton.net/othershit/gimp2.png

click on border and it will give you this option. make sure its on "pixels" and not "picas" or "inches" or "cm" or whatever it has
http://feton.net/othershit/gimp3.png

here i zoomed in 4:1 (right click on the image and go zoom in) so you can see that it actually has made the border. its slightly deceiving because it appears to have made a giant ugly border, but thats only because for some reason gimp has the dotted lasso around the entire picture. don't be fooled by this. its just gimp being a gimp
http://feton.net/othershit/gimp4.png

here i took the fill tool and went to the line and filled it.
http://feton.net/othershit/gimp5.png

then i zoomed out, click off the image with the rectangle lasso tool and showed you the final product
http://feton.net/othershit/gimp6.png

it shoudl work, we have the same version. let me know if you have questions

thank you so much sk8guitar for showing me like that. you'd think i just won the lottery with the smile on my face. It works perfectly

trinity

my pleasure

Do you mean like this? If you look close, this image has a faint 'checkerboard' background, but I could have done a grid just as easy. This was done with the Gimp....but damned if I remember how I did the checkerboard off the top of my head.... :P

slight