8 ms·

I've been very impressed with Gimp lately - there was a time that it was clunky and crashy, Windows builds were difficult to find, and usually out of date, and

I've been very impressed with Gimp lately - there was a time that it was clunky and crashy, Windows builds were difficult to find, and usually out of date, and I often felt like I was only persevering with it on principle. In recent years though, it's been wholly solid. Was there a change in project leadership, or something - maybe just a new development workflow? I've known plenty of seemingly-moribund projects spring to life just from someone spending a few days knocking up better build scripts...

prathiks 9y ago
I have always advocated for Gimp but people esp designers want to stick to photoshop. Hope they understand the power of this open source
- lbotos 9y ago
  Think of it as Photoshop (Java) vs. Gimp (NodeJs). You are going to have a LOT more reach with Java for "career stability". That's why designers stick with it.
  - krapp 9y ago
    It's not a matter of "career stability." It's a matter of the printer you send work to only being willing to work with PSD or PDF. If no one uses Gimp, and none of your tools integrate with Gimp's native format, and no one else's tools do either, and no one can open the files in their email, making them less portable than Adobe files, then Gimp is a technical liability, regardless of its quality.
- disconnected 9y ago
  Can GIMP load psd files correctly? I seem to remember that there was some trouble loading psd files, but I don't remember exactly what. Edit to add: I ask because if GIMP cannot handle the de facto standard image file type without too much fiddling, people won't touch it. It is the same problem LibreOffice has, actually.
  - sqeaky 9y ago
    The notes OP linked to indicate that there are more fixes included in this version. It is likely what importing a .doc in open office was 10 years ago. It proably works 99% of the time but that 1% will be right before an important deadline or something.
    - enschlnd 9y ago
      >It proably works 99% of the time but that 1% will be right before an important deadline or something. Are you a terrorist i loved to make this joke and it hurts me that you're downvoting me friends
      - sqeaky 9y ago
        I downvoted nothing. I literally don't understand your comment and ignored it until I posted this.
        enschlnd 9y ago
        I upvoted you because you were needlessly sincere. Thanks.
  - Grue3 9y ago
    You can't expect a non-proprietary tool to handle a proprietary file format 100% correctly. People who have no need for file formats that only work with Adobe software can use GIMP just fine.
  - jordache 9y ago
    GIMP doesn't support Smart Objects.. a huge shortcoming
  - dagw 9y ago
    As long as you're dealing with layers of raster data loading psd files works. Once you start adding things like smart objects it fails. I use gimp to deal with psd files of web page layouts from designers and so far it's worked every time.
- glenndebacker 9y ago
  Hope you understand that some of use need non destructive editing...
DiThi 9y ago
Maybe the rise of Krita has sparked some competition?
- prokoudine 9y ago
  We don't compete against Krita. While there's overlap feature-wise, we have rather different goals.
  - DiThi 9y ago
    When I say "compete" I mean the most friendly way. I actually mean inspired. Crowdfunding seems to be gaining traction lately.
Drdrdrq 9y ago
I've been using Gimp for ages (15 to 20 years) and it was always solid for me. Maybe I was just using the more stable features? But I've mostly used it on Linux. My major gripe was the Save / Export fiasco [0] but even that is OK now thanks to Saver plugin [1]. [0] http://www.gimpusers.com/forums/gimp-user/14339-hate-the-new-save-vs-export-behavior http://www.gimpusers.com/forums/gimp-user/14339-hate-the-new... [1] http://shallowsky.com/blog/gimp/saver.html http://shallowsky.com/blog/gimp/saver.html
prokoudine 9y ago
> In recent years though, it's been wholly solid. Was there a change in project leadership, or something - maybe just a new development workflow? Not really, no. There are a few new contributors like Jehan Pages, Thomas Manni, and Ell. But the majority of the work is still done by Michael Natterer, same as 5+ years ago.
schumaml 9y ago
The issues with finding builds for Microsoft Windows platforms was what got me into GIMP development. Not for the releases, because those usually came about in a matter of days, but daily builds (or sometimes hourly) which tracked development exactly.

prathiks 9y ago

I have always advocated for Gimp but people esp designers want to stick to photoshop. Hope they understand the power of this open source

lbotos 9y ago
Think of it as Photoshop (Java) vs. Gimp (NodeJs). You are going to have a LOT more reach with Java for "career stability". That's why designers stick with it.
- krapp 9y ago
  It's not a matter of "career stability." It's a matter of the printer you send work to only being willing to work with PSD or PDF. If no one uses Gimp, and none of your tools integrate with Gimp's native format, and no one else's tools do either, and no one can open the files in their email, making them less portable than Adobe files, then Gimp is a technical liability, regardless of its quality.
disconnected 9y ago
Can GIMP load psd files correctly? I seem to remember that there was some trouble loading psd files, but I don't remember exactly what. Edit to add: I ask because if GIMP cannot handle the de facto standard image file type without too much fiddling, people won't touch it. It is the same problem LibreOffice has, actually.
- sqeaky 9y ago
  The notes OP linked to indicate that there are more fixes included in this version. It is likely what importing a .doc in open office was 10 years ago. It proably works 99% of the time but that 1% will be right before an important deadline or something.
  - enschlnd 9y ago
    >It proably works 99% of the time but that 1% will be right before an important deadline or something. Are you a terrorist i loved to make this joke and it hurts me that you're downvoting me friends
    - sqeaky 9y ago
      I downvoted nothing. I literally don't understand your comment and ignored it until I posted this.
      - enschlnd 9y ago
        I upvoted you because you were needlessly sincere. Thanks.
- Grue3 9y ago
  You can't expect a non-proprietary tool to handle a proprietary file format 100% correctly. People who have no need for file formats that only work with Adobe software can use GIMP just fine.
- jordache 9y ago
  GIMP doesn't support Smart Objects.. a huge shortcoming
- dagw 9y ago
  As long as you're dealing with layers of raster data loading psd files works. Once you start adding things like smart objects it fails. I use gimp to deal with psd files of web page layouts from designers and so far it's worked every time.
glenndebacker 9y ago
Hope you understand that some of use need non destructive editing...

DiThi 9y ago

Maybe the rise of Krita has sparked some competition?

prokoudine 9y ago
We don't compete against Krita. While there's overlap feature-wise, we have rather different goals.
- DiThi 9y ago
  When I say "compete" I mean the most friendly way. I actually mean inspired. Crowdfunding seems to be gaining traction lately.

Drdrdrq 9y ago

I've been using Gimp for ages (15 to 20 years) and it was always solid for me. Maybe I was just using the more stable features? But I've mostly used it on Linux. My major gripe was the Save / Export fiasco [0] but even that is OK now thanks to Saver plugin [1]. [0] http://www.gimpusers.com/forums/gimp-user/14339-hate-the-new-save-vs-export-behavior http://www.gimpusers.com/forums/gimp-user/14339-hate-the-new... [1] http://shallowsky.com/blog/gimp/saver.html http://shallowsky.com/blog/gimp/saver.html

prokoudine 9y ago

> In recent years though, it's been wholly solid. Was there a change in project leadership, or something - maybe just a new development workflow? Not really, no. There are a few new contributors like Jehan Pages, Thomas Manni, and Ell. But the majority of the work is still done by Michael Natterer, same as 5+ years ago.

schumaml 9y ago

The issues with finding builds for Microsoft Windows platforms was what got me into GIMP development. Not for the releases, because those usually came about in a matter of days, but daily builds (or sometimes hourly) which tracked development exactly.