5 ms·

gimp is great a great tool and a great example of free software

by stOneskull 7y ago

raxxorrax 7y ago
Definitely! With gtk as a small "waste product".
- chrisseaton 7y ago
  Why do you think Gtk is a waste product?
  - deathtrader666 7y ago
    I think he meant GTk as a "side product"..
  - raxxorrax 7y ago
    Just trying to be snarky. GTK is awesome of course. I just like the story about how GTK was crafted for GIMP and since then spread to many other places. I still often hear about it being referred to as Gnome Tool Kit for example.
    - chrisseaton 7y ago
      > Just trying to be snarky. I think that's explicitly against the site guidelines here.
      - Synaesthesia 7y ago
        Can’t tell if sarcastic.
        grzm 7y ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > "In Comments" > "Be kind. Don't be snarky. Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive."
alexwennerberg 7y ago
Maybe I'm an idiot, but I use GIMP occasionally and find the UI horrendously confusing. Every time I use it I have a web browser tab open with "How to [X] in GIMP".
- skocznymroczny 7y ago
  For me the webbrowser tab says "Where to download Paint.NET"
- microwavecamera 7y ago
  GIMP has been my goto graphics software since the early 2000's and yes, this is true. Several common tasks that Photoshop has baked in or has a plugin for has to be done manually in GIMP. Since 2.10 the plugins have really improved but it still definitely has a steep learning curve compared to Photoshop. Another good open-source alternative is Krita. It has a really good balance between usability and features with a slick, modern UI.
- yellowapple 7y ago
  I don't feel like it's any worse (or better) than Photoshop usability-wise. Really, given the sheer complexity of that sort of raster image editor, confusion is unfortunately par for the course.
- bscphil 7y ago
  Could you give examples of this? I use Gimp non-professionally a few times a week. (Photo development work is done in other apps, including RawTherapee and Lightroom.) I must say that I find GIMP incredibly easy to use, much easier than Photoshop for example (but also much less powerful than Photoshop). The tools consistently make sense and are where I expect them to be, and I find the menu bar to be well set up. Dividing the different functions into Image / Layer / Colors / Filters makes a lot of sense to me. (I do use the system GTK theme with color icons, which I don't think is the default, but it makes the tools much easier to see for me.) I'm not doubting that some people have trouble using GIMP but I have no idea what those problems are, because most people aren't specific about what parts of the UI confuse them. I've yet to see a graphics editing program that was at least as powerful as GIMP and less confusing.

gimp is great a great tool and a great example of free software

raxxorrax 7y ago

Definitely! With gtk as a small "waste product".

chrisseaton 7y ago
Why do you think Gtk is a waste product?
- deathtrader666 7y ago
  I think he meant GTk as a "side product"..
- raxxorrax 7y ago
  Just trying to be snarky. GTK is awesome of course. I just like the story about how GTK was crafted for GIMP and since then spread to many other places. I still often hear about it being referred to as Gnome Tool Kit for example.
  - chrisseaton 7y ago
    > Just trying to be snarky. I think that's explicitly against the site guidelines here.
    - Synaesthesia 7y ago
      Can’t tell if sarcastic.
      - grzm 7y ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > "In Comments" > "Be kind. Don't be snarky. Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive."

alexwennerberg 7y ago

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I use GIMP occasionally and find the UI horrendously confusing. Every time I use it I have a web browser tab open with "How to [X] in GIMP".

skocznymroczny 7y ago
For me the webbrowser tab says "Where to download Paint.NET"
microwavecamera 7y ago
GIMP has been my goto graphics software since the early 2000's and yes, this is true. Several common tasks that Photoshop has baked in or has a plugin for has to be done manually in GIMP. Since 2.10 the plugins have really improved but it still definitely has a steep learning curve compared to Photoshop. Another good open-source alternative is Krita. It has a really good balance between usability and features with a slick, modern UI.
yellowapple 7y ago
I don't feel like it's any worse (or better) than Photoshop usability-wise. Really, given the sheer complexity of that sort of raster image editor, confusion is unfortunately par for the course.
bscphil 7y ago
Could you give examples of this? I use Gimp non-professionally a few times a week. (Photo development work is done in other apps, including RawTherapee and Lightroom.) I must say that I find GIMP incredibly easy to use, much easier than Photoshop for example (but also much less powerful than Photoshop). The tools consistently make sense and are where I expect them to be, and I find the menu bar to be well set up. Dividing the different functions into Image / Layer / Colors / Filters makes a lot of sense to me. (I do use the system GTK theme with color icons, which I don't think is the default, but it makes the tools much easier to see for me.) I'm not doubting that some people have trouble using GIMP but I have no idea what those problems are, because most people aren't specific about what parts of the UI confuse them. I've yet to see a graphics editing program that was at least as powerful as GIMP and less confusing.