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Congrats. In my opinion Inkscape shines in usability (vs Gimp that I could never grasp for example)

by dest 6y ago

bonoboTP 6y ago
I'm relatively a power user and can mostly work my way through most any software and regularly help people with software I've never used before, but I just can't wrap my head around Gimp for some reason, everything seems way too complicated. When I Google the solution to something I can do in 3 minutes in Paint.NET, it often turns out to require lots of unintuitive steps, I hit edge cases, look up bug reports and feature requests and then just decide to use Pinta instead. And other people seem to work fine with it, so it must be that people are just wired differntly or something.
- AsyncAwait 6y ago
  Counterpoint; I suck at Photoshop, but for some reason Gimp has resonated with me and I reach for it over PS even if PS is technically more capable.
  - Valgrim 6y ago
    Gimp is also technically very capable, especially when combined with G'mic plugins. I've used both software for different projects and I think I could switch permanently to Gimp if it could get better in two ways: - Non-destructive filters, AKA "layer effects" or "smart filters" (I've read it's supposed do come in some distant future when the GEGL overhaul is finished). A node-based nondestructive filter system would be awesome - Smarter selection tools. Current tools create little to no gradient in the mask they create, and it's a pain to refine a selection after creating it. Sure there are workarounds, but it feels repetitive and inefficient. Sure the interface is a bit all over the place but it's not so bad, and it's free!
  - shawnz 6y ago
    Same here - Photoshop is full of confusing idioms that make it hard for me to get things done, whereas I find Gimp is simple and straightforward. I suspect a lot of people who think Gimp is hard to use haven't used it in the last 5-10 years (it's been improved significantly in that time).
theelous3 6y ago
That's surprising in some ways and very unsurprising in others. Gimp is primarily a raster graphics tool (pixels), where inkscape is vector graphics (lines and points). If you've been using gimp to do flat graphicy design stuff with its pathing tool suite, it's unsurprising that you found inkscape a better fit. What is surprising, is that gimp is a ridiculously simple program, and inkscape is slightly notorious for having a questionably intuitive interface, and vectors are also less intuitive than raster. What were your use cases?
wegs 6y ago
They don't do the same thing. Inkscape/CorelDraw/Illustrator/etc. are drawing programs. They deal with vector images. Gimp/Photoshop/Paintshop Pro/etc. are painting programs. They deal with bitmaps. They're fundamentally different paradigms. Very little intuition from one carries over to the other. Of course, they've been adding some bridge functionality (Photoshop smartobjects, etc.), if people want to nitpick, but the core UX is designed for something fundamentally different.
- moring 6y ago
  I don't think this is true: Both are editing programs. The main subject being edited is a single file (as opposed to multi-file projects, like an IDE does). Both therefore need a UI for file handling (load/save their "native" format that exactly represents their internal model), import/export of other formats, undo/redo, etc. For both there is the question how editing multiple files at the same time is being dealt with, i.e. how processes and windows relate to files. Both have to arrange many tools and helpers together with the main view on the file being edited. Both want to have help and documentation. The files being edited support meta-data. Both raster images and vector images are visual and can therefore be exported to other visual representations, and especially both can be printed. So both programs have to deal with printing, page setup etc. The whole topic of colors and color spaces applies to both raster images and vector images. I could go on, but the above should give a hint how much these programs conceptually have in common.
- wpietri 6y ago
  I agree they don't do the same thing, but I agree with dest that the Inkscape UI is much better than GIMP. I've used GIMP way more than Inkscape, so I should be more comfortable with it. But I end up feeling like GIMP is fighting me in ways that Inkscape would like me to get things done.
  - wegs 6y ago
    I personally find GIMP more intuitive than Inkscape. I think most of it depends on what you're using the tool for, though, and I think I just do more GIMPy takss than Inkscapey tasks right now. Try using Inkscape to cut a person out of a photo, adjust contrast/white balance, and add a vignette... On the other hand, try making a beautiful invoice template in gimp, with a nicely laid out table, and nicely typeset text.... It's kind of like comparing Word to PowerPoint. Both can place text on pages, and it's possible to write an essay in PowerPoint, or make a presentation in Word, but you'll be hurting to do it.
LandR 6y ago
I could never grasp Gimp either but found photoshop made sense to me. I just wish it wasn't so expensive.
- neltnerb 6y ago
  Gimp is hard to reason about until you start using masks and realize that hitting either ctl or shift turns your regular paintbrush into a line. Then it stopped being quite as obnoxious. The filters are phenomenal though, I've been using Gimp for fifteen years and find it's good enough even though I still find the UI difficult. For me the weirdest part is that clicking on the X on the toolbar closes only the toolbar instead of it realizing that probably if I click an X anywhere I mean to close at least the currently open project. I get the logic with multiple windows open, it's just the one weird thing that I will never get used to. I'm sure we all have those stories.
  - shawnz 6y ago
    For some time now Gimp has featured a single-window mode which is enabled by default.
    - neltnerb 6y ago
      Ah, I guess my configuration file is too old :-D Thanks, I'll look into that. Edit: Didn't even need to look that far, was in an obvious menu (good UI!) and was just unchecked probably since upgrading didn't switch the option by default. Can't really argue with that but boy is the single window mode less painful to look at! Thanks again!
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]

Congrats. In my opinion Inkscape shines in usability (vs Gimp that I could never grasp for example)

by dest 6y ago

Congrats. In my opinion Inkscape shines in usability (vs Gimp that I could never grasp for example)

I'm relatively a power user and can mostly work my way through most any software and regularly help people with software I've never used before, but I just can't wrap my head around Gimp for some reason, everything seems way too complicated. When I Google the solution to something I can do in 3 minutes in Paint.NET, it often turns out to require lots of unintuitive steps, I hit edge cases, look up bug reports and feature requests and then just decide to use Pinta instead. And other people seem to work fine with it, so it must be that people are just wired differntly or something.

AsyncAwait 6y ago
Counterpoint; I suck at Photoshop, but for some reason Gimp has resonated with me and I reach for it over PS even if PS is technically more capable.
- Valgrim 6y ago
  Gimp is also technically very capable, especially when combined with G'mic plugins. I've used both software for different projects and I think I could switch permanently to Gimp if it could get better in two ways: - Non-destructive filters, AKA "layer effects" or "smart filters" (I've read it's supposed do come in some distant future when the GEGL overhaul is finished). A node-based nondestructive filter system would be awesome - Smarter selection tools. Current tools create little to no gradient in the mask they create, and it's a pain to refine a selection after creating it. Sure there are workarounds, but it feels repetitive and inefficient. Sure the interface is a bit all over the place but it's not so bad, and it's free!
- shawnz 6y ago
  Same here - Photoshop is full of confusing idioms that make it hard for me to get things done, whereas I find Gimp is simple and straightforward. I suspect a lot of people who think Gimp is hard to use haven't used it in the last 5-10 years (it's been improved significantly in that time).

theelous3 6y ago

That's surprising in some ways and very unsurprising in others. Gimp is primarily a raster graphics tool (pixels), where inkscape is vector graphics (lines and points). If you've been using gimp to do flat graphicy design stuff with its pathing tool suite, it's unsurprising that you found inkscape a better fit. What is surprising, is that gimp is a ridiculously simple program, and inkscape is slightly notorious for having a questionably intuitive interface, and vectors are also less intuitive than raster. What were your use cases?

wegs 6y ago

They don't do the same thing. Inkscape/CorelDraw/Illustrator/etc. are drawing programs. They deal with vector images. Gimp/Photoshop/Paintshop Pro/etc. are painting programs. They deal with bitmaps. They're fundamentally different paradigms. Very little intuition from one carries over to the other. Of course, they've been adding some bridge functionality (Photoshop smartobjects, etc.), if people want to nitpick, but the core UX is designed for something fundamentally different.

moring 6y ago
I don't think this is true: Both are editing programs. The main subject being edited is a single file (as opposed to multi-file projects, like an IDE does). Both therefore need a UI for file handling (load/save their "native" format that exactly represents their internal model), import/export of other formats, undo/redo, etc. For both there is the question how editing multiple files at the same time is being dealt with, i.e. how processes and windows relate to files. Both have to arrange many tools and helpers together with the main view on the file being edited. Both want to have help and documentation. The files being edited support meta-data. Both raster images and vector images are visual and can therefore be exported to other visual representations, and especially both can be printed. So both programs have to deal with printing, page setup etc. The whole topic of colors and color spaces applies to both raster images and vector images. I could go on, but the above should give a hint how much these programs conceptually have in common.
wpietri 6y ago
I agree they don't do the same thing, but I agree with dest that the Inkscape UI is much better than GIMP. I've used GIMP way more than Inkscape, so I should be more comfortable with it. But I end up feeling like GIMP is fighting me in ways that Inkscape would like me to get things done.
- wegs 6y ago
  I personally find GIMP more intuitive than Inkscape. I think most of it depends on what you're using the tool for, though, and I think I just do more GIMPy takss than Inkscapey tasks right now. Try using Inkscape to cut a person out of a photo, adjust contrast/white balance, and add a vignette... On the other hand, try making a beautiful invoice template in gimp, with a nicely laid out table, and nicely typeset text.... It's kind of like comparing Word to PowerPoint. Both can place text on pages, and it's possible to write an essay in PowerPoint, or make a presentation in Word, but you'll be hurting to do it.

LandR 6y ago

I could never grasp Gimp either but found photoshop made sense to me. I just wish it wasn't so expensive.

neltnerb 6y ago
Gimp is hard to reason about until you start using masks and realize that hitting either ctl or shift turns your regular paintbrush into a line. Then it stopped being quite as obnoxious. The filters are phenomenal though, I've been using Gimp for fifteen years and find it's good enough even though I still find the UI difficult. For me the weirdest part is that clicking on the X on the toolbar closes only the toolbar instead of it realizing that probably if I click an X anywhere I mean to close at least the currently open project. I get the logic with multiple windows open, it's just the one weird thing that I will never get used to. I'm sure we all have those stories.
- shawnz 6y ago
  For some time now Gimp has featured a single-window mode which is enabled by default.
  - neltnerb 6y ago
    Ah, I guess my configuration file is too old :-D Thanks, I'll look into that. Edit: Didn't even need to look that far, was in an obvious menu (good UI!) and was just unchecked probably since upgrading didn't switch the option by default. Can't really argue with that but boy is the single window mode less painful to look at! Thanks again!
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]