14 ms·

GIMP 2.8 (Stable) Finally Available For Download

133 points by mnazim 14y ago

netrus 14y ago
I am excited about the singe window mode. The multi window mode made GIMP quite un-intuitive to me until now.
- lunarscape 14y ago
  I also dislike the multi-window mode. I've been using scripts like gimpbox.py to get single window mode up until now (http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/09/gimpbox-gives-stable-versions-of-the-gimp-single-window-mode/ http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/09/gimpbox-gives-stable-vers...).
- exDM69 14y ago
  Nice that you like it. I, on the other hand, have always liked GIMP's multi-window interface. It works very well with multiple monitors. But thankfully there's a choice between the two interface modes. The GIMP crew should have come up with that earlier. But the interface change is not that significant compared to all the other new features (esp. >8bpp color).
  - lloeki 14y ago
    I liked the multi-window interface, but the choice of making the palettes real windows and not floating panels always struck me as a mistake. See how Pixelmator handles that for example: it's much more natural.
    - Avshalom 14y ago
      I don't know Pixelmator but I think there's an option for that. In Preferences->window management you can change it from regular window to utility window, then it's just a question of whether your WM cares.
  - Havoc 14y ago
    >But the interface change is not that significant compared to all the other new features It might not be the most significant feature from your PoV, but I think it'll do wonders for the adoption rate of GIMP. Its one of the major obstacles that people experience in those crucial first 60min of GIMP use.
marcusf 14y ago
I first ran in to Gimp in what would have had to been the late 90's or early 00's, and ever since it's always befuddled me completely. I've always turned back to Photoshop, if slightly begrudgingly, because the productivity enhancements of a tool you really know far outweigh the price of it. These UI improvements seem to be a step in the right direction though. I'd love to hear if anybody's done the Journey PS -> Gimp (for UI stuff, not photography), and if so how long it took and if it was worth it in the end?
- exDM69 14y ago
  I've never used photoshop, but I used Paint Shop Pro years ago. It has a similar interface to Photoshop. But for more than a decade all my (bitmap) graphics needs have been fulfilled by GIMP. The interface may be a little weird (or it used to be), but it's really powerful when you get into it. Sure, being effective in GIMP requires you to learn a few keyboard shortcuts but what software doesn't? I was completely blown away once when I saw a hacker/artist friend of mine do some amazing artwork with GIMP (this was circa 2001). One hand on the keyboard, one hand on the mouse/wacom tablet. Sure, he was a hacker, so the interface may be a little more intuitive from that background but the artwork he produced spoke for itself. I don't listen to pro-photoshop people's arguments any more. The interface may seem weird but it gets the job done. The 8bpp color was a major stumbling block but now it's gone. As are many other sources of complaints about GIMP. You (and everyone) should really give GIMP another go, the improvement has been HUGE in the last 10 years. This is what a lot of people don't get about open source software. It improves constantly, if you did not like it 10/5/1 years ago, the chances are it's been improved during that time. And if you feel that something needs a change, you have the option of doing it yourself or helping the community put it together by whatever means you have to contribute. Or just shut up and pay the license for Photoshop, but please don't come bashing people who are doing hard work to make GIMP/Blender/Inkscape better.
  - marcusf 14y ago
    Not sure where I bashed the people working hard with GIMP/Blender/Inkscape. If I've offended anyone, sorry about that. I was merely trying to convey that ~13 year ago and a few times after that, I've been confused by the Gimp UI. Sorry if that didn't come through clear enough. It's the same thing with Photoshop I guess; You invest heavily in the tool chain -- I know basically every keyboard shortcut there is by tactile memory -- and suddenly your definition of usability in image manipulation becomes 'The inverse of the squared distance to Photoshop'. I'll download it and give Gimp another go.
harbud 14y ago
Single window, ok cool. But after ages, still no tool to draw some boxes and circles? This is proof that Gimp's goal is not designer's productivity. Pass.
- illumen 14y ago
  box: rectangle select, alt+e s s circle: circle select, alt+e s s I guess it's not intuitive if you haven't done a gimp 101 tutorial for 30 minutes. Here it is in pictures: https://pbs01.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/145/ https://pbs01.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/145/
  - exDM69 14y ago
    Note: the first comment in the blog post you liked has the exact same complaint as in this thread. It's amazing how people start complaining before consulting the manual. As if all software in the world should be obvious by looking at icons and buttons. And yet it isn't. I am looking at you, Microsoft Ribbon.
    - melling 14y ago
      This is a very old argument. However, there are only so many hours in a day. I use Gimp occasionally but I bought Photoshop because there are more tutorials, blogs, and resources in general. I'm a developer and weekend warrior with graphics. If the apps are too different, I only have time to learn one. For Gimp to really hit the main stream, it should make it trivial to switch between it and Photoshop.
- jbester 14y ago
  Yes, there is no separate tool specifically for drawing shapes, but, you can stroke any selection or path.
- exDM69 14y ago
  I knew someone would bring that up. Drawing boxes and circles is easy, first make selection, then fill it. That's hardly a blocker for designer productivity. Sure there's an extra selection and a tool change but this way it's a lot more versatile than having a simple single purpose draw-me-a-box tool. Learn the keyboard shortcuts and get over it. Need a pattern filled box? Do the selection and use pattern fill. Need a box with a circular hole in the middle, with fill and outline stroke. Select a box, then select a circle with difference selection. Then fill with outline color, shrink selection by few pixels and fill with pattern. Or first fill with pattern fill and do an outset/inset selection. I'm sure Photoshop has a super versatile tool for doing boxes and circles. A real swiss army knife that rounds your corners and does drop shadows. And that's fine. But it's a different design choice than GIMP did. In my opinion, GIMP is nice because it has simple tools that are composable, repeatable and scriptable. Kinda like the unix philosophy gone GUI. If you don't grok it, it may be difficult. If you do and don't like it, that's your choice. But don't be impolite about it then.
bad_user 14y ago
I've been a GIMP user for several years. It's not as friendly as Photoshop, but it gets the job done and it is extremely flexible. I got so used to it that I can't switch back to Photoshop, even though I tried. One major pain point for me though has been the 8 bits limit, which was the reason why I wanted to switch to Photoshop. I'm glad that they've worked on solving it. This is an awesome release.
- diminish 14y ago
  the Batch filter is what we are using a lot for web site image processing.
nnq 14y ago
dream: could a UI/UX genius and open-source hacker ever make an Inkscape+GIMP hybrid that will have the straight forward, intuitive and productive UI of Adobe Fireworks? (without the weird ireproductible "bugs" and "WTF?!" moments that Fw sometimes throws in face of the user, making me dread to think of the decade old can-of-worms closed-source code of this otherwise superb application)
- macco 14y ago
  Do it yourself: Use GEGL http://www.gegl.org/ http://www.gegl.org/ as the GIMP Backend and find something for Inkscape or rip it apart.
okamiueru 14y ago
I decided to give gimp a real go recently. Shifting my UI production from photoshop to GIMP, and not giving in to temptation, regardless of how quickly I knew I could do a certain task in PS. There were a few headaches. For instance the half an hour spent in frustration when trying to move a layer, only to find that the tool panel had an "Affect: " followed by a small icon for the selection. I consider this expected pains, and there certainly were a few of those in photoshop as well. One thing that I just consider lousy implementation was when trying to create a pattern and applying it to an image. I couldn't find a way to do this besides creating the pattern as an image, and saving it to the ~/.gimp/patterns/, refreshing the pattern dialogue, and applying the pattern. Also, the destructive workflow in applying effects is archaic... even photoshop's linear (albeit dynamic) stack of adjustment layers feels old and restrictive. I'll keep sticking with Gimp for a while longer... it can only get better, right? Still, at the moment I'd say it is far inferior to Photoshop regarding my productivity.
- exDM69 14y ago
  > I'll keep sticking with Gimp for a while longer... it can only get better, right? That's exactly the reason you want to stick with GIMP for a while longer. If you're willing to go the extra mile, start following GIMP development and community a little closer. Join an IRC channel or a mailing list, for example. That way, you can have a part in making it better.
pjmlp 14y ago
Still no installer available for Windows. :(
- ecaron 14y ago
  There have been Windows installers for quite a while: http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html You'll see the 2.6 stable is available at the top and 2.8 RC1 is at the bottom (I'm guessing 2.8.0 will be up by week's end.)
  - pjmlp 14y ago
    I know, I just thought the 2.8.0 would be made available at the same time.
    - ExpiredLink 14y ago
      Why should they care for the 85% market when they can target the 0.95% market?
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
      - SquareWheel 14y ago
        There are a lot more alternatives on Windows though, Paint.net and Photoshop being obvious choices. With Linux and similar Gimp is really the only image editor. That I know of anyway.
- haakon 14y ago
  Those Linux users get all the breaks!
- rebelde 14y ago
  I think only GIMP would say GIMP 2.8 is here! And yet there isn't a Windows installer for it. If I were them, I would have waited a few days and gotten the Windows installer together first.
blt 14y ago
They are going to have to support "Filter Layers" (Photoshop's Adjustment Layers) before they get __any__ traction in the serious photo editing community. Non-destructive editing with masked adjustment layers is a basic best practice for photographers since the early 2000s.
- zokier 14y ago
  I believe those are on the road map. But probably will take couple of releases before getting there.
  - blt 14y ago
    I think it might be time for me to get the Gimp source and start messing around...
deutronium 14y ago
Is there 16 bit per channel image support?
andybak 14y ago
Is there a non-Macports install guide for OS X?
reustle 14y ago
These types of ads make my blood boil: http://i.imgur.com/ZHzf9.png http://i.imgur.com/ZHzf9.png
- simcop2387 14y ago
  Wow that's a little scummy. Was it at least a copy of the gimp it linked to even if it had more ads around it?
zobzu 14y ago
Actual link to gimp website... http://www.gimp.org/release-notes/gimp-2.8.html http://www.gimp.org/release-notes/gimp-2.8.html
lifeisstillgood 14y ago
Today GIMP made my day because I discovered it reads xwd format so my screen capture is now as simple as I like it (xwd > ~/foo). Thank you dev team, it's worth it really. Cheers
philjackson 14y ago
As an xmonad user the single window mode is a godsend.

133 points by mnazim 14y ago

netrus 14y ago

I am excited about the singe window mode. The multi window mode made GIMP quite un-intuitive to me until now.

lunarscape 14y ago
I also dislike the multi-window mode. I've been using scripts like gimpbox.py to get single window mode up until now (http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/09/gimpbox-gives-stable-versions-of-the-gimp-single-window-mode/ http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/09/gimpbox-gives-stable-vers...).
exDM69 14y ago
Nice that you like it. I, on the other hand, have always liked GIMP's multi-window interface. It works very well with multiple monitors. But thankfully there's a choice between the two interface modes. The GIMP crew should have come up with that earlier. But the interface change is not that significant compared to all the other new features (esp. >8bpp color).
- lloeki 14y ago
  I liked the multi-window interface, but the choice of making the palettes real windows and not floating panels always struck me as a mistake. See how Pixelmator handles that for example: it's much more natural.
  - Avshalom 14y ago
    I don't know Pixelmator but I think there's an option for that. In Preferences->window management you can change it from regular window to utility window, then it's just a question of whether your WM cares.
- Havoc 14y ago
  >But the interface change is not that significant compared to all the other new features It might not be the most significant feature from your PoV, but I think it'll do wonders for the adoption rate of GIMP. Its one of the major obstacles that people experience in those crucial first 60min of GIMP use.

marcusf 14y ago

I first ran in to Gimp in what would have had to been the late 90's or early 00's, and ever since it's always befuddled me completely. I've always turned back to Photoshop, if slightly begrudgingly, because the productivity enhancements of a tool you really know far outweigh the price of it. These UI improvements seem to be a step in the right direction though. I'd love to hear if anybody's done the Journey PS -> Gimp (for UI stuff, not photography), and if so how long it took and if it was worth it in the end?

exDM69 14y ago
I've never used photoshop, but I used Paint Shop Pro years ago. It has a similar interface to Photoshop. But for more than a decade all my (bitmap) graphics needs have been fulfilled by GIMP. The interface may be a little weird (or it used to be), but it's really powerful when you get into it. Sure, being effective in GIMP requires you to learn a few keyboard shortcuts but what software doesn't? I was completely blown away once when I saw a hacker/artist friend of mine do some amazing artwork with GIMP (this was circa 2001). One hand on the keyboard, one hand on the mouse/wacom tablet. Sure, he was a hacker, so the interface may be a little more intuitive from that background but the artwork he produced spoke for itself. I don't listen to pro-photoshop people's arguments any more. The interface may seem weird but it gets the job done. The 8bpp color was a major stumbling block but now it's gone. As are many other sources of complaints about GIMP. You (and everyone) should really give GIMP another go, the improvement has been HUGE in the last 10 years. This is what a lot of people don't get about open source software. It improves constantly, if you did not like it 10/5/1 years ago, the chances are it's been improved during that time. And if you feel that something needs a change, you have the option of doing it yourself or helping the community put it together by whatever means you have to contribute. Or just shut up and pay the license for Photoshop, but please don't come bashing people who are doing hard work to make GIMP/Blender/Inkscape better.
- marcusf 14y ago
  Not sure where I bashed the people working hard with GIMP/Blender/Inkscape. If I've offended anyone, sorry about that. I was merely trying to convey that ~13 year ago and a few times after that, I've been confused by the Gimp UI. Sorry if that didn't come through clear enough. It's the same thing with Photoshop I guess; You invest heavily in the tool chain -- I know basically every keyboard shortcut there is by tactile memory -- and suddenly your definition of usability in image manipulation becomes 'The inverse of the squared distance to Photoshop'. I'll download it and give Gimp another go.

harbud 14y ago

Single window, ok cool. But after ages, still no tool to draw some boxes and circles? This is proof that Gimp's goal is not designer's productivity. Pass.

illumen 14y ago
box: rectangle select, alt+e s s circle: circle select, alt+e s s I guess it's not intuitive if you haven't done a gimp 101 tutorial for 30 minutes. Here it is in pictures: https://pbs01.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/145/ https://pbs01.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/145/
- exDM69 14y ago
  Note: the first comment in the blog post you liked has the exact same complaint as in this thread. It's amazing how people start complaining before consulting the manual. As if all software in the world should be obvious by looking at icons and buttons. And yet it isn't. I am looking at you, Microsoft Ribbon.
  - melling 14y ago
    This is a very old argument. However, there are only so many hours in a day. I use Gimp occasionally but I bought Photoshop because there are more tutorials, blogs, and resources in general. I'm a developer and weekend warrior with graphics. If the apps are too different, I only have time to learn one. For Gimp to really hit the main stream, it should make it trivial to switch between it and Photoshop.
jbester 14y ago
Yes, there is no separate tool specifically for drawing shapes, but, you can stroke any selection or path.
exDM69 14y ago
I knew someone would bring that up. Drawing boxes and circles is easy, first make selection, then fill it. That's hardly a blocker for designer productivity. Sure there's an extra selection and a tool change but this way it's a lot more versatile than having a simple single purpose draw-me-a-box tool. Learn the keyboard shortcuts and get over it. Need a pattern filled box? Do the selection and use pattern fill. Need a box with a circular hole in the middle, with fill and outline stroke. Select a box, then select a circle with difference selection. Then fill with outline color, shrink selection by few pixels and fill with pattern. Or first fill with pattern fill and do an outset/inset selection. I'm sure Photoshop has a super versatile tool for doing boxes and circles. A real swiss army knife that rounds your corners and does drop shadows. And that's fine. But it's a different design choice than GIMP did. In my opinion, GIMP is nice because it has simple tools that are composable, repeatable and scriptable. Kinda like the unix philosophy gone GUI. If you don't grok it, it may be difficult. If you do and don't like it, that's your choice. But don't be impolite about it then.

bad_user 14y ago

I've been a GIMP user for several years. It's not as friendly as Photoshop, but it gets the job done and it is extremely flexible. I got so used to it that I can't switch back to Photoshop, even though I tried. One major pain point for me though has been the 8 bits limit, which was the reason why I wanted to switch to Photoshop. I'm glad that they've worked on solving it. This is an awesome release.

diminish 14y ago
the Batch filter is what we are using a lot for web site image processing.

nnq 14y ago

dream: could a UI/UX genius and open-source hacker ever make an Inkscape+GIMP hybrid that will have the straight forward, intuitive and productive UI of Adobe Fireworks? (without the weird ireproductible "bugs" and "WTF?!" moments that Fw sometimes throws in face of the user, making me dread to think of the decade old can-of-worms closed-source code of this otherwise superb application)

macco 14y ago
Do it yourself: Use GEGL http://www.gegl.org/ http://www.gegl.org/ as the GIMP Backend and find something for Inkscape or rip it apart.

okamiueru 14y ago

I decided to give gimp a real go recently. Shifting my UI production from photoshop to GIMP, and not giving in to temptation, regardless of how quickly I knew I could do a certain task in PS. There were a few headaches. For instance the half an hour spent in frustration when trying to move a layer, only to find that the tool panel had an "Affect: " followed by a small icon for the selection. I consider this expected pains, and there certainly were a few of those in photoshop as well. One thing that I just consider lousy implementation was when trying to create a pattern and applying it to an image. I couldn't find a way to do this besides creating the pattern as an image, and saving it to the ~/.gimp/patterns/, refreshing the pattern dialogue, and applying the pattern. Also, the destructive workflow in applying effects is archaic... even photoshop's linear (albeit dynamic) stack of adjustment layers feels old and restrictive. I'll keep sticking with Gimp for a while longer... it can only get better, right? Still, at the moment I'd say it is far inferior to Photoshop regarding my productivity.

exDM69 14y ago
> I'll keep sticking with Gimp for a while longer... it can only get better, right? That's exactly the reason you want to stick with GIMP for a while longer. If you're willing to go the extra mile, start following GIMP development and community a little closer. Join an IRC channel or a mailing list, for example. That way, you can have a part in making it better.

pjmlp 14y ago

Still no installer available for Windows. :(

ecaron 14y ago
There have been Windows installers for quite a while: http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html You'll see the 2.6 stable is available at the top and 2.8 RC1 is at the bottom (I'm guessing 2.8.0 will be up by week's end.)
- pjmlp 14y ago
  I know, I just thought the 2.8.0 would be made available at the same time.
  - ExpiredLink 14y ago
    Why should they care for the 85% market when they can target the 0.95% market?
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
    - SquareWheel 14y ago
      There are a lot more alternatives on Windows though, Paint.net and Photoshop being obvious choices. With Linux and similar Gimp is really the only image editor. That I know of anyway.
haakon 14y ago
Those Linux users get all the breaks!
rebelde 14y ago
I think only GIMP would say GIMP 2.8 is here! And yet there isn't a Windows installer for it. If I were them, I would have waited a few days and gotten the Windows installer together first.

blt 14y ago

They are going to have to support "Filter Layers" (Photoshop's Adjustment Layers) before they get __any__ traction in the serious photo editing community. Non-destructive editing with masked adjustment layers is a basic best practice for photographers since the early 2000s.

zokier 14y ago
I believe those are on the road map. But probably will take couple of releases before getting there.
- blt 14y ago
  I think it might be time for me to get the Gimp source and start messing around...

deutronium 14y ago

Is there 16 bit per channel image support?

andybak 14y ago

Is there a non-Macports install guide for OS X?

reustle 14y ago

These types of ads make my blood boil: http://i.imgur.com/ZHzf9.png http://i.imgur.com/ZHzf9.png

simcop2387 14y ago
Wow that's a little scummy. Was it at least a copy of the gimp it linked to even if it had more ads around it?

zobzu 14y ago

Actual link to gimp website... http://www.gimp.org/release-notes/gimp-2.8.html http://www.gimp.org/release-notes/gimp-2.8.html

lifeisstillgood 14y ago

Today GIMP made my day because I discovered it reads xwd format so my screen capture is now as simple as I like it (xwd > ~/foo). Thank you dev team, it's worth it really. Cheers

philjackson 14y ago

As an xmonad user the single window mode is a godsend.