Has anyone ever heard of gimp?

Well, I did download it to be use with my portableapps suite.
So far, I kinda like it but find it a bit hard to get familiar with.
Maybe I'm too used with PS.

GIMP is the best alternative for those who *can't afford PS.

 

It's not a case of can't afford. If you do graphic manipulation for print, you need all the features that PS offers in that area. If you need a graphics application for the web, and not for print, then PS is an expensive bit of overkill. For someone who will do only web graphics, it would be foolish to spend a lot of money for features you will never use. GIMP will do anything you need for web graphics, and is free.

cheers,

gary

 

No, I did not use gimp. I use Photoshop and CorelPhotoPaint. I will try gimp now and will see how good it does.

 

Same as #20, good open source software

 

Yeah Best tool in linux for graphics

 

gimp is great, but there is a steep learning curve. PS is much more user friendly but gimp is great if you dont want to pay anything at all

 

Use Photoshop, its way better and more powerful. Buy an external pen tablet and then anything you can think of can be done. I been designing for 10 years and its the best software.

 

GIMP is great and you can do some awesome stuff with it, except the larning curve is kind of steep.

Using photoshop is more efficient, but you can get the same results with GIMP, depending on how much time you have to spend

 

Steep learning curve? The gimp is a ****ing TINKERTOY... Not necessarily a bad thing as one does not start out with Lego technics, you start out with Duplo (M$ paint?), before moving to lincoln logs or tinkertoys...

Conversely though Photoshop is a fat bloated pig that 90% of it's features can be gotten cheaper through other alternatives...

and NEITHER of them does a particularly good job at saving OPTIMIZED images.

Might I suggest Paint Shop Pro? (regular legos)
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1184951547051#tabview=tab0

Though I would probably suggest finding one of the leaner older copies, like version 7... I have both X2 and 7 installed, as well as photoshop. I use X2 to import the handful of file formats 7 chokes on, and I use photoshop for the handful of in-built functions psp lacks... but 99% of what I do is all done in PSP7 because it's lean, fast, again makes the GIMP look like an overglorified copy of M$ Paint, and has a save-time image optimizer (hidden away in the Save As dialog) that kicks just about everyone else's ass.

 

GIMP was the first graphic design software that I started using then I eventually moved up to Photoshop. GIMP is great for basic things but as soon as you start getting into big projects it's pretty much expected that you use Photoshop.

 

GIMP is where I started to learn web design, way back in the day. It will only take you so far in design, because the software limits your abilities as to what and what not you can do to images.

I would stick with Photoshop, despite the cost it's well worth it. You will learn much more, and you have access to thousands of tutorials all over the internet.

 

I most successfully ( a few k$/m on pics revenue ) use GIMP since my earliest www time on Linux

the point about GIMP is never a lack of features,
but more likely the lack of KNOWLEDGE and skills to MASTER all the existing features and plugins from GIMP!

after many years of GIMP use I am sure to know and have used far less than 10% of its potential!

there are many professionals earning their living with GIMP

 

Well PS is my favorite....I prefer it to PSP by habit

Jsut to lazy to try anything else

 

I have a GIMP video tutorial series - check it out here: http://gimpvideotutorialsclub.com

Just PM me if you are interested in it - don't buy it from there!

 

I have used GIMP, and since I am a neat freak when it comes to my PC, I cannot stand to have all those windows - same reason I hated MS Access until Office 2007 came along. It is a decent image editor, but I have trouble living with the many windows.

I have Paint Shop Pro 9 on my old PC, and its nice - especially since I can use it without tutorials, something I cannot do in Photoshop (and even with tutorials I have trouble grasping it). At the moment though, I have Adobe Fireworks CS3/CS4 Beta installed and it is a very nice program - not what I normally expect from Adobe. Its easy to use, does vectors, optimization, opens PSDs... the whole deal.

 

maybe it would help if we could see some samples of what PS, Gimp and PSP
can do. Are there any images that we can view?

 

blueparukia:

I don't know how great it is, but you could also try GImpShop. Gimp, with a single window.

jophan: An easy google should find all sorts of PS contests, Gimp contests, vector (Illustrator vs Inkscape) contests... only problem might be that how great the image is depends on the user, not the tools. Other than possibly a few algorithms that Gimp cannot use from PS because they are legally property of Adobe, Gimp can do every effect and result PS can. Not sure aout PaintShopPro. Never bothered with it, since I had Gimp. : )

 

for those wishing to see gimp-create images, a Google search:

gimp image galleries
OR
gimp image gallery
OR
gimp photo gallery

may give you plenty of sites with millions of examples.
As in most SW tools, the results however never reflect the power of a SW tool but ONLY can reflect the skills of the user of a particular SW.

many ( me included ) love natural photos with smallest or no modifications, others love to completely modify all possible factors of an image to create totally artificial variations of the original photo.

NO matter what SW you use - the final decisive factor of failure or success always depends on the skill level and creativity of a user. Success means make a decent living FROM your work - whatever work you do.

 

Hans,
sorry if I'm dense, but what's "SW"?