GIMP -- What's Wrong With It?

linuxdoctor · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 12:42 pm Post subject: GIMP -- What's Wrong With It?

Ok, guys. I've heard some of you lot complain about Gimp. Most of you complain that Gimp doesn't have certain features or that the UI is pretty much crap. Those are pretty general complaints and not really worth anything. Therefore I started this thread.

What, specifically, is wrong with the Gimp? Give me specifics, or better yet, if you were able to change the Gimp, what and how would you change it to make it better. I want constructive suggestions. Here's your chance to make the Gimp better.

At the end I just may relay these suggestions to the Gimp development team.
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mcwkm · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 3:37 pm Post subject:

Works fine in my opinion but photoshop does have more features but for my purposes it can't be justified purchasing a copy

Scott · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 3:53 pm Post subject:

Scar · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 4:23 pm Post subject:

ha you said those are general complaints and nothing to worry about. the almost instantly put this thread down into the trash since our complaints are worth anything anyways, so whats the point?

And who are you to decide if our complaints are worthy or not? There is no point in this topic.

Any serious designer would not use Gimp, pure and simple, and im not going to point out my reasons since you linux people always think you're the most intelligent and clever and everyone else obviously are just retarded and don't matter. if you want to know what i'm talkin about just read the linux topics. ha.

For my light work i use Paint.Net Smile

but it wasnt made for linux so obviously you're going to be like "boo that crap", ha. Get wine man. Silly

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Rashy · Lifeless Person Joined: 25 Sep 2006 Posts: 680

Actually GIMP can easily be used for "serious" designing. I found it is much easier to create a concept layout in GIMP than in Photoshop. GIMP's tools for managing selections, cropping, and so forth are superb and put Photoshop's to shame. Maybe I am approaching web and print design incorrectly, but I find it works well for me.

What I would like to see in Gimp is more options and controls for brushes. The gradient tool is a little awkward to create and modify gradients with, but at least it is more usable than Inkscape Silly

To fix the gradient issue, instead of selecting a segment and then right clicking and choosing "Change Color of Left/Right" you simply clicked on a tab (left/right endpoint) and then choose your color from there. If you have a large number of endpoints this could simplify things quite a bit.
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linuxdoctor · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 4:56 pm Post subject:

Scott · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 5:18 pm Post subject:

drath · D Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 1699 Location: Canada

Okay, I haven't used Gimp in quite awhile, well ever since I got a copy of Photoshop CS, which at that time, Gimp was still fairly basic and didn't have a lot of things that came with CS. I did grab a copy of Gimp today just for this thread to compare it to CS 3, which by the way has the best interface ever, so I guess I'll start there.

CS3 interfaces on all Adobe programs have been minimalized, and all structured the same way from program to program. It's really a thing of beauty, everything is so compact now leaving just what you need in focus, or extended. It's kind of hard to explain, I think you might need to try it for yourself. The Gimp interface in comparison is huge, clunky, unintuitive in terms of "hidden" dialogs. This is a personal thing though, and can also be customized (most likely). So I won't make it an actual point against Gimp.

Working in the industry (Design/Web Design) Photoshop is the standard, anything else isn't acceptable in terms of cross-functionality with other outsources/clients. Sure Gimp has importing/exporting for PSD files, but it's not innately there, and there is some problems with text layers, style layers, vector smart objects, blending layers, only to name a very few. If an outsource/client needs a Photoshop PSD, they are going to need one that is completely versatile to editing, not a cheap export without any of the functionality built in. Again, this one is not so much the fault of Gimp, since it's not Photoshop. But for it to be brought up to that status it has to get the PSD importing/exporting perfect.

I guess maybe i'll list off a couple features that I use on a daily basis that I would not be able to get with Gimp:

Vector Support
Scratch Drives/Memory Management
Proof Setups/Gamut
Adjustment Layers
More Layer Modes (Blending)
Multiple Layer Selection/Editing
Layer Styles
Standardized Color Palettes Library
PDF Export
Actions
Advanced Perspective Editing
Advanced Raw Image Editing
HDR Support
Shapes

Another one to add to that list is the text tool. The text tool in Gimp is the saddest thing in the world. Come on... I don't even have to explain this one. Text editing like Gimp has belongs in like MS Paint.

Animation is also quite dated in the Gimp (in terms of GIF animation). Photoshop CS 3 now combines ImageReady inside it which makes it amazing for GIF export and animation. It also has many, many options for compression and the like.

Again, I might be mistaken on some points. I'm not an avid Gimp user. This probably isn't a very comprehensive listing either. I'm also not going to compare filters either, because it would take like 10 years and I don't really use them all that much anyways.
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Myst · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 8:01 pm Post subject:

I haven't mess with graphic design in a long, long time (and even when I did it was more just poking around than anything serious). Having never used Photoshop, I can't really make any comments about what GIMP needs, or what tools they need and stuff like that.

However, I can say that I really do not like the split windows in GIMP. I always have trouble trying to arrange all the windows so they are nicely tiled, so I can see as much as I possibly can of my picture. If I want to add or subtract another window, it's more messing around with the windows.

But yeah, as I said, I can't really say a lot about it, because I'm not a expert by any means.

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linuxdoctor · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:34 am Post subject:

LP-SolidRaven · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 10:59 am Post subject:

Actually, photoshop isn't that expensive with student licensing + ordering at the right time (extra x% off during certain times of the year).

Also the main problem with GIMP is where everything is located. photoshop has a logical menu structure that doesn't really require you to learn where everything is. For GIMP you'll probably need a manual though. On top of that photoshop has several features that GIMP doesn't have. Especially the lack of certain colour modes in GIMP. And where is vector support? Ironically, GIMP also takes longer to load than photoshop; Though you shouldn't try to run photoshop on a crappy computer. Especially with CS 3.
Another advantage of photoshop is the link with the other adobe software. And also Illustrator is a lot more advanced than Inkscape. Especially the precision of illustrator is a lot better.

Opensource image editors just can't compete with most commercial software (like photoshop and paintshop pro).
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linuxdoctor · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 3:36 pm Post subject:

This is not the thread for comparing Gimp to Photoshop, unless you're saying that you want Gimp to turn itself into Photoshop and then you'll be happy. Remember, Photoshop is a mature product while the Gimp is still under heavy development with both users and programming probably learning how to do a lot of things. The Photoshop development team went through all of that years ago; the Gimp team is learning as they go along.

The cool thing about Free Software is that both the programmer and the users work together to help make their product better. It is a collaboration between those who make it and those who use it. In that way both communities have ownership. In other words, the user is part of the project development team.

I want you guys to think of yourselves as just that. Think of yourselves as product testers. What do you like about the Gimp; what don't you like? What would you change and what would you add? Be as specific as you can. If any of you are graphics artists your input would be extremely valuable since you are the guys who know best how to use these things and you are the guys who help make Gimp into the top notch graphics package that it can be.

You don't get that kind of partnership with proprietary non-free software.
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Misanthrope: someone who realizes that humans really are as stupid as they appear.

If you think I'm 'politically' incorrect you have the wrong politics.

Scar · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:46 pm Post subject:

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