Does anyone use the image editing program "The Gimp"? How does it...

[6th Borough]

...compare to Photoshop? I've just DL'ed 2.2.? for WinXP; I don't have the clams to shell out for Photoshop.

Any experiences, comparisons...etc? Good plug-ins? (I also DL'ed an animated .GIF creator/editor plug-in)

[benburch]

1. I use it all the time.

Not as fast as Photoshop, but I've not found anything I couldn't do with it. Then again, my demands on it are modest. I used to do everything with an ancient Mac program called "Color It!" that I bought for $5 during a promotion years ago.

[salvorhardin]

2. The GIMP is great

I use it all the time as well. While it is extremely capable, don't expect it to be Photoshop. It's quite feature rich, and extensible through plugins but it doesn't have a few things professionals require -- most notably greater-than 24 bit color support nor does it have professional color space management. The GIMP is not the tool to use if you need to go to press with your image. Also, the GIMP does not work very well with editing large images (the kind you would be working on if you were going to press :-) ). All in all though a great tool.

I would recommend the (free online) book Grokking the GIMP to get started. It's a little old but an excellent reference with a lot of practical advice.
http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK

There's also a list of useful tutorials on gimp.org.
http://www.gimp.org/tutorials

[6th Borough]

3. Thanks for the links! Quick question...

Is it...err...capable enough to compete with l33t Photoshoppers in Fark contests?

Not that I DL'ed it for that purpose, of course...:dunce:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

4. depends on your skill and patience level... but, yes, I imagine some of

the doodz there use it

[salvorhardin]

5. Most defintely!

Work through Grokking the Gimp to get a good feel for how things work and then go from there.

For many people, once they get their heads around it, they end up preferring the way the GIMP works.

[fit4life]

6. Some other programs to try...

You might take a look at Paint Shop Pro ($103)(http://www.jasc.com) or PhotoImpact ($89) (http://www.ulead.com). They're both good programs. I use them in addition to Photoshop and their features match up with Photoshop pretty well. I would daresay PhotoImpact is even easier to use than Photoshop. The text effects in PhotoImpact are easer, that's for sure.