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Anybody using Gimp?

oblomow

oblomow

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Apr 14, 2005
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Just wondering. I see a lot of people mentioning that they use Photoshop, but are people also using Gimp on their macs? It is powerful, but I find the interface still clumsy. (although this is supposed to be a feature, not a bug).

And if you use it, what do you use it for? I use it mainly for simple cropping tasks, some sharpening. What do you people use it for when editing photo's?
 
sjpetry

sjpetry

macrumors 65816
Oct 28, 2004
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oblomow said:
What do you people use it for when editing photo's?
Click to expand...
You People, You People! How dare you, I'm outraged!:eek: :p

I used Gimp for a couple weeks then gave in and got PhotoShop CS. I found it very awkward to use for most things.
 
benthewraith

benthewraith

macrumors 68040
May 27, 2006
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Fort Lauderdale, FL
oblomow said:
Just wondering. I see a lot of people mentioning that they use Photoshop, but are people also using Gimp on their macs? It is powerful, but I find the interface still clumsy. (although this is supposed to be a feature, not a bug).

And if you use it, what do you use it for? I use it mainly for simple cropping tasks, some sharpening. What do you people use it for when editing photo's?
Click to expand...

GimpShop person here. I have high expectations of the Open source community, and it wouldn't surprise me if it surpassed Photoshop CS2 down the road.
 
oblomow

oblomow

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sjpetry said:
You People, You People! How dare you, I'm outraged!:eek: :p
Click to expand...
I am sorry if I undeliberately insulted you (people). If I wanted to insult you,
I would really want to know it. And yes, english is not my native language... :)
 
~Shard~

~Shard~

macrumors P6
Jun 4, 2003
18,377
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I was introduced to GIMP by a fellow MR member here when asking about how to easily make/modify my own avatars. I have him to thank for my "hackintosh" tars as a result. :) :cool:
 
oblomow

oblomow

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~Shard~ said:
I was introduced to GIMP by a fellow MR member here when asking about how to easily make/modify my own avatars. I have him to thank for my "hackintosh" tars as a result. :) :cool:
Click to expand...

That's some nice gimp work. But do you use it to edit photo's as well?
 
CANEHDN

CANEHDN

macrumors 6502a
Dec 12, 2005
855
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Eagle Mountain, UT
I use Photoshop at work and need something for my home computer. I tried Gimp and also found it awkward to use. I'm not a fan of using X11 Windowing. I prefer having programs written specifically for OS X. You can always try it and delete it if you don't like it.
 
iBookG4user

iBookG4user

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Jun 27, 2006
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Seattle, WA
I've never touched GIMP because I know the Photoshop interface and where everything is in it. I've taken a class in photoshop and that's what I used since then, I didn't do any picture editing before that so I don't have any experience with anything other than photoshop.
 
L

Lebowski

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2005
342
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Phoenix, AZ
you didnt say anything wrong.....


i just think its cute that you think gimp will surpass PS.


sorry, ive been using PS since 3.0, and work in the photo industry. Its not going away. trust me.
 
C

cookie1105

macrumors 6502
Mar 27, 2006
426
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London, UK
I got really into gimpshop for a little while. I found it just as easy to use as PSCS but I didn't like what it was doing to my photos e.g. the unsharp mask was rougher than PS. Maybe it was my being overly sensitive but I changed back to PS.
 
steamboat26

steamboat26

macrumors 65816
May 25, 2006
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Arlington VA
I use gimp because i am too cheap to buy photoshop :cool:
I only really using for simple editing (removing stupid date and time stamps on my pictures), and to create poorly rendered art
 
L

Lebowski

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2005
342
0
Phoenix, AZ
steamboat26 said:
I use gimp because i am too cheap to buy photoshop :cool:
I only really using for simple editing (removing stupid date and time stamps on my pictures), and to create poorly rendered art
Click to expand...


why dont you turn off the time stamp function on your camera?
 
Erin

Erin

macrumors newbie
Jul 4, 2006
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I am also one among the MR crowd that uses the GIMP. I find it quite an excellent program, though I do wish I had the money for Photoshop. But in the meantime, I create all my graphics (such as avatars, banners and the like) and edit photos using the GIMP, mainly changing them to black and white or random colors.

Of course, I'm doing all of this on my XP, as I own no mac at the moment. I can assure you, though, that when I get one I will install the GIMP on it, too. (GIMP on a PC is no different from GIMP on a mac, from what I've seen.)
 
Abstract

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Dec 27, 2002
24,837
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Lebowski said:
why dont you turn off the time stamp function on your camera?
Click to expand...

Stop using logic! Geez, you people think you're sooooo smart.

Erin said:
But in the meantime, I create all my graphics (such as avatars, banners and the like) and edit photos using the GIMP, mainly changing them to black and white or random colors.
Click to expand...

Well since my MacBook didn't come with GraphicConverter (which I loved on my PowerBook), I installed Seashore (which is like GIMP, but has very few features and is native to Mac) and do some basic editing there if iPhoto doesn't offer me what I want.

But since it's too basic, I thought about installing GIMP, but I didn't want to bother with X11.

Maybe I should just reinstall my PhotoShop CS1. :p I'm trying to resist, but what else is there?
 
iMeowbot

iMeowbot

macrumors G3
Aug 30, 2003
8,634
0
cookie1105 said:
I got really into gimpshop for a little while. I found it just as easy to use as PSCS but I didn't like what it was doing to my photos e.g. the unsharp mask was rougher than PS. Maybe it was my being overly sensitive but I changed back to PS.
Click to expand...
That's about the best reason to pick one over the other that I've seen yet. If the filters don't produce the results you want, none of the arguments about cost, licensing or user interface really matter.
 
oblomow

oblomow

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iMeowbot said:
That's about the best reason to pick one over the other that I've seen yet. If the filters don't produce the results you want, none of the arguments about cost, licensing or user interface really matter.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the replies.
If the filter argument is true it might be a good idea for me to try PS some time. Perhaps I would use more features then, than just simple cropping. I do occasionally use GraphicConverter, forgot to mention that. As ugly as a swiss
knife, but with as much features and tools.
 
C

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,578
1,694
Redondo Beach, California
oblomow said:
Just wondering. I see a lot of people mentioning that they use Photoshop, but are people also using Gimp on their macs? It is powerful, but I find the interface still clumsy. (although this is supposed to be a feature, not a bug).

And if you use it, what do you use it for? I use it mainly for simple cropping tasks, some sharpening. What do you people use it for when editing photo's?
Click to expand...

I can understand why some people think Gimp is complicated to use. It has endless features and is "way overkill" if all you need to do is sharpen, adjust the color and crop. For that use iPhoto. But lets say you think it is silly to "sharpen" blank areas of a blank blue sky and you only want to sharpen the areas of the photo that matter and maybe you'd like to blur the sky so as to reduce noise and maybe you want to de-saturate the background and blur it a bit too. All these things are very fast with gimp

I can't understand way "Macintosh people" say they like Photoshop's user interface. It's a mess. OK after years of use it seems natural.

One other thing about Gimp. It runs native on an Intel Mac. PS runs under Roseta and it slower.
 
R

RacerX

macrumors 65832
Aug 2, 2004
1,504
4
While I think Gimp is a great application, I would never use it on a Mac. I have it on both my SGI and Sun systems, and Gimp is way better than Photoshop 3.0.1 (the newest version of Photoshop for my SGI).

I really think that X11 has been an easy out for some developers. It has given them the ability to ignore the Mac and still say "will it does run on Macs". Yeah, it runs on Macs, but then again so do Windows apps in VirtualPC or Parallels... but that doesn't make those Mac apps.

When looking at open source projects I see a number of different levels of commitment. You have both Gimp and OpenOffice which basically would just as soon spit on the Mac as look at it (neither SeaShore nor NeoOffice are part of the main development communities of Gimp and OpenOffice). And then you have projects like AbiSource and Mozilla who make an honest attempt at making Mac versions of their apps.

While neither AbiWord nor Firefox are going to replace TextEdit and OmniWeb for me, I consider those two communities to be putting the Mac platform on an equal footing with other platforms they support. But I would rather pay for Photoshop or TIFFany3 Professional (both of which I own), or use free apps like ToyViewer and PixelNhance (both of which I use), than use Gimp in X11.

I have said that I felt that both AbiWord and Firefox are only as good as they are on the worst platform on which they run. And that rather than taking advantage of what makes the Mac great, they follow a least common denominator development plan.

As someone who wants to see apps take full advantage of Mac OS X, I've said the same thing about most Carbon apps (Carbon apps tend to have few true advantages over their original Mac OS versions in Mac OS X). But That doesn't mean that I don't respect the fact that the least common denominator development plan puts the Mac at an equal level with all other platforms... which is way better than being an after thought like we are with both the Gimp and OpenOffice communities.

On other platforms Gimp and OpenOffice are great apps. I've been using Gimp since 1999 on my SGIs and have loved it! But running Gimp or OpenOffice in X11 on a Mac is like running Windows apps in VirtualPC/Parallels/Wine on a Mac. If you let developers off the hook by saying that those environments are good enough, more developers are going to stop making any effort to make real Mac apps.

In software development the squeaky wheel adage is really true. The Mac has survived as long as it has by Mac users not settling for less. By saying that it is okay to run Gimp and OpenOffice in X11, it is telling those communities that we are willing to settle for less... which means they'll not put any additional resources into making true Mac versions of either of those.

All I'm saying is don't reward Gimp (or OpenOffice for that matter) for their lack of efforts towards our platform of choice.
 
Abstract

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Dec 27, 2002
24,837
850
Location Location Location
RacerX said:
While I think Gimp is a great application, I would never use it on a Mac. I have it on both my SGI and Sun systems, and Gimp is way better than Photoshop 3.0.1 (the newest version of Photoshop for my SGI).

I really think that X11 has been an easy out for some developers. It has given them the ability to ignore the Mac and still say "will it does run on Macs". Yeah, it runs on Macs, but then again so do Windows apps in VirtualPC or Parallels... but that doesn't make those Mac apps.

When looking at open source projects I see a number of different levels of commitment. You have both Gimp and OpenOffice which basically would just as soon spit on the Mac as look at it (neither SeaShore nor NeoOffice are part of the main development communities of Gimp and OpenOffice). And then you have projects like AbiSource and Mozilla who make an honest attempt at making Mac versions of their apps.

While neither AbiWord nor Firefox are going to replace TextEdit and OmniWeb for me, I consider those two communities to be putting the Mac platform on an equal footing with other platforms they support. But I would rather pay for Photoshop or TIFFany3 Professional (both of which I own), or use free apps like ToyViewer and PixelNhance (both of which I use), than use Gimp in X11.

I have said that I felt that both AbiWord and Firefox are only as good as they are on the worst platform on which they run. And that rather than taking advantage of what makes the Mac great, they follow a least common denominator development plan.

As someone who wants to see apps take full advantage of Mac OS X, I've said the same thing about most Carbon apps (Carbon apps tend to have few true advantages over their original Mac OS versions in Mac OS X). But That doesn't mean that I don't respect the fact that the least common denominator development plan puts the Mac at an equal level with all other platforms... which is way better than being an after thought like we are with both the Gimp and OpenOffice communities.

On other platforms Gimp and OpenOffice are great apps. I've been using Gimp since 1999 on my SGIs and have loved it! But running Gimp or OpenOffice in X11 on a Mac is like running Windows apps in VirtualPC/Parallels/Wine on a Mac. If you let developers off the hook by saying that those environments are good enough, more developers are going to stop making any effort to make real Mac apps.

In software development the squeaky wheel adage is really true. The Mac has survived as long as it has by Mac users not settling for less. By saying that it is okay to run Gimp and OpenOffice in X11, it is telling those communities that we are willing to settle for less... which means they'll not put any additional resources into making true Mac versions of either of those.

All I'm saying is don't reward Gimp (or OpenOffice for that matter) for their lack of efforts towards our platform of choice.
Click to expand...

Because of your post, I was curious about Toyviewer and PixelNhance, since they were free and sounded interesting. Toyviewer is still around, and PixelNhance isn't available anymore because the company who made this freeware went under. However, I somehow managed to get a copy of it, and it's pretty amazing, so thanks. ;)
 
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