GIMP
Raster image editor.
Developer: The GIMP Team
License: GPL
Web: http://gimp.org
Features
The GIMP is a raster image editor like the commercial alternative Adobe Photoshop. It uses opensource X server, the base of Linux graphical interface, and it's own user interface GTK, which is acronym for the GIMP Toolkit. Thanks to GTK it will run on KDE, GNOME and many other desktops.
- Full suite of painting tools,
- Large number of graphic effects,
- Support for GIF, JPEG, PNG, XPM, TIFF, TGA, MPEG, PS, PDF, PCX, BMP and many others,
- A procedural database for calling internal GIMP functions from external programs (Script-Fu),
- Advanced scripting capabilities,
- Modular architecture with plug-ins that allow for the easy addition of new file formats and new effect filters.
Longer list you can find in Features and Capabilities section of GIMP documentation.
What can I do with GIMP
You can edit existing images, like your photos, or create new artwork. It integrates a lot of filters and graphic effects that simplify the creation and editing of images. It is powerful, but not a magic stick. Don't expect that it will retouch scratches or remove red eyes in your photos with a touch of the button, it is not that kind of program. It compares to a professional image editing tool, that can be used on the spot, but to show true power one has to learn different aspects of digital imaging and how GIMP can be used to create and manipulate them.
Growing use and popularity
GIMP had a slow adoption for many years and was mostly used on Linux operating systems only due to compatibility issues of mainstream softwares and Linux's philosophy of supporting only open source options on its Linux distributions. Due to the growing capabilities of GIMP and its known use by artists and various developers, the software has continued to grow in popularity. In 2015, for the first time, GIMP was used to create all of the art in a published video game, called Lucas the Game by Timothy Courtney. Lucas the Game was made popular when it was published in July 2015 and then mass distributed in the Groupees Psychic Pixel Party Bundle alongside other video games such as Synonymy (narrated by Richard Dawkins), Subterrarium, Hypercronius, Sword Of The Samurai, and Pixel Poetry: A Film About Games, Art, Society, and Culture. In 2015, Courtney wrote about the development of the Lucas the Game and his use of GIMP to make all of the art. Events like this contributed to the widespread growing knowledge of GIMP's capabilities in large and professional projects. As more artists and developers learned of other uses by GIMP, they also became more willing to start using GIMP as opposed to the then ubiquitously used Adobe Photoshop.
How to contribute
- Publish your artwork related to GIMP by linking it in the GIMP Gallery with short description of the idea.
- Create or edit picture and publish detailed explanation of the procedure in GIMP by Example as help to new GIMP users.
- Write script or plug-in that will automate some image creation or editing process and publish link to it in the GIMP Scripts.
The size, complexity and number of colors, is not important, the idea is what makes a picture shine and attract visitor to come again.
See also
- ImageMagick the suite of tools and libraries for image manipulation.
- Other Imaging Programs
External links
- Official web site
- GIMP Plugin Registry a repository of extensions for GIMP.
- GIMP tutorials for everyone direct from source.
- GIMP tools for artists from the gimp.org.
- GIMP wiki Wilber's Wiki !
- gimptalk.com is all about The GIMP.
- GIMP User Group
- pixel2life.com site is all about computer graphic. This is what they have about GIMP.