GIMP
GIMP is a (free) open source software program that gives you most of the functionality of PhotoShop, without the gigantic price tag. Cool, huh?
To preface this review, I’m not a professional artist, or editor, or anything like that. I am simply a hobbyist that enjoys touching up or occasionally manipulating a photo. A few of my friends appreciate these talents when they need something done to a picture, and I’m really not too bad at doing the small things. The simple tool set is all I really need to do the things that I do. And those simple tasks are what I’m basing the review on.
All of the really cool stuff? Well, I haven’t totally figured all that out yet. Probably could if I put the time and effort into it, but the need for that knowledge hasn’t presented itself yet. GIMP is very capable of doing all kinds of things though, I’ve seen beautiful examples from some very talented digital artists. With the base program, and then taking advantage of the large library of plug-ins built around it, I’m sure you could replicate just about anything PhotoShop can do. For free. God, I love that ‘f’ word.
GIMP is a staple in the open source software community, coming bundled with most of the major Linux distributions. Don’t let that word ‘Linux’ scare you though, and make you think you’ve gotten excited about this awesome (free!) program for nothing; Windows and Mac OSX versions are available (and well supported) as well. Even works with Vista! That’s a miracle all it’s own.
I say give this a shot, even if it’s just to kill a little time one day. It’s very addicting once you figure out all the little widgets. GIMP has a learning curve, but anything worth using always does. Comment back with links to some of your creations!
–Jeremy Hobbs
software, digital art, open source, photoshop
December 21st, 2007 at 11:46 pm
I would suggest looking up this term “GIMP” at urbandictionary.com
Secondly, is this an inside joke?
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Admittedly a weird name, but great software. No inside jokes…
December 30th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
How about looking up what GIMP stands for?
GNU Image Manipulation Program
December 31st, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Thanks Andrew, I was aware that GIMP was an acronym. ‘homework’ is a friend that knows I’m disabled, and not sensitive about it.
Your comment is very much appreciated though, definitely adds value to the post. I hope you’ll stay around and comment frequently!
–Jeremy Hobbs
January 21st, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Running Linux, I don’t have the option for photoshop. If they cleaned up the interface, GIMP would be an amazing piece of enterprise software equivocal to Adobe products.
Also, thanks for reviewing open-source software lately!
January 21st, 2008 at 8:45 pm
I love open source; it’s the future.