Free photo program - GIMP

[Gman]

I've heard GIMP is a free photo editing program similar to Photoshop but free.

Anyone have experience with it?

[trophyofgrace]

I've used it before, and it is very similar to Photoshop in that it is extremely difficult to get the hang of out of the box.

I'd recommend using Gimpshop instead of plain GIMP. The reason is GIMP is a Linux application ported over to Windows; the user interface is wonky and doesn't blend well. It's very difficult to understand since the metaphors used in Linux don't work in Windows. Gimpshop does two things: first, it makes GIMP look decent in Windows. Then, it rearranges GIMP around so it works and looks a lot like Photoshop. This is important because a lot of Photoshop tutorials online will be completely usable on Gimpshop; it's engineered to look and work almost just like Photoshop in practical usage.

Here's the link to Gimpshop: http://www.gimpshop.com/download.shtml

[Gman]

Followed your link and could not get the gimpshop to work.
Uninstalled the gimpshop and installed gimp.  It works fine.
Now I'll have to figure it out.


I know someone else who couldn't get gimpshop to work either.  I wonder what's wrong.  Kept getting error boxes.

[trophyofgrace]

GMan,

Looking more closely, it looks like Gimpshop has been abandoned. It was an excellent idea, but I guess those involved didn't have the time to work on it like it probably deserved.

All the same, Gimp is a great program. I wish it were easier to use, but for free I guess you really can't complain, especially considering the alternative ($600+ Photoshop).

What do you normally need to do in Gimp, GMan? Irfanview is a simple program that can convert images, crop, resize, etc. It's free and I love it because it's easy to use and is very fast.

[Gman]

I have an old version of Paint Shop Pro (version 6).  Paid $99.00 for it and love it but I know Photo Shop can do more so I thought it would be cool to have Gimp because I heard it can do the same stuff as Photo Shop.

In the past I've made animated gifs, wallpapers, my banner, graphics, my little picture to the left,  etc. for my site using Paint Shop Pro.  That's actually me playing the guitar in my banner : )



Is Irfanview the same or better than Paint Shop Pro?

The internet is all about FREE.  I spend nothing & provide free info. to others.  That's what it's all about.
Paint Shop Pro is the only program I've ever bought.

I would also like to learn Flash.  Is there a free way to get it and learn it or another program like it?

[ddombrow]

I'll pass along that if you're on windows and need a free image editor my favorite recently is Paint.Net

http://www.getpaint.net/

I've found it to be fairly serviceable.

[johnathanamber]

I'll 2nd Paint.Net... this is an awesome program.

The addons are also free, which you can get from their forum, they also give examples and tutorials.

Also, as an added bonus, they also have various file formats that you can addon... like PSD files... yes you can now freely edit and create PSD files with Paint.Net.

God bless,
Johnathan