Gimp Download
Adobe Photoshop is probably the best image editing program on the market right now, and for $699, it better be. But what can you get for $0? Nothing most of the time, until GIMP entered the picture. GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program, a powerful and open source image editor originally created by UCLA students in 1995. For nothing, you can manipulate images, draw free form and even create animation with the GIMP download. No wonder it’s the darling of the open source crowd.
GIMP Download – Features
Like many freeware, GIMP download began as a student project. In 1995, Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis created GIMP at the University of California, Berkeley. While Photoshop was originally created for the Mac operating system, GIMP was developed for UNIX systems. Fast forward a few years, and GIMP expanded its platform to support Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. As of 2011, a team of volunteers under the GNOME project maintains and develops the GIMP software. Like Photoshop, GIMP has its own circle of dedicated fans and supporters who share tips and create GIMP artwork and tutorials.
For freeware, GIMP download packs a bundle of basic and advanced tools. We won’t list every single feature here, but you can expect painting, manipulation and animation functionalities. Some painting features include the brush, clone and pencil tools, gradient editor and custom brushes. For manipulation, you have the layers, channels, path tools, transform tools, selection tools and quickmask tools. And for users who want to go a step beyond basic, your animation arsenal includes MNG support, frame navigator, Bluebox, Onion Skin and much more.
GIMP vs. Adobe Photoshop
While GIMP can fill pages with its features list, Adobe Photoshop can probably fill an encyclopedia. GIMP developers themselves said that the GIMP free download was not designed to replace Photoshop. Many professional users will agree. If you work in print production, GIMP is still way behind with font handling and color support. That said, most casual users won’t need all Photoshop features, and GIMP download is perfectly capable of producing icons and images for web publishing.
Photoshop’s interface is clean and wins over GIMP’s cluttered work area. You do get two windows with GIMP, which can make editing quicker for some people. Eventually you will get stuck, whether in Photoshop or GIMP, so it helps to have solid documentation at your side. Both GIMP and Photoshop’s help guides are comprehensive, but GIMP’s is a lot less pretty.
We can go on comparing tool for tool, but it’s a foregone conclusion that Photoshop is better than GIMP in every area, simply because it took years of work by paid programmers to create a $699 powerhouse. But if you don’t have that kind of money, GIMP is a gold mine. It gets the job done, uses a tiny fraction of your computer resources and won’t cost you a penny. To safely download Gimp, simply click on the red giant button on top of this page to get the latest version of Gimp.
Basic Image Editing with GIMP Download
We’re still waiting for the day when image programs work as intuitively as working with pen and paper, and when you won’t need insider knowledge just to draw a perfect circle. In the meantime, expect a learning curve with every advanced image editing software, including GIMP download. It’s a good idea to take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the layout, tools, buttons and basic features.
The GIMP software comes with a help list; make sure to download the help files along with the application. In case you get stuck, you have something to consult. Another tip is to work with image copies, to save yourself a headache if you happen to ruin the original photo.
Two windows open when you edit a picture on GIMP. The picture window loads the image and the tool window shows all the tools you need to manipulate the image. This could take some getting used to if you are a longtime Photoshop nut. Launch GIMP and go to “File.” Click “Open” to load your picture. Note: GIMP supports most image files like JPEG, TIFF, EPS and even Photoshop formats
Let’s say you want to crop a picture of a dog. Select the “Rectangle Select” tool from the toolbar. Drag your mouse and draw a box around the dog or whatever area you want to keep. Next, select “Image” and go to “Crop to Selection” to crop the image. If you’ve made a mistake and want to redo the selection, just go to Edit>Undo and repeat the previous steps.
If you want to spruce up the picture with a text label, you need the “Text Tool” in the tools window. Selecting the Text Tool will display font, color, size and other properties in the window. Click the area in the picture where you want the text to appear. Enter your text in the box. The text will appear in the image when you close the box. You can then move this text around using the selection tool. Click File, Save to save your work.
