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GIMP – 2016 in review

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Re: GIMP – 2016 in review

#41

Post by pawadu »

Freak_NL wrote: post #22
pawadu wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inkscape on the other has started to show gradual decline in the UI department. For example every time you open a tool (the small dialogs on the right) all others will collapse. Since you normally jump back and forth between these tools during drawing you have to ask yourself what went on in their heads when they decided to make this change.

Have you tried using keyboard shortcuts to access the panels? I often switch between Layers , Align and Distribute , and Transform , but always use the keyboard shortcuts. Inkscape's UI is a point deserving of attention (the GIMP has a more elegant UI), but I can't say that I've found it to be in decline (on the contrary).

keyboard shortcuts have their place, but it is not a real solution here. Compare

    1. Press Ctrl+Shift+A on keyboard
    2. Select alignment mode with the mouse
    3. Press Ctrl+Shift+F on keyboard
    4. Change color with the mouse 
    5. Press Ctrl+Shift+L on keyboard
    6. Change current layer with the mouse
to

    1. Select alignment mode
    2. Change color
    3. Change current layer
The latter is fluid while the former feels artificially slowed down.

Re: GIMP – 2016 in review

#42

Post by woliveirajr »

dsego wrote: post #17

Why stick with such an old codebase? Wouldn't it just make sense to start a new Rust project with editable shaders. It could have an extensible, clean task-based interface, instead of the antiquated control room with lots of buttons and switches. Or maybe even a dispatcher/server with protocols to send graphic commands from UIs to different image processors.

I like this post about it: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-...

Re: GIMP – 2016 in review

#43

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

digi_owl wrote: post #40
coldtea wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even though I hear this quote ringing in my ear, and I can't seem to shake it, mainly because of who said it 1) Photoshop had a 10+ year head start and tons of patents. 2) Adobe can pay programmers to work on it as their main and sole focus. GIMP is stuffed by volunteers. 3) Adobe can pay programmers to work on boring parts. OSS programmers tend to navigate to the "glorious" and "fun" parts. 4) Adobe has extensive…

> 3) Adobe can pay programmers to work on boring parts. OSS programmers tend to navigate to the "glorious" and "fun" parts. Aka CADT...

Yes, but it's harder to judge volunteers who are only working at all because they enjoy doing so.

Re: GIMP – 2016 in review

#46

Post by krapp »

dsego wrote: post #17

Why stick with such an old codebase? Wouldn't it just make sense to start a new Rust project with editable shaders. It could have an extensible, clean task-based interface, instead of the antiquated control room with lots of buttons and switches. Or maybe even a dispatcher/server with protocols to send graphic commands from UIs to different image processors.

It's free software - so feel free to start your Rust fork whenever you like, and update us on your progress.

Re: GIMP – 2016 in review

#47

Post by skuzye »

pawadu wrote: post #23
odelomez wrote: post #18

You can help the maintainer and lead developer of GIMPs, Øyvind Kolås with a donation : https://www.patreon.com/pippin

Now I finally have a legit reason to join patreon. Thank you for reminding us! Are there any other FOSS developers on patreon?

The lead developer for Redox OS is on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/crowdfunding-os-7569975

Re: GIMP – 2016 in review

#48

Post by pawadu »

booli wrote: post #32
pawadu wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I finally have a legit reason to join patreon. Thank you for reminding us! Are there any other FOSS developers on patreon?

One of my favourite project is by Gina Häußge, creator and maintainer of OctoPrint. "OctoPrint is the snappy web interface for your 3D printer that allows you to control and monitor all aspects of your printer and print jobs, right from within any browser on your network."[0] https://www.patreon.com/foosel Disclaimer: I work closely with Gina on (open source) plugins for OctoPrint. [0] http://octoprint.org

I tought this was a very niche project but there are obviously enough people interested to pay Gina $5400 every month.

I assume even after patreon takes it cut (?) and German taxes she has enough money to live a comfortable life.

Re: GIMP – 2016 in review

#49

Post by exDM69 »

aarontyree wrote: post #8
janvdberg wrote: post #2

Great stuff. I'm looking forward to 2.10. GIMP is my tool when I want to edit photos or create Christmas cards. Even though I hear this quote ringing in my ear, and I can't seem to shake it, mainly because of who said it: "Yet I think that a few programs, such as Adobe Photoshop, will always be superior to competitors like the Gimp—for some reason, I really don’t know why! I’m quite willing to pay good money for real…

I wonder sometimes if the reason GIMP development doesn't surpass other options is simply not having enough developers, having a user base that is more art centered than programming centered, and having a somewhat bottlenecked development culture. These could just be perceptions. I am hoping that when the transition to GEGL is fully implemented, there will be an acceleration. Its hard to use it for serious work. The…

The same chicken-and-egg problem plagues all the open source creativity suites and other "professional" software (GIMP, Blender, Inkscape, etc): there aren't enough artists, photographers, etc using it and contributing to it to make it competitive, and there will be no new users as long as the development (with user friendliness in mind) is stagnant.

The pool of programming-capable professional artists isn't very large in the first place and I can't blame them for focusing on their jobs and deadlines instead of developing the software they use.

That said, I have no sympathy for people who complain about the issues but do not contribute in any way. Being rude and mean to the developers doesn't help anyone, go ahead and use the commercial alternatives and shut up.

Re: GIMP – 2016 in review

#50

Post by exDM69 »

mkohlmyr wrote: post #12
aarontyree wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder sometimes if the reason GIMP development doesn't surpass other options is simply not having enough developers, having a user base that is more art centered than programming centered, and having a somewhat bottlenecked development culture. These could just be perceptions. I am hoping that when the transition to GEGL is fully implemented, there will be an acceleration. Its hard to use it for serious work. The…

I don't know, as someone who moved from GIMP to Photoshop a long time ago I never saw that as being the reason it was/is(in my opinion) inferior. It has plenty of features - more than enough. What it never had was as good of a user interface and user experience. It always felt clunky and awkward by comparison. If I were to give them one additional project member it wouldn't be a developer. It would be a product owner…

> It would be a product owner who uses Photoshop daily.

But no-one sings praise to the Photoshop UI either, I've heard numerous complaints about it getting worse and worse all the time. It's a matter of people being used to PS and not willing to change.

There was a project earlier which had a Photoshop-clone UI for GIMP (called GimpShop or something), but it didn't magically solve all the issues. These days core GIMP has a single window interface available.

I've personally never had an issue with GIMP's UI after I grokked some of the basic concepts (e.g. "make selection and flood fill" - not "draw rectangle"). I see the lack of non-destructive editing and (historically) bad color management as a bigger issue.

I'm sure GIMP would accept UI-related contributions but the list of volunteers is short.

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