I feel like it would be helpful to include the text of their post rather than just the title:
TL;DR Sorry if this is wrong group. GIMP = Epic POS. Do not use. Please recommend a decent alternative. Don't waste your time with GIMP help because I am done.
I hope the mods or the bots don't kill this post right away. It's a serious and legitimate question from a UX designer with several decades of experience, who doesn't want anyone else to suffer what I have. I didn't know where else to post it, so I'm trying here as a first-timer. I apologize if this is not in the spirit of the group.
I quit Adobe, can't afford the price any more (long story). I thought GIMP could replace Photoshop. But the user interface is horrible, and the app is full o' bugs.
Here's the straw that broke the camel's back.
I tried to make a meme. The font selection overlay was a tiny, pathetic, hard to read joke. Not even a font selection dropdown, let alone one that provided previews with every line item like PS does. Deep breath, continue. I type "Impact". Red text. I backspaced and typed "Im". All I got was Impact Condensed. (Yes, I have Impact, and have used it in PS). So I picked it anyway. Then I tried to find the outline font feature. In Photoshop, it's a simple "choose stroke" feature. GIMP? Hello?
I want to the Web to find a tutorial where it pointed out the feature. No luck. Searched again to find a workaround / hack. Mostly crap. Found one that was current and seemed decent. Followed it carefully. GIMP crashed.
While I appreciate the thoughts of anyone who may be compelled to point out a simple workaround or feature that I missed, don't bother. This is the last of many dozens of problems I have wasted my time working around while suffering many crashes, and I already uninstalled it.
So. Recommendations?
I think it’s also worth giving the correction that there is a font selection dropdown with previews in GIMP. It’s to the left of the font input box.
Just run photoshop on linux.
I don't understand why nobody ever mentions that it just works.
many such cases. good to call it out, and needs to happen more often and consistently as toxicity is the #1 barrier to the “year of the Linux desktop” in my experience
edit: also https://krita.org/
To be fair
- GIMP is really good
- GIMP is hella complex to use
For example there was a (now enshittified) tool on Android called "image attacher" or something, for making a long image from 2.
This is probably also pretty easy with some CLI tool.
I actually took the time to learn "how do I attach 2 images together" in GIMP.
Or "how do I create a textmarker".
And the stuff works, but its just very complex.
attach 2 images
- Open 1 image
- "open" "open as another layer" the second image
- your canvas is as big as the first image. Guess how big it has to be when fitting them next to each other
- know that there is a difference between "layer surface" and "canvas" for whatever reason
- in the menubar, find the canvas options
- find where to resize the canvas and make it bigger
- click on the surface layer of the other image and move it so it fits where you want it
- use "merge downwards" to make the 2 layer one. BE CAREFUL TO NOT USE ANY IMAGE PARTS
- use the crop tool
- crop the new combined images to the wanted size
This is sooo manual and seems very hacky. The difference between canvas and layer make no sense to me. The enlargement is "eyeballing". The cropping too. There is no snapping when placing next to each other. There is no "dynamically increase canvas size" option afafaik.
text marker / highlighter
Something with brush, make it bigger, yellow, reduce the opaqueness, change the paint mode to "only make darker"
GIMP is like using
catawkandtailto write an office document lol. It works but it is damn technical.But if you know how to do it, you know how to do it.
I've tried using GIMP and it absolutely sucks and I wish there was a good paint.net replacement.
Something I found about a lot of open source projects is that the UI is always terrible
I recently started having the bug again where Gimp crashes when changing text color. Apparently related to Wayland, but I can't change back to xorg just for gimp. Extremely frustrating as I've had that bug half a year ago, then it went away and now its here again.
Anyway, Krita and Photopea are pretty good replacements. Handling Text in Krita is horrible and working in a WebApp with Photopea is weird, but overall still better than crashing...
Jesus have my expectations for Linux software fallen over the years.
Linux users try not to be Apple fanboys but replace popular Apple product with popular Linux product challenge (impossible)
I use Pinta. It's kinda like the Linux paint.net. Not too many features it's overwhelming, but just enough to do basic stuff.
I kind of agree. I'm not a pro but I've been using gimp to do little bits of editing (mostly to make slack emojis and memes) for a few years, and I constantly encounter little things that seem like they should be simple and intuitive, but are not.
I haven't used Photoshop in over a decade, but I feel like I rarely felt the same frustration regarding basic tasks.
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Online forums have not changed since the dawn of the online forum. Tho. Just look at any online forum (and dare I say a Lemmy forum). Same shit, different decade or even century or millenium! Just look at me. I'm drunk and bored and playing with my phone while watching crappy movies. Only time i turn to an online forum. Because i know better.
Gimp isn't perfect. But neither is Photoshop. In fact Lightroom users grizzle that Photoshop is so much harder to use than Lightroom. It's a different animal.
I use Pinta or Paint.Net when I want a quick edit. But Gimp has the tools for serious editing. More tools, more hard to use.
Some Gimp things, yes! should be improved. And other things are being improved as we speak. And some things can be done on a photo much easier in Inkscape.
I hope the whiners donated to Gimp development? No? Then just please step back, and think for a bit. If thinking is too hard, then just take a deep breath.
Wow! I have been looking for gimp alternatives or specific ways of doing things on gimp, compared to photoshop and most answers have been very honest and helpful!
Even gimp development team are open for suggestions but won't consider them before releasing version 3 that should release 'very soon'
Local schools are offering "image editing" courses, which is always just learning how to use Photoshop. They are 4 3-month courses. People just need to accept they think Photoshop is easy because they've using it for so long and they're used to it.
Good news is that since recently they also offer the courses with GIMP.
it's accurate though.
The amount of PS users i see trying gimp for all of about 2 seconds and then shitting themselves when it isn't exactly the same as PS is funny to me.
There are important technological differences i suppose, but i rarely see people complain about that.
GIMP is a monster, as is PS. There is no getting around it.
Photopea dot Com is pretty solid and it's a website not a download. Has good complexities for the non profesional that wants to do more but doesn't need or want photoshop.
The amount of times I see, "Have you tried just googling it?" As a response to a tech issue is too damn high.
The best part is seeing those answers in threads that I got to by googling my question.
"Thank you for your helpful advise of 'just Google it' I've now found dozens of threads with that exact same answer to the question I have."
Krita
I honestly think it's unfair to judge someone for not putting significant time into learning another complex program. I've used Photoshop since it first existed, and it's basically a lifetime of knowledge. A combination of things has brought me to exploring other open source solutions, but GIMP is definitely unintuitive in comparison. I'm only putting the time in because there's literally no alternative that's as powerful and ubiquitous an image editing solution, but I'd also be the first to jump on alternatives that would make the transition easier. It's especially not fair to cast that judgement on professionals who don't really have the time to invest in learning a new tool from scratch.
A person shows up in a room full of random people. Punches one in the face and starts swinging at everyone else. People instinctively start to defend themselves and, as they are more numerous, overwhelm and badly wound the instigator. OP walks into the room, "everyone in this room is so violent, look everyone, they are so violent". People outside the room hearing OP, "yeah, I bet anyone like them is just as violent".
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Dinosaur here.
Windows Paint, as it was back in 9x? Totally my jam. Between that and Irfanview for access to resizing and filter features Paint didn't have, I could get a surprising amount done.
But then they updated Paint to have more advanced abilities and I had no idea how to do things any more.
I've tried Krita recently, but I felt lost. I think I need to attend a course or watch some videos on layers and the brushes and everything like that. It isn't intuitive at all. None of the advanced graphics programs are.
Old Paint? You didn't need a how-to or a course. It was one layer. No overwhelming number of tools and options. You wanted another layer? You opened another Paint window.
You wanted anti-aliasing? You drew things two or four times the size then used something like Irfanview to shrink it down when you were done.
Damn kids get off my etc.
Oh, vim community became gimp community.
IMHO part of the issue seems to be the question without any context. I believe people would be more helpful if they had explained what they wanted to do and how GIMP wasn’t the right tool for that specific task. It’s what would make me ignore the question (not scold people, no need).
I'm annoyed no one ever bothers to mention this:
Ah, the elitist GIMP crowd. The most toxic OSS community. Those are the same people who won’t do any gaming on Linux because they refuse to install proprietary software. They’re all sweaty middle-aged men with unwashed asses, neck hair thicker than their chest hair, and an allergy to women who are allowed to speak.
Least toxic Linux thread
Yeah I have an alternative to gimp
Photopea
Lazpaint
Pinta
Krita
Asesprite
It's just bots being bots
My problem with gimp is that I've never really used Photoshop (I may have back in it's very early versions, but I don't think so). I mostly just use something like Ms paint to take and crop screenshots or photos. Jumping into gimp (and presumably PS as well) is going to confuse people trying to do that.
I still don't know how to use gimp just because I never need all that functionality and don't have time to learn. Maybe someday.
I dunno if it was you asking the question or not but ^^;; if you want some decent replacements for gimp I recommend krita, it's more Photoshop like and honestly it's my go-to however there is also photopea which is a browser editor that I heard is actually pretty good, and if you're on Mac or Windows (if so I dunno why you'd post here XD) I recommend the Affinity suit, it's cheaper than Photoshop and it's a one time payment instead of a subscription.
Kolourpaint is exactly like mspaint but on linux. It's perfect for everything from simple to intermediate tasks
Windows paint is actually better. Maybe that's why they banned his account
GIMP needs more macros to do basic things. Like dont add more tools, but have a button "textmarker" that automatically selects all the things.
Is this possible via plugins?
This is just like documentation 2.0
GIMP is already a suitable requirement
Oh buddy, if you think that is toxic, you might not want to keep going on the internet.
Let this be a lesson and next time just spend 5 to 10 minutes browsing alternativeto.net or Wikipedia's list of image editors yourself.
