GIMP
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Took the picture right out of my mind!!
I use an image editor called "Pixelmator" for the majority of my work. But it's Mac-only.
You could try "Paint.net", which is very good, and works with Windows only. And it's free. GIMP is okay, but it has a really steep curve (like Blender). The bottom line is though, there is nothing to beat Photoshop really
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I would second Paint.NET. It may not have all of the ability that PS has, it seems to be quite capable and the interface is straight-forward. I use it instead of PS often just because it opens much faster.
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not heard of paint.net...il have a look cheers
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Other way around is the same - from GIMP to Photoshop! Or from Blender to MAX. Or from Socialism to Capitalism and "Democracy"! It is very simple - give Gimp the same amount of time as your other editor and then compare! There are a lot of complaints about SketchUP to be clunky from power Max users.
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I actually hated Gimp - at least as much as you disliked it at the first moment.
Then after some months I had to use it by lack of alternatives and actually - if you give it a try - you can learn to use it as efficient as any commercial program. When I return sometimes to the program that I had used before (PaintShop Pro) I feel it lacks many tools that I am now used to.Paint.Net is also a good program.
If you really want to use Gimp, I recommend that you take an hour to go through all settings and preferences. Then you will feel immediately more comfortable than trying to learn the default settings for weeks. Change the settings to what you are used to or what you think is reasonable.
Change the mouse wheel to zoom instead of scroll. Then set up the toolbox, window positions, brushes and save it as default in preferences->window management and preferences->toolbox settings.We cannot compare it with commercial programs, especially the development is slower than I would like. Selections behave very different. The menus are still a bit bloated. The flying windows issue will be solved in GIMP2.8 (2011). I felt that many tools are more powerfull, they combine what other programs need several tools for.
And all shortcuts follow a quite reasonable principle:
select all: ctrl+A
clear selection: ctrl+A+shift (SketchUp: ctrl+T, PSP: ctrl+D...) -
I'm a fan of GIMP. And Inkscape. With both of them, the learning curve is a bit steep.
Paint.net is great, I use it daily, but it's not really an alternative to GIMP or PS, if you're using anything beyond the very most basic tools.
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Hey Dan, I too like GIMP but haven't spent the time learning it properly.... It gets me by with what I want it for. I'm hoping the UI gets a little easier to handle in the next release though.
I guess I can't complain; it is free.
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cool, dedmin.....Ta.
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Hi,
With the last dev version, GIMP 2.7.1, There's an option that enable "single window mode"...no more floating pannels...I definitly gave up PS for this version of Gimp.
Cheers.
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Hi Panga and thanks for the tip! I downloaded it and I like it (although unfortunately it does not save this state of the window on exit - YET? - so I always have to set it and adjust the width of some toolbars every time I load Gimp)
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@panga said:
Hi,
With the last dev version, GIMP 2.7.1, There's an option that enable "single window mode"...no more floating panels...I definitly gave up PS for this version of Gimp.
Cheers.
Gee, I didn't know this had been released.... Cheers!!
The single window mode is what's been missing....
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@unknownuser said:
Hi Panga and thanks for the tip! I downloaded it and I like it (although unfortunately it does not save this state of the window on exit - YET? - so I always have to set it and adjust the width of some toolbars every time I load Gimp)
Yes Gaieus, It's a known bug in windows version. But even with that, I do not regret Photoshop at all...What a pity the gimp dev team did not make this single window feature sooner !! And Now I've got my perfect couple of software for working : Gimp and Inkscape (another awesome application). I think that future version of Gimp'll have vector support, including ability to open SVG files from Inkscape !
Cheers.
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What gimp has to do with blender? Two different apps, what's funny is that we (blender people) wish to make it look like blender one day. Now blender is more capable for PP via nodes. Nodes, something what Ps users haven't even in their dreams.
You have to spend some time learning these apps. At least the same time you spent to learn Ps. Gimp is fine. Learn it first. As for blender, well SU people, its not for you. As is LW, maya, modo etc etc...
The magic wang, out of the magic castle, is just a wooden stick. (Wittgenstein) -
Don´t you have to spend some time learning any app? Are "SU people" not willing to learn or harder to teach by definition?
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all i have to say is if blenders so great why are you here talking to us?
Is it to enlighten us??...
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@Viztecture
I'm here because I also use SU, because lot of my friends are here, and why not? to enlighten you Viztecture.
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