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GIMP

June 28, 2007 in Tools | 3 comments

GIMP 

GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program.  It earliear stood for General Image Manipualtion Program.

GIMP is a raster graphics editor.  It does have limited capability for vector.  (If you are looking for a full blown vector graphics editor, try Inkscape).  It is often used as a free option instead of Adobe Photoshop - as it is released under the GNU General Public Licence.

It has several features that are common to other raster graphics editors.

  • Selection tools - to select part of the image (rectangular, eleptical, free-form)
  • Color selection tools - either from palette ( RGB, HSV, color wheel, CMYK) or from the image itself
  • Image transormation - flip, rotate, scale, crop, move
  • Layers - to organized parts of the image
  • Undo History - To undo and redo changes
  • Image creation - pen, pencil, paintbrush, airbrush, eraser, blur, sharpen, dodge, burn
  • Filters - Basic set of filters for applying effects

There are some features that are not available in GIMP (as opposed to Adobe Photoshop).

  • No Pantone color matching system, or spot color
  • No color models other than RGB (note that, color selection is different from the output).  This is a disadvantage if the end product is aimed for print media.
  • No way to group and organize layers

The advantages of GIMP is that it is a free and open source software.  It allows for plug-in and scripting - and as it is open source, there is a large developer community. Other than that, GIMP also has a small footprint - it is small in size compared to Adobe Photoshop.

GIMP can be used for graphics and logos, altering photos, altering colors, and converting between different image formats.  I have been using it for creating digital paintings lately.

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