Does anyone actually use the Gimp in a serious capacity?

[Fenster]

I mean sure, I certainly see it crop up in most xgl/beryl videos on youtube as it's multiple windows look nice and occasionally someone here will have it in the monthly screeshot threads. But as near as I can tell, even those people are just opening a random wallpaper for added bling (I'm guilty of that also). I'm a photographer by hobby <insert plug for my site here>, and I personally got so fed up of numerous things in the Gimp that I just gave up using it and went to Photoshop. Here's a short list:

It doesn't preserve EXIF information in photos.
It's UI was designed by a retarded monkey. I gather that the developers called in some UI specialists a while back, only to reject their suggestions as it would be too much work to change everything. I could dedicate a thread to the many ways in which the Gimp's UI is horrible.
It doesn't support anything above 8-bit color (how many years have people been asking for this?).
It...doesn't like tif format files, occasionally throwing up error messages or just plain dying when I try to open one via Lightroom, Aperture (I use OS X) or even the ever-dependable ufraw.

You probably get the idea at this point. I hear of project who entirely use open-source tools, the Gimp included. I wonder if any of them yearned for the sweet embrace of the grave. I'm a happy user of most open-source software, but the developers of the Gimp should be hauled out, beaten and set straight on how a good graphics editor should be.

[darker]

[plbe]

Krita looks promising

[mdeininger]

inkscape + gimp tends to be a mighty fine combination for me?
inkscape to design it, gimp to cut and filter around on it.... the interface is definitely different from other programs, but once you get the hang of it, it's quite good imho. same with blender, actually...
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[linuxpyro]

I pretty much agree with darker. I use it a lot for general photo editing. While I am not any sort of avid photographer, I must say that it's not a bad app, but it is tough if you're coming from Photoshop.

As for who uses it, well, this isn't the Gimp per se, but it does get used a lot in the visual effects industry. Check out CinePaint, which is based off of it.

[Fenster]

Actually I came from about two years solid of using the Gimp.

[numerodix]

[onlinepancakes]

I like the UI of Krita a lot, for its easier to find stuff and move around, but I prefer Gimp over it since it feels lighter, boots up faster, and seems better.

Iv been using the development version of Gimp, and its a lot better than the older versions, but I still use Photoshop 7 with Wine since its still better than Gimp. Photoshop still has many features I need for my editing needs.
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[MM23]

I'm not a big fan of the gimp. For simple stuff, sure, but if I'm doing really serious digital image creation/editing, I just run Photoshop 7.0 with vmware/wine. Yeah, I know, that kinda defeats the purpose of open source, but sometimes proprietary really is the best, at least for a select few applications. Besides, Photoshop is worth the money, if you ask me personally (unlike XP :p)

[bosko]

[Shadow Skill]

I am no graphic artist but I also truly hate Gimp's interface and I have never used Photoshop.
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Ware wa mutekinari.
Wa ga kage waza ni kanau mono nashi.
Wa ga ichigeki wa mutekinari.

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[richk449]

I use it at work when I need to do image editing. But I agree with all your complaints. People that insist that the GIMP's interface is fine once you get used to it must never actually use the progam. I have been using it for years now, and I still have trouble remembing or figuring out how to do simple stuff. Yet if I try photophop, even with next to no experience at it, I can figure stuff out much quicker. I wishh that wasn't true, but it is.

[papal_authority]

I personally find the Gimp far easier to use than Photoshop in terms of UI, but that's probably because I use the Gimp more. The only thing that sends me to Photoshop sometimes is the lack of CMYK support in the Gimp.
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[Shadow Skill]

It took me at least ten mins to figure out how to change the color of the bucket fill. Sad thing is I don't even remember what I did to change it.
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Ware wa mutekinari.
Wa ga kage waza ni kanau mono nashi.
Wa ga ichigeki wa mutekinari.

"First there was nothing, so the lord gave us light. There was still nothing, but at least you could see it."

[vibrokatana]

I used to use photoshop more and gimp was a royal pain to use (mostly editing, and random junk), now that I havent even bothered to touch PS for the last 2 years or so it is like second nature for some stuff. Once you learn how to do some of the basic stuff you really miss the functionality when you use PS again.
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[atrus123]

I like Photoshop's UI much better than the Gimp, but as I've been using nothing but the Gimp for quite some time, I don't really miss Photoshop that much.
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[vibrokatana]

IMO if gimp moved toward a PS like interface people would love it much more, as it is alot of the functions are hidden or are key shortcuts.
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My Systems - "I suggest the whole thing be coded in whitespace. Henceforth the code will be obscure and functional at the same time."

[Valkura]

... am I the only one who has heard of Gimpshop? Or is there a reason it has not been mentioned? Is it just too far behind GIMP? Is it not photoshoppy enough?
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[Shadow Skill]

I have used it personally its a nice idea but Gimp is what is broken and a hack to try and make it more photoshop like isnt going to solve the problems of undiscoverable options....
_________________
Ware wa mutekinari.
Wa ga kage waza ni kanau mono nashi.
Wa ga ichigeki wa mutekinari.

"First there was nothing, so the lord gave us light. There was still nothing, but at least you could see it."

[wswartzendruber]

I was never able to get comfortable using The GIMP until I forgot all about Photoshop.

[-=GGW=- $ol!d $n4>|e]

is there a way to change the brush size on the fly yet, or do you still need a different brush for each size, that was really really annoying. Especially if you want to work on anything your going to print out in witch case you have to use a fairly big canvas. If your doing any real detail work for production thier default biggest brush size leaves you with the ability to edit an area equivalent to the tip of a pencil at a time.

[asiobob]

They should make a libgimp (which of course would depend on other libraries too). Then create a seperate UI that interfaces with libgimp

[wswartzendruber]

[aprilcanadian]

I never liked photo shop and its price made me sick. I did like psp pro for quite a while but have been using GIMP latly and i love it. best of all its FREE.
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[asiobob]