GIMP 3.0 Aiming To Release In 2023

[leech]

Amusingly, GTK used to be Gimp Tool Kit... I think Gimp stopped being the driving force for GTK after gnome adopted it. So for stuff in GTK3 not covering enough for Gimp on Wayland amuses me.

[Berniyh]

Amusingly, GTK used to be Gimp Tool Kit... I think Gimp stopped being the driving force for GTK after gnome adopted it. So for stuff in GTK3 not covering enough for Gimp on Wayland amuses me.

Which is why it would be even funnier if they really did migrate to Qt. (which of course they won't)

Also, wasn't one of the main reasons to develop GTK that Qt wasn't LGPL back then? (And not even GPL, for that matter.)
At least that's improved now.

So one could even claim that it's Trolltech's fault that the Linux desktop even today is kind of divided into two branches.

[leech]

Which is why it would be even funnier if they really did migrate to Qt. (which of course they won't)

Also, wasn't one of the main reasons to develop GTK that Qt wasn't LGPL back then? (And not even GPL, for that matter.)
At least that's improved now.

So one could even claim that it's Trolltech's fault that the Linux desktop even today is kind of divided into two branches.

Didn't help that Qt has been passed around owners as often as a bong at a college party.

[pracedru]

GIMP is an image manipulation program, not a drawing program like Krita. Apples to oranges. Sure you can draw with GIMP and you can manipulate images with Krita, but that's not using the best tool for the job. I use both, but for the job they were designed for. I create with Krita and edit textures with GIMP, though I'm more likely to use Affinity on my Mac with photographs, which I find to be the better tool for photo editing.

Also there's Inkscape, which is meant to create vector graphics like logos. Like I said, right tool for the job.

Drawing programs are image manipulation programs. Gimp also has brushes, pencils, layers, paths and much more. Making circles and other primitives for paths would be a really nice feature for GIMP.

[hyperchaotic]

Hi, everyone! GIMP 3.0 is not only porting to GTK3, which is complete since a long time. It's also ensuring that everything works correctly on Wayland, overhauling the plugin interfaces, etc.

You can see more at https://developer.gimp.org/core/roadmap/

Yes, GIMP 3.0 will be a colossal change, the UI toolkit is just a tiny part of it. Especially with the GEGL backend+GEGL plugins, and a number of new/reworked tools. It will also be much easier to add modern features such as non-destructive editing, etc. in the future.

[stormcrow]

Drawing programs are image manipulation programs. Gimp also has brushes, pencils, layers, paths and much more. Making circles and other primitives for paths would be a really nice feature for GIMP.

Sure, and a jeweler's hammer is still a hammer, but you won't use it for building a house or driving a fence post. Image manipulation is for manipulating already created images. Hence the name. Image creation is related but requires a different design approach to tooling. Like I said, you can use GIMP for creation, but that's not and never has been its strength, just like using Krita for manipulation is somewhat painful and rudimentary compared to programs designed from the beginning to do the job. This is why I use Affinity Photo for photo editing, because GIMP doesn't cut the mustard in that respect and I know of no open source projects that do.

I should be more clear, I agree GIMP not just should, but needs to improve its toolset and UX, but it will always be second tier at creation so long as they maintain their focus on manipulation. That's not a bad thing, quite the opposite. The way you surface tooling in the UI between the two is different even when the tools are similar. But there's still a difference between creation tools and manipulation tools just like there's similarities between a cabinet maker's tools and a general contractor's tools, but they have some fundamental differences as well.

[chocolate]

Drawing programs are image manipulation programs. Gimp also has brushes, pencils, layers, paths and much more. Making circles and other primitives for paths would be a really nice feature for GIMP.

This!! And also "smart" guides for moving and aligning formed paths.

[Berniyh]

Didn't help that Qt has been passed around owners as often as a bong at a college party.

That's true, although at that point the camps had already been set.
And at least one of that changes, although only for a short time, brought LGPL to Qt. (Thanks Nokia!)
Even though the Qt Company would like to reverse that, but fortunately, they can't.

[ElectricPrism]

Gimp 3 will have full GEGL/BABL integration and this will be a game changer as it was new UI/UX for Brlender since... At a certain point will be more convenient put a bunch of bucks in Gimp that continue to spend money in licenses, I am referring to these big movie and videogames companies that have hundreds of designer, artists etc...

The only way that large studios are going to start incorporating GIMP into their workflow is if it happens grass-roots organically -- which means on the individual basis.

There are many in the industry that are open to the idea -- but GIMP needs to tick some boxes

☑ Sane Defaults

☑ Easy to use tools

☑ Utilizes existing graphic designer education & methods to get from A to Z.

When someone voices criticism of how they've gone from a Photoshop God to a GIMP Peasant and how the keyboard warriors used to descend to spit on them and tell them they are not doing it right, it makes users and donors pack their bags and go back to the abusive corporation. Thankfully I haven't seen as much of that in recent years and the culture around the project has improved.

It would be cool if GIMP could get themselves on big graphics radar, and top designers at studios and harvest their feedback about what are the most important features -- at some future date (Once they obviously get CYMK and non-destructive editing knocked out and some UX rework/tool rework tweaks.)

By doing so they could easily put themselves in the minds of professionals and probably get some valuable funding in the future to help bolster development.

I have often wondered what the culture is like on the inside of the project and what management of the project has done or not done in the past to drag out development when comparing against other image tools. But I do think they have been busy at work and made a lot of progress the last year or two, so hopefully we are past that and can see them start to eat Adobe's lunch.


We really do need to reshape the industry and not reinforce the existing companies death-grip if possible and the only way is going to be to bear and grit the idiosyncrasies and be involved learning & improving the tool.

[bug77]

Sure, and a jeweler's hammer is still a hammer, but you won't use it for building a house or driving a fence post. Image manipulation is for manipulating already created images. Hence the name. Image creation is related but requires a different design approach to tooling. Like I said, you can use GIMP for creation, but that's not and never has been its strength, just like using Krita for manipulation is somewhat painful and rudimentary compared to programs designed from the beginning to do the job. This is why I use Affinity Photo for photo editing, because GIMP doesn't cut the mustard in that respect and I know of no open source projects that do.

I should be more clear, I agree GIMP not just should, but needs to improve its toolset and UX, but it will always be second tier at creation so long as they maintain their focus on manipulation. That's not a bad thing, quite the opposite. The way you surface tooling in the UI between the two is different even when the tools are similar. But there's still a difference between creation tools and manipulation tools just like there's similarities between a cabinet maker's tools and a general contractor's tools, but they have some fundamental differences as well.

No need to split hairs. It's pretty simple: if it can edit an image, it should have to ability to draw a circle in a painless manner.