What is GIMP? A normal person might not understand the concept of GIMP but for a graphic designer, this concept is a common one.
GIMP is a free and a classy open-source raster-based tool to handle images, graphic designs and also used for image retouching and editing, converting between the different image formats, free-form drawing, and many more tasks.
GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Tool. The software took attention after its first stable release.
Availability of GIMP:
GIMP is available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Sizes are 85.4 MB, 160 MB, 20-30 MB respectively.
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How good is GIMP for Graphic Designing?
GIMP has proved itself in recent years. It has proved its power to grip, hold, and raster the images. It has proved its efficiency to create some pitching and wonderful graphic designs. It has proved itself to the point where Photoshop stands.
Things that make it such wonderful are not hidden to anyone. Let’s have a look at some cool and trending features and plugins of GIMP.
Because of its immersive graphic designing tools, you can easily use GIMP for creating logos, animations, banners, digital art, and a lot more.
But,
GIMP is a good graphic designing software for you only if you have a LINUX computer. If you own a Windows PC or Mac, you have lots of other advanced options to choose from rather than GIMP.
Primary Features of GIMP:
1. Healing tool
Healing tool does not heal your wound in real but can make your images scar less or spotless. The tool applies its magic to image irregularity, like pimples and dust on your face. The healing tool is a brilliant thing when you are refreshing an ancient black-n-white image.
2. Scaling tools
The artboard should have measurements to scale the images. If you are making a professional graphic design, you will be looking for a software which gives correct measurement about the stuffs. The scaling tool in GIMP can be enabled from the menu bar to make precise measurements.
3. Text and font designing
The paint-tool, the same as in photoshop can be used to make interactive drawings, various designs for text, and graphics-rich banners. These things are very important for strategic business in the market. The tool can also be used to create and sell your fonts. Keep one with you if needed.
4. Create GIF
Gimp can let you create animated GIF by combining images, masking them with filters and fun touching and can make your image dance.
5. Other major graphic designing tools in GIMP:
- Automatic Image enhancement
- Bezier curves
- Customizable brushes
- Color blending tool
- Channels, Layers, and Layer Masks
- Support for lots of plugins
- Advanced selection tools
6. GIMP as an image extension convert
The free out of box availability and less memory consuming features makes it the perfect software if you want to convert the image file type. You can switch to various formats like PCX, PNG, SVG, XPM, GIF, JPEG, PDF, and so on.
Most Popular Plugins For GIMP:
1. For Filters: G’MIC
Applying a filter has never been so easy. For Filters when attached with GIMP opens itself up spreading over 500 filters. The plugin is powerful enough to provide you the filter of your desire. The community is constantly, without a halt, adding more rich new filters. Whether you want to decolorize an image to make it look like an antique or enhance its color to make it look like a painting or even put an oil effect, For Filter has everything in its package.
2. Resynthesizer
One of the oldest GIMP plugins but surprisingly an advanced one. There should be no backing away in comparing it with Content-Aware-Fill in Photoshop. Yes! It’s a similar tool, providing you the same functionalities. It helps you to add or create better textures to an image. Certainly, there are more advanced things to do with this software, but preferably, they use it to remove unwanted images.
3. Darktable
For photographers, it’s no wonder a great tool. Darktable provides you the flexibility to work with raw images or the uncompressed photos. Darktable lets you easily edit the large-sized raw images with a very accessible user interface, hence a even a beginner can make the most of Darktable in GIMP.
4. Hugin
Hugin is an image stitching plugin to create a seamless panorama image. if you don’t get every moment captured in one pic. It lets you stitch multiple images together. you can also distort an image if it does not fit the size of your frame. One thing to consider is, being a feature-rich plugin, it takes a long time to master the art.
5. Duplicate to another Image
The duplicate to another image lets you crop out a snip right into the GIMP editor. It’s a very convenient thing if you just want to take or remove a portion. All you need to do is to select a portion of the image and you are done in no time. It’s not a big deal-breaker but is handy and suitable.
How the stable release benefited the Linux users?
This is a bitter truth that Adobe Product has no support for Linux. In that case, the responsibility goes to the greatest rival of Photoshop, GIMP. GIMP had been quite intensively popular among Linux users, the reason being a free of cost tool, an open-source software in the market, easy and user friendly and most importantly, less memory consuming.
The software size varies with the operating system, the least of which is 20-30 MB which is a Linux variant. As you know the Linux itself a light-weight operating system, the users expect everything light, even if it’s a game.
The GIMP gave them near to photoshop experience and they loved it. Those who were tired of switching to windows for image manipulation and some basic graphics designing, found their greatest desired fulfilled.
Conclusion
There is a lot more to talk about GIMP. GIMP is a good graphics designing tool. But, if you want to try it as a professional graphic designer, I would not suggest you go with it. A professional knows everything.
If you are a professional, the only thing you are left with is a creative idea to come true. For that, you must require a seamless experience with whatever software you use. GIMP somewhere lacks in providing you so. It crashes sometimes without saving your work, a major drawback.
If you are a beginner and need something with a steep learning curve and user-friendly features, you must consider this before you get into Adobe stuffs and push yourself in trauma.
Also Read: How to Find a good graphic designing software for you in 2021