Gimp is a popular photo editing tool that was released in 1998. Although it is very popular, it still is not as reliable or convenient as Photoshop. You need to be aware of the limits as a photo editor. You should either use the premium version of Photoshop or hire a professional developer.
Design Functionality Limitations with Gimp
Gimp handles most of the basic functions you should expect in a photo editing tool. These include being able to add text, retouching photos by making improvements to the contrast, brightness, exposure, color and leveling curves. In both Photoshop and Gimp, there are literally hundreds of functions that we can combine to create the best possible content. Unfortunately, there are still some important limitations to be aware of with Gimp. You may be able to work around them if you are an experienced professional, but you need to be realistic about that. You will either want to buy a license for Photoshop or hire an expert graphic designer if you don’t want to make the investment to learn to use Gimp, especially for something complex like custom printed stickers.
Photoshop is the most comprehensive photo editing tool. However, GIMP does a good job replicating its functions. However, there are functions that are not available in Gimp. For example, Content-Aware Fill is not available in GIMP because it is a function exclusive to Photoshop. This feature has been enhanced in Photoshop CC 2019, but Gimp still hasn’t released a similar function. This feature, which fills gaps in photos without having to use the clone buffer, is ideal for removing content that you don’t want to see in a photo, such as people, clouds or endless objects.
Another disadvantage of Gimp is the lack of brushes. Photoshop has three types of brushes, while GIMP has only one. This is consistent with what we said before: you can get the same results, but it requires more effort with Gimp. It is also possible to add this Fill function according to the content with a plugin.
When it comes to editing photos, Photoshop menus are more complete and easier to use, especially with Lightroom or Camera Raw. With GIMP you are forced to modify layer by layer. Also, if you want a wider color gamut, GIMP doesn’t support the CMYK color model, which is very useful in Photoshop. In addition, since Photoshop, is the industry standard, it integrates with other software in the company. So if you want to learn it for commercial purposes, it is better to use Photoshop directly.
Drawbacks Downloading GIMP
To successfully download the program to install it in Windows, you must follow the steps below:
You must download the file gtk+-1.3.0-20030619.zip (GTK Runtime Environment), which are the libraries *.dll necessary for the program to be executed.
However, there is a bug that needs to be fixed manually. Some FTK libraries are installed in a different directory. The libraries are:
libgdk-0.dll
libgtk-.dll
libintl-1.dll
zlib.dll
These libraries are unpacked in the gimp/lib directory but should be in the gimp/bin. You need to move these files from the /lib folder to the /bin folder.
Gimp is optimized for a screen size of 1024 x 800 pixels but can be run in lower resolutions. During the installation, if you have a monitor less than this amount, you can usually fix the problem by maximizing the window and the installation controls are visible.
Drawbacks Distributing GIMP
Gimp is written under a free software license, which allows you to distribute, copy or modify the program without having to pay royalties or have to abide by other licenses, which do not allow the free distribution and improvement of the program.
The program is not /shareware/, but once you download it you can use it as long as you want or need. That is to say, you don’t download incomplete versions, nor do you need keys or passwords, and the program doesn’t expire, as in many cases, in 30 days of trial.
There are developers and collaborators who expose doubts, comments and news in forums, mailing lists and newsgroups 24 hours a day every day. New versions and improvements are continuously added to various mirrors such as SourceForge? and Tor Lillqvist (tml).
The space required to be installed is relatively much less than that needed by other programs, about 10 Mb on the hard drive are enough.