Bring out the Gimp

For anyone with an interest in digital imaging, and a lack of interest in paying $600+ for Adobe Photoshop, I highly recommend that you check out Gimp. It is free and has nearly all of the capabilites that Photoshop has.

I actually earned a degree in digital imaging, and managed to get a great "student rate" on Photoshop back around 1995. However, I was unable to keep up with the cost of updates and ended up using a really old version for a very long time. After I transitioned to Windows XP a while back, I noticed that my old version of Photoshop was no longer stable, and so I began looking for an alternative. A friend turned me on to Gimp and I haven't looked back since. (Turnd me on to the Gimp - that sounds bad, doesn't it? Ha ha ha.)

The overal layout of Gimp is very similar to Photoshop, except that I haven't quite adjusted to the multiple windows that you need to keep track of for each dialogue that is open (layers, etc). I was frustrated with it at first, as there were certain functions and shortcuts that I had grown accustomed to in Photoshop that I had to relearn in Gimp. But such is life - change is good. Get on with it.

Gimp has some really cool features like transparent PNG creation, and even animated GIF. The filters and built-in scripts are powerful, although a few can be buggy. The program takes while to start up on my machine thanks to the 2000+ fonts I have loaded. Other than that, it runs very fast and is very stable. Again, watch out for plugins, though, as some tend to be buggy and can crash. Make sure you save before you go to apply an effect or run a script.

This program is awesome and the price can't be beat. Add to that a cool looking mascot and a reference to Pulp Fiction and we've got a keeper. Adobe, eat your heart out.