linuxmemes

It's that phenomenon where people who endured trauma to attain something expect others to also endure the trauma.

I've tried learning GIMP, and it sucks. I'm not saying GIMP sucks, but you have to be crazy to not see that it's hard to learn.

I feel like it would be helpful to include the text of their post rather than just the title:

TL;DR Sorry if this is wrong group. GIMP = Epic POS. Do not use. Please recommend a decent alternative. Don't waste your time with GIMP help because I am done.

I hope the mods or the bots don't kill this post right away. It's a serious and legitimate question from a UX designer with several decades of experience, who doesn't want anyone else to suffer what I have. I didn't know where else to post it, so I'm trying here as a first-timer. I apologize if this is not in the spirit of the group.

I quit Adobe, can't afford the price any more (long story). I thought GIMP could replace Photoshop. But the user interface is horrible, and the app is full o' bugs.

Here's the straw that broke the camel's back.

I tried to make a meme. The font selection overlay was a tiny, pathetic, hard to read joke. Not even a font selection dropdown, let alone one that provided previews with every line item like PS does. Deep breath, continue. I type "Impact". Red text. I backspaced and typed "Im". All I got was Impact Condensed. (Yes, I have Impact, and have used it in PS). So I picked it anyway. Then I tried to find the outline font feature. In Photoshop, it's a simple "choose stroke" feature. GIMP? Hello?

I want to the Web to find a tutorial where it pointed out the feature. No luck. Searched again to find a workaround / hack. Mostly crap. Found one that was current and seemed decent. Followed it carefully. GIMP crashed.

While I appreciate the thoughts of anyone who may be compelled to point out a simple workaround or feature that I missed, don't bother. This is the last of many dozens of problems I have wasted my time working around while suffering many crashes, and I already uninstalled it.

So. Recommendations?

https://www.reddit.com/r/GIMP/comments/110opcc/can_anyone_recommend_a_suitable_replacement_for/?rdt=47111

I think it’s also worth giving the correction that there is a font selection dropdown with previews in GIMP. It’s to the left of the font input box.

anyone who has ever used image editing software professionally knows gimp's ui sucks very much.

we could have had an opensource photoshop killer if the developers werent adamant to keep the 90s workflow holding it back for so damn long.

"you are using it wrong!!" my ass.

Just run photoshop on linux.

I don't understand why nobody ever mentions that it just works.

https://github.com/LinSoftWin/Photoshop-CC2022-Linux

many such cases. good to call it out, and needs to happen more often and consistently as toxicity is the #1 barrier to the “year of the Linux desktop” in my experience

edit: also https://krita.org/

To be fair

• GIMP is really good
• GIMP is hella complex to use

For example there was a (now enshittified) tool on Android called "image attacher" or something, for making a long image from 2.

This is probably also pretty easy with some CLI tool.

I actually took the time to learn "how do I attach 2 images together" in GIMP.

Or "how do I create a textmarker".

And the stuff works, but its just very complex.

attach 2 images

• Open 1 image
• "open" "open as another layer" the second image
• your canvas is as big as the first image. Guess how big it has to be when fitting them next to each other
• know that there is a difference between "layer surface" and "canvas" for whatever reason
• in the menubar, find the canvas options
• find where to resize the canvas and make it bigger
• click on the surface layer of the other image and move it so it fits where you want it
• use "merge downwards" to make the 2 layer one. BE CAREFUL TO NOT USE ANY IMAGE PARTS
• use the crop tool
• crop the new combined images to the wanted size

This is sooo manual and seems very hacky. The difference between canvas and layer make no sense to me. The enlargement is "eyeballing". The cropping too. There is no snapping when placing next to each other. There is no "dynamically increase canvas size" option afafaik.

text marker / highlighter

Something with brush, make it bigger, yellow, reduce the opaqueness, change the paint mode to "only make darker"

GIMP is like using cat awk and tail to write an office document lol. It works but it is damn technical.

But if you know how to do it, you know how to do it.

To be fair, you can’t exactly ask for a GIMP replacement on r/GIMP and not expect that reaction

I've tried using GIMP and it absolutely sucks and I wish there was a good paint.net replacement.

Something I found about a lot of open source projects is that the UI is always terrible

I've been using GIMP for so long and I don't know how to use Photoshop so all the "weird" things about GIMP is normal for me.

Also feel like if I learn Photoshop, I'll never touch GIMP again. D:

I recently started having the bug again where Gimp crashes when changing text color. Apparently related to Wayland, but I can't change back to xorg just for gimp. Extremely frustrating as I've had that bug half a year ago, then it went away and now its here again.

Anyway, Krita and Photopea are pretty good replacements. Handling Text in Krita is horrible and working in a WebApp with Photopea is weird, but overall still better than crashing...

Jesus have my expectations for Linux software fallen over the years.

Linux users try not to be Apple fanboys but replace popular Apple product with popular Linux product challenge (impossible)

GIMP would be infinitely better if they just changed the name so we could talk about it around normal people without getting dirty looks

I use Pinta. It's kinda like the Linux paint.net. Not too many features it's overwhelming, but just enough to do basic stuff.

Krita is great.

I kind of agree. I'm not a pro but I've been using gimp to do little bits of editing (mostly to make slack emojis and memes) for a few years, and I constantly encounter little things that seem like they should be simple and intuitive, but are not.

I haven't used Photoshop in over a decade, but I feel like I rarely felt the same frustration regarding basic tasks.

krita ai paint is pretty dope

That’s literally what’s left of Reddit these days. Literally. Just brutal how bad the API affected them and how Reddit doesn’t give two fucks. It’s just a cess pool of ignorance.

Online forums have not changed since the dawn of the online forum. Tho. Just look at any online forum (and dare I say a Lemmy forum). Same shit, different decade or even century or millenium! Just look at me. I'm drunk and bored and playing with my phone while watching crappy movies. Only time i turn to an online forum. Because i know better.

Tux Paint is feckin awesome. Not even photoshop has sound effects when you use a tool.

inkscape in my opinion is intuitive to use, maybe because before I was used to Photoshop

Gimp isn't perfect. But neither is Photoshop. In fact Lightroom users grizzle that Photoshop is so much harder to use than Lightroom. It's a different animal.

I use Pinta or Paint.Net when I want a quick edit. But Gimp has the tools for serious editing. More tools, more hard to use.

Some Gimp things, yes! should be improved. And other things are being improved as we speak. And some things can be done on a photo much easier in Inkscape.

I hope the whiners donated to Gimp development? No? Then just please step back, and think for a bit. If thinking is too hard, then just take a deep breath.

Wow! I have been looking for gimp alternatives or specific ways of doing things on gimp, compared to photoshop and most answers have been very honest and helpful!

Even gimp development team are open for suggestions but won't consider them before releasing version 3 that should release 'very soon'