Thursday, December 08, 2005

GIMPShop versus Photoshop

Recently, I received a comment to one of my posts that asked this question:
I use Photoshop to edit my photographs. What is the difference between Photoshop and Gimp? - Other then the name Gimp is much more fun!
First of all, I agree, the name is more fun than Photoshop. :-)

I liked the question so much, that I thought it would be good to post the reply as an article, since I'm sure many people have wondered the same thing. I know reading comments isn't the easiest way to find out things, and thus this page was born.

For a simple answer about what GIMPShop is, you can check out my page called "What is GIMPShop?"

For a few specific answers to what's the differences between GIMPShop and Photoshop, please see below.

GIMPShop is different than Photoshop in a number of ways.

#1) It is free. Meaning it doesn't cost you anything to own the software - you can download it (legally) from the links to the right of GIMPShop dot Net.

#2) It is Free. No, I'm not repeating myself, it's a different kind of "free". Free as in Freedom. This means you can download it for free, and give it away for free, or sell it, or change it and make it your own. In fact, GIMPShop itself is based on The GIMP, which is a different Free (and free) program. Another term for this is Open Source, although there are slight differences.

#3) GIMPShop is cross-platform. This means that whether you use a Windows computer, an Apple with Mac OS X, or even a computer with Linux on it - you can use GIMPShop. Adobe Photoshop is not available on Linux. And the versions of Photoshop for Windows and Mac are different, (and must be purchased separately - if you have a Mac laptop and a Windows computer, you would have to buy a copy of Photoshop for each if you wanted it).

#4) As close as GIMPShop may act to Photoshop, it's not exactly the same. There are some features (just a few) that Photoshop has that GIMPShop does not. CMYK support, tablet support, and some other advanced features are available in Photoshop, but not GIMPShop, (or the GIMP). There are some features, like ScriptFu, that are available in GIMPShop that Photoshop doesn't have - so it's plus and minus both ways on that.

#5) Third party support is better for Photoshop. Photoshop has been around longer, it makes millions of dollars of profit that it can use to advertise, so it's better known than GIMPShop, so other companies make things for Photoshop because they know it's out there. Open Source support is better for GIMP and GIMPShop.

#6) There are books out there for Photoshop, not too many for the GIMP, and even less for GIMPShop. However, the point of GIMPShop is to make the GIMP more like Photoshop, so these books should help you use GIMPShop as well.

Hope that helps clear things up! Thanks for such a great question!


posted by Chad at 3:56 PM


12 comment(s):

No problem, Christine. I'm happy to help. I hope you enjoy GIMPShop as much as I have! You might want to check out some of the other Open Source software as well. Like OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Audacity, and Nvu. We'd love to hear how things turn out with your trial of GIMPShop. And please feel free to ask any other questions. Thanks again for stopping by!

By Blogger Chad, at December 09, 2005 9:28 AM  

Sir, impressed as I am with Gimpshop, I wonder why there's no recording action tool here. I think it would be much better if Gimpshop has one other than script-fu. Thanks.

Is it much more difficult to create one, or does it have to do with legal issues with Adobe?

By Anonymous Anonymous, at December 16, 2005 10:01 PM  

At least one aspect of basic functionality is missing from GIMPshop relative to Photoshop: the ability to move selection fields!

e.g., suppose you want to crop an image while maintaining its dimensions; this is usually the *first* thing I do to an image. In Photoshop, I select all, use arrow keys to move the selection in a 3 over : 2 down ratio (for 3:2 images), then crop. Cumbersome if I want to get rid of a large area (though viewing the image at smaller sizes is an easy workaround), but straightforward and easily repeatable. Now suppose I want to do the same thing in GIMPshop... I have to decide a priori how much I want to reduce the image (I can't just watch the selection field and decide when I've moved it far enough), calculate the coordinates needed to give the appropriate crop (e.g, 15,10), select those coordinates (a non-trivial problem!), drag the selection down to cover the rest of the image, then crop. What was a 5-second process is now a 30-second process.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at February 01, 2006 11:04 PM  

I'm not really sure I understand correctly what you are saying - but if you want a "Drag and drop" method of cropping a picture, you can just use the rectangle select tool, grab the box of what you want to keep - hit copy, then paste as new. You're done, leaving your orginial in tact. Does this do what you want, or am I missing something? And, as with many things in computers - I'm sure there are other ways of doing the same thing.

By Blogger Chad, at February 02, 2006 12:05 AM  

I think he's talking about drawing a selection box, and then dragging the box but not the selected pixels.

By Blogger Jeff, at February 04, 2007 11:53 PM  

Just press alt and move the selection :-) You will only move selection without selected pixels.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at February 05, 2007 10:50 AM  

I keep coming back to The Gimp/Gimpshop, I would love to use them.

However if I open a 3rd party PSD (for html template designs for example) it never seems to work out right. It either fails to open or when it does, it doesn't look right.

Since this is not on your list of differences, I start to wonder if I am doing something wrong?

By Anonymous Anonymous, at February 19, 2007 2:38 AM  

I'm having the same problem with moving the selection without moving the pixels. Trying Alt-drag brings up a 4-way arrow cursor as though it's trying to move it, but the selection doesn't actually move. It's very serious hinderance to using the program---so I'm stuck with photoshop for now.

(Using GimpShop v2.2.11 on OS X Intel 10.4.8)

By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 06, 2007 4:26 PM  

ok u wrote of PS vrs. GS;
how 'bout Gimpshop vrs Gimp?

By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 18, 2007 8:08 PM  

Hi. I have tried and tried, but I really can't see how to install Gimpshop on Ubuntu Linux (edgy). Is there any chance you can put a .deb file I can download or add it to a sources repository? Many thanks.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at August 01, 2007 2:43 PM  

sorry if this repeats the question, but I want to crop many images but keep the same dimension. I remember in photoshop dragging a box than maintained a certain dimension, then moving that to the desired spot. So far I can't crop them the same without using my math skills. Help appreciated!

By Blogger Mike, at March 25, 2009 12:53 PM  

trying to crop images to the same dimension, and not finding what I need. In photoshop I remember being able to drag open a box that maintained it's dimensions, then I could move that around the image. right now I can't seem to keep a consistant dimension without using my math skills. Help appreciated!

By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 25, 2009 12:56 PM  

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