GIMP 3 - A Release 20 Years in the Making

GIMP 3 is just about here, with the Gimp 3 release candidate being released last week. GIMP 2 was released in 2004, making this a release 20 years in the making. We take a look at what's new in this release of the popular open source image manipulation program/Photoshop alternative.

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[slgnssp]

A couple hours ago I was looking up how to do something in GIMP and found a discussion with someone saying it looked like version 3 was finally close - the discussion was from 5 years ago : )

Also, "less floating selection" is the one I'm looking forward the most

[partymetroid]

The thumbnail was created in 2010 by David Revoir in GIMP Painter, an old fork that focused on digital painting. (He switched to Krita a while ago.)

[aleksapajic]

I was wondering why most GIMP tutorials are 10, 11, 12 years old 😅

[KillahMate]

Oh wow GIMP 3 is _coming soon_ you say? What an unprecedented turn of events! I bet in a year it will be coming even sooner.

[apollolux]

Me mainly being a programmer (though I originally started as an artist before that), I understand that Gimp has always had its own way of doing things that tended more towards a programmer's mindset rather than that of a graphic artist's or general graphic designer's. That being said, with Photoshop being a de facto industry standard for decades and the people doing the actual graphics work being graphic artists, graphic designers, photographers, and other graphic design and art-related peeps if those making Gimp were genuinely interested in wider adoption within those communities before now their goals should've been "parity with Photoshop" and "a UI that's easier for non-programmers to understand" rather than a whole bunch of technical stuff that sounds nice on paper but doesn't advance forward progress on adoption of the product by the wider target audience.

Photographers don't care about "convolution kernels" and such with a matrix of numbers that they don't know what they mean. Graphic designers are fine with Gaussian blurs only needing center and distance (maybe "strength") parameters that can be visually changed by drag-and-drop+preview rather than textboxes+sliders with potentially no preview. Digital painters want smudge, burn, sponge, etc tools that behave like real-world smudgers, charcoal, sponges, etc. These are among the reasons why Photoshop became number one and why Gimp never made much more than a blip in the discussion over peeps saying "pirate Adobe instead."

[Drejzer]

That's a monumental release!
A wait nearing the lifetime of some of the people watching this video.

[PrimitiveBaroque]

Without non-destructive workflows were a game breaker for me. Thank goodness they’re implementing it.

[Crystan]

Soo... the biggest drawback for me with GIMP has always been the user interface. Now, don't get me wrong what they have is an improvement, but it's still a stellar mile away from the market leaders people want them to dethrone. For people who've always used GIMP and never used any other software, it might sound like an odd complaint, but those who know, know. I'm certain I'm not alone in this.

[SviatoslavPetrov]

I hope, Gimp 4, after next 20 years, will upgrade his UI )

[DrakiniteOfficial]

I wonder if we'll ever see a day when Gimp gets a similar amount of love to what Blender is getting today.

[numipinkpanda]

Woooow, did not expect Gimp 3 to finally be close!

[Kiyuja]

GIMP was in dire need of a rework in terms of workflow. I first used it in 2020 I believe, after I used an ancient version of Corel Draw and Photoshop and the experience was lightyears behind them. I really appreciate the svg icons and more snappy menus but the real issue is the fact you constantly had to swap between tools as there was no "on click detection" for selecting. Something as basic as creating an outline for text was kind of annoying to do.

[JamesKelly]

I love GIMP and consider myself fairly proficient in it. I'm very excited for this new release! Between FreeCAD 1.0 and GIMP 3.0 there is much to be excited about!

[DavidCoutinhoCG]

There is multiple layer selecting as well as operations like moving on multiple layers, which was lacking on version 2.

[Robotonlinehue]

Took them long enough! Been using GIMP since 2017, but recently been using more Krita since it had more features.
Might try GIMP out more when 3.0.0 releases!

[xephyrxero]

I've been using GIMP for nearly 20 years now. Can't wait to try the new version!

[scottybreuer]

GIMP will always have a special place in my heart as the image editing program that was there for me when I was young and had no money. But life goes on and people change a time comes when you recognize that it's time to settle down with a nice discounted Affinity suite. Gotta think of what you really want in life and what's best for the children.

[NeatWolf]

That looks - way more usable now. After CS6 and migrating to Affinity and Krita, I'm kinda captivated by this very photoshop-esque non-destructive layer history workflow, that kinda reminded me of Snapseed on Android.

[DaBrain]

Is there any way we will see something like GimpShop or PhotoGimp again? I love Gimp, but it is so hard when you come from the Photoshop workflow. GimpShop solved this like 90% for me back then.

[Frankenburger]

20 years in the making, and still behind Photoshop CS2 (2005) in many ways