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Blame: GimpVersusPhotoshop
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Annotated edit history of GimpVersusPhotoshop version 10 showing authors affecting page license. View with all changes included.
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1 AlastairPorter 1 it is WellUsedRhetoric that PhotoShop is far superior to [TheGIMP].
2 Can some knowledgeable graphics person who is v. familiar with both packages please explain why this is so?
3
4 PhotoShop is superior because:
5 * Better support for colour reproduction/commercial printing (ie, supports different printer colorspaces).
6 * Layers implementation is more intuitive and flexible - partly a matter of opinion, layer masks in 5.0 make no sense to me
7 * Very good path support
8 * Adjustable color reproduction
9 * Better support for tablets like Wacom, or Aiptek (__very__ important for artists) - This is a little platform dependant
10 * PDF import/export support, this is important as lots only accept/prefer material in PDF format. PhotoShop also gets the reproduction right. (Gimp 1.2 can import PDFs, although only as a bitmap - you can't edit the text. Gimp 1.2 can't save as PDF, although it can as Postscript which can easily be turned into PDF)
11 * Integrates with [Adobe] Illustrator (scaleable vector graphics, useful!)
12 * Better filter (and 3rd party filter) support
13 * Way better text support (although, [TheGIMP] is slowly getting better at this)
14 * Processing speed
15 * Much better optimized [GIF] output support, much smaller file sizes and color reproduction at small palette sizes.
16 * "Save for web" feature, I use this at least ten times a day and can't live without it
17 * Slices
18 * The best Unsharp Mask ever known to man, used lots in Photo retouching/preparation
19 * Really easy and powerfull Macro Recorder
20
21 (Remove the above as [TheGIMP] gets better)
22
23 [TheGIMP] is superior because:
8 MattBrown 24 * ScriptFu (write your own filters). perl gimp module means you can completely script arbitrary sequences of actions in gimp from perl. py-fu allows scripting via [Python], and so on. It talks to an existing gimp process via sockets, so it's fast. (although its counterparts in Photoshop are just as fast, if not faster --!JuliusThyssen)
1 AlastairPorter 25 * It's OpenSource (and free $$)
8 MattBrown 26 * Huge range of export/import filters, however misses some more commercial formats that PhotoShop doesn't (so it isn't a superior feature for The Gimp, right? --!JuliusThyssen).
27 * Supports 24-bit w/ Alpha channel [PNG]s properly, PhotoShop had some issues with these prior to version 7. (We're at Photoshop CS2 now, no problems anymore. --!JuliusThyssen)
1 AlastairPorter 28 * Supports [MNG]s, basically an animated [GIF] but using the [PNG] format for it's frames. You can do some cool stuff with the Alpha channel in [MNG]s
8 MattBrown 29 * It has a far more elegant UI, Photoshop's antiquated MDI dseign is simply a waste of space, it's much better on the mac, but it sucks severely on win32. (That's wlug biased opinion, many disagree wholeheartedly with that. --!JuliusThyssen)
30 * Good Path support(well, it works for me) including export to SVG (and what is making that superior to Photoshop exactly? --!JuliusThyssen)
9 JuliusThyssen 31 * Font Rendering with FreeType looks much better to me. (to whom? If you want users to identify themselves when commenting here, do it yourself first!)
8 MattBrown 32 * if something in [TheGIMP] is causing you trouble then fix it, if you aren't capable of doing so, file a [bug report|http://bugzilla.gimp.org/] (so how is that superior to Photoshop for the task at hand; Suddenly DTP-people, image-editors and plain photo-enthusiasts need to be programmers? --!JuliusThyssen)
7 JuliusThyssen 33
34 (Remove the above as Photoshop gets better)
3 CraigBox 35
36 -----
37
38 Actually, [TheGIMP] is rather easy to use if you know how to use PhotoShop. Some people will tell you that it is simply a PhotoShop clone - this is simply not true, and while the clone accusation is the first anti [GIMP] slander you're likely to hear, the next is bound to attack the UI because it doesn't behave exactly like PhotoShop. (I guess that's logic for you.)
39
40 Oh, and if you're some poor soul who uses a pirated copy of PhotoShop via [Wine] on [Linux] purely because you didn't like [TheGIMP] 1.2, you should really go and try one of the current development snapshots - in it's default state it's got a slew of "enhancements" which should make you feel more at home.
10 DavidCary 41
42 -----
43
44 Oh, and if you really want "scalable vector graphics",
45 you might want to try out
46 Inkscape ( http://inkscape.org/ ).