Hello, I made this thread to compare very old versions of Photoshop and other programs to Gimp and FOSS of today. I've been using different versions of Photoshop (5.5, CS2, CS3, and CS5) which span from the late 90s and early 2000s and all the way up to 2010.

The goal of this thread is not to just show off Adobe from the distant past but how it compares to Gimp and open source image editors of today.
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Lets start off with Photoshop 5.5 from 1999 removing backgrounds with sloppy erase tools compared to GEGL Bash

Photoshop 5.5
90s Photoshop in a Windows 95 VM


Gimp
Gimp running background removal and face restoration AI in GEGL Bash. I had to run this twice on the upper and lower body of her and then paint part of the legs with a layer mask.


Photoshop 5.5
Adobe Photoshop 5.5 using a Layer Effect Glow (that can be re-edited)


Gimp
Gimp running SSG to make an outer glow on a layer above. Alpha lock can change its color and presets can be made but it CANNOT be re-edited.

Here is plastic wrap from Photoshop CS2 that is also in Photoshop 5.5 1999. I don't know which version was the first to include it.



Here is my GEGL Plugin Plastic Wrap (yeah, its not the same)

Download GEGL plugin here.
https://github.com/LinuxBeaver/Plastic_ ... n/releases

Here is the original image downscaled



Photoshop CS5
Here is the image in Photoshop CS5 from 2010 with adjustment layers inside a layer group. Hue saturation is adjusting "Cyan" and "Yellow" and it has a layer mask to filter out the elephant. Gaussian Blur is a smart object on the hard light blend mode and 15% opacity.


GIMP (CMYK build
This is CMYK Student's Gimp 2.99 trying to mimic it and failing. It also applies all filters as "smart objects" and none as adjustment layers.


The good news is it appears the latest version of CMYK Student's Gimp allows for Curves, Hue Saturation, Exposure, Color balance to be used as non-destructive filters that continue working after a restart.

I just wasted half the day trying to install Photoshop CS3 from 2007. For some reason the version on archive.org doesn't work for me. I just want everyone to know that Adobe Photoshop CS3 from 2007 was the first version of Photoshop to have non-destructive "filter layers" for virtually every filter it shipped with Where as before only "lighting filters, transform filters, and text/outline effects" were non-destructive.


I might be able to get Photoshop CS3 working in a VM later but I don't really see the point when I have CS5 from 2010. Currently the versions of Photoshop I have are (5.5, CS2, and CS5). Attached is a journal about Photoshop CS3 from 2007. I underlined what is going on in the image.

This is Adobe Photoshop 7 from 2002 doing red bevel text in a warp option. The text is non-destructive and re-editable






In the next post I'll show how FOSS of today can "poorly" mimic this.

How to mimic Adobe Photoshop 7's warp text in modern open source software

The answer is Inkscape and reading about path effects and cloning text. You can read about this here starting at post #4 by Paddy_CAD
https://inkscape.org/forums/beyond/text ... ath_keFIZ/

Here is a picture of me using a cloned layer and path effects in Inkscape




The clipboard data is then pasted into Gimp then I apply my GEGL layer effects plugin



Yet, isn't it a shame that Adobe from 2002; or perhaps earlier does something Gimp from 2024 can't do? I think Adobe from 1998 can do this as well.

Inkscape is creating a bend text effect that will be clipboard pasted into Gimp


Now we can to apply my plugin "bevel" and test its new mode named "cove". Cove was added in October 2023. You can get the update by upgrading GEGL Effects and the stand alone bevel operation will feature the new mode.
https://github.com/LinuxBeaver/GEGL-Eff ... L/releases

GEGL Cove Bevel by hard light being applied on the warp text Inkscape generated.



I am fully aware Gimp's path tool can also do this but it is so much easier with Inkscape. One can even save the svg file of the text inside the folder they are working on.

I got the 2007 install of Adobe Photoshop working and it is 100% non-destructive but has limitations such as the fact that color and lighting filters must be adjustment layers and not smart objects. Pixelitor does not have this limitation.

It says "To enable re-editable smart filters, the layer must be converted into a smart object" So lets do that.



Smart Objects (re-editable filters in 2007 Adobe)



Let's try to mimic this workflow using an open source program called Pixelitor which also has smart objects. We don't have exactly the same filter as Adobe's Diffuse Glow, but we'll make do with GEGL Soft Glow.
https://github.com/lbalazscs/Pixelitor


Looks like Pixelitor of today can compete against Adobe from 2007.

As far as I know Pixelitor beats Adobe Photoshop of 2007 because each re-editable filter in Pixelitor can have a layer mask of its own. Where as in Adobe CS3 all re-editable filters share the same layer mask.

I have Photoshop 5.5 (1999), Photoshop 7 (2002), CS2 (2005), CS3 (2007) CS5 (2010).

Five versions of Photoshop from the past and all of them run on ancient computers. Where as Gimp 2.10/3, Pixelitor and Inkscape requires semi modern at best. All will not work below Windows 7. I could have choose to run them in wine (a windows emulator) in Linux but I choose to be cocky and ran them in Windows 9x machines accept for Adobe CS5 that would only run on XP.

In Classic Photoshop
Layer Effects in 2007 Adobe Photoshop showing a yellow outline and shadow with pink inner glow on the overlay blend mode.


In Gimp
GEGL Effects in Gimp doing the same thing
https://github.com/LinuxBeaver/GEGL-Eff ... L/releases


In Gimp using individual layer effects plugins of mine (I ran dct-denoise to smooth her image)
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=20507

https://github.com/lbalazscs/Pixelitor

An hour ago Pixelitor's dev build updated with the ability to do editable, non-destructive, text on path.

Only one path per composition though.





Pixelitor can now do in 2024 what Adobe Photoshop could do in the turn of the 2000s

Chisel Soft and Smooth Bevel in classic photoshop are counterparts to Sharp Bevel and Normal Bevel in GEGL Effects (and my other plugins)

Chisel Soft Bevel in Photoshop resembles my sharp bevel algorithm


Sharp Bevel in GEGL Effects



Smooth Bevel in Photoshop


Bevel in GEGL Effects




GEGL Effects contains a bevel mode and a stand alone bevel plugin that has normal mode and sharp mode. Normal is the counterpart to 'smooth bevel' and sharp mode is 'chisel soft'. I also have stand alone plugins that do both effects here.

GEGL Effects that contains both effects together and a stand alone bevel plugin
https://github.com/LinuxBeaver/GEGL-Eff ... L/releases

Smooth Bevel counterpart plugin download
https://github.com/LinuxBeaver/GEGL-Custom-Bevel

Chisel Soft Bevel counterpart plugin download
https://github.com/LinuxBeaver/GEGL_sha ... n/releases