no refine edge

no layer styles dialogue -lots of settings in one easy interface in photoshop.

macros(actions) - have to be good at writing scripts if you use Gimp

Brush dynamics dialogue in photoshop- very powerful

Panarama feature already built in - have to find a plugin for gimp

Content aware fill Built in - having to install a plugin for gimp

smart objects
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I think the layer styles and macros is what I miss most.
I have used several photo apps that had actions/macros not just photoshop and they
have had them for ages - more than 10 years. Will there ever be such a thing in Gimp?!

Hi and welcome to Gimp Chat.
To sum up an answer for you ... quote,
"GIMP is not Photoshop and isn't intended to be Photoshop"

Although there are very many USER created filters, scripts and plug-ins that do most of what PS can do.
Also you need only add the PDB calls for each step in a process to a script and there you go you have an action.

I can't under stand why people compare Gimp to Photoshop all the time. If photoshop is so great, then why switch to Gimp? Gimp is free,
The programmers and planners work for free, (in their own time).
They don't compare but Gimp can do pretty well anything Photoshop does.
We also have a great many excellent script writers here and we are quite proud of them.

Can not understand why PhotoShop is not free, does not provide on demand service or have the support of a very large community. Just a thought.

If I were bold enough to make a complaint: I guess it would be that scripts can sometimes be updated faster than you can re-install then

I am not critisiing Gimp at all. Just saying what I miss from other graphic apps. I realize paid for apps like Photoshop/Paint shop etc have teams of paid coders working for them 5 days a week etc.
Although with some things like recordable actions I don't see why not - I have even used apps in the past that were made by one guy and it had recordable acitons. They are just so handy! On the other hand I havent been using Gimp long so I was also expecting you guys to tell me what it has that other apps don't?
I also wonder why some of the very good scripts and plugins are not there by default

With GIMP, you have to understand that there's more then one way to skin a cat. I do have CS5 (mainly to process my RAW files since I'm still not satisfied w/ any of the Open Source solutions to do so) but I've decided not to upgrade PS ever again since they changed their business model. Just as a side note, I rarely take pictures. lolol

Pareto's law. Your good scripts are our menu bloat and vice-versa. Gimp has a very modular structure. It is easy to add the pieces you need (and to make your own when you can script).

I'm no expert on the subject, however I would assume that gimp scripts and plug-ins are updated too quickly for a macro recorder to be of any use. There is of course script-fu. There seem to be many threads out there and GnuTux has a list of resources posted somewhere.
As for default, I would imagine the above would cover that one.
Having used PhotoShop also, I prefer Gimp and GIMP is very capable of producing professional quality images. The only limitations are at the user end (experience and imagination)

Hi Born2BeMild, I use a bit of Ps CS5 and it has some great features. The biggest problem I have is the help section. It takes forever to load and simply gives you answers from other users.

I readily admit that I am not as proficient in Ps as I am in Gimp, so perhaps there is another way of help. In any case I find the help section lacking.

Another thing that is missing in Ps is the ability to clone in registered mode. Again perhaps there is a way but I have not found it yet.

Also the scissor tool just does not work as nice as Gimp's scissor tool. Again perhaps it is me that is the problem.

My other big complaint is that unless you know a lot of shortcuts Ps is hard work when it comes to selecting tools. EG, to select the pencil you have to open the brush icon. In Gimp pencil and brush are icons in the tool repository, where you can add as many tools as you like. Perhaps there is a way to do this in Ps but I haven't found it yet.

The Paint Bucket tool does not seem to work the way I would like it to work, that is fill the layer, it seems to fill parts of the layer. Again, probably me.

I agree with you that Gimp does things differently to Gimp and there many features that Ps has that are lacking in Gimp. However, Gimp is not Ps and most likely it will never be. I just hope that Gimp keeps on developing the way it does at the moment. I'd hate to see Gimp go the Ps way where it becomes a paid cloud based licensed program where every upgrade costs more money and you cannot "own" it .

Lastly, I think Ps is the standard application by which all other image /photo applications are judged. So whatever program comes along, it will be judged against Ps, even it is not intended to be a Ps. Ps is a suite of programs that complement each other and interact. Gimp is a single program that is basically a image manipulation program.

I also think that the unfortunate name of "Gimp" is now becoming an asset as it shows that the "underdog" can do things that were previously thought to be in the Ps domain only.

I don't want this to be a Gimp versus Ps but you asked what Gimp has that Ps or Paint do not. I do not use Paint so I can not make a comment there.

I also agree with you that some of our better filters should be included in the next release of Gimp. Unfortunately, there is a lack of dedicated personnel to include all the user's wishes.

I am glad that you are trying to use Gimp. It is not perfect, but it is not bad for a free program!!
Welcome to GimpChat

Cheers wbool63

These are also free:
Krita
MyPaint
Inkscape
UltraPaint
Knotter
Blender
The list goes on. You can jump from one to the other with ease;}

I like this a lot and wish gimp had something similar as well. For now though, there are still tons of edge detecting tools techniques that can be used to get the same result.


There is a nice plugin called Layer Effects that gives some of the same basic functions. This has been discussed in depth about adding this to gimp, but it would require remaking gimp almost from scratch as it is fundamentally different than they way gimp works now. I wouldn't hold my breath on this.


I would like to see this as well. I know it has been discussed in the past but I don't remember the argument against it.


I'm not familiar with Photoshop's brush dynamics interface, but gimp has one as well and is also very powerful.



Gimp can't have every single feature/filter/script/plugin installed by default. It would be a bloated monster and not everyone uses every option. The fact that you might have to install a plugin to use these features doesn't seem like a deal breaker to me. This seems a little bit over critical to me.
For instance, I interact with many Photoshop users with my work and they all agree that gimp's content aware filter (Resynthesize) is superior to Photoshop's offering. Having to download and install it separately just isn't that big of a deal.



I think smart object are indeed a neat feature but since I've never used them, I've never missed them. I always keep an untouched source file available to refer to should the need arise. Once you make this part of your workflow, it's something you never think about. I do agree that it gives some other benefits though that can help speed up your work. I'm not sure if this has ever been discussed to make something similar for gimp, but I wouldn't be opposed to it if it did, and wouldn't be upset if it didn't.
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As much as I'd love to see macros in gimp, I'd rather see a complete overhaul on the filter/plugin system.
_{User editable defaults and menu placement. (From the UI and not hand editing the script files)
Drag and drop menu placement.
Online update checks and installation.
Search box in main UI.
Filter tags (For better search results.)
Better previews and window management.
Built in real time text editor to tweak scripts.}

Anyway, when comparing any 2 pieces of software, there will always be pro and cons to both. Gimp does quite a few things better than PS and visa-versa. Once you commit to gimp and realize that it's not a PS clone, you will find that you can do just about anything you want, even if it works a little different.

Cheers

Although I was mentioning That i miss some features i do think that in a way Gimp feels nicer Becuause there seems less choice, what I mean is photoshop seems to have a dozen or more ways to do the same thing - i'ts more bewildering for the new user. But I do think that some of the scripts that are out there could be put in as standard to Gimp. I had to find a script that would give me a Highpass filter for instance. Also had to find the resynthesizer plugin.
The 2 major +s of Gimp is of course It's free and cross platform. Adobe is only interested in money so they are only going to make a version that works on Windows and Mac.
As I have moved to linux and am not going back, I have to leave Photoshop. I did get it running unde Wine(emulation program) but can't be bothered fiddling with that to get it to work every time want to install Linux.

You'll like, G'MIC.
BTW, Which Linux distro are you using?

@ Odinbc !
Thanks yes I am just trying out G'Mic and it's great!
I started on Linux Mint - installed easy and everything just worked. Later on I wanted what is called a rolling release - basically it doesn't get out of date but keeps updating itself. I chose Arch because it's programs are the latest versions and I really like it. It is supposed to be the hardest to install but I used a script that makes it a lot easier.