ADOBE PHOTOSHOP IS EXPENSIVE. A single license for a single machine can set you back over US$600.

Intriguing then, that one of the major competitors in the image manipulation market should not come at a fraction of the price, but rather absolutely free!

Gimp is a part of the GNU project, meaning that it is distributed free of charge to anyone who would like to use it. Furthermore, the source code is open to anyone, this means that unlike programs like Photoshop and Microsoft Windows, you are free to make changes to the way the program operates, to the code that underlies the program, should you have the need to do so and the skill to manage.

As with most open source software, there is more than one version of Gimp currently in circulation. The latest stable release is version 2.4.5, with the development version 2.5 also available for download. You are well advised to stick to the stable version unless you are a programmer or an experienced Beta tester.

Bring out the Gimp

Enough about the idea, how does the software actually compare?

Well, Gimp is a decent package. It offers support for many features available on much more expensive packages. You can, for instance, create layered images, you’ll have access to a number of filters and can even manipulate RAW images using the UFRaw plugin.

The Clone tool is there, so is the Healing tool, and quite impressively, there is even a perspective controlled cloning tool. It offers the usual painting tools, including including, brushes, a pencil, airbrushes, colour fills and sampling tools. Full alpha channel support is available, so is transparencies and layering. Transforming tools include rotation, which allows rotation of the image to any angle, scale and shear. There is also support for Bezier curves.

The layout, to windows users at least, will feel a little awkward. When you start up, there is no program window as such, only the toolbox. From the toolbox, via the File menu, you can open images, which then open in a separate window, and which also appears as separate programs in the Windows Taskbar. This layout will feel a little more familiar to Mac and Unix users.
The layout, however, as with all things in open source software, can be modified using plugins. There are also plugins for additional filters and for reading unusual file formats. You can even create your own plugins.

Gimp – Final Verdict

Gimp is a good piece of software. It is hugely extendable and highly functional. The layout is slightly awkward to use and the documentation could be better, but the program is very powerful and offers many features for which you will pay a premium on other packages.

There are however some notably absent features, such as an easy way to remove red eye, dodging and burning tools and support for adjustment layers.

But obviously, at the price, it can’t be beat.