You can find and download plugins from the internet. This gives developers a lot of flexibility, and it can be easily concluded simply from the number of plugins that are available for GIMP. The GIMP framework supports multiple languages including C, C++, Python, and Perl. Moreover, it supports 3 rd party plugins and scripts which opens a ton of additional functionality that can be installed onto the tool. The best part about GIMP is the open-source community and its followers. In some cases, GIMP is not able to handle a few files, but overall it does decent in the performance section. There are hardly any reports of the tool crashing or being unable to handle large files. GIMP uses a combination of complex image manipulation algorithms and offers decent performance. With the size of images exponentially growing, the tools have difficulty managing such images. Performance is a key aspect of image editing tools these days. The link to the docs can be found below in the Further Reading section. You can follow GIMP docs to learn these tools and take full advantage of them thoroughly. This makes it easier to access tools, and once you’ve spent enough time with GIMP, you will be using these shortcuts more often. If you are coming from Photoshop, the tool icons vary slightly, so it might take a little to get familiar with and find your tool quickly.Īll the tools get a quick shortcut button from your keyboard. There are many tools available, ranging from a simple rectangle select tool and a fuzzy select tool to advanced tools such as perspective tool and shear tool. Once you start using GIMP, you will find that it offers many tools. GIMP would also let you enable grid lines, layer boundaries, guides, rulers, and almost everything that you’d need while editing an image. You can remove all those things that you do not require and make the tool look even simpler. The interface is completely customizable, and you can tailor it for yourself. You can locate similar features inside File, Edit, Select, View, Image, Layer, Colors, and Tools menus. The menu convention is somewhat like that of Photoshop. Select a tool from the toolbox, and you can adjust the options from the pane below the toolbox.Īll the features can also be accessed from neatly placed menus. The toolbox is followed by the pane that shows you tool options. On the left-hand side is the most useful toolbox. Above that are tabs that let you select your brush pattern or fonts for the text tool. You can create new layers or manage the existing ones from here. The layers are there in the bottom left corner. The design might be somewhat familiar if you have used any other common image editing tool before. Everything is nicely placed on one screen and within the user’s reach. There are a few tools and terms that might be new to you unless you are from an image editing background. The tool has the simplest and cleanest interface of all the image editors I have seen. It is good to go for free alternatives to expensive tools like Photoshop. I have very less experience in image editing, but I have seen this tool being used by several Photographers, Graphic Designers, and people in the imaging industry. It has been beautifully ported to Windows and runs as smoothly as it does on Linux. GIMP was originally designed for Linux systems, but that does not mean Windows support is loose. Learning it, however, will take some time.

This raster graphics editor has many powerful features and enjoys support from an ever-growing open-source community. If you are looking for a free tool that can let you edit your Photoshop files and offers a rich experience, GIMP is the right choice. GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is undoubtedly the most popular free image editing software, and some even call it the free Photoshop Alternative.

Raster graphic program