What exactly can gimp do

[Sephina Frostbite]

There was a storm yesterday so I had time to mess with GIMP for the first time. I think I did okay but Im stil having an issue blending.. can GIMP Blend or blur specific spots. If so how.. Thank you :)

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Yes it can.  There are a few ways depending on what you are going for

Use the tool that looks like a water drop.  This blends the colors without smearing

Use the tool that looks like a hand: this will smear the colors a bit or a lot depending on your settings

Use the select tools and select the area you and to work with then use the blend filters under FILTERS at the top of your screen.  The filter will only effect the area you select.

It will take some practice and trial and error, so you may want to make a copy of your photo before you mess with it.

[Kelli May]

http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tool-convolve.html

http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tool-smudge.html

They work much as Amethyst desccribed.

[Sephina Frostbite]

Thank you ladies!! This helped out a lot. TIme to mess with ol Gimpy lol

[Pussycat Catnap]

From watching friends who use GIMP my impression is that it can match Photoshop almost feature for feature, if not fully.

But if you learned Photoshop first like I did, its horrendous to try and transition over (I guess a bit like the switch between V2 and V1).

One note of caution if working on a team project with a Photoshop user: every so often Adobe alters something inside of PSD just enough to break Gimp's ability to open files. I've not tested - but I suspect saving Photoshop to a slightly older version, and keeping GIMP up to date often, might avoid this.

 

I'd love to see more tutorials on the basics of GIMP - I noticed the URL above is docs.gimp.org - maybe they've got what I need to overcome my Photoshop ways...

 

 

 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

I have never had a problem opening any psp files in the latest version of GImp.

[JeanneFau]

No, GIMP canno't compete with photoshop fully. It's alright, free things for casual users that want to do basic stuff. 

Ergo, for OP's needs it will be sufficient.

[Pussycat Catnap]

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Amethyst Jetaime wrote:

I have never had a problem opening any psp files in the latest version of GImp.

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Well yeah I wouldn't expect problems with paint shop pro. But Photoshop is another story. And if you take a Photoshop file into the newest version and save it to that version, especially after an update patch - often that file will no longer open in Gimp. It can take Gimp a number of months to as much as a year to catch up - because they have to reverse engineer what changed.

As for Gimp not being that good... with the right added tools, I've yet to see anything I could find an ability to do in Photoshop that one of my Gimp using friends couldn't find their own way to do as well. It might be out there, but I've not yet seen it.

 

[Sephina Frostbite]

The only issue I have with GIMP at the moment is the size fo the tool when coloring. Its one size and its often to large.