GIMP????

I've been using Elements 3.0 on a couple of XP computers and have had

constant problems with loading/installation, etc. which I can usually

solve but are very time consuming.

 

I'd be curious to hear from any GIMP users out there. Is it stable? Is

it relatively intuitive? Does it take PS plugins? Any other thoughts

about advantages, disadvantages. I do not want any of the features of

Elements save its editing function.

 

Thanks much.

Have you considered <a href="http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/digital/psp/psp1.html">PSP (Paint Shop Pro)</a>. I like it more than PhotoShop. Easier to use and does 90% of the work for 20% of the cost. 100% stable on XP (for me). Takes PS plugins without a problem.

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I've played around with GIMP. The price is right, but it works like a typical UXIX hacker program. Not exactly user friendly.

Hi Ron ...

 

I had been using PS 6.01 as a corporate user since 1999 and had not had any upgrades. When I read up on PSE 3, well, WOW. All based on the CS version of PS and so I purchased it.

 

I have had no problems whatsoever with the product and it is running on XP. I have found that it seems to use much more memory than PS 6.

 

I am running on a 2.5ghz, 512mb memory, one HD with 80gb and one external drive with 120gb.

 

To answer your questions directly: it's very stable, it is intuitive but to really appreciate all it's subtleties you need a book dedicated to the product - I purchased the book THE MISSING MANUAL - excellent. I have downloaded numerous PS native plugins including curves and they all work fine.

 

As the book says, you'll either love the new browser or hate it. Well, I fell in love with it. I have just under 10,000 images and I was able to organize them better than I ever did with any other method or system.

 

I hardly use PS 6 anymore since I purchased PSE 3. And by the way, ensure that you have set the amount of memory that PSE 3 uses is set to 80% in the preferences section. PS 6 was set the same way.

 

Ray

May I suggest Picture Window Pro by Digital Light and Color? It is a well supported product designed specifically for photographers, not graphic artists et. al. It is very affordable and has first rate technical support. Its author is an avid photographer as well as programmer. And best of all, it is very affordable. My two cents worth.

GIMP works well on Linux, until you exceed real memory size, but

running it on Windows seems like running Photoshop on Unix with an

emulator. I second Bob's recommendation of PaintShopPro. Its user

interface is better than Elements, and includes Curves dialog.

PSP9.0 is powerful, intuitive (mostly), relatively bug free, and inexpensive. If you get it, step one is to go to their site and download the big patch! It won't be near to bug free until you do that. It now has noise reduction and chromatic abberrition (sp) routines. It's quick to load and doesn't suck up resources like some other programs. FWIW, Gimp is one of the programs on this months (July) Maximum PC magazine disk, if you don't want to download it.

I have used Photoshop Elements 1.0 then Paint Shop Pro 7 and then up to 9.0. I tried GIMP, not such an intuitive interface but works pretty well. I think that PSP 9.0 really does offer a tremendous value for the cost. I think that PSP is a very reasonable price for a stable, very useful tool and is reasonable in cost scale to one's whole photographic budget.

 

I used to use a much earlier version 4.0 for screen capture when documenting computer systems.

 

Paint Shop Pro has come a long way.

Hi Ron, here's a recent thread about the Gimp:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Cf61

 

The short version is, Gimp does not have ICC color management or the ability to work in 16 bits. I doubt that it can use Photoshop plugins. I don't know about stability on Windows. Other than that, it is fine. But, people immediately start looking for something to bash about it, because they have to justify their $600 copy of Photoshop.

GIMP is worth what you pay for it. For free it's a great deal.

 

If you had to buy it, even if it sold for $50, I doubt anybody would use it unless they had to.

As a linux geek - I'm embarrassed to say I agree with the statements here. <shudder> Well not really embarrassed but its a tough pill to swallow. Gimp is a cool idea, it has some very powerful features, its practically impossible to use once you know photoshop.

 

As for your issues/problems with XP/Elements I suspect your problems aren't PS/Elements related. If I had to guess (which I guess I have to huh?) I'd say it sounds like you're on an older computer say in the 1.x Ghz range with minimal amount of memory?

 

Most systems start to get bogged down with spyware/adware. Check out spybot S&D & ad-aware, check for virii too. Even as a linux geek, I have to admit that most windows apps are very stable, especially the pro/expensive apps from Adobe and such. Its the cheap apps for $14 or free that usually crash a system.

I used PS 5 LE on Window$ for a while (came bundled with a scanner I bought). I now use Gimp 2.0 on Linux exclusively. I did not find the interface to be *that* different between the two: Gimp is slightly less polished and not all plugins have a consistent look. It doesn't have all the features of more recent PS, but it has all I need as an amateur photographer including layers, curves & levels, selection & masks, sharpening, suport many image formats including digital camera RAW (rawphoto plugin), lens barrel & chromatic aberration correction (panotools plugin) and high quality inkjet print dithering (for some Epson and Canon printers at least).

 

Like PS it gives you image processing building blocks that you can combine to achive your particular results rather than "one-touch" solutions -- so the learning curver is higher than simple apps but it is more generally applicable.

First, thanks to everyone who shared useful ideas.

 

Andrew, I am running about 1.5 gig processors with 512 memory. I check constantly for spyware and viruses and suspect that the former may have played a role, at least in the most recent case. This said, I do tend to multiprocess quite a bit and the problems are not constant, though they have happened on all three of the computers on which I have installed the program -- never a problem with 1.0 or 2.0. I solve problems by uninstalling, cleaning all references to 3.0 from my registry and then offloading the installation program from the install disc to my D drive and then using it to set Elements up there. I learned this from consulting the Adobe user group, where my problem is not unique. I've also learned to only use the editor program.

 

I used earlier versions of PSP and if my problems with Elements continue may give it a shot. Again, thanks.

If you get this far I would suggest that something is wrong with your computer but when you fix that you should get PSP8.1 onwards and it will fill in the gaps of Elements#3. Is mind boggling at first, but once you get over that it is a very freindly programme to use.

Ron,

 

I run Linux and use Gimp constantly. I do not find it an impediment. Stable? Yes. Relatively intuitive? Yes. Take PS Plugins? As far as I know, no. I do not run XP any longer, but I do have Windows 2000 on a machine at work and Gimp seems to run fine on that. I have seen some of the Script-Fu utilities crash after running once on 2000 and then refuse to run again until Gimp was restarted. That was annoying. However, since you said that you only use the 'editing' functions in Elements, I presume that Gimp would do fine for you. I use it primarily for resizing, USM, levels adjusting, and sometimes desaturating (convert to B&W). The person who said that Gimp can't do curves is incorrect, it does them just fine.

 

That was the question you asked, right? Glad to help out.

 

I like PS and Elements fine too, but although I own three copies of Elements 2.0 and a gazillion copies of Elements 1.0, I don't use them, since I gave up on running Windows for personal use. Just a personal choice, I don't hate Bill Gates or Microsoft or anything like that - I just don't have lots and lots of money and I got kind of tired of revalidating all my software products everytime I rebuilt my computer - I hate having to prove I own things over and over again.

 

I'm sure the other products mentioned are fine and give everybody who uses them major woodies. I wish they'd reconsider before running down a product they so clearly know nothing about. Especially since that wasn't the question you asked anyway.

 

Best,

 

Wiggy

I have now been using GIMP (2.2.7)for my photographs for about 6 months...and I would say...that once you know GIMP even 25- 30% you will know its power...It can do literally anything...and like PS plugins...GIMP has lots and lots of plugins and scripts available which can do literally anything for you....from noise reduction to correcting Chromatic Abberations to 100s of other manupulations. One of the wekness though is a bigger learning curve. Let me tell you this...if you have time to invest GIMP will do everything you want...and I mean everything. and yes one more..it does not support 16 bit.

and BTW...I have used Photoshop for 4 years...never used elements tho...PS is such a memory hogger...I have got fed-up of it...