GIMP 2.8.4 released

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:05:53 +0100

Thank you for being so patient. You‘ve been waiting for a long time. Now it‘s done. I‘ve build the new GIMP 2.8.4 and it‘s ready for downloading.
But it‘s more than just waiting. I‘ve patched a lot of things and I‘ve tried to address one of the most controversially discussed issues: the new „Save / Export“ behavior. And, this build will bring you most of the ,traditional‘ workflow back, while giving you, IMO, the best of both worlds.
This build uses a more smart way of the "save / export" function than it was introduced in GIMP 2.8.

Now:
1) non-XCF images with 1 layer:
- can be saved via "File - Save" as in GIMP 2.6
- are marked "clean" after saving, so no more dialogs about unsaved changes

2) non-XCF images with 2 or more layers:
- nothing has been changed. Works as in 'plain' GIMP 2.8

3) XCF images and newly created images:
- nothing has been changed. Works as in 'plain' GIMP 2.8

"Save as / Export / Export to / Overwrite" work as in 'plain' GIMP 2.8

Completely configurable:

Go to GIMP's Preferences -> Environment -> Saving Images -> "Force to save only in XCF image format".

The default is unchecked, which will give you the above mentioned behavior, so that you can save non-XCF images.

If you want to use the new GIMP 2.8 behavior to only save in XCF, just mark this option checked.

Please give me some feedback about this changed behavior. Do you like it?
Does it fit your needs?

Well, there are more changes and improvements too: UFRaw 0.19.1, opening Postscript files now works, the help system will be configured automatically if you install the User manual packages from the download page, COMMAND + H now hides GIMP as it does with every other native MAc application.
And some notes for developers:
This build does not use the Carbon framework at all! All code has been ported to the Cocoa framework. And even more. Nearly every OS X related function now uses the NS classes and is coded in objective-C. Even GTK+ and all other libraries and tools have been ported :-)
That's a huge step towards future code compatibility against future OS X version.  Stay tuned.
Finally, if you like the GIMP on OS X packages and all my efforts to give you the best open source image editing and manipulating software right on your Mac and to improve it even more, please consider to support this project and make some donation.
Now, go over to the download page and ...
... enjoy GIMP 2.8.4
Simone

GIMP on OS X goes native

Sun, 2 Sep 2012 12:35:33 +0200

You‘ve been waiting for a long time. Now the wait is over.
Finally, GIMP on OS X goes native.
I‘ve just uploaded the first native build of the GIMP on OS X packages. From now on, you don‘t need to install XQuartz or Apple‘s X11. No more hassle around, no more trouble with installing, just drop the native GIMP in your Applications folder and launch it.
This all was possible, because the GIMP team on www.gimp.org did a great job in the last few weeks. Mainly, they added support for pressure sensitivity for graphic tablets to work with a native build. Thank you guys :-)
And finally I‘ve found a workaround for the annoying bug which caused plugin dialogs to pop up behind the main windows. There are still some small glitches. Nevertheless, it‘s quite useable now.
Now that these two bugs, which prevented me in the past from building a native version without X11, have been fixed, the GIMP on OS X packages will no longer depend on X11 or XQuartz and will now be released as a so called native build.
All additional plugins I‘ve included in the past are still there and the user manual packages will work with the new builds too.
I‘ve added some new and great plugins for photo retousching and image editing. BIMP for batch processing files, ,beautify‘ for photo retousching like skin softening, adding borders, and more. ,EAW sharpen‘ a great plugin which uses wavelets to sharpen an image and avoids halos very well. And, as many of you requested, G‘MIC is included too.
Specialized builds for Snow Leopard and Lion will follow soon. I even will try to get a version for Leopard PPC systems up and working. So stay tuned.
Enough of words, go over to the download page and ...
... enjoy your new GIMP
Simone

User manuals for 2.8

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 22:33:37 +0200

Finally, here they are.
The GIMP 2.8 User manual packages have been build and are online for downloading.
Currently there are four languages available. English, german, french and spanish. More languages will follow in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.
The installers will work with the GIMP 2.8 packages. One major enhancement over the previous 2.6 user manual is, that now the user manual is accessible to all user accounts on the system. There‘s no need to install it for every user individually.
So go over to the download page and select your prefered language package.

Have fun and enjoy your GIMP.
Simone

GIMP 2.8.0 for Mountain Lion

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 23:19:03 +0200

Apple has released the new version of its operation system: OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
So, I‘m glad to announce GIMP 2.8.0 for Mountain Lion.
Although the previous build of GiMP 2.8.0 will still work after you upgrade your Mac to Mountain Lion, this new package is necessary to fullfill the new requirements of Mountain Lion, namely to sign each aplication with a valid certificate.
If you want to install GIMP for the first time on Mountain Lion, please use this new package to make GateKeeper happy :-)
And now, go over to the download page and get your new GIMP for Mountain Lion and...

Enjoy.
Simone Karin

Links

GIMP 2.8.4 released

GIMP on OS X goes native

User manuals for 2.8

GIMP 2.8.0 for Mountain Lion