do yall recommend switching to gimp?

[cambertian]

I only recommend GIMP because it has an easy filter to make repeatable tiles. Other than that, I use Photoshop and Paint.net.

[Flynn Taggart]

I use Paint.NET in combination with GIMP alot and I don't really have any major problems, I recommend enabling Single-Window mode like Scripten said if you're used to Photoshop's interface though. Apparently many people are unaware of this feature.

[leileilol]

Yes you should GIMP is the best because it's Free Software and if there's a problem you have with it, you can edit the source yourself because everyone who uses open source software is assumed to be a knowledgable programmer according to Debian and FSF

[Marisa the Magician]

I don't recommend GIMP to anyone who wants to stay sane or would rather not delve into ridiculous nonsense (that is somewhat useful) like 64-bit floating point per channel images (make sure you bring lots of RAM with you).

[Gez]

I use Paint.NET in combination with GIMP alot and I don't really have any major problems, I recommend enabling Single-Window mode like Scripten said if you're used to Photoshop's interface though. Apparently many people are unaware of this feature.

I just tried it. Gimp promptly made my toolbox disappear (of course it did, it was a different window) and stubbornly refused to present the tools anywhere inside the remaining window. This seems to present more problems than it solves!

[Scripten]

That's strange. You should be able to go to the window menu and fix that without too much trouble. For reference, here's what my mostly default GIMP window looks like:

---

It's really weird to see all the criticism of the UI. Blender I can kind of understand, but GIMP has never really struck me as incredibly unfriendly. (Not to say I don't believe you guys. Just surprising.)

[phantombeta]

I used to use GIMP. Then I got Photoshop. Now I find GIMP's UI terrible.
I still occasionally use it for some things like paths and shit.

[TerminusEst13]

I think whatever works for you is the program you should use. Give it a run, try it out. Try Paint.net, try Artweaver, check out the different options and see which one's more comfortable for you.

Ultimately a useless post, but hey, I'm saying it anyway.

[NeuralStunner]

You might be interested in Pro Motion for sprite work, though, regardless. I know ptoing swears by it for pixel art. It's an image editor that's specifically oriented towards indexed color, tiling textures, and detailed pixel work.

I got that in the Humble Bundle recently, it looks pretty amazing! I'll have to actually give it a try.

Yes you should GIMP is the best because it's Free Software and if there's a problem you have with it, you can edit the source yourself because everyone who uses open source software is assumed to be a knowledgable programmer according to Debian and FSF

I always love it when some FOSS program's FAQ includes this kind of "helpful hint". Frequently it means the programmer doesn't give two damns about standards or user feedback.

If I was that good a programmer, I would be making my own tools because a lot of FOSS ones suck. (Sometimes, you do "get what you pay for.")

[XCVG]

The biggest problem with FOSS software is not the features or capability but the user interface, almost without exception. Blender is the worst offender in my opinion, but GIMP isn't much better. It's just needlessly counter-intuitive and nobody has ever bothered to fix it.

I've used both, but I prefer Photoshop by far. There was a fork of GIMP called GIMPshop that added a Photoshop-like UI to GIMP, but I think it's ancient history now.

[Trance]

Scripten's suggestion of single-window mode eliminated the one problem I had with GIMP's UI. It may not be Photoshop's UI, but on its own merits it's absolutely fine. It'd be nice if GIMP had access to the sea of plugins that Photoshop has, though.

[TheBadHustlex]

I have always used GIMP, I never had problems with it. I'm very familiar with the interface, and I have more trouble using PS oder Paint.Net by now.

[NeuralStunner]

The biggest problem with FOSS software is not the features or capability but the user interface, almost without exception. Blender is the worst offender in my opinion, but GIMP isn't much better. It's just needlessly counter-intuitive and nobody has ever bothered to fix it.

I have less problem with Blender's interface and more with the fact that they rewrite the backend API constantly, making addons insanely version-dependent. (Plus their numbering system makes it virtually impossible to determine beforehand what will still work or not.)

It'd be nice if GIMP had access to the sea of plugins that Photoshop has, though.

PSP can use a lot of (older?) Photoshop plugins, so I know it's possible to cross-support them. But since we're talking about free software, this might be a patent-related tangle.

[raymoohawk]

been toying around with gimp, and i have to admit the interface does slow me down a lot, i wasnt able to use single window mode because the menus didnt fit on the screen when i did. pressure sensitivity and all that stuff seems to work fine

[Dancso]

I have no gripe with the Blender interface myself either. It's definitely a lot of functions to learn how to use and locate, but once you get used to it, it's not so bad. Then again, I've not used any other modeling program in the extent that I've used Blender, so I may be missing out on one that is more user friendly

As for gimp, I'm not fond of it either... you could say... the interface is kinda... gimped.

..somebody had to do it.