Amsterdam, 27 March, 2002.
New GIMP version for Windows
On 10 March 2002 the Windows version 1.2.3 of the popular image manipulation tool GIMP was released.
The new release fixes numerous bugs, sports much improved help files (press F1) and has some new features, such as the Color to Alpha filter and an extension for using Photoshop plug-ins.
It can be downloaded from www.gimp.org/win32/.
The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is ideal for amateur photographers, web designers, and people who just want to have plain fun drawing and editing digital images.
It supports channels and layers, colour operations such as levels, curves and threshhold, advanced selection operations using intelligent scissors and selection channels and much more.
GIMP is free software, which means it can be freely distributed to anyone. It is also an extremely powerful application, that can hold its own among the best in most areas. This means it is ideally suited to be included on coverdisks of magazines dedicated to digital photography or image editing or to be included with digital still and video cameras, scanners, printers et cetera.
GIMP 1.2.3. is also available for Linux, other Unices and MacOS.
Improvements in this version
The standard GIMP release 1.2.3 (11 February 2002) follows version 1.2.2, but the Windows release is the first one since GIMP 1.2.0. The following lists the improvements in the GIMP for Windows path:
- vastly improved user manual
- several tranlations added or completed
- lots of bugs squashed
- filters added, such as Colour to Alpha and Photoshop Plug-ins
Future improvements
1.2.x is the stable branch of GIMP, which means that this branch is solely for the purpose of squashing bugs. New features will not be added to it.
The main advantage of the new GIMP release, besides the improved documentation, is that Windows users now enjoy the many bug fixes that have been applied to the GIMP before.
Development on GIMP 1.4.0 is well underway. This version may have:
- support for EXIF data (and other metadata)
- editable text layers and a tool to support this
- transformations on layer masks
- generic previews for plug-ins
Since the GIMP is a open source like project, all future upgrades are tentative and depend on whether someone is willing to make them.
Downloads
The GIMP 1.2.3 sources can be downloaded from ftp.gimp.org.
An installer for GIMP 1.2.3 for Windows can be downloaded from http://www2.arnes.si/~sopjsimo/gimp/.
Due to patent restrictions, loader/savers for GIF and TIFF images may not be available in your country.
Further Reading
Because of its huge feature set, the GIMP can be daunting to newcomers. Experienced users of existing digital imaging tools may need to get used to the interface.
For instance, using the right mouse button to access most functions is a great usability feature, because the user has to travel the mouse across a smaller distance. However, if the user does not know this, a lot of the functions stay hidden.
The following links and books help to ease the introduction to the GIMP.
- http://home.hetnet.nl/~mweisbeek/gimp/index.html is a list of stumbling blocks for newcomers and how to overcome them.
- http://www.gimpforce.org is the web site of the GIMP User Group. It has many easy yet educational tutorials.
- Grokking the GIMP by Carey Bunks is not just a book about the GIMP, it is an excellent introduction to the world of digital image editing that the user of any raster editor should read.
It introduces the readers to such concepts as colour spaces, complex selections, finding the natural mask and retouching photos. It contains tutorials on how to remove elements from a photo, how to make panoram photos et cetera.
The book is available in any good book store, but fortunately the author has also made an online version available at http://gimp-savvy.com
Images
The following screen shots of GIMP for Windows 1.2.3 are available for republication. Feel free to download and install the GIMP to make your own screen shots though.
![[thumbnail]](gimp-pr-1.png) Use the threshhold tool to select parts of the image that are distinctive in the hue channel. (http://www.xs4all.nl/~collin/gimp/pr/gimp-pr-1.png, 129 kB PNG) |
![[thumbnail]](gimp-pr-2.png) With paint tools you can fine tune a selection in the quick mask. Zoom in but use an extra display for the overall impression. (http://www.xs4all.nl/~collin/gimp/pr/gimp-pr-2.png, 165 kB PNG) |
![[thumbnail]](gimp-pr-3.png) Liven up photos using advanced tools such as Levels and Curves. (http://www.xs4all.nl/~collin/gimp/pr/gimp-pr-3.png, 350 kB PNG) |
About the GIMP
The GIMP is a community project, released under the GNU General Public License. To read more about the GIMP, please visit http://www.gimp.org.
To read more about the GNU General Public License or its underlying Copyleft philosophy, please visit http://www.fsf.org.
GIMP 1.2.3. for Windows was built by Tor Lillqvist.
This Press Release was written by Branko Collin, who is a GIMP contributor. He has translated part of the program into Dutch and tries to get bugs fixed now and again. If you have any question about this press release, please send me an e-mail message at collin@xs4all.nl.
This document can be (re)read at www.xs4all.nl/~collin/gimp/pr/gimp123pr.html, where it contains the proper links and images.