GIMP?

[WickedDeath]

Can someone post a direct download link to this? what exactly does it do also?

[steve]

:D Hi WD,

The GIMP is an image program that some people say is similar to Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro in capability. It's supposed to be a GNU equivalent to those. I've never tried it, so I can't say.

This is the HomePage of The GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) It will take you for a ride through the basics, with a page of screenshots and links to various other pages, including downloads.

There are enough versions and options covering runtime environments and installers that I don't think you can just casually poke a button, go out for a beer, and come back to find The GIMP waiting for you.

The screen shots are pretty cool, the Icons remind me of a cross between Photoshop and maybe Pixia. Or something.

Have fun,
Steve

[neuromancer]

I've used "The Gimp" in Linux. A poor man's substitute for PhotoShop with the emphasis on "poor man's". It works and lovers of it will argue that it is equal. I'm not one who tends to agree with that statement. If you run it under Linux I hope you have scads of RAM free because it gulps resources. I'll take PhotoShop any day ... but then unless you have a source it is pricey .. and "The Gimp" is free.

David

[steve]

:D Hi folks,
Neuromancer said, among other things " ... but then unless you have a source it is pricey ..." That's certainly true of the high-end versions, but don't let's look down our beaks as Photoshop Elements2, the current version of Elements.

I don't know much about the Big Dog version except that it's expensive and powerful, but I got the impression somewhere that a lot of its features are necessary only if you're doing professional-quality made for magazines type work. For yokels like most of us, Elements is plenty.

Elements lacks a tool called "Healing Brush" which is an easy way of making those wrinkles under the Mother-in-law's eyes go away (or get bigger, not that I would do anything like that, of course :rolleyes: )and that sort of thing. There are ways to do that kind of retouching in Elements that may take a bit more effort, but that's OK. Also missing are color-handling features made for printed work. I know that there are more differences among the various Photoshops, but I can't think of any that justify $700-800.

I recently saw Elements2 bundled with Photoshop Album2 for around $70 or so at Costco. There must be other sources. I downloaded the free (read: feature-limited) version of PS Album2 and it's fun to play with, too

I've had E2 for about a year and can tell you that it's a whole lot of fun and it's also very useful. I got the "For Dummies" book for E2 and have learned a lot from it.

That's the end of my Photoshop Elements 2 rant.

Have fun,
Steve

[neuromancer]

I've never used Elements and frankly had no idea exactly what it was. Thanks for the comments on it. I need to look into it since I am also in search of a Photo Album type app. Could you talk a little about PhotoShop Album? I assume like its sister apps it is fairly full feature? Easy to use? Having a digital camera is a GREAT thing but having a folder of non-sensically named images that gets larger and larger is a bummer. An organizing application would be the answer. Do you find PhotoShop Album a contender? The other application I have heard some about is "Picasa" http://www.picasa.com

David

[steve]

:D Hi David,
I spent some time this morning fooling around with PS Album Starter Edition. The first thing that struck me was how many features/functions are available only in the Official 2.0 version. Way to many buttons clicked to an "Upgrade" window. The "Help" button takes you to the Adobe Website (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopalbum/starter.html) where you can buy the Real Deal. If there was any actual help there, I overlooked it.

If you want to, you can make a slide show, but you can't send in anywhere. I sent myself a PDF "stationary slide show" (meaning that you have to use the little hand gizmo to move from one shot to the next.) They have spiffy black borders, though. The online sharing feature sends you to an On-Line Album service.

If I get a chance I'll download Picasa later to day and play with it a bit. There's a thread or six in alt.comp.freeware about Picasa with the usual mix of opinions, although I think they decided that it's freeware. Other than that, though, the gurus weren't impressed. But that's pretty much normal for Usenet Gurus, eh?

Have fun,
Steve

[seqrets]

Google aquired Picasa and it is available as a free download. :)

http://www.picasa.com/google/

Haven't played with it much but, you can create a Slideshow with it and I believe have music in the background.

[neuromancer]

I downed "Picasa". So far it seems fairly nice. I like how you can play with album creation and not mess with the original file folders. You can have it auto scan your entire drive for digital images or specify the folders you want it to watch. Deletion of photos can be disk or Picasa specific. The slideshow runs fairly well but muddies the images (I think they cut the resolution for the show ... not sure you can adjust that.) The editing is some fairly basic operations but the red eye feature is VERY good for a freebie program and effortless to run. The red eye job gets a big thumbs up from me!

Timeline is a cool feature and presented in a very stylish manner. You can add "keywords" to the photos (say the name of the person in it) and then perform searches of all the albums for instances of the keyword (nice). Export as web page gives several layout options and it works. I'm not sure I like their layouts and as far as web galleries go I prefer "Gallery" http://gallery.menalto.com/. I will play with this one more but so far I likes the operation and the price (free).

David

[steve]

:D Hi folks,

Google is apparently trying to rule the world - Google Internet Exploder...Google Flakes...General Googles...Fine Suburban Living in Googletowne Landing Marina Acres :rolleyes:

I played around with Picasa this afternoon and I liked a whole lot more than the Free Photoshop Album Starter Edition 2.0. One more annoyance about the Photoshop Album freebie is that the link to Photoshop Elements 2, to do major repairs on a photo, only works on the $$$ version.

I agree with David completely about the Red-Eye gizmo - it Just Plain Works. In fact, as album gizmos go, Picasa is the better choice overall.


There are valid distinctions between Crippleware and Freeware. Photoshop Album Starter is definitely AllStoveUpWare and Picasa is just a pretty nice freebie. I don't do albummy stuff, much, though, and there may be lots of nice freebies around. If we have photos to share we generally run 'em through Photoshop, pretty 'em up and then use "Save For Web" to control how big they wind up.

Upload to the Zone, plug them into a pre-templated page, and send everybody a link rather than a four-ton attachment.

Have fun,
Steve

[neuromancer]

Under Tools>Options you can choose to view the slide show with "original" high resolution images. Also can choose an mp3 folder to play during the show. The Tools>Options is worth checking out as you can turn off the "contact the mother ship" options that are selected by default. Google wants to know some stuff about you. On firing this app I get two programs trying to grab access to the network. May be free but it is trying to pass information out via the connection. Turn them off in the Tools>Options menu.

David

[Colonel_Buckeye]

In my opinion,Photoshop elements is probably one of the best ,cheapest ,image editing programs there is.Of course it doesn't have all the features of big brother, but it is lacking very little the average user would need.If you could only have one ,and can't afford the best, this is the one to get.I have ,or have used ,just about every imaging program there is,including Corel Draw,Photoshop ,Photoimpact,gimp ,PS elements,etc ,etc.,and , if I had to reccommend one to a best friend who couldn't afford the "pro" versions, I would definitely reccommend Photoshop elements wholeheartedly.
As far as having all those images from a camera that need organized, I'll post back later and give you the addy to a fantastic freeware program that goes into folders,organizes and renames batches of photos and/or mp3's.Really awesome timesaving
little tool .
Dan
PS By the way ,in most imaging programs,such as IrfanView (http://www.irfanview.com/)(free) and Photoshop Elements,there is an option named batch, which you can use to rename pics, and usually an output to slideshow or web album.

[Colonel_Buckeye]

Here is the addy to the photo organizer(freeware) program.
It is great for digital camera users.
http://www.preclick.com/
Dan

[steelartist]

I downloaded preclick and it worked once, loaded pictures and I cropped a couple, closed program, and it never worked again. Uninstalled eveything and dowloaded again, still nothing on XP. Any fixes or ideas?

[seqrets]

Originally posted by steelartist@Aug 16 2004, 04:05 AM
I downloaded preclick and it worked once, loaded pictures and I cropped a couple, closed program, and it never worked again. Uninstalled eveything and dowloaded again, still nothing on XP. Any fixes or ideas?
I've never used it but, make sure that the Install folder and the contents within have been deleted and then download and run a Registry cleaner. When finished, re-install the preclick.

Here's a good free one that I use. RegCleaner (http://www.worldstart.com/weekly-download/archives/reg-cleaner4.3.htm).

[steelartist]

The second one started after I deleted Kazaa/bullguard and all of MSN's junk. Works fine so far.