13 ms·

GIMP is Now a Self-Contained Native App for Mac OS X

376 points by maciej 14y ago

wtallis 14y ago
So, is this an app that bundles it's own X11, or is it using a Quartz/Cocoa backend for GTK? EDIT: I downloaded it, and the app bundle doesn't seem to have an X11, so that's nice. However, upon firing it up, it throws up a splash screen in front of all other applications. Who still thinks that's acceptable behavior on a multitasking operating system? Also, the app quits when the last window is closed, which isn't how OS X apps are supposed to behave.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  Who still thinks that's acceptable behavior Adobe still does, and of all apps, GIMP is going to be one of the most likely to emulate them.
  - MikeCapone 14y ago
    Photoshop's splash screen doesn't stay on top of all other windows and steal focus, at least not in the version that I have. If anyone from GIMP is reading this, I strongly recommend that you fix that or at least allow us to disable the splash screen. Thank you.
    - w1ntermute 14y ago
      Have you tried this: http://kuoi.com/~kamikaze/read.php?id=129 http://kuoi.com/~kamikaze/read.php?id=129 Looks kind of old, but it might still work.
      - graue 14y ago
        Off-topic rant: "Someone with spare time on their hands feel like adding a 'Disable splash screen' checkbox to the preferences panel?" That suggestion illustrates a common anti-pattern in open source software. Broken behavior should simply be fixed, not receive an extra option to turn it off. No one wants to have to check an "unbreak my software" checkbox.
        w1ntermute 14y ago
        I don't think this is necessarily broken behavior. Photoshop has a splash screen too, and from what I understand, it's there because of the long loading time.
        wtallis 14y ago
        A splash screen that can't be minimized, hidden, or covered up with a useful window is definitely broken behavior. I think it can only be implemented by abusing APIs meant for screensavers and full-screen games.
        sliverstorm 14y ago
        Are you kidding? All you need is always-on-top behavior, which is usually offered in some form by most window managers.
        wtallis 14y ago
        I was referring to implementing this behavior on OS X specifically. To get this behavior, you have to deliberately avoid the usual way of throwing up a modal window in order to have that modal window stay visible and on top when the application is deactivated. I don't even have to dig up the source code to know that it reads like an ugly hack that messes with the raw values of an enumerated constant. Most likely, it's in the Quartz backend for GTK, and somebody only implemented half the abstraction for window management.
      - tincholio 14y ago
        Thank you kindly, sir, that worked! The current wrapper script is a bit different, but the same switch does the trick.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- forgotusername 14y ago
  I'm confused. You double clicked an application icon, and the application opened? You seem to be conflating the popular hate for focus being stolen due to some non-consensual event, and the consensual starting of an app. If GIMP didn't have a splash screen, there'd be no indication it was loading at all (and it's one big fat app.. several generations of code including a huge chunk of Python loaded at boot).
  - reitzensteinm 14y ago
    Splash screens are fine, splash screens that are set to always on top are not. Important distinction.
    - protolif 14y ago
      The toolbox window is also set to 'always on top'. It's not a huge deal, compared to the x11 version though. I just open another virtual desktop for it in Lion.
  - DigitalJack 14y ago
    The icon bounces when an app is starting in osx. I am sure there are probably a couple, but normally Mac apps do not do splash screens.
  - wtallis 14y ago
    OS X app icons bounce in the dock while the app is loading. If it takes a really long time, a splash screen is ok, but a splash screen that sticks around for a full minute and thwarts every attempt to raise a window above it is just insulting.
    - protolif 14y ago
      I agree that they should change this, but I don't find it offensive, because I know that the GIMP project has been around since it was acceptable to get a cup of coffee while your app loads. I'm just saying, that they've got a lot of legacy code. I'm just happy that it works, for now.
- atopuzov 14y ago
  It uses GTK with Quartz support, which has it's quirks :(, and the GTK engine they are using looks nice (murrine + theme zukitwo). I been using Wireshark with GTK-Quartz in that mode for a few years (compiling on my own) but they have managed to integrate GTK menus to the Mac menubar.
- naz 14y ago
  > Also, the app quits when the last window is closed, which isn't how OS X apps are supposed to behave. If anything, they're ahead of the curve. Most Apple apps are beginning to follow this behavior: App Store, Calculator, Contacts, Dictionary, DVD Player, FaceTime, Font Book, Game Center, Garage Band, Image Capture, iPhoto, and so on.
  - cmelbye 14y ago
    Notice how most (all?) of those are single window applications.
    - buu700 14y ago
      So is Gimp, with the release of 2.8 (well, the option's there anyway).
      - _1 14y ago
        But it's still a document-based application. Those, in general, stay active even if all the documents are closed.
        timdiggerm 14y ago
        Not in the new Apple way. I believe the idea is that they'll save their state but close.
    - agscala 14y ago
      Right, but does opening more than one window for a single application count? Two chrome windows for instance.
- ken 14y ago
  Apple's OS X Human Interface Guidelines[1]: "In general, quit when users close the last open window in your app." [1]: http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/Windows/Windows.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20000961-TPXREF56 http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserExp...
  - poblano 14y ago
    Like iTunes.
    - btn 14y ago
      Keep reading... "If an app continues to perform some function when the main window is closed, it might be appropriate to leave it running after the user closes the main window. For example, iTunes continues to play after the user closes the main window."
  - flatline3 14y ago
    "In apps that are not document-based ..." GIMP is document-based.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
- mbell 14y ago
  What i find annoying in OS X is flipping over to a desktop, telling an app to start (with the hope that it starts in that desktop), then flipping over to another desktop to keep doing stuff while it loads, only to find that the app has decided to start on your current desktop, not the one you launched it in.
  - gosub 14y ago
    This also happens to me in GNOME (v 2.30.11, Debian 6.0.5).
- btn 14y ago
  > Also, the app quits when the last window is closed, which isn't how OS X apps are supposed to behave. This is almost consistent with Apple's HIG: "In general, quit when users close the last open window in your app. [...] If users close the last remaining document window in a document-based app and switch to another app, it’s appropriate to quit the app" (emphasis added). [1] [1]: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/Windows/Windows.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20000961-TPXREF56 https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserEx...
  - nsxwolf 14y ago
    That's odd. I don't think I've ever seen this behavior. I just tried it with Pages and the application remained open.
    - jarcoal 14y ago
      Give it a try with TextEdit and you'll see the expected response.
      - tuananh 14y ago
        Cmd W closes the document without quitting TextEdit. just tested on lion. Mac is document-based instead of application-based so closing document doesn't quit the app. it only does if multiple documents doesn't make sense to the application like System Preferences.
        nspragmatic 14y ago
        You're doing it wrong. This is the HIG quote from above: > "In general, quit when users close the last open window in your app. [...] If users close the last remaining document window in a document-based app and switch to another app, it’s appropriate to quit the app" (emphasis added). In TextEdit, close the last document and then _switch to another app_. You're missing the last step.
- bonch 14y ago
  > Also, the app quits when the last window is closed, which isn't how OS X apps are supposed to behave. Close the last document in TextEdit on Mountain Lion and see what happens to TextEdit.
- grannyg00se 14y ago
  Doesn't behave typically on Windows 7 either. Clicking the window close button doesn't close the app, it closes the currently open document. Also, ALT+F4 doesn't close the app either, just the current document. This is in single-window mode where closing the window should close the app. Fortunately CTRL-Q does what it's supposed to. Oh, and great job GIMP folks. I love GIMP and recommend it often. I've even tried to convince some folks to stop using illegal Photoshop copies and switch to GIMP instead (so far I have a 0% conversion rate).
  - hnriot 14y ago
    so far I have a 0% conversion rate that's not surprising given that the GIMP pales by comparison to photoshop. There's just no comparison. I think the high price of Adobe Creative suite has always been there because any professional uses it and buys it, but Adobe knows there are many illegal copies used by students and they just assume they one day will get jobs and then they will be paid users, meanwhile the illegal use is subsidized by the industry who doesn't care how much it costs because it gets the job done. By comparison GIMP is a toy. I know its a pet of the open source community, but commercial software with real designers and focus groups and product managers sometimes get it right.
    - sbuk 14y ago
      Photoshop is hardly a beacon of software done right. In my experience (been using Photoshop pretty much everyday since 1991) it has got considerably more bloated and unstable with each release, the exception perhaps being 5.5. The benefit that Photoshop has is familiarity and Adobe's pricing structure is that of an abusive monopoly - they know they can charge as much as they do because they have a monopoly. This monopoly was earned in large part because early on, Photoshop was the most accessible app.round about 5.0 Adobe started to get sloppy. I've started using Pixelmator for about half the image work I do on the Mac and IMHO it represents excellent value for money. It works like Photoshop used to do. It's lacking some feature, mainly the ability to work in colour channels, but for the price, it's hard to beat.
      - 14y ago
armored_mammal 14y ago
Since it's 2.8 series it should have single-window mode, no?
- dguaraglia 14y ago
  Yep, it does Windows->Single-Window Mode. So. Much. Better.
  - armored_mammal 14y ago
    Yeah, the multi-window thing only ever made sense for tiling window managers. And even with that it was a bit of a stretch. That said, I don't think there's a more under-estimated or misunderstood program around.
    - Avshalom 14y ago
      I'm actually pretty sure it was a adopted from the original multi-window interface of Photoshop on Mac.
  - pippy 14y ago
    I'm still bewildered why this isn't the default.
  - kapilkale 14y ago
    Thank you. There's some buggy behavior about windows staying on top despite switching applications, and this fixes it.
jfaucett 14y ago
I love it! GIMP is one of those tools that's "almost" a photohop killer, not quite yet, but this is a big step in the right direction. Good job GIMP team! As an asside, I think the plugin API and scheme joice is great and a blast to develope with I'd just like to see others jump on board. EDIT: I thought I'd add this since there seems to be a large discussion below as to the type of user for which GIMP is applicable. I'm a software dev, in the past couple of years though mainly web apps where I've had to at times do graphics, for this GIMP worked fine for me (that's my pitch in the discussion). I think GIMP shines (as well as the traditional imagemagick) for batch processing, the scripting is easy, clean, fast - and lispy :) Some links for those interested: http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Basic_Batch/ http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Basic_Batch/ http://www.squidoo.com/gimp-how-to-write-a-script-fu-macro http://www.squidoo.com/gimp-how-to-write-a-script-fu-macro
- rcgs 14y ago
  As someone who uses Photoshop almost every day, it's nowhere near a "photoshop killer". The workflow is still one of the worst I have stumbled across.
  - DanBC 14y ago
    For people who need to put some text on an image[1] or who need to tweak some minor stuff gimp is a "photoshop killer" - and it's nice to push people to legally free software rather than a pirate download of Photoshop. [1] But see this gimp document - the first returned hit in a search for [gimp drop shadow text] - which appears to be weirdly complex. http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/The_Basics/ http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/The_Basics/
    - wtallis 14y ago
      At first glance, it doesn't seem like this Mac version is capable of using the system's installed fonts - only the fonts bundled with the app.
    - eridius 14y ago
      If you need to do basic image editing on OS X I'd say use Acorn[1] or Pixelmator[2]. [1]: http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/ http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/ [2]: http://www.pixelmator.com http://www.pixelmator.com
viraj_shah 14y ago
The interface looks significantly better, at least from the last time I messed around with it (which was a while ago).
- jaytaylor 14y ago
  Agreed. This is a huge step forward for Gimp!
fuzionmonkey 14y ago
Does it have Retina display support? I'd download this in a heartbeat. It's frustrating how long it is taken Adobe to update their software for Hi-DPI.
- llimllib 14y ago
  No: http://i.imgur.com/5AMU4.jpg http://i.imgur.com/5AMU4.jpg (Edit: that's Gimp and Acorn in the screenshot, respectively, in case you weren't clear what was going on.)
- toyg 14y ago
  We don't know how much warning Apple gave them. To be fair, two months to update such beastly products is really nothing, especially when you have to change core functionality (like on-screen rendering in an image-creation tool...). I'd say 4 to 6 months would be an acceptable turnaround time for the most important products. Compare with Microsoft, which simply won't support retina "for the time being"...
bigfrakkinghero 14y ago
This is awesome! One of my biggest gripes with using OSX was how terrible the GIMP experience was.
crazygringo 14y ago
This is a great move. Serious question: how did this not happen 5 years ago? Is there some technical reason? It's so hard for me to understand why the creators wouldn't have always had this as the #1 feature improvement to make ASAP.
- armored_mammal 14y ago
  I doubt most GIMP developers care(d?) about Mac. Or had Macs. Open source stuff tends to live in a special universe where everyone uses Linux. (In fact, based on another post, it sounds like the windowing toolkit picked up Mac support, rather than Gimp doing anything super special.)
  - fosap 14y ago
    Also GIMP is in desperate need of manpower.
- wlesieutre 14y ago
  There was Seashore, which was a simpler image editor based on GIMP, but native integration never seemed to be a priority for GIMP. I think there's a commonly held view on open source projects that they're all doing you a service, and if you don't like the tool they wrote you can fix it yourself or use something else. I can't say there's anything particularly wrong with that view, but it doesn't always lead to the greatest user experience. I can only assume that someone (or several someones) with the time and knowhow to get this done finally came along and decided it was worth investing their time in. I doubt it's as exciting as working on the image editing features.
- Camillo 14y ago
  A "native" version of GTK had been in the works for years, mainly supported by people who wanted to run other programs with it (CinePaint, I think). It seems that nobody had the interest in getting Gimp working with it, the skills to accomplish that, the time to dedicate to it, and the spirit of sacrifice needed to work on a GTK 2 port when GTK 3 is already out. But somehow, in the end, the stars aligned.
tcc619 14y ago
This feature along with the single window view makes GIMP very usable on the mac.
MikeCapone 14y ago
Slightly off-topic (but I know very savvy people are here, so I can't help but ask): Anyone knows where I could find a JPEG-2000 plug-in for GIMP that works on this Mac version, along with instructions on how to install it?
jon6 14y ago
OT but is this an official signed application that can work with gatekeeper on 10.8? I recently discovered that my open source project won't work by default on osx 10.8 without me paying $99 to get an apple certificate, which I'm not very interested in doing. What are open source/free projects supposed to do about gatekeeper?
- callahad 14y ago
  > What are open source/free projects supposed to do about gatekeeper? They're supposed to pay up. The signing Developer Certificate Utility at https://developer.apple.com/certificates/ https://developer.apple.com/certificates/ rejects accounts that are not paid members of the Mac Developer Program, and a footnote at https://developer.apple.com/resources/developer-id/ https://developer.apple.com/resources/developer-id/ states that "Mac Developer Program membership is required to access the tools and resources for distributing Mac applications."
- plorkyeran 14y ago
  Tell users how to turn it off. I've never seen a user object to doing so, possibly because they don't understand what it's doing in the first place.
  - stephen_g 14y ago
    You don't have to turn it off. Just Command click the application and click open the first time. It's automatically added to a whitelist.
- pnathan 14y ago
  I disabled Gatekeeper's hollering on 10.8. I suspect most power users will do the same, but I have no data for that suspicion.
  - msbarnett 14y ago
    "Power Users" can have the best of both worlds by simply right-clicking and selecting "Open" to whitelist specific non-signed apps that they want to trust. I'd mostly expect people who turn it off entirely to fit the "don't really know what they're doing but like to do whatever a forum post tells them to do" archetype.
devindotcom 14y ago
Thank god, maybe I can finally leave behind Pixelmator.
jamesu 14y ago
I have to say, i'm impressed. One of the biggest reasons I never really used GIMP on OSX was that the X11 version never really felt right. This version in comparison feels a lot better, though there are still a few annoying things about it, such as the image editing itself seems a bit laggy. Still, a good step in the right direction IMO!
Cyranix 14y ago
The primary download link is getting hammered at the moment; check for a mirror that has an OSX directory for fast access.
Kilimanjaro 14y ago
I've been using the outdated Seashore for my basic crop/resize needs. Will try asap.
captaincrowbar 14y ago
Now if only Inkscape would follow suit. There are plenty of good bitmap image editors for the Mac, but I could really use a good vector editor.
- Flow 14y ago
  I like Sketch, it's cheap, very good and is aware of pixels. http://bohemiancoding.com/sketch/ http://bohemiancoding.com/sketch/
scoofy 14y ago
Why can't i move a selection within a layer? This has to be the most persistent problem in the mac version that hasn't been fixed. With every new GIMP version i curse this bug.
- armored_mammal 14y ago
  It's a GIMP thing, unless I'm misunderstanding you: http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-using-selections.html http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-using-selections.html
  - scoofy 14y ago
    >>hold down Ctrl+Alt keys and click-and-drag the selection. This makes the original place empty. A floating selection is created. The required key commands may differ on your system, look in the status bar to see if another combination is specified; for example, Shift+Ctrl+Alt. This does not function on mac as far as i know. You cannot even manually do it in the selection options.
    - stuaxo 14y ago
      Maybe substitute ctrl for command?
city41 14y ago
There is also McGimp, which is a fully OSX native version of Gimp: http://www.partha.com/ http://www.partha.com/
- nimrody 14y ago
  Can you summarize the main advantages/disadvantages?
DenisM 14y ago
Any thoughts on this new GIMP vis-a-vis Photoshop Elements? I don't mind paying <$100 for a decent graphics editor. My primary use case is tweaking screenshots, app icons, buttons, and the like for my iOS apps and the web site. I want to get in and out as quick as possible, so I can get back to my other work.
- kellishaver 14y ago
  I haven't tried GIMP in ages, but have a look at Pixelmator. It's a great little app. http://www.pixelmator.com/ http://www.pixelmator.com/ It has a lot of features for not a lot of money, and a very Photoshop-like interface.
- danieldk 14y ago
  Photoshop Elements is a light-weight blend of Photoshop and Lightroom. It's more for managing photo collections, tweaking things like exposure and contrast, removing red eyes, etc. If you want a sub-$100 Photoshop replacement, I'd go for Pixelmator. It's really affordable, and provides the functionality that most users need.
- zyb09 14y ago
  GIMP, tried out a lot of image editors and imho it goes like this: Photoshop > GIMP > Elements > Pixelmator. Pixelmator has a really nice UI, but it's lacking features left and right. Photoshop is still the nicest, especially for coders, who don't know what they are doing (real artist only need a canvas and a brush anyway).
- bazzargh 14y ago
  I'm a gimp user. My mum (who has a mac, but isnt a confident computer user) asked for 'photoshop' for christmas after seeing what I'd done fixing up family photos. I knew if I just gave her Gimp (or Photoshop for that matter) she'd just get stuck - they aren't very user friendly. I had a look at all the image editors I could - Acorn, Seashore, Pixelmator, etc and came to the conclusion that Photoshop Elements beat them all for ease of use. Specific things that help are the guided actions (in the panel on the right) that act like wizards for performing common actions, but also teach you how to do these things; and the selection & healing tools are miles better than those in the other tools. Take a look at the demo on the top left here: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/features.html http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/features.ht... ... it's talking about the smart brush, which I don't bother with, but what you're looking at is how well it manages to select within a picture. I still prefer using Gimp, but for quick photo edits, I tend to use PE now. However, I tend to work with photos not eg icons as you do - not sure if PE is any use for that.
larrywright 14y ago
The excellent Pixelmator is only $14.99 in the Mac App Store. I'm not sure how much use their is for Gimp on OS X any more.
- niels_olson 14y ago
  I like using GIMP because it's what I use on Ubuntu and Suse and I use a lot of different machines (two XP boxes on different networks at work, several OSes at home, and I change jobs every couple of years). Photoshop isn't cross-platform, and the licensing would be prohibitive for my needs. For my brother, a professional artist with his own studio, Photoshop is the only way to go. For my daughter on a Cr-48, GIMP is great.
joejohnson 14y ago
I wish it were available from the App Store.
- d0ugal 14y ago
  Why?
  - jyap 14y ago
    GIMP would most likely reach a larger audience of users. Simple app updates that are integrated at the OS level.
delackner 14y ago
Some day in the distant future perhaps there will actually be a non-photoshop 100% psd compatible editor. I thought I could just tell my designer to do File -> Export Layers as PNG, but that command in Photoshop is intentionally broken, churning for several minutes before producing even the first of many output files. In the meantime, while I like seeing how far Gimp has come, it just isn't an option for me.
mmphosis 14y ago
GIMP Crashes on launching 32bit CPU https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=682913 https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=682913 $ file GIMP.app/Contents/MacOS/GIMP-bin GIMP.app/Contents/MacOS/GIMP-bin: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
akldfgj 14y ago
Doesn't come with decent-looking fonts included, though.
unwind 14y ago
There was some confusion about whether this release (which wasn't done by the "ordinary" Mac OS X package maintainer) meant that the role had been appointed to someone else: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list/2012-August/msg00217.html https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list/2012-Aug.... I hope that is getting resolved, it's always painful to see large projects like GIMP suffer from "people problems" and developers become disgruntled as a result.
jyap 14y ago
TIP: I've been a long time GIMP for Mac OS X user (being a former laptop Linux users). New GIMP crashed in me on the first run. It then hung on start up on the 2nd run. I just deleted my old GIMP configuration directories and it started up fine: rm -fr ~/Library/Application\ Support/Gimp/
calgaryeng 14y ago
Is there a way to permanently dock the toolbar in the Mac version? I had this in the old version.... Now I get floating docks over top of other applications even when Gimp is in the background!

376 points by maciej 14y ago

So, is this an app that bundles it's own X11, or is it using a Quartz/Cocoa backend for GTK? EDIT: I downloaded it, and the app bundle doesn't seem to have an X11, so that's nice. However, upon firing it up, it throws up a splash screen in front of all other applications. Who still thinks that's acceptable behavior on a multitasking operating system? Also, the app quits when the last window is closed, which isn't how OS X apps are supposed to behave.

sliverstorm 14y ago
Who still thinks that's acceptable behavior Adobe still does, and of all apps, GIMP is going to be one of the most likely to emulate them.
- MikeCapone 14y ago
  Photoshop's splash screen doesn't stay on top of all other windows and steal focus, at least not in the version that I have. If anyone from GIMP is reading this, I strongly recommend that you fix that or at least allow us to disable the splash screen. Thank you.
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    Have you tried this: http://kuoi.com/~kamikaze/read.php?id=129 http://kuoi.com/~kamikaze/read.php?id=129 Looks kind of old, but it might still work.
    - graue 14y ago
      Off-topic rant: "Someone with spare time on their hands feel like adding a 'Disable splash screen' checkbox to the preferences panel?" That suggestion illustrates a common anti-pattern in open source software. Broken behavior should simply be fixed, not receive an extra option to turn it off. No one wants to have to check an "unbreak my software" checkbox.
      - w1ntermute 14y ago
        I don't think this is necessarily broken behavior. Photoshop has a splash screen too, and from what I understand, it's there because of the long loading time.
        wtallis 14y ago
        A splash screen that can't be minimized, hidden, or covered up with a useful window is definitely broken behavior. I think it can only be implemented by abusing APIs meant for screensavers and full-screen games.
        sliverstorm 14y ago
        Are you kidding? All you need is always-on-top behavior, which is usually offered in some form by most window managers.
        wtallis 14y ago
        I was referring to implementing this behavior on OS X specifically. To get this behavior, you have to deliberately avoid the usual way of throwing up a modal window in order to have that modal window stay visible and on top when the application is deactivated. I don't even have to dig up the source code to know that it reads like an ugly hack that messes with the raw values of an enumerated constant. Most likely, it's in the Quartz backend for GTK, and somebody only implemented half the abstraction for window management.
    - tincholio 14y ago
      Thank you kindly, sir, that worked! The current wrapper script is a bit different, but the same switch does the trick.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
forgotusername 14y ago
I'm confused. You double clicked an application icon, and the application opened? You seem to be conflating the popular hate for focus being stolen due to some non-consensual event, and the consensual starting of an app. If GIMP didn't have a splash screen, there'd be no indication it was loading at all (and it's one big fat app.. several generations of code including a huge chunk of Python loaded at boot).
- reitzensteinm 14y ago
  Splash screens are fine, splash screens that are set to always on top are not. Important distinction.
  - protolif 14y ago
    The toolbox window is also set to 'always on top'. It's not a huge deal, compared to the x11 version though. I just open another virtual desktop for it in Lion.
- DigitalJack 14y ago
  The icon bounces when an app is starting in osx. I am sure there are probably a couple, but normally Mac apps do not do splash screens.
- wtallis 14y ago
  OS X app icons bounce in the dock while the app is loading. If it takes a really long time, a splash screen is ok, but a splash screen that sticks around for a full minute and thwarts every attempt to raise a window above it is just insulting.
  - protolif 14y ago
    I agree that they should change this, but I don't find it offensive, because I know that the GIMP project has been around since it was acceptable to get a cup of coffee while your app loads. I'm just saying, that they've got a lot of legacy code. I'm just happy that it works, for now.
atopuzov 14y ago
It uses GTK with Quartz support, which has it's quirks :(, and the GTK engine they are using looks nice (murrine + theme zukitwo). I been using Wireshark with GTK-Quartz in that mode for a few years (compiling on my own) but they have managed to integrate GTK menus to the Mac menubar.
naz 14y ago
> Also, the app quits when the last window is closed, which isn't how OS X apps are supposed to behave. If anything, they're ahead of the curve. Most Apple apps are beginning to follow this behavior: App Store, Calculator, Contacts, Dictionary, DVD Player, FaceTime, Font Book, Game Center, Garage Band, Image Capture, iPhoto, and so on.
- cmelbye 14y ago
  Notice how most (all?) of those are single window applications.
  - buu700 14y ago
    So is Gimp, with the release of 2.8 (well, the option's there anyway).
    - _1 14y ago
      But it's still a document-based application. Those, in general, stay active even if all the documents are closed.
      - timdiggerm 14y ago
        Not in the new Apple way. I believe the idea is that they'll save their state but close.
  - agscala 14y ago
    Right, but does opening more than one window for a single application count? Two chrome windows for instance.
ken 14y ago
Apple's OS X Human Interface Guidelines[1]: "In general, quit when users close the last open window in your app." [1]: http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/Windows/Windows.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20000961-TPXREF56 http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserExp...
- poblano 14y ago
  Like iTunes.
  - btn 14y ago
    Keep reading... "If an app continues to perform some function when the main window is closed, it might be appropriate to leave it running after the user closes the main window. For example, iTunes continues to play after the user closes the main window."
- flatline3 14y ago
  "In apps that are not document-based ..." GIMP is document-based.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
mbell 14y ago
What i find annoying in OS X is flipping over to a desktop, telling an app to start (with the hope that it starts in that desktop), then flipping over to another desktop to keep doing stuff while it loads, only to find that the app has decided to start on your current desktop, not the one you launched it in.
- gosub 14y ago
  This also happens to me in GNOME (v 2.30.11, Debian 6.0.5).
btn 14y ago
> Also, the app quits when the last window is closed, which isn't how OS X apps are supposed to behave. This is almost consistent with Apple's HIG: "In general, quit when users close the last open window in your app. [...] If users close the last remaining document window in a document-based app and switch to another app, it’s appropriate to quit the app" (emphasis added). [1] [1]: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/Windows/Windows.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20000961-TPXREF56 https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserEx...
- nsxwolf 14y ago
  That's odd. I don't think I've ever seen this behavior. I just tried it with Pages and the application remained open.
  - jarcoal 14y ago
    Give it a try with TextEdit and you'll see the expected response.
    - tuananh 14y ago
      Cmd W closes the document without quitting TextEdit. just tested on lion. Mac is document-based instead of application-based so closing document doesn't quit the app. it only does if multiple documents doesn't make sense to the application like System Preferences.
      - nspragmatic 14y ago
        You're doing it wrong. This is the HIG quote from above: > "In general, quit when users close the last open window in your app. [...] If users close the last remaining document window in a document-based app and switch to another app, it’s appropriate to quit the app" (emphasis added). In TextEdit, close the last document and then _switch to another app_. You're missing the last step.
bonch 14y ago
> Also, the app quits when the last window is closed, which isn't how OS X apps are supposed to behave. Close the last document in TextEdit on Mountain Lion and see what happens to TextEdit.
grannyg00se 14y ago
Doesn't behave typically on Windows 7 either. Clicking the window close button doesn't close the app, it closes the currently open document. Also, ALT+F4 doesn't close the app either, just the current document. This is in single-window mode where closing the window should close the app. Fortunately CTRL-Q does what it's supposed to. Oh, and great job GIMP folks. I love GIMP and recommend it often. I've even tried to convince some folks to stop using illegal Photoshop copies and switch to GIMP instead (so far I have a 0% conversion rate).
- hnriot 14y ago
  so far I have a 0% conversion rate that's not surprising given that the GIMP pales by comparison to photoshop. There's just no comparison. I think the high price of Adobe Creative suite has always been there because any professional uses it and buys it, but Adobe knows there are many illegal copies used by students and they just assume they one day will get jobs and then they will be paid users, meanwhile the illegal use is subsidized by the industry who doesn't care how much it costs because it gets the job done. By comparison GIMP is a toy. I know its a pet of the open source community, but commercial software with real designers and focus groups and product managers sometimes get it right.
  - sbuk 14y ago
    Photoshop is hardly a beacon of software done right. In my experience (been using Photoshop pretty much everyday since 1991) it has got considerably more bloated and unstable with each release, the exception perhaps being 5.5. The benefit that Photoshop has is familiarity and Adobe's pricing structure is that of an abusive monopoly - they know they can charge as much as they do because they have a monopoly. This monopoly was earned in large part because early on, Photoshop was the most accessible app.round about 5.0 Adobe started to get sloppy. I've started using Pixelmator for about half the image work I do on the Mac and IMHO it represents excellent value for money. It works like Photoshop used to do. It's lacking some feature, mainly the ability to work in colour channels, but for the price, it's hard to beat.
    - 14y ago

armored_mammal 14y ago

Since it's 2.8 series it should have single-window mode, no?

dguaraglia 14y ago
Yep, it does Windows->Single-Window Mode. So. Much. Better.
- armored_mammal 14y ago
  Yeah, the multi-window thing only ever made sense for tiling window managers. And even with that it was a bit of a stretch. That said, I don't think there's a more under-estimated or misunderstood program around.
  - Avshalom 14y ago
    I'm actually pretty sure it was a adopted from the original multi-window interface of Photoshop on Mac.
- pippy 14y ago
  I'm still bewildered why this isn't the default.
- kapilkale 14y ago
  Thank you. There's some buggy behavior about windows staying on top despite switching applications, and this fixes it.

jfaucett 14y ago

I love it! GIMP is one of those tools that's "almost" a photohop killer, not quite yet, but this is a big step in the right direction. Good job GIMP team! As an asside, I think the plugin API and scheme joice is great and a blast to develope with I'd just like to see others jump on board. EDIT: I thought I'd add this since there seems to be a large discussion below as to the type of user for which GIMP is applicable. I'm a software dev, in the past couple of years though mainly web apps where I've had to at times do graphics, for this GIMP worked fine for me (that's my pitch in the discussion). I think GIMP shines (as well as the traditional imagemagick) for batch processing, the scripting is easy, clean, fast - and lispy :) Some links for those interested: http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Basic_Batch/ http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Basic_Batch/ http://www.squidoo.com/gimp-how-to-write-a-script-fu-macro http://www.squidoo.com/gimp-how-to-write-a-script-fu-macro

rcgs 14y ago
As someone who uses Photoshop almost every day, it's nowhere near a "photoshop killer". The workflow is still one of the worst I have stumbled across.
- DanBC 14y ago
  For people who need to put some text on an image[1] or who need to tweak some minor stuff gimp is a "photoshop killer" - and it's nice to push people to legally free software rather than a pirate download of Photoshop. [1] But see this gimp document - the first returned hit in a search for [gimp drop shadow text] - which appears to be weirdly complex. http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/The_Basics/ http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/The_Basics/
  - wtallis 14y ago
    At first glance, it doesn't seem like this Mac version is capable of using the system's installed fonts - only the fonts bundled with the app.
  - eridius 14y ago
    If you need to do basic image editing on OS X I'd say use Acorn[1] or Pixelmator[2]. [1]: http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/ http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/ [2]: http://www.pixelmator.com http://www.pixelmator.com

viraj_shah 14y ago

The interface looks significantly better, at least from the last time I messed around with it (which was a while ago).

jaytaylor 14y ago
Agreed. This is a huge step forward for Gimp!

fuzionmonkey 14y ago

Does it have Retina display support? I'd download this in a heartbeat. It's frustrating how long it is taken Adobe to update their software for Hi-DPI.

llimllib 14y ago
No: http://i.imgur.com/5AMU4.jpg http://i.imgur.com/5AMU4.jpg (Edit: that's Gimp and Acorn in the screenshot, respectively, in case you weren't clear what was going on.)
toyg 14y ago
We don't know how much warning Apple gave them. To be fair, two months to update such beastly products is really nothing, especially when you have to change core functionality (like on-screen rendering in an image-creation tool...). I'd say 4 to 6 months would be an acceptable turnaround time for the most important products. Compare with Microsoft, which simply won't support retina "for the time being"...

bigfrakkinghero 14y ago

This is awesome! One of my biggest gripes with using OSX was how terrible the GIMP experience was.

crazygringo 14y ago

This is a great move. Serious question: how did this not happen 5 years ago? Is there some technical reason? It's so hard for me to understand why the creators wouldn't have always had this as the #1 feature improvement to make ASAP.

armored_mammal 14y ago
I doubt most GIMP developers care(d?) about Mac. Or had Macs. Open source stuff tends to live in a special universe where everyone uses Linux. (In fact, based on another post, it sounds like the windowing toolkit picked up Mac support, rather than Gimp doing anything super special.)
- fosap 14y ago
  Also GIMP is in desperate need of manpower.
wlesieutre 14y ago
There was Seashore, which was a simpler image editor based on GIMP, but native integration never seemed to be a priority for GIMP. I think there's a commonly held view on open source projects that they're all doing you a service, and if you don't like the tool they wrote you can fix it yourself or use something else. I can't say there's anything particularly wrong with that view, but it doesn't always lead to the greatest user experience. I can only assume that someone (or several someones) with the time and knowhow to get this done finally came along and decided it was worth investing their time in. I doubt it's as exciting as working on the image editing features.
Camillo 14y ago
A "native" version of GTK had been in the works for years, mainly supported by people who wanted to run other programs with it (CinePaint, I think). It seems that nobody had the interest in getting Gimp working with it, the skills to accomplish that, the time to dedicate to it, and the spirit of sacrifice needed to work on a GTK 2 port when GTK 3 is already out. But somehow, in the end, the stars aligned.

tcc619 14y ago

This feature along with the single window view makes GIMP very usable on the mac.

MikeCapone 14y ago

Slightly off-topic (but I know very savvy people are here, so I can't help but ask): Anyone knows where I could find a JPEG-2000 plug-in for GIMP that works on this Mac version, along with instructions on how to install it?

jon6 14y ago

OT but is this an official signed application that can work with gatekeeper on 10.8? I recently discovered that my open source project won't work by default on osx 10.8 without me paying $99 to get an apple certificate, which I'm not very interested in doing. What are open source/free projects supposed to do about gatekeeper?

callahad 14y ago
> What are open source/free projects supposed to do about gatekeeper? They're supposed to pay up. The signing Developer Certificate Utility at https://developer.apple.com/certificates/ https://developer.apple.com/certificates/ rejects accounts that are not paid members of the Mac Developer Program, and a footnote at https://developer.apple.com/resources/developer-id/ https://developer.apple.com/resources/developer-id/ states that "Mac Developer Program membership is required to access the tools and resources for distributing Mac applications."
plorkyeran 14y ago
Tell users how to turn it off. I've never seen a user object to doing so, possibly because they don't understand what it's doing in the first place.
- stephen_g 14y ago
  You don't have to turn it off. Just Command click the application and click open the first time. It's automatically added to a whitelist.
pnathan 14y ago
I disabled Gatekeeper's hollering on 10.8. I suspect most power users will do the same, but I have no data for that suspicion.
- msbarnett 14y ago
  "Power Users" can have the best of both worlds by simply right-clicking and selecting "Open" to whitelist specific non-signed apps that they want to trust. I'd mostly expect people who turn it off entirely to fit the "don't really know what they're doing but like to do whatever a forum post tells them to do" archetype.

devindotcom 14y ago

Thank god, maybe I can finally leave behind Pixelmator.

jamesu 14y ago

I have to say, i'm impressed. One of the biggest reasons I never really used GIMP on OSX was that the X11 version never really felt right. This version in comparison feels a lot better, though there are still a few annoying things about it, such as the image editing itself seems a bit laggy. Still, a good step in the right direction IMO!

Cyranix 14y ago

The primary download link is getting hammered at the moment; check for a mirror that has an OSX directory for fast access.

Kilimanjaro 14y ago

I've been using the outdated Seashore for my basic crop/resize needs. Will try asap.

captaincrowbar 14y ago

Now if only Inkscape would follow suit. There are plenty of good bitmap image editors for the Mac, but I could really use a good vector editor.

Flow 14y ago
I like Sketch, it's cheap, very good and is aware of pixels. http://bohemiancoding.com/sketch/ http://bohemiancoding.com/sketch/

scoofy 14y ago

Why can't i move a selection within a layer? This has to be the most persistent problem in the mac version that hasn't been fixed. With every new GIMP version i curse this bug.

armored_mammal 14y ago
It's a GIMP thing, unless I'm misunderstanding you: http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-using-selections.html http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-using-selections.html
- scoofy 14y ago
  >>hold down Ctrl+Alt keys and click-and-drag the selection. This makes the original place empty. A floating selection is created. The required key commands may differ on your system, look in the status bar to see if another combination is specified; for example, Shift+Ctrl+Alt. This does not function on mac as far as i know. You cannot even manually do it in the selection options.
  - stuaxo 14y ago
    Maybe substitute ctrl for command?

city41 14y ago

There is also McGimp, which is a fully OSX native version of Gimp: http://www.partha.com/ http://www.partha.com/

nimrody 14y ago
Can you summarize the main advantages/disadvantages?

DenisM 14y ago

Any thoughts on this new GIMP vis-a-vis Photoshop Elements? I don't mind paying <$100 for a decent graphics editor. My primary use case is tweaking screenshots, app icons, buttons, and the like for my iOS apps and the web site. I want to get in and out as quick as possible, so I can get back to my other work.

kellishaver 14y ago
I haven't tried GIMP in ages, but have a look at Pixelmator. It's a great little app. http://www.pixelmator.com/ http://www.pixelmator.com/ It has a lot of features for not a lot of money, and a very Photoshop-like interface.
danieldk 14y ago
Photoshop Elements is a light-weight blend of Photoshop and Lightroom. It's more for managing photo collections, tweaking things like exposure and contrast, removing red eyes, etc. If you want a sub-$100 Photoshop replacement, I'd go for Pixelmator. It's really affordable, and provides the functionality that most users need.
zyb09 14y ago
GIMP, tried out a lot of image editors and imho it goes like this: Photoshop > GIMP > Elements > Pixelmator. Pixelmator has a really nice UI, but it's lacking features left and right. Photoshop is still the nicest, especially for coders, who don't know what they are doing (real artist only need a canvas and a brush anyway).
bazzargh 14y ago
I'm a gimp user. My mum (who has a mac, but isnt a confident computer user) asked for 'photoshop' for christmas after seeing what I'd done fixing up family photos. I knew if I just gave her Gimp (or Photoshop for that matter) she'd just get stuck - they aren't very user friendly. I had a look at all the image editors I could - Acorn, Seashore, Pixelmator, etc and came to the conclusion that Photoshop Elements beat them all for ease of use. Specific things that help are the guided actions (in the panel on the right) that act like wizards for performing common actions, but also teach you how to do these things; and the selection & healing tools are miles better than those in the other tools. Take a look at the demo on the top left here: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/features.html http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/features.ht... ... it's talking about the smart brush, which I don't bother with, but what you're looking at is how well it manages to select within a picture. I still prefer using Gimp, but for quick photo edits, I tend to use PE now. However, I tend to work with photos not eg icons as you do - not sure if PE is any use for that.

larrywright 14y ago

The excellent Pixelmator is only $14.99 in the Mac App Store. I'm not sure how much use their is for Gimp on OS X any more.

niels_olson 14y ago
I like using GIMP because it's what I use on Ubuntu and Suse and I use a lot of different machines (two XP boxes on different networks at work, several OSes at home, and I change jobs every couple of years). Photoshop isn't cross-platform, and the licensing would be prohibitive for my needs. For my brother, a professional artist with his own studio, Photoshop is the only way to go. For my daughter on a Cr-48, GIMP is great.

joejohnson 14y ago

I wish it were available from the App Store.

d0ugal 14y ago
Why?
- jyap 14y ago
  GIMP would most likely reach a larger audience of users. Simple app updates that are integrated at the OS level.

delackner 14y ago

Some day in the distant future perhaps there will actually be a non-photoshop 100% psd compatible editor. I thought I could just tell my designer to do File -> Export Layers as PNG, but that command in Photoshop is intentionally broken, churning for several minutes before producing even the first of many output files. In the meantime, while I like seeing how far Gimp has come, it just isn't an option for me.

mmphosis 14y ago

GIMP Crashes on launching 32bit CPU https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=682913 https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=682913 $ file GIMP.app/Contents/MacOS/GIMP-bin GIMP.app/Contents/MacOS/GIMP-bin: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64

akldfgj 14y ago

Doesn't come with decent-looking fonts included, though.

unwind 14y ago

There was some confusion about whether this release (which wasn't done by the "ordinary" Mac OS X package maintainer) meant that the role had been appointed to someone else: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list/2012-August/msg00217.html https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list/2012-Aug.... I hope that is getting resolved, it's always painful to see large projects like GIMP suffer from "people problems" and developers become disgruntled as a result.

jyap 14y ago

TIP: I've been a long time GIMP for Mac OS X user (being a former laptop Linux users). New GIMP crashed in me on the first run. It then hung on start up on the 2nd run. I just deleted my old GIMP configuration directories and it started up fine: rm -fr ~/Library/Application\ Support/Gimp/

calgaryeng 14y ago

Is there a way to permanently dock the toolbar in the Mac version? I had this in the old version.... Now I get floating docks over top of other applications even when Gimp is in the background!