What is GIMP?
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an open source program that is free to download. It is often compared to Photoshop and has many of the same tools and features. Photoshop PSD files can also be edited with GIMP.
Benefits of using GIMP
- GIMP is available for Windows, Mac and Linux
- Free to download
- Similar to Photoshop
- Intuitive and user friendly
- Ideal for photo enhancements and retouching, image composition and image authoring
GIMP tools and features
- Colour palettes, colour choosers and eye dropper tool to select a colour on the canvas
- Selection tools – rectangular, circular and free select (also known as magic wand), select by colour, scissors select, quick mask mode
- Paths tool – used to create complex selections including around natural curves
- Image editing – paint brush, pencil, airbrush, eraser and ink tools, bucket tool, blend tool
- Image editing smart tools – clone tool, healing brush, perspective clone tool, blur and sharpen, smudge tool, dodge and burn tool
- Layers and masks
- Around 150 standard effects and filters, including drop shadow, blur, motion blur, edge detect and noise generation
- File formats – open, edit and save Photoshop’s native PSD file format, import and export: BMP, JPEG, PNG, GIF and TIFF files, import PDF documents and raw image formats used by digital many cameras
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