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I'm experienced at Photoshop (CS2), but new to GIMP. What tutorials, FAQs, and tips can you recommend to make the transition simpler?
EDIT: Giving up on GIMP. Going back to Photoshop.
Dean Rather
Posted 2010-01-19T13:08:50.407
Reputation: 2 499
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Link: Official GIMP Doc.
Link: Handy Tweaks To Make GIMP Replace Photoshop covers a couple features Photoshop has by default, but need to be manually enabled on GIMP.
Tutorials: Gimp-tutorials.net
Tutorials: Gimpology.com
Tutorial: How to make GIMP have Photoshop's Layout
Tip: Click Edit -> Keyboard Shortcuts, and read down the list. It's a great summary each all GIMP's functions, what keyboard shortcut invokes them, and where they're located in the menus.
Tip: Don't expect any of the keyboard shortcuts to be the same! CTRL+D is now Duplicate, not Deselect. Transform Selection is now SHIFT+T, not CTRL+T, M is now Move, not V...
Tip: The default layer has no "Alpha Chanel", so deleting content (via the eraser, or DEL) erases it to the background colour, not transparent.
Tip: The default transformation interpolation in GIMP is "Cubic", whereas in Photoshop it is "None". You might notice when scaling solid colours and wondering why it fades out...
Tip: Space Bar MOVES now, instead of PAN. So you're no longer moving your view around the image, you're now moving the image around under your view... (At this point I'm considering VM'ing windows...)
Tip: When drawing a line with the pencil tool, if you want it to go straight (horz/vert/diag) in Photoshop you would hold SHIFT before beginning to draw. In GIMP, click once where you want to begin, then hold shift + ctrl, then click where you want to end.
Dean Rather
Posted 2010-01-19T13:08:50.407
Reputation: 2 499
1re: Keyboard shortcuts. My first clicks in a new install are Edit > Preferences > User Interface > Use Dynamic Keyboard Shortcuts. Then each time I use a command from the menu (for example levels Colors > Levels) I allow the mouse to hover over the command then press CTRL+L and like that the shortcut is changed (and in this case matches what I remembered from PS) – Dennis – 2010-02-01T13:42:14.310
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Gimpusers.com has tutorials and videos explaining how to perform various tasks. There's also a forum, and regular notifications about updates to GIMP.
njd
Posted 2010-01-19T13:08:50.407
Reputation: 9 743
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You may be interested in GIMPshop, it's GIMP but with a modified "Photoshop clone" GUI. However it looks like it has been abandoned as it has not been updated for years so learning the original GIMP is probably a good idea if that's what you will be using. Still, there it is.
Don
Posted 2010-01-19T13:08:50.407
Reputation: 206
My willingness has subsided, I'm just gonna WINE or VM... – Dean Rather – 2010-02-08T10:45:10.467
Thanks for mentioning, but I'm happy to learn GIMP :) – Dean Rather – 2010-01-19T13:19:58.167
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One of Gimp's most confusing features for newcomers who are used to Photoshop is the multi-window layout. Thankfully, Gimp has an option for single-window mode which I recommend using.
Turn it on with Windows > Single-Window Mode.
Stevoisiak
Posted 2010-01-19T13:08:50.407
Reputation: 8 152
By the way, single window mode is coming to GIMP. In 2.8, I think. http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2010/02/hands-on-new-single-window-mode-makes-gimp-less-gimpy.ars
– Nathaniel – 2010-02-18T03:10:36.403It's mostly the way that all the tools have to be used in subtle different ways that's causing me grief. – Dean Rather – 2010-02-18T09:29:09.127
This Q/A from Photo-SE might be helpful to you as well: What are the key photography-related features from Photoshop that are missing in GIMP? http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/556/what-are-the-key-photography-related-features-from-photoshop-that-are-missing-in
– mattdm – 2011-04-07T20:22:42.330