Linux for Designers

The first development snapshot of Gimp 2.8 is available: Gimp 2.7.0. There are a lot of nice, new upcoming features:
* a reworked, much more flexible text tool
* new saving/ export option
* export plugin for X11 mouse cursors and JPEG2000 file format
* rotation of brushes and additional enhancements to the brush dynamics engine
* tagging for resources
...and much more.
Check out the release notes too.

But there are much more interesting things we can await in Gimp 2.8:
* Finish merging of the GSoC 2006 vector layer stuff
* Merge the GSoC 2009 projects for brush dynamics and improved SIOX.
* Add a better set of default resoures
* Provide default tags for the default resources

The Generic Graphics Library GEGL is now available as version 0.1.0. All changes of GEGL can be found at the release post. GEGL is part of the core libraries of the image editor Gimp too.
A important hint of the developers is that GEGL 0.1.0 didn't work with Gimp 2.6.6, as they wrote "This is not because GEGL would be incompatible, but rather because of a stupid bug in the run-time version check.". So we all have to wait for Gimp 2.6.7 which will ship with some other bugfixes too

As i wrote in my post about my new Dell Studio 17 and Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 i've lost the possibility to get thumbnails Photoshop PSD files in Nautilus.
But now i discovered how to get thumbnails of GIMP XCF files Just install the packages "xcftools" and "gnome-xcf-thumbnailer". It seems there is a bug in the package "gnome-scf-thumbnailer" because the dependency about the packages "xcftools" is missing.

Once i was very happy getting a message from Jan Dudek about his PSD PixBuf loader for Photoshop PSD files for the Gnome Linux Desktop. It makes it possible viewing such files with any Gnome application supporting PixBuf loaders.
Now i'm very happy again because Stephane Delcroix did the same for Gimp XCF files. So Nautilus, gThumb, F-Spot, EOG etc. can display the open standard and the industrie standard for layered image documents
The bad thing is i didn't get it running at the moment. May someone can create a Deb package for it .

For those that can't get enough filters for GIMP should check out G'MIC Toolbox, a GIMP plug-in which defines a set of various filters, including artistic filters, image denoising and enhancement, 3D renderers, etc.
A Deb package for Ubuntu is available too.

Today i get a real amazing message from Jan Dudek. He started developing a PixBuf load for Photoshop PSD files for the Gnome Linux Desktop. That means PSD support for any Gnome application like the image viewer EOG, the document viewer Evince and in combination a thumbnailer for *.psd or *.pdd files for Nautilus too.

Read more...

Gimp 2.6.3 is out now and includes again several bugfixes and translation updates. You can grab a Deb package at Getdeb.net.

As i announced Gimp 2.6.1 is now available for download(details at the release notes). Packages for Ubuntu can be grabed at GetDeb.net).
Besides that the Gimp User Manual reaches version 2.4.2 (but is still focused on the 2.4 branch of Gimp).
The script collections Gimp FX Foundry is now released for Gimp 2.6.x branch: "fixes any issues scripts ... and also corrects a lot of deprecated syntax".
The new ASE import plugin for Gimp allows you importing of color palettes created with Adobe Kuler.

Whoo-hoo, Gimp 2.6 hits the street! After it rumors it will available in July or September its now published in October. A year ago after a longer development phase Gimp 2.4.0 was available and the developers a much faster development cycle - it comes true!
At Gimpusers.com you will find a summery about what's new in Gimp 2.6 or check out the release notes (inludes a lot of screenies!).
UPDATE: Grab your Ubuntu Deb package at getdeb.net now.

At the Gimp Plugin Registry are two new plugins appeared:
X11 Mouse Cursor plug-in lets you import and export X11 mouse cursors and make it now very easy for creating your own cursor theme with Gimp. A Deb package for Ubuntu is available too.
Exif Viewer is an update of the old "Exif Browser" plugin to view the EXIF data of digital photos. I will try to compile it soon.