[tpoacher]

How much of this is just personal opinion rather than just canon?

I love the GIMP, use it all the time, find it super-intuitive, and last time I had to use Photoshop I felt like a fresh vim user who couldnt wait to figure out how to get the hell out of there.

[troad]

I'm not the original commenter, and I agree it's opinion, but it's definitely one shared by every artist and designer I've ever spoken with. The only people I know who use GIMP are engineers and devs - either folk who are die-hard OSS supporters, or people who need to do a quick image adjustment and can't be bothered Googling the ImageMagick incantation for it. Not a sign of a healthy, competitive graphics suite.

I suspect if you surveyed 1000 art professionals, you'd get very few who like or use GIMP. You're going to get a very different result with something like Blender and 3D designers though, which really should make the GIMP devs pause and think what it is that Blender does well that GIMP doesn't.

[happymellon]

It's probably personal opinion. I'm not a photo editor, I have never used Photoshop so that has not introduced bias.

But I have found Gimp to be wildly inconsistent in the UI. I never remember how to draw a circle, for example, when I just want to add something to a screenshot because you have to use the circle cut tool and then choose a different option which I never remember because it is unintuitive. Yet its easy to have a paintbrush that draws one of those texture patterns that I can't imagine anyone ever using.

As such I then don't use it.

[Tijdreiziger]

For drawing shapes I tend to just use Inkscape.

[happymellon]

Yes, either Inkscape or Krita depending on the task.

There just isn't a task that Gimp fits.

[grapeskin]

The fact it’s been struggling to get widespread support for decades and there’s always someone complaining about the UI is a sign.

Most people don’t even think about photoshop UI. Same with Microsoft paint: users can get in and start figuring out what they want to do just by clicking around.

[prokoudine]

> The fact it’s been struggling to get widespread support for decades

There's hundreds of thousands downloads every month. I'm sure you have better facts at your disposal and will share them easily.

[prmoustache]

I think it does get widespread support.

[kzrdude]

I've used GIMP sparingly but the tools pane/window gets lost, it's a clumsy interface. Krita is nice (except GIMP has some nice GNOME-ish human interface touches that are better.)

[Tijdreiziger]

Well, GIMP has been one window for a while. The tool panes aren't separate windows anymore.

[kzrdude]

I can't explain how but my tools pane was lost when I opened GIMP to inspect it during my previous comment (not visible and Tools menu -> show tools did not make it show up). Now, resetting tools window locations (in settings) did fix it. But it explains my confusion and exasperation the last few times using GIMP. (version 2.10.x)