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by DanBC 5035 days 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/

4 comments

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/

[2]: http://www.pixelmator.com

I like LiveQuartz

http://www.rhapsoft.com/

I like Paintbrush

http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/

...what?

Speaking of weirdly complex, I've always been a fan of the totally deadpan delivery of the 'Straight Line Tutorial' [gimp lacks a 'line' or 'shape' tool] http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Straight_Line/
I've been lambasted for not knowing how to do this in gimp... all I wanted was an icon somewhere!
Eh, the only reason it's a photoshop killer for really simple edits is because photoshop is really kind of the wrong tool for such jobs anyway.
Yes, photoshop is totally the wrong tool for most people. Photoshop is great for professionals and keen amateurs. It's overkill for most other users.

And yet photoshop is heavily pirated software.

By pushing other softwares, such as gimp, I'm not in anyway saying that photoshop is bad, or that gimp is a photoshop clone, or that the people who need to use photoshop should switch to a free open source alternative. I'm just trying to get people to move to a more suitable tool, and to stop using pirated software.

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.