MAC users and SW for Design

Was wondering if GIMP is a good choice for Texture, Skin, Av and editing/creations... I use a MAC and don't wnat to fork out a wod of money on Phostoshop, paintshop is unavailable I think for MAC and Corell Draw - not sure, I remeber using this 20 years ago. Any other suggestions for MAC users

Thanks in advance

I know of lots of people who use Gimp as a substitute for Photoshop. Judy Brodie even included many examples of it alongside Photoshop examples in her clothing tutorials.

So go ahead use it.

Hehe, plenty, but none you'd likely want to hear.

All kidding aside though, GIMP will do ya just fine. I'd recommend the GIMPshop plug-in for it, which will transform its interface to be mroe like Photoshop.

Ummm, you're not going to want to hear this, but you should be aware that the GIMP doesn't actually run on Mac OS X.

In order to use it, you'll have to use the X11.app system emulator. You'll also need to install a C compiler, which you should be able to find on one of the extra disks that came with your computer.

(It doesn't run at all on Mac OS 9, but then neither does SL, so I'm pretty sure that you have OS X.)

Personally, I've never gotten it to boot successfully, even with both of the above apps installed and running properly. But I've had Photoshop for years, since it's kind of required for my RL work, so I didn't waste a lot of time trying.

However, that was several years ago, and I know the thing gets upgraded frequently, so it might be different now.

Of course, it doesn't seem fair to warn you about something without offering any alternatives, and it honestly doesn't look like there are many. I was able to find one other freeware painting program for the Mac, called Pixen, although it seems to be more of a pixel-level editor; so I don't know if it would serve your purposes at all.

Besides, once you install those two extra apps, the GIMP might run perfectly for you. I'd be interested in hearing about it if it does.

I am a software engineer and network specialist so none of this was a problem. My MAC is already setup to use X11 etc. Thanks for your concerns but OSX and Open Source applications work together very well. Just follow the instructions for installing.

Oh thanks for other replies also have already created my first textures, t-shirt and tatoo

Bravo for you Alsoran. I found several easy to follow tutorials online that helps install GIMP.

Macs really are easy to use.

P.S. Robin, any useful information is always appreciated. No one really doesn't not want to hear something useful. But I understand your reason for your preface.

Cool! I'm very glad to hear that you got it working.

I might try it again, except that the only other reason I could think of to try to get the GIMP running was that it would (they told me) open .hdr files. And, since PS CS2 now does that, I don't need it.

But I'm delighted to hear that your problems are solved.

http://www.ingiebee.com/SL/Tutorial_1/A_GIMP_Tutorial.htm
Found another

I found all the other posts with help in them (Should have searched before Goon!):

So these will keep me busy:
http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html?node3.html
http://gimpguru.org/Tutorials/
http://innovation3d.sourceforge.net...p3?page=gimp1_2

Found nothing in other stuff though

I find that GIMP is not very stable, and prone to random crashes. Especially when scrolling through menus. Other than that though, It works pretty well. (And the price is right. )

For all it's bugs, Gimp is wonderful being as it's a free alternative. I also suggest getting the Gimpshop plugin. It really makes life alot easier..

Photoshop Elements does most of what Photoshop does and costs a lot less - I can't recall exactly what it lacks, and Adobe's dispensed with a list of that, but I think it should do everything you need for making textures.

Also it's only ninety bucks as opposed to six hundred.

heh, I have PS Elements and can say right away that it doesn't support alpha channels, or at least not that I have found in my experience. If I'm wrong then please tell me how it does alpha channels, as this is the main reason I've not made much other than T-shirts.

You're right, Syless, no alphas in PSE.


Actually it does maybe 10% of what Photoshop does. Using PSE instead of PS is like using Notepad instead of Word. It's just not a powerful tool. PSE is meant for casual, amateur photographers who want to do very simple things like red eye removal, or add text to a photograph. It's not suited at all for making textures for SL beyond those that are EXTREMELY simple.



Sure, but that doesn't make it a bargain. Why spend $90 or $9 or even 9 cents for something with a limited feature set when GIMP is free, and it really does rival PS in what it can do, especially considering that with the GIMPshop plugin, GIMP's interface will behave just like Photoshop's interface. (From what I've heard, the Windows version of GIMPshop is a little buggy, but the Mac version works flawlessly, and we ARE talking Mac here, right?)

I keep saying this. Photoshop is the best way to go if you can afford it. If you can't stomach spending $600, then go with GIMP(shop) and spend nothing, or if you're allergic to open source, then take that $90 that's burning a hole in your wallet, add another 9 to it, and get not PSE, but PSP. Paint Shop Pro is $99 downloadable from Corel, and as much as I personally am not a fan of the program, it is a fine alternative to Photoshop for SL purposes.

It's very likely that the crash you mention is related to scrolling through the fonts menu. If you remove the GB18030 font (which you don't need unless you are using Chinese language), the crashing will cease.

Except, of course, that PSP is Windows only.

(Unless they have changed somehting very recently.)

But yeah, PSE isn't going to cut it for SL.

(Alphabet soup, anyone?)

Just to mention one thing that I haven't seen mentioned...

You might want to consider learning curve as well. It seems like you are right at the beginning and trying to decide which product in which to invest your time.

If this is a one or two shot deal, then the GIMP *does* work, although every serious graphics person I know who has tried it, finds it frustrating. If you are going to continue using paint programs, or do anything more than a few things, then investing the time in learning how to use the "standard" would be well worth it. The skills are more transferable, and it puts you in a better spot in terms of getting help, tips, etc, in the future.

In other words it seems you are setting up to learn a whole host of GIMP skills that will forever put you in a "different place" from most of the people who could/would help you. You seem like an open source kind of person and happy to use the GIMP, so I am not criticising your choice, this is just a suggestion.

.