How to turn GIMP into Photoshop (sort of) using PhotoGIMP
Jun 22, 2020
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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How to turn GIMP into Photoshop (sort of) using PhotoGIMP
Jun 22, 2020
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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This is quite interesting, and not something I’ve come across before, although it appears the idea has been out for a little while now. As more users are starting to use Linux on the desktop, they’re starting to turn to GIMP for some of their photo editing needs (after all, Adobe doesn’t do Linux). It’s a somewhat unfamiliar interface if you’re coming from Photoshop, but this GIMP patch could make life a little easier.
PhotoGIMP is a patch for GIMP 2.10 for Linux which essentially changes the UI to look like Photoshop. It’s not actually turning GIMP into Photoshop. It can’t do that any more than you can turn Ubuntu into MacOS. The changes are only skin deep. You’re not going to get all the latest CC tools, but what you will get is a familiar look and layout to get you up and running as quickly as possible.
I actually tried looking on YouTube for a tutorial for PhotoGIMP on how to set it all up, but there doesn’t really appear to be anything, at least not in English. But PHotoGIMP claims to essentially mimic Photoshop pretty well, even going to the point of installing a bunch of new phones and filters to offer a similar feature set.
According to the PhotoGIMP page on GitHub, it lists the following advantages…
- Tool organization to mimic the position of Adobe’s Photoshop;
- Hundreds of new fonts by default;
- New Python filters installed by default, such as “heal selection”;
- New Splash Screen
- New default settings to maximize space on the canvas;
- Shortcuts set for the similars on Photoshop, following Adobe’s Documentation;
- New icon and Name from custom .desktop file.
- The new default language is English (you can still change in the Settings if you want)
PhotoGIMP isn’t a standalone application. As mentioned, it’s a patch for GIMP 2.10, but the GitHub page also provides instructions on how to set up GIMP Flatpak in Linux and then how to install PhotoGIMP into it.
So, if you’re a Linux user who wants the familiar feel of Photoshop, here’s a way you can get it. Even if you can’t get all of the latest CC features.
Head on over to the PhotoGIMP GitHub page to download it and try it for yourself.
[via It’s FOSS]
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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