[PhotoComix]

EDIT : a windows installer is available here http://www.gimpusers...mp-download.php (scroll down the page)

Today the GIMP developers released the (probably) last version in den 2.5-development branch: 2.5.3 offer lots of new features and improvements.

After 2.5.3. the developers want to publish their first release candidate of GIMP 2.6. This should be probably somewhen in late September hopefully.

Meanwhile try to compile 2.5.3 yourself and help the developers find some bugs. The changes can be seen here (directly from the developers-news):

Changes in GIMP 2.5.3
=====================

- some fixes for the 64-bit Windows platform
- optionally emulate brush dynamics when stroking a path or selection
- further work on the scroll-beyond-image-borders feature, improving the
behavior of the image display when zooming or when the image size changes
- added links to the user manual to the Tips dialog
- largely rewritten scaling code improves scaling quality, in particular
when scaling down
- allow to copy-on-write from the image projection
- added "Paste as new layer" to Edit menu
- added "New from visible" to the Layer menu allowing to create a new
layer from the image projection
- added new procedure 'gimp-layer-new-from-visible'.
- renamed all file plug-in executables to a have a file prefix
- changed the HSV color selector to use the GtkHSV widget
- changed the default for the 'trust-dirty-flag' gimprc property
- dropped the "Starburst" logo script
- improved the behavior of the zoom button in the upper right corner of
the image window
- allow PDB procedures to pass an error message with their return values
- changed all file plug-ins to pass their error messages with the
return values instead of raising an error dialog
- adapt the display of the pointer position in the statusbar to the
pointer precision of the active tool
- bug fixes and code cleanup


Contributors:

Sven Neumann, Michael Natterer, Martin Nordholts, Alexia Death,
Tor Lillqvist, Geert Jordaens, Daniel Eddeland, Aurimas Juška,
Róman Joost, Luidnel Maignan, LightningIsMyName, Aurore Derriennic

[Griatch]

Compiling as we speak. :mrgreen:
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Griatch

[Griatch]

Just playing with it,

Quote

- added "New from visible" to the Layer menu allowing to create a new
layer from the image projection

This is a mighty cool function. Allows you to immediately transfer the current look of your image into a new layer (keeping the old ones), for playing with colour curves or whatnot.

Quote

optionally emulate brush dynamics when stroking a path or selection

Often requested feature. What it seems to do is apply the brush dynamics going from lowest pressure at the beginning of the stroke, maximum in the middle and then back to low at the end, while velocity increases all the way to the end. So depending on which brush sensitivities you set for the tool you use for the stroke you can create all sorts of effects -- use pressure to make a line starting thin, becoming thick and then becoming thin again. Use velocity to make a line that starts thick and then tapers off. Combine the two with the color brush dynamic (line from gradient) or random (or jitter for that matter), and you have a pretty wide range of line types you can create with the stroke path tool.

Quote

- allow to copy-on-write from the image projection

Not sure if this is what is meant, but I just noticed that there is a "Copy Visible" command in the Edit menu (I could have missed it before though). This simply copies exactly what is visible in your selection to the clipboard -- regardless of which layer you are on. No need to go around merging layers no more just to be able to e.g. duplicate some particular thing with all its modification layers intact. :)

Just some first things. Looking good so far.
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Griatch

[PhotoComix]

Quote

Quote:
- added "New from visible" to the Layer menu allowing to create a new
layer from the image projection

This is a mighty cool function. Allows you to immediately transfer the current look of your image into a new layer (keeping the old ones), for playing with colour curves or whatnot.

and then there is also a new" paste as layer" function so is not anymore needed to understand what the heck is a floating selection to copy the visible, or anything else,as a new layer.

Quote

- allow to copy-on-write from the image projection

Not sure if this is what is meant, but I just noticed that there is a "Copy Visible" command in the Edit menu (I could have missed it before though). This simply copies exactly what is visible in your selection to the clipboard -- regardless of which layer you are on. No need to go around merging layers no more just to be able to e.g. duplicate some particular thing with all its modification layers intact. :)

Not sure either..i don't think is connected with copy visible

[Griatch]

Quote

and then there is also a new" paste as layer" function so is not anymore needed to understand what the heck is a floating selection to copy the visible, or anything else,as a new layer.

It's even neater than that, you can now choose to paste directly into a new layer, image, brush or as a new pattern, creating the resource on the fly, directly from the clipboard. :)
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Griatch

[alexiadeath]

Griatch said:

Quote

optionally emulate brush dynamics when stroking a path or selection

Often requested feature. What it seems to do is apply the brush dynamics going from lowest pressure at the beginning of the stroke, maximum in the middle and then back to low at the end, while velocity increases all the way to the end. So depending on which brush sensitivities you set for the tool you use for the stroke you can create all sorts of effects -- use pressure to make a line starting thin, becoming thick and then becoming thin again. Use velocity to make a line that starts thick and then tapers off. Combine the two with the color brush dynamic (line from gradient) or random (or jitter for that matter), and you have a pretty wide range of line types you can create with the stroke path tool.

Interesting. I must check the bugzilla for any leftover requests for that... I just implemented it because I ran into a PS tutorial that used such feature and with the way dynamics are implemented now, it became trivial to do (so much so, that not doing handling dynamics in stroking would have created a bug).

PS: One thing that made little sense to do before but makes plenty sense now is stroking with ink tool.

[Griatch]

alexiadeath said:

Griatch said:

Quote

optionally emulate brush dynamics when stroking a path or selection

Often requested feature. What it seems to do is apply the brush dynamics going from lowest pressure at the beginning of the stroke, maximum in the middle and then back to low at the end, while velocity increases all the way to the end. So depending on which brush sensitivities you set for the tool you use for the stroke you can create all sorts of effects -- use pressure to make a line starting thin, becoming thick and then becoming thin again. Use velocity to make a line that starts thick and then tapers off. Combine the two with the color brush dynamic (line from gradient) or random (or jitter for that matter), and you have a pretty wide range of line types you can create with the stroke path tool.

Interesting. I must check the bugzilla for any leftover requests for that... I just implemented it because I ran into a PS tutorial that used such feature and with the way dynamics are implemented now, it became trivial to do (so much so, that not doing handling dynamics in stroking would have created a bug).

PS: One thing that made little sense to do before but makes plenty sense now is stroking with ink tool.

Not sure if it was officially suggested, but enough people surely have asked about it in the help forums over the years ...
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Griatch

[PhotoComix]

last new there is a very recent windows installer here http://www.gimpusers...mp-download.php

Please keep in mind that is a unstable version and may have bugs..or better surely has bugs since only few bugs to be fixed are delaying the release of 2.6

[PhotoComix]

Updates on the windows installer

1) Is not for gimp 2.5.3 but a more recent version (2.5.4 from svn)
2) i was told that may run along alongside with the stable but that did not work well on my PC

weird as may sound it installed gimp 2.5 but also somehow transformed the stable gimp in a clone of 2.5

I didn't try to understand how that was possible,

instead i grabbed the chance to do some cleaning ...unistalled both, cleaned up, and reinstalled first the portable :!: version of gimp 2.4
, then 2.5.4

now all work smoothly


(may be not strictly needed use the portable version that is just how i solved )

[dremits]

I'm getting a network error message on all mirrors when downloading this dev snap shot for windows. Is it really because of such a high volume of traffic? Been trying since yesterday. Perhaps an error with sourceforge or is it just me?

[Griatch]

@dremits

Downloads fine from here ... maybe something with your network settings?
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Griatch

[PhotoComix]

fine for me too..just try again

[dremits]

There's still problems. There's no errors in any other downloads and my internet connections seems normal. Perhaps it is my location (I'm in the UK, North West England). If there are settings at my end that need changing what are they likely to be. Thanks.

Edit: Should note the 32-bit download works fine. What is the difference between the two versions?

[0ion9]

I'm posting to SQUEE over the searching feature just added to keyboard shortcut assigning dialog -- when you're looking to assign a shortcut quickly and the action either isn't in the menus at all, or is hard to find in the menus, this saves SO much time! I'm currently working out a custom shortcut layout for the entire GIMP, so this is really timely for me.

screenshots:



(yes, in Esperanto :)

I've just submitted a patch that will probably be applied, which prevents brushes from becoming smaller than 1 pixel in either dimension.
If you didn't understand that: It prevents your brush from becoming so small that it has no effect.
This is really useful when pixeling, and also when, in general, switching between small and big brushes.

alexiadeath said:

PS: One thing that made little sense to do before but makes plenty sense now is stroking with ink tool.

In case you guys don't follow what Alexia means here: Stroking with the ink tool was really strange and useless before. Now it actually behaves in a sensible and useful way.

Griatch said:

It's even neater than that, you can now choose to paste directly into a new layer, image, brush or as a new pattern, creating the resource on the fly, directly from the clipboard.

LOL Griatch -- that's been around since 2.4 (actually before, however it was in the script-fu menus rather than the edit menus)

Quote

Not sure if this is what is meant, but I just noticed that there is a "Copy Visible" command in the Edit menu (I could have missed it before though).

Yeah, that's ancient actually -- been around since GIMP 1.3 at least.

Copy-on-write is nothing that the user is ever likely to need to know about. It's a technical improvement that has pretty much no relation to copy visible or any of the clipboard functions.

[Griatch]

Quote

LOL Griatch -- that's been around since 2.4 (actually before, however it was in the script-fu menus rather than the edit menus)

Goes to tell how often I create new resources then. :-) The drawback of spending 99% of one's time simply painting colour using the standard hard round brush ... you don't explore extra menu functions all that deeply.

The >=1 pixel restraint sounds good though. Actually, I was thinking of suggesting a change in the "Change brush radius" feature (i.e. not the tool scaling) to let parametric brushes shrink to a single 1 pixel of size. As it is (I don't think this has changed in 2.5), the smallest size they can become is a "cross" consisting of five pixels, after which tool scaling needs to be applied to shrink it further. It is not often needed, but it would be convenient for me since parametric brushes (being uniquely resizable brush-by-brush rather than by tool) forms the backbone of my work.

The shortcut search function is cool too, one of those features you don't miss until you see it's there and wonder how one could have been without it. :-)
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Griatch

[alexiadeath]

Err, Brushes CAN shrink to one pixel size. That happens when your radius is 0.5. What you see is sub-pixeling that wont occur only if you hit the pixel exactly or if you use the pencil tool.

[Griatch]

That makes little sense (or maybe I misunderstand you). If I resize a parametric round brush it will not shrink to a smaller size than a five-pixel cross (as shown by the brush outline), and this is also what is being put down on the canvas. I guess this represents radius=1, so in order to let it shrink that last bit to a single pixel, the radius measure doesn't really apply anymore... At any rate, I could see that there would be partial-pixel effects happening if applying the tool scale operation, but I find that a strange notion when changing the parametric brush radius (is that not in pixel integer steps?).
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Griatch

[0ion9]

Quote

(is that not in pixel integer steps?).

Integer, no. Pixel, yes.

For whatever reason, the smallest size in pixels that you can get is 3x3 (radius <=1)
However, this is different from the actual plotted size (ie. past a certain point, some of those pixels will be entirely empty, so you can get a brush that is actually 1x1 pixels -- in fact, as Alexia says, radius 0.5 gives you a one-pixel brush.). You can even have a brush that is less than 1 pixel -- try reducing the radius to 0.2 and draw with 100% opacity, you get a reduced opacity effect.

All the above assumes that your tool scale is set to ~1.0.

[Griatch]

@Oion9, Alexiadeath

Having used parametric gimp brushes a lot in all sorts of circumstances over the years, I don't recognize this behaviour you describe -- and I think that I now know why. I use a keyboard shortcut to change the parametric brush radius (scale is set to 1.0), and it seems that when using the Context->Increase/decrease radius feature the brush radius will never go below 1.0 (this is what I meant with integer pixel steps, I'm so used to changing the radius this way). Hence I never see the brush become smaller than a cross (to make it clear, it also appear as a five-pixel cross on canvas, also with the pencil tool). I need to go into the brush editor and manually change the radius to less than 1 in order to have it become a single pixel.

Manually having to edit the brush in the brush editor negates the usefulness of using a keyboard shortcut in the first place. So my original complaint stands, albeit it was not related to the functionality itself, but how it is tied into the Context->Increase/decrease radius keyboard shortcut. Maybe it would be better to have the keyboard shortcut step down to radius 1.0 as now, and then, for the last step only, stop it at 0.5?
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Griatch

[0ion9]

Griatch -- It sounds like you would be better off using the relative adjustment actions (Context->Increase/Decrease brush Radius Relative); Because they are relative, you get smaller changes in size as the size decreases (eg. hitting 'decrease relative' when radius is 1.0 goes to 0.95 whereas hitting 'decrease relative' when radius is 100 goes to 95)