Gimp Alternative

[Irishman]

Hi all,
Being a recent convert to Apple Mac,I am slowly loading on the programmes I used to have on the PC but this time not loading every single one I had unless I really really need it.I was about to load Gimp and realize that there is no version for the most recent Mac operating system.So was wondering do any of you folk know of an equally good programme for resizing, cropping, grey scaling and possibly but not essentially put borders and framing on an image?I don't mind paying a small few bucks for a good 'un but can't go as far as Photoshop! Irfanview doesn't seem to be too hot with Macs.Thank you

[Yorky]

Try Photoshop Elements, it has all the essential parts of Photoshop and will do most things.

Doug

[happhoto]

Or look for Paint shop Pro, a very fast and powerful program that does most of what Photoshop does for a fraction of the price.

[Yorky]

I use Paintshop Pro, but I'm not sure it is made in a Mac version.

Doug

[PLSV]

Photoshop Elements is a great choice.
It does most of what you'd need Photoshop to do, and is under $100 US generally!

I've been a photographer for 43 years, and am on a Mac.
I have Photoshop and Lightroom, and have used Apple's Aperture as well, and iPhoto (which comes on all Macs - have you used that yet?).

That said - Photoshop Elements is your best buy and the program that will give you the best results.

Patty

[Christie]

I use photoshop elements on an iMac. Does just fine...

[Brian Barnes]

I do all my extensive digital work with PhotoShop Elements. It is more than adequate for everything you'd ever want to do from photographic alterations to artistic creations! :thumbsup:

It often comes packaged free with different bits of hardware. Mine was packaged in with my Wacom Tablet (which I could never adapt to using BTW). Elements was the best part of the whole package! :D

Too bad they don't offer it in a box of cereal. :lol:

BrianB

[Irishman]

Thank you everybody

[dpcoffin]

Apparently, you CAN use gimp in Mac 10.7 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U_d4pViGuo&fmt=18), if that's what you've got. I've not upgraded to Lion yet so I can't confirm this or test whether other apps I mention below will work, even tho they all say "…or higher" whenever they list the system requirements.

You can't go wrong with Photoshop Elements, especially considering how much instruction is available about how to use it, since it's so popular. Plus it comes with Bridge and a simplified version of Adobe Camera Raw, both extremely wonderful. But you should definitely explore these great free and cheaper-than-$100 alternatives that exist for the Mac; they come with excellent tutorials and for the tasks you mention, will be easy to learn and to grow with. (And feel free to contact me if you need any help!)

LiveQuartz (http://www.rhapsoft.com/?menu=livequartz&lng=en); free and powerful! Uses the Mac's very capable built-in graphics tools.

Imaginator (http://itunes.apple.com/app/imaginator/id419265614?mt=12&ls=1); $10, very similar to LiveQuartz and a bit more souped up; worth paying for.

I use both of these above and love them, even though I do most of my everyday photo work in Photoshop CS5. For some things, such as making line drawings from photos, I find these better.

These are more photoshop-like:
Pixelmator (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pixelmator/id407963104?mt=12&ls=1); $30 and apparently works in Lion

Acorn (http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/); $60 and says it works in Lion.

dpc

[StrugglingArtist]

Hi, Larry.

Sounds like you are using OSX 10.7, yes?

Officially, Gimp will not work on this OS yet but... Try this if you have loaded the Gimp program into your Applications folder:

1) Go to Applications->Utilities->Terminal
2) Type the following commands (followed by [Enter/Return] key):

cd /Applications/Gimp.app/Contents/MacOS
./Gimp

The "cd" command changes to the package directory.
The "./Gimp" command simply runs the Gimp program.

NB: The "punctuation" is important when entering commands so type carefully.

This seems a little simple but will, hopefully, work for you - but as I am not running OSX 7 I am unable to test it.

Worth a try - let me know.

==========

PS: Or this advice from the official Gimp site:

GIMP for Mac OS X

The GIMP team doesn't provide official Mac binaries. You can, however, install GIMP 2.6 easily on the Mac using the packages provided by GIMP on OS X (http://gimp.lisanet.de/Website/News/News.html).

Download GIMP 2.6 (http://gimp.lisanet.de/Website/Download.html) – Choose a package from the Downloads page (I would suggest you try the "Leopard" version rather than "Snow Leopard").

Running GIMP on Mac OS X requires Apple's X11 environment. It is included on the "Optional Installs" package on the OS X install disk. - Installing this, if you have it, may make all I've just told you redundant! :)