GIMP 3.0 Finally Released After 20 Years Of Development

Most of us are aware of photo editors or AI image tools, right? In fact, graphic designers and artists use them every day. For such professionals, having the right tools is very important - whether it is to make digital sketches, edit old one or add creative effects.

If you’re one such professional, today’s update will be a breath of fresh air for you. On 6^th November, the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) team released the much-anticipated GIMP 3.0 Release Candidate (RC1). This latest version of the graphic design software represents the culmination of two decades of testing and development by the open-source community, setting the stage for a new era in image editing, photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

So, what does GIMP 3.0 bring to the table? Let’s have a look!
 

What’s New With GIMP 3.0?

GIMP 3.0 marks a significant milestone for the GNU Image Manipulation Program community, as it finally replaces the older GIMP 2.x. after over 20 years of development and incremental updates.

The new update has a new user interface with a new logo, an updated splash screen with art from community members and better support for screens with a higher resolution.

The interface also features the GTK3 toolkit, which gives GIMP a more current and polished look and better responsiveness compared to older versions.

Several familiar icons have been converted to SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), making them more scalable and ideal for high-DPI screens, a much-needed upgrade from the previous PNG assets.

Moreover, non-destructive editing is enabled in GIMP 3.0, allowing users to add filters and effects to images without changing them permanently.

Another update is improved color management tools, ensuring greater accuracy and consistency in color representation across devices, something that multi-device designers will appreciate.

Additionally, GIMP 3.0 now works with more file types, such as support for Autodesk Sketchbook TIFF files, BMP files and even Photoshop (PSD) files.

The highlight, however, was the new public API has been finalized, allowing developers and designers to port plugins and scripts from GIMP 2.10 to GIMP 3.0, facilitating compatibility between the earlier versions.

While GIMP 3.0 promises a productive ecosystem of designer tools, many question its long wait to be released.
 

Why The Long Road To GIMP 3.0?

The journey from GIMP 2.0 to GIMP 3.0 has been a long one. The previous major version, GIMP 2.0, was released in 2004, with several updates over the years to improve functionality and stability.

GIMP 2.10, the last version before this major update, was launched in 2018 and users have being waiting for GIMP 3.0, as it promised to bring substantial improvements to the platform.

The GIMP team decided to release GIMP 3.0 RC1 to gather feedback from the community and address any bugs before the final release. If only minor bugs are discovered, the next version will be GIMP 3.0, otherwise they will release further candidates.

It took years to switch from GTK2 (GIMP Toolkit 2) to GTK3 (GIMP Toolkit 3) because it was hard to keep older versions compatible while adding new features. However, the GIMP development team has now teamed up with the GNOME Foundation to make sure they have stable funding. This will let more people work on making the GIMP software better and constantly add new features.
 

What DID GIMP 3.0 Developers Say About This Update?

According to their official blog post, the GIMP team stated, “We’re restructuring our development process to decrease the time between releases. Our goal is to offer smaller, feature-focused updates more frequently.” This means that after GIMP 3.0, we could see GIMP 3.2 within a year.

The development team also highlighted the importance of community testing, encouraging users to report bugs, crashes and any issues they encounter. “This community-driven effort will ensure GIMP 3.0 is as stable and polished as possible for everyone,” the blog added.

Denis Rangelov, one of the key developers, emphasized, “Many of the improvements are under the hood but they ensure better compatibility with previous GIMP projects and provide a strong foundation for future features.”
 

Conclusion

With the release of GIMP 3.0 RC1, the team’s focus now shifts to bug-fixing and incorporating community feedback. The goal is to finalize GIMP 3.0 and begin work on GIMP 3.2, which will introduce more new features and improvements.

GIMP 3.0 is backward-compatible, meaning that users will be able to open project files created with GIMP 2.10 or earlier without issues, a feature for long-time loyal users who have accumulated years of work using older versions of GIMP. Being open-source, the GIMP team is also planning to release more tutorials and guides to help users get the most out of GIMP 3.0's features.

With GIMP 3.0 RC1 available on the GIMP official website for Linux, Windows and macOS, can it take on established design tool like Adobe Photoshop and Canva? Do you think GIMP 3.0 will be adopted by everyday users and professionals alike?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!