“GIMP is a cross-platform image editor … Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done.” - gimp.org
Shape tools is a universal basic tool for any software that handle some sort of image creation or addition.
Photo editing, general image editing, painting software, page layout design, vector design, PDF editor, all of them have one.
Photoshop, Microsoft Paint, Clip Studio Paint, Krita, Photopea, Pixelmator, Affinity Photo, … all of them have shape tools.
Heck, even Microsoft Excel and Word even have one.
To be fair, MS Paint (and other Paint-alike) software shape tools is barebone. No NDE and just direct to canvas/layer. (which perfectly fine for its scope)
Using select tools to make shape is not actual Shape tools.
As I stated previously, GIMP developers list Shape Tools in the roadmap.
Also, why not use those programs you listed instead, if GIMP isn’t getting the job done.
Hoping our tool to be more capable is just a normal thing.
I want GIMP to be the best image editor, I want Krita to be the best painting and animation software, and so on.
How? Isn’t that what’s being discussed here, that too make bitmap shapes there isn’t a dedicated tool for it, instead you have to do multi-step workarounds.
For illustration work, having good support for both vector and bitmap elements is pretty damn convenient. For example, in comics, you draw the comics themselves in bitmap layers, while panels and speech bubbles go in vector layers. Having the ability to edit the speech bubbles easily is pretty neat.
(Optimally inking/outlines would be vectors too, but most people prefer to do that with bitmap tools anyway, or vectorise later.)
Krita actually does these pretty solidly - vector tools are there and they’re pretty easy to use. In GIMP 2, the vector path support actually is there and the editable texts are actually pretty great, but it has the air of “power user trick, for those in the know” rather than something people actually discover easily. You also need to update the vector strokes manually. (Haven’t tried GIMP 3 yet.) The fact that people still assume you can’t do this stuff really says it all.
GIMP and photoshop have always been photo editing tools first and foremost
I mean, GIMP literally means “General Image Manipulation Program”.
Excusing the lack of proper shape drawing tools as “it’s a task for vector software” while at the same time having things like the ability to define vector masks is complete nonsense.
drawing shapes is a very much general use. 90% of the times I only open an image editor to crop and annotate an image, with shapes like boxes circles arrows. I’m not drawing in it and I highly doubt that drawing on a computer is a “general” thing.
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Yeah but sometimes you want a circle in a bitmap.
Wrong.
“GIMP is a cross-platform image editor … Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done.” - gimp.org
Shape tools is a universal basic tool for any software that handle some sort of image creation or addition.
Photo editing, general image editing, painting software, page layout design, vector design, PDF editor, all of them have one.
Photoshop, Microsoft Paint, Clip Studio Paint, Krita, Photopea, Pixelmator, Affinity Photo, … all of them have shape tools.
Heck, even Microsoft Excel and Word even have one.
EDIT: Shape tool is planned, not yet WIP. Source: GIMP Roadmaps
That moment when MS Paint is more advanced than GIMP, lol.
To be fair, MS Paint (and other Paint-alike) software shape tools is barebone. No NDE and just direct to canvas/layer. (which perfectly fine for its scope)
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Using select tools to make shape is not actual Shape tools.
As I stated previously, GIMP developers list Shape Tools in the roadmap.
Hoping our tool to be more capable is just a normal thing. I want GIMP to be the best image editor, I want Krita to be the best painting and animation software, and so on.
Why does a shape tool have to mean vectors are involved?
Why can’t I just draw some bitmaps in different shapes?
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How? Isn’t that what’s being discussed here, that too make bitmap shapes there isn’t a dedicated tool for it, instead you have to do multi-step workarounds.
This comment has such a “Wanted to do X for a laugh? We had a tool for that, it’s called Y” energy, and I think that’s hilarious.
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You’re not wrong. But also, people would love shape tools in GIMP. It still feels like a really weird thing to exclude.
For illustration work, having good support for both vector and bitmap elements is pretty damn convenient. For example, in comics, you draw the comics themselves in bitmap layers, while panels and speech bubbles go in vector layers. Having the ability to edit the speech bubbles easily is pretty neat.
(Optimally inking/outlines would be vectors too, but most people prefer to do that with bitmap tools anyway, or vectorise later.)
Krita actually does these pretty solidly - vector tools are there and they’re pretty easy to use. In GIMP 2, the vector path support actually is there and the editable texts are actually pretty great, but it has the air of “power user trick, for those in the know” rather than something people actually discover easily. You also need to update the vector strokes manually. (Haven’t tried GIMP 3 yet.) The fact that people still assume you can’t do this stuff really says it all.
I mean, GIMP literally means “General Image Manipulation Program”.
Excusing the lack of proper shape drawing tools as “it’s a task for vector software” while at the same time having things like the ability to define vector masks is complete nonsense.
… It stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program and has done for 28 years now.
It means GNU Image Manipulation Program.
Where do you get that idea from? Tht G stands for GNU
But what does the G in GNU stand for?
gTerry Pratchett, I think.
They could call it SIMP, for specialized image manipulation program.
drawing shapes is a very much general use. 90% of the times I only open an image editor to crop and annotate an image, with shapes like boxes circles arrows. I’m not drawing in it and I highly doubt that drawing on a computer is a “general” thing.