Krita 1.6 — State of the Art 212
brendan0powers writes to tell us Linux.com is reporting that while Krita 1.6 may have been released with the rest of the KOffice suite this week it is anything but a run-of-the-mill piece of productivity software. Krita is a 'fully-loaded raster graphics workhorse' definitely capable of standing up to most anything else available. Linux.com and Slashdot are both owned by OSTG.
One of the more useful KDE apps (Score:4, Informative)
Why is being KDE important? (Score:3, Insightful)
Does it acheive a goal that couldn't have been achived within the GIMP codebase with less effort? E.g. different UI modes?
Surely a name starting with a K instead of a G wan't enough?
I don't see how this kind of replication of effort best serves the adoption of Linux on the desktop in the long run.
Re:Why is being KDE important? (Score:5, Interesting)
Perhaps, perhaps not. In any case, Krita is surpassing the Gimp in some areas that people have been complaining about for years in Gimp, and nothing was done. As a developer, what would you rather do, argue on the Gimp mailing list until your face turns blue about wanting to change the interface, or just start your own project? Sometimes you have to make a clean break to get new ideas implemented.
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Krita is a part of KOffice, an impossibility for the Gimp. It's about deep code reuse (koffice libs and kdelibs), not about a different UI.
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I'm not familiar with this case specifically, but these could be among the reasons that they chose to write their own.
I'm
Re:Why is being KDE important? (Score:5, Insightful)
Look at the distros for example. Lots of em out there and then Ubuntu comes along - when it did, we were like, "who needs ANOTHER one" - and does something right. People notice that and move to it. Other distros try to adopt some of the plus points. That's not wasted effort. I guess evolution of a species is the closest I analogy I can get to. The best survive.
So if Krita comes along and even though it duplicates 90% of the functionality, if Krita gets it right, then all that 90% of the effort is worth it.
It's diminishing returns, yes, but in the end, its the extra mile that distinguishes the leaders from the also rans. It may not be any extra functionality at all - just the way its been put together that makes it a winning combination. Then the power of open source takes over and everyone benefits.
I think thats great and thats kinda what evolution is - varying the combination of a lot of existing stuff ever so slightly to see which one produces the best. So its a double edged sword - a freakin amazing one at that
You keep using that word... (Score:2)
Evolution has nothing to do with producing the "BEST" anything. Evolution produces the "most fit for survival". Saying that "evolution is (...) varying the combination of a lot of existing stuff ever so slightly to see which one produces the best" implies a higher purpose or thought behind the random mutations that evolution exploits. The truth is that most of this "varying" produces less fit entities and they quickly die. That doesn't
Re:Why is being KDE important? (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally, The Gimp's interface gave me fits and I found it very hard to work in. Since I on't use it every day, it isn't something I was willing to put a huge effort into learning. Krita is much more "natural" to me and had a much shallower learning curve.
KDE integration is more than just a theme and a K-name. That would have been almost impossible with The Gimp.
Finally, there is the name "Gimp". It means "lame" or "handicapped", which was a totally stupid thing to call a program. Yes, I know it is an acronym, but ut was a stupid idea none-the-less.
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Oh, I don't know, that's pretty much how the UI makes it feel.
worse than "lame" or "handicapped" (Score:2)
You didn't want to know that, did you?
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Finally, there is the name "Gimp". It means "lame" or "handicapped", which was a totally stupid thing to call a program. Yes, I know it is an acronym, but ut was a stupid idea none-the-less.
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Because Krita is a better name. At least gimp has one clear and universally known pronunciation and doesn't look like a word cobbled together from Czech and Klingon.
L
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OpenUsability Sponsored Student Project: GIMP (Score:2)
OpenUsability Sponsored Student Project: GIMP
OpenUsability is proud to announce the offering of a series of sponsored student projects. As the first project, the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) has been chosen. We are looking for a student in usability or interaction architecture who wants to work on designing the user interface for the next generation of GIMP.
If you are a student of usability, user-inter
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The goal IS NOT to get Linux adopted on the deskoop. The goal is to create an image processing component for an office suite. This is Free Software, where developers are Free to do whatever the fsck they want. If it means Aunt Tillie ain't going to be using Linux this decade, so what?
You don't like it, start funding development on the stuff you want developed. Whines don't spend in this commun
The one thing Krita cannot do (Score:2)
That one feature is enough for me, as we have several computers in my family, and not all of them run Linux. Yes, it is installed on the Linux box.
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I imagine you're going to be looking forward to the Win32 port of KDE 4, then...?
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From what I've heard of the experience of Windows users of Gimp, running it in Windows doesn't seem to be all that great anyway. Judging from the common complaints it seems to really require a Unix style of window manager. So while it may run on Windows it doesn't seem to be all that usable (compared to the native version).
Not that I've ever tried running it in anything but native Linux so I'm not really familiar with the current state of the
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Sometimes things needs to be rewritten because the existing code base just cannot be extended in any sensible way because of its architecture.
Actually, the Krita folks probably learned from the design mistake of the gimp code base to avoid to fall in the same pitfalls, so in that sense they would have reused knowledge gathered by the gimp project.
I firmly believe that iterative development is
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Yes, it would given that there is no "K" in the GNU Image Manipulation Program
Huh? (Score:3, Interesting)
Okay, so where does it fit in the Photoshop, PaintShopPro, GIMP arena? Is it simpler, easier? More powerful (it is a fully loaded workhorse, after all)?
Maybe this is just a "hey - all you guys with the old Krita - there's a new
So, is this really sliced bread, or just a little bump in the feature set of KOffice?
Fully loaded pink pony? (Score:2)
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From the summary: Krita is a 'fully-loaded raster graphics workhorse'. Pixel-based = raster. Illustrator isn't even part of this category.
Hidden Gem (Score:4, Informative)
You don't hear about Krita nearly as often as The GIMP (or, of course, Photoshop), but it seems to be a great alternative. I can't speak for graphics professionals (not being one myself), but it gets the job done for what I need to do. I look forward to this new version, and I hope development continues on this hidden gem of an image editor.
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That's fine when you're running a single application, or if you're running a multihead box with Gimp all by its lonesome on one screen, but as soon as you have multiple documents or multiple applications open on the screen where Gimp is, it becomes a PITA.
Where the hell is the tool palette? Wh
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It is a differnt way of doing stuff which can confuse people used to single desktops.
The gimp grew up on post twm X windows with multiple desktops - which I think is is why it went from orgininally one control window and one window per image to the luxury of being able to have one window per task group that many requested. If you don't have a spare desktop it is trivial in every window
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I have, and it does not sport the behavior I am pointing out. Bring a document forward - yep, toolbars/docks/palettes come forward as well.
And as far as virtual desktops go: I hate them, and much prefer multihead systems.
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that said, i am using gimp and i've so used to it's interface that i found it _very_ hard to use krita...
i read something about ability to detach it's toolbars in a gimp-style, though, so 'ill probably try ot when slackware upgrades
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However Gimp (and anything wanting working floating tool bars) is broken due to slavish copying of Windows and abandonment of stuff that was done intelligently in older versions of X window managers.
First of all, make point-to-type the default. It is better. No argument from anybody who seriously tries it. Anybody who argues against it has not used it.
Second, and more serious, but easy to f
Installing it now. (Score:2)
Impressive (Score:4, Interesting)
The Krita developers are doing a laudable effort to grow their application carefully and intentionally, just like the Scribus has done, adding high priority features and implementing them well (Krita's new layer-groups implementation worked very well for me without getting in the way).
If it continues this way, Krita is likely to grab significant mindshare from the GIMP.
Krita for Windows? (Score:2)
It depends. Now that Qt for Windows is free software, when does Krita come out on Microsoft Windows?
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Who the hell puts graphics on their dental floss?
BTW, yes, I realize what FLOSS is supposed to stand for... I just think it's one of the most idiotic acronyms yet invented.
Tried it (Score:4, Informative)
Very slow and clunky. Ugly as sin. Memory use a-go-go. Irritating KDE-style one-click interface for the file selector. Indispensable for its ability to handle CMYK and 16+bit.
I don't need it often and I'm always glad to close it afterwards, but until the Gimp handles 16bit at least for its working space, there's no way to live without it and do photo-manip under Linux.
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2. Ugly as sin? That's probably a function of your KDE theme. Redhat/fedora STILL deliberately mangles KDE to look and work like ass. Never use a kde package built by redhat or fedora...
3. Slow and clunky? Well, I dunno. Certain things do seem plain slower to process than the gimp, but only things that kind of interrupt workflow anyway (filter application). Less mature code -> les
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KDE -- so customisable that 'settings' is a menu in almost every application
Wasn't convinced... (Score:2)
How the heck do I load a jpg? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:How the heck do I load a jpg? (Score:4, Interesting)
And as a longtime KDE user and contributor, I strongly suggest you to avoid Fedora if you want a good experience with KDE.
-- Cyrille Berger
It works now... but still lame (Score:2)
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KDE is modular. And so Krita is. Krita uses KDE for all the low level file handling: import/export/save/load included. KOffice people said that many times: they have managed to bring up so powerful application suit so quickly only because of great KDE framework. It allows them to concentrate on the job instead of low level stuff,
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Well, I use straight-out-of-the-repository Krita on Fedora Core 6, and "File->Open->double-click on JPEG file" worked perfectly for me. I suggest you go find your system administrator and give him a kicking.
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What? If they say use this Linux, then that's what you use. There are distributions specifically designed and marketed for corporate desktops (like Xandros). It doesn't matter what Linux is "about" in your beady little brain.
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At my last company our users use what we will support, and that means RHEL WS only. Use of anything else is a breach of their terms of employment and will result in them being fired.
When we chose to use Linux, we did not choose to have chaos on our systems.
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At my last company our users use what we will support, and that means RHEL WS only.
That makes perfect sense.
Use of anything else is a breach of their terms of employment and will result in them being fired.
That, however, is ludicrous. My company has a much more sensible approach -- if you don't use one of the standard builds provided by IT, then you get no support other than for hardware problems, and the hardware problems have to be either reproducible with a standard build or obviously not relate
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"No sir, I have no idea what OS that person might be using to connect to those highly sensitive machines, nor do I know when it was last patched or how up to date it is. Why do you ask?" - That conversation would cost me my job and I think that's perfectly fair. Play with your favourite distro at home on your own equipmen
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I guess you never worked in a corporate enviroment then. In my former work we used RedHat before we migrated to SuSE. The reasons? Besides having a commercial agreement with SuSE, corporations like things standarized. Flexibility and end-user comfort are a distant second.
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MP3 isn't protected by patents in countries where software patents aren't allowed (such as the UK and the EU). Although the UK patent office has apparently already granted patents on software, you can't actually be sued for infringing them because UK law specifically disallows software patents; if they tried, you could use the defence of No Case to Answer and all software patents would be struck down. So nobody's going to sue you because they know it will never sti
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OR, a specifically-non-retarded distro. One that allows easy resolution of such annoyances. Package systems should only automatize the process that you would do yourself - if I want mp3 decoder, I'll download it. And I want it automatically done so long as there is one legal source of said decoder on the Internet.
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fine here.
How about Karbon? (Score:2)
I just don't do just plain bitmap graphics all that much.
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your vector drawing needs:
http://www.xaraxtreme.org/ [xaraxtreme.org]
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Swedish coincidence? (Score:3, Interesting)
What's it for (Score:2)
what about RAW wounds? (Score:5, Funny)
A hex editor.
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Re:what about RAW photo formats? (Score:5, Informative)
What options are there to edit RAW photo files under Linux?
As with all *nix stuff, the RAW handling is done by a separate component. Investigate UFRaw [sourceforge.net] and DCRaw [cybercom.net]. UFRaw even has a plugin for the GIMP that works well. As an amateur photographer I use and highly recommend UFRaw.
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What options are there to edit RAW photo files under Linux? Does Krita handle those format(s)?
There are several, and yes, Krita does, too.
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Seconded. I use Bibble Pro on OSX and Linux (Fedora Core formerly 4 and 5, now on 6, and it runs on Windows, but i don't use it there). This is a product isn't worth the money that BibbleLabs [bibblelabs.com] asks for it; it's worth three times as much at least. Correction to the parent post: It's $130; if they raised the price to $500, I would pay it without blinking; it's that good at what it does. The licensing allows you to install the software on more than one OS so long as onl
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Plus it's quite affordable as these things go...
I use the gimp (Score:2)
If you mean to save something back as RAW format, well that is nonsense.
Also, Google provides photo software with some raw format support.
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I recently bought a copy of Bibble [bibblelabs.com] though and I must say I was amazed. It's not that Bibble does anything you can't achieve with the GIMP + UFRaw + other Linux/UNIX tools. But I never realised quite how clunky my workflow before, and how much more streamlined it could have been.
Developing RAW files, removing dust spots, cropping and rotating and fixing the colour balance is now almost enjoyable, rather than just a job that needs doing.
You probably want Image Magick (Score:2)
GIMP likes tagged formats. I recall there being a RAW import method in the 1.xx series but it looks like they got rid of it.
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Not everyone likes Gimp. Not everyone likes Krita. Not everyone likes Photoshop. Not everyone likes Paint Shop Pro. Some peop
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It's just an attempt at a pun, go easy on the poor editors.
Re:finally! (Score:5, Informative)
What I'm saying is that anyone who would need 8/16 CMYK editing and profiling would still be left empty handed by the Linux world. Before anyone starts getting on my back about Scribus and 'save to PDF' crap, get out in the real world. When your dealing with printers with very specific PDF requirements, you need the customisability provided by Distiller. When they send you a colour profile to work with, It needs to be a easy as hitting Load Colour Space in Indesign. I guarantee they will not send a Scribus compatible file. And finally about Scribus - it is not the defacto industry standard.
Therefore, if you need a raster editor for Linux, you are almost guaranteed of not needing it for the print world - except for a minuscule amount of people - and can do with anything like Gimp which is sufficiently advanced for that sort of work, ie web work, backgrounds, avatars, etcetera...
My Two Cents
Terence Boylen
Production Manager
The Record Newspaper.
(Perth Western Australia)
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You have noticed that it's part of an office suite, right? It's not even pretending to be a Photoshop killer! IMO apps like these are never intended to unseat or usurp the app of choi
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Secondly, of course I noticed it's part of an office suite. However CMYK process' are the realm of print professionals, not the DTP or avera
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Now, where did I put my chisel so I can bang out my signature block....
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By newsletter, I mean a couple of pages. Take of that what you will.
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I would also suggest you compare the amount of news content vs advertising to any other local newspaper in Western Australia. I think you would find that not only is the calibre of reporting higher than most locals, but it is also far less profit driven.
You say that The Record is a couple of pages - I would say that is unsubstantiated BS. Your position is indefensable and probab
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I think you missed his point - it wasn't to rag on Krita but to explain the challenges any new software program faces against an entrenched standard, namely:
1. People know the current one, how it works and its limitations
2. They are familiar with its tools, interface, and how to use it
3. They don't have the time nor want the risk and expense of solving problems switching brings when they can avoid that with their current tools
For most companies the software cost is a small investment relative to the ongo
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Personally, (Score:2)
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