- GIMP is a free, open-source image editing program that is widely regarded as a viable free alternative to Photoshop.
- The co-maintainer of GIMP, Jehan, announced that GIMP 3.0 could be released in 2023 but it is not for sure.
- To be able to release GIMP 3.0 in 2023, Jehan stated that he had to delay some elements out of the roadmap, including extensions management and the Paint Select tool.
GIMP is a free, open-source image editing program and it is considered a solid free alternative to Photoshop. It is developed on a community basis and has been for more than 20 years. One of the most popular features of GIMP is its ability to use plugins, which add additional features and functionality to the program. According to the co-maintainer of GIMP’s annual report on the official GIMP site, GIMP 3.0 could be released sometime in 2023.
GIMP 3.0 could be released in 2023
Jehan announces that to make the deadline work, he had to delay some elements out of the 3.0 roadmap, which are:
- Extensions management
- Paint Select tool
Jehan says that to get a safe online infrastructure to handle extension search and download, they will be needing more time. For the Paint Select tool to be implemented, its creator Thomas Manni will be investigating alternative algorithms to achieve expected performance, since it requires instant canvas feedback to be usable.
GIMP co-maintainer Jehan says:
« I should not give dates, so don’t take it as a promise. Maybe it’s just a foolish dream by a foolish man: I am currently planning GIMP 3.0.0 release in 2023, or at least our first release candidates. There is still a lot to be done, so I hope I’m not making a fool of myself. But at some point, not being able to release just gets frustrating. Of course, we are still within acceptable development durations (GIMP 2.8 to 2.10 took 6 years; we are still in the 5th year since 2.10) but I really want to get it over with. »
Jehan says that he has reviewed the after-3.0 roadmaps and reports that these are definite goals:
- Link and vector layers are now in a new “non-destructive layer types” category. (expected to come with GIMP 3.0.2).
- The long-awaited shape features: with vector layers, users could have non-destructive shape drawings.
- Non-destructive layer effects (formerly the main target for 3.2).
- Macro support.
- Animation support, which will also bring multi-page support (not just layers as pages).
- The Space Invasion project will continue for 3.0, GIMP might look into going further with new color models backends, such as core CMYK or L*a*b* support,
- Finish unfinished tools and improve tools, such as the Text tool.
- Enhance the concept of “canvas“ with the “Show all” feature and also rework the concept of layer dimension (e.g. with auto-growing layers, or even infinite layer abilities).
Download GIMP
Go here and select Download the Installer. Once you’ve got the installer, open it and install GIMP.
For Linux, on Ubuntu or Debian, you can use:
sudo apt install gimp