Why don't we talk a little bit about what's new in the upcoming Gimp 2.8 that isn't in 2.6 that we're most excited about?

Layer Groups are first in my book.

Yeah that is a pretty big deal. I'm a big fan of the new tabbed interface for open documents. That makes transferring layers from one image to another SO MUCH EASIER.

I am real happy they added a close option to the tabs also.

Brush Dynamics was also a big step.

I don't know much about 2.8 as I only have Partha's 2.7.6 portable to go on. I don't have much use for the new features in the brush engine, but others seem impressed. The problem with single window mode is that I can't create a duplicate as a thumbnail to pin on top. The cage tool that I looked forward to distorts the picture horribly - Iwarp is a far superior tool. I'm going to have to wait for the final release to make my final judgement but the telling point for me is whether Gimp Painter can be made to work with 2.8 or not.

I am the same Erisian, The cage tool for me is not very impressive and iwarp sucks. As for the rest, we will just have to wait and see.

An eraser and brush work well!

Haven't participated that heavily in the betas (only toyed with it some). I can care less about single window. I'm a filter guy as most here know. I do wish Filter Factory Convertor (user filter) and Mathmap could be compiled for 64-bit but it doesn't look like it will so I'm thinking about passing on GIMP 2.8 for a few months or a year and stay with 2.6.12; maybe these plugins will get a 64-bit compile for Windows, but I seriously doubt it. Of course, I could just install the 32-bit version for GIMP 2.8, but I really want to go 64-bit. Maybe the GIMP developers could allow both 32 and 64-bit versions to install simultaneously like they do for Photoshop. Then I can use Shellout for the occasional times I need Filter Factory or Mathmap (well, it's more then occasional for me; lol). Nahh; just going to pass for now (unless they do decide to implement full node editing or 16-bit/channel editing; I can be persuaded. lol).

about gimpainter:

most likely yes, because its code is kept in synchrony with that of 2.7 (well there was no changes from long but the difference obetween gimp and gimpainter consist in just 2 tools so no much changes are required

not sure for the gimp developers but Partha (and so I) already allow that

PS
what you do with the Filter Factory Convertor that you can't do better with the good old FilterUnlimited ?
The advantage would be that the FFC is opensource and not just free (but i doubt you may consider that too relevant) and that the userfilter allow to edit the old FF filters with a less limited language (but as far i know ifrom its release years ago nobody yet edited a single filter if not in secret )

If that means I can install 2.8 alongside 2.6.11 (As full install - not portable) then I think I'll use your version. It'll give me chance to experiment.

There should be an issue with this anyway Erisian. I've had 2.2, 2.4, and 2.6 installed simultaneously before with no problem. Even now, I have 1.2.4 and 2.6.12 installed (had also 2.7x, but just now uninstalled all the betas that I had). I'll wait to see what happens when 2.8x gets finally released (script-fu and plugin compatibility, stability, and ability) before I decide to upgrade. As buggy as the 2.6x fork has been, at least it's been quite capable for my needs when it doesn't freeze on me.

Thanks Lyle. I'll give it a shot and if I have problems, I'll uninstall.

Photocomix - I didn't know there was a Painter 2.7. Do you have a link?

To illustrate, here's the original.


Here's with Iwarp


And this is the best I could achieve with the cage tool

not sure if i must define portable for sure may be easily used as portable

But as far i know the full -install version doesn't offer any advantage, only some disadvantage:
the only drawback i know is from using portable apps from external drive , in that case the usb connection may be a bottleneck and so slow down respect the full install version, but if installed on the main drive there is no any difference in speed

about disadvantage of the full-install version ,at least about gimp, in years that i contribute to gimp help forum, all weird problems that could not be solved in any way where simply solved by replacing with portable version

less generically the normal version are much more easily victims of dll conflict (not only with other version of gimp , simply if some other program use similar dll the full-install gimp may become very quirky when not totally unusable

For me, 2.8 doesn't appear to be offering anything new that I'd use. Because of the lack of bit-depth I do as much as I can with my photographs in Photivo and mostly only use GIMP to tidy-up at the end.

Kevin

Erisian sorry for my late reply:
there is the code of gimpainter 2.7 but i believe nobody compiled yet for windows

till few time ago was not even the case for a bug in 2.7 affliting the use of graphic tablets, now the bug is if not fully solved greatly minimized so i hope for a build soon

i knew Rod was trying and also partha was interested

so let hope for a release soon

Thanks PC, let's hope so.

The layer groups are promising. It's also nice that the brush engine is seeing some more love - it's a good sign for the future. I must admit that I don't use GIMP much for pure painting anymore though - I mostly rely on MyPaint for the actual painting and use GIMP for adjustment and post-processing.

Gimp Painter is an unsupported hack and is technically a dead end as far as I know - has this changed?
.
Griatch