Portable Multimedia Suite III - GIMP

What is GIMP?

Okay, I'm going to get straight to it. GIMP is an open source image manipulation program (GNU Image Manipulation Program). It's a free alternative to Photoshop. I have recently been working on a project using nothing but free softwares, and naturally, GIMP is one of the first tools that I fired up. It's really good!

Who is it for?

• Artists who can't afford Photoshop
• Artists who have Photoshop, but can't access it
• Amateurs interested in getting into image editing

Why use GIMP:

• Cross-platform (Windows, Mac, and Linux)
• Easy to adapt to/from Photoshop
• Supports Layers, Layer Masks, custom patterns and many other useful features
• Supports reading PSD files
• Supports scripting in C, C++, C#, Python, Perl, and Ruby! Ironically, no JS, VBS, or AppleScript - the 3 languages that Photoshop supports :P 
• Does pretty much everything you'd expect from a professional image editing program
• Offers plenty of documentation, and there are loads of 3rd party learning resources
• It's free!

The Issues:

• Personally, I find the shortcuts to be crazy
• Cannot select multiple layers at a time. So, if you're grouping layers, you have to create a folder, and put one layer in at a time.
• When moving layers with your keyboard arrow keys, you need to select a layer, and click on the canvas before moving. Otherwise, the arrow keys are used to select different layers.
• Creating a layer mask opens up a menu asking you to select what to fill it with (full white, full black, use selection, use layer's alpha channel, etc). It would've been nice if they just applied a default, and provided a menu driven window to access those options. 

Closing Thoughts:

There are quite a few irritating quirks about GIMP that take a while to get used to (like the ones listed above). Personally, I feel that that's to be expected of any open source software. After all, these tools are not professionally built; they're created by a community. Keeping that in mind, I would have to say that GIMP is without a doubt the best open source multimedia application I have seen! (I haven't used blender, so don't throw that in my face). This is officially the first software I'd add to any portable multimedia suite that I make in future.

Bonus 1: It comes pre-installed in Ubuntu Studio!

Bonus 2: Click here for a free ebook on using GIMP. It covers everything from navigation to scripting!