14 DAY TRIAL // GIMP has long been the preferred app for advanced photo editing, not only on Linux, but also on Windows and Mac, with many considering it pretty much the best alternative for Adobe Photoshop.
But on the other hand, it’s not a secret that those making the switch from Photoshop sometime feel lost in GIMP, mostly because the UI doesn’t necessarily offer the familiar experience they expected.
And while there are some other ways to make GIMP feel more like Photoshop, a new patch called PhotoGIMP and available now for Linux users too comes with a pretty compelling package.
As mentioned on reddit, PhotoGIMP can be used on pretty much any platform where GIMP is installed, including on Windows.
The familiar interface Adobe users need on Windows, Linux, and Mac
So what PhotoGIMP does is tweak GIMP to mimic the interface of Adobe Photoshop, while also adding a bunch of extras. For example, it includes hundreds of new fonts, as well as a new splash screen and new Python filters, such as “heal selection,” which isn’t offered in GIMP by default.
Furthermore, PhotoGIMP sets several shortcuts to work just like in Photoshop, all based on the documentation shared by Adobe, so overall, everything should feel more familiar for those who previously used Adobe’s software.
Installing PhotoGIMP isn’t necessarily easy, but it’s not really difficult either, and all instructions are documented here on GitHub. But as a summary, you just need to extract its files in the original user folder.
“Inside of the .zip file from the releases page you'll find three hidden folders (on Linux, using the dot before its name). All of this folders has to be extracted on your /home/$USER folder, overriting everything if you already has the same files from an older installation,” the developer explains.