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June 9
I Write Some Notes On 0.99.10
I didn't want to clutter up this page with my ramblings about the new
0.99.10 release (see an earlier news item), so I cluttered up a page filled
with notes and thoughts on 0.99.10, installation
and usage. Check it out, it might help you, or it might bore you.
Trent Jarvi Discontinues Patch Offering
As expected, with the release of 0.99.10, Trent Jarvi is not offering
his diff of 0.99.9 any more. A big thanks to Trent and Quartic for
making it possible.
GIMP 0.99.10 Is Released
Over the weekend, GIMP 0.99.10 was released by S&P. Many, many features
have been tweaked and updated. From browsing the mailing list, there are a
few quirks and pitfalls, so be warned. Download it from gimp news or from Berkeley.
June 6
GIMP 0.99.10 To Appear "Real Soon Now"
Yesterday, a new Gtk
version came out, and Peter Mattis wrote a brief note to gtk-list about
it. In the message, he also mentioned that GIMP 0.99.10 would be out Real
Soon Now, which is a technical term meaning "sometime within a year." :)
Keep your browsers peeled...
June 5
Quartic Rewrites BumpMap
The BumpMap plugin has been given the Quartic touch. He's rewritten the
plugin to do a full-sized, scrollable preview, along with many other
configurable goodies. The source and a few screenshots are available at Quartic's plugins
page. I highly recommend it.
IRC Update: Gimp.net Is Dead
This is not an official epitaph, but as near as I can tell the gimp.net
nameservers are not alive at all. Therefore, if you want to get the hottest
scoops, scams, scandals, rumors, and code, you'll have to use the normal IRC
hostnames. Here they are:
Gzilla Escapes
A few people have asked me what the "Gzilla 0.02 Enhanced" button at the
bottom of this page means. Well, thanks to the kindness of Raph Levien, you
can check it out for yourself.
It's a Gtk-based web browser in alpha. Want to see a screenshot?
Some Corrections
Trent Jarvi sent along an email to just let me know that his patch is a
recursive diff with recent patches, and that he will not collect patches.
Also, when the next GIMP release is out, he will discontinue the site. "I
only put this up because it has been over a month since the last release,
and it's difficult about a thousand mails to put the patches together." says
Trent. In any case, it is definitely a useful resource.
New Object Menus Released
Thorsten Schnier has announced an update to his very interesting Object
Menus patch suite. These patches allow you to create hierarchal menus for
many different GIMP objects, such as fonts, patterns, brushes, and scripts.
The patches should apply cleanly against a stock 0.99.9 source tree. Visit
Thorsten's website
for the full story.
XFree86 3.3 Released
Although this is primarily of interest to the users of PC based Unix or
Unix-like operating systems, I thought it was worth mentioning that XFree86
has released a new version of their X server. It's available from the XFree86 website.
June 4
Spencer and Peter Rock Out
S&P have just updated their GIMP pages to reflect some changes to Script-Fu.
I love Script-Fu, but the most exciting new development to me is the new
screenshot they have showing a new, sleeker,
smaller toolbar. It is beautiful :). In addition, they've really put
together a great collection of resourcess related to Script-Fu. This is
excellent news and a must-read for any GIMP-head.
New Patch Collection
Trent Jarvi has taken the initiative to start a new effort at collecting
GIMP patches. He has made an FTP
archive for the most recent collections of patches, renewed with each
release. If you find that you're lost without the latest patches, check out
this resource.
June 3
GIMP Gets Some Press
Woo! Sites other than GIMP News are covering GIMP news. Specifically, the Linux Gazette issue for June has an article about it. It
won't be much news to regular GIMP News readers, but it does give an
introduction to the GIMP for the unlearned.
Major New FilterPack
Pavel Grinfeld has just announced a new release of his FilterPack plugin. He
has added saturation controls to the available variations, as well as the
ability to modify the preview size and finely tweak the range of the
variations. It's really pretty awesome. Visit it at Pavel's website.
Everyone Loves The GIMP Changes
Quartic has overhauled his website a bit. Now, instead of a monolithic page,
you get a very modular one. Visit it and you'll
also see he's got a new Script-Fu script there, as well. (Be warned, it
requires a few patches that have been posted to the developer's mailing list.
June 2
New Scheme Tutorial Started
Dov Grobgeld has started an introductory Scheme tutorial web page, with the
goal of giving GIMP users enough information to start writing their own
Scheme Script-Fu scripts. The initial version is available for viewing at Dov's
website.
Update To Gz Plugin
Daniel Risacher has done some fixups and patches to his gz plugin (see older
news for a description). Info is available from his website.
May 29
Bugfix/Improvement: Displace
Jens Lautenbacher has fixed up the Displace plugin. It now handles more
image types as maps correctly. Here's the blurb from Jens:
It is available from the GIMP News File Archive.This version handles RGB/RGBA/G and GA types as maps (For RGB pixels their intensity is taken into account). Transparency serves as the identity transformation: Full transparency is the same as grey level 128, with a smooth transition when transparency changes.
Also applied is a bugfix from Eiichi Takamori which fixes the arefacts at the border.
New Plugin: TileIt
Andy Thomas has just written a plugin called TileIt. Here's his description:
Takes an images, reduces it and tiles it into the original images size.
Try using it with text or gradients. You can create repeating patterns very simply. The preview also gives you a hint how the image you are working on might tile.
You can download it from Andy's website (which also has example pictures) or from the Registry.
Weave Script Updated
Quartic's Weave script has gotten a very nice looking upgrade. It now
has a finely textured weave, as if it had threads running through the
ribbons. It's very impressive (see a sample
image), and you can get it from Quartic's GIMP page.
First Set Of Toolbar Buttons Submitted
Patrick Rogan has submitted his set of replacement toolbar buttons. They're
extremely impressive and compact, and he's also done some experimental
layouts (with toolbar button "menus") that look great. You can view his
toolbar vision at the Toolbar Button Contest
page.
May 28
Net-Fu Gains More Scripts
Net-Fu, the Java/web frontend
to Script-Fu, has gotten a few additions, including one inspired by me and
another nifty one inspired by Rob Malda's reflected metallic type. Check it out.
New Filter Pack
Pavel is continuously updating Filter Pack to be more useful. The most
recently added features are more intelligent handling and previewing of
selection areas, as well as some (non functioning) options for future Filter
Pack capabilities. Grab the new one from Pavel's website.
New ``type1inst'' Version
James Macnicol has announced a new version of his amazingly useful type1inst
perl script. This tool allows you to automatically install Adobe Type 1
fonts and has the ability to generate a fonts.scale file for X to work with.
It can also generate Postscript demo sheets of a particular font, which is
handy for previewing a font on paper. You can download type1inst from Sunsite very
soon.
Rob Malda's GIMP Page Rules
Rob Malda has a pretty cool GIMP
page set up. The effects are quite unique; this isn't your
run-of-the-mill cliched site with an overdose of Mosaic and Plasma. (Not
that Mosaic and Plasma are bad...:)
And since he called gimp news "sorta cheesy", I think we should bug him to make some toolbar buttons :).
May 27
GIMP News Surpasses 10k Hits For May
Well, it may not be much compared to Netscape's website, but for me, getting
10,000 visits to the GIMP News page is a milestone. Thanks to all who have
written via the feedback form to tell me you like
this site.
And a special shout out to the students on campus at Harvard, Iowa State, Carnegie Mellon, UCal Irvine, UCal Santa Barbara, UCal Berkeley, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Maryland, North Carolina State University, and MIT for apparently reloading my page OVER and OVER and OVER again...you must be obsessed. :)
Also, hi to all my corporate visitors. I won't name your companies because then your bosses will undoubtedly add a firewall rule to block my site against people goofing off. (Yeah, you! Don't you have a meeting you should be at?)
Ported to 0.99.x: Sinus
Xavier Bouchoux has updated his headache inducing plugin, Sinus, for use
with the 0.99.x version of GIMP. It's available both at the Registry or from Xavier's
GIMP Plug-ins Page.
Bit Offers Stereogram Binaries
Francisco Bustamante has made binaries for his stereogram plugin available
from his
GeoCities website. So far there are Linux-x86 binaries available, but
he says he will compile for other platforms upon request.
Daniel Risacher Releases Incredibly Handy Plugin
Daniel Risacher has written a plugin called "gz" that will load gzipped
files, decompress them, and then load them through the correct handler. It's
available at the Registry.
This is a brilliant idea, IMHO. For example, if you have foo.xcf.gz, you can now load it right from the gimp without having to decompress it at the command line. Now, it's not so bad that XCF files are so big :).
Peter K Releases Updated Plugins
Peter Kirchgessner reports that he has uploaded new versions of his FITS,
PS/PDF, SunRaster, and XWD plugins to the plugin registry. He also has
Linux-x86-ELF binaries available at his AOL ftp site.
New Script-Fu Script: Weave
Quartic has announced a Script-Fu script that duplicates the Weave effect
found in Alien Skin's popular Eye
Candy package. The new script requires that you have many of the most recent
patches available on the gimp-developer list, though. If you think you might
be able to run it, download it from Quartic's Website.
May 23
Pavel Grinfeld
Pavel Grinfeld has announced another update to his versatile plugin, Filter
Pack. The new version has a feature that "shows you an almost instantaneous
graph of the degree of aliasing between tone ranges," says Pavel. Grab it
from Pavel's website.
Toolbar Watch
Woo hoo! Just got another email announcing the intention to work on some
buttons.
Feedback: People Like The Toolbar Concept
Thank you, one and all, for replying via email or my feedback form. The general consensus is that most
people really support the new toolbar idea, but they lack the time or
ability to try and help. Your moral support is a great help, though :), and
I thank you again for taking the time to reassure me that people aren't
that apathetic.
On that note, we do have at least one individual who has said he'd take a stab at it. Any more volunteers?
May 22
Feedback Form Added
Like this site? Think it sucks? Got a suggestion, or maybe some news? Fill
out the comment form at the bottom of this very page!
Nobody Submits Any Toolbar Buttons
Well, I was expecting a certain amount of apathy, but maybe not this much.
In several days of running the Toolbar Button Contest, I've received no
entries or even any feedback about it. I know I am personally a terrible
pixel artist (or indeed, any kind of artist), but surely one avid GIMP user
has some talent in this area that he or she would loan to this cause.
What do you think? Are we crazy for trying? Or would you like to see a change too? Let me know.
Filter Pack Update
Pavel Grinfeld has announced another update to his Swiss-army knife of image
adjustments, Filter Pack. The newest version has a "Darker/Lighter" option,
as well as a few more advanced features. Grab it from Pavel's website.
May 21
Linux Plugin Binaries
Marco Giardini has set up an archive of precompiled 0.99.x plugin binaries
for Linux. If you're having trouble compiling plugins, check out Marco's GIMP page.
May 20
GUBI: Gtk Interface Builder
This is probably of interest mainly to hardcore hacks, because there are
still kinks to be worked out, but Tim Janik has given me kind permission to
announce his GIMP User Interface Builder. It's available for ftp at isys.net. Not for anyone
who faints at the first segfault :).
Updated Filter Pack Plugin
Pavel Grinfield has updated his Filter Pack plugin with a few tweaks and fixes. Check
out that, as well as the cool-looking Colormap Rotation plugin, at his GeoCities website.
New Tutorial From Jens
Jens Lautenbacher has written another really great tutorial. He shows all
his layers in detail, points out subtle things to keep your eye on, and
makes things so simple a cat sitting at a keyboard could follow along. Check
out the latest at Jens'
Page.
May 19
Plugin Registry Upgraded
Ingo just announced that he updated the GIMP Plugin Registry to allow
authors to automatically update their plugins.
Having Trouble Compiling Plugins?
Well, this certainly won't work for everyone, but for me, I find that using
a command line like this seems to work much of the time:
$ gcc -o pluginname -lglib -lgdk -lgtk -lgimp pluginname.c
If your libraries for GIMP aren't installed in your loader path, you may want to use a -L/path/to/your/libraries in there before any of the "-l"s.
If the plugin compiles fine, just stick it in one of the gimp's plugin paths, such as $HOME/.gimp/plug-ins/.
New GIF Loader Version: The Sequel
Adam "D." Moss (if that's his real initial) had a bit of a bug in his
gif loader. It saved images with only one frame with the loop extension,
which would bring some web browsers to a crawl. He's released a new, patched version that fixes the problem. If
you downloaded the old one, you should probably get the new one.
May 18
New GIF Loader Version
Adam has been busy working on retrofitting the GIF plugin to deal with
animated GIF saving. It now has that ability (with a few caveats
mentioned in the source). You can get the latest version of the plugin
from the GIMP news archives.
FITS Loader Announced
Peter Kirchgessner has written a plugin that loads and saves FITS
files. Peter says "FITS is the Flexible Image
Transport System used in Astronomy."
To get the plugin, you can download it from Peter's AOL ftp area.
"Filter Pack" Plugin Announced
Pavel Greenfield has announced an awesome plugin that duplicates the
Photoshop "Variations" dialogs. It lets you see adjustments to an
image with a variety of previews. Check it out at Pavel's Geocities
page.
May 15
GIMP Homepage Overhaul
The Official GIMP Homepage
got a facelift. The frames are gone! Yippee! :) Seriously, the new look is
pretty spiffy. Check it out.
WhirlPinch 2.09
Wow. Quartic updates this plugin almost as often as Microsoft releases
security patches. At any rate, the new version is available from Quartic's home page.
New Patch Suite: Object Menus
Thorsten Schnier has done some very interesting work to make pop-up menus
for different objects in GIMP, such as fonts, brushes, and patterns. He has
patches, binaries, and source code at his home page.
May 14
New Beta of CML_Explorer
Shuji Narazaki has put a beta version of 1.0.0 of CML Explorer on his web
site, along with a lot of other stuff that I'm not quite sure how to
categorize. It's interesting, at any rate, and you can get there by going to
Shuji's homepage.
Torsten Updates Some Plugins
Torsten Martinsen has updated a few plugins, most notably Variable Blur. You
can find these new and improved plugins on Torsten's GIMP
Plug-In Page.
May 13
Whirl And Pinch Announce US$14B Merger
In a surprise announcement late Tuesday evening, the plugins Whirl and Pinch
announced plans for a mega-merger that would make the resulting plugin the
most comprehensive provider of GIMP image distortions in the world. The new
plugin, named WhirlPinch, is expected to be widely distributed.
"They're both very excited," said spokesperson for both plugins, Federico Mena, "I feel there's much more potential in a combined plugin than either single plugin could have ever achieved."
More news and information about obtaining the new, unified plugin is available from the WhirlPinch Website.
Random Site Link Added; Patches Dropped
I have just created a small database of the GIMP sites on Quartic's page,
and written up a quick CGI script that will bounce you to a random
selection. To try it out, just click on the Random Site link at the top of
the page, or click here if you are
lazy. Feel free to use it on your page with some code that looks like
this:
<A HREF="http://www.xach.com/cgi-bin/xach/randgimp.pl">Random GIMP Link</A>
I am also sad to report that I will not continue to update the Patches page. It is something that's difficult to stay on top of, and I'd rather not do it than do a bad job.
New Tutorial Kicks Ass
Jens has come up with an awesome tutorial on making some intricately
textured patterns. Check out Jens' home page
for his new tutorial and examples of his pats.
New Whirl Version
Quartic has updated his Whirl plugin to incorporate some very neat
patches. The newest version lets you change the radius of the whirl
(so you can now whirl right out to the corners of a selection or
image). You can get this latest version from Quartic's GIMP page.
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