GIMP is a digital image editing application that lets you compose vector or bitmap images. We'll talk about its history, features, and of course its license and inclusion in the GNU project. One of the most important points of the platform is that it is universal and you can use it on Unix, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and more.
The History of GIMP
In 1995, students Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis were part of a semester-long academic project at the University of Berkeley. From this exercise, the first version of GIMP was born.
The development of this first version was done with Unix and intended especially for GNU/Linux, to be a free alternative for working with digital images. The name GIMP initially meant “General Image Manipulation Program”, but two years later in 1997, its meaning changed to “GNU Image Manipulation Program”. This is because it became part of the GNU Project.
The Use of GIMP
This digital graphics and photo processor is generally used to create graphics, logos, retouch, modify and convert images, also to remove and alter colors or elements, create animated images, manipulate vectors and edit video among other options.
Until the arrival of GIMP, all these services were only performed by professional users, but the tool universalized these services and brought them to non-expert users, thanks to its simple interface and mainly its free license.
Features of GIMP
One of the main features of GIMP is that its services can be extended through the installation of plugins, extensions, scripts, and digitizing tablets. GIMP allows image editing through layers, allowing each part of the photograph to be modified independently (each layer is an element). Other highlights are the possibility of batch processing and the option to generate images using its scripts (for example, images for web pages).
And the tools we find in its panel are: Rectangular, spherical, manual lasso, magic wand, inversion, juxtaposition, addition, deletion, intelligent scissors, scale, tilt, color gradient editing, and manipulation of paths and simple measurement and calculation of lengths and angles, among many other functions.
The License of GIMP
Undoubtedly, GIMP was a pioneer in framing its license, because it runs under the GNU project and is covered by the GNU General Public License and GNU Lesser General Public License.
GIMP was ahead of its time and paved the way for other projects like KDE, GNOME, Mozilla Firefox, OpenOffice.org that we enjoy today.
GIMP is an image editor programmed in C and GTK+ that took photo retouching out of large offices and computers and brought it to the standard user, a philosophy we see as completely natural today.
