Non-destructive layer effects and GTK 3 UI

GIMP 3.0 Release Candidate Arrives with Major New Features

If it feels like the next major release of open source image editor The GIMP has been in the works forever, know that anticipation for its arrival has been building longer still – yet the wait will soon be over.

Today, a GIMP 3.0 release candidate was tagged for release. This gives creatives eager to see what new features Wilber has in store for them the opportunity to find out first-hand, with fewer bugs and quirks getting in their way than development and beta builds.

This post isn’t going to provide a blow-by-blow rundown of the best new features in GIMP 3.0 as I plan to do that a little closer to the final stable release as it’s going to take literal weeks combing through the years of change-logs to pick out the cool stuff.

Still, there are plenty of headline-grabbing changes present.

These span everything from new colour management tools to a fully GTK 3 UI, by way of non-destructive layer effects, improved onboarding, canvas snapping options, and a new ‘merge menu and titlebar’ option for fans of CSD.

Also, in answer to a long-standing ‘gripe’ from many of those who switch to GIMP from Photoshop and similar raster image editors, GIMP 3.0 ships an expanded set of stroke selection options – though still no way to place a stroke on the inside or outside of a selection.

And there’s even a new logo: a flatter, simplified Wilber mascot which ‘doesn’t simulate depth’ (see the hero image in the article header for how I looks, though the crown isn’t part of the logo, just the face).

Plus, hundreds of smaller quality-of-life changes are included. Most of those won’t generate unbridled excitement on their own but the sum total of ’em will deliver to an all-round smoother, more enjoyable end-user experience.

So as it stands, GIMP 3.0 is set to be a significant update that long-time users of this oft-described ‘free Photoshop alternative’ (now boasting much-improved support for opening PSD files, funnily enough) are sure to appreciate.

How long will it take GIMP 3.0 to go from release candidate to stable? GIMP say they “want it to happen as soon as possible, i.e. when we can consider our software to feel stable enough.” So all being well, not too long (and clearly worth waiting a little more for).

All that said, if your happy to rough any last minute rough edges, you can install GIMP 3.0 RC¹ by downloading the source code and compiling it by hand, or make use of the --preview/stable channel for the GIMP Snap, which you can install in Ubuntu by running:

sudo snap install gimp --channel=preview/stable

Do keep in mind that while release candidate builds can end up being the same as the final stable release, they are a testing milestone so any big issues found will result in another RC being released, and so on, until everyone’s happy.

I’m sure you know all that, but I have to say it.

1. The final stable release will have the version number 3.0 but you may still see version 2.99.x in the About dialog in release candidate build ↩︎