GIMP 3 will be the next major version of the image editor, and professionals and amateurs who use it are in luck because editing Release the candidate As reported by the development team, it is 96% complete.

GIMP (GNU image manipulation program) is one of those apps that, if they didn’t exist, would have to be invented. Free, open source and free softwareit has always been pushed aside by Adobe’s Photoshop and other types of commercial software, but as with other free developments (see LibreOffice vs. Microsoft Office), it has more than enough features for 99% of users. And if we’re talking about the quality/function/price ratio, I won’t even tell you: GIMP wins hands down.

GIMP 3, very close

Future major releases (misnamed) «Photoshop for Linux»because although it is installed by default in many distributions, it goes beyond the scope of a free system due to its cross-platform capacity and excellent version for macOS or Windowshas been delayed for quite some time, although it must be said that the developers have published quite a few intermediate versions.

And there is no such rush either… Already at the 25th anniversary (in 2020) they recognized that the development of GIMP “He was slow and lacked evolution”. Really, Getting here was quite an achievement. Faced with such a huge quantity, high quality, but with a corresponding price.

The latest delay in the long-awaited GIMP 3.0 update was caused by several developers falling ill after the conference Graphic meeting for free. A new post on the project’s blog explains that “thankfully everyone is feeling much better now and work is back in full swing”with GIMP 3.0 RC (Release Candidate) already 96% complete and less than a dozen outstanding issues remaining to be fixed.

One of the main pending tasks is completion API for GIMP 3 which will ensure that plugins and scripts created for the editor by other developers will work in future versions. It should be noted here that much of the functionality of this software comes from third-party add-ons and numerous customization options.

As general improvementsGIMP 3.0 will include exporting multiple images with different settings, leaving the originals intact; deeper color space integration; non-destructive filters in layer groups or new libraries to name a few. We will have time to test it thoroughly. The RC is almost ready and – if there are no further delays – will be published in a few weeks.

In the meantime, if you need a high quality and completely free image editor, be sure to check out GIMP 2 available for GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows and other alternative operating systems such as FreeBSD. More information and download | GIMP