GIMP has enhanced its non-destructive editing features, incorporating the ability to apply filters to channels, calculate and display Total Ink Coverage for selected colors, and support for a range of file formats. The CMYK Color Selector now computes and presents Total Ink Coverage, a feature beneficial for printing applications. GIMP has introduced the capability to import Photoshop patterns, enabling users to incorporate Adobe .pat files into the GIMP pattern folder. GIMP has introduced support for importing APNG animations, loading multi-layer OpenEXR images, and accommodating JPEG 2000 images. The plugin additionally accommodates Nokia's historical black and white Over-the-Air Bitmap format, Jeff's Image Format (.jif), and Advanced Video Coding (AVCI) still images. The purpose of these updates is to minimize bugs and facilitate smoother future development and maintenance.
Denis Rangelov, Reju, and Michal Vašut have implemented various UX/UI enhancements for GIMP 3.2, encompassing quality-of-life improvements, bug and regression resolutions, as well as advancements to the Histogram dockable feature. The algorithm for Foreground Selection has been refined to eliminate unnecessary lag when transitioning to another tool, and a conflict between the system theme and GIMP's theme has been resolved. The Palette dockable now selects the subsequent swatch upon deletion, and the "Merge Filter" checkbox for non-destructive filters remains unaffected. The Color Cube Analysis plug-in has been removed; however, its functionality is now integrated into the Histogram dockable. The build process has been enhanced, with the build system now automatically generating a list of image formats for Windows and Linux builds.
As of GIMP version 3.0.4, there have been 42 reports resolved as FIXED, 55 merge requests successfully integrated, and 302 commits implemented. A total of 29 individuals made contributions to the GIMP 3.1.2 codebase, comprising 14 developers who worked on the core code, 9 developers who focused on plug-ins or modules, and 12 translators. The team appreciates the contributions of everyone involved in triaging in GitLab, reporting bugs, and engaging in discussions about potential improvements. Students participating in Google Summer of Code are advancing with their summer projects. Gabriele Barbero is enhancing the on-canvas text editor, while Ondřej Míchal is developing a prototype for the GEGL Filter Browser. Shivam is developing a website to showcase and present third-party GIMP extensions. The initial development release introduces numerous new features, primarily concentrating on the creation of two innovative types of non-destructive layers: linked layers and vector layers.
GIMP 3.1.2: First Development Release towards GIMP 3.2
In keeping with our new release schedule, we’re proud to announce GIMP 3.1.2, the first development version of what will become GIMP 3.2! This release contains a number of new features that we’ve been working on in-between bugfixes for GIMP 3.0. We’re looking forward to your testing and feedback as we continue adjusting and tweaking the code and design of them.
Note that a development release is not ready for production use. It might crash. If it didn’t have problems it would be 3.2 already. So please do test, but understand this is a feature release for early adopters and for the more adventurous!
GIMP 3.1.2: First Development Release towards GIMP 3.2 - GIMP
