New Gimp 2.4 Sneakpeak

[img]http://gimp-tutorials.net/gimp2.4.jpg[/img]
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The All new Gimp 2.4 is almost out i cant wait, it has tons of new features and most importantly a full re-design of the interface including New tango style icons i really cant wait to get my hands on it.

here is a quike summery on new tools and features.

[b]Visual enhancements and Enhanced tool features[/b]

[b]Redesigned menus[/b]
The user interface has been redesigned, especially the top and context menus. There is now a seperate menu for colors, and the ScriptFu and PythonFu menu are no longer available. All filters and plugins can now be found in the Filters menu. For instance: Script-Fu -> Shadows -> Drop Shadow is now located at Filters -> Light and Shadow -> Drop Shadow. This is much more intuitive.

[img]http://gimp-tutorials.net/news/7.jpeg[/img]
[url=http://gimp-tutorials.net/news/77.png]Click to Enlgarge[/url]

[b]Tango style icons[/b]
The new tango style has more colors and is much more visually pleasing! The new icons have been designed to comply with the Tango Style Guidelines. All operating systems are supported by this new polished look.

[img]http://gimp-tutorials.net/news/6small.jpeg[/img]
[url=http://gimp-tutorials.net/news/6.png]Click to Enlarge[/url]

[b]Desktop color picker[/b]
In the dialog where you choose your colors you can now use the pipette to pick a color from everywhere on your screen (not just from your images).

[b]Brightness & Contrast behavior[/b]
When using the Brightness & Contrast color plugin you can now simply click inside the image, hold the mouse button down and move the mouse to the left, right, up or down while the image's brightness and contrast will be adjusted.

[b]Copying SVG files[/b]
Information in the SVG format (scalable vector graphics) can now be easily exchanged between applications (e.g. paths in GIMP and Inkscape).

[b]Enhanced text plugin[/b]
You can now see the actual font you are using -- not just on the canvas as usual, but also inside the text editor.

[b]Dynamic brushes[/b]
All brushes that are marked by a small blue triangle in the bottom right corner are so-called dynamic brushes now. Their brush size can be changed dynamically by pressing Alt Gr+[ to scale down or Alt Gr+] to enlarge the brush. You don't have to readjust the brush in the brushes editor any longer.

[b]Use Del to remove[/b]
One new feature that ill be loving is this Delete key to remove stuff.

[b]Full screen editing[/b]
Use the Tab key to toggle visibility of all dialogs. So you can use the whole screen (the maximized full picture window) for your image editing without having to move around dialogs that disturb you from viewing some parts of the image.

[b]Crop tool redesigned[/b]
The crop tool gains all advantages of the new selection tools (live resizing... etc.)!

[b]New tools/plug-ins[/b]
[b]Selection tools[/b]
After creating a selection , rectangular and elliptical selections can be adjusted and moved easily without the use of the transform tool.
Now you can get rounded corners on rectangular selections by selecting it in the tool preferences.

[img]http://gimp-tutorials.net/news/1small.jpeg[/img]
[url=http://gimp-tutorials.net/news/1.png]Click to Enlarge[/url]

[b]Red Eye Removal[/b]
This is one plug-in almost every photo editing application must have,its standard stuff so its great to see Gimp now adding it.

[img]http://gimp-tutorials.net/news/2small.jpeg[/img]
[url=http://gimp-tutorial.net/news/2.png]Click to Enlarge[/url]

[b]Foreground extraction[/b]
With this tool you can extract objects from pictures easily.

[img]http://gimp-tutorials.net/news/3small.jpeg[/img]
[url=http://gimp-tutorial.net/news/3.png]Click to Enlarge
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[b]Color management[/b]
Now for the first time Gimp 2.4 will have Color mangement that allows you to set color profiles (.icc or .icm)

[b]Perspective Cloning[/b]
Now the well known cloning tool can be used in perspectives. Specify a perspective in the picture. The cloned parts are then automatically drawn in the correct perspective.

[b]Heal image irregularities[/b]
heal tool lets you easily remove unwanted parts on an image, for example pimples on a person's face. It clones a given part by readjusting the neighbor pixels so the cloning is not so obvious.

[b]Lens distortion[/b]
There is also a very cool new plugin in the Filter / Distorts menu that is very useful for photographers. Lens distortion allows you to correct lens distortions or to apply some changes only to the 4 corners of an image, e.g. if your corners are a little darker then the rest of the picture.

[img]http://gimp-tutorials.net/news/4small.jpeg[/img]
[url=http://gimp-tutorial.net/news/4.png]Click to Enlarge[/url]

[b]Text on a path[/b]
The new text-to-path option allows you to write/align text along a specified path. The aligned text is created as a new path that can then be used as a selection and be filled with a certain color.

[img]http://gimp-tutorials.net/news/5small.jpeg[/img]
[url=http://gimp-tutorial.net/news/5.png]Click to Enlarge[/url]

[b]Miscellaneous enhancements[/b]
- .bmp files now have support for 16/32 bits and alpha channel support.
- better status displays for plugins, filters
- 24 bit Vista icons can be opened and saved
- layer masks can be saved to psd files
- very long layer names in psd files are now supported
- enhanced EXIF support for JPEG files
- new speed control for the animation plugin

First Release Candidate for GIMP 2.4.0 is out
[url]http://gimp-tutorials.net/gimp+2.4+download[/url]

Written by devvv
Source:
http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/gimp-2-4-new-features.html