I think that as a photo editor, GIMP is the best option for open source. But as a print designer the lack of being able to work in CMYK and 1 bit images is a big problem.
Fortunately Krita does the CMYK thing extremely well, but it also lacks the ability to handle 1 bit images.
Wondering if anyone out there has discovered a lesser known open source app that works with 1 bit images well? Maybe something made for old school pixel art?
It seems strange to me, since even a more modern format like png supports 1 bit.
You can import, export, and proof in CMYK today and you can have a CMYK color profile. GIMP 3.1.2 added total ink coverage for CMYK so 3.2 will have that. However, everything is still handled as sRGB internally.
With GIMP 3, all the required plumbing is there to handle CYMK natively. If I had to guess, I would expect it around GIMP 3.4. So, probably 5 years or more from now.
Maybe for 1 bit images on GIMP you could try setting the image mode to indexed and then generate a palette with just two colors. GIMP can also apply dithering if you want
Thank you!! That is exactly what I was looking for.
That is a big help. I was stuck on the idea that that option wasn’t available when making a new doc and didn’t think to look under the change mode menu.
I think that as a photo editor, GIMP is the best option for open source. But as a print designer the lack of being able to work in CMYK and 1 bit images is a big problem.
Fortunately Krita does the CMYK thing extremely well, but it also lacks the ability to handle 1 bit images.
Wondering if anyone out there has discovered a lesser known open source app that works with 1 bit images well? Maybe something made for old school pixel art?
It seems strange to me, since even a more modern format like png supports 1 bit.
CMYK support is getting there but very slowly.
You can import, export, and proof in CMYK today and you can have a CMYK color profile. GIMP 3.1.2 added total ink coverage for CMYK so 3.2 will have that. However, everything is still handled as sRGB internally.
With GIMP 3, all the required plumbing is there to handle CYMK natively. If I had to guess, I would expect it around GIMP 3.4. So, probably 5 years or more from now.
Maybe for 1 bit images on GIMP you could try setting the image mode to indexed and then generate a palette with just two colors. GIMP can also apply dithering if you want
Thank you!! That is exactly what I was looking for.
That is a big help. I was stuck on the idea that that option wasn’t available when making a new doc and didn’t think to look under the change mode menu.