GIMP 3.0 has been long-awaited. While the GIMP developers haven’t yet released the stable version of GIMP 3.0, there have been three release candidates of 3.0 for testing and developing before the stable version is shortly released. GIMP 3.0 moves closer to Photoshop as a great alternative, and we see some improvements from GIMP’s developer team that make it a great creative software overall. It’s already a massive improvement on GIMP 2.0.

5 Design improvements

It’s nice for things to look nice

Oftentimes, open-source software is ugly. The reason is largely because they’re community-developed projects and function is more important than form in most cases. Without better funding, the tool’s design falls by the wayside to ensure that every feature works well.

GIMP 3.0 comes with some design improvements, though. While design improvements themselves don’t necessarily make a difference to how GIMP works, it can be refreshing to work in a well-designed layout.

Improvements are minimal. GIMP 3.0 has improved its UI color for better usability and accessibility, falling inline better with WCAG guidelines.

Alongside UI design improvements, you’ll also notice a new logo for GIMP 3.0. This has been updated to modernize it and fit better with modern logo shapes. GIMP’s new logo still features Wilber the mascot, but now in a flattened and sleek form. It should be noted that the logo for Mac systems contains Wilber on an easel due to macOS having different icon guidelines, whereas other operating systems just have Wilber.

4 Non-destructive updates

And a destructive option too

Non-destructive filters were added to GIMP 3.0 after many requests. After some of the release candidate versions of 3.0 were tested by users, it was heavily requested that there be an option to retain a destructive workflow alongside non-destructive filters.

As a result, GIMP 3.0 users will be able to select Merge Filters from the NDE filters menu. This option will allow filters to be merged immediately once the project is committed. This isn’t an option for layer groups, though.

You can stack non-destructive filters on top of one another, but with too much stacking, some information gets lost. GIMP 3.0 includes a fix for this, to ensure conversion to the image’s format when the filter is meant to be merged in, rather than in non-destructive stacks.

Non-destructive workflows are super helpful and save a lot of time and frustration if you make changes later in the workflow or simply make a mistake you want to rectify. However, there are times when a destructive workflow works better. The option of both is a helpful addition to GIMP 3.0.

3 Darktable integration

Open-source connected tools

With no native RAW file processing features in GIMP, photo editors have needed to use one of many helpful plugins for GIMP, such as Darktable or RAW Therapee, in order to edit RAW images in GIMP software.

GIMP developers worked directly with Darktable developers to create a specific API for GIMP, which allows Darktable’s public API to work with no issues. Previously, the public Darktable API stopped working frequently in GIMP, but with a software-specific API, this should be an issue of the past.

2 File format improvements

More flexibility for other formats

GIMP is a great alternative for Photoshop since it allows you to open and edit PSD files. With GIMP’s new version, there’s even more support for PSDs. Now there’s support for loading 16-bits-per-channel LAB PSDs, increasing the bit depth of the images you can create in GIMP.

There’s also an updated PSD dialog which now uses built-in features found in GIMP for exporting metadata.

Alongside popular PSD support, there's also added support for loading DDS files with BC7 support for better RGB and RGBA compression.

1 Color consistency updates

Ensure your colors are correct

If you’re using GIMP as a creative tool, you’re likely agonizing over color choices. If you’re using GIMP as a professional tool, colors are more important than just simply what you want to use at the moment. An incorrect color could cost thousands of dollars to fix in large corporate projects.

Starting from GIMP 2.9, there have been improvements with color space invasion and GIMP 3.0 aims to ensure all color spaces are pixel perfect and don’t waiver between viewing stations. As artists and creatives, it’s important our colors are the same regardless of the monitor we use to create work. GIMP 3.0 is fixing bugs and making this version color-space aware. This includes updating the color algorithm so everyone can use it efficiently and correctly.

GIMP is constantly improving

Even with the major release of GIMP 3.0 upcoming, it’s still considered a tool that’s constantly evolving and improving. Once 3.0 stable has arrived, the developers won’t sit around and wait; they’ll keep developing and listening to GIMP’s user base to see how they can improve for GIMP 3.1. While there’s no official release date for GIMP 3.0 stable edition at the time of writing, you can install the release candidates of 3.0 — RC1, RC2, and RC3 at the time of writing — to get a taste of the stable version you’ll love.