Re: [CinePaint] Potential CinePaint user seeking reassurance

On Sun, 7 Sep 2008 19:57:49 +1000
Naz Gassiep <[email protected]> wrote:

> 
> I'm in the process of moving away from Photoshop (I recently moved to 
> Linux and would like to totally rid myself of the proprietary world), 
> and am deciding if investing the time and effort learning CinePaint is 
> worthwhile or if staying with the Gimp is a safer bet.
> 
> In short, is CinePaint stable both as a project and as a codebase, and 
> can I rely on it for production work?
> 

It is difficult to make completely general yet accurate statements
about any software.  Cinepaint works for me, but my needs may not
be similar to or as extensive as yours.  The best way to find the
answer is to just try it and see.

But it seems that you are attempting to find a single software
solution to all of your problems, and, in my view, this is not the
ideal approach.  You should be willing to have at your disposal
a variety of different image programs, including Cinepaint, the
GIMP, and any of the other many Open Source projects such as NETPBM,
GraphicsMagick, and ImageMagick.  Rather than devoting all of your
efforts to learning a single package, you time would be better spent
in learning the fundamentals of digital image processing so that you
can more intelligently utilize the many Open Source tools that
are available.

As an example, Cinepaint can be used to reduce image noise, but
there are also independent tools, such as greycstoration, that
may do a better job.  Because there is no automatic interface
between these two programs, images would have to be processed
with greycstoration externally and then loaded back into Cinepaint
for any further work.  This may appear cumbersome, but with
a little experience the overall process can become smooth and
quick.

You have expressed a desire to rid yourself of the proprietary
world and adopt Linux totally.  Such a move, however, will require
that the user possess a greater understanding of digital fundamentals,
and this is especially true in the area of image processing.
The proprietary Photoshop tries to bring it all together in a
nice and painless package.  The Linux user has to work a little
harder and be more knowledgeable but equal results are certainly
possible.

These are my views.  Others may see things differently.

Frank Peters


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