The first release candidate for GIMP 3.0 is here!

Rightly or wrongly, GIMP is perhaps best known for being the app that is first mentioned when people ask for a free alternative to Photoshop. The open-source image editing tool has a large and devoted following, but it is a very long time since it received a significant update.

Now GIMP 3.0 is on the horizon, and ahead of the launch of this massive, long-awaited update, the first release candidate has landed. GIMP 3.0 RC1 is the first major update in around 6 years and it includes a range of new features such as non-destructive filters, numerous updates to the interface, and much more.

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GIMP 2.10 was released way back in 2018, and while there have been a lot of minor updates and beta versions in the 6 years since then, GIMP 3.0 is the first major update that the vast majority of users will be exposed to. And for anyone who has not been following the minor updates and beta releases, there is masses to explore here.

From a purely aesthetic point of view, there is a new icon and splash screen for GIMP, and a beautiful new look for the legacy icon theme. There are interface updates, some of which are changes to look and feel, while others change or add functionality -- such as new scroll wheel options.

There are lots of new filters to play with, support for Alias/Autodesk Sketchbook TIFFs and the latest 64-bits-per-pixel BMP images. Non destructive filters are a fabulous new addition to GIMP, and they have proved popular with beta testers so far. Now they are being unleashed on a wider audience:

Since our last update, we have continued to make improvements and bug fixes to our non-destructive filter code. Many of these issues were reported by Sam Lester during the developing and testing of his third-party GEGL filters.

While non-destructive filters have been a very popular addition to GIMP 3.0, some early adopters have requested that we provide a way to return to the original destructive workflow. Therefore, we have added an optional “Merge Filters” checkbox at the bottom of NDE filters. If enabled, the filter will be immediately merged down after it is committed. Note that filters can not be applied destructively on layer groups – in those cases, the option to merge filters is not available.

There is a lengthy blog post about everything to be found in the release candidate here. The blog post includes download links, but you can also access the software for a range of platforms -- Windows, macOS and Linux -- here.