On Wed, Sep 5, 2018 at 10:30 PM, John Smith wrote:

Hi
I've been using GIMP for years and think it's great but I'm less than happy with the recent versions and have reverted to using the 2017 (2.8.22) version due to numerous issues I've experienced using the newer versions. I'm sure that there are answers to all of the problems and you're probably going to say RTFM or similar but often it's easier to post rather than spending hours trying to find a solution when there may not be one!

Hi John,

Firstly when reducing the size of an image why is the smaller image less sharp? surely it should be more sharp not less!

Not really, no. It shouldn't, although it would be nice :) Also, the level of sharpness depends on the interpolation method. NoHalo generally works well.

The older version of Gimp sharpens the image when reducing the image size

I'm not sure it does.

and seems to retain image sharpness even when increasing the image size quite significantly.

That is extremely arguable :)

When copying part of an image why can't I paste it multiple times with one click?.This could be done easily on the previous version but it now requires the image to be copied and pasted every time

Can't confirm that.

Debian Linux, GIMP 2.10.7 (meaning, fresh from development tree). Can paste multiple times just fine. I also did just that with earlier 2.10.x releases. What's your OS and GIMP 2.10.x version?

The old version of GIMP has an excellent image sharpener with a preview so you can adjust the sharpening up or down why does the new version only have an "unsharp"? mode which sharpens the image but does not seem to provide any degree of adjustment

If Radius, Amount, and Threshold are not "any degree of enhancement", then what is?

and does not sharpen the image as well as the older version?

Would it be insane to suggest that you might need some time to master Unsharp Mask?

When using the airbrush the old version was really good and was very easy to blend in as required but the new version has a very difficult to use selector

I'm sorry, selecting? That isn't what the Airbrush does, to the best of my knowledge.

Alex

Just a couple of quick things...

On Wed, Sep 5, 2018 at 2:30 PM John Smith via gimp-user-list < gimp-user-list@gnome.org> wrote:

Firstly when reducing the size of an image why is the smaller image less sharp? surely it should be more sharp not less! The older version of Gimp sharpens the image when reducing the image size and seems to retain image sharpness even when increasing the image size quite significantly. The new version of GIMP does neither.

Scaling down requires that you throw away information in some way - the method in which you do this may or may not minimize the perceived loss of "sharpness". As Alex said, try NoHalo to see if it suits you.

When copying part of an image why can't I paste it multiple times with one click?.This could be done easily on the previous version but it now requires the image to be copied and pasted every time which is incredibly time consuming.

Chances are your default keyboard shortcut for pasting is to simply "Paste", which will create a new floating selection that will need to be anchored before you can paste another floating selection.

I would recommend that you consider changing the keyboard shortcut for "Ctrl-V" to be "Paste as new layer" (edit-paste-as-new-layer). This will likely give you the functionality you may be expecting.

https://patdavid.net
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On Wed, Sep 5, 2018 at 10:54 PM, Alexandre Prokoudine wrote:

Firstly when reducing the size of an image why is the smaller image less sharp? surely it should be more sharp not less!

Not really, no. It shouldn't, although it would be nice :) Also, the level of sharpness depends on the interpolation method. NoHalo generally works well.

Just one more clarification here.

Personally, I was never happy with any of the interpolation methods prior to 2.10 when downscaling. Clearly, I wasn't imagining things, seeing how people came up with stuff like http://www.gimphelp.org/other_step-resize.html.

So whenever I was not happy with sharpness after downscaling, I had to use tricks like blurring, downscaling with Linear, then sharpening.

These days, I just mostly use NoHalo and, when I really need it, I apply High Pass on a duplicate of the original layer in Linear Light blending mode and ca. 30% opacity.

Alex

On 09/05/18 21:30, John Smith via gimp-user-list wrote:

Hi
I've been using GIMP for years and think it's great but I'm less than happy with the recent versions and have reverted to using the 2017 (2.8.22) version due to numerous issues I've experienced using the newer versions. I'm sure that there are answers to all of the problems and you're probably going to say RTFM or similar but often it's easier to post rather than spending hours trying to find a solution when there may not be one! Firstly when reducing the size of an image why is the smaller image less sharp? surely it should be more sharp not less! The older version of Gimp sharpens the image when reducing the image size and seems to retain image sharpness even when increasing the image size quite significantly. The new version of GIMP does neither.

The result of scaling down depends on the image. Some images are subject to spatial frequency folding (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliasing). The algorithm used in 2.10 is different from the one in 2.8 so things happen in different images. To avoid the problem (whatever the algorithm) remove the unnecessary detail (which will become invisible (sub-pixel) when downscaling anyway) by blurring the image first (downscale 2x: blur by 2px, etc...).

When copying part of an image why can't I paste it multiple times with one click?.This could be done easily on the previous version but it now requires the image to be copied and pasted every time which is incredibly time consuming.

I don't see what workflow you are talking about. When you paste you create a floating selection, so you have to get rid of it before you can paste again. This isn't one click. what you can do in both version is copy to the clipboard, and then use the "Clipboard" brush. The only difference in 2.10 is that you have to double-click/strike [Enter] to commit the selection.

The old version of GIMP has an excellent image sharpener with a preview so you can adjust the sharpening up or down why does the new version only have an "unsharp"? mode which sharpens the image but does not seem to provide any degree of adjustment and does not sharpen the image as well as the older version?

There are three cursors in the 2.10 "Unsharp mask" dialog, and two of them have a very visible effect. Also in addition to showing the result on the whole canvas (with a before/after split view...) can you can also create presets.

When using the airbrush the old version was really good and was very easy to blend in as required but the new version has a very difficult to use selector (it's really unclear which part of the image you're selecting) and is far too aggressive in use and does not provide anywhere near the same results. I'm sure there are solutions to these issues but if not I'm happy to continue using the old version.

There is no "selection" in the Airbrush? And as far as I can tell the airbrush in 2.8 and 2.10 behaves similarly.