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With more than 80 different distros of Linux and four flavors of BSD it may come as no surprise that there is more than one Gimp project. Just as you wouldn't cross-post a BSD question to FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, and Darwin you may want to consider which Gimp project you are really looking for. Film Gimp is not GIMP. Think of them as being both the same and different -- with distinct personalities like FreeBSD and NetBSD.
Some GIMP people express the opinion that Film Gimp developers should abandon Film Gimp and get behind GIMP and GEGL. This article describes the history of GEGL and Film Gimp, and explains why Film Gimp will not be rejoining GIMP. Note that using Film Gimp does not interfere with users having some other flavor of Gimp running on the same machine. You may use Film Gimp and GIMP simultaneously. And, Film Gimp isn't just for motion picture users. Still photographers like it, too. Film Gimp runs on Linux, IRIX, Alpha, Mac/XDarwin, FreeBSD, Solaris, IA64, S390, HP-UX, and soon Windows and Mac/Aqua. Film Gimp uses GTK+ 1.2.
GIMP runs on Linux, Windows, Mac/XDarwin, FreeBSD, Solaris, IRIX, Alpha, IA64, S390, HP-UX, and OS/2. GIMP and GIMP for Windows maintain separate mailing lists, but GIMP for Windows lead Tor Lillqvist says they should not be thought of as separate projects. MacGIMP and WinGIMP are the names of commercial products sold on CD-ROM by Mat Caughron. MacGimp has a forum hosted at xdarwin.org. The GEGL project is working toward a future version of GIMP, known as GIMP 2. Some GIMP developers also work on GEGL. GEGL is viewed as part of the GIMP project, even though the code is all new. GIMP 1.2 uses GTK+ 1.2. GIMP 1.3 uses GTK+ 2.x.
When Film Gimp began in 1998, the idea was to create a good companion paint program to Silicon Grail's proprietary Chalice compositor, the precursor to RAYZ (an alternative to Shake). Film Gimp wasn't a separate project then, merely an experimental branch within GIMP called HOLLYWOOD. Eventually, GIMP declined accepting the experimental Film Gimp enhancements, and Chalice was abandoned when Silicon Grail moved on to RAYZ. Later, in 2002 Apple acquired both Shake and RAYZ -- and discontinued RAYZ.
Calvin Williamson, one of the original Film Gimp developers, founded the GEGL project in June 2000. GEGL, a ground-up redesign, is envisioned as the underpinnings for GIMP 2, the next generation GIMP. GEGL intended to incorporate the lessons learned from the abandoned Film Gimp experiment, but without the constraints of legacy code. The plan was to be able to do a broad range of paint/compositor operations -- as had been originally envisioned for Film Gimp. Today GEGL is still incomplete and only available via CVS.
When GIMP abandoned Film Gimp, and Silicon Grail dropped sponsorship, it was assumed that was the end of Film Gimp. But, it wouldn't die because Rhythm & Hues continued to use it for movie production. Secretly, Film Gimp grew and spread to Sony Pictures Imageworks. In a Linux Journal article in March 2002, columnist Robin Rowe revealed that reports of Film Gimp's demise had been greatly exaggerated, that Film Gimp is alive and well. In researching Film Gimp, Rowe became drawn into the project and on July 4, 2002, launched Film Gimp as a SourceForge project. Up to that time Film Gimp had been kept in the obscure HOLLYWOOD CVS branch of GIMP 1.0.4 at gimp.org.
Over time, the vision for Film Gimp has shifted, became more focused. Film Gimp has emerged as the open source alternative to Photoshop for motion picture studio users.
GIMP and Photoshop serve a broad market. Neither sees a reason to particularly cater to motion picture users, who could never be more than an insignificant sliver of their userbase. Film Gimp thinking is the opposite. Motion picture studio users are first and foremost to us always, with a broader audience secondary. Even if the Film Gimp code could be merged into some other project, there would still be irreconcilable differences in philosophy.
Film Gimp developers will never be willing to place the interests of motion picture users second.