Use Photoshop Plugins with GIMP

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP IS THE WORLD’S INDUSTRY STANDARD PHOTO EDITOR. It’s hugely powerful, and is expandable through third-party plugins that add even more features to its already impressive toolkit. It’s not cheap, though, with an annual subscription costing $120. Justifiable for professionals, but perhaps not so much for hobbyists.

That’s where the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) comes in. This open-source photo editor has been in development since 1995, and over the years it has grown into the closest free alternative to Adobe’s premium software. It includes manual and automatic tools for refining color, saturation, and contrast; one-click smart filters and effects; fully customizable brushes and text tools; and even support for plugins.

There are lots of extensions created specifically for GIMP, but with a little tweaking, you can use great-looking Photoshop plugins, too. Before we get started, bear in mind that this technique works with plugins in 8BF, 8BA, 8BI, and 8LY format, but not with Photoshop Actions (ATN files). That’s because Actions are essentially macros that perform a series of operations automatically using Photoshop’s own tools, whereas plugins are more like small programs in their own right. –CAT ELLIS 1 PREPARE GIMP TO RECEIVE PLUGINS First, download and install GIMP from www.gimp.org; it’s available as either a direct download or a torrent, and there are versions for all operating systems. Once that’s done, install the GIMP Photoshop Plugin (PSPI) from graphics software developer Akvis ( http://bit.ly/2nCezxm), and extract the contents of the zip archive to C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\lib\gimp\ 2.0\plug-ins (assuming you used the default install path for GIMP). You only need the exe file, not the “PSPI” folder.

You’ll see that there are already lots of plugins in this folder [ Image A]. These are tools that have been judged useful and stable enough to be pre-installed. To check that the new plugin has installed correctly, open GIMP, then click “Filters,” and you should see a menu item at the bottom called “Photoshop Plug-in Settings.” Once you’re satisfied, close GIMP. 2 FIND A SUITABLE PLUGIN Now you need a Photoshop plugin to experiment with. The Plugin Site ( www.thepluginsite.com/resources/freeps.htm) is a good place to find free examples. You should be able to use most plugins successfully with PSPI, but occasionally you might encounter one that causes the photo editor to crash. If you want to try using a premium plugin, make sure you experiment with a free trial before you commit to buying it. Only install one new Photoshop plugin at a time, so you can easily determine whether one is making the program unstable.

Here we’re using a free trial of Akvis’s own premium Charcoal plugin [ Image B], which simulates the look of traditional media with customizable detail levels and paper types, plus some rather cheesy frame options. The plugin should have its own installer, so run this, and save it to a convenient place, such as a folder called “Plugins” on your desktop. If you’re given a choice of “Standalone” or “Plugin” options during the installation, choose the latter. 3 CREATE REFERENCE NODES Now you need to tell PSPI where to look for Photoshop plugins. Start GIMP, then navigate to “Filters > Photoshop Plug-in Settings,” and click the white page icon to create a new reference node, which provides the path for PSPI to follow. Click the folder icon on the right, and drill down to the location where you saved the plugin. The red button on the “Photoshop Plugin” window turns green. Click “OK,” then close GIMP.

When you restart the photo editor, it looks for plugins in the folder you selected. Open a picture to experiment on, then click “Filters,” and look for a new subdirectory— in this case, it’s called “AKVIS.” If everything has gone

according to plan, you can use the newly installed plugin just as you would in Photoshop [ Image C].

If you want to add more than one plugin, it’s best to create multiple folders within the main “Plugins” directory on your desktop. You can then create new reference nodes for each plugin, and easily deactivate any that cause GIMP to become unstable. If a node’s indicator button turns red, it means the path is broken— probably because a directory has been deleted or renamed—and any plugins found there will no longer work. 4 OTHER PHOTO EDITORS If you find GIMP’s interface awkward to work with, there are several other photo editors that work with Photoshop plugins. Some of these, such as Corel Paint Shop Pro, are premium software, but are much more affordable than Adobe’s app, and potentially a better choice for amateur photographers. These programs usually have a built-in tool for importing and accessing Photoshop plugins, so there’s no need for additional tools.

There are also a few other free editors that are compatible with Photoshop plugins, but are less complex than GIMP, due to being developed by a smaller team of contributors. One of these is Irfanview—a free photo viewer and organizer that does double-duty as a basic editor. 5 USE PHOTOSHOP PLUGINS IN IRFANVIEW If your Photoshop plugin is an 8BF file, it should work with Irfanview. To try it, download Irfanview as a self-extracting exe file from www.irfanview.com/64bit. htm, and run the installer. Once it’s finished, download and install Irfanview Plugins from the same location.

Launch Irfanview, and open a photo to edit. You can open one picture, then browse through the others in the same folder using your mouse wheel. Tap Ctrl-K to access the “Adobe 8BF Filters” dialog, and click “Add 8BF Filters (Files).” Navigate to your downloaded plugin, and click “Open.” You can add several plugins this way, and add comment lines to organize them into groups. Click “Start selected filter” to run it as normal. The plugin effect is applied to the whole image once you close the “Adobe 8BF Filters” window [ Image D].