GIMP version 3.2 has released its third and likely final release candidate, providing users with an opportunity to explore upcoming features and improvements before the stable version launches. This release focuses on bug fixes and final enhancements based on user feedback from previous iterations.
The notable changes from RC2 to RC3 include:
- Link Layers Protection: Newly introduced Link Layers are now safeguarded against color and pattern swatch drops, ensuring smoother usage with vector layers.
- Filter Precision: Filters such as Levels, Curves, Equalize, and White Balance now default to Linear precision. This adjustment addresses several inconsistencies previously reported by users.
- Welcome Dialog Update: The Welcome Dialog won’t pop up if the application is opened through specific actions like right-clicking an image, which streamlines the user experience.
- Enhanced Tool Functionality: Users can now utilize the arrow keys to flip images while the Flip tool is active. The Shear tool has also been improved to respond to these keys, allowing for more efficient editing with Shift for larger adjustments.
- Crop Tool Behavior: If cropping an image that has a transparency fill, the tool will automatically add transparency to the layer.
- Hue Saturation Consistency: The Lightness slider’s position has been adjusted to match standard HSL settings.
Additional updates include improved support for Flatpak builds, enhanced loading times for XCF files relative to fonts, and compatibility with Procreate swatches. The release also features an updated AppImage package, which is expected to work seamlessly on ARM64 Linux platforms.
For those interested in testing GIMP 3.2 RC3, it can be downloaded from the official GIMP website in either AppImage or Flatpak formats. Alternatively, GIMP’s Snap package is maintained by the team, which can be installed using the following terminal command:
sudo snap install gimp --channel=preview/stableUsers are encouraged to provide feedback on their experiences with this release candidate.