When to stop using Gimp?

[CtrlAltDel]

I think I may need to take a break.  Time flies by, when I use Gimp, faster than seemingly any other task not related to real life.  Many computer tasks seem arduous and time drags to a halt. Oftentimes, even while doing something as normally enjoyable as browsing the Internet, time kind of slows down.

Not with Gimp though.  While doing anything in Gimp, I can be an hour into something, and I honestly think it's only been about 10 or 15 minutes. 

Another indication I may be Gimping too much is that when watching television, I constantly see scenes that I think I could make better in Gimp.   I start thinking about what filter I would run on this or that image I see in a commercial or on a show.  The font in that commercial looks outdated and it's not even centered or maybe it could use some stroking, etc...

I may see an old barn while driving or a building or even a tree, and think about how it would look better colorized in Gimp and could definitely use some curve and level adjustment. This or that street could do with some fresh stripes and some darkening of the asphalt.

Okay, "I" think I 've used I enough in one post and was just interested in if any of you have ever had times when Gimp was following you from the computer world over into the real world? I'm not asking for any psychological help  but am curious to know if you've ever used GIMP so much that you think about it away from a computer, tablet, or laptop screen?

[Ofnuts]

When I use Gimp, I code...

Strange experience some years ago. I worked in a project 10km from home and I could get there on a bicycle, about half the distance being on bike lanes in the "Bois de Boulogne", a big park west of Paris. Out of curiosity I got a wearable heartbeat monitor, and the Andoid apps that records the heartbeat and the GPS position. One could clearly see where the steep slopes were.

Usually I would remove the thing during the day, but one day I forgot it and wore it all day. Once back home I downloaded the data. To my surprise there was a 3 hours span in the afternoon where my heartbeat was very slow (somewhat below 50). The next day at work, looking at hard evidence (time stamp on mails, source code and server log files), this was when I was writing code (as an "architect" on that project, I usually didn't write much code, but that part was critical and somewhat easier to code than to explain). So, writing code puts me in some kind of trance (or helps me reach nirvana) . Why should I stop?

[rickk]

(04-19-2021, 05:10 AM)CtrlAltDel Wrote: I think I may need to take a break.  Time flies by, when I use Gimp, faster than seemingly any other task not related to real life.  .  While doing anything in Gimp, I can be an hour into something, and I honestly think it's only been about 10 or 15 minutes. 

Eventually as you gain proficiency, it will no longer require hours to complete routine tasks.   

Just kidding!  That's the way I often feel about my work, I'll finish something I started in the middle of the day, only to notice the sun has long since set, leaving me wonder where the hours went.  Sometimes I find I have a pixel by pixel obsession with a particular graphic, and an entire evening escapes me.

My downfall is that I often draw 2-3 different versions of the same thing, realizing that one is likely to turn out better than the others (different methods)...and then when complete, I like them all. (nope, not vain at all...LOL)

[CtrlAltDel]

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(04-19-2021, 03:41 PM)rickk Wrote: Eventually as you gain proficiency, it will no longer require hours to complete routine tasks.   

Just kidding!  That's the way I often feel about my work, I'll finish something I started in the middle of the day, only to notice the sun has long since set, leaving me wonder where the hours went.  Sometimes I find I have a pixel by pixel obsession with a particular graphic, and an entire evening escapes me.

My downfall is that I often draw 2-3 different versions of the same thing, realizing that one is likely to turn out better than the others (different methods)...and then when complete, I like them all. (nope, not vain at all...LOL)

You sound a lot like me, Rickk.  Doing something over and over again to "get it right" and then realizing after a long time lapse that the first time you did it was probably just fine to start with.  Gimp seems to have that power over people. 

BTW, I'm still waiting on the day when I can use Gimp for 5 or 10 minutes, get something done, and then just quit. I don't think it'll ever arrive. 

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(04-19-2021, 12:02 PM)Ofnuts Wrote: When I use Gimp, I code...

Strange experience some years ago. I worked in a project 10km from home and I could get there on a bicycle, about half the distance being on bike lanes in the "Bois de Boulogne", a big park west of Paris. Out of curiosity I got a wearable heartbeat monitor, and the Andoid apps that records the heartbeat and the GPS position. One could clearly see where the steep slopes were.

Usually I would remove the thing during the day, but one day I forgot it and wore it all day. Once back home I downloaded the data. To my surprise there was a 3 hours span in the afternoon where my heartbeat was very slow (somewhat below 50). The next day at work, looking at hard evidence (time stamp on mails, source code and server log files), this was when I was writing code (as an "architect" on that project, I usually didn't write much code, but that part was critical and somewhat easier to code than to explain). So, writing code puts me in some kind of trance (or helps me reach nirvana) . Why should I stop?

You shouldn't stop.  In fact, you should code more.  Big Grin  I can envision a website being created, centered around a business, named something appropriate like Ofnuts Gimping For The Heart!

EDIT:  I've been trying for the last 30 minutes to separate my reply to Rickk and my reply to you and make them into two separate replies and have absolutely no idea how to do that. It seems like they are different replies, but they are automatically combined when posted to the board.

[rickk]

(04-20-2021, 01:11 AM)CtrlAltDel Wrote: EDIT:  I've been trying for the last 30 minutes to separate my reply to Rickk and my reply to you and make them into two separate replies and have absolutely no idea how to do that. It seems like they are different replies, but they are automatically combined when posted to the board.

Always been that way here, far as I can recall.  I believe they consider that to be more of a "feature" than a "bug".  To force afterthoughts to be appended to their host ideas, and in the process thwart users who otherwise might try to inflate their post count.  

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(04-20-2021, 01:11 AM)CtrlAltDel Wrote:

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You sound a lot like me, Rickk.  Doing something over and over again to "get it right" and then realizing after a long time lapse that the first time you did it was probably just fine to start with.  Gimp seems to have that power over people. 

BTW, I'm still waiting on the day when I can use Gimp for 5 or 10 minutes, get something done, and then just quit. I don't think it'll ever arrive. 

For me the biggest "time suck" by far is trying to fix anti-alias "tweener" pixels in a preexisting drawing that I am making modifications to.

[rich2005]

You do not always have to quote everything. Toggle the display to show the 'markup'. It is possible to separate quotes but depending or the level of quotes inside quotes it can be annoying.

   

Another way is to compose your reply offline. Windows is not blessed with the best of tools, look for a decent text editor and a multi-clipboard. I might do something like this.

   

Which gives a reply such....

Quote:EDIT:  I've been trying for the last 30 minutes to separate my reply to Rickk and my reply to you and make them into two separate replies...

My reply to that section. With un-edited multiple nested quotes it can be difficult to match the mark-up start and finish...so

Quote:..Always been that way here, far as I can recall.  I believe they consider that to be more of a "feature" than a "bug".  To force afterthoughts to be appended to their host ideas, and in the process thwart users who otherwise might try to inflate their post count.

That, I suppose is progress. In days gone-by, with expensive dial-up internet, when there was only email, mailing lists and usegroups it was common to do all editing off line and reply 'in-bulk'. 

So a bit of copy and paste between the quote markers can work.

[rickk]

Followed closely by hand-tuning "seamless" patterns to avoid inadvertent secondary patterns from appearing out of no-where.

[CtrlAltDel]

(04-20-2021, 04:28 PM)rich2005 Wrote: You do not always have to quote everything.

Rich, I've always like to "trim" the responses of whomever I am replying to and just include, in quotes, what I was specifically replying to in order to cut down on confusion.  I've been around a while also and am aware of the quote function but this was a little different compared to any board I've used. In this particular instance, what you see posted on the board is just what I finally got out after I tired of trying to respond in the way that I wished.

I was specifically attempting to reply to two different posters with separate and unrelated remarks and was prevented from being able to do so.  It took me by surprise because I've never encountered a setup like this and it was confusing. At first, I thought there may have been a time computation placed on the posts and you weren't allowed to make two individual posts within a certain time period.  I waited about 10 minutes after the first reply and tried to individually respond to another poster in a second post.  Again, no luck, they were combined.

What if I use no quotes at all and attempt to reply to two different posters, in the same thread,  will the posts still be combined into one message? I'm honestly kind of apprehensive that this reply, the one I'm now typing, will be appended to the same one I posted yesterday in a mishmash of incomprehensible garble.

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(04-20-2021, 03:32 PM)rickk Wrote: Always been that way here, far as I can recall.  I believe they consider that to be more of a "feature" than a "bug".  To force afterthoughts to be appended to their host ideas, and in the process thwart users who otherwise might try to inflate their post count.  

It's very different, no doubt.  There is no way to stop it, is there?  I'm so confused I think I'll stop posting for a while, not that I ever posted that much to begin with so I hardly think I'll be missed.   This is different than everything I know about message boards and it's not intuitive.

[rich2005]

@CtrlAltDel

Quote:Rich, I've always like to "trim" the responses of whomever I am replying to and just include, in quotes,
...snip...
I'm honestly kind of apprehensive that this reply, the one I'm now typing, will be appended to the same one I posted yesterday in a mishmash of incomprehensible garble.

I would not worry about it, you seem to be managing ok.

If you want to see an example of nested incomprehensibility then the Gimp developers mailing list has some great examples: https://www.gimpusers.com/mailmsg.php?CA....gmail.com

What I hate to see is a long scroll of repeated quotes followed by a 'Thats nice' or 'Thanks'

[rickk]

(04-21-2021, 09:05 AM)CtrlAltDel Wrote: It's very different, no doubt.  There is no way to stop it, is there?  I'm so confused I think I'll stop posting for a while, not that I ever posted that much to begin with so I hardly think I'll be missed.   This is different than everything I know about message boards and it's not intuitive.

 It's one of those things that seem very alien the first time you encounter it....you suspect something is "broken".

But, once you've gotten used to it, and you realize that everyone else is in the same boat, it's far less mysterious. I just figure that it's this way because the people who own the forum prefer it this way, for reasons that are their own. And appreciate the effort Rich and Ofnuts put towards demystifying the GIMP.

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Once you get used to it, you learn to use the horizontal divider to parse your thoughts, like I just did.  

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I'm just thankful that this place isn't like a lot of the Linux "help" forums, where the answer to every question you ask starts with "I'd sincerely like to help you, but since you are obviously too ignorant to even ask the right question, I'm sure I'm just wasting my time"