Seashore for Mac OS X
Earlier today wootest turned me onto an image editing app for Mac OS X I'd never seen before: Seashore.
The idea seems to be to wrap the open source GIMP image editor within a Cocoa front end, and I have to say it's pretty damn cool. I love the GIMP, but there's no denying it has some issues when it comes to user interface in general, and that using it on the Mac is a rougher experience than on other platforms.I use it all the time on Linux and tolerate it on Windows, but rarely launch it on the Mac, even the version where the guy moved a bunch of menus around to make it more like Photoshop.
Still, the tech is all there, and it's very good tech, so the idea of wrapping it up in a Cocoa interface is fantastic. It's been talked about since the beginning of Mac OS X, but I didn't think anyone would take it on in my lifetime because of how large the project would be. Mark Pazolli apparently decided to take it on, and hence we have Seashore...
Now, you're going to go check it out, but it's good to be realistic about what you're going to see. There's few filters whatsoever, not even an unsharp mask, and even figuring out how to crop the image will trip you up. Performance is pretty weak on slower Macs, and having to drill down umpteen times after clicking download doesn't help, either. Very few people are going to be able to use this to get anything complex done right now, and no one will be throwing away Photoshop.
That's alright, as my excitement about Mark Parzolli's work only partially comes from what's there right now.
It's at version 0.1.6, and you have to make allowances for the state of the project. I'm not kidding -- I don't even want to think about the amount of work it took to get the project to this level. The key here is promise, as after you spend enough time around software you start to get a feel for how the house is built by walking around and knocking on the walls, and I have really high hopes for this app.
Do go rub it shiny, as this could well end up being a gem of the platform. Since it's open source, you might be able to help it get there.
Posted by drunkenbatmanAugust 15, 2005, at 03:12 PM
Comments (18)
Posted by: at August 15, 2005 03:58 PM
The elvis image overshadows how cool seashore is :) That thing rocks!
Posted by: MooseBearBird at August 15, 2005 04:03 PM
Earlier today wootest turned me into an image editing app
Human to software. That's quite a transformation.
Posted by: Ankalon at August 15, 2005 04:23 PM
I agree, this program has some potential. 'Specially with Cocoa. I can't wait for font management with the text placement tool. (I doubt there will be any major early adopters besides those with a dual G5. I'm experiencing slow response on a current PB. Lucky Koen.) Maybe in about three releases it'll be ready for general use, but it is rough, though not so much for a .1 release.
Posted by: Skatch at August 15, 2005 06:29 PM
Wow, has anyone else noticed the extensive documentation included with the app? Unusual for products these days. Rare for open source. Unheard of for an early development build.
I'm impressed.
Posted by: Drunk New Orleans Guy at August 15, 2005 06:45 PM
MooseBearBird said:
Human to software. That's quite a transformation.
Spoken like someone who has never seen the movie TRON. That's 1980's technology!
Posted by: Jesper at August 15, 2005 07:02 PM
MooseBearBird: You just wait until you see what I can do with balloon animals!
Posted by: FZ at August 15, 2005 07:32 PM
Yay for Core Image filters support. That would rock.
Posted by: Ed Finkler at August 15, 2005 10:41 PM
The GIMP with an interface that's not a turd? Amazing!
Posted by: aether at August 15, 2005 11:31 PM
Perhaps you should look at the ChangeLog. I haven't, but I kept checking on this project for the past year and a half, and there seems to be no significant progress made.
Posted by: ex-Agram at August 16, 2005 04:47 AM
Perhaps you should look at the ChangeLog. I haven't, but I kept checking on this project for the past year and a half, and there seems to be no significant progress made.
I think what DB is saying is that it has potential and because it's open source it doesn't have to die. I'm playing with it and considering the last release that it runs on Tiger this good it must be "solid".
Posted by: Dan at August 16, 2005 09:46 AM
As always, DB, I'm amazed by the number of links you keep in your Dock. Have you considered URLWell? I've been using it for a little while on my desktop, and find it handy when I open, say, one of your War & Peace length articles right before I need to go somewhere, and want to mark it for later contemplative reading.
Posted by: TJ Royall at August 16, 2005 12:23 PM
Nice. I'm curious as to how difficult it would be to wrap in the CoreImage (Tiger) filters. With those in place, this could well replace Photoshop as my primary image editor.
Posted by: something at August 16, 2005 03:15 PM
Have you looked at GimpShop? It still uses X11, but it's a significant improvement over Gimp for Mac/Photoshop users.
Posted by: Cherdevall at August 16, 2005 07:57 PM
Wow this is so freakin cool!
Finaly gimp can be run on the mac, I don't call the x11 version "running" it's more of a nightmare.
But this is fantastic 100% native
I love it. And i can't belive I did't find this earlier.
Thank you wery much DB
Posted by: Ivan at August 17, 2005 01:30 AM
It appears that Mark Parzolli did not use much of the codes from GIMP. Instead he wants a GIMP-compatible app based on his own design.
Before I started working on Seashore I thought long and hard about porting the GIMP to Aqua but decided against it for a number of reasons. I still do not regret that decision, I expect the port would have been an extremely difficult one and the final product probably still wouldn't have felt like a Mac application.
Read the rest.
Posted by: 2.STL-DX.B11 at August 17, 2005 03:14 AM
Wow. The King was significantly more portly the last time I saw pix of him. Still, age takes it's toll on us all.
Posted by: Jens at November 18, 2005 06:57 AM
Cool application, works fine for me, but why is there no support for the .gif format (import), so that you can edit also some files in webformat? But otherwise: pretty good.
Wow awesome! I have to say it feels pretty fast on my PB1.67. Now if they could only include CoreImage filters...