Gimp and RAW

[flashback]

I'm looking for some help working on RAW files in Gimp. It seems that Gimp doesn't work natively in RAW so I did a google search and found UFRaw. I've downloaded it and can work on my RAW files in it but when I try to export it to Gimp (the Gimp icon bottom right) I get the following message:

Error activating Gimp
Failed to execute helper program (Invalid argument)

Have I done something wrong? I have the most recent version of Gimp and UFRaw and both seem to work fine, independently, but I can't seem to get them to play together.

Thanks,
Jack

[Shadowman]

Does UFRaw convert the files to TIFF? If it does then you should be able to work on the file in Gimp, but if UFRaw gives you adequate processing capabilities why bother with Gimp?

[Donald]

Does UFRaw convert the files to TIFF?

It does and that's how I used it when I did use UFRaw. But, as Jack is striving to do, it should join up with the GIMP and I don't know what that problem is that he's experiencing. It shouldn't be like that. I'm wondering if some installation 'glitch'.

[inkista]

Jack--are you on Windows or Linux? And where did you install UFRaw? I don't use either, but googling seems to have turned up a path mismatch that needs to get fixed to get the two to work together (i.e., UFRaw should go into the same folder as the Gimp, not a UFRaw subfolder). Take a look here:

http://gimpedtutorials.com/index.php...p-2-8-windows/

You could also try RAWTherapee instead as a RAW conversion tool. Both RAWTherapee and UFRaw are based on the dcraw engine. Dark Table uses libraw instead, but at this time has no Windows port, only OSX and various Linux flavors.

John--think of it this way: UFRaw is similar to ACR--while it's a standalone app, it is usually used more like a plugin in the Gimp workflow.

[Shadowman]

Jack--are you on Windows or Linux? And where did you install UFRaw? I don't use either, but googling seems to have turned up a path mismatch that needs to get fixed to get the two to work together (i.e., UFRaw should go into the same folder as the Gimp, not a UFRaw

John--think of it this way: UFRaw is similar to ACR--while it's a standalone app, it is usually used more like a plugin in the Gimp workflow.

Kathy,

I use the ViewNX series for Nikon and experienced similar incompatibiities with different camera models. My D60 works fine with ViewNX and I can send the NEF files directly to Photoshop Elements. However when I upload photos from the D3200 I have to use ViewNX2, the previous version doesn't recognize the NEF files created by that camera and they NEF files created cannot be directly utilized by Photoshop Elements unless converted to TIFF or jpeg first. I did some searching myself and I believe one of the remedies was to use Adobe DNG conversion but I haven't bothered installing.

[Shadowman]

It does and that's how I used it when I did use UFRaw. But, as Jack is striving to do, it should join up with the GIMP and I don't know what that problem is that he's experiencing. It shouldn't be like that. I'm wondering if some installation 'glitch'.

Donald,

See response to Kathy, I've never been able to access a RAW file through GIMP, unless I need to purchase the full fledge version I think files have to be converted prior to use by the image editor.

[Donald]

Donald,

See response to Kathy, I've never been able to access a RAW file through GIMP, unless I need to purchase the full fledge version I think files have to be converted prior to use by the image editor.

Apologies if my post caused confusion. I realise that the GIMP cannot open a RAW file, but UFRaw does. My understanding is that if you have UFRaw and the GIMP seamlessly joined up then the Raw processing is done in UFRaw and the output is then a .xcf file, which the GIMP's native format. This negates the need to make a TIFF which you then open up in the GIMP and then save to a .xcf.

[flashback]

John, Donald and Kathy,
Thanks for responding.
I've been using Gimp and it works for me (and free is better than $600 or PS).
The UFRaw is *supposed* to integrate with Gimp, for some reason it isn't, to that end, Kathy you may have pointed me in the right direction with that link. I'm going to give it a shot and see if that works (first I'm going to uninstall and start over)
Thanks again for all your help, I'll let you know if I resolve the issue.

[flashback]

An update (and thank you, Kathy), the link Kathy included actually worked!
Removing the additional /URaw file in Gimp after it was installed and, opening from Gimp works.