I know that Gimp does not natively offer adjustment layers. I came across some scripts by Alexander Melcher which add this functionality. However, I am unable to use them. Has anyone tried these scripts? Any documentation on how to use them?
Morning, @mmjoshi
It seems as the scripts are very version-dependent (of course):
What operating system do you use?
What Gimp version?
Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden
Oops. My bad. Forgot to mention, I use portable version 2.10.28 of Gimp from PortatableApps.com on a Windows 11 machine. I have downloaded the files from GimpScripts: Search results for adjustment layer but the documentation is sketchy.
I have put the necessary files in the proper locations and also see the adjustment layer menu. I add an alpha channel to my image before adding the adjustment layer. However, I have not been able to figure out how to do the changes selectively. Using the paintbrush tool to selectively apply the changes does not work. Looks like I am missing something.
Idiotic thought: have you tried using both white brushes, and black brushes?
1 Like
I did 
Normally I use the layer mask and the white and black paintbrush to do selective adjustments. That has been working well so far. Somehow got carried away by the non destructive editing feature of Krita and wanted to try that in Gimp. Came across the adjustment layer scripts and wanted to give them a try. As always, the documentation about FOSS is sketchy and the learning curve is steep.
W-e-l-l… I have just installed The Gimp unto a Win 11
partition, followed by the adjustment layer script, and
ran a small test.
Must say that the adjustment layers behaved as I
expected — and I wonder whether your problem
might be that you expected too much of these scripts?
What were your expectations?
What does not behave the way it should, in your opinion?
Have fun,
Claes in Lund, Sweden
This makes me want to give it a try as this is the only thing that would make me like GIMP again. As for behavior of adjustment layer, there isn’t a expected behavior. They can have their own mask akin to Krita or no internal mask akin to PS.
@Claes, @Reptorian this is how my workflow looks like:
- Open a RAW file in RawTherapee.
- Do minor edits.
- Open the edited file as TIFF in Gimp.
- Add alpha channel to the layer.
- Add an adjustment layer say brightness.
- Use the paintbrush tool to do selective editing.
However, I am unable to do the selective editing using the paintbrush tool 
Is there something more that needs to be done?
@Reptorian I saw your post on Adjustment Layers in GIMP in the GIMP forum. I did download Krita, but could not understand how to use the adjustment layer.
On second thought, I need to figure out how much adjustment layers are useful in my editing workflow. On the face of it, they seem to be very powerful and flexible if I can figure out how to use them 
However, the documentation is not clear about how to use them. Are there any videos which show how to use them?
I have never used Photoshop so am unable to draw parallels.
Here are three quick and rather simple Krita examples I just made. All of the examples are non-destructive in nature.
Manipulating the sky:
A selective gradient map:
A way of doing dodge & burn:
There are many Krita videos out there but the fast majority of them are based on illustrations, game art, comics and the like. GDQuest comes to mind as being informative even though it is sprites centred (bit older, version 3 or early 4).
Hope this gets you going! I switched from GIMP to Krita about a year ago. And although I used it regularly I never really liked GIMP and really did not like its destructive nature. Switching from one to the other did take some time though. And Krita =/= GIMP!
EDIT: This was done using Krita 5 (Beta 2) but nothing was used that is not in version 4. The layout is also not the default one.
@mmjoshi Yes, I do agree that brightness acts in a strange way!
But what if you add adjustment layer invert, opacity 100.
Everything gets inverted, right?
Make that layer active, and use a black brush here and there.
The brushed-in parts gets un-inverted, right?
Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden
@Jade_NL , @Claes Thanks for your inputs. Will try them over the next few days and revert.
@Jade_NL do your videos have sound? Will check the other videos that you mentioned too.
One of the reasons I would prefer to stick with GIMP is the use of Nik plugins. I use the last free Google version of Nik software and have become reasonably good at using them. Is it possible to use Nik plugins with Krita?
Nope, I don’t do spoken narratives. I’m assuming that the visuals combined with the screencasted key/mouse actions are enough to show what/how stuff is done. If anything is unclear, just ask.
I’ve never heard of the Nik Collection and had to look it up. Nope, these presets/plug-ins are (as of yet?) not available for Krita.
Nope, I don’t do spoken narratives.
Not a problem. Should be able to follow the videos.
Again, not a showstopper. I can always save the file from Krita as a tiff file and import in Nik and vice versa.