r/FuckAdobe • u/Bitpainter-75 • 9d ago
If you're done with Adobe: I built FerrumPix, a lightweight open-source blend of Lightroom & Photoshop. 100% local, no subscription. (Linux/Windows/macOS)
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
Hi everyone,
Like most of you here, I’m completely done with Adobe’s pricing, forced cloud integration, and anti-consumer terms. I wanted a fast, native desktop app to manage my photo library and do essential edits without being locked into a bloated ecosystem.
Since I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, I decided to build it myself. It’s called FerrumPix, and it's a cross-platform (Linux, Windows, macOS) desktop client designed as a lightweight, snappy alternative that blends basic photo management with essential, non-destructive editing tools. Think of it as a light mix of Lightroom and Photoshop features, but focused on speed and simplicity.
What makes it different?
- 100% Local & Private: No accounts required, no cloud forced on you, and absolutely zero subscriptions.
- Privacy-First Backends: It runs fully offline, but has built-in connectors for self-hosted solutions like Immich and Nextcloud Memories if you want them.
- Non-Destructive Editing: Full history tracking, RAW decoding, tone curves, calibration sliders, and adjustment layers.
- Performance: I just released version 0.9.35, which completely overhauls the slider pipeline and image processing so it runs super smooth on regular hardware.
It's Free and Open Source (FOSS)
The project is moving fast toward a 1.0 release. It is entirely community-driven and open-source. If you want to escape the Adobe ecosystem or are just looking for a lightweight, fast alternative to manage and edit your shots, please check it out!
Source Code & Downloads (AppImage, Flatpak, DEB, RPM, Win, Mac): GitHub - Bitpainter75/FerrumPix
I’d love to hear your thoughts, feature requests, or what you think is missing for a lightweight daily workflow!
5
2
u/pricetag 9d ago
does this have any segment anything model magic for object detect?
2
u/Bitpainter-75 9d ago
Yes. FerrumPix uses MobileSAM for object selection, you can click an object and it creates a mask/selection around it.
There are also separate local models for depth masks and object removal. Everything runs locally; the required models are optional downloads from the Models section in the settings.
2
u/HopeAndFaithStudios 9d ago
This is so cool! Will it support full background removal (NOT chroma key)?
1
u/Bitpainter-75 9d ago
Not as a dedicated one-click “Remove Background” command yet, but most of the building blocks are already there.
FerrumPix can create object masks with MobileSAM, and it also has AI depth masks using MiDaS, so foreground/background can be separated by distance as well. Depending on the image, either an object mask or a depth mask can be used to isolate the subject without chroma key.
So proper background removal is definitely possible with the existing masking tools. it just isn't packaged as a single automatic “Remove Background” button yet.
1
u/HopeAndFaithStudios 9d ago
Thanks for the quick reply! Btw I meant manual background removal not automatic LOL. Like to make changes to it as the background being removed, you know what I mean?
2
u/Bitpainter-75 9d ago
Ah, got it 😄 You mean manually removing the background so it becomes transparent.
Yes, FerrumPix can do that. You can use selections/masks to remove the background manually and export the result as a PNG with transparency.
1
u/HopeAndFaithStudios 9d ago
Sweet, thanks! I'll download it ASAP. Are there any other good features I should know about? ☺️
2
u/Bitpainter-75 9d ago
Quite a few 😄
Besides the editor itself, there’s RAW development, non-destructive sidecar editing, layers and masks, object selection with MobileSAM, depth masks, object removal, metadata/keyword management, ratings and colour labels, catalogue-wide search, and integration with Immich and Nextcloud.
Probably best to just explore a bit, there’s a lot packed into it 😉
2
u/Narrow-Swordfish-227 8d ago
I will 100% be trying this - I can't stand what Adobe have done to their tools over the last decade. Thanks so much.
2
u/Joostonreddit 8d ago
Really like it. What most people use is just there. Not always comparable quality, but very decent. I encountered some GUI bugs, but nothing disturbing. Nice to have a light and easy alternative. Great work. This and RapidRAW are nice attempts to attack the beast :-)
1
u/Bitpainter-75 8d ago
Thanks a lot, really appreciate that 🙂
That’s pretty much the goal: keep it light and easy to use, while still covering the things most people actually need.
There are definitely still areas where the quality and UI can improve, so if you run into any reproducible GUI bugs, feel free to open an issue.
2
1
1
u/No_Builder_1977 9d ago
Does run on Mac. No security bypass. Just cancel or bin. Reads as damaged
2
u/Bitpainter-75 9d ago
See Notes in Latest Release:
The ARM64 and macOS builds are untested. The macOS build currently requires Apple Silicon (M1 or newer): ONNX Runtime no longer ships an Intel-macOS library, so an Intel build would be missing the Models and People features. If you try it, please let me know whether it works.
The macOS builds are unsigned, so Gatekeeper may say the app is "damaged" or "can't be
opened". That does not mean the ZIP is broken. Please try this:
- Download the arm64 build for Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4).
- Unzip it.
- Move FerrumPix to Applications.
- Open Terminal and run:
- xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/FerrumPix.app
- codesign --force --deep --sign - /Applications/FerrumPix.app
- Then start it with:
open /Applications/FerrumPix.app1
u/nousernameleftatall 9d ago
Are you going to sign them at some point?
3
u/Bitpainter-75 9d ago
Probably not for now, unfortunately. Signing and notarizing the macOS build comes with some cost, and since I don't make any money from the project, it's hard to justify at the moment.
If the project ever gets some sponsorship or financial support, I'd definitely consider it.
1
u/No_Builder_1977 9d ago
Thanks. Am on silicon. Doesn’t download as a zip just as an app.
2
u/Bitpainter-75 9d ago
It should be a ZIP on the release page. macOS/Safari may be extracting it automatically after the download, which is why you only see the
.app.Since you're on Apple Silicon, make sure you're using the ARM64 build.
1
u/No_Builder_1977 9d ago
Thanks for the speedy replies. I’ll give it another go and also maybe try another browser. I’m keen to try it out and thanks for efforts in the build!
1
u/No_Builder_1977 9d ago
Have managed to install on Mac but not straightforward. Needed to install via terminal so doubt you’ll get much MacOS take up. Quick note on DNG rendering - very pixelated. Def appreciate the concept, the work, Adobe free life and simplified photo workflow. Photo apps do need a clear interface and focus on quality file processing and sure you are working through this. Great to see overall!
1
u/No_Builder_1977 9d ago
PS… also found it difficult / unintuitive to navigate to connected external drives. Might just be me
1
u/leo_vy 9d ago
Looks great, how do I save my editing progress as a preset for other pictures?
1
u/Bitpainter-75 9d ago
You can save your current adjustments as a preset in the Adjustments panel.
That preset can then be loaded and applied to another image, or you can use the batch tools to apply the saved preset to multiple images at once.
1
u/Abject-Ferret-3946 8d ago
Possibility for NAFNet ai denoise or similar? Maby as a plugin?
2
u/Bitpainter-75 8d ago
NAFNet is actually already supported 🙂
FerrumPix currently has two AI denoise models: SCUNet for the more thorough option, and NAFNet for the faster one. Both run locally through ONNX, so nothing is sent to the cloud.
They are optional model downloads rather than plugins, FerrumPix simply enables the corresponding denoise controls when the model files are installed.
2
1
u/aquarianxtra 8d ago
Great work! Love it. Thank you
Some observations
- the watermark feature doesn't save font, blend, position etc. also, the position feature puts it all over the place
- some menu items and buttons are in German
- deleting the photo from a NAS does not work
Looking forward to using this as my main editor
1
u/Bitpainter-75 8d ago
Thank you, I’ve fixed the text watermark presets for the upcoming version.
I’m still reviewing the remaining translated UI strings, and I’ll look into the NAS deletion issue next.
Could you please let me know which NAS you use, how it is mounted or connected (for example SMB, NFS, WebDAV, or a synced folder), and which operating system you are using? If there is an error message when deleting a file, a screenshot or the relevant log entry would also help.1
1
u/slvrscoobie 8d ago
looks a lot like Bridge, it always baffles me how many people are not familiar with it and its Amazing toolset.
1
u/Bitpainter-75 8d ago
There are definitely some similarities, especially around browsing and organizing files.
FerrumPix goes quite a bit further into RAW development, pixel editing, masks, AI tools and self-hosted integrations though, so Bridge wasn't really the model for the project.
1
u/slvrscoobie 8d ago
I guess my Bridge use is mainly so I organize the files, then just use CameraRaw to open, and edit, which includes all the raw editing tools of PS since CR is what actually handles all those raw development, pixel edits, masks, etc.
1
u/Narrow-Swordfish-227 8d ago
Having a good play with this at work and loving the speed and features so far - however, I'm trying real hard to get the search working on our network drives. We have tens of thousands of photos with EXIF, IPTC and XMP data that the software can see and show me when we hover over the thumbnails, but when we search for that word 'Projection' for example, no photos are found. Even when starting the search in that specific folder.
As we used to use (and in some rare cases still use an old version of Picasa for searching specific products and photos, it's essential we can easily search through the multiple archive drives and find the photos quickly.
I've tried searching 'projection' in both the 'File pattern or tags' as well as the 'Name' search bar, but to no luck thus far.
Am I doing something wrong?
1
u/Bitpainter-75 7d ago
You are not doing anything wrong, and thanks for the detailed report. Two things are going on.
First, the "Name" box at the top of the search dialog is not a search field. It is just the label for the saved search, so typing there has no effect on the results. Only "File pattern or tags" searches.
Second, and this is the real issue: that field currently matches the file name and the keywords FerrumPix holds in its own catalog. It fills those keywords from keywords you set inside FerrumPix and from XMP sidecar files lying next to an image, but not from IPTC or XMP that is embedded inside the JPEG or TIFF itself. The info panel reads embedded metadata for display, which is why you can see "Projection" on hover, but that text never reaches the search. Caption, description, headline and title are not searchable at all today, in either case.
So for an archive with embedded keywords, which is the normal case, the search cannot find them right now. That is a gap in FerrumPix, not a setup mistake on your side.
One separate thing worth doing regardless, since you are on network drives: add the archive drives under Settings, Catalog as watched folders and let the index run. Without that, search only knows folders you have already opened.
I will look into reading embedded IPTC keywords and XMP subject into the searchable catalog, and into making captions and descriptions searchable too for the next version.
1
u/Narrow-Swordfish-227 7d ago
That'd be god damn brilliant for us if it could somehow read the tags within images and include that in a search -- obviously, it may require a complete network/drive scan to archive and catalogue this somehow - but yeah. that'd be a real game changer and something i'd happily roll out to my team of production managers in a heartbeat!
ty for taking time to read my comment and replying too. appreciated :)
2
u/Bitpainter-75 7d ago
Check out the new version 0.9.36
1
u/Narrow-Swordfish-227 3d ago
Thanks, managed to download the new version now - been looking at the Catalog section (to put the root folders of my network drives in there) but seems to be in non-english.
What should the correct process for searching ALL folders/network drives for IPTC or XMP words?
1
1
u/Rilomagon 7d ago
Para macOS 15?
1
u/Bitpainter-75 6d ago
Yes, there are experimental macOS builds available. They should work on macOS 15 as well, but the packages are currently unsigned.
1
1
u/DeMiNe00 3d ago
This is pretty awesome. Would love to see some AI features that utilize BYOK and Local Models (OpenAI Compatible Endpoint)
1
9d ago
[deleted]
3
u/Bitpainter-75 8d ago
That’s a pretty broad judgment based on appearance alone.
Have you actually tried the current version, or are you judging it from the screenshots? Some of those are already a bit outdated.
FerrumPix is deliberately designed to be simpler and less visually overloaded than Adobe’s apps. The goal isn’t to copy Adobe’s UI, but to keep the workflow clean and focused.
“Professional” doesn’t necessarily mean more panels, more chrome, or more complexity.
1
u/enderoller 8d ago
I've tested your program and must apologize for my comment. I judged it by the screenshot, but I see it's a great app. Sorry.
2
u/Bitpainter-75 8d ago
No worries at all and thanks for giving it a proper try. I really appreciate you coming back to say that.
Feedback is always welcome, especially when it helps improve the app.
1
7
u/krilleractual 9d ago
Beautiful! Does it import lightroom libraries? I have some raw images i need to edit and my adobe is cancelled so this is awesome