GIMP Bible

Jason van Gumster is a production artist at Hand Turkey Studios, where he specializes in using open-source tools to produce animations and visual effects for television, film, and video games. In addition to GIMP, he is well-versed in a broad spectrum of open-source tools including Blender, Inkscape, Cinelerra, and Scribus. Robert Shimonski is a senior-level systems and network engineer with over 15 years of production experience working with enterprise applications, systems, and solutions. He is an expert in Web and digital media.

Introduction xxxi

Part I: Meet GIMP 1

Chapter 1: What is GIMP? 3

Knowing What GIMP Can and Cannot Do 6

Working with GIMP’s Interface 7

Windows and Menus 7

Docks and Dialogs 9

Images and Canvases 16

Setting Preferences 21

Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts 37

Summary 39

Chapter 2: Thinking Digitally 41

Digital Images vs. Traditional Photographs 41

Raster Graphics vs. Vector Graphics 44

Raster Images 44

Vector Images 44

Resolution and Image Size 46

Changing Image Size and Resolution 47

Confusing Terminology 49

Color Depth 50

Color Spaces and Color Modes 51

Color Spaces 51

Color Modes 52

Compression 55

Lossless Compression 55

Lossy Compression 57

Summary 58

Part II: Getting Started 59

Chapter 3: Working with Files 61

Opening Files 61

Opening Images 62

Creating a Blank New Image 68

Generating an Image from Plug-in or Hardware 69

Managing Open Images 75

Working in the Image Window 77

Copying and Pasting 79

Fun Things You Can Do with Paste (Besides Eat It) 79

Advanced Copy and Paste with Buffers 81

Taking Advantage of Undo 82

Saving Files 84

GIMP’s Native Format: XCF 85

Other Formats 86

Summary 90

Chapter 4: A Brief Overview of GIMP’s Tools 93

The View Menu 93

Modifying Your View in the Image Window 93

Using Display Filters to Color Correct GIMP to Your Monitor 96

Showing and Hiding Information 97

Snapping Controls 98

Padding Color 98

Showing and Hiding Parts of the Image Window 99

Selection Tools 99

Rectangle Select 100

Ellipse Select 101

Free (Lasso) Select 102

Fuzzy Select 102

Select by Color 103

Intelligent Scissors Select 103

Foreground Select 103

Image Tools 104

Informational Tools 104

Transform Tools 106

Paint Tools 106

Color Tools 106

Summary 107

Chapter 5: Taking Advantage of Paths 109

The Advantages of Paths: Get Some Vector in Your Raster 109

Creating Paths 110

Drawing with the Paths tool 111

Creating a Path from a Selection 114

Managing Paths 118

The Paths Dialog 119

Importing and Exporting Paths 121

Using Paths 123

Painting along a Path 124

Selecting with a Path 132

Summary 133

Chapter 6: Working with Layers and Masks 135

Managing Layers 136

A Quick Overview of the Layers Dialog 136

Adding, Duplicating, and Removing Layers 139

Arranging Layers in the Stack 142

Grouping and Merging Layers 143

Manipulating Layers 146

Resizing Layers 146

Aligning Layers 149

Working with Layer Transparency 152

Blending Modes 156

Using Layer Masks 162

Defining Layer Masks 162

Modifying Layer Masks 163

Effectively Using Features in the Select Menu 165

Summary 169

Chapter 7: Using Channels 171

Understanding Channels 171

Red, Green, and Blue: The Default Color Channels 172

A Fistful of Awesome: The Alpha Channel 173

Using Channels 175

Creating Channels 176

Taking Advantage of Channels Once They’re Created 177

Practical Application: Changing the Background 179

Summary 183

Part III: Manipulating Images 185

Chapter 8: Transforming Images 187

Adjustments Available in the Image and Layer Menus 187

Sizing 188

Cropping and Guillotine 190

Flipping and Rotating 195

Liquid Rescale: Quite Possibly the Coolest Thing Ever 198

Using the Image Tools 209

Transformation Tool 215

Flip Tool 219

Summary 220

Chapter 9: Adjusting Colors 221

Using the Color Menu 223

Working with the Color Tools 223

Inverting Values 243

Using Automated Adjustments 243

Working with Separated Color Components 249

Remapping Colors 255

Analyzing Your Colors with Info Tools 266

Color Filter Plug-ins 269

Exporting Color Separations with the Separate+ Plug-in 275

Summary 279

Chapter 10: Working with Text 281

Uses for Text in Images 281

Adding and Editing Text 282

Customizing Text from the Text Panel 286

Making Text Go Along a Path 290

Using Text to Create a Path 292

Working with Text Layers 294

Summary 296

Chapter 11: Painting in GIMP 297

Working with Brushes 298

Adjusting Brushes 299

Creating New Brushes 303

Paint Dynamics and Using Brushes with a Drawing Tablet 313

GIMP Paint Studio — A Painter-Friendly Batch of Presets 314

Drawing Calligraphic Lines with the Ink Tool 315

Working with Gradients 317

Creating Pattern Fills 320

Summary 321

Chapter 12: Enhancing Photos 323

Traditional Photographer Tools 323

Blur/Sharpen 324

Smudge 326

Dodge/Burn 329

Using Cloning and Healing to Fix Problem Areas 331

Clone Tool 331

Perspective Clone Tool 335

Healing Tool 338

Using the Exposure Blend Plug-in 341

Summary 345

Part IV: Exploring Filters and Effects 347

Chapter 13: Implementing Blur, Enhancement, and Distortion Filters 349

Common Features among Filters 350

Using the Blur Filters 353

Blur 353

Gaussian Blur 353

Motion Blur 354

Pixelize 357

Selective Gaussian Blur 359

Tileable Blur 359

Enhance Filters 360

Antialias 361

Deinterlace 361

Despeckle 362

Destripe 363

NL Filter 364

Red Eye Removal 365

Sharpen 365

Unsharp Mask 367

Distortion Filters 368

Blinds 368

Curve Bend 369

Emboss 371

Engrave 372

Erase Every Other Row 374

IWarp 374

Lens Distortion 377

Mosaic 378

Newsprint 380

Pagecurl 381

Polar Coordinates 382

Ripple 383

Shift 384

Value Propagate 384

Video 386

Waves 386

Whirl and Pinch 388

Wind 389

Summary 390

Chapter 14: Using Image Creation Filters 391

Light and Shadow Filters 391

Gradient Flare 392

Lens Flare 395

Lighting Effects 397

Sparkle 400

Supernova 402

Drop Shadow 402

Perspective 404

Xach-Effect 404

Lens Effect 405

Glass Tile 405

Noise Filters 406

Scatter HSV 406

Hurl 407

Random Pick 407

RGB Noise 408

Slur 409

Spread 409

Render Filters 411

Clouds 411

Nature 413

Pattern 414

Circuit 420

Fractal Explorer 421

Gfig 421

Lava 422

Line Nova 422

Sphere Designer 423

Spyrogimp 424

Summary 425

Chapter 15: Using Compositing Filters 427

Working with Edge-Detect Filters 427

The Difference of Gaussians Option 430

Edge 431

Laplace 434

Neon 435

Sobel 436

Using the Filters in the Generic Menu 438

Convolution Matrix 438

Dilate and Erode 442

Using the Combine Filters 443

Depth Merge 443

Filmstrip 446

Taking Advantage of Mapping Filters 450

Bump Map 450

Displace 453

Fractal Trace 456

Illusion 457

Make Seamless 459

The Map Object Filter 459

Paper Tile 464

Small Tiles 466

Tile 467

Warp 468

Summary 473

Chapter 16: Enhancing Images with Artistic Filters 475

Artistic Filters 475

Apply Canvas 475

Cartoon 476

Cubism 477

GIMPressionist 479

Oilify 480

Photocopy 480

Predator 482

Softglow 484

Van Gogh (LIC) 486

Decor Filters 487

Add Bevel 487

Add Border 488

Coffee Stain 489

Fuzzy Border 491

Old Photo 492

Round Corners 493

Slide 494

Stencil Carve 495

Stencil Chrome 496

Summary 498

Chapter 17: Working with Specialized Filters 499

Web Filters 499

Image Map 499

Semi-Flatten 501

Image Slice 501

Animation Filters 504

Blend 504

Rippling 505

Spinning Globe 506

Waves 507

Optimizing Filters 508

Alpha to Logo 508

3D Outline 508

Summary 511

Chapter 18: Batch Processing with Automating Filters 513

Batch Processing Multiple Files 513

Using the Batch Process Plug-in 514

Using the Contact Sheet Plug-in 524

Automating Tasks with GAP’s Filtermacro 527

The Filtermacro Window 527

Adding Operations 528

Filter All Layers 530

Using Filter All Layers 531

A Quick Shortcut: Selection to AnimImage 535

Summary 536

Chapter 19: Using GIMP Animation Package 537

Using Still Image Sequences and Layers for Animation 538

Creating a Simple GIF Animation with Layers 538

Images to Layers and Layers to Images 542

Managing the Frames of Your Image Sequence with GAP 546

Convenience Features to Improve Workflow 553

Working with the Move Path Feature 553

Morphing 556

Onionskinning 559

Creating a Storyboard 562

Summary 566

Chapter 20: Working with Video-Specific Functions in GIMP 567

Playing Back Video 568

Video Options 568

Audio Options 572

Preferences 574

Encoding Video 575

Setting Video Options 576

Setting Audio Options 586

Configuring the Audio Tool 588

Using the Extras Tab 590

The Encoding Tab 592

Extracting Frames from a Video File 592

Using Extract Videorange 593

Using MPlayer-Based Extraction 596

Summary 598

Part V: Advanced Topics 599

Chapter 21: Finding and Installing Plug-ins 601

The GIMP Plugin Registry 602

Installing Plug-ins 604

Installing Scripts 605

Installing Compiled Plug-Ins 606

A Few Plug-ins Worth Mentioning 608

Exposure Blend 608

GIMP-GAP 609

Installing GAP on Linux 610

Installing GAP on Mac OS X 612

Installing GAP on Windows 612

GIMPshop and GimPhoto/GimPad 613

GIMPshop 613

GimPhoto/GimPad 614

GREYCstoration and G’MIC 615

Layer Effects 617

Liquid Rescale 621

Installing Liquid Rescale on Linux 621

Installing Liquid Rescale on Mac OS X 623

Installing Liquid Rescale on Windows 623

Separate+ 623

Installing Separate+ on Linux 624

Installing Separate+ on Mac OS X 626

Installing Separate+ on Windows 626

Summary 628

Chapter 22: Creating Custom Effects with Scripting 629

Multi-Lingual GIMP: Scripting Languages GIMP Understands 630

Scheme and Python — GIMP’s Primary Scripting Languages 631

Other Scripting Languages Supported by GIMP 633

Taking Advantage of the Procedure Browser 634

Using the Scripting Console 634

Writing a Custom Script for GIMP 635

Building a Structure for Your Script 636

Writing the Meat of Your Script 639

Summary 645

Part VI: Appendices 647

Appendix A: Downloading and Installing GIMP 649

Installing GIMP on Linux 649

Debian/Ubuntu 650

Fedora 652

OpenSUSE 653

Gentoo 655

Mandriva 655

Installing GIMP on Windows 656

Regular Installation on Windows 657

Installing GIMP Portable 658

Installing GIMP on Apple Macintosh 660

Installing GIMP on OS X 661

Installing GIMP from MacPorts 662

Appendix B: Setting Up External Input Devices 663

Acquiring Images with a Scanner 663

Linux 664

Mac OS X and Windows 666

Printing Images 668

Using the Bundled GTKPrint Module 668

Printing with Gutenprint 671

Configuring a Drawing Tablet 676

Appendix C: Customizing GIMP 679

Changing the Splash Image 679

Using a Different Theme 681

Linux 682

Windows 684

Mac OS X 687

Appendix D: Additional Resources 691

On the Web 691

Internet Relay Chat 694

Appendix E: What’s on the Web Site 695

How the Site is Organized 695

Getting the Most out of the Site 696

Index 697