book

Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition

Name: Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition
Author: Akkana Peck
ISBN: 9781430210702

by Akkana Peck

January 2009

Beginner

584 pages

14h 36m

English

Apress

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Copyright
About the Author
About the Technical Reviewer
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Structure of the BookA Note on GIMP VersionsDownloads and Feedback
1. Getting to Know GIMP
1.1. What Is GIMP?1.2. A Tour of the Most Important GIMP Windows1.2.1. The Toolbox1.2.2. Tool Options1.2.3. Image Windows1.2.4. The Layers Dialog and Dialog Docking1.3. Menu Overview1.3.1. Tear-off Menus and Context Menus1.3.2. Image Window Menus1.4. A Few GIMP Settings You Can Customize1.4.1. Tool Settings Changes1.4.2. Window Controls1.4.3. Keyboard Shortcuts1.5. A First GIMP Project1.6. Summary
2. Improving Digital Photos
2.1. Opening Files2.2. Scaling2.2.1. What Size Should You Choose for Your Images?2.2.2. The Scale Tool2.3. Saving Files2.4. Image File Types2.4.1. JPEG2.4.2. GIF2.4.3. PNG2.4.4. XCF2.4.5. TIFF2.4.6. Other Formats2.5. Experimenting with JPEG and GIF Settings2.5.1. JPEG Quality Settings2.5.2. GIF and Indexed PNG Quality Settings2.6. Cropping2.7. Brightening and Darkening2.7.1. Brightness-Contrast2.7.2. Levels2.7.2.1. Color Correction2.7.3. Curves2.7.3.1. Options in the Curves Dialog2.7.4. Other Exposure Adjustments2.8. Rotating2.8.1. Rotating by Multiples of 90 Degrees2.8.2. Free Rotation2.9. Sharpening2.10. Fixing Red-eye2.11. Summary
3. Introduction to Layers
3.1. What Is a Layer?3.2. Using Layers to Add Text3.2.1. The Text Tool3.3. Using the Move Tool3.4. Changing Colors3.4.1. GIMP's Color Chooser3.5. Simple Effects Using Layers3.5.1. Drop Shadows3.6. Linking Layers Together3.7. Performing Operations on Layers3.8. Using Layers for Copy and Paste3.8.1. Select Only the Part You Want to Paste3.8.2. Paste into the Image3.8.3. Scale the Pasted Layer3.9. Aligning Layers3.10. A Tour of the Layers Dialog3.10.1. Title Area3.10.2. Tabs3.10.3. Layer Mode3.10.4. Opacity3.10.5. Keep Transparent3.10.6. Layers List3.10.6.1. The Visibility Eye3.10.6.2. The Chain Link3.10.6.3. The Layer Preview3.10.6.4. Layer Masks3.10.6.5. Layer Name3.10.7. Layer Buttons3.10.7.1. The New Layer Button3.10.7.2. The Raise and Lower Buttons3.10.7.3. The Duplicate Layer Button3.10.7.4. The Anchor Layer Button3.10.7.5. The Delete Layer Button3.10.8. Layer Context Menus3.10.8.1. The (Sometimes) Text Tool Item3.10.8.2. Edit Layer Attributes3.10.8.3. Layer Controls3.10.8.4. Layer Boundary Size3.10.8.5. Layer to Image Size3.10.8.6. Scale Layer3.10.8.7. Mask Options3.10.8.8. Add Alpha Channel3.10.8.9. Alpha to Selection3.10.8.10. Merge or Flatten3.11. Bonus Project: Making Simple GIF Animations3.11.1. Create a Base Image3.11.2. Add the Animation Frames3.11.3. Give Each Frame Its Own Background3.11.4. Test Your Animation3.11.5. Animation for the Web: Save As GIF3.12. Summary
4. Drawing
4.1. A New Image4.2. Using Layers for Drawing4.3. Drawing Lines and Curves4.3.1. Drawing Hard-Edged Lines: The Pencil Tool4.3.2. Brushes4.3.2.1. Parametric Brushes vs. Image Brushes4.3.3. Drawing Tool Options4.3.3.1. Special Drawing Tool Modes4.3.4. Drawing Fuzzy or Smooth Lines: The Paintbrush Tool4.3.5. The Airbrush Tool4.3.6. The Ink Pen Tool4.4. The Eraser Tool4.5. Drawing Rectangles, Circles, and Other Shapes4.5.1. Defining Regions4.5.2. Outlining Selections: Stroking4.5.3. Free Select with the Lasso4.5.4. Filling Regions4.5.5. The Bucket Fill Tool4.5.6. Patterns4.5.7. Gradients: The Blend Tool4.5.7.1. The Gradient Chooser4.5.7.2. Other Gradient Options4.6. A Drawing Project4.6.1. Drawing a Tree4.6.2. Making a Planter Box Using Perspective Transformation4.6.2.1. Using Guides4.6.3. Preparing the Planter Box4.6.4. Increasing Canvas Size4.6.5. Plant the Tree4.6.6. Final Touch-Ups4.7. Summary
5. Selection
5.1. Working with Selections5.1.1. Marching Ants5.1.2. The Select Menu5.1.3. Moving Selections5.2. Select by Color and Fuzzy Select5.2.1. Select Contiguous Regions5.3. Bezier Paths5.3.1. Defining a Path5.3.2. The Paths Dialog5.3.2.1. Creating a Selection from a Path5.3.3. Curved Paths5.3.4. Adding Nodes or Segments and Moving Paths5.3.5. Moving or Modifying an Existing Path5.4. The Intelligent Scissors5.5. Modifying Selections with Selection Modes5.6. The QuickMask5.7. Highlighting Foreground Objects5.8. Using Channels to Save a Selection5.9. Layer Masks5.10. Extracting Foreground Objects with SIOX5.11. Summary

6. Erasing and Touching Up
6.1. Darkroom Work with Dodge and Burn6.1.1. Dodging6.1.2. Burning6.2. Smudging Blemishes Away6.3. The Clone Tool, for More Difficult Jobs6.3.1. Setting the Clone Source6.3.2. Fine-tuning a Clone Job6.3.3. Clone Tool Options6.4. Copying Small Regions6.5. The Heal Tool6.6. Perspective Cloning6.7. Enhancing Specific Regions: The Blur/Sharpen Tool6.7.1. Sharpening with the Convolve Tool6.7.2. Blurring with the Convolve Tool6.8. Blurring Backgrounds with Gaussian Blur6.9. Summary
7. Filters and Effects
7.1. Image Window Filters vs. Toolbox Xtns7.2. Filters for Images7.2.1. Tools vs. Plug-ins7.2.2. The Filters Menu7.2.3. Blur7.2.4. Enhance7.2.5. Distorts7.2.6. Light and Shadow7.2.6.1. Flares and Sparkles7.2.6.2. Shadows7.2.6.3. Lens and Glass Effects7.2.7. Noise Filters7.2.8. Edge-detection Filters7.2.9. "Generic" Filters7.2.10. Combine7.2.11. The Artistic Filters7.2.11.1. GIMPressionist7.2.12. The Map Filters7.2.12.1. Bump Map7.2.12.2. Displace7.2.12.3. Some Mapping Toys7.2.12.4. Tiling7.2.12.5. Warp7.2.13. Adding Patterns to a Layer7.2.13.1. Clouds7.2.13.2. Nature7.2.13.3. Pattern7.2.13.4. Fractal Explorer7.2.13.5. gfig7.2.13.6. Other Patterns7.2.14. Filters to Help Make Web Pages7.2.15. Animation Helpers7.2.16. Alpha to Logo7.2.17. Decor7.3. Scripts to Make New Images: The Xtns Menu7.4. Summary
8. Color
8.1. RGB and CMY Color8.1.1. Additive Colors8.1.2. Subtractive Colors8.1.3. The Relationship Between Additive and Subtractive Systems8.1.4. Color Depth8.1.5. The Indexed Palette8.1.6. Representing RGB Color in Web Pages8.2. Working in HSV8.2.1. Why Use HSV?8.3. Working for Print: CMYK8.3.1. CMYK for Professional Printers8.4. GIMP's Other Color Choosers8.4.1. The Triangle Color Selector8.4.2. The CMYK Tab8.4.3. The Watercolor Selector8.5. Correcting Color Balance8.5.1. Hue-Saturation8.5.2. Color Balance8.5.3. Using Curves or Levels for Balancing Colors8.5.3.1. Levels8.5.3.2. Curves8.6. Working with Grayscale or Black and White8.6.1. Methods of Measuring Brightness8.6.2. Grayscale Mode8.6.3. Desaturate8.6.4. Hue-Saturation8.6.5. Decompose8.6.6. Channel Mixer8.7. Coloring Monochrome Images and Making Sepia Photos8.7.1. Automatic Conversion with the "Old Photo" Filter8.7.2. Manual Conversion for Fine Control8.7.2.1. Colorify8.7.2.2. Colorize8.7.2.3. Sample Colorize8.7.2.4. Layer Modes8.8. Using Threshold to Clean Up Scanned Images8.9. Indexed Color8.9.1. A Typical Indexing Problem: Choosing the Palette8.9.2. Dithering an Indexed Image8.9.2.1. Flatten for Better Dithering8.9.3. Redesigning for Better Indexed Results8.9.3.1. Editing the Palette8.10. Picking Colors from the Image8.11. The Color Channels8.12. Selection Using Color Decomposition8.12.1. Use Threshold and QuickMask to Improve the Selection8.12.2. Decomposing to HSV8.13. Some Color-mapping Toys8.14. Color Profiles8.14.1. Embedded Color Profiles8.15. Summary
9. Advanced Drawing
9.1. Useful Mask Tricks9.1.1. Making Text "Fade Out"9.1.2. Making a Fuzzy Border9.1.3. Even Bigger Fuzzy Borders9.2. Layer Modes9.2.1. A Quick Tour Through All of GIMP's Layer Modes9.2.2. Addition, Subtract, and Difference9.2.3. Multiply and Divide9.2.4. Dodge and Burn, Screen and Overlay9.2.5. Hard and Soft Lights9.2.6. Darken or Lighten Only9.2.7. Grain Extract and Grain Merge9.2.8. Hue, Color, Saturation, and Value9.3. Creating Depth: Drawing with Layer Modes9.3.1. Combining Layer Modes: Making 3-D Letters9.4. Drawing Realistic Shadows9.4.1. Using an Object to Cast Its Own Shadow9.4.2. Transparency: Add the Final Tweak9.5. Realism and Multipoint Perspective9.5.1. Single-Point Perspective9.5.2. Two-Point Perspective9.6. Adding Reflections and Shading9.7. Making Brushes, Patterns, and Gradients9.7.1. Making Brushes9.7.1.1. The Clipboard Brush9.7.1.2. Simple Image Brushes9.7.1.3. Animated Brushes9.7.1.4. Importing Animated Brushes9.7.2. Making Patterns9.7.3. Making Gradients9.8. Summary
10. Advanced Compositing
10.1. Colorizing Images10.2. Combining Patterns with Textures or Grain10.3. Using Layer Modes to Improve Photos10.3.1. Using Screen Mode for Dark Images10.3.2. Using Overlay or Hard Light When Light Is Flat10.3.3. Using Overlay or Burn to Cut Through Haze10.4. Making Photos into Art Using Layer Modes10.4.1. Making "Drawings" and Other Effects Using Layer Offset10.4.1.1. Colored Pencil Drawings: Divide Mode10.4.1.2. Black Velvet Paintings: Difference Mode10.4.1.3. Embossing: Grain Extract10.4.2. Adding Blurs and Other Tricks for Artistic Effects10.5. Compositing Unrelated Images10.5.1. Using Soft Light for Combining Images10.5.2. Using Overlay for Dark Images10.5.3. Using Screen to Get a Lighter Effect10.5.4. Using Addition to Complement Light and Dark10.5.5. Using Subtract to Make a Cutout Mask10.5.6. Making Eerie Colors with Burn10.5.7. Using Grain Merge to Add Texture10.6. Stacking Images10.6.1. Reducing Noise10.6.2. Loading All the Images As Layers10.6.3. Registering the Images Using Difference Mode10.6.4. Increasing Light by Additive Stacking10.6.5. Increasing Contrast by Multiplicative Stacking10.6.6. Increasing Resolution by Averaging10.7. Stitching Panoramas10.7.1. Shooting the Images10.7.1.1. Overlap Photos for Panoramas10.7.1.2. Keep the Horizon Level10.7.1.3. Match Exposure Levels10.7.2. Decide on a Resolution10.7.3. Calculate Your Expected New Image Size10.7.4. Load the First Two Images10.7.5. Make a Gradient Layer Mask10.7.6. Fine-tune the Position of the Second Image10.7.7. Adjust the Layer Mask10.7.8. Adjust with Other Tools If Necessary10.7.9. Add the Rest of the Images10.7.10. Final Adjustments10.8. Summary
11. Plug-ins and Scripting
11.1. Plug-ins11.1.1. The Plug-in Browser11.1.2. Finding External Plug-ins11.1.2.1. The Plug-in Registry11.1.2.2. Finding Plug-ins on the Web11.1.2.3. Installing Scripts and Plug-ins11.1.2.4. Installing a Script11.1.2.5. Installing a C Plug-in11.1.2.6. Installing a Gimp C Development Environment11.1.2.7. Building a C Plug-in11.2. Writing GIMP Scripts11.2.1. Script-Fu (= Scheme (= Lisp))11.2.2. Python11.2.3. Perl11.2.4. Reading and Modifying a Script-Fu Script11.2.4.1. Find the Original Script11.2.4.2. Edit a Copy of the Script11.2.4.3. Make the Script Your Own11.2.4.4. Try Making a Change11.2.4.5. Try Your Fix11.2.4.6. What Went Wrong? Some GIMP Peculiarities11.2.4.7. Bringing the Shadow Back11.2.4.8. Anatomy of Script-Fu: A Stroll Through the Sphere Script11.3. User Interface Options for Scripts11.3.1.11.3.1.1. TOGGLE11.3.1.2. STRING11.3.1.3. ADJUSTMENT11.3.1.4. TEXT11.3.1.5. OPTION11.3.1.6. RADIO11.3.1.7. COLOR11.3.1.8. FONT11.3.1.9. FILENAME11.3.1.10. DIRNAME11.3.1.11. ENUM11.3.1.12. BRUSH11.3.1.13. PATTERN11.3.1.14. GRADIENT11.3.1.15. PALETTE11.3.1.16. VECTORS11.3.1.17. IMAGE, LAYER, CHANNEL, DRAWABLE11.4. A Python Script11.5. Finding Out How to Do Things: The Procedure Browser11.6. A Perl Script11.7. Writing a C Plug-in11.7.1. A Tour Through Zealous Crop11.7.2. The run Procedure11.7.3. The Routine That Does the Work11.7.4. Getting Pixels: Tiles and Pixel Regions11.7.5. Searching the Image for Blank Rows and Columns11.7.6. Writing to Pixel Regions11.7.7. Making a New Plug-in11.7.8. Layer Coordinates vs. Image Coordinates11.7.9. Setting Boundaries11.7.10. Handling the Edges One at a Time11.8. Summary
12. Additional Topics
12.1. Printing12.1.1. Printing with GTKPrint12.1.2. Printing with Gutenprint12.1.3. Setting Your Printer Model12.1.4. Other Print Settings You Can Adjust12.1.5. Fine-tuning: Image/Output Settings12.2. Screen Shots and Scanners: The Acquire Menu12.2.1. Scanning from GIMP12.2.2. Screen Shots12.3. GIMP Preferences12.3.1. Environment12.3.2. User Interface and Keyboard Shortcuts12.3.3. Theme12.3.4. Help System12.3.5. Tool Options12.3.6. Toolbox12.3.7. Default Image12.3.8. Default Grid12.3.9. Image Windows12.3.10. Image Windows: Appearance12.3.10.1. Image Windows: Title and Status12.3.11. Display12.3.12. Color Management12.3.13. Input Devices12.3.13.1. Input Controllers12.3.14. Window Management12.3.15. Folders12.4. GIMP Configuration Files12.4.1. gimprc12.4.1.1. Stingy Memory Use12.4.1.2. Default Brush, Pattern, Palette, Gradient, and Font12.4.1.3. Share Palette12.4.1.4. "Perfect Mouse"12.4.1.5. Default Threshold12.4.1.6. Saving Modified Images12.4.1.7. Help Browser on F112.4.1.8. Help Locales12.4.1.9. Restoring Keyboard Shortcuts12.4.1.10. Tear-off Menus12.4.1.11. Plug-in Paths12.4.2. Changing Preview Sizes with gtkrc12.4.3. GIMP's Window Positions and Configuration: sessionrc12.4.4. Key Bindings for Menu Entries: menurc12.4.5. Other Files12.4.6. Folders Inside the GIMP Profile12.5. Additional Resources12.5.1. Official GIMP Documentation12.5.1.1. Other Official GIMP User Documentation12.5.1.2. Developer Documentation12.5.2. The Wiki12.5.3. Other Tutorial Sites12.5.4. Mailing Lists12.5.5. Reporting Bugs12.5.6. Finding Source Code at svn.gnome.org12.5.7. Where to Find Freely Available Images12.5.7.1. US Government Sites12.5.8. Art Sites and Imaging Contests12.6. Summary and Conclusion
A. Getting and Installing GIMP
A.1. RequirementsA.2. Where to Find GIMPA.3. Installing on WindowsA.3.1. The Quick Start VersionA.3.2. The (Slightly) Longer VersionA.4. Installing on MacintoshA.4.1. The Quick Start VersionA.4.2. The (Slightly) Longer VersionA.5. Installing on Linux (and Other UNIXy Systems)A.5.1. The Quick Start VersionA.5.2. The (Slightly) Longer VersionA.5.2.1. Suggested Installation Commands for Various Systems
B. Installing GIMP on Older Systems
B.1. Older Linux or UNIX VersionsB.2. Older Windows VersionsB.3. Older OS X Versions
C. Building from Source
C.1. Getting the SourceC.1.1.C.1.1.1. ConfigureC.1.1.2. MakeC.1.1.3. Make Install
D. A Preview of GIMP 2.6
D.1. No More Toolbox MenusD.2. The Improved Free/Polygonal Select ToolD.3. GEGLD.4. Color Tool ImprovementsD.5. Brush DynamicsD.6. Text Tool WrappingD.7. Other Changes

Overview

From first installation to advanced image manipulation techniques, Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition explains how anyone can utilize The GIMP: a free, open source image manipulation program. You will learn how to install The GIMP on Windows, Linux, and MacOS X platforms. Once you've installed the application, you'll learn about the interface and configuration options, and then jump into a quick and simple project to familiarize yourself.

With four-color graphics and screenshots throughout, you'll learn how to prepare camera images for display on web pages-including processes like rescaling, cropping, and balancing color. Utilizing layers, paths, and masks are also covered in extensive detail. Of course, you will also learn how to draw lines and shapes; utilize patterns and gradients; and even create your own brushes, patterns, and gradients.

GIMP expert and author Akkana Peck teaches you how to touch up digital photographs, smudging away blemishes, fixing red-eye, and stitching panoramic images. You'll learn how to tap into the powerful filters, effects, and plug-ins that are available for The GIMP and automate tasks using scripts. The entire book is approached in a project-based manner, and as you progress, numerous projects will help strengthen your newly acquired abilities.

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