Introduction

Thanks for picking up GIMP Bible, which I hope is the most comprehensive and up-to-date book on this very cool piece of Free Software. Whether you're a hobbyist interested in a free image editor, or a seasoned professional curious about what "that GIMP thing" is capable of, this book is designed to meet your needs and give you the information you're looking for. The idea is to cover everything that GIMP can do while also involving topics related to computer graphics in general. The primary purpose of this book is to show you how to be really productive with a program this complex. If you're anything like me, the more cool things you can make and the faster you can make them, the more fun you're having. And really, it's all about having fun. This is especially true for a program like GIMP, which is developed by volunteers all over the world, in their free time, because they really enjoy it.

That said, no piece of software is perfect and everyone has an opinion, myself included. Throughout the book, I may periodically voice my opinion about a feature in GIMP or a topic in computer graphics. However, when I do that, I try to make it a point to qualify that opinion and couple it with a relevant tip, trick, or workaround that's actually useful to you.

What to Expect

Unlike a lot of other books on the topic, GIMP Bible covers more than just the standard release of GIMP. GIMP's primary function is that of an image editor and GIMP is typically used a lot in photo editing. However, ...

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