GIMP for Absolute Beginners

GIMP for Absolute Beginners

Released April 2012
Publisher(s): Apress
ISBN: 9781430231684

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Book description

GIMP for Absolute Beginners gives us an easy way to use the power of GIMP, and enjoy digital photography and graphics without worrying about application features.

GIMP is a powerful open source graphics and digital imaging application with almost all the features of its proprietary counterpart, Photoshop. But many of us are photographers and artists first, and we like to use our tools without having to think about them too much. GIMP for Absolute Beginners gets us to this stage without patronising users who haven't used GIMP before.

But what can we actually do with photos and graphical images? These questions are answered in a photo projects chapter as well as a chapter on digital painting: Starting with making small changes to photos and adding information to them to creating paintings and drawings without photographic input.

Table of contents

  1. Title
  2. Contents at a Glance
  3. Contents
  4. About the Authors
  5. About the Technical Reviewer
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Introduction
    1. Is This Book for You?
    2. What Is GIMP?
    3. This Book Is for Beginners
    4. Why Is GIMP Free?
    5. The History of GIMP
    6. GIMP 2.8
    7. Summary
  8. CHAPTER 1: Finding and Installing GIMP
    1. In This Chapter
    2. GIMP Works on Windows, Mac, and GNU/Linux
    3. GIMP Is Free Open Source Software
    4. Windows: Downloading and Installing GIMP
    5. Mac: Downloading and Installing GIMP
    6. GNU/Linux
    7. Extra Functionality in GIMP via Plugins
    8. Summary
  9. CHAPTER 2: Getting to Know the GIMP Workspace
    1. In This Chapter
    2. Is This Chapter for You?
    3. Quickest Way to Learn GIMP
    4. Starting GIMP
    5. GIMP 2.8 Workspace
    6. Quick Quiz
    7. GIMP Workspace Tour
    8. Quick Quiz
    9. Toolbox
    10. Quick Quiz
    11. Menus in GIMP
    12. Quick Quiz
    13. Dockable Dialogs or Dockable Panels
    14. Quick Quiz
    15. Summary
  10. CHAPTER 3: Basic Computer Graphics
    1. In This Chapter:
    2. Choosing an Image File Format
    3. Image Basics
    4. Saving (Exporting) and Reducing JPG File Size
    5. Summary
  11. CHAPTER 4: Image Straightening, Cropping, Scaling, and Perspective
    1. In This Chapter
    2. Cropping an Image
    3. Changing the Size of an Image
    4. Fixing Perspective: Leaning Buildings
    5. Framing an Image
    6. Summary
  12. CHAPTER 5: Fixing Problems in Images
    1. In This Chapter
    2. Assessing Images
    3. Image Assessment Gallery
    4. Assessing Brightness and Darkness
    5. Assessing Your Editing
    6. Areas of GIMP Used in This Chapter
    7. Color Too Strong (Oversaturated)
    8. Noisy Image
    9. Sharpening an Image
    10. To Sharpen an Image with Unsharp Mask
    11. Removing Red Eye
    12. Using Brushes to Repair Images
    13. Whitening Teeth
    14. Unwanted Spots or Blotches
    15. Summary
  13. CHAPTER 6: Digital Imaging Projects
    1. In This Chapter
    2. The Digital Project Gallery
    3. Adding Text to an Image
    4. Text on a Transparent Background
    5. Layers
    6. Cage Transform Tool
    7. Cloning or Copying Parts of an Image
    8. Changing the Look of Your Images with Filters
    9. Summary
  14. CHAPTER 7: Setting Up a Graphics Tablet
    1. In This Chapter
    2. The Benefits of Using a Graphics Tablet
    3. How to Add a Graphics Tablet
    4. Setting Up Your Graphics Tablet
    5. Summary
  15. CHAPTER 8: Digital Art: Painting in GIMP
    1. In This Chapter
    2. Paint Tools in GIMP
    3. Digital Painting: The Advantages
    4. Color Basics
    5. Becoming a Digital Painter: Using Paint Tools
    6. Layers
    7. Filling in the Details
    8. Summary
  16. CHAPTER 9: Digital Art: Drawing in GIMP
    1. In This Chapter
    2. How to Draw in GIMP
    3. Drawing with Selections
    4. Drawing Freely
    5. Painting Without a Tablet
    6. Summary
  17. CHAPTER 10: Hints, Tips, and Further Help
    1. Customizing GIMP
    2. Increasing GIMP’s Undo History
    3. Scanning Images
    4. GIMP Can Be Extended
    5. Photoshop and GIMP: A Comparison
    6. Troubleshooting GIMP
    7. Further Help
    8. Further Reading
    9. Other Open-Source Graphics Software
    10. GIMP’s Future
  18. APPENDIX A: Keyboard Shortcuts
    1. Help
    2. Tools
    3. Context
    4. Within a Dialog
    5. Within a File Dialog
    6. Window
    7. Zoom
    8. Scrolling (Panning)
    9. Rulers and Guides
    10. Undo/Redo
    11. Clipboard
    12. Fill
  19. APPENDIX B: GNU General Public License
    1. Preamble
    2. Terms and Conditions
    3. How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
  20. Glossary
    1. Alpha
    2. Alpha Channel
    3. Aspect Ratio
    4. Brightness
    5. Color Cast
    6. Convert to RGB Working Space
    7. Crop
    8. Curves
    9. Dialog
    10. Dock
    11. Docking
    12. Dot for Dot
    13. EXIF Data
    14. Export/Save Images
    15. GIMP
    16. Guides
    17. Grid
    18. Help
    19. HDR
    20. Histogram
    21. Hue
    22. Inkscape
    23. Interactive Boundary
    24. Levels
    25. LZW
    26. Pixel
    27. Pixel Art
    28. Plug-in
    29. Raster Images
    30. Saturation
    31. Save
    32. Scaling
    33. Scale-Up
    34. Sharpening
    35. Snap to Grid
    36. Snap to Guide
    37. Tonal Range
    38. Undo
    39. Undo History
    40. Unsharp Mask
    41. Value
    42. Vector Images
    43. XCF
    44. Zoom
  21. Index

Product information

  • Title: GIMP for Absolute Beginners
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: April 2012
  • Publisher(s): Apress
  • ISBN: 9781430231684