GIMP Gate

Recommended Wacom settings?

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:56:23 GMT

Posted by: dragonwolf

So I just got my hands on a sexy Wacom tablet. I've been toying around with it in Gimp, but so far it's leaving a lot to be desired. I think this is due to the way the settings are set up. My computer reconizes it fine, but there's a lot of things I don't understand about the default settings and general behavior and haven't had much luck finding information.

Here are some of the things I have questions about. If anyone has any answers, I'd greatly appreciate it.

1. What's the difference between "Window" and "Screen" Mode? Why is "Screen" the recommended one? (I've seen a number of (outdated) basics of setting it up, and they all say "Use Screen mode," but none explain why, other than a vague "Screen generally works better." What makes Screen better?)

2. Gimp always switches to "Airbrush", "Pressure-based Opacity", and black foreground color when I switch between my (non-Wacom) mouse and the tablet. Why is it doing this, and how can I change it? I'd prefer Paintbrush and Pressure-based Size as default.

3. Is there any (good, recent) documentation about settings that work well for artists that use drawing tablets?

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Whoever says you can't do good work with Gimp....

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 22:09:26 GMT

Posted by: dragonwolf

...has no grounding in reality, methinks. Especially when 2.8 is involved.

I just finished my latest coloring project (I like to color people's drawings). It was started in Gimp 2.6, but the vast majority of the work has taken place in 2.8.

I have to say, I absolutely love 2.8. I've been using Gimp pretty much exclusively for about four years now, and this update has been a long time coming. As much as I'd been looking forward to the layer folders/groups (I'm a web developer and often work with designers who prefer to just shove layers into folders instead of worrying about such banal things as using logical names or merging layers that could be merged), I'm surprised to find just how much more of a joy it is to use the single window mode.

On a dual monitor system, I used to just have the toolboxes on one and allow the image window to take over the other, but the biggest issue I had was that the windows' focus were independent from one another, so if Firefox was covering the toolboxes, clicking on the image wouldn't bring it forward. Single window mode, of course, fixes that, and since my monitors are wide-screen, I haven't really had a real-estate issue.

So yeah, The Gimp is definitely coming into its own, and it's definitely worth upgrading to it if you haven't already.

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New Gimp Magazine

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:42:27 GMT

Posted by: baggyeyes

GIMP Magazine – Issue 1 has just been released; it is available as a free PDF download from the website. The site includes a resources page.

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Gimp on Mac without X11

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:54:56 GMT

Posted by: baggyeyes

Found in this article on Libre Graphics: Gimp devs have been working to provide a ~~native Mac version of Gimp 2.8.~~

Scratch that - they HAVE a Mac version, that does not require X11. Gimp/Downloads

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Gimp 2.8

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 15:34:56 GMT

Posted by: dragonwolf

Anyone else play with Gimp 2.8? I grabbed it yesterday and, for the half hour I used it to make a very basic image, I'm absolutely loving it! If I get some time, I might write up a full review, but...

Layer folders!

And single window mode (and, even better, the option to switch between single and multi window mode)!

Seriously, if you use Gimp with any regularity, check it out if you haven't already.

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wallpaper sizes

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:53:11 GMT

Posted by: violamay

I'm just getting into making wallpapers for myself and also to give away. I know what resolution my laptop screen has and consequently what resolution to make a wallpaper for my own use. But how do you approach making various resolutions for others? Do you have to remake the wallpaper in different sizes? That seems like a huge pain. But if you don't, then how do you resize it without distorting it? What are the sizes that you make your wallpapers for general use?

Thanks in advance.

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Warhol Effect?

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 01:06:28 GMT

Posted by: jjhunter

Hey all--

I'm playing around with some banner designs for a comm I run, and someone suggested doing a Warhol-esque version of the black and white variant. Does anyone know how to do that? I can easily modify the background, but the greyscale image of the 'poetree' is much more challenging.

Black & white version:

( Larger version behind the cut )

Two different colored backgrounds: (note that the tree remains in greyscale)

How do I selective tint only a portion of a particular layer's tonal range a particular color?

( Andy Warhol image behind the cut for illustration of effect I'm talking about )

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On the off chance...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 04:49:41 GMT

Posted by: sara

I've managed to somehow undock the tool options from the lower half of the toolbar window. I can dock other dialogs there, but I can't get the rassle-frassling tool options dialog to stick back on there (and no, I have no idea how I removed it in the first place -- it was one of those things where my hand slipped and something happened and I went aw crap.)

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling 2.6.11 twice this afternoon, to no avail.

Thoughts, anyone?

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Text Boxes At an Angle?

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:22:41 GMT

Posted by: jjhunter

Hello hello. I was creating a banner last night for the Poetry Friending Meme I'm hosting over at jjhunter & was struggling mightily in terms of displaying text boxes (and the text inside) at an angle. What I ended up with is skewed text for the words 'poetry' and 'meme' using the 'Shear' tool:

[image deleted due to link being overwritten by new image - see below]

Is there any way simply to rotate a text at an angle without skewing it?

ETA: Second take.

ETA2: apologies for excessive linking on the earlier version of this post - thank you to jana for the reminder about comm rules re: advertising without permission. And thank you everyone else for the assistance -- I'm much happier with the modified image.

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Welcome to a new year!

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 11:09:40 GMT

Posted by: jana

With the new year, I've taken the opportunity to update the community guidelines; from now on, anyone can create and add tags when posting here. This makes it hopefully a bit easier for everyone to tag their posts with appropriate tags, but please take a look at the existing tags before creating a new one. Also, administrators and moderators - just me at the moment - reserve the right to rename, merge and remove tags whenever deemed necessary.

Welcome also to all the new members and subscribers who joined this community in the last couple of weeks. Users of all levels and experience are welcome here, so ask/post away if you have any questions and please take a moment to read the community guidelines. You might also want to fill out the poll I posted a while ago which is intended to be a community resource, a reflection of the community's 'mind & skill state' so to speak. Useful resources, tips and tricks can be found via the community's tag list and link collection.

Feel free to say 'Hi' in the comments if you're new here and also feel free to share any resources etc. you think could be useful for others :)

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saving defaults?

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:11:38 GMT

Posted by: ratcreature

Gimp used to start with the regular black foreground, white background color setting. At one point I must have done something without realizing, because now whenever I start the foreground color is set to a light pink. I want it to be black again, but I don't know how I get that reset. I tried picking black and then closing Gimp, but as soon as I start the program it switched back to the pink color. Where can I make it remember the default color selection?

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Gimped - and Deviant Art groups

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:24:21 GMT

Posted by: baggyeyes

I found this site VIA Deviant Art's #GIMP-users group:

Gimped Blog features tutorials for those getting started, as well as advanced tips in photo-manipulation. I see that it has a shopping cart, but as I have no money, I ignore that bit.

As I mentioned, Deviant Art has a #GIMP-users group, as well, there is #GIMP-Artists.

There are brushes, textures and tutorials at these two groups. As I have a lousy Internet connection, I haven't been able to see everything. They looks like good groups, though.

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What are some tips & tricks for matching color values of different lighting types?

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:55:44 GMT

Posted by: jjhunter

I've seen some gorgeous photo manips where the artist adjusts for the effects of different types of lighting in different pieces of the source material. What are some good ways to do that? In the collage I created under the cut, I used 'Adjust Hue / Lightness / Saturation' under 'Colors' to, e.g., lower the saturation of both cyan and 'master' in the 'TARDIS console' layer. I was essentially matching it on the fly by eye, but I'm curious whether there's some use of, say, the eyedropper tool en masse to get a sense of the general color balance patterns

Other techniques I used include reduced opacity erasing to an alpha channel (dollhouse and sleeping man layers); duplication, rotation, and movement of the Sagrada Familia layer (Gaudí cathedral); and merge down (Escher layer to dollhouse layer).

( Living Under Imaginary Roofs )

--

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GIMP Photo Manip -- Advice?

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:17:44 GMT

Posted by: jjhunter

Hey all--

First time posting here, and I'm a novice GIMP-user to boot! For the image under the cut, I used clone stamp (to remove shoes), lighting effects (changed intensity to darken central image), reduced opacity paintbrush (to 'paint' in ghost), and merge layers (to add ghost layer to central image). I really struggled with how best to create the ghost, however, and was wondering if anyone had any advice re: favorite tools/techniques, etc. for meshing your own art with photo manipulation.

( Ghost In the Sky: width = 1000 pixels )

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Signal Boost: Recover your delicious bookmarks even if you've been deleted

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:33:14 GMT

Posted by: jana

I thought this might be useful information for a lot of people. This entry describes step-by-step what to do.

I worked for me and this community's link collection, hopefully it will work for you as well! I had moved to the new delicious in time, so my accounts hadn't been deleted, but considering what they've done with the site I don't really trust them anymore...

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Looking for tutorial(s)

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 15:16:14 GMT

Posted by: jana

Does anyone here know where one could find a tutorial about making your own ink splatter brushes? I know how to make brushes in GIMP, but I don't know how to get this nice splatter effect... I'd like to experiment a bit with this. Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated!

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a font question

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:04:14 GMT

Posted by: ratcreature

I created an artwork last November, which is one in a series. It used a particular font, but I can't remember what that font was. Unfortunately that was created on my now dead, previous laptop. I now want to make a new artwork in the series and need to use the same font, but it apparently wasn't one of the standard fonts (though I'm sure it was a free font), because when I open the old XCF file, Gimp does not display the name of the font, but it is blank. Is there a way to get the name of the font I'm now missing from that old file so that I can download the font again?

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Gimp extras

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:28:25 GMT

Posted by: baggyeyes

There are so many things you can do with Gimp, but sometimes, you just want a quick and easy click and point kind of thing. Maybe you're pressed for time, or - more likely, you just want to experiment and see what's out there.
( Scripts and brushes )
Don't forget the read the README notes with each collection. They usually include installation instructions.

Have fun.

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How to make the image more natural?

Mon, 23 May 2011 10:06:16 GMT

Posted by: snowynight

When you try to combine two images from different sources, how to make the pasting seem more seamless? Example: What can I do to make this icon more natural?

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Unopenable image

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:38:57 GMT

Posted by: kake

GIMP 2.6 on Mac OS X seems to be unable to open photos taken on a Nokia N900. When I try to open one (e.g. this one [1.3MB download]), GIMP hangs and a ufraw-gimp process starts consuming all my CPU until I kill it. This isn't just me being impatient — I let it sit there for over five minutes and it never managed to open it.

Has anyone else seen anything like this?

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70 tutorials and a suggestion

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:21:58 GMT

Posted by: jana

In an attempt to to revive this community, here are two things that might be interesting for people watching this community:

I've found a list of some nifty GIMP tutorials of which some look familiar whereas others are new to me and maybe to some of you, too.

Over at Smashing magazine, they post calendar wallpapers once a month, created by experienced artists, wannabe artists, and newbie artists from all over the world. So, I thought we could have something similar here -- but less strict and with an 'educational learning' twist.

The 'rules' are pretty simple: Post a finished wallpaper on the first of the given month and include an explanation of at least one tool used in/with GIMP, Inkscape etc. (so no complete tutorials necessary, unless you want to) OR post an unfinished wallpaper, or simply just a wallpaper idea, and tell us which part(s), specifically, you could use some help with. The idea is that people might be more wiling to post something if they don't have the pressure of having to do a complete tutorial (which takes lots of time), and the less experienced among us might feel less intimidated if they don't get overwhelmed with too many features and (complicated) tool options. Basically, I hope everyone gets a chance to chime in here and we all just might learn something along the way :)

EDIT: It doesn't have to be limited to wallpapers only, you can also post icons, fan art etc. And feel free to spread the word.

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Flash light reflections in images

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:16:53 GMT

Posted by: jana

How do I remove flash light reflections in a person's eyes and her glasses? I've googled a bit around, but didn't find a good answer; most tips focus on how one can remove red eyes. Any help is greatly appreciated!

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Links to 60+ GIMP Tutorials

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 10:24:17 GMT

Posted by: t_fischer

Hello,

I found this page of a collection of links to about 60 GIMP tutorials. Worth checking out ...

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can you use keys to move things instead of the mouse?

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 17:04:31 GMT

Posted by: ratcreature

When I move a selection or a layer I sometimes just want to move it one or two pixels in one direction, and that is really hard with the mouse. Is there a way I can just grab something and then tell it exactly how I want to move it in coordinates, or even use the arrow keys or something like that?

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Another application to explore: Alchemy

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 07:38:40 GMT

Posted by: foxfirefey

Alchemy is an "exploratory" drawing program:

Alchemy is an open drawing project aimed at exploring how we can sketch, draw, and create on computers in new ways. Alchemy isn’t software for creating finished artwork, but rather a sketching environment that focuses on the absolute initial stage of the creation process. Experimental in nature, Alchemy lets you brainstorm visually to explore an expanded range of ideas and possibilities in a serendipitous way.

It's available in Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux!

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