GIMP User Manual

title:
GNU Image Manipulation Program

subtitle:
User Manual
revhistory:
copyright:
legalnotice:
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, ersion !"# or any later $ersion
published by the Free %oft&are Foundation' &ith no In$ariant %ections, no Front(
)o$er *e+ts, and no ,ac-()o$er *e+ts" . copy of the license is included in the
section enphrased GNU Free Documentation License"
Generated by docboo-#odf
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GIMP User Manual Authors and Contributors
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Chapter
Introduction
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Welcome to The GIMP
*he GIMP is a multiplatform photo manipulation tool" GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image
Manipulation Program" *he GIMP is suitable for a $ariety of image manipulation tas-s,
including photo retouching, image composition, and image construction"
It has many capabilities" It can be used as a simple paint program, an e+pert 1uality
photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image
renderer, an image format con$erter, etc"
GIMP is e+pandable and e+tensible" It is designed to be augmented &ith plug(ins and
e+tensions to do 2ust about anything" *he ad$anced scripting interface allo&s e$erything
from the simplest tas- to the most comple+ image manipulation procedures to be easily
scripted"
3ne of *he GIMP4s strengths is its free a$ailability from many sources for many operating
systems" Most GNU/Linu+ distributions include *he GIMP as a standard application" *he
GIMP is also a$ailable for other operating systems such as Microsoft 5indo&s or .pple4s
Mac 3% 6 7Dar&in8" *he GIMP is not free&are" It is a Free %oft&are application co$ered by
the General Public License 7GPL license8" *he GPL pro$ides users &ith the freedom to
access and alter the source code that ma-es up computer programs"
Authors
*he first $ersion of the GIMP &as &ritten by Peter Mattis and %pencer 9imball" Many other
de$elopers ha$e contributed more recently, and thousands ha$e pro$ided support and
testing" GIMP releases are currently being orchestrated by %$en Neumann and Mitch
Natterer and many other people called the GIMP(*eam"
The GIMP-elp system
*he GIMP(:elp system pro$ides you &ith the information necessary to understand ho& to
use *he GIMP" ;ou can get conte+t sensiti$e help &hile using GIMP by pressing the F! -ey"
:elp on specific menu items can be accessed by pressing the F! -ey &hile the mouse
focuses the menu item" <ead on to begin your GIMP 2ourney"
!eatures and Capabilities
*he follo&ing list is a short o$er$ie& of some of the features and capabilities &hich GIMP
offers you=
" . full suite of painting tools including brushes, a pencil, an airbrush, cloning, etc"
" *ile(based memory management so image si>e is limited only by a$ailable dis-
space
" %ub(pi+el sampling for all paint tools for high(1uality anti(aliasing
" Full .lpha channel support for &or-ing &ith transparency
" Layers and channels
" . procedural database for calling internal GIMP functions from e+ternal programs,
such as %cript(Fu
" .d$anced scripting capabilities
" Multiple undo/redo 7limited only by dis- space8
" *ransformation tools including rotate, scale, shear and flip
" File formats supported include GIF, ?P@G, PNG, 6PM, *IFF, *G., MP@G, P%, PDF, P)6,
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,MP and many others
" %election tools including rectangle, ellipse, free, fu>>y, be>ier and intelligent
" Plug(ins that allo& for the easy addition of ne& file formats and ne& effect filters
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What#s $e% in The GIMP&
GIMP !"B e$ol$ed gradually into the $ery stable and &idely used !"# release" *hree years
later, as the GIMP de$elopment came closer to the ne+t stable release, they decided that
the le$el of fundamental change to the inner &or-ings of the program 2ustified calling the
ne& stable $ersion #"B" GIMP #"B"B &as released on March #0, #BB/" For GIMP #"#, the
de$elopers aimed at a short cycle, adding a number of important features that did not
re1uire instability(inducing lo& le$el changes" GIMP #"#"B &as released on December !C,
#BB/" *his section briefly describes the ne& features that &ere added in GIMP #"#, as &ell
as the features that &ere introduced in GIMP #"B"
:ere is a brief summary of some of the most important ne& features introduced in GIMP
#"#" *here are many other smaller changes that long(time users &ill notice and appreciate
7or complain aboutD8" *here are also important changes at the le$el of plugin
programming and script(fu creating that are not co$ered here"
Interoperability and standards support
" ;ou can drag(and(drop or copy(and(paste image data from the GIMP to any
application &hich supports image/png drops 7currently .bi&ord and 9&ord at least8
and image/+mlEs$g drops 7 In-scape supports this one8" %o you can copy(and(paste
cur$es into the GIMP from In-scape, and then drag a selection into .bi&ord to
include it inline in your document"
" Patterns can no& be any supported Gt-Pi+buf format, including png, 2peg, +bm and
others"
" GIMP can load gradients from %G files, and palettes from .)* and <IFF files"
" Drag(and(drop support has been e+tended" ;ou can no& drop files and U<Is onto an
image &indo&, &here they &ill be opened in the e+isting image as ne& layers"
'hortcut editor
;ou can no& edit your shortcuts in a dedicated dialog, as &ell as continue to use the little(
-no&n dynamic shortcuts feature 7&hich has been there since !"#8"
Plug-in previe%s
5e ha$e pro$ided a standard pre$ie& &idget for plug(in authors &hich greatly reduces
the amount of code re1uired to support pre$ie&s" Da$id 3din has integrated this &idget
into all the current filters, so that no& many more filters in the GIMP include a pre$ie&
&hich updates in real time, and the $arious pre$ie&s beha$e much more consistently"
(eal-time previe%s o) trans)orm operations
*he transform tools 7shear, scale, perspecti$e and rotate8 can no& sho& a real(time
pre$ie& of the result of the operation &hen the tool is in F*raditionalF mode" Pre$iously,
only a transforming grid &as sho&n"
G$*M+ uman Inter)ace Guide con)ormance
. lot of &or- has been done on ma-ing the GIMP4s interface simpler and more usable for
ne&comers" Most dialogs no& follo&s the GN3M@ :IG to the best of our -no&ledge" In
addition, dialogs ha$e separated out or remo$ed many F.d$ancedF options, and replaced
them &ith sane defaults or hidden them in an e+pander"
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GT,- ./0 migration
" Menus use the Gt-UIManager to generate menu structure dynamically from 6ML
data files"
" . completely re$amped File )hooser is used e$ery&here in the GIMP for opening or
sa$ing files" *he best thing about it is that it lets you create a set of Fboo-mar-sF,
ma-ing it possible to na$igate 1uic-ly and easily to commonly used directories"
" GIMP no& %upports fancy .<G, cursors &hen they are a$ailable on the system"
1asic vector support
Using the GFig plug(in, the GIMP no& supports the basic functionality of $ector layers" *he
GFig plug(in supports a number of $ector graphics features such as gradient fills, ,e>ier
cur$es and cur$e stro-ing" It is also the easiest &ay to create regular or irregular
polygons in the GIMP" In the GIMP #"#, you can create GFig layers, and re(edit these layers
in GFig after&ards" *his le$el of $ector support is still 1uite primiti$e, ho&e$er, in
comparison to dedicated $ector(graphics programs such as In-scape"
Also / / /
*here are many other smaller user($isible features" . rapid(fire list of some of those
features is belo&"
" It is no& possible to run the GIMP in batch mode &ithout an 6 ser$er"
" 5e ha$e a GIMP binary 7GIMP(console8 &hich is not lin-ed to G*9E at all"
" Impro$ed interface for e+tended input de$ices
" @ditable toolbo+= ;ou can no& decide &hich tools should be sho&n in the *oolbo+,
and their order" In particular, you can add any or all of the )olor *ools to the *oolbo+
if you &ish to"
" :istogram o$erlays <, G and , histograms on the alue histogram, and calculates
the histogram only for the contents of the selection"
" %hortcuts are no& shared across all GIMP &indo&s"
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(unning GIMP
Most often, you start GIMP either by clic-ing on an icon 7if your system is set up to
pro$ide you &ith one8, or by typing gimp on a command line" If you ha$e multiple
$ersions of the GIMP installed, you may need to type gimp(#"# to get the latest $ersion"
;ou can, if you &ant, gi$e a list of image files on the command line after the program
name, and they &ill automatically be opened by GIMP as it starts" It is also possible,
though, to open files from &ithin GIMP once it is running"
In most operating systems, you can set things up so that $arious types of image files are
"associated" &ith GIMP, and cause it to start automatically &hen icons for them are
double(clic-ed"
If you &ant to cause a certain file type to automatically open in GIMP, you should
associate it &ith "gimp-remote" 7"gimp-win-remote" under 5indo&s8 rather than &ith
"gimp"" *he gimp(remote program is an au+iliary that comes &ith gimp" If gimp is not
already running on the system &hen gimp(remote is e+ecuted, it is started and the image
gi$en as argument to gimp(remote is loaded" If gimp is already running, though, the
image is simply loaded into the already(running program"
Command 2ine Arguments
3rdinarily you don4t need to gi$e any arguments &hen starting GIMP, but here is a list of
some that may at one time or anther be useful" *his is not a complete list' on Uni+
systems you can get a complete list by running man gimp in a terminal &indo&"
,no%n plat)orms
*he GIMP is the most &idely supported image manipulation a$ailable today" *he platforms
that *he GIMP is -no&n to &or- on include GNU/Linu+, .pple Mac 3% 6 7Dar&in8, Microsoft
5indo&s CA, CI, Me, 6P, N*/, and #BBB, 3pen,%D, Net,%D, Free,%D, %olaris, %un3%, .I6,
:P(U6, *ruG/, Digital UNI6, 3%F/!, I<I6, 3%/#, and ,e3%"
*he GIMP can easily be ported to other operating systems because of its source code
a$ailability"
2anguage
.ll being &ell, GIMP detects the system language" *his may fail on some machines and
you may &ant use another language" It is possible to change the language=
In LINUX= in console mode, type L.NGU.G@Jen GIMP or L.NGJen GIMP replacing en by
fr, de, """ according to the language you &ant"
In WINDOWS XP= )ontrol Panel/%ystem/ .d$anced/F@n$ironmentF button/ In F%ystem
ariablesF area= F.ddF button= @nter L.NG for Name and fr or de""" for alue" 5atch outD
;ou ha$e to clic- on three successi$e F39F to $alidate your choice"
If you often change language, you can create a batch file" 3pen NotePad" *ype the
follo&ing commands 7for french for instance8= set langJfr cd c=KProgram FilesKGIMP(#"BKbin
GIMP(#"#"e+e %a$e this file as GIMP(F<",.* 7or another name, but al&ays &ith a ",.*
e+tension" )reate shortcut and drag it to your des-top"
%tart/Programs/ .ccessories/%ystem *ools/%ystem Informations/*ools/%ystem
)onfiguration Utility/F@n$ironmentF tab/FNe&F button= @nter L.NG for Name and fr or de"""
for alue"
Under Window 95 and Windows 98, add the line set langJfr in the "C!a"toe#ec$%at" file"
Go to %ystem Preferences, clic- on the International icon, and in the Language tab, the
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desired language should be the first in the list"
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'tarting GIMP the )irst time
*he first time you run GIMP, it goes through a series of steps to set up options and
directories" *his process creates a subdirectory of your home directory called .gimp-2.2"
.ll of the information about the choices you ma-e here goes into that directory" If you
later remo$e that directory, or rename it as something li-e .gimp-2.2.bak, then the ne+t
time you start GIMP, it &ill go through the &hole setup se1uence again, creating a ne&
.gimp-2.2 directory" ;ou can e+ploit this if you &ant to e+plore the effect of different
choices &ithout destroying your e+isting installation, or if you ha$e scre&ed things up so
badly that your e+isting installation needs to be nu-ed"
For the most part, setting up GIMP is $ery easy, and you can 2ust accept the defaults at
each step, and possibly ad2ust things later using the Preferences dialog" *he main thing
you might &ant to gi$e a little thought to at the start is the amount of memory to allocate
for GIMP4s tile cache"
:ere is a &al-(through of the setup process=
3/ %ince this &indo& mentions the GNU General Public License you -no& it is truly a
5elcome dialog you are entering into" .lso, note the "Contin"e" button" *he GIMP does
not e$en as- that you agree to it, merely &hether you &ant to continue" Feel free to
press the continue button"

./ *he purpose of this screen is only to ma-e the user a&are of the GIMP personal
settings directory, subdirectories and files creation process, before it begins" ;ou 2ust
ha$e to ha$e a loo- and clic- to proceed"

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4/ *his &indo& sho&s you the files that GIMP &ill create" It &ill ha$e some complaints
if you told it to install some place that it don4t ha$e permission to be" *here is a scroll
bar to see all the things GIMP has created for you"

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0/ %etting your memory usage is not an easy thing" %o much depends on &hat your
needs are for the GIMP and &hat hard&are you ha$e to &or- &ith" ;ou ha$e t&o
options at this point" Go &ith the default $alue the de$elopers ha$e set here, or
determine the best $alue" . brief tile(cache e+planation" might help you determine this
$alue" *he tile(cache information might also be helpful to you if you are encountering
memory problems &hen using the GIMP"
3n a Uni+ system, /tmp might be a good place for the s&ap"

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Chapter
GIMP Concepts
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Main Windo%s in GIMP
*he screenshot abo$e sho&s the most basic arrangement of GIMP &indo&s that can be
used effecti$ely" *hree &indo&s are sho&n=
&'e (ain &oo)%o# *his is the heart of the GIMP" It contains the highest le$el menu, plus a
set of icon buttons that can be used to select tools, and more"
&oo) options Doc-ed belo& the main *oolbo+ is a *ool 3ptions dialog, sho&ing options for
the currently selected tool 7in this case, the <ectangle %elect tool8"
*n image window @ach image open in GIMP is displayed in a separate &indo&" Many
images can be open at the same time= the limit is set only by the amount of system
resources" It is possible to run GIMP &ithout ha$ing any images open, but there are not
$ery many useful things to do then"
La+ers Dia)og *his dialog &indo& sho&s the layer structure of the currently acti$e image,
and allo&s it to be manipulated in a $ariety of &ays" It is possible to do a fe& $ery basic
things &ithout using the Layers dialog, but e$en moderately sophisticated GIMP users find
it indispensible to ha$e the Layers dialog a$ailable at all times"
,r"s's-Patterns-.radients *he doc-ed dialog belo& the layer dialog sho&s the dialogs for
managing brushes, patterns and gradients"
*his is a minimal setup" *here are o$er a do>en other types of dialogs used by GIMP for
$arious purposes, but users typically create them &hen they are needed and close them
&hen they are not" 9no&ledgeable users generally -eep the *oolbo+ 7&ith *ool 3ptions8
and Layers dialog around at all times" *he *oolbo+ is essential to many GIMP operations'
in fact, if you close it, GIMP &ill e+it" 7;ou are as-ed to confirm that you &ant to do this,
though"8 *he *ool 3ptions are actually a separate dialog, sho&n doc-ed to the Main
*oolbo+ in the screenshot" 9no&ledgeable users almost al&ays ha$e them set up this
&ay= it is $ery difficult to use tools effecti$ely &ithout being able to see ho& their options
are set" *he Layers dialog comes into play &hene$er you &or- &ith an image that has
multiple layers= once you ad$ance beyond the $ery most basic stages of GIMP e+pertise,
this means a)most a)wa+s" .nd finally, of course, the necessity of ha$ing images
displayed in order to &or- &ith them is perhaps ob$ious"
If your GIMP layout gets trashed, fortunately the arrangement sho&n in the screenshot is
pretty easy to reco$er" In the File menu from the Main *oolbo+, selecting File Dialogs
)reate Ne& Doc- Layers, )hannels, and Paths &ill gi$e you a Layers dialog 2ust li-e the
one sho&n" In the same menu, selecting File Dialogs *ool 3ptions gi$es you a ne& *ool
3ptions dialog, &hich you can then doc- belo& the Main *oolbo+" 7*he section on Dialogs
and Doc-ing e+plains ho& to doc- dialogs"8 *here is no need to be able to create a ne&
Main *oolbo+, because you cannot get rid of the one you ha$e &ithout causing GIMP to
e+it"
Unli-e some other programs, GIMP does not gi$e you the option of putting e$erythingL
controls and image displaysLall into a single comprehensi$e &indo&" *he GIMP
de$elopers ha$e al&ays felt that this is a poor &ay of &or-ing, because it forces the
program to perform a &ide range of functions that are much better done by a dedicated
&indo& manager" Not only &ould this &aste a lot of programmer time, it is almost
impossible to do in a &ay that &or-s correctly across all of the operating systems GIMP is
intended to run on"
@arlier $ersions of the GIMP 7up to GIMP !"#"A8 &ere $ery profligate &ith dialogs=
ad$anced users often had half a do>en or more dialogs open at once, scattered all o$er
the screen and $ery difficult to -eep trac- of" GIMP #"B is much better in this respect,
because it allo&s dialogs to be doc-ed together in a fle+ible &ay" 7*he Layers dialog in the
screenshot actually contains four dialogs, represented by tabs= Layers, )hannels, Paths,
and Undo"8 *he system ta-es a little &hile to learn, but once you learn it, &e hope that
you &ill li-e it"
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*he follo&ing sections &ill &al- you through the components of each of the &indo&s
sho&n in the screenshot, e+plaining &hat they are and ho& they &or-" 3nce you ha$e
read them, plus the section describing the basic structure of GIMP images, you should
ha$e learned enough to use GIMP for a &ide $ariety of basic image manipulations" ;ou
can then loo- through the rest of the manual at your leisure 7or 2ust e+periment8 to learn
the almost limitless number of more subtle and speciali>ed things that are possible" :a$e
funD
The Main Toolbo5
*he Main *oolbo+ is the heart of the GIMP" It is the only part of the application that you
cannot duplicate or close" :ere is a 1uic- tour of &hat you &ill find there"
In the *oolbo+, as in most parts of GIMP, mo$ing the mouse on top of something and
letting it rest for a moment &ill usually bring up a FtooltipF message that may help you
understand &hat the thing is or &hat you can do &ith it" .lso, in many cases you can
press the F! -ey to get help about the thing that is underneath the mouse"
&oo)%o# (en" *his menu is special= it contains some commands that cannot be found in
the menus that are attached to images" 7.lso some that can"8 *hese include commands
for setting preferences, creating certain types of dialogs, etc" *he contents are described
systematically in the *oolbo+ Menu section"
&oo) icons *hese icons are buttons that acti$ate tools for a &ide $ariety of purposes=
selecting parts of images, painting on them, transforming them, etc" *he *oolbo+
Introduction section gi$es an o$er$ie& of ho& to &or- &ith tools, and each tool is
described systematically in the *ools chapter"
/oregro"nd-,ac0gro"nd co)ors *he color areas here sho& you GIMP4s current foreground
and bac-ground colors, &hich come into play in many operations" )lic-ing on either one
of them brings up a color selector dialog that allo& you to change to a different color"
)lic-ing on the double(headed arro& s&aps the t&o colors, and clic-ing on the small
symbol in the lo&er left corner resets them to blac- and &hite"
,r"s'-Pattern-.radient *he symbols here sho& you GIMP4s current selections for= the
Paintbrush, used by all tools that allo& you to paint on the image 7FpaintingF includes
operations li-e erasing and smudging, by the &ay8' for the Pattern, &hich is used in filling
selected areas of an image' and for the Gradient, &hich comes into play &hene$er an
operation re1uires a smoothly $arying range of colors" )lic-ing on any of these symbols
brings up a dialog &indo& that allo&s you to change it"
*cti1e Image 7*his is a ne& feature in GIMP #"#8 In GIMP, you can &or- &ith many images
at once, but at any gi$en moment, one of them is the "acti1e image"" :ere you find a
small iconic representation of the acti$e image" )lic-ing on it brings up a dialog &ith a list
of all the currently open images, allo&ing you to ma-e a different one acti$e if you &ant
to" 7)lic-ing on the &indo& &here the image is displayed &ill accomplish the same thing,
though"8
*he F.cti$e ImageF pre$ie& is disabled by default" If you &ant it, you can enable it in the
*oolbo+ Preferences tab"
.t e$ery start, GIMP selects a tool 7the brush8, a color, a brush and a pattern by default,
al&ays the same" If you &ant GIMP to select the last tool, color, brush and pattern you
used &hen 1uitting your pre$ious session, chec- the F%et input de$ice settings on e+itF in
Preferences/Input De$ices"
Image Windo%
In GIMP, each image that you ha$e open is displayed in its o&n separate &indo&" 7In
some cases, multiple &indo&s may all display the same image, but this is unusual"8 5e
&ill begin &ith a brief description of the components that are present by default in an
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ordinary image &indo&" %ome of these, in fact, can be made to disappear using
commands in the ie& menu' but you &ill probably find that you don4t &ant to do that"
&it)e ,ar .t the top of the image &indo& you &ill probably see a emphasis bar, sho&ing
the name of the image and some basic information about it" *he emphasis bar is actually
pro$ided by the &indo&ing system, not by GIMP itself, so its appearance may $ary &ith
different operating systems, &indo& managers, and/or themes" In the Preferences dialog
you can customi>e the information that appears here, if you &ant to"
Image (en" Directly belo& the emphasis bar appears the Image Menu 7unless it has
been suppressed8" *his menu gi$es you access to nearly e$ery operation you can perform
on an image" 7*here are some "g)o%a)" actions that can only be accessed $ia the *oolbo+
menu"8 ;ou can also get the Image Menu by right(clic-ing inside the image , or by left(
clic-ing on the little "arrow" symbol in the upper left corner, if for some reason you find
one of these more con$enient" More= most menu operations can also be acti$ated from
the -eyboard, using .lt plus an "acce)erator" -ey underlined in the menu emphasis" More=
you can define your o&n custom shortcuts for menu actions, if you enable Use Dynamic
9eyboard %hortcuts in the Preferences dialog"
(en" ,"tton )lic-ing on this little button gi$es you the Image Menu, e+cept in a column
instead of a ro&" Mnemonics users &ho don4t &ant the menu bar $isible can acces to this
menu by pressing the %hift F!B -ey"
2")er In the default layout, rulers are sho&n abo$e and to the left of the image,
indicating coordinates &ithin the image" ;ou can control &hat type of coordinates are
sho&n if you &ant to" ,y default, pi+els are used, but you can change to other units, using
the Units setting described belo&"
3ne of the most important uses of rulers is to create g"ides" If you clic- on a ruler and
drag into the image display, a guideline &ill be created, &hich you can use to help you
position things accurately" Guides can be mo$ed by clic-ing on them and dragging, or
deleted by dragging them out of the image display"
3"ic0(as0 &ogg)e .t the lo&er left corner of the image display is a small button that
toggles on or off the Muic- Mas-, &hich is an alternate, and often e+tremely useful, &ay
of $ie&ing the selected area &ithin the image" For more details see Muic-Mas-"
Pointer Coordinates In the lo&er left corner of the &indo& is a rectangular area used to
sho& the current pointer coordinates 7that is, the mouse location, if you are using a
mouse8, &hene$er the pointer is &ithin the image boundaries" *he units are the same as
for the rulers"
Units men" 7*his feature is ne& in GIMP #"#' it does not appear in GIMP #"B8" ,y default,
the units used for the rulers and se$eral other purposes are pi+els" ;ou can change to
inches, cm, or se$eral other possibilities using this menu" 7If you do, note that the setting
of "Dot 4or dot" in the ie& menu affects ho& the display is scaled= see Dot for Dot for
more information"
5oom %"tton 7*his feature is ne& in GIMP #"#' it does not appear in GIMP #"B8" *here are
a number of &ays to >oom the image in or out, but this menu is perhaps the simplest"
Stat"s *rea *he %tatus .rea appears belo& the image display" Most of the time, by
default, it sho&s &hich part of the image is currently acti$e, and the amount of system
memory that the image is consuming" ;ou can customi>e the information that appears
here, by changing your Preferences" 5hen you perform time(consuming operations, the
status area changes temporarily to sho& &hat operation is being performed, and its state
of progress"
Cance) ,"tton .t the lo&er right corner of the &indo& appears the )ancel button" If you
start a comple+, time(consuming operation 7most commonly a plug(in8, and then decide,
&hile it is being computed, that you didn4t really &ant to do it after all, this button &ill
cancel it immediately"
*here are a fe& plug(ins that respond badly to being canceled, possibly lea$ing corrupted
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pieces of images behind"
Na1igation contro) *his is a small cross(shaped button at the lo&er right corner of the
image display" )lic-ing on it, and holding the left mouse button do&n, brings up a &indo&
sho&ing a miniature $ie& of the image, &ith the displayed area outlined" ;ou can pan to a
different part of the image by mo$ing the mouse &hile -eeping the button depressed" For
large images of &hich only a small part is displayed, the na$igation &indo& is often the
most con$enient &ay of getting to the part of the image you are loo-ing for" 7%ee
Na$igation Dialog for other &ays to access the Na$igation 5indo&8" 7If your mouse has a
middle(button, clic-(drag &ith it to span across the image8"
Inacti1e Padding *rea *his padding area seperates the acti$e image display and the
inacti$e padding area, so you4re able to distinguish bet&een them" ;ou cannot apply any
Filters or 3perations in generall on the inacti$e area"
Image Disp)a+ *he most important part of the image &indo& is, of course, the image
display or can$as" It occupies the central area of the &indo&, surrounded by a yello&
dotted line sho&ing the image boundary, against a neutral gray bac-ground" ;ou can
change the >oom le$el of the image display in a $ariety of &ays, including the Noom
setting described belo&"
Image Window 2esi6e &ogg)e If this button is pressed, the image itself &ill be resi>ed if
the image &indo& is resi>ed"
6ialogs and 6oc7ing
6oc7ing 1ars
In GIMP #"B and #"#, you ha$e a lot of fle+ibility about the arrangement of dialog &indo&s
on your screen" Instead of placing each dialog in its o&n &indo&, you can group them
together using doc-s" . Fdoc-F is a container &indo& that can hold a collection of
persistent dialogs, such as the *ool 3ptions dialog, ,rushes dialog, Palette dialog, etc"
Doc-s cannot, ho&e$er, hold image &indo&s= each image al&ays has its o&n separate
&indo&" *hey also can4t hold non(persistent dialogs, such as the Preferences dialog or the
Ne& Image dialog"

@ach doc- has a set of doc0ing %ars, as highlighted in the ad2oining figure" *hese are thin
gray bars, $ery unobtrusi$e and easy not to notice= most people don4t reali>e that they
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e+ist until they are specifically pointed out"
6oc7ing 6rag andles
@ach doc-able dialog has a drag 'and)e area, as highlighted in the figure on the right" ;ou
can recogni>e this by the fact that the cursor changes to a hand shape &hen the pointer
is o$er the drag handle area" *o doc- a dialog, you simply clic- on its drag handle area,
and drag it onto one of the doc-ing bars in a doc-"

;ou can drag more than one dialog onto the same doc-ing bar" If you do, they &ill turn
into tabs, represented by iconic symbols at the top" )lic-ing on the tab handle &ill bring a
tab to the front, so that you can interact &ith it"
Image Menu
%ome doc-s contain an Image (en"= a menu listing all of the images open in GIMP, and
displaying the name of the image &hose information is sho&n in the doc-" ;ou can use
the Image Menu to select a different image 7don4t confuse this menu for the Image Menu
that is the Menu of the acti$e image on your screen8" If the .uto button is depressed,
then the menu al&ays sho&s the name of GIMP4s currently acti$e image, that is, the
image you are currently &or-ing on"

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,y default, a "La+ers7 C'anne)s7 and Pat's" doc- sho&s an Image Menu at the top, and
other types of doc-s do not" ;ou can al&ays add or remo$e an Image Menu, ho&e$er,
using the F%ho& Image MenuF toggle in the *ab menu, as described belo&" 7@+ception=
you cannot add an Image Menu to the doc- that contains the *oolbo+"8
Tab Menu

In each dialog, you can access a special menu of tab(related operations by pressing the
*ab Menu button, as highlighted in the figure on the right" @+actly &hich commands are
sho&n in the menu $aries a bit from dialog to dialog, but they al&ays include operations
for creating ne& tabs, or closing or detaching tabs"

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*he *ab menu gi$es you access to the follo&ing commands=
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1asic GIMP Concepts
*his section is intended to gi$e you a brief introduction to the basic concepts and
terminology you &ill need to understand in order to ma-e sense of the rest of the
documentation" @$erything here is e+plained in much greater depth else&here" 5ith a
fe& e+ceptions, &e ha$e a$oided cluttering this section &ith a lot of lin-s and cross(
references= e$erything mentioned here is so high(le$el that you should easily be able to
locate it in the inde+"
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Wor7ing %ith Images
Image types
It is tempting to thin- of an image as something that corresponds &ith a single display
&indo&, or to a single file such as a ?P@G file, but really a Gimp image is a rather
complicated structure, containing a stac- of layers plus se$eral other types of ob2ects= a
selection mas-, a set of channels, a set of paths, an FundoF history, etc" In this section &e
are going to ta-e a detailed loo- at all of the components of an image, and the things you
can do &ith them"
*he most basic property of an image is its mode" *here are three possible modes= <G,,
grayscale, and inde+ed" <G, stands for <ed(Green(,lue, and indicates that each point in
the image is represented by a "red" le$el, a "green" le$el, and a "%)"e" le$el" ,ecause
e$ery humanly distinguishable color can be represented as a combination of red, green,
and blue, <G, images are full(color" @ach color channel has #AG possible intensity le$els"
More details in )olor Models
In a grayscale image, each point is represented by a brightness $alue, ranging from B
7blac-8 to #AA 7&hite8, &ith intermediate $alues representing different le$els of gray"

@ssentially the difference bet&een a grayscale image and an <G, image is the number of
"co)or c'anne)s"= a grayscale image has one' an <G, image has three" .n <G, image can
be thought of as three superimposed grayscale images, one colored red, one green, and
one blue"
.ctually, both <G, and grayscale images ha$e one additional color channel, called the
a)p'a channel, representing opacity" 5hen the alpha $alue at a gi$en location in a gi$en
layer is >ero, the layer is completely transparent, and the color at that location is
determined by &hat lies underneath" 5hen alpha is ma+imal, the layer is opa1ue, and the
color is determined by the color of the layer" Intermediate alpha $alues correspond to
$arying degrees of translucency= the color at the location is a proportional mi+ture of
color from the layer and color from underneath"

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In Gimp, e$ery color channel, including the alpha channel, has a range of possible $alues
from B to #AA' in computing terminology, a depth of I bits" %ome digital cameras can
produce image files &ith a depth of !G bits per color channel" Gimp cannot load such a
file &ithout losing resolution" In most cases the effects are too subtle to be detected by
the human eye, but in some cases, mainly &here there are large areas &ith slo&ly
$arying color gradients, the difference may be perceptible"

*he third type, inde#ed images, is a bit more complicated to understand" In an inde+ed
image, only a limited set of discrete colors are used, usually #AG or less" *hese colors
form the FcolormapF of the image, and each point in the image is assigned a color from
the colormap" Inde+ed images ha$e the ad$antage that they can be represented inside a
computer in a &ay that consumes relati$ely little memory, and bac- in the dar- ages
7say, ten years ago8, they &ere $ery commonly used" .s time goes on, they are used less
and less, but they are still important enough to be &orth supporting in Gimp" 7.lso, there
are a fe& important -inds of image manipulation that are easier to implement &ith
inde+ed images than &ith continuous(color <G, images"8
%ome $ery commonly used types of files 7including GIF and PNG8 produce inde+ed images
&hen they are opened in Gimp" Many of Gimp4s tools don4t &or- $ery &ell on inde+ed
imagesOand many filters don4t &or- at allObecause of the limited number of colors
a$ailable" ,ecause of this, it is usually best to con$ert an image to <G, mode before
&or-ing on it" If necessary, you can con$ert it bac- to inde+ed mode &hen you are ready
to sa$e it
Gimp ma-es it easy to con$ert from one image type to another, using the Mode command
in the Image menu" %ome types of con$ersions, of course 7<G, to grayscale or inde+ed,
for e+ample8 lose information that cannot be regained by con$erting bac- in the other
direction"
If you are trying to use a filter on an image, and it appears grayed out in the menu,
usually the cause is that the image 7or, more specifically, the layer8 you are &or-ing on is
the &rong type" Many filters can4t be used on inde+ed images" %ome can be used only on
<G, images, or only on grayscale images" %ome also re1uire the presence or absence of
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an alpha channel" Usually the fi+ is to con$ert the image to a different type, most
commonly <G,"
8uic7Mas7

*he selection tools sometimes sho& their limits &hen they ha$e to be used for creating a
comple+ selection" In these cases, using the Muic-Mas- can ma-e things much easier"
%imply put, the Muic-Mas- allo&s you to paint a selection instead of 2ust tracing its
outline"
*vervie%
Normally &hen you create a selection in GIMP, you see it represented by the Fmarching
antsF that trace along its outline" ,ut really there may be a lot more to a selection than
the marching ants sho& you= in GIMP a selection is actually a full(fledged grayscale
channel, co$ering the image, &ith pi+el $alues ranging from B 7unselected8 to #AA 7fully
selected8" *he marching ants are dra&n along a contour of half(selected pi+els" *hus,
&hat the marching ants sho& you as either(orOinside or outside the boundaryOis really
2ust a slice through a continuum"
*he Muic-Mas- is GIMP4s &ay of sho&ing you the full structure of the selection" .cti$ating
it also gi$es you the ability to interact &ith the selection in ne&, and substantially more
po&erful, &ays" *o acti$ate the Muic-Mas-, clic- on the small red(outlined button at the
lo&er left of the image &indo&" *he button is a toggle, so clic-ing it again &ill return you
to normal marching(ant mode" ;ou can also acti$ate the Muic-Mas- by selecting in the
image &indo& menu %elect *oggle Muic-Mas- , or by using the %hiftM shortcut"
.cti$ating the Muic-Mas- sho&s you the selection as though it &ere a translucent screen
o$erlying the image, &hose transparency at each pi+el indicates the degree to &hich that
pi+el is selected" ,y default the mas- is sho&n in red, but you can change this if another
mas- color &ould be more con$enient" *he less a pi+el is selected, the more it is obscured
by the mas-" Fully selected pi+els are sho&n completely clear"
5hen you are in Muic-Mas- mode, many image manipulations act on the selection
channel rather than the image itself" *his includes, in particular, paint tools" Painting &ith
&hite causes the painted pi+els to be selected' painting &ith blac- causes them to be
unselected" ;ou can use any of the paint tools, as &ell as the buc-et fill and gradient fill
tools, in this &ay" .d$anced users of the GIMP learn that "painting t'e se)ection" is the
easiest and most effecti$e &ay to delicately manipulate it"
*o sa$e the selection done by the Muic-mas- to a ne& channel' Ma-e sure that there is a
selection and that Muic-mas- is not acti$e in the image &indo&" %elect in the image
menu %elect/%a$e to )hannel" *his &ill create a ne& channel in the channel dialog called
%electionMas- !"
5hen Muic-Mas- is acti$e, )ut and Paste act on the selection rather than the image" ;ou
can sometimes ma-e use of this as the most con$enient &ay of transferring a selection
from one image to another"
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;ou can learn more on Muic-mas- and %election mas-s in the section dedicated to the
channel dialog"
2ayers
. good &ay to $isuali>e a GIMP image is as a stac- of transparencies= in GIMP
terminology, each indi$idual transparency is called a )a+er" *here is no limit, in principle,
to the number of layers an image can ha$e= only the amount of memory a$ailable on the
system" It is not uncommon for ad$anced users to &or- &ith images containing do>ens of
layers"
*he organi>ation of layers in an image is sho&n by the Layers dialog, &hich is the second
most important type of dialog &indo& in GIMP, after the Main *oolbo+" *he appearance of
the Layers dialog is sho&n in the ad2oining illustration" :o& it &or-s is described in detail
in the Layers Dialog section, but &e &ill touch on some aspects of it here, in relation to
the layer properties that they display"
@ach open image has at any time a single acti1e drawa%)e" . "drawa%)e" is a GIMP
concept that includes layers, but also se$eral other types of things, such as channels,
layer mas-s, and the selection mas-" 7,asically, a "drawa%)e" is anything that can be
dra&n on &ith painting tools"8 If a layer is currently acti$e, it is sho&n highlighted in the
Layers dialog, and its name is sho&n in the status area of the image &indo&" If not, you
can acti$ate it by clic-ing on it" If none of the layers are highlighted, it means the acti$e
dra&able is something other than a layer"
In the menubar abo$e an image &indo&, you can find a menu called Layer, containing a
number of commands that affect the acti$e layer of the image" *he same menu can be
accessed by right(clic-ing in the Layers dialog"
2ayer properties
@ach layer in an image has a number of important attributes=
The 'election
3ften &hen you operate on an image, you only &ant part of it to be affected" In GIMP, you
ma-e this happen by se)ecting that part" @ach image has a se)ection associated &ith it"
Most, but not all, GIMP operations act only on the selected portions of the image"

*here are many, many situations &here creating 2ust the right selection is the -ey to
getting the result you &ant, and often it is not $ery easy to do" For e+ample, in the abo$e
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image, suppose I &ant to cut the tree out from its bac-ground, and paste it into a
different image" In order to do this, I need to create a selection that contains the tree and
nothing but the tree" It is difficult because the tree has a $ery comple+ shape, and in
se$eral spots is hard to distinguish from the ob2ects behind it"

No& here is a $ery important point, and it is crucial to understand this" 3rdinarily &hen
you create a selection, you see it as a dashed line enclosing a portion of the image" *he
idea you could get from this is that the selection is a sort of container, &ith the selected
parts of the image inside, and the unselected parts outside" *his concept of the selection
is o-ay for many purposes, but it is not really correct"
.ctually the selection is implemented as a c'anne)" In terms of its internal structure, it is
identical to the red, green, blue, and alpha channels of an image" *hus, the selection has
a $alue defined at each pi+el of the image, ranging bet&een B 7unselected8 and #AA 7fully
selected8" *he ad$antage of this approach is that it allo&s some pi+els to be partia))+
se)ected, by gi$ing them intermediate $alues bet&een B and #AA" .s you &ill see, there
are many situations &here it is desirable to ha$e smooth transitions bet&een selected
and unselected regions"
5hat, then, is the dashed line that appears &hen you create a selectionP
It is a conto"r )ine, di$iding areas that are more than half selected from areas that are
less than half selected"

;ou should al&ays bear in mind, &hen loo-ing at the dashed line that represents the
selection, that it only tells you part of the story" If you &ant to see the selection in
complete detail, the easiest &ay is to clic- the Muic-Mas- button in the lo&er left corner
of the image &indo&" *his causes the selection to be sho&n as a translucent o$erlay atop
the image" %elected areas are unaffected' unselected areas are reddened" *he more
completely selected an area is, the less red it appears"
Muic-Mas- mode, and its uses, are described in detail belo&" Mean&hile, if you are
follo&ing this discussion by trying things out in GIMP, you should -no& that many
operations &or- differently in Muic-Mas- mode, so go ahead and toggle it off again for
no& 7by clic-ing the Muic-Mas- button once more8"

!eathering
5ith the default settings, the basic selection tools, such as the <ectangle %elect tool,
create sharp selections" Pi+els inside the dashed line are fully selected, and pi+els outside
completely unselected" ;ou can $erify this by toggling Muic-Mas-= you see a clear
rectangle &ith sharp edges, surrounded by uniform red" In the *ool 3ptions, ho&e$er, is a
chec-bo+ called "/eat'er edges"" If you enable this, the tool &ill instead create graduated
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selections" *he feather radius, &hich you can ad2ust, determines the distance o$er &hich
the transition occurs"
If you are follo&ing along, try this out &ith the <ectangle %elect tool, and then toggle
Muic-Mas-" ;ou &ill no& see that the clear rectangle has a fu>>y edge"
Feathering is particularly useful &hen you are cutting and pasting, in helping the pasted
ob2ect to blend smoothly and unobtrusi$ely &ith its surroundings"
.ctually, it is possible to feather a selection at any time, e$en if it &as originally created
as a sharp selection" ;ou can do this from the image menu, by choosing %elect Feather "
*his brings up a dialog that allo&s you to set the feather radius" ;ou can do the opposite((
sharpen a graduated selection into an all(or(nothing selection((by choosing %elect
%harpen "
For technically oriented readers= feathering &or-s by applying a Gaussian blur to the
selection channel, &ith the specified blurring radius"
Ma7ing a selection partially transparent
;ou can set layer opacity, but you cannot do that directly for a selection" It is 1uite useful
to ma-e the image of a glass transparent" ;ou can achie$e this by using these methods=
" For simple selections, use the @raser tool &ith the &anted opacity"
" For comple+ selections= use the command %election Floating to create a floating
selection" *his creates a ne& layer called "/)oating Se)ection"" .cti$ate it and use
the opacity slider to get the &anted opacity" *hen anchor the selection= outside the
selection, the mouse pointer comes &ith an anchor icon" 5hen you clic-, the floating
selection disappears from the Layer Dialog and the selection is at the right place
and partially transparent 7anchoring &or-s this &ay only if a selection tool is
acti$ated = you can also use the command in the conte+t menu that you get by right
clic-ing on the selected layer in the layer dialog8"
.nd, if you use this function fre1uently= )trl) to copy the selection, )trl to paste it,
creating so a floating selection, adapt the opacity then ma-e Layer/Ne& Layer that
pastes the floating selection into the ne& layer" ;ou can also create a shortcut for
the Ne& Layer command to use -eys only"
" .nother &ay= Layer Mas- Layer mas- to add a layer mas- to the layer &ith the
selection, initiali>ing it &ith the selection" *hen use a brush &ith the &anted opacity
to paint the selection &ith blac-, i(e paint it &ith transparency" *hen
Layer/Mas-/.pply Layer Mas-" %ee "
Undoing
.lmost anything you do to an image in GIMP can be undone" ;ou can undo the most
recent action by choosing @dit Undo from the image menu, but this is done so fre1uently
that you really should memori>e the -eyboard shortcut, )trl N "
Undoing can itself be undone" .fter ha$ing undone an action, you can redo it by choosing
@dit <edo from the image menu, or use the -eyboard shortcut, )trl ; " It is often helpful to
2udge the effect of an action by repeatedly undoing and redoing it" *his is usually $ery
1uic-, and does not consume any e+tra resources or alter the undo history, so there is
ne$er any harm in it"
If you undo one or more actions and then operate on the image in any &ay e+cept by
using Undo or <edo, it &ill no longer be possible to redo those actions= they are lost
fore$er" *he solution to this, if it creates a problem for you, is to duplicate the image and
then operate on the copy" 7 Not the original, because the undo/redo history is not copied
&hen you duplicate an image"8
If you often find yourself undoing and redoing many steps at a time, it may be more
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con$enient to &or- &ith the Undo :istory dialog, a doc-able dialog that sho&s you a
small s-etch of each point in the Undo :istory, allo&ing you to go bac- or for&ard to that
point by clic-ing"
Undo is performed on an image(specific basis= the FUndo :istoryF is one of the
components of an image" GIMP allocates a certain amount of memory to each image for
this purpose" ;ou can customi>e your Preferences to increase or decrease the amount,
using the @n$ironment page of the Preferences dialog" *here are t&o important $ariables=
the minima) n"m%er o4 "ndo )e1e)s, &hich GIMP &ill maintain regardless of ho& much
memory they consume, and the ma#im"m "ndo memor+, beyond &hich GIMP &ill begin
to delete the oldest items from the Undo :istory"
@$en though the Undo :istory is a component of an image, it is not sa$ed &hen you sa$e
the image using GIMP4s nati$e 6)F format, &hich preser$es e$ery other image property"
5hen the image is reopened, it &ill ha$e an empty Undo :istory"
*he implementation of Undo by GIMP is rather sophisticated" Many operations re1uire
$ery little Undo memory 7e"g", changing $isibility of a layer8, so you can perform long
se1uences of them before they drop out of the Undo :istory" %ome operations 7changing
layer $isibility is again an e+ample8 are compressed, so that doing them se$eral times in
a ro& produces only a single point in the Undo :istory" :o&e$er, there are other
operations that may consume a lot of undo memory" Most filters are e+amples of this=
because they are implemented by plug(ins, the GIMP core has no really efficient &ay of
-no&ing &hat they ha$e changed, so it has no &ay to implement Undo e+cept by
memori>ing the entire contents of the affected layer before and after the operation" ;ou
might only be able to perform a fe& such operations before they drop out of the Undo
:istory"
Things that cannot be Undone
Most actions that alter an image can be undone" .ctions that do not alter the image
generally cannot be" *his includes operations such as sa$ing the image to a file,
duplicating the image, copying part of the image to the clipboard, etc" It also includes
most actions that affect the image display &ithout altering the underlying image data"
*he most important e+ample is >ooming" *here are, ho&e$er, e+ceptions= toggling
Muic-Mas- on or off can be undone, e$en though it does not alter the image data"
*here are a fe& important actions that do alter an image but cannot be undone=
Filters, and other actions performed by plugins or scripts, can be undone 2ust li-e actions
implemented by the GIMP core, but this re1uires them to ma-e correct use of GIMP4s
Undo functions" If the code is not correct, a plugin can potentially corrupt the Undo
:istory, so that not only the plugin but also pre$ious actions can no longer properly be
undone" *he plugins and scripts distributed &ith GIMP are all belie$ed to be set up
correctly, but ob$iously no guarantees can be gi$en for plugins you obtain from other
sources" .lso, e$en if the code is correct, canceling a plugin &hile it is running can
sometimes lea$e the Undo :istory corrupted, so it is best to a$oid this unless you ha$e
accidentally done something &hose conse1uences are going to be $ery harmful"
Grids and Guides
;ou &ill probably ha$e it happen many times that you need to place something in an
image $ery precisely, and find that it is not easy to do using a mouse" 3ften you can get
better results by using the arro& -eys on the -eyboard 7&hich mo$e the affected ob2ect
one pi+el at a time, or #A pi+els if you hold do&n the %hift -ey8, but GIMP also pro$ides
you &ith t&o other aids to ma-e positioning easier= grids and guides"

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The Image Grid

@ach image has a grid" It is al&ays present, but by default it is not $isible until you
acti$ate it by toggling ie& %ho& Grid in the image menu" If you &ant grids to be present
more often than not, you can change the default beha$ior by chec-ing F%ho& gridF in the
Image 5indo& .ppearance page of the Preferences dialog" 7Note that there are separate
settings for Normal Mode and Fullscreen Mode"8
*he default grid appearance, set up &hen you install GIMP, consists of plus(shaped blac-
crosshairs at the grid line intersections, &ith grid lines spaced e$ery !B pi+els both
$ertically and hori>ontally" ;ou can customi>e the default grid using the Default Image
Grid page of the Preferences dialog" If you only &ant to change the grid appearance for
the current image, you can do so by choosing Image )onfigure Grid from the image
menu= this brings up the )onfigure Grid dialog"

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Not only can a grid be helpful for 2udging distances and spatial relationships, it can also
permit you to align things e+actly &ith the grid, if you toggle ie& %nap to Grid in the
image menu= this causes the pointer to F&arpF perfectly to any grid line located &ithin a
certain distance" ;ou can customi>e the snap distance threshold by setting F%nap
distanceF in the *ool 3ptions page of the Preferences dialog, but most people seem to be
happy &ith the default $alue of I pi+els" 7Note that it is perfectly possible to snap to the
grid e$en if the grid is not $isible" It isn4t easy to imagine &hy you might &ant to do this,
though"8
Guides

In addition to the image grid, GIMP also gi$es you a more fle+ible type of positioning aid=
g"ides" *hese are hori>ontal or $ertical lines that you create by clic-ing on one of the
rulers and dragging into the image" ;ou can create as many guides as you li-e, positioned
&heree$er you li-e" *o mo$e a guide after you ha$e created it, acti$ate the Mo$e tool in
the *oolbo+ 7or press the M -ey8, you can then clic- and drag a guide" *o delete a guide,
simply drag it outside the image" :olding do&n the %hift -ey, you can mo$e e$erything
but a guide, using the guides as an effecti$e alignment aid"
.s &ith the grid, you can cause the pointer to snap to nearby guides, by toggling ie&
%nap to Guides in the image menu" If you ha$e a number of guides and they are ma-ing
it difficult for you to 2udge the image properly, you can hide them by toggling ie& %ho&
Guides " It is suggested that you only do this momentarily, other&ise you may get
confused the ne+t time you try to create a guide and don4t see anything happening"
If it ma-es things easier for you, you can change the default beha$ior for guides in the
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Image 5indo& .ppearance page of the Preferences dialog" Disabling F%ho& guidesF is
probably a bad idea, though, for the reason 2ust gi$en"
.nother use for guides= the Guillotine plugin can use guides to slice an image into a set of
sub(images"
%ee also Guides in Glossary"
Paths

. pat' is a one(dimensional cur$e" Paths are used for t&o main purposes=
" . closed path can be con$erted into a selection"
" .n open or closed path can be stro0ed, that is, painted on the image, in a $ariety of
&ays"
Paths can be created and manipulated using the Path tool" Paths, li-e layers and
channels, are components of an image" 5hen an image is sa$ed in GIMP4s nati$e 6)F file
format, any paths it has are sa$ed along &ith it" *he list of paths in an image can be
$ie&ed and operated on using the Paths dialog" If you &ant to mo$e a path from one
image to another, you can do so by copying and pasting using the popup menu in the
Paths dialog, or by dragging an icon from the Paths dialog into the destination image4s
&indo&"

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GIMP paths belong to a mathematical type called ",e6ier pat's"" 5hat this means in
practical terms is that they are defined by anc'ors and 'and)es" "*nc'ors" are points the
path goes through" "8and)es" define the direction of a path &hen it enters or lea$es an
anchor point= each anchor point has t&o handles attached to it"
Paths can be $ery comple+" If you create them by hand using the Path tool, unless you are
obsessi$e they probably &on4t contain more than a fe& do>en anchor points 7often many
fe&er8' but if you create them by transforming a selection into a path, or by transforming
te+t into a path, the result can easily contain hundreds of anchor points, or e$en
thousands"
. path may contain multiple components" . "component" is a part of a path &hose
anchor points are all connected to each other by path segments" *he ability to ha$e
multiple components in paths allo&s you to con$ert them into selections ha$ing multiple
disconnected parts"
@ach component of a path can be either open or c)osed= "c)osed" means that the last
anchor point is connected to the first anchor point" If you transform a path into a
selection, any open components are automatically con$erted into closed components by
connecting the last anchor point to the first anchor point &ith a straight line"
Path segments can be either straight or cur$ed" . path all of &hose segments are straight
is called "po)+gona)"" 5hen you create a path segment, it starts out straight, because the
handles for the anchor points are initially placed directly on top of the anchor points,
yielding handles of >ero length, &hich produce straight(line segments" ;ou can ma-e a
segment cur$ed by dragging a handle a&ay from one of the anchor points"
3ne nice thing about paths is that they are $ery light in terms of resource consumption,
especially in comparison &ith images" <epresenting a path in <.M only re1uires storing
the coordinates of its anchors and handles= !9 of memory is enough to hold 1uite a
comple+ path, but not enough to hold e$en a #B+#B pi+el <G, layer" *herefore, it is 1uite
possible to ha$e literally hundreds of paths in an image &ithout putting any significant
stress of your system" 7:o& much stress managing them &ould put on +o" is, of course,
another 1uestion"8 @$en a path &ith thousands of segments consumes minimal resources
in comparison to a typical layer or channel"
Paths and 'elections
GIMP lets you transform the selection for an image into a path' it also lets you transform
paths into selections" For information about the selection and ho& it &or-s, see the
%election section"
5hen you transform a selection into a path, the path closely follo&s the "marc'ing ants""
No&, the selection is a t&o(dimensional entity, but a path is a one(dimensional entity, so
there is no &ay to transform the selection into a path &ithout losing information" In fact,
any information about partially selected areas 7i"e", feathering8 &ill be lost &hen the
selection is turned into a path" If the path is transformed bac- into a selection, the result
is an all(or(none selection, similar to &hat &ould be obtained by e+ecuting F%harpenF from
the %elect menu"
Paths and Te5t

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. te+t item created using the *e+t tool can be transformed into a path using the )reate
path from te+t button in the *ool 3ptions for the *e+t tool" *his can be useful for se$eral
purposes, including=
" %tro-ing the path, &hich gi$es you many possibilities for fancy te+t"
" More importantly, transforming the te+t" )on$erting te+t into a path, then
transforming the path, and finally either stro-ing the path or con$erting it to a
selection and filling it, often leads to much higher(1uality results than rendering the
te+t as a layer and transforming the pi+el data"
Paths and '9G )iles
%G, standing for "Sca)a%)e 9ector .rap'ics", is an increasingly popular file format for
1ector grap'ics, in &hich graphical elements are represented in a resolution(independent
format, in contrast to raster grap'ics' in &hich graphical elements are represented as
arrays of pi+els" GIMP is mainly a raster graphics program, but paths are $ector entities"
Fortunately, paths are represented in %G files in almost e+actly the same &ay they are
represented in GIMP" 7.ctually fortune has nothing to do &ith it= GIMP4s path handling &as
re&ritten for GIMP #"B &ith %G paths in mind"8 *his compatibility ma-es it possible to
store GIMP paths as %G files &ithout losing any information" ;ou can access this
capability in the Paths dialog"
It also means that GIMP can create paths from %G files sa$ed in other programs, such as
In-scape or %odipodi, t&o popular open(source $ector graphics applications" *his is nice
because those programs ha$e much more po&erful path(manipulation tools than GIMP
does" ;ou can import a path from an %G file using the Paths dialog"
*he %G format handles many other graphical elements than 2ust paths= among other
things, it handles figures such as s1uares, rectangles, circles, ellipses, regular polygons,
etc" GIMP #"B cannot do anything &ith these entities, but GIMP #"# can load them as
paths"
)reating paths is not the only thing GIMP can do &ith %G files" It can also open %G files
as GIMP images, in the usual &ay"
1rushes

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. %r"s' is a pi+map or set of pi+maps used for painting" GIMP includes a set of !B Fpaint
toolsF, &hich not only perform operations that you &ould thin- of as painting, but also
operations such as erasing, copying, smudging, lightening or dar-ening, etc" .ll of the
paint tools, e+cept the in- tool, use the same set of brushes" *he brush pi+maps
represent the mar-s that are made by single FtouchesF of the brush to the image" . brush
stro-e, usually made by mo$ing the pointer across the image &ith the mouse button held
do&n, produces a series of mar-s spaced along the tra2ectory, in a &ay specified by the
characteristics of the brush and the paint tool being used"
,rushes can be selected by clic-ing on an icon in the ,rushes dialog" GIMP4s c"rrent
%r"s' is sho&n in the ,rush/Pattern/Gradient area of the *oolbo+" )lic-ing on the brush
symbol there is one &ay of acti$ating the ,rushes dialog"
5hen you install GIMP, it comes presupplied &ith a number of basic brushes, plus a fe&
bi>arre ones that ser$e mainly to gi$e you e+amples of &hat is possible 7i" e", the Fgreen
pepperF brush in the illustration8" ;ou can also create ne& brushes, or do&nload them and
install them so that GIMP &ill recogni>e them"
GIMP can use se$eral different types of brushes" .ll of them, ho&e$er, are used in the
same &ay, and for most purposes you don4t need to be a&are of the differences &hen
you paint &ith them" :ere are the a$ailable types of brushes=
3ne category that GIMP does not ha$e is full(fledged proced"ra) brushes= brushes &hose
mar-s are calculated procedurally, instead of being ta-en from a fi+ed pi+map" 7.ctually
this is not 1uite correct= the In- tool uses a procedural brush, but it is the only one
a$ailable in GIMP"8 . more e+tensi$e implementation of procedural brushes is a goal of
future de$elopment for GIMP"
In addition to the brush pi+map, each GIMP brush has one other important property= the
brush Spacing" *his represents the distance bet&een consecuti$e brush(mar-s &hen a
continuous brushstro-e is painted" @ach brush has an assigned default $alue for this,
&hich can be modified using the ,rushes dialog"
Gradients
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. gradient is a set of colors arranged in a linear order" *he most basic use of gradients is
by the ,lend tool, sometimes -no&n as the "gradient too)" or "gradient 4i)) too)"= it &or-s
by filling the selection &ith colors from a gradient" ;ou ha$e many options to choose from
for controlling the &ay the gradient colors are arranged &ithin the selection" *here are
also other important &ays to use gradients, including=
5hen you install GIMP, it comes presupplied &ith a large number of interesting gradients,
and you can add ne& ones that you create or do&nload from other sources" ;ou can
access the full set of a$ailable gradients using the Gradients dialog, a doc-able dialog
that you can either acti$ate &hen you need it, or -eep around as a tab in a doc-" *he
"c"rrent gradient", used in most gradient(related operations, is sho&n in the
,rush/Pattern/Gradient area of the *oolbo+" )lic-ing on the gradient symbol in the *oolbo+
is an alternati$e &ay of bringing up the Gradients dialog"

. fe& useful things to -no& about GIMP4s gradients=
" *he first four gradients in the list are special= they use the Foreground and
,ac-ground colors from the *oolbo+ )olor .rea, instead of being fi+ed" FG to ,G
7<G,8 is the <G, representation of the gradient from the Foreground color to the
,ac-ground color in *oolbo+" FG to ,G 7:% counter(cloc-&ise8 represents the hue
succession in )olor )ircle from the selected hue to 0GBQ" FG to ,G 7:% cloc-&ise
represents the hue succession in )olor )ircle from the selected hue to BQ" 5ith FG to
transparent , the selected hue becomes more and more transparent" ;ou can modify
these colors by using the )olor %elector" *hus, by altering the foreground and
bac-ground colors, you can ma-e these gradients transition smoothly bet&een any
t&o colors you &ant"
" Gradients can in$ol$e not 2ust color changes, but also changes in opacity" %ome of
the gradients are completely opa1ue' others include transparent or translucent
parts" 5hen you fill or paint &ith a non(opa1ue gradient, the e+isting contents of the
layer &ill sho& through behind it"
" ;ou can create ne& c"stom gradients, using the Gradient @ditor" ;ou cannot modify
the gradients that are supplied &ith GIMP, but you can duplicate them or create ne&
ones, and then edit those"
*he gradients that are supplied &ith GIMP are stored in a system gradients folder" ,y
default, gradients that you create are stored in a folder called gradients in your personal
GIMP directory" .ny gradient files 7ending &ith the e+tension .ggr8 found in one of these
folders, &ill automatically be loaded &hen you start GIMP" ;ou can add more directories to
the gradient search path, if you &ant to, in the Gradients tab of the Data Folders pages of
the Preferences dialog"
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Ne& in GIMP #"# is the ability to load gradient files in %G format, used by many $ector
graphics programs" *o ma-e GIMP load an %G gradient file, all you need to do is place it
in the gradients folder of your personal GIMP directory, or any other folder in your
gradient search path"
;ou can find a large number of interesting %G gradients on the &eb, in particular at
3pen)lip.rt Gradients " ;ou &on4t be able to see &hat these gradients loo- li-e unless
your bro&ser supports %G, but that &on4t pre$ent you from do&nloading them"
Patterns
. pattern is an image, usually small, used for filling regions by ti)ing, that is, by placing
copies of the pattern side by side li-e ceramic tiles" . pattern is said to be ti)ea%)e if
copies of it can be ad2oined left(edge(to(right(edge and top(edge(to(bottom(edge &ithout
creating ob$ious seams" Not all useful patterns are tileable, but tileable patterns are
nicest for many purposes" 7. te#t"re, by the &ay, is the same thing as a pattern"8

In GIMP there are three main uses for patterns=
" 5ith the ,uc-et Fill tool, you can choose to fill a region &ith a pattern instead of a
solid color"
" 5ith the )lone tool, you can paint using a pattern, &ith a &ide $ariety of paintbrush
shapes"
" 5hen you stro0e a path or selection, you can do it &ith a pattern instead of a solid
color" ;ou can also use the )lone tool as your choice if you stro-e the selection using
a painting tool"
Note= Patterns do not need to be opa1ue" If you fill or paint using a pattern &ith
translucent or transparent areas, then the pre$ious contents of the area &ill sho& through
from behind it" *his is one of many &ays of doing "o1er)a+s" in GIMP"
5hen you install GIMP, it comes presupplied &ith a fe& do>en patterns, &hich seem to
ha$e been chosen more or less randomly" ;ou can also add ne& patterns, either ones you
create yourself, or ones you do&nload from the $ast number a$ailable online"
GIMP4s c"rrent pattern, used in most pattern(related operations, is sho&n in the
,rush/Pattern/Gradient area of the *oolbo+" )lic-ing on the pattern symbol brings up the
Patterns dialog, &hich allo&s you to select a different pattern" ;ou can also access the
Patterns dialog by menu, or doc- it so that it is present continuously"
*o add a ne& pattern to the collection, so that it sho&s up in the Patterns dialog, you need
to sa$e it in a format GIMP can use, in a folder included in GIMP4s pattern search path"
*here are se$eral file formats you can use for patterns=
*o ma-e a pattern a$ailable, you place it in one of the folders in GIMP4s pattern search
path" ,y default, the pattern search path includes t&o folders, the system patterns
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folder, &hich you should not use or alter, and the patterns folder inside your personal
GIMP directory" ;ou can add ne& folders to the pattern search path using the Pattern
Folders page of the Preferences dialog" .ny P.* file 7or, in GIMP #"#, any of the other
acceptable formats8 included in a folder in the pattern search path &ill sho& up in the
Patterns dialog the ne+t time you start GIMP"
*here are countless &ays of creating interesting patterns in GIMP, using the &ide $ariety
of a$ailable tools and filters (( particularly the rendering filters" ;ou can find tutorials for
this in many locations, including the Gimp home page" %ome of the filters ha$e options
that allo& you to ma-e their results tileable" .lso, the *ileable ,lur filter allo&s you to
blend the edges of an image in order to ma-e it more smoothly tileable"

.lso of interest are a set of pattern(generating scripts that come &ith GIMP= you can find
them in the *oolbo+ menu, under 6tns %cript(Fu Patterns " @ach of the scripts creates a
ne& image filled &ith a particular type of pattern= a dialog pops up that allo&s you to set
parameters controlling the details of the appearance" %ome of these patterns are most
useful for cutting and pasting' others ser$e best as bumpmaps"
Palettes
. pa)ette is a set of discrete colors" In GIMP, palettes are used mainly for t&o purposes=
" *hey allo& you to paint &ith a selected set of colors, in the same &ay an oil painter
&or-s &ith colors from a limited number of tubes"
" *hey form the colormaps of inde+ed images" .n inde+ed image can use a ma+imum
of #AG different colors, but these can be any colors" *he colormap of an inde+ed
image is called an Finde+ed paletteF in GIMP"
.ctually neither of these functions fall $ery much into the mainstream of GIMP usage= it is
possible to do rather sophisticated things in GIMP &ithout e$er dealing &ith palettes" %till,
they are something that an ad$anced user should understand, and e$en a less ad$anced
user may need to thin- about them in some situations, as for e+ample &hen &or-ing &ith
GIF files"

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5hen you install GIMP, it comes supplied &ith se$eral do>en predefined palettes, and you
can also create ne& ones" %ome of the predefined palettes are commonly useful, such as
the "We%" palette, &hich contains the set of colors considered "we% sa4e"' many of the
palettes seem to ha$e been chosen more or less &himsically" ;ou can access all of the
a$ailable palettes using the Palettes dialog" *his is also the starting point if you &ant to
create a ne& palette"

Double(clic-ing on a palette in the Palettes dialog brings up the Palette @ditor, sho&ing
the colors from the palette you clic-ed on" ;ou can use this to paint &ith the palette=
clic-ing on a color sets GIMP4s foreground to that color, as sho&n in the )olor .rea of the
*oolbo+" :olding do&n the )trl -ey &hile clic-ing, on the other hand, sets GIMP4s
bac-ground color to the color you clic- on"
;ou can also, as the name implies, use the Palette @ditor to change the colors in a palette,
so long as it is a palette that you ha$e created yourself" ;ou cannot edit the palettes that
are supplied &ith GIMP' ho&e$er you can duplicate them and then edit the copies"
5hen you create palettes using the Palette @ditor, they are automatically sa$ed as soon
as you e+it GIMP, in the palettes folder of your personal GIMP directory" .ny palette files
in this directory, or in the system palettes directory created &hen GIMP is installed, are
automatically loaded and sho&n in the Palettes dialog the ne+t time you start GIMP" ;ou
can also add other folders to the palette search path using the Palette Folders page of the
Preferences dialog"
GIMP palettes are stored using a special file format, in files &ith the e+tension .gpl" It is a
$ery simple format, and they are .%)II files, so if you happen to obtain palettes from
another source, and &ould li-e to use them in GIMP, it probably &on4t be $ery hard to
con$ert them= 2ust ta-e a loo- at any .gpl and you &ill see &hat to do"
Colormap
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)onfusingly, GIMP ma-es use of t&o types of palettes" *he more noticeable are the type
sho&n in the Palettes dialog= palettes that e+ist independently of any image" *he second
type, inde#ed pa)ettes, form the colormaps of inde+ed images" @ach inde+ed image has
its o&n pri$ate inde+ed palette, defining the set of colors a$ailable in the image= the
ma+imum number of colors allo&ed in an inde+ed palette is #AG" *hese palettes are
called "inde#ed" because each color is associated &ith an inde+ number" 7.ctually, the
colors in ordinary palettes are numbered as &ell, but the numbers ha$e no functional
significance"8

*he colormap of an inde+ed image is sho&n in the Inde+ed Palette dialog , &hich should
not be confused &ith the Palettes dialog" *he Palettes dialog sho&s a list of all of the
palettes a$ailable' the )olormap dialog sho&s the colormap of the currently acti$e image,
if it is an inde+ed image ( other&ise it sho&s nothing"
;ou can, ho&e$er, create an ordinary palette from the colors in an inde+ed image(((
actually from the colors in any image" *o do this, choose Import Palette from the right(
clic- popup menu in the Palettes dialog= this pops up a dialog that gi$es you se$eral
options, including the option to import the palette from an image" 7;ou can also import
any of GIMP4s gradients as a palette"8 *his possibility becomes important if you &ant to
create a set of inde+ed images that all use the same set of colors"
5hen you con$ert an image into inde+ed mode, a ma2or part of the process is the
creation of an inde+ed palette for the image" :o& this happens is described in detail in "
,riefly, you ha$e se$eral methods to choose from, one of &hich is to use a specified
palette from the Palettes dialog"
*hus, to sum up the foregoing, ordinary palettes can be turned into inde+ed palettes
&hen you con$ert an image into inde+ed mode' inde+ed palettes can be turned into
ordinary palettes by importing them into the Palettes dialog"
Te5t and !onts

3ne of the greatest impro$ements of GIMP #"B o$er GIMP !"# is in the handling of te+t" In
GIMP #"B and #"#, each te+t item goes in a separate *e+t layer, and you can come bac-
later to the layer and edit the te+t in it" ;ou can also mo$e the te+t around in the image,
or change the font, or the font si>e" ;ou can use any font a$ailable on your system" ;ou
can control 2ustification, indentation, and line spacing"
.ctually, you can operate on a te+t layer in the same &ays as any other layer, but doing
so often means gi$ing up the ability to edit the te+t &ithout losing the results of your
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&or-"

*o understand some of the idiosyncrasies of te+t handling, it may help for you to reali>e
that a te+t layer contains more information than the pi+el data that you see= it also
contains a representation of the te+t in a te+t(editor format" ;ou can see this in the te+t(
editor &indo& that pops up &hile you are using the *e+t tool" @$ery time you alter the
te+t, the image layer is redra&n to reflect your changes"
No& suppose you create a te+t layer, and then operate on it in some &ay that does not
in$ol$e the *e+t tool= rotate it, for e+ample" %uppose you then come bac- and try to edit it
using the *e+t tool" .s soon as you edit the te+t, the *e+t tool &ill redra& the layer, &iping
out the results of the operations you performed in the meantime"
,ecause this danger is not ob$ious, the *e+t tool tries to protect you from it" If you
operate on a te+t layer, and then later try to edit the te+t, a message pops up, &arning
you that your alterations &ill be undone, and gi$ing you three options= 7!8 edit the te+t
any&ay' 7#8 cancel' 708 create a ne& te+t layer &ith the same te+t as the e+isting layer,
lea$ing the e+isting layer unchanged"
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Chapter
Getting Unstuc7
revhistory:
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'tuc7:
.ll right, o-ay= you4re stuc-" ;ou4re trying to use one of the tools on an image, and nothing
is happening, and nothing you try ma-es any difference" ;our fists are starting to clench,
and your face is starting to feel &arm" .re you going to ha$e to -ill the program, and lose
all your &or-P *his suc-sD
5ell, hold on a second" *his happens pretty fre1uently, e$en to people &ho4$e used the
GIMP for a long time, but generally the cause is not so hard to figure out 7and fi+8 if you
-no& &hat to loo- at" Lets be calm, and go through a chec-list that &ill probably get you
GIMPing happily again"
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Common causes o) GIMP non-
responsiveness
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Chapter
Concepts )or the Intermediate
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Plugins
Introduction
3ne of the nicest things about GIMP is ho& easily its functionality can be e+tended, by
using plugins" GIMP plugins are e+ternal programs that run under the control of the main
GIMP application and interact &ith it $ery closely" Plugins can manipulate images in
almost any &ay that users can" *heir ad$antage is that it is much easier to add a
capability to GIMP by &riting a small plugin than by modifying the huge mass of comple+
code that ma-es up the GIMP core" Many $aluable plugins ha$e ) source code that only
comes to !BB(#BB lines or so"
%e$eral do>en plugins are included in the main GIMP distribution, and installed
automatically along &ith GIMP" Most of them can be accessed through the Filters menu 7in
fact, e$erything in that menu is a plugin8, but a number are located in other menus" In
many cases you can use one &ithout e$er reali>ing that it is a plugin= for e+ample, the
FNormali>eF function for automatic color correction is actually a plugin, although there is
nothing about the &ay it &or-s that &ould tell you this"
In addition to the plugins included &ith GIMP, many more are a$ailable on the net" . large
number can be found at the GIMP Plugin <egistry, a &eb site &hose purpose is to pro$ide
a central repository for plugins" )reators of plugins can upload them there' users in
search of plugins for a specific purpose can search the site in a $ariety of &ays"
.nybody in the &orld can &rite a GIMP plugin and ma-e it a$ailable o$er the &eb, either
$ia the <egistry or a personal &eb site, and many $ery $aluable plugins can be obtained
in this &ay some are described else&here in the User4s Manual" 5ith this freedom from
constraint comes a certain degree of ris-, though= the fact that anybody can do it means
that there is no effecti$e 1uality control" *he plugins distributed &ith GIMP ha$e all been
tested and tuned by the de$elopers, but many that you can do&nload &ere 2ust hac-ed
together in a fe& hours and then tossed to the &inds" %ome plugin creators 2ust don4t
care about robustness, and e$en for those &ho do, their ability to test on a $ariety of
systems in a $ariety of situations is often 1uite limited" ,asically, &hen you do&nload a
plugin, you are getting something for free, and sometimes you get e+actly &hat you pay
for" *his is not said in an attempt to discourage you, 2ust to ma-e sure you understand
reality"
Plugins, being full(fledged e+ecutable programs, can do any of the things that any other
program can do, including install bac-(doors on your system or other&ise compromise its
security" Don4t install a plugin unless it comes from a trusted source"
*hese ca$eats apply as much to the Plugin <egistry as to any other source of plugins" *he
<egistry is a$ailable to any plugin creator &ho &ants to use it= there is no systematic
o$ersight" 3b$iously if the maintainers became a&are that something e$il &as there, they
&ould remo$e it" 7*hat hasn4t happened yet"8 *here is, ho&e$er, for GIMP and its plugins
the same &arranty as for any other free soft&are= namely, none"
Plugins ha$e been a feature of GIMP for many $ersions" :o&e$er, plugins &ritten for one
$ersion of GIMP can hardly e$er be used successfully &ith other $ersions" *hey need to be
ported= sometimes this is easy, sometimes not" Many plugins are already a$ailable in
se$eral $ersions" ,ottom line= before trying to install a plugin, ma-e sure that it is &ritten
for your $ersion of GIMP"
Using Plugins
For the most part you can use a plugin li-e any other GIMP tool, &ithout needing to be
a&are that it is a plugin" ,ut there are a fe& things about plugins that are useful to
understand"
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3ne is that plugins are generally not as robust as the GIMP core" 5hen GIMP crashes, it is
considered a $ery serious thing= it can cost the user a lot of trouble and headache" 5hen
a plugin crashes, the conse1uences are usually not so serious" In most cases you can 2ust
continuing &or-ing &ithout &orrying about it"
,ecause plugins are separate programs, they communicate &ith the GIMP core in a
special &ay= *he GIMP de$elopers call it "ta)0ing o1er a wire"" 5hen a plugin crashes, the
communication brea-s do&n, and you &ill see an error message about a "wire read
error""
5hen a plugin crashes, GIMP gi$es you a $ery ominous(loo-ing message telling you that
the plugin may ha$e left GIMP in a corrupted state, and you should consider sa$ing your
images and e+iting" %trictly spea-ing, this is 1uite correct, because plugins ha$e the
po&er to alter almost anything in GIMP, but for practical purposes, e+perience has sho&n
that corruption is actually 1uite rare, and many users 2ust continue &or-ing and don4t
&orry about it" 3ur ad$ice is that you simply thin- about ho& much trouble it &ould cause
you if something &ent &rong, and &eigh it against the odds"
,ecause of the &ay plugins communicate &ith GIMP, they do not ha$e any mechanism for
being informed about changes you ma-e to an image after the plugin has been started" If
you start a plugin, and then alter the image using some other tool, the plugin &ill often
crash, and &hen it doesn4t &ill usually gi$e a bogus result" ;ou should a$oid running more
than one plugin at a time on an image, and a$oid doing anything to the image until the
plugin has finished &or-ing on it" If you ignore this ad$ice, not only &ill you probably
scre& up the image, you &ill probably scre& up the undo system as &ell, so that you
&on4t e$en be able to reco$er from your foolishness"
Installing $e% Plugins
*he plugins that are distributed &ith GIMP don4t re1uire any special installation" Plugins
that you do&nload yourself do" *here are se$eral scenarios, depending on &hat 3% you
are using and ho& the plugin is structured" In Linu+ it is usually pretty easy to install a
ne& plugin' in 5indo&s, it is either easy or $ery hard" In any case, the t&o are best
considered separately"
2inu5
Most plugins fall into t&o categories= small ones &hose source code is distributed as a
single "c file, and larger ones &hose source code is distributed as a directory containing
multiple files including a Makefile"
For a simple one(file plugin, call it borker.c, installing it is 2ust a matter of running the
command gimptool(#"B ((install bor-er"c" *his command compiles the plugin and installs it
in your personal plugin directory, ~/gimp-2.2/plugins unless you ha$e changed it" *his
&ill cause it to be loaded automatically the ne+t time you start GIMP" ;ou don4t need to be
root to do these things' in fact, you shouldn4t be" If the plugin fails to compile, &ell, be
creati$e"
3nce you ha$e installed the plugin, ho& do you acti$ate itP *he menu path is determined
by the plugin itself, so to ans&er this you need to either loo- at the documentation for the
plugin 7if there is any8, or launch the Plugin Description dialog 7from 6tns/Plugins Details8
search the plug(in by its name and loo- ot the *ree $ie& tab" If you still don4t find, finally
e+plore the menus or loo- at the source code in the <egister section (( &hiche$er is
easiest"
For more comple+ plugins, organi>ed as a directory &ith multiple files, there ought to be a
file inside called either INSTALL or README, &ith instructions" If not, the best ad$ice is to
toss the plugin in the trash and spend your time on something else= any code &ritten &ith
so little concern for the user is li-ely to be frustrating in myriad &ays"
%ome plugins 7specifically those based on the GIMP Plugin *emplate8 are designed to be
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installed in the main system GIMP directory, rather than your home directory" For these,
you &ill need to be root to perform the final stage of installation 7&hen issuing the ma-e
install command8"
If you install in your personal plugin directory a plugin that has the same name as one in
the system plugin directory, only one can be loaded, and it &ill be the one in your home
directory" ;ou &ill recei$e messages telling you this each time you start GIMP" *his is
probably a situation best a$oided"
Windo%s
5indo&s is a much more problematic en$ironment for building soft&are than Linu+" @$ery
decent Linu+ distribution comes fully supplied &ith tools for compiling soft&are, and they
are all $ery similar in the &ay they &or-, but 5indo&s does not come &ith such tools" It is
possible to set up a good soft&are(building en$ironment in 5indo&s, but it re1uires either
a substantial amount of money or a substantial amount of effort and -no&ledge"
5hat this means in relation to GIMP plugins is the follo&ing= either you ha$e an
en$ironment in &hich you can build soft&are, or you don4t" If you don4t, then your best
hope is to find a precompiled $ersion of the plugin some&here 7or persuade somebody to
compile it for you8, in &hich case you simply need to put it into your personal plugin
directory" If you do ha$e an en$ironment in &hich you can build soft&are 7&hich for
present purposes means an en$ironment in &hich you can build GIMP8, then you no doubt
already -no& 1uite a bit about these things, and 2ust need to follo& the Linu+ instructions"
If you &ould li-e to set up a build en$ironment, and are ready for the heroism in$ol$ed,
you can find a reasonably recent description of ho& to go about it in the GIMP 5i-i, at
:o&*o)ompileGimp/Microsoft5indo&s " %ince it is a 5i-i, anybody is free to edit it, so
please -eep it up to date by adding ad$ice based on your o&n e+periences"
Macintosh
5e could use some material here"
Writing Plugins
If you &ant to learn ho& to &rite a plugin, you can find plenty of help at the GIMP
De$elopers &eb site, de$eloper"gimp"org" GIMP is a comple+ program, but the
de$elopment team has made strenuous efforts to flatten the learning cur$e for plugin
&riting= there are good instructions and e+amples, and the main library that plugins use
to interface &ith GIMP 7called ")i%gimp"8 has a &ell(documented .PI" Good programmers,
learning by modifying e+isting plugins, are often able to accomplish interesting things
after 2ust a couple of days of &or-"
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Using 'cript-!u 'cripts
%cript(Fu is &hat the 5indo&s &orld &ould call FmacrosF ,ut %cript(Fu is more po&erful
than that" %cript(Fu is based on an interpreting language called %cheme, and &or-s by
using 1uerying functions to the Gimp database" ;ou can do all -inds of things &ith %cript(
Fu, but an ordinary Gimp user &ill probably use it for automating things that=
" ;ou &ant to do fre1uently"
" .re really complicated to do, and hard to remember"
<emember that you can do a &hole lot &ith %cript(Fu" *he scripts that come &ith Gimp
can be 1uite useful, but they can also ser$e as models for learning %cript(Fu, or at least as
a frame&or- and source of modification &hen you ma-e your o&n script" <ead the %cript(
Fu *utorial in the ne+t section if you &ant to learn more about ho& to ma-e scripts"
5e &ill describe some of the most useful scripts in this chapter, but &e &on4t co$er them
all" *here are simply too many scripts" %ome of the scripts are also $ery simple and you
&ill probably not need any documentation to be able to use them"
%cript(Fu 7a dialect of %cheme8 isn4t the only scripting language a$ailable for Gimp" ,ut
%cript(Fu is the only scripting language that is installed by default" 3ther a$ailable
scripting e+tensions are Perl and *cl" ;ou can do&nload and install both e+tensions at the
Gimp Plugin <egistry"
3ne of the great things about %cript(Fu is that you can share your script &ith all your
Gimp friends" *here are many scripts that come &ith Gimp by default, but there are also
$ast 1uantities of scripts that are a$ailable for do&nload all around the Internet"
If you ha$e do&nloaded a script, copy or mo$e it to your scripts directory" It can be found
in the Preferences= Folders %cripts "
Do a refresh by using @+ts %cript(Fu <efresh %cripts from the toolbo+" *he script &ill no&
appear in one of your menus" If you don4t find it, loo- for it under the root file menu
filters" If it doesn4t appear at all, something &as &rong &ith the script 7e"g" it contains
synta+ errors8"
. common error &hen you are dealing &ith %cript(Fus is that you simply bring them up
and press the 39 button" 5hen nothing happens, you probably thin- that the script is
bro-en or buggy, but there is most li-ely nothing &rong &ith it"
*hin- again" Did you really read the information in the dialog, or did you 2ust press the
buttonP If you forgot an input the script needs, or if you ga$e it the &rong input, the script
&ill fail" 3ne of the most common errors is that the font specified in the script dialog
hasn4t been installed on your system" %o please chec- the information in the dialog
before blaming the script"
*here are t&o -inds of %cript(Fus (( standalone scripts and image(dependent scripts" ;ou
&ill find the standalone $ariants under 6tns %cript(Fu *ype of %cript in the main toolbo+
menu, and the image(dependent scripts are placed under %cript(Fu *ype of %cript in the
image menu"
5e &ill not try to describe e$ery script in depth" Most %cript(Fus are $ery easy to
understand and use" .t the time of this &riting, the follo&ing types are installed by
default=
" Patterns
" 5eb page themes
" Logos
" ,uttons
" Utils
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" Ma-e ,rush
" Misc"
*hese are scripts that perform operations on an e+isting image" In many &ays they are
li-e the plug(ins in the Filters menu" *he follo&ing script groups are installed by default=
" .lchemy
" .lpha to logo
" .nimators
" Decor
" <ender
" %election
" %hado&
" %tencil 3ps
" Utils
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Chapter
Using GIMP as a 1eginner
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!iles
*he GIMP is capable of reading and &riting a large $ariety of graphics file formats" 5ith
the e+ception of GIMP4s nati$e 6)F file type, file handling is done by plug(ins" *hus, it is
relati$ely easy to e+tend GIMP to ne& file types &hen the need arises"
Not all file types are e1ually good for all purposes" *his part of the documentation should
help you understand the ad$antages and disad$antages of each type"
Creating ne% !iles
;ou can create ne& files in GIMP by using the follo&ing menuitem= File Ne& " *his opens
the )reate a ne& image dialog, &here you can modify the initial &idth and height of the
file or using the standard $alues" More information about this dialog can be found in "
*pening !iles
*here are se$eral &ays of opening an e+isting image in GIMP=
" *pen !ile
*he most ob$ious is to open it using a menu, by choosing File 3pen from either the
*oolbo+ menu or an image menu" *his brings up a File )hooser dialog, allo&ing you
to na$igate to the file and clic- on its name" *his method &or-s &ell if you -no& the
name of the file you &ant to open, and &here it is located" It is not so con$enient if
you &ant to find the file on the basis of a thumbnail"

GIMP #"# introduced a ne& File )hooser that pro$ides se$eral features to help you
na$igate 1uic-ly to the file you are loo-ing for" Perhaps the most important is the
ability to create "%oo0mar0s" for folders that you use often" ;our list of boo-mar-s
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appears on the left side of the dialog" *he ones at the top 7 "8ome", "Des0top", etc8
come automatically' the others you create using the "*dd" button at the bottom of
the list" Double(clic-ing on a boo-mar- ta-es you straight to that directory"
.t the center of the dialog appears a listing of the contents of the selected directory"
%ubdirectories are sho&n at the top of the list, files belo& them" ,y default all files in
the directory are listed, but you can restrict the listing to image files of a specific
type using the File *ype selection menu that appears beneath the directory listing"
5hen you clic- on a file entry in the listing, if it is an image file, a pre$ie& &ill
appear on the right side of the dialog, along &ith some basic information about the
properties of the image" Note that pre$ie&s are cached &hen they are generated,
and there are some things you can do that may cause a pre$ie& to be incorrect" If
you suspect that this may be happening, you can force a ne& pre$ie& to be
generated by holding do&n the )trl -ey and clic-ing in the Pre$ie& area"
3ne thing that stri-es many people &hen they first see the File 3pen dialog is that
there is no &ay to enter the name of the file using the -eyboard" .ctually this can be
done, but the feature is a bit hidden= if you type )trlL &ith the dialog focused, an
F3pen LocationF dialog pops up, &ith a space to type the file name" *his dialog is
described in more detail belo&"
In the great ma2ority of cases, if you select a file name from the list, and clic- the
"Open" button in the lo&er right corner or the dialog, GIMP &ill automatically
determine the file type for you" 3n rare occasions, mainly if the file type is unusual
and the name lac-s a meaningful e+tension, this may fail" If this happens, you can
tell GIMP specifically &hat type of file it is by e+panding the "Se)ect /i)e &+p" option
at the bottom of the dialog, and choosing an entry from the list that appears" More
commonly, though, if GIMP fails to open an image file, it is either corrupt or not in a
supported format"
" *pen 2ocation
If instead of a file name, you ha$e a U<I 7i"e", a &eb address8 for the image, you can
open it using the menu, by choosing File 3pen Location from either the *oolbo+
menu or an image menu" *his brings up a small dialog that allo&s you to enter 7or
paste8 the U<I"

" *pen (ecent
If the image is one that you pre$iously created using GIMP, perhaps the easiest &ay
to open it is from the menu, using File 3pen <ecent " *his gi$es you a scrollable list
of the images you ha$e most recently &or-ed on in, &ith icons beside them" ;ou
need only select the one you &ant, and it &ill be opened"
" !ile 1ro%ser
If you ha$e associated the file type of the image &ith GIMP, either &hen you
installed GIMP or later, then you can na$igate to the file using a file manager 7such
as Nautilus in Linu+, or 5indo&s @+plorer in 5indo&s8, and once you ha$e found it,
double(clic- on the icon" If things are set up properly, this &ill cause the image to
open in GIMP"
" 6rag and 6rop
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.lternati$ely, once you ha$e found the file, you can clic- on its icon and drag it into
the GIMP *oolbo+" 7If instead you drag it into an e+isting GIMP image, it &ill be added
to that image as a ne& layer or set of layers"8
For many applications, you can clic- on a displayed image 7a full image, not 2ust a
thumbnail8 and drag it into the GIMP toolbo+"
" Copy and Paste
For some applications, if the application gi$es you a &ay of copying the image to the
clipboard, you can then open the image in GIMP by choosing File .c1uire Paste as
Ne& from the *oolbo+ menu" %upport for this is some&hat $ariable, ho&e$er, so your
best bet is to try it and see &hether it &or-s"
" Image 1ro%ser
In Linu+, you might &ant to ta-e a loo- at a program called gthumb, an image(
management application that in se$eral &ays nicely complements GIMP" In gthumb,
you can cause an image to open in GIMP either by right(clic-ing on the icon and
selecting GIMP from among the list of options, or by dragging the icon into the GIMP
*oolbo+" %ee the gthumb home page for more information" 3ther similar applications
= g1$ie&, +n$ie&
5hen you open a file, using the File menu or any other method, GIMP needs to determine
&hat type of file it is" Unless there is no alternati$e, GIMP does not simply rely on the
e+tension 7such as F"2pgF8 to determine the file type, because e+tensions are not reliable=
they $ary from system to system' any file can be renamed to ha$e any e+tension' and
there are many reasons &hy a file name might lac- an e+tension" Instead, GIMP first tries
to recogni>e a file by e+amining its contents= most of the commonly used graphics file
formats ha$e Fmagic headersF that permit them to be recogni>ed" 3nly if the magic yields
no result does GIMP resort to using the e+tension"
'aving !iles
*here are se$eral commands for sa$ing images" . list, and information on ho& to use
them, can be found in the section co$ering the File menu"
GIMP allo&s you to sa$e the images you create in a &ide $ariety of formats" It is
important to reali>e that the only format capable of sa$ing a)) of the information in an
image, including layers, transparency, etc", is GIMP4s nati$e 6)F format" @$ery other
format preser$es some image properties and loses others" 5hen you sa$e an image,
GIMP tries to let you -no& about this, but basically it is up to you to understand the
capabilities of the format you choose"

.s stated abo$e, there is no file format, &ith the e+ception of GIMP4s nati$e 6)F format,
that is capable of storing all the data in a GIMP image" 5hen you as- to sa$e an image in
a format that &ill not completely represent it, GIMP notifies you of this, tells you &hat -ind
of information &ill be lost, and as-s you &hether you &ould li-e to Fe+portF the image in a
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form that the file type can handle" @+porting an image does not modify the image itself,
so you do not lose anything by doing this"
5hen you close an image 7possibly by 1uitting GIMP8, you are &arned if the image is
FdirtyF' that is, if it has been changed &ithout subse1uently being sa$ed" %a$ing an image
in any file format &ill cause the image to be considered Fnot dirtyF, e$en if the file format
does not represent all of the information from the image"
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6ra%ing 'imple *b;ects
In this section, you &ill learn ho& to create simple ob2ects in Gimp" It4s pretty easy once
you figure out ho& to do it" Gimp pro$ides a huge set of *ools and %hortcuts &hich most
ne& users get lost in"
6ra%ing a 'traight 2ine
Let4s begin by painting a straight line" *he easiest &ay to create a straight line is by using
your fa$orite painting tool, the mouse and the -eyboard"

)reate a ne& image" %elect your fa$orite painting tool or use the pencil, if in doubt" %elect
a foreground color, but be sure that the foreground and bac-ground colors are different"

)reate a starting point by clic-ing on the image display area &ith the left mouse button"
;our can$as should loo- similar to "

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No&, hold do&n the %hift button on your -eyboard and mo$e the mouse a&ay from the
starting point you created" ;ou4ll see a thin line indicating ho& the line &ill loo-"

If you4re satisfied &ith the direction and length of the line, clic- the left mouse button
again to finish the line" *he Gimp displays a straight line no&" If the line doesn4t appear,
chec- the foreground and bac-ground colors and be sure that you -ept the %hift -ey
pressed &hile painting" ;ou can -eep creating lines by continuing to hold the %hift -ey and
creating additional end points"
Creating a 1asic 'hape
Dra&ing shapes is not the main purpose for using GIMP" :o&e$er, you may create shapes
by either painting them using the techni1ue described in or by using the selection tools"
3f course, there are $arious other &ays to paint a shape, but &e4ll stic- to the easiest
ones here" %o, create a ne& image and chec- that the foreground and bac-ground colors
are different"

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,asic shapes li-e rectangles, triangles or ellipses, can be created using the selection
tools" *his tutorial uses a rectangular selection as an e+ample" %o, choose the rectangular
selection tool and create a ne& selection= press and hold the left mouse button &hile you
mo$e the mouse to another position in the image 7illustrated in figure 8" *he selection is
created &hen you release the mouse button" For more information about -ey modifiers
see selection tools"

.fter creating the selection, you can either create a filled or an outlined shape &ith the
foreground color of your choice" If you go for the first option, choose a foreground color
and fill the selection &ith the buc-et fill tool" If you choose the latter option, create an
outline by using the%tro-e selection menu item from the @dit menu" If you4re satisfied
&ith the result, remo$e the selection"
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Creating and Using 'elections
Moving a 'election

.fter creating a rectangular, elliptic or free selection, or &hen you are using the Magic
&and, the default mouse pointer is the mo$ing cross" )lic-(and(drag then allo&s you to
mo$e the selection and its contents, &hile the initial position remains empty"
If you only &ant to mo$e the selection border and not its contents, then press the .lt -ey
and clic-(and(drag the selection"
%ometimes the .lt -ey is used by the &indo& manager and you mo$e the image &indo&
instead of the selection" If this is the case, you ha$e t&o possibilities=
3/ %elect the mo$e tool and change the "*44ect" option"
./ *ry to use the .lt%hift or .lt)trl -eys to mo$e the selection"
Mo$ing a selection &ithout emptying its initial position is more complicated= &hile
pressing the )trl -ey, mo$e the mouse pointer a little bit, then also press the .lt -ey, then
clic-(and(drag the selection" *his can be done more easily by using the Mo$e tool in
%election mode"
Mo$ing a selection automatically creates a floating layer 7floating selection8" %ee Floating
selection " *he mouse pointer then loo-s li-e an anchor &hen it is outside of the selection"
*his means that the selection &ill be permanently anchored at the place you choose
&hen you clic- the mouse button"
.s soon as this floating selection is created in the Layer dialog 7and you can create it &ith
%election/Float8, you can use the -eyboard arro& -eys to mo$e the selection hori>ontally
or $ertically"
Creating a !ree 'election

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5hen using the lasso to select an ob2ect, some parts of the ob2ect and its pro+imity may
be incorrectly either selected or not selected" ;ou can correct these defects by pressing
the %hift or )trl -eys &hile using the lasso" :ere is ho& to do it= 5hile pressing %hift, dra&
the ne& border &ith the lasso and close the selection, including a part of the first
selection" .s soon as you release the mouse button, both selections are added together"
;ou could subtract the e+tra part of the first selection in a similar &ay by pressing )trl"
*o correct selection defects precisely, use the Muic- Mas-"
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6ialogs and 6oc7ing
Creating 6ialogs
Most doc-able dialogs can be created in more than one &ay, but all of them can be
created using the File Dialogs menu from the Main *oolbo+, or by using the .dd command
in the *ab menu from any dialog" .s a con$enience, there are also three pre(built doc-s
you can create using the File Dialogs )reate Ne& Doc- menu path from the Main *oolbo+=
?ust because you ha$e a lot of fle+ibility does not mean that all choices are e1ually good"
*here are at least t&o things &e recommend=
3/ 9eep the *ool 3ptions dialog doc-ed directly beneath the Main *oolbo+ at all times"
./ 9eep the Layers dialog around at all times, in a separate doc- from the Main
*oolbo+, &ith an Image Menu abo$e it" 7Use "S'ow Image (en"" in the dialog *ab menu
to display the Image menu if you ha$e someho& lost it"8
(emoving Tabs

If you &ant to remo$e a dialog from a doc-, there are t&o &ays you can do it" First, if you
clic- on the drag handle area and drag the dialog a&ay, releasing it someplace other than
a doc-ing bar, it &ill form a ne& doc- in its o&n right" %econd, clic-ing on the "C)ose &a%"
button 7highlighted in the figure to the right8 &ill close the frontmost dialog"
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o% to 'et <our Tile Cache
. lo& $alue for tile cache means that Gimp sends data to the dis- $ery 1uic-ly, not
ma-ing real use of the a$ailable <.M, and ma-ing the dis-s &or- for no real reason" *oo
high a $alue for tile cache, and other applications start to ha$e less system resources,
forcing them to use s&ap space, &hich also ma-es the dis-s &or- too hard' some of them
may e$en terminate or start to malfunction due lac- of <.M"
:o& do you choose a number for the *ile )ache si>eP :ere are some tips to help you
decide &hat $alue to use, as &ell as a fe& tric-s=
" *he easiest method is to 2ust forget about this and hope the default &or-s" *his &as
a usable method &hen computers had little <.M, and most people 2ust tried to ma-e
small images &ith GIMP &hile running one or t&o other applications at the same
time" If you &ant something easy and only use GIMP to ma-e screenshots and logos,
this is probably the best solution"
" If you ha$e a modern computer &ith plenty of memoryOsay, A!# M, or moreOsetting
the *ile )ache to half of your <.M &ill probably gi$e good performance for GIMP in
most situations &ithout depri$ing other applications" Probably e$en 0// of your <.M
&ould be fine"
" .s- someone to do it for you, &hich in the case of a computer ser$ing multiple users
at the same time can be a good idea= that &ay the administrator and other users do
not get mad at you for abusing the machine, nor do you get a badly underperfoming
GIMP" If it is your machine and only ser$es a single user at a gi$en time, this could
mean money, or drin-s, as price for the ser$ice"
" %tart changing the $alue a bit each time and chec- that it goes faster and faster
&ith each increase, but the system does not complain about lac- of memory" ,e
fore&arned that sometimes lac- of memory sho&s up suddenly &ith some
applications being -illed to ma-e space for the others"
" Do some simple math and calculate a $iable $alue" Maybe you &ill ha$e to tune it
later, but maybe you ha$e to tune it any&ay &ith the other pre$ious methods" .t
least you -no& &hat is happening and can get the best from your computer"
Let4s suppose you prefer the last option, and &ant to get a good $alue to start &ith" First,
you need to get some data about your computer" *his data is the amount of <.M installed
in your system, the operating system4s s&ap space a$ailable, and a general idea about
the speed of the dis-s that store the operating system4s s&ap and the directory used for
GIMP4s s&ap" ;ou do not need to do dis- tests, nor chec- the <PM of the dis-s, the thing is
to see &hich one seems clearly faster or slo&er, or &hether all are similar" ;ou can
change GIMP4s s&ap directory in the Folders page of the Preferences dialog"
*he ne+t thing to do is to see ho& much resources you re1uire for other apps you &ant to
run at the same time than GIMP" %o start all your tools and do some &or- &ith them,
e+cept GIMP of course, and chec- the usage" ;ou can use applications li-e free or top,
depending in &hat 3% and &hat en$ironment you use" *he numbers you &ant is the
memory left, including file cache" Modern Uni+ -eeps a $ery small area free, in order to be
able to -eep large file and buffer caches" Linu+4s 4ree command does the maths for you=
chec- the column that says "4ree", and the line "--: %"44ers-cac'e"" Note do&n also the
free s&ap
No& time for decisions and a bit of simple math" ,asically the concept is to decide if you
&ant to base all *ile )ache in <.M, or <.M plus operating system s&ap=
Do you change applications a lotP 3r -eep &or-ing in GIMP for a long timeP If you spend a
lot of time in GIMP, you can consider free <.M plus free s&ap as a$ailable' if not, you
need to go to the follo&ing steps" 7If you4re feeling unsure about it, chec- the follo&ing
steps"8 If you are sure you s&itch apps e$ery fe& minutes, only count the free <.M and
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2ust go to the final decision' no more things to chec-"
Does the operating system s&ap li$e in the same physical dis- as GIMP s&apP If so, add
<.M and s&ap" 3ther&ise go to the ne+t step"
Is the dis- that holds the 3% s&ap faster or the same speed as the dis- that holds the
GIMP s&apP If slo&er, ta-e only the free <.M' if faster or similar, add free <.M and s&ap"
;ou no& ha$e a number, be it 2ust the free <.M or the free <.M plus the free 3% s&ap"
<educe it a bit, to be on the safe side, and that is the *ile )ache you could use as a good
start"
.s you can see, all is about chec-ing the free resources, and decide if the 3% s&ap is
&orth using or &ill cause more problems than help"
*here are some reasons you &ant to ad2ust this $alue, though" *he basic one is changes
in your computer usage pattern, or changing hard&are" *hat could mean your
assumptions about ho& you use your computer, or the speed of it, are no longer $alid"
*hat &ould re1uire a ree$aluation of the pre$ious steps, &hich can dri$e you to a similar
$alue or a completly ne& $alue"
.nother reason to change the $alue is because it seems that GIMP runs too slo&ly, &hile
changing to other applications is fast= this means that GIMP could use more memory
&ithout impairing the other applications" 3n the other hand, if you get complaints from
other applications about not ha$ing enough memory, then it may benefit you to not let
GIMP hog so much of it"
If you decided to use only <.M and GIMP runs slo&ly, you could try increasing the $alue a
bit, but ne$er to use also all the free s&ap" If the case is the contrary, using both <.M and
s&ap, and you ha$e problems about lac- of resources, then you should decrease the
amount of <.M a$ailable to GIMP"
.nother tric- is to put the %&ap Dir on a $ery fast dis-, or on a different dis- than the one
&here most of your files reside" %preading the operating system s&ap file o$er multiple
dis-s is also a good &ay to speed things up, in general" .nd of course, you might ha$e to
buy more <.M or stop using lots of programs at the same time= you can not e+pect to edit
a poster on a computer &ith !GM, and be fast"
;ou can also chec- &hat memory re1uirements your images ha$e" *he larger the images,
and the number of undos, the more resources you need" *his is another &ay to choose a
number, but it is only good if you al&ays &or- &ith the same -ind of images, and thus the
real re1uirements do not $ary" It is also helpful to -no& if you &ill re1uire more <.M
and/or dis- space"
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Chapter
Using GIMP as an Intermediate
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Using the 8uic7mas7
3pen an image or begin a ne& document'
.cti$ate the Muic-mas- using the left(bottom button in the image &indo&" If a selection is
present the mas- is initiali>ed &ith the content of the selection'
)hoose any dra&ing tool" Paint on the Muic- Mas- using blac- color to remo$e selected
areas and &hite color to add selected areas" ;ou can use grey colors to get partially
selected areas"
;ou can also use selection tools and fill these selections &ith the ,uc-et Fill tool" *his does
not destroy the Mmas- selectionsD
*oggle off the Muic-mas- using the left(bottom button in the image &indo&= the selection
&ill be displayed &ith its marching ants"
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Creating $e% 2ayers
*here are se$eral &ays to create ne& layers in an image" :ere are the most important
ones=
" %electing Layer Ne& Layer in the image menu" *his brings up a dialog that allo&s
you to set the basic properties of the ne& layer' see the Ne& Layer dialog section for
help &ith it"
" %electing Layer Duplicate Layer in the image menu" *his creates a ne& layer, that is
a perfect copy of the currently acti$e layer, 2ust abo$e the acti$e layer"
" 5hen you "c"t" or "cop+" something, and then paste it using )trl( or @dit Paste ,
the result is a "4)oating se)ection", &hich is a sort of temporary layer" ,efore you can
do anything else, you either ha$e to anchor the floating selection to an e+isting
layer, or con$ert it into a normal layer" If you do the latter, the ne& layer &ill be
si>ed 2ust large enough to contain the pasted material"
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Paths
'tro7ing a Path

Paths do not alter the appearance of the image pi+el data unless they are stro0ed, using
@dit %tro-e Path from the image menu or the Paths dialog right(clic- menu, or the "Stro0e
Pat'" button in the *ool 3ptions dialog for the Path tool"

)hoosing "Stro0e Pat'" by any of these means brings up a dialog that allo&s you to
control the &ay the stro-ing is done" ;ou can choose from a &ide $ariety of line styles, or
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you can stro-e &ith any of the Paint tools, including unusual ones such as the )lone tool,
%mudge tool, @raser, etc"
;ou can further increase the range of stro-ing effects by stro-ing a path multiple times, or
by using lines or brushes of different &idths" *he possibilities for getting interesting
effects in this &ay are almost unlimited"
Trans)orming Paths
@ach of the *ransform tools 7<otate, %cale, Perspecti$e, etc8 can be set to act specifically
on paths, using the "*44ect" option in the tool4s *ool 3ptions dialog" *his gi$es you a
po&erful set of methods for altering the shapes of paths &ithout affecting other elements
of the image"
,y default a *ransform tool, &hen it is set to affect paths, only acts on a single path= the
acti1e pat' for the image, &hich is sho&n highlighted in the Paths dialog" ;ou can ma-e a
transformation affect more than one path, and possibly other things as &ell, using the
"trans4orm )oc0" buttons in the Paths dialog" Not only paths, but also layers and channels,
can be transform(loc-ed" If you transform one element that is transform(loc-ed, all others
&ill be transformed in the same &ay" %o, for e+ample, if you &ant to scale a layer and a
path by the same amount, clic- the transform(loc- buttons so that "c'ain" symbols
appear ne+t to the layer in the Layers dialog, and the path in the Paths dialog' then use
the %cale tool on either the layer or the path, and the other &ill automatically follo&"
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Wor7ing %ith 6igital Camera Photos
Introduction
3ne of the most common uses of the GIMP is to fi+ digital camera images that for some
reason are less than perfect" Maybe the image is o$ere+posed or undere+posed' maybe
rotated a bit' maybe out of focus= these are all common problems for &hich GIMP has
good tools" *he purpose of this chapter is to gi$e you an o$er$ie& of those tools and the
situations in &hich they are useful" ;ou &ill not find detailed tutorials here= in most cases
it is easier to learn ho& to use the tools by e+perimenting &ith them than by reading
about them" 7.lso, each tool is described more thoroughly in the :elp section de$oted to
it"8 ;ou &ill also not find anything in this chapter about the multitude of Fspecial effectsF
that you can apply to an image using GIMP" ;ou should be familiar &ith basic GIMP
concepts before reading this chapter, but you certainly don4t need to be an e+pertOif you
are, you probably -no& most of this any&ay" .nd don4t hesitate to e+periment= GIMP4s
po&erful FundoF system allo&s you to reco$er from almost any mista-e &ith a simple
)trlN"
Most commonly the things that you &ant to do to clean up an imperfect photo are of four
types= impro$ing the composition' impro$ing the colors' impro$ing the sharpness' and
remo$ing artifacts or other undesirable elements of the image"
Improving Composition
(otating an Image
It is easy, &hen ta-ing a picture, to hold the camera not 1uite perfectly $ertical, resulting
in a picture &here things are tilted at an angle" In GIMP, the &ay to fi+ this is to use the
<otate tool" .cti$ate this by clic-ing its icon in the *oolbo+, or by pressing the "2" -ey
capitali>ed8 &hile inside the image" Ma-e sure the *ool 3ptions are $isible, and at the top,
ma-e sure for "*44ect" that the left button 7"&rans4orm La+er"8 is selected" If you then
clic- the mouse inside the image and drag it, you &ill see a grid appear that rotates as
you drag" 5hen the grid loo-s right, clic- rotate or press the enter -ey, and the image &ill
be rotated"
No& as a matter of fact, it isn4t so easy to get things right by this method= you often find
that things are better but not 1uite perfect" 3ne solution is to rotate a bit more, but there
is a disad$antage to that approach" @ach time you rotate an image, because the rotated
pi+els don4t line up precisely &ith the original pi+els, the image ine$itably gets blurred a
little bit" For a single rotation, the amount of blurring is 1uite small, but t&o rotations
cause t&ice as much blurring as one, and there is no reason to blur things more than you
ha$e to" . better alternati$e is to undo the rotation and then do another, ad2usting the
angle"
Fortunately, GIMP pro$ides another &ay of doing it that is considerably easier to use= in
the <otate *ool 3ptions, for the *ransform Direction you can select F,ac-&ard
7)orrecti$e8F" 5hen you do this, instead of rotating the grid to compensate for the error,
you can rotate it to )ine "p &ith the error" If this seems confusing, try it and you &ill see
that it is 1uite straightfor&ard"
Note= Ne& in GIMP #"# is the option to pre$ie& the results of transformations, instead of
2ust seeing a grid" *his ma-es it easier to get things right on the first try"
.fter you ha$e rotated an image, there &ill be unpleasant triangular FholesF at the
corners" 3ne &ay to fi+ them is to create a bac-ground that fills the holes &ith some
unobtrusi$e or neutral color, but usually a better solution is to crop the image" *he
greater the rotation, the more cropping is re1uired, so it is best to get the camera aligned
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as &ell as possible &hen you ta-e the picture in the first place"
Cropping
5hen you ta-e a picture &ith a digital camera, you ha$e some control o$er &hat gets
included in the image but often not as much as you &ould li-e= the result is images that
could benefit from trimming" ,eyond this, it is often possible to enhance the impact of an
image by trimming it so that the most important elements are placed at -ey points" . rule
of thumb, not al&ays to be follo&ed but good to -eep in mind, is the "r")e o4 t'irds",
&hich says that ma+imum impact is obtained by placing the center of interest one(third of
the &ay across the image, both &idth&ise and height&ise"
*o crop an image, acti$ate the )rop tool in the *oolbo+, or by pressing the "C" -ey
7capitali>ed8 &hile inside the image" 5ith the tool acti$e, clic-ing and dragging in the
image &ill s&eep out a crop rectangle" It &ill also pop up a dialog that allo&s you to
ad2ust the dimensions of the crop region if they aren4t 1uite right" 5hen e$erything is
perfect, hit the )rop button in the dialog"
Improving Colors
Automated Tools
In spite of sophisticated e+posure(control systems, pictures ta-en &ith digital cameras
often come out o$er( or under(e+posed, or &ith color casts due to imperfections in
lighting" GIMP gi$es you a $ariety of tools to correct colors in an image, ranging to
automated tools that run &ith a simple button(clic- to highly sophisticated tools that gi$e
you many parameters of control" 5e &ill start &ith the simplest first"
GIMP gi$es you fi$e automated color correction tools" Unfortunately they don4t usually
gi$e you 1uite the results you are loo-ing for, but they only ta-e a moment to try out, and
if nothing else they often gi$e you an idea of some of the possibilities inherent in the
image" @+cept for F.uto Le$elsF, you can find them in the Layer menu, by follo&ing the
menu path Layer )olors .uto in the image menu"
:ere they are, &ith a fe& &ords about each=
*hose are the automated color ad2ustments= if you find that none of them 1uite does the
2ob for you, it is time to try one of the interacti$e color tools" .ll of these, e+cept one, can
be accessed $ia *ools(R)olor *ools in the image menu" .fter you select a color tool, clic-
on the image 7any&here8 to acti$ate it and bring up its dialog"
+5posure Problems
*he simplest tool to use is the ,rightness/)ontrast tool" It is also the least po&erful, but in
many cases it does e$erything you need" *his tool is often useful for images that are
o$ere+posed or undere+posed' it is not useful for correcting color casts" *he tool gi$es
you t&o sliders to ad2ust, for ",rig'tness" and "Contrast"" If you ha$e the option
"Pre1iew" chec-ed 7and almost certainly you should8,you &ill see any ad2ustments you
ma-e reflected in the image" 5hen you are happy &ith the results, press 3-ay and they
&ill ta-e effect" If you can4t get results that you are happy &ith, press )ancel and the
image &ill re$ert to its pre$ious state"
. more sophisticated, and only slightly more difficult, &ay of correcting e+posure
problems is to use the Le$els tool" *he dialog for this tool loo-s $ery complicated, but for
the basic usage &e ha$e in mind here, the only part you need to deal &ith is the "Inp"t
Le1e)s" area, specifically the three triangular sliders that appear belo& the histogram" 5e
refer you to the Le$els *ool :elp for instructions' but actually the easiest &ay to learn ho&
to use it is to e+periment by mo$ing the three sliders around, and &atching ho& the
image is affected" 7Ma-e sure that "Pre1iew" is chec-ed at the bottom of the dialog"8
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. $ery po&erful &ay of correcting e+posure problems is to use the C"r1es tool" *his tool
allo&s you to clic- and drag control points on a cur$e, in order to create a function
mapping input brightness le$els to output brightness le$els" *he )ur$es tool can replicate
any effect you can achie$e &ith ,rightness/)ontrast or the Le$els tool, so it is more
po&erful than either of them" 3nce again, &e refer you to the )ur$es *ool :elp for
detailed instructions, but the easiest &ay to learn ho& to use it is by e+perimenting"
*he most po&erful approach to ad2usting brightness and contrast across an image, for
more e+pert GIMP users, is to create a ne& layer abo$e the one you are &or-ing on, and
then in the Layers dialog set the Mode for the upper layer to "(")tip)+"" *he ne& layer
then ser$es as a "gain contro)" layer for the layer belo& it, &ith &hite yielding ma+imum
gain and blac- yielding a gain of >ero" *hus, by painting on the ne& layer, you can
selecti$ely ad2ust the gain for each area of the image, gi$ing you $ery fine control" ;ou
should try to paint only &ith smooth gradients, because sudden changes in gain &ill gi$e
rise to spurious edges in the result" Paint only using shades of gray, not colors, unless you
&ant to produce color shifts in the image"
.ctually, "(")tip)+" is not the only mode that is useful for gain control" In fact, "(")tip)+"
mode can only dar-en parts of an image, ne$er lighten them, so it is only useful &here
some parts of an image are o$ere+posed" Using "Di1ide" mode has the opposite effect= it
can brighten areas of an image but not dar-en them" :ere is a tric- that is often useful for
bringing out the ma+imum amount of detail across all areas of an image=
Duplicate the layer 7producing a ne& layer abo$e it8"
Desaturate the ne& layer"
.pply a Gaussian blur to the result, &ith a large radius 7!BB or more8"
%et Mode in the Layers dialog to Di$ide"
)ontrol the amount of correction by ad2usting opacity in the Layers dialog, or by using
,rightness/)ontrast, Le$els, or )ur$es tools on the ne& layer"
5hen you are happy &ith the result, you can use Merge Do&n to combine the control
layer and the original layer into a single layer"
In addition to "(")tip)+" and "Di1ide", you may e$ery so often get useful effects &ith other
layer combination modes, such as "Dodge", ","rn", or "So4t Lig't"" It is all too easy,
though, once you start playing &ith these things, to loo- a&ay from the computer for a
moment and suddenly find that you ha$e 2ust spent an hour t&iddling parameters" ,e
&arned= the more options you ha$e, the harder it is to ma-e a decision"
Ad;usting ue and 'aturation
In our e+perience, if your image has a color cast(((too much red, too much blue, etc(((the
easiest &ay to correct it is to use the Le$els tool, ad2usting le$els indi$idually on the red,
green, and blue channels" If this doesn4t &or- for you, it might be &orth your &hile to try
the )olor ,alance tool or the )ur$es tool, but these are much more difficult to use
effecti$ely" 7*hey are $ery good for creating certain types of special effects, though"8
%ometimes it is hard to tell &hether you ha$e ad2usted colors ade1uately" . good,
ob2ecti$e techni1ue is to find a point in the image that you -no& should be either &hite or
a shade of gray" .cti$ate the )olor Pic-er tool 7the eyedropper symbol in the *oolbo+8, and
clic- on the aforesaid point= this brings up the )olor Pic-er dialog" If the colors are
correctly ad2usted, then the red, green, and blue components of the reported color should
all be e1ual' if not, then you should see &hat sort of ad2ustment you need to ma-e" *his
techni1ue, &hen &ell used, allo&s e$en color(blind people to color(correct an image"
If your image is &ashed out(((&hich can easily happen &hen you ta-e pictures in bright
light(((try the :ue/%aturation tool, &hich gi$es you three sliders to manipulate, for :ue,
Lightness, and %aturation" <aising the saturation &ill probably ma-e the image loo-
better" In same cases it is useful to ad2ust the lightness at the same time" 7 "Lig'tness"
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here is similar to ",rig'tness" in the ,rightness/)ontrast tool, e+cept that they are formed
from different combinations of the red, green, and blue channels"8 *he :ue/%aturation
tool gi$es you the option of ad2usting restricted subranges of colors 7using the buttons at
the top of the dialog8, but if you &ant to get natural(loo-ing colors, in most cases you
should a$oid doing this"
@$en if an image does not seemed &ashed out, often you can increase its impact by
pushing up the saturation a bit" eterans of the film era sometimes call this tric-
"/";i4+ing", after Fu2ichrome film, &hich is notorious for producing highly saturated prints"
5hen you ta-e pictures in lo& light conditions, in some cases you ha$e the opposite
problem= too much saturation" In this case too the :ue/%aturation tool is a good one to
use, only by reducing the saturation instead of increasing it"
Ad;usting 'harpness
Unblurring
If the focus on the camera is not set perfectly, or the camera is mo$ing &hen the picture
is ta-en, the result is a blurred image" If there is a lot of blurring, you probably &on4t be
able to do much about it &ith any techni1ue, but if there is only a moderate amount, you
should be able to impro$e the image"
*he most generally useful techni1ue for sharpening a fu>>y image is called the Unsharp
Mas-" In spite of the rather confusing name, &hich deri$es from its origins as a techni1ue
used by film de$elopers, its result is to ma-e the image sharper, not ""ns'arp"" It is a
plug(in, and you can access it as Filters(R@nhance(RUnsharp Mas- in the image menu"
*here are t&o parameters, "2adi"s" and "*mo"nt"" *he default $alues often &or- pretty
&ell, so you should try them first" Increasing either the radius or the amount increases
the strength of the effect" Don4t get carried a&ay, though= if you ma-e the unsharp mas-
too strong, it &ill amplify noise in the image and also gi$e rise to $isible artifacts &here
there are sharp edges"
%ometimes using Unsharp Mas- can cause color distortion &here there are strong
contrasts in an image" 5hen this happens, you can often get better results by
decomposing the image into separate :ue(%aturation(alue 7:%8 layers, and running
Unsharp Mas- on the alue layer only, then recomposing" *his &or-s because the human
eye has much finer resolution for brightness than for color" %ee the sections on
Decompose and )ompose for more information"
Ne+t to FUnsharp Mas-F in the Filters menu is another filter called %harpen, &hich does
similar things" It is a little easier to use but not nearly as effecti$e= our recommendation is
that you ignore it and go straight to Unsharp Mas-"
In some situations, you may be able to get useful results by selecti$ely sharpening
specific parts of an image using the ,lur or %harpen tool from the *oolbo+, in F%harpenF
mode" *his allo&s you to increase the sharpness in areas by painting o$er them &ith any
paintbrush" ;ou should be restrained about this, though, or the results &ill not loo- $ery
natural= sharpening increases the apparent sharpness of edges in the image, but also
amplifies noise"
(educing Graininess
5hen you ta-e pictures in lo&(light conditions or &ith a $ery fast e+posure time, the
camera does not get enough data to ma-e good estimates of the true color at each pi+el,
and conse1uently the resulting image loo-s grainy" ;ou can "smoot' o"t" the graininess
by blurring the image, but then you &ill also lose sharpness" *here are a couple of
approaches that may gi$e better results" Probably the best, if the graininess is not too
bad, is to use the filter called %electi$e ,lur, setting the blurring radius to ! or # pi+els"
*he other approach is to use the Despec-le filter" *his has a nice pre$ie&, so you can play
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&ith the settings and try to find some that gi$e good results" 5hen graininess is really
bad, though, it is often $ery difficult to fi+ by anything e+cept heroic measures 7i"e",
retouching &ith paint tools8"
'o)tening
@$ery so often you ha$e the opposite problem= an image is too crisp" *he solution is to
blur it a bit= fortunately blurring an image is much easier than sharpening it" %ince you
probably don4t &ant to blur it $ery much, the simplest method is to use the ",)"r" plug(in,
accessed $ia Filters(R,lur(R,lur from the image menu" *his &ill soften the focus of the
image a little bit" If you &ant more softening, 2ust repeat until you get the result you
desire"
(emoving Un%anted *b;ects )rom an Image
*here are t&o -inds of ob2ects you might &ant to remo$e from an image= first, artifacts
caused by 2un- such as dust or hair on the lens' second, things that &ere really present
but impair the 1uality of the image, such as a telephone &ire running across the edge of a
beautiful mountain landscape"
6espec7ling
. good tool for remo$ing dust and other types of lens grunge is the Despec-le filter,
accessed as Filters(R@nhance(RDespec-le from the image menu" ery important= to use
this filter effecti$ely, you must begin by ma-ing a small selection containing the artifact
and a small area around it" *he selection must be small enough so that the artifact pi+els
are statistically distinguishable from the other pi+els inside the selection" If you try to run
despec-le on the &hole image, you &ill hardly e$er get anything useful" 3nce you ha$e
created a reasonable selection, acti$ate Despec-le, and &atch the pre$ie& as you ad2ust
the parameters" If you are luc-y, you &ill be able to find a setting that remo$es the 2un-
&hile minimally affecting the area around it" *he more the 2un- stands out from the area
around it, the better your results are li-ely to be" If it isn4t &or-ing for you, it might be
&orth&hile to cancel the filter, create a different selection, and then try again"
If you ha$e more than one artifact in the image, it is necessary to use Despec-le on each
indi$idually"
Garbage (emoval
*he most useful method for remo$ing un&anted "c)"tter" from an image is the )lone tool,
&hich allo&s you to paint o$er one part of an image using pi+el data ta-en from another
part 7or e$en from a different image8" *he tric- to using the clone tool effecti$ely is to be
able to find a different part of the image that can be used to "cop+ o1er" the un&anted
part= if the area surrounding the un&anted ob2ect is $ery different from the rest of the
image, you &on4t ha$e much luc-" For e+ample, if you ha$e a lo$ely beach scene, &ith a
nasty human &al-ing across the beach &ho you &ould li-e to teleport a&ay, you &ill
probably be able to find an empty part of the beach that loo-s similar to the part he is
&al-ing across, and use it to clone o$er him" It is 1uite astonishing ho& natural the results
can loo- &hen this techni1ue &or-s &ell"
)onsult the )lone *ool :elp for more detailed instructions" )loning is as much an art as a
science, and the more you practice at it, the better you &ill get" .t first it may seem
impossible to produce anything e+cept ugly blotches, but persistence &ill pay off"
In some cases you may be able to get good results by simply cutting out the offending
ob2ect from the image, and then using a plug(in called "2es+nt'esi6er" to fill in the $oid"
*his plug(in is not included &ith the main GIMP distribution, but it can be obtained from
the author4s <esynthesi>er &eb site" .s &ith many things, your mileage may $ary"
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(emoving (ed-eye
5hen you ta-e a flash picture of somebody &ho is loo-ing directly to&ard the camera, the
iris of the eye can bounce the light of the flash bac- to&ard the camera in such a &ay as
to ma-e the eye appear bright red= this effect is called "red e+e", and loo-s $ery bi>arre"
Many modern cameras ha$e special flash modes that minimi>e red(eye, but they only
&or- if you use them, and e$en then they don4t al&ays &or- perfectly" Interestingly, the
same effect occurs &ith animals, but the eyes may sho& up as other colors, such as
green"
GIMP does not include a special tool for remo$ing red(eye, but it isn4t all that hard to do"
,asically the idea is to >oom the area around the eye so that it is nice and large and easy
to &or- &ith' then ma-e a selection of the red part of the eye and a bit of the area around
it' feather the selection so that you don4t create sharp(loo-ing edges' and finally
desaturate the red channel inside the selection using one of the color tools(((Le$els,
)ur$es, or :ue/%aturation" It ta-es a little practice the first fe& times, but once you ha$e
the techni1ue mastered, you should be able to 1uic-ly and easily create 1uite a natural
loo-ing eye color"
If you &ould li-e a more automated approach, you can try do&nloading a recently created
redeye plug(in from the GIMP Plug(in <egistry" 5e ha$e not recei$ed any feedbac- so far
about ho& &ell it &or-s" It comes in source code form, so you &ill need to be able compile
it in order to use it" 7%ee Installing Ne& Plug(ins for information on ho& to do this"8
'aving <our (esults
!iles
5hat file format should you use to sa$e the results of your &or-, and should you resi>e itP
*he ans&ers depend on &hat you intend to use the image for"
" If you intend to open the image in GIMP again for further &or-, you should sa$e it in
GIMP4s nati$e 6)F format 7i" e", name it something"+cf8, because this is the only
format that guarantees that none of the information in the image is lost"
" If you intend to print the image on paper, you should a$oid shrin-ing the image,
e+cept by cropping it" *he reason is that printers are capable of achie$ing much
higher dot resolutions than $ideo monitors(((GBB to !/BB dots per inch for typical
printers, as compared to H# to !BB dots per inch for monitors" . 0BBB + ABBB image
loo-s huge on a monitor, but it only comes to about A inches by I inches on paper at
GBB dpi" *here is usually no good reason to e#pand the image either= you can4t
increase the true resolution that &ay, and it can al&ays be scaled up at the time it is
printed" .s for the file format, it &ill usually be fine to use ?P@G at a 1uality le$el of
HA to IA" In rare cases, &here there are large s&aths of nearly uniform color, you
may need to set the 1uality le$el e$en higher or use a lossless format such as *IFF
instead"
" If you intend to display the image on screen or pro2ect it &ith a $ideo pro2ector, bear
in mind that the highest screen resolution for most commonly a$ailable systems is
!GBB + !#BB, so there is nothing to gain by -eeping the image larger than that" For
this purpose, the ?P@G format is almost al&ays a good choice"
" If you &ant to put the image on a &eb page or send it by email, it is a good idea to
ma-e e$ery effort to -eep the file si>e as small as possible" First, scale the image
do&n to the smallest si>e that ma-es it possible to see the rele$ant details 7bear in
mind that other people may be using different si>ed monitors and/or different
monitor resolution settings8" %econd, sa$e the image as a ?P@G file" In the ?P@G sa$e
dialog, chec- the option to "Pre1iew in image window" , and then ad2ust the Muality
slider to the lo&est le$el that gi$es you acceptable image 1uality" 7;ou &ill see in the
image the effects of each change"8 Ma-e sure that the image is >oomed at !=! &hile
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you do this, so you are not misled by the effects of >ooming"
%ee the File Formats section for more information"
Printing <our Photos
S*his needs to be &ritten"T
+=I! 6ata
Modern digital cameras, &hen you ta-e a picture, add information to the data file about
the camera settings and the circumstances under &hich the picture &as ta-en" *his data
is included in ?P@G or *IFF files in a structured format called @6IF" For ?P@G files, GIMP is
capable of maintaining @6IF data, if it is built appropriately= it depends on a library called
")i%e#i4" , &hich may not be a$ailable on all systems" If GIMP is built &ith @6IF support
enabled, then loading a ?P@G file &ith @6IF data, and resa$ing the resulting image in ?P@G
format, &ill cause the @6IF data to be preser$ed unchanged" *his is not, strictly spea-ing,
the right &ay for an image editor to handle @6IF data, but it is better than simply
remo$ing it, &hich is &hat earlier $ersions of GIMP did"
If you &ould li-e to see the contents of the @6IF data, you can do&nload from the registry
an @+if ,ro&ser plug(in " If you are able to build and install it on your system, you can
access it as Filters(RGeneric(R@+if ,ro&ser from the image menu" 7%ee Installing Ne&
Plug(ins for help"8
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Preparing your Images )or the Web
3ne of the most common purposes GIMP is used for is to prepare images for adding them
to a &eb site" *his means that images should loo- as nice as possible &hile -eeping the
file si>e as small as possible" *his little step(by(step guide &ill tell you ho& to achie$e a
smaller file si>e &ith minimal degradation of image 1uality"
Images %ith an *ptimal 'i>e?8uality (atio
.n optimal image for the &eb depends upon the image type and the file format you ha$e
to use" If you &ant to put a photograph &ith a lot of colors online, you ha$e to use ?P@G as
your primary file format" If your image contains fe&er colors, that is, if it is not a
photograph, but is more a dra&ing you created 7such as a button or a screenshot8, you
&ould be better off using PNG format" 5e &ill guide you through the process of doing this"
First, open the image as usual" I ha$e opened our 5ilber as an e+ample image"

*he image is no& in <G, mode, &ith an additional .lpha channel 7<G,.8" *here is usually
no need to ha$e an alpha channel for your &eb image" ;ou can remo$e the alpha channel
by flattening the image"
If you open a photograph, you probably &on4t ha$e to remo$e the alpha channel, because
a photograph doesn4t usually ha$e one, so the file is already opened in <G, mode"
.fter you ha$e flattened the image, you are able to sa$e the image in PNG format for
your &eb site"
;ou can sa$e your image in PNG format &ith the default settings, but using ma+imum
compression" Doing this &ill ha$e no negati$e affects on the 1uality of the picture, as it
&ould ha$e &ith ?P@G format" If your image is a photograph &ith lots of colors, you &ould
be better off sa$ing it as 2peg" *he main thing is to find the best tradeoff bet&een 1uality
and compression" ;ou can find more information about this topic in "
(educing the !ile 'i>e +ven More
If you &ant to reduce the si>e of your image a bit more, you could con$ert your image to
Inde+ed mode" *hat means that all of the colors &ill be reduced to only #AG $alues"
)on$erting images &ith smooth color transitions or gradients to inde+ed mode &ill often
gi$e poor results, because it &ill turn the smooth gradients into a series of bands" *his
method is also not recommended for photographs because it &ill ma-e the image loo-
coarse and grainy"
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Use the )on$ert Mode Dialog to con$ert your <G, image to inde+ed mode"
.fter you ha$e con$erted the image to inde+ed mode, you are once again able to sa$e
your image in PNG format"
'aving Images %ith Transparency
*here are t&o different approaches used by graphic file formats for supporting
transparent image areas= simple binary transparency and alpha transparency" %imple
binary transparency is supported in GIF format" :ere, one color from the inde+ed color
palette is mar-ed as the transparent color" .lpha transparency is supported in PNG
format" :ere, the transparency information is stored in a separate channel, the .lpha
channel"
*here is usually no need to sa$e images in GIF format any more, because PNG supports
all the features of GIF and offers additional features 7e"g", alpha transparency8"
Ne$ertheless, this format is still used for animations"
First of all, &e &ill use the same image as in the pre$ious tutorials, 5ilber the GIMP
mascot"

*o sa$e an image &ith alpha transparency, you must ha$e an alpha channel" *o chec- if
the image has an alpha channel, go to the channel dialog and $erify that an entry for
"*)p'a" e+ists, besides <ed, Green and ,lue" If this is not the case, add a ne& alpha
channel from the layers menu"
;ou can no& remo$e the bac-ground layer to get a completely transparent bac-ground,
or create a gradient from color to transparency" ;ou are only limited by your imagination"
*o demonstrate the cabilities of alpha transparency, &e4ll ma-e a soft glo& in the
bac-ground around our 5ilber"
.fter you4re done &ith your image, you can sa$e it in PNG format"

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Adding $e% 1rushes
*o add a ne& brush, after either creating or do&nloading it, you need to sa$e it in a
format GIMP can use" *he brush file needs to be placed in the GIMP4s brush search path,
so that GIMP is able to inde+ and display it in the ,rushes dialog" ;ou can hit the <efresh
button, &hich reinde+es the brush directory" GIMP uses three file formats for brushes=

*o ma-e a brush a$ailable, place it in one of the folders in GIMP4s brush search path" ,y
default, the brush search path includes t&o folders, the system brushes folder, &hich you
should not use or alter, and the brushes folder inside your personal GIMP directory" ;ou
can add ne& folders to the brush search path using the ,rush Folders page of the
Preferences dialog" .ny G,<, GI:, or ,< file included in a folder in the brush search path
&ill sho& up in the ,rushes dialog the ne+t time you start GIMP, or as soon as you press
the <efresh button in the ,rushes dialog"
5hen you create a ne& parametric brush using the ,rush @ditor, it is automatically sa$ed
in your personal brushes folder"
*here are a number of &eb sites &ith do&nloadable collections of GIMP brushes" <ather
than supplying a list of lin-s that &ill soon be out of date, the best ad$ice is to do a search
&ith your fa$orite search engine for ".imp %r"s'es"" *here are also many collections of
brushes for other programs &ith painting functionality" %ome can be con$erted easily into
GIMP brushes, some re1uire special con$ersion utilities, and some cannot be con$erted at
all" Most fancy procedural brush types fall into the last category" If you need to -no&, loo-
around on the &eb, and if you don4t find anything, loo- for an e+pert to as-"
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Chapter
Using GIMP as an +5pert
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Te5t
+mbellishing Te5t

*here are many things you can do to $ary the appearance of te+t beyond 2ust rendering it
&ith different fonts or different colors" ,y con$erting a te+t item to a selection or a path,
you can fill it, stro-e the outlines, transform it, or generallly apply the &hole panoply of
GIMP tools to get interesting effects" .s a demonstration of some of the possibilities, try
out the FlogoF scripts in the *oolbo+ menu, at 6tns %cript(Fu Logos " @ach of these scripts
allo&s you to enter some te+t, and then creates a ne& image sho&ing a logo constructed
out of that te+t" If you &ould li-e to modify one of these scripts, or construct a logo script
of your o&n, the Using %cript(Fu and %cript(Fu *utorial sections should help you get
started" 3f course, you don4t need %cript(Fu to create these sorts of effects, only to
automate them"
Adding !onts
For the most authoritati$e and up(to(date information on fonts in GIMP, consult the Fonts
in GIMP #"B page at the GIMP &eb site" *his section attempts to gi$e you a helpful
o$er$ie&"
GIMP uses the Free*ype # font engine to render fonts, and a system called Fontconfig to
manage them" GIMP &ill let you use any font in Fontconfig4s font path' it &ill also let you
use any font it finds in GIMP4s font search path, &hich is set on the Font Folders page of
the Preferences dialog" ,y default, the font search path includes a system GIMP(fonts
folder 7&hich you should not alter, e$en though it is actually empty8, and a fonts folder
inside your personal GIMP directory" ;ou can add ne& folders to the font search path if it is
more con$enient for you"
Free*ype # is a $ery po&erful and fle+ible system" ,y default, it supports the follo&ing
font file formats=
" *rue*ype fonts 7and collections8
" *ype ! fonts
" )ID(-eyed *ype ! fonts
" )FF fonts
" 3pen*ype fonts 7both *rue*ype and )FF $ariants8
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" %FN*(based bitmap fonts
" 6!! P)F fonts
" 5indo&s FN* fonts
" ,DF fonts 7including anti(aliased ones8
" PF< fonts
" *ype/# fonts 7limited support8
;ou can also add modules to support other types of font files" %ee F<@@*;P@ # for more
information"
2inu5
3n a Linu+ system, if the Fontconfig utility is set up as usual, all you need to do to add a
ne& font is to place the file in the directory ~/.fonts" *his &ill ma-e the font a$ailable
not only to GIMP, but to any other program that uses Fontconfig" If for some reason you
&ant the font to be a$ailable to GIMP only, you can place it in the fonts subdirectory of
your personal GIMP directory, or some other location in your font search path" Doing
either &ill cause the font to sho& up the ne+t time you start GIMP" If you &ant to use it in
an already running GIMP, press the 2e4res' button in the Fonts dialog"
Windo%s
*he easiest &ay to install a font is to drag the file onto the Fonts directory and let the
shell do its magic" Unless you4$e done something creati$e, it4s probably in its default
location of C:\windows\fonts or C:\winnt\fonts" %ometimes double(clic-ing on a font
&ill install it as &ell as display it' sometimes it only displays it" *his method &ill ma-e the
font a$ailable not only to GIMP, but also to other 5indo&s applications"
*o install a *ype ! file, you need both the .pfb and .pfm files" Drag the one that gets an
icon into the fonts folder" *he other one doesn4t strictly need to be in the same directory
&hen you drag the file, since it uses some -ind of search algorithm to find it if it4s not, but
in any case putting it in the same directory does no harm"
In principle, GIMP can use any type of font on 5indo&s that Free*ype can handle'
ho&e$er, for fonts that 5indo&s can4t handle nati$ely, you should install them by placing
the font files in the fonts folder of your personal GIMP directory, or some other location
in your font search path" *he support 5indo&s has $aries by $ersion" .ll that GIMP runs
on support at least *rue*ype, 5indo&s F3N, and 5indo&s FN*" 5indo&s #BBB and later
support *ype ! and 3pen*ype" 5indo&s M@ supports 3pen*ype and possibly *ype ! 7but
the most &idely used 5indo&s GIMP installer does not officially support 5indo&s M@,
although it may &or- any&ay8"
GIMP uses Fontconfig to manage fonts on 5indo&s as &ell as Linu+" *he instructions
abo$e &or- because Fontconfig by default uses the 5indo&s fonts directory, i" e", the
same fonts that 5indo&s uses itself" If for some reason your Fontconfig is set up
differently, you &ill ha$e to figure out &here to put fonts so that GIMP can find them= in
any case, the fonts folder of your personal GIMP directory should &or-"
!ont Problems
Problems &ith fonts ha$e probably been responsible for more GIMP # bug reports than
any other single cause, although they ha$e become much less fre1uent in the most
recent releases in the #"B series" In most cases they ha$e been caused by malformed font
files gi$ing trouble to Fontconfig" If you e+perience crashes at startup &hen GIMP scans
your font directories, the best solution is to upgrade to a $ersion of Fontconfig ne&er than
#"#"B" .s a 1uic- &or-around you can start gimp &ith the --no-fonts command(line
option, but then you &ill not be able to use the te+t tool"
.nother -no&n problem is that Pango !"# cannot load fonts that don4t pro$ide an Unicode
character mapping" 7Pango is the te+t layout library used by GIMP"8 . lot of symbol fonts
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fall into this category" 3n some systems, using such a font can cause GIMP to crash"
Updating to Pango !"/ &ill fi+ this problem and ma-es symbol fonts a$ailable in GIMP"
. fre1uent source of confusion occurs on 5indo&s systems, &hen GIMP encounters a
malformed font file and generates an error message= this causes a console &indo& to pop
up so that you can see the message" Do not c)ose t'at conso)e window$ It is 'arm)ess7
and c)osing it wi)) s'"t down .I(P$ 5hen this happens, it often seems to users that GIMP
has crashed" It hasn4t= closing the console &indo& causes 5indo&s to shut GIMP do&n"
Unfortunately, this annoying situation is caused by an interaction bet&een 5indo&s and
the libraries that GIMP lin-s to= it cannot be fi+ed &ithin GIMP" .ll you need to do, though,
if this happens, is minimi>e the console &indo& and ignore it"
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(endering a Grid
:o& can you create a grid that is actually part of the imageP ;ou can4t do this using the
image grid= that is only an aid, and is only $isible on the monitor or in a screenshot" ;ou
can, ho&e$er, use the Grid plugin to render a grid $ery similar to the image grid"
7.ctually, the plugin has substantially more options"8
%ee also Grid and Guides"
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A 'cript-!u Tutorial
In this training course, &e4ll introduce you to the fundamentals of %cheme necessary to
use %cript(Fu, and then build a handy script that you can add to your toolbo+ of scripts"
*he script prompts the user for some te+t, then creates a ne& image si>ed perfectly to
the te+t" 5e &ill then enhance the script to allo& for a buffer of space around the te+t" 5e
&ill conclude &ith a fe& suggestions for &ays to ramp up your -no&ledge of %cript(Fu"
*his section as adapted from a tutorial &ritten for the Gimp ! User Manual by Mi-e *erry"
Getting Ac@uainted With 'cheme
2et#s 'tart 'cheme#ing
*he first thing to learn is that=
+very statement in 'cheme is surrounded by parentheses AB/
*he second thing you need to -no& is that=
The )unction name?operator is al%ays the )irst item in the parenthesesC and the
rest o) the items are parameters to the )unction/
:o&e$er, not e$erything enclosed in parentheses is a function (( they can also be items in
a list (( but &e4ll get to that later" *his notation is referred to as prefi+ notation, because
the function prefi+es e$erything else" If you4re familiar &ith postfi+ notation, or o&n a
calculator that uses <e$erse Polish Notation 7such as most :P calculators8, you should
ha$e no problem adapting to formulating e+pressions in %cheme"
*he third thing to understand is that=
Mathematical operators are also considered )unctionsC and thus are listed )irst
%hen %riting mathematical e5pressions/
*his follo&s logically from the prefi+ notation that &e 2ust mentioned"
+5amples *) Pre)i5C In)i5C And Post)i5 $otations
:ere are some 1uic- e+amples illustrating the differences bet&een pre4i#, in4i#, and
post4i# notations" 5e4ll add a ! and 0 together=
" Prefi+ notation= E ! 0 7the &ay %cheme &ill &ant it8
" Infi+ notation= ! E 0 7the &ay &e FnormallyF &rite it8
" Postfi+ notation= ! 0 E 7the &ay many :P calculators &ill &ant it8
Practicing In 'cheme
No&, let4s practice &hat &e ha$e 2ust learned" %tart up Gimp, if you ha$e not already
done so, and choose 6tns %cript(Fu )onsole " *his &ill start up the %cript(Fu )onsole
&indo&, &hich allo&s us to &or- interacti$ely in %cheme" In a matter of moments, the
%cript(Fu )onsole &ill appear=
The 'cript-!u Console Windo%
.t the bottom of this &indo& is an entry(field entitled )urrent )ommand" :ere, &e can
test out simple %cheme commands interacti$ely" Let4s start out easy, and add some
numbers=
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(+ 3 5)
*yping this in and hitting @nter yields the e+pected ans&er of I in the center &indo&"
No&, &hat if &e &anted to add more than one numberP *he FEF function can ta-e t&o or
more arguments, so this is not a problem=
(+ 3 5 6)
*his also yields the e+pected ans&er of !/"

%o far, so good (( &e type in a %cheme statement and it4s e+ecuted immediately in the
%cript(Fu )onsole &indo&" No& for a &ord of caution""""
Watch *ut !or +5tra Parens
If you4re li-e me, you4re used to being able to use e+tra parentheses &hene$er you &ant
to (( li-e &hen you4re typing a comple+ mathematical e1uation and you &ant to separate
the parts by parentheses to ma-e it clearer &hen you read it" In %cheme, you ha$e to be
careful and not insert these e+tra parentheses incorrectly" For e+ample, say &e &anted to
add 0 to the result of adding A and G together=
3 + (5 + 6) + 7= ?
9no&ing that the E operator can ta-e a list of numbers to add, you might be tempted to
con$ert the abo$e to the follo&ing=
(+ 3 (5 6) 7)
:o&e$er, this is incorrect (( remember, e$ery statement in %cheme starts and ends &ith
parens, so the %cheme interpreter &ill thin- that you4re trying to call a function named
FAF in the second group of parens, rather than summing those numbers before adding
them to 0"
*he correct &ay to &rite the abo$e statement &ould be=
(+ 3 (+ 5 6) 7)
Ma7e 'ure <ou ave The Proper 'pacingC Too

If you are familiar &ith other programming languages, li-e )/)EE, Perl or ?a$a, you -no&
that you don4t need &hite space around mathematical operators to properly form an
e+pression=
3+5, 3 +5, 3+ 5
*hese are all accepted by )/)EE, Perl and ?a$a compilers" :o&e$er, the same is not true
for %cheme" ;ou must ha$e a space after a mathematical operator 7or any other function
name or operator8 in %cheme for it to be correctly interpreted by the %cheme interpreter"
Practice a bit &ith simple mathematical e1uations in the %cript(Fu )onsole until you4re
totally comfortable &ith these initial concepts"
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9ariables And !unctions
No& that &e -no& that e$ery %cheme statement is enclosed in parentheses, and that the
function name/operator is listed first, &e need to -no& ho& to create and use $ariables,
and ho& to create and use functions" 5e4ll start &ith the $ariables"
6eclaring 9ariables
.lthough there are a couple of different methods for declaring $ariables, the preferred
method is to use the letU construct" If you4re familiar &ith other programming languages,
this construct is e1ui$alent to defining a list of local $ariables and a scope in &hich
they4re acti$e" .s an e+ample, to declare t&o $ariables, a and b, initiali>ed to ! and #,
respecti$ely, you4d &rite=
(let* (
(a 1)
(b 2)
)
(+ a b)
)
or, as one line=

(let* ( (a 1) (b 2) ) (+ a b) )
;ou4ll ha$e to put all of this on one line if you4re using the console &indo&" In general,
ho&e$er, you4ll &ant to adopt a similar practice of indentation to help ma-e your scripts
more readable" 5e4ll tal- a bit more about this in the section on 5hite %pace"
*his declares t&o local $ariables, a and b, initiali>es them, then prints the sum of the t&o
$ariables"
What Is A 2ocal 9ariable&
;ou4ll notice that &e &rote the summation 7E a b8 &ithin the parens of the letU e+pression,
not after it"
*his is because the letU statement defines an area in your script in &hich the declared
$ariables are usable' if you type the 7E a b8 statement after the 7letU """8 statement, you4ll
get an error, because the declared $ariables are only $alid &ithin the conte+t of the letU
statement' they are &hat programmers call local $ariables"
The General 'ynta5 *) letD
*he general form of a letU statement is=
(let* ( variables ) expressions )
&here $ariables are declared &ithin parens, e"g", 7a #8, and e+pressions are any $alid
%cheme e+pressions" <emember that the $ariables declared here are only $alid &ithin the
letU statement (( they4re local $ariables"
White 'pace
Pre$iously, &e mentioned the fact that you4ll probably &ant to use indentation to help
clarify and organi>e your scripts" *his is a good policy to adopt, and is not a problem in
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%cheme (( &hite space is ignored by the %cheme interpreter, and can thus be liberally
applied to help clarify and organi>e the code &ithin a script" :o&e$er, if you4re &or-ing in
%cript(Fu4s )onsole &indo&, you4ll ha$e to enter an entire e+pression on one line' that is,
e$erything bet&een the opening and closing parens of an e+pression must come on one
line in the %cript(Fu )onsole &indo&"
Assigning A $e% 9alue To A 9ariable
3nce you4$e initiali>ed a $ariable, you might need to change its $alue later on in the
script" Use the setD statement to change the $ariable4s $alue=
(let* ( (theNum 10) ) (set! theNum (+ theNum \
theNum)) )
*ry to guess &hat the abo$e statement &ill do, then go ahead and enter it in the %cript(Fu
)onsole &indo&"
*he FKF indicates that there is no line brea-" Ignore it 7don4t type it in your %cript(Fu
console and don4t hit @nter8, 2ust continue &ith the ne+t line"
!unctions
No& that you4$e got the hang of $ariables, let4s get to &or- &ith some functions" ;ou
declare a function &ith the follo&ing synta+=
(define (name param-list) expressions)
&here name is the name assigned to this function, param(list is a space(delimited list of
parameter names, and e+pressions is a series of e+pressions that the function e+ecutes
&hen it4s called" For e+ample=
(define (AddXY inX inY) (+ inX inY) )
AddXY is the function4s name and inX and inY are the $ariables" *his function ta-es its
t&o parameters and adds them together"
If you4$e programmed in other imperati$e languages 7li-e )/)EE, ?a$a, Pascal, etc"8, you
might notice that a couple of things are absent in this function definition &hen compared
to other programming languages"
" First, notice that the parameters don4t ha$e any FtypesF 7that is, &e didn4t declare
them as strings, or integers, etc"8" %cheme is a type(less language" *his is handy and
allo&s for 1uic-er script &riting"
" %econd, notice that &e don4t need to &orry about ho& to FreturnF the result of our
function (( the last statement is the $alue FreturnedF &hen calling this function" *ype
the function into the console, then try something li-e=
(AddXY (AddXY 5 6) 4)
2istsC 2ists And More 2ists

5e4$e trained you in $ariables and functions, and no& enter the mur-y s&amps of
%cheme4s lists"
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6e)ining A 2ist
,efore &e tal- more about lists, it is necessary that you -no& the difference bet&een
atomic $alues and lists"
;ou4$e already seen atomic $alues &hen &e initiali>ed $ariables in the pre$ious lesson" .n
atomic $alue is a single $alue" %o, for e+ample, &e can assign the $ariable F+F the single
$alue of I in the follo&ing statement=
(let* ( (x 8) ) x)
75e added the e+pression x at the end to print out the $alue assigned to x(( normally you
&on4t need to do this" Notice ho& letU operates 2ust li-e a function= *he $alue of the last
statement is the $alue returned"8
. $ariable may also refer to a list of $alues, rather than a single $alue" *o assign the
$ariable x the list of $alues !, 0, A, &e4d type=
(let* ( (x '(1 3 5))) x)
*ry typing both statements into the %cript(Fu )onsole and notice ho& it replies" 5hen you
type the first statement in, it simply replies &ith the result=
8
:o&e$er, &hen you type in the other statement, it replies &ith the follo&ing result=
(1 3 5)
5hen it replies &ith the $alue I it is informing you that x contains the atomic $alue I"
:o&e$er, &hen it replies &ith 7! 0 A8, it is then informing you that x contains not a single
$alue, but a list of $alues" Notice that there are no commas in our declaration or
assignment of the list, nor in the printed result"
*he synta+ to define a list is=
'(a b c)
&here a, b, and c are literals" 5e use the apostrophe 748 to indicate that &hat follo&s in
the parentheses is a list of literal $alues, rather than a function or e+pression"
.n empty list can be defined as such=
'()
or simply=
()
Lists can contain atomic $alues, as &ell as other lists=

(let*
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(
(x
'("The Gimp" (1 2 3) ("is" ("great" () ) ) )
)
)
x
)
Notice that after the first apostrophe, you no longer need to use an apostrophe &hen
defining the inner lists" Go ahead and copy the statement into the %cript(Fu )onsole and
see &hat it returns"
;ou should notice that the result returned is not a list of single, atomic $alues' rather, it is
a list of a literal 7F*he GimpF8, the list 7! # 08, etc"
o% To Thin7 *) 2ists
It4s useful to thin- of lists as composed of a FheadF and a Ftail"F *he head is the first
element of the list, the tail the rest of the list" ;ou4ll see &hy this is important &hen &e
discuss ho& to add to lists and ho& to access elements in the list"
Creating 2ists Through Concatenation AThe Cons !unctionB
3ne of the more common functions you4ll encounter is the cons function" It ta-es a $alue
and prepends it to its second argument, a list" From the pre$ious section, I suggested that
you thin- of a list as being composed of an element 7the head8 and the remainder of the
list 7the tail8" *his is e+actly ho& cons functions (( it adds an element to the head of a list"
*hus, you could create a list as follo&s=
(cons 1 '(2 3 4) )
*he result is the list 7! # 0 /8"

;ou could also create a list &ith one element=
(cons 1 () )
;ou can use pre$iously declared $ariables in place of any literals, as you &ould e+pect"
6e)ining A 2ist Using The list !unction
*o define a list composed of literals or pre$iously declared $ariables, use the list function=
(list 5 4 3 a b c)
*his &ill compose and return a list containing the $alues held by the $ariables a, b and c"
For e+ample=
(let* (
(a 1)
(b 2)
(c 3)
)
(list 5 4 3 a b c)
)

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*his code creates the list 7A / 0 ! # 08"
Accessing 9alues In A 2ist
*o access the $alues in a list, use the functions car and cdr, &hich return the first element
of the list and the rest of the list, respecti$ely" *hese functions brea- the list do&n into the
head==tail construct I mentioned earlier"
The car !unction
car returns the first element of the list 7the head of the list8" *he list needs to be non(null"
*hus, the follo&ing returns the first element of the list=
(car '("first" 2 "third"))
&hich is=
"first"
The cdr )unction

cdr returns the rest of the list after the first element 7the tail of the list8" If there is only
one element in the list, it returns an empty list"
(cdr '("first" 2 "third"))
returns=
(2 "third")
&hereas the follo&ing=

(cdr '("one and only"))
returns=
()
Accessing *ther +lements In A 2ist

39, great, &e can get the first element in a list, as &ell as the rest of the list, but ho& do
&e access the second, third or other elements of a listP *here e+ist se$eral Fcon$enienceF
functions to access, for e+ample, the head of the head of the tail of a list 7caadr8, the tail
of the tail of a list 7cddr8, etc"
*he basic naming con$ention is easy= *he a4s and d4s represent the heads and tails of
lists, so
(car (cdr (car x) ) )

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could be &ritten as=
(cadar x)
*o $ie& a full list of the list functions, refer to the .ppendi+, &hich lists the a$ailable
functions for the $ersion of %cheme used by %cript(Fu"
*o get some practice &ith list(accessing functions, try typing in the follo&ing 7e+cept all
on one line if you4re using the console8' use different $ariations of car and cdr to access
the different elements of the list=
(let* (
(x '( (1 2 (3 4 5) 6) 7 8 (9 10) )
)
)
; place your car/cdr code here
)
*ry accessing the number 0 in the list using only t&o function calls" If you can do that,
you4re on your &ay to becoming a %cript(Fu MasterD
In %cheme, a semicolon 7F'F8 mar-s a comment" It, and anything that follo&s it on the
same line, are ignored by the script interpreter, so you can use this to add comments to
2og your memory &hen you loo- at the script later"
<our !irst 'cript-!u 'cript
Do you not need to stop and catch your breathP NoP 5ell then, let4s proceed &ith your
fourth lesson (( your first %cript(Fu %cript"
Creating A Te5t 1o5 'cript
3ne of the most common operations I perform in Gimp is creating a bo+ &ith some te+t in
it for a &eb page, a logo or &hate$er" :o&e$er, you ne$er 1uite -no& ho& big to ma-e
the initial image &hen you start out" ;ou don4t -no& ho& much space the te+t &ill fill &ith
the font and font si>e you &ant"
*he %cript(Fu Master 7and student8 &ill 1uic-ly reali>e that this problem can easily be
sol$ed and automated &ith %cript(Fu"
5e &ill, therefore, create a script, called *e+t ,o+, &hich creates an image correctly si>ed
to fit snugly around a line of te+t the user inputs" 5e4ll also let the user choose the font,
font si>e and te+t color"
+diting And 'toring <our 'cripts
Up until no&, &e4$e been &or-ing in the %cript(Fu )onsole" No&, ho&e$er, &e4re going to
s&itch to editing script te+t files"
5here you place your scripts is a matter of preference (( if you ha$e access to Gimp4s
default script directory, you can place your scripts there" :o&e$er, I prefer -eeping my
personal scripts in my o&n script directory, to -eep them separate from the factory(
installed scripts"
In the .gimp-2.2 directory that Gimp made off of your home directory, you should find a
directory called scripts" Gimp &ill automatically loo- in your .gimp-2.2 directory for a
scripts directory, and add the scripts in this directory to the %cript(Fu database" ;ou
should place your personal scripts here"
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The 1are +ssentials
@$ery %cript(Fu script defines at least one function, &hich is the script4s main function"
*his is &here you do the &or-"
@$ery script must also register &ith the procedural database, so you can access it &ithin
Gimp"
5e4ll define the main function first=
(define (script-fu-text-box inText inFont inFontSize inTextColor))
:ere, &e4$e defined a ne& function called script(fu(te+t(bo+ that ta-es four parameters,
&hich &ill later correspond to some te+t, a font, the font si>e, and the te+t4s color" *he
function is currently empty and thus does nothing" %o far, so good (( nothing ne&, nothing
fancy"
$aming Conventions
%cheme4s naming con$entions seem to prefer lo&ercase letters &ith hyphens, &hich I4$e
follo&ed in the naming of the function" :o&e$er, I4$e departed from the con$ention &ith
the parameters" I li-e more descripti$e names for my parameters and $ariables, and thus
add the FinF prefi+ to the parameters so I can 1uic-ly see that they4re $alues passed into
the script, rather than created &ithin it" I use the prefi+ FtheF for $ariables defined &ithin
the script"
It4s Gimp con$ention to name your script functions script(fu(abc, because then &hen
they4re listed in the procedural database, they4ll all sho& up under script(fu &hen you4re
listing the functions" *his also helps distinguish them from plug(ins"
(egistering The !unction
No&, let4s register the function &ith Gimp" *his is done by calling the function script(fu(
register" 5hen Gimp reads in a script, it &ill e+ecute this function, &hich registers the
script &ith the procedural database" ;ou can place this function call &here$er you &ish in
your script, but I usually place it at the end, after all my other code"
:ere4s the listing for registering this function 7I &ill e+plain all its parameters in a minute8=
(script-fu-register
"script-fu-text-box" ;func name
"Text Box" ;menu label
"Creates a simple text box, sized to fit\
around the user's choice of text,\
font, font size, and color." ;description
"Michael Terry" ;author
"copyright 1997, Michael Terry" ;copyright notice
"October 27, 1997" ;date created
"" ;image type that the script works on
SF-STRING "Text:" "Text Box" ;a string variable
SF-FONT "Font:" "Charter" ;a font variable
SF-ADJUSTMENT "Font size" '(50 1 1000 1 10 0 1)
;a spin-button
SF-COLOR "Color:" '(0 0 0) ;color variable
)
(script-fu-menu-register "script-fu-text-box" "<Toolbox>/Xtns/Script-
Fu/Text")
If you sa$e these functions in a te+t file &ith a .scm suffi+ in your script directory, then
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choose 6tns %cript(Fu <efresh %cripts , this ne& script &ill appear as 6tns %cript(Fu *e+t
*e+t ,o+ "
If you in$o-e this ne& script, it &on4t do anything, of course, but you can $ie& the
prompts you created &hen registering the script 7more information about &hat &e did is
co$ered ne+t8"
Finally, if you in$o-e the Procedure ,ro&ser (( 6tns Procedure ,ro&ser 8, you4ll notice that
our script no& appears in the database"
'teps !or (egistering The 'cript
*o register our script &ith Gimp, &e call the function script(fu(register, fill in the se$en
re1uired parameters and add our script4s o&n parameters, along &ith a description and
default $alue for each parameter"
The (e@uired Parameters
" *he name of the function &e defined" *his is the function called &hen our script is
in$o-ed 7the entry(point into our script8" *his is necessary because &e may define
additional functions &ithin the same file, and Gimp needs to -no& &hich of these
functions to call" In our e+ample, &e only defined one function, te+t(bo+, &hich &e
registered"
" *he location in the menu &here the script &ill be inserted" *he e+act location of the
script is specified li-e a path in Uni+, &ith the root of the path being either toolbo+ or
right(clic-"
If your script does not operate on an e+isting image 7and thus creates a ne& image,
li-e our *e+t ,o+ script &ill8, you4ll &ant to insert it in the toolbo+ menu (( this is the
menu in Gimp4s main &indo& 7&here all the tools are located= the selection tools,
magnifying glass, etc"8"
If your script is intended to &or- on an image being edited, you4ll &ant to insert it in
the menu that appears &hen you right(clic- on an open image" *he rest of the path
points to the menu lists, menus and sub(menus" *hus, &e registered our *e+t ,o+
script in the *e+t menu of the %cript(Fu menu of the 6tns menu of the toolbo+ 7 6tns
%cript(Fu *e+t *e+t ,o+ 8"
If you notice, the *e+t sub(menu in the %cript(Fu menu &asn4t there &hen &e began
(( Gimp automatically creates any menus not already e+isting"
" . description of your script, to be displayed in the Procedure ,ro&ser"
" <our name 7the author of the script8"
" Copyright information"
" *he date the script &as made, or the last re$ision of the script"
" *he types of images the script &or-s on" *his may be any of the follo&ing= <G,,
<G,., G<.;, G<.;., IND@6@D, IND@6@D." 3r it may be none at all (( in our case,
&e4re creating an image, and thus don4t need to define the type of image on &hich
&e &or-"
(egistering The 'cript#s Parameters
3nce &e ha$e listed the re1uired parameters, &e then need to list the parameters that
correspond to the parameters our script needs" 5hen &e list these params, &e gi$e hints
as to &hat their types are" *his is for the dialog &hich pops up &hen the user selects our
script" 5e also pro$ide a default $alue"
*his section of the registration process has the follo&ing format=
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Param *ype Description @+ample
%F(.LU@ .ccepts numbers and
strings" Note that 1uotes
must be escaped for default
te+t, so better use %F(
%*<ING"
/#
%F(%*<ING .ccepts strings" F%ome te+tF
%F()3L3< Indicates that a color is
re1uested in this parameter"
47B !B# #AA8
%F(*3GGL@ . chec-bo+ is displayed, to
get a ,oolean $alue"
*<U@ or F.L%@
%F(IM.G@ If your script operates on an
open image, this should be
the first parameter after the
re1uired parameters" Gimp
&ill pass in a reference to
the image in this parameter"
0
%F(D<.5.,L@ If your script operates on an
open image, this should be
the second parameter after
the %F(IM.G@ param" It
refers to the acti$e layer"
Gimp &ill pass in a reference
to the acti$e layer in this
parameter"
!H
Giving *ur 'cript 'ome Guts
Let us continue &ith our training and add some functionality to our script"
Creating A $e% Image
In the pre$ious lesson, &e created an empty function and registered it &ith Gimp" In this
lesson, &e &ant to pro$ide functionality to our script (( &e &ant to create a ne& image,
add the user4s te+t to it and resi>e the image to fit the te+t e+actly"
3nce you -no& ho& to set $ariables, define functions and access list members, the rest is
all do&nhill (( all you need to do is familiari>e yourself &ith the functions a$ailable in
Gimp4s procedural database and call those functions directly" %o fire up the D, ,ro&ser
and let4s get coo-in4D
Let4s begin by ma-ing a ne& image" 5e4ll create a ne& $ariable, theImage, set to the
result of calling Gimp4s built(in function gimp(image(ne&"
.s you can see from the D, ,ro&ser, the function gimp(image(ne& ta-es three
parameters (( the image4s &idth, height and the type of image" ,ecause &e4ll later resi>e
the image to fit the te+t, &e4ll ma-e a !B+!B <G, image" 5e4ll store the image4s &idth
and si>es in some $ariables, too, as &e4ll refer to and manipulate them later in the script"
(define (script-fu-text-box inText inFont inFontSize inTextColor)
(let*
(
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; define our local variables
; create a new image:
(theImageWidth 10)
(theImageHeight 10)
(theImage (car
(gimp-image-new
theImageWidth
theImageHeight
RGB
)
)
)
(theText) ;a declaration for the text
;we create later
Note= 5e used the $alue <G, to specify that the image is an <G, image" 5e could ha$e
also used B, but <G, is more descripti$e &hen &e glance at the code"
;ou should also notice that &e too- the head of the result of the function call" *his may
seem strange, because the database e+plicitly tells us that it returns only one $alue (( the
ID of the ne&ly created image" :o&e$er, all Gimp functions return a list, e$en if there is
only one element in the list, so &e need to get the head of the list"
Adding A $e% 2ayer To The Image
No& that &e ha$e an image, &e need to add a layer to it" 5e4ll call the gimp(layer(ne&
function to create the layer, passing in the ID of the image &e 2ust created" 7From no& on,
instead of listing the complete function, &e4ll only list the lines &e4re adding to it" ;ou can
see the complete script here"8 ,ecause &e4$e declared all of the local $ariables &e4ll use,
&e4ll also close the parentheses mar-ing the end of our $ariable declarations=
;create a new layer for the image:
(theLayer
(car
(gimp-layer-new
theImage
theImageWidth
theImageHeight
RGB-IMAGE
"layer 1"
100
NORMAL
)
)
)
) ;end of our local variables
3nce &e ha$e the ne& layer, &e need to add it to the image=
(gimp-image-add-layer theImage theLayer 0)
No&, 2ust for fun, let4s see the fruits of our labors up until this point, and add this line to
sho& the ne&, empty image=
(gimp-display-new theImage)
%a$e your &or-, select 6tns %cript(Fu <efresh %cripts , run the script and a ne& image
should pop up" It &ill probably contain garbage 7random colors8, because &e ha$en4t
erased it" 5e4ll get to that in a second"
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Adding The Te5t
Go ahead and remo$e the line to display the image 7or comment it out &ith a ' as the first
character of the line8"
,efore &e add te+t to the image, &e need to set the bac-ground and foreground colors so
that the te+t appears in the color the user specified" 5e4ll use the gimp(conte+t(set(
bac-/foreground functions=
(gimp-context-set-background '(255 255 255) )
(gimp-context-set-foreground inTextColor)
5ith the colors properly set, let4s no& clean out the garbage currently in the image by
filling the dra&able &ith the bac-ground color=
(gimp-drawable-fill theLayer BACKGROUND-FILL)
5ith the image cleared, &e4re ready to add some te+t=

(set! theText
(car
(gimp-text-fontname
theImage theLayer
0 0
inText
0
TRUE
inFontSize PIXELS
"Sans")
)
)
.lthough a long function call, it4s fairly straightfor&ard if you go o$er the parameters
&hile loo-ing at the function4s entry in the D, ,ro&ser" ,asically, &e4re creating a ne&
te+t layer and assigning it to the $ariable theText"
No& that &e ha$e the te+t, &e can grab its &idth and height and resi>e the image and
the image4s layer to the te+t4s si>e=
(set! theImageWidth (car (gimp-drawable-width theText) ) )
(set! theImageHeight (car (gimp-drawable-height theText) ) )
(gimp-image-resize theImage theImageWidth theImageHeight 0 0)
(gimp-layer-resize theLayer theImageWidth theImageHeight 0 0)
If you4re li-e me, you4re probably &ondering &hat a dra&able is &hen compared to a
layer" *he difference bet&een the t&o is that a dra&able is anything that can be dra&n
into, including layers but also channels, layer mas-s, the selection, etc' a layer is a more
specific $ersion of a dra&able" In most cases, the distinction is not important"
5ith the image ready to go, &e can no& re(add our display line=
(gimp-display-new theImage)
%a$e your &or-, refresh the database and gi$e your first script a runD
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Clearing The 6irty !lag
If you try to close the image created &ithout first sa$ing the file, Gimp &ill as- you if you
&ant to sa$e your &or- before you close the image" It as-s this because the image is
mar-ed as dirty, or unsa$ed" In the case of our script, this is a nuisance for the times
&hen &e simply gi$e it a test run and don4t add or change anything in the resulting image
(( that is, our &or- is easily reproducible in such a simple script, so it ma-es sense to get
rid of this dirty flag"
*o do this, &e can clear the dirty flag after displaying the image=
(gimp-image-clean-all theImage)
*his &ill set dirty count to B, ma-ing it appear to be a FcleanF image"

5hether to add this line or not is a matter of personal taste" I use it in scripts that
produce ne& images, &here the results are tri$ial, as in this case" If your script is $ery
complicated, or if it &or-s on an e+isting image, you &ill probably not &ant to use this
function"
+5tending The Te5t 1o5 'cript
andling Undo Correctly
5hen creating a script, you &ant to gi$e your users the ability to undo their actions,
should they ma-e a mista-e" *his is easily accomplished by calling the functions gimp(
undo(push(group(start and gimp(undo(push(group(end around the code that manipulates
the image" ;ou can thin- of them as matched statements that let Gimp -no& &hen to
start and stop recording manipulations on the image, so that those manipulations can
later be undone"
If you are creating a ne& image entirely, it doesn4t ma-e sense to use these functions
because you4re not changing an e+isting image" :o&e$er, &hen you are changing an
e+isting image, you most surely &ant to use these functions"
Undoing a script &or-s nearly fla&lessly &hen using these functions"
+5tending The 'cript A 2ittle More
No& that &e ha$e a $ery handy(dandy script to create te+t bo+es, let4s add t&o features
to it=
" )urrently, the image is resi>ed to fit e+actly around the te+t (( there4s no room for
anything, li-e drop shado&s or special effects 7e$en though many scripts &ill
automatically resi>e the image as necessary8" Let4s add a buffer around the te+t, and
e$en let the user specify ho& much buffer to add as a percentage of the si>e of the
resultant te+t"
" *his script could easily be used in other scripts that &or- &ith te+t" Let4s e+tend it so
that it returns the image and the layers, so other scripts can call this script and use
the image and layers &e create"
Modi)ying The Parameters And The (egistration !unction
*o let the user specify the amount of buffer, &e4ll add a parameter to our function and the
registration function=
(define (script-fu-text-
box inTest inFont inFontSize inTextColor inBufferAmount)
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(let*
(
; define our local variables
; create a new image:
(theImageWidth 10)
(theImageHeight 10)
(theImage (car
(gimp-image-new
theImageWidth
theImageHeight
RGB
)
)
)
(theText) ;a declaration for the text
;we create later
(theBuffer) ;added
(theLayer
(car
(gimp-layer-new
theImage
theImageWidth
theImageHeight
RGB-IMAGE
"layer 1"
100
NORMAL
)
)
)
) ;end of our local variables
[Code here]
)
(script-fu-register
"script-fu-text-box" ;func name
"Text Box" ;menu label
"Creates a simple text box, sized to fit\
around the user's choice of text,\
font, font size, and color." ;description
"Michael Terry" ;author
"copyright 1997, Michael Terry" ;copyright notice
"October 27, 1997" ;date created
"" ;image type that the script works on
SF-STRING "Text:" "Text Box" ;a string variable
SF-FONT "Font:" "Charter" ;a font variable
SF-ADJUSTMENT "Font size" '(50 1 1000 1 10 0 1)
;a spin-button
SF-COLOR "Color:" '(0 0 0) ;color variable
SF-ADJUSTMENT "Buffer amount" '(35 0 100 1 10 1 0)
;a slider
)
(script-fu-menu-register "script-fu-text-box" "<Toolbox>/Xtns/Script-
Fu/Text")
Adding The $e% Code

5e4re going to add code in t&o places= right before &e resi>e the image, and at the end of
the script 7to return the ne& image, the layer and the te+t8"
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.fter &e get the te+t4s height and &idth, &e need to resi>e these $alues based on the
buffer amount specified by the user" 5e &on4t do any error chec-ing to ma-e sure it4s in
the range of B(!BBV because it4s not life(threatening, and because there4s no reason &hy
the user can4t enter a $alue li-e F#BBF as the percent of buffer to add"
(set! theBuffer (* theImageHeight (/ inBufferAmount 100) ) )
(set! theImageHeight (+ theImageHeight theBuffer theBuffer) )
(set! theImageWidth (+ theImageWidth theBuffer theBuffer) )
.ll &e4re doing here is setting the buffer based on the height of the te+t, and adding it
t&ice to both the height and &idth of our ne& image" 75e add it t&ice to both dimensions
because the buffer needs to be added to both sides of the te+t"8
No& that &e ha$e resi>ed the image to allo& for a buffer, &e need to center the te+t
&ithin the image" *his is done by mo$ing it to the 7+, y8 coordinates of 7theBuffer,
theBuffer8" I added this line after resi>ing the layer and the image=
(gimp-layer-set-offsets theText theBuffer theBuffer)
Go ahead and sa$e your script, and try it out after refreshing the database"
.ll that is left to do is return our image, the layer, and the te+t layer" .fter displaying the
image, &e add this line=
(list theImage theLayer theText)
*his is the last line of the function, ma-ing this list a$ailable to other scripts that &ant to
use it"
*o use our ne& te+t bo+ script in another script, &e could &rite something li-e the
follo&ing=
(set! theResult (script-fu-text-box
"Some text"
"Charter" "30"
'(0 0 0)
"35"
)
)
(gimp-image-flatten (car theResult))
)ongratulations, you are on your &ay to your ,lac- ,elt of %cript(FuD

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Creating 'hortcuts to Menu !unctions
Many functions &hich are accessible $ia the image menu ha$e a default -eyboard
shortcut" ;ou may &ant to create a ne& shortcut for a command that you use a lot and
doesn4t ha$e one or, more rarely, edit an e+isting shortcut" *here are t&o methods for
doing this"
First, you ha$e to acti$ate this capability by chec-ing the Use dynamic -eyboard
shortcuts option in the Interface item of the Preferences menu" *his option is usually not
chec-ed, to pre$ent accidental -ey presses from creating an un&anted shortcut"
5hile you4re doing that, also chec- the %a$e -eyboard shortcuts on e+it option so that
your shortcut &ill be sa$ed"
*o create a -eyboard shortcut, simply place the mouse pointer on a command in the
menu= it &ill then be highlighted" ,e careful that the mouse pointer doesn4t mo$e and
type a se1uence of three -eys, -eeping the -eys pressed" ;ou &ill see this se1uence
appear on the right of the command"
If you type a se1uence &hich has already been used, the command &hich is associated
&ith this shortcut &ill be e+ecuted and no ne& shortcut &ill be created"
It is best to use the )trl.lt9ey se1uence for your custom shortcuts"

;ou get to this @ditor by clic-ing on )onfigure -eyboard shortcuts in the "Inter4ace" item
of the Preferences menu"
.s sho&n in this dialog, you can select the command you &ant to create a shortcut for, in
the "*ction" area" *hen you type your -ey se1uence as abo$e" In principle, the %pace bar
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should clear a shortcut" 7In practice, it clears it, but doesn4t delete it"8
*his shortcut editor also allo&s you to contro) t'e too) parameter settings &ith the
-eyboard" .t the top of this dialog, you can find a )onte+t menu that ta-es you to the tool
parameters" *o ma-e your &or- easier, tool types are mar-ed &ith small icons"
)ustom 9eyboard shortcuts are stored in one of Gimp4s hidden directory
7/home/[username]/.gimp-2.2/menurc8 under Linu+, and C:\Documents and
Settings\[Username]\.gimp-2.2\menurc under 5indo&s 6P" It is a simple te+t file that
you can transport from one computer to another"
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The GI dialog bo5

*his dialog bo+ has se$eral options not easy to understand" *hey allo& you to determine
the &ay your brush is animated"
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Creating a brush %ith variable si>e
;ou can create a brush &ith a si>e &hich &ill $ary by rotating the mouse &heel or by
using the -eyboard arro& -eys"
3/ %tart &ith opening the ,rush dialog by doubleWclic-ing on the ,rush area in
*oolbo+, or by going through File Dialogs ,rushes "
./ )lic- on the Ne& ,rush button to open the ,rush @ditor dialog" Name your brush at
once, "D+namic" for instance" ;our brush &ill appear in the ,rush Dialog &ith a blue
corner"
" )hec- the @nable this controller bo+"
" %croll through the @$ents list and select %croll up 7%hift8" .$oid %croll up 7)trl8
because )trl is yet used by tools to turn to the )olor Pic-er mode"
" )lic- on the @dit button to open a &indo& that allo&s you to assign an action to
the selected e$ent" If an action is assigned to the e$ent yet, the &indo& opens on
this e$ent' else, clic- on the small triangular button close to the )onte+t item to
drop the list do&n" %croll through this list and select the conte+t(brush(radius(
increase item" 7;ou could choose conte+t(brush(radius(increase(s-ip8" )lic- on 39"
" Do the same &ay to assign the "conte#t-%r"s'-radi"s-decrease" action to the
"Scro)) down <S'i4t=" e$ent to decrease the brush si>e"
4/ %a$e your brush by clic-ing on the %a$e button in the ,rush @ditor"
No&, if you ha$e selected your Dynamic brush, &hen you &or- &ith a tool that has a
",r"s'" option &hile pressing the %hift -ey, the brush si>e &ill $ary by using the mouse
&heel" *his change &ill be $isible in real time in the brush area of the *oolbo+ and in the
,rush Dialog"
,y enabling the "(ain >e+%oard" tab, you can, in the same &ay, assign an action to the
e$ents of the -eyboard arro& -eys"
.ctions are not remo$ed from the &indo& &hen you delete the brush" ;ou ha$e to delete
them manually by clic-ing on the Delete button after selecting them"
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Chapter
Toolbo5
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The Toolbo5
*he GIMP pro$ides a comprehensi$e toolbo+ in order to 1uic-ly perform basic tas-s such
as ma-ing selections or dra&ing paths" *he many tools contained &ithin *he GIMP 4s
toolbo+ are discussed in detail here"
*he GIMP has a di$erse assortment of tools that let you perform a large $ariety of tas-s"
*he tools can be thought of as falling into fi$e categories= Se)ection too)s, &hich specify or
modify the portion of the image that &ill be affected by subse1uent actions' Paint too)s,
&hich alter the colors in some part of the image' &rans4orm too)s, &hich alter the
geometry of the image' Co)or too)s, &hich alter the distribution of colors across the entire
image' and Ot'er too)s, &hich don4t fall into the other four categories"
7In case you4re curious, in Gimp lingo a FtoolF is a &ay of acting on an image that re1uires
access to its display, either to let you indicate &hat you &ant to do by mo$ing the pointer
around inside the display, or to sho& you interacti$ely the results of changes that you
ha$e made" ,ut if you &ant to thin- of a tool as a sa&, and an image as a piece of &ood,
it probably &on4t do you a great deal of harm"8
Most tools can be acti$ated by clic-ing on an icon in the *oolbo+" %ome, ho&e$er 7namely,
the )olor tools8, are accessible only $ia the menus, either as &oo)s-?Co)or &oo)s or as
La+er-?Co)ors" @$ery tool, in fact, can be acti$ated from the &oo)s menu' also, e$ery tool
can be acti$ated from the -eyboard using an accelerator -ey"
In the default setup, created &hen GIMP is first installed, not all tools sho& icons in the
*oolbo+= the )olor tools are omitted" ;ou can customi>e the set of tools that are sho&n in
the *oolbo+ using the *ools dialog" *here are t&o reasons you might &ant to do this= first,
if you only rarely use a tool, it might be easier to find the tools you &ant if the distracting
icon is remo$ed' second, if you use the )olor tools a lot, you might find it con$enient to
ha$e icons for them easily a$ailable" In any case, regardless of the *oolbo+, you can
al&ays access any tool at any time using the *ools menu from an image menubar"
*he shape of the cursor changes &hen it is inside an image, to one that indicates &hich
tool is acti$e"
Tool *ptions

If you ha$e things set up li-e most people do, acti$ating a tool causes its *ool 3ptions
dialog to appear belo& the *oolbo+" If you don4t ha$e things set up this &ay, you probably
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should= it is $ery difficult to use tools effecti$ely &ithout being able to manipulate their
options"
*he *ool 3ptions appear beneath the *oolbo+ in the default setup" If you lose it someho&,
you can get it bac- by creating a ne& *ool 3ptions dialog using /i)e-?Dia)ogs-?&oo)
Options, and then doc-ing it belo& the *oolbo+" %ee the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing if
you need help"
@ach tool has its o&n specific set of options" *he choices you ma-e for them are -ept
throughout the session, until you change them" In fact, the tool options are maintained
from session to session" *he persistence of tool options across sessions can sometimes be
an annoying nuisance= a tool beha$es $ery strangely, and you can4t figure out &hy until
you remember that you &ere using some unusual option the last time you &or-ed &ith it,
t&o &ee-s ago"
.t the bottom of the *ool 3ptions dialog appear four buttons=
" 'ave *ptions to
*his button allo&s you to sa$e the settings for the current tool, so that you can
restore them later" It brings up a small dialog allo&ing you to gi$e a name to the
array of sa$ed options" 5hen you <estore options, only sa$ed sets for the acti$e tool
are sho&n, so you need not &orry about including the name of the tool &hen you
assign a name here"
" (estore *ptions
*his button allo&s you to restore a pre$iously sa$ed set of options for the acti$e
tool" If no option(sets ha$e e$er been sa$ed for the acti$e tool, the button &ill be
insensiti$e" 3ther&ise, clic-ing it &ill bring up a menu sho&ing the names of all
sa$ed option sets= choosing a menu entry &ill apply those settings"
" 6elete *ptions
*his button allo&s you to delete a pre$iously sa$ed set of options for the acti$e tool"
If no option(sets ha$e e$er been sa$ed for the acti$e tool, the button &ill be
insensiti$e" 3ther&ise, clic-ing it &ill bring up a menu sho&ing the names of all
sa$ed option sets= choosing a menu entry &ill delete those settings"
" (eset *ptions
*his button resets the options for the acti$e tool to their default $alues"
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'election Tools
Common !eatures
%election tools are designed to select regions from images or layers so you can &or- on
them &ithout affecting the unselected areas" @ach tool has its o&n indi$idual properties,
but the selection tools also share a number of options and features in common" *hese
common features are described here' the $ariations are e+plained in the follo&ing
sections for each tool specifically" If you need help &ith &hat a "se)ection" is in GIMP, and
ho& it &or-s, see %election"
*here are si+ selection tools=
" <ectangle %elect
" @llipse %elect
" Free %elect 7the Lasso8
" %elect )ontiguous <egions 7the Magic 5and8
" %elect by )olor
" %elect %hapes from Image 7Intelligent %cissors8
In some &ays the Path tool can also be thought of as a selection tool= any closed path can
be con$erted into a selection" It also can do a great deal more, though, and does not
share the same set of options &ith the other selection tools"
,ey modi)iers A6e)aultsB
*he beha$ior of selection tools is modified if you hold do&n the )trl, %hift, and/or .lt -eys
&hile you use them"
.d$anced users find the modifier -eys $ery $aluable, but no$ice users often find them
confusing" Fortunately, it is possible for most purposes to use the Mode buttons
7described belo&8 instead of modifier -eys"
*ptions
:ere &e describe the tool options that apply to all selection tools= options that apply only
to some tools, or that affect each tool differently, are described in the sections de$oted to
the indi$idual tools" *he current settings for these options can be seen in the *ool 3ptions
dialog, &hich you should al&ays ha$e $isible &hen you are using tools" 7Most users -eep
it doc-ed directly belo& the *oolbo+"8 *o ma-e the interface consistent, the same options
are presented for all selection tools, e$en though some of them don4t ha$e any effect for
some of the tools"
Additional in)ormation
5hen mo$ing a selection beyond the boundaries of the image can$as, the selection &ill
be cropped to the image area" %elections can e+ist on the $isible can$as only" %election
mo$ements and changes are, ho&e$er, -ept in the undo buffer should you need to repair
an error"
(ectangle 'election Tool

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*he <ectangle %election tool is designed to select rectangular regions of an image= it is
the most basic of the selection tools, but $ery commonly used" For information on
selections and ho& they are used in GIMP see %elections' for information on features
common to all selection tools see %election *ools"
*his tool is also used for rendering a rectangle on an image" *o render a filled rectangle,
create a rectangular selection, and then fill it using the ,uc-et Fill tool" *o create a
rectangular outline, the simplest and most fle+ible approach is to create a rectangular
selection and then stro-e it"
If you &ant to round the edges of a rectangular selection, the easiest method is using
%elect <ounded <ectangle from the image menu"
o% to Activate
" From the image menu bar *ools %election *ools <ect %elect '
" ,y clic-ing on the tool icon in the *ool,o+,
" ,y using the -eyboard shortcut <"
,ey modi)iers
%ee %election *ools for help &ith modifier -eys that affect all these tools in the same &ay"
3nly effects that are specific to the <ectangle %elect tool are e+plained here"
" )trl= Pressing the )trl -ey after starting your selection, and holding it do&n until you
are finished, causes your starting point to be used as the center of the selected
rectangle, instead of a corner" Note that if you press the )trl -ey %e4ore starting to
ma-e the selection, the resulting selection &ill be subtracted from the e+isting
selection"
" %hift= Pressing the %hift -ey after starting your selection, and holding it do&n until
you are finished, constrains the selection to be s1uare" Note that if you press the
%hift -ey %e4ore starting to ma-e the selection, the resulting selection &ill be added
to the e+isting selection"
" )trl %hift = Pressing both -eys after starting your selection combines the t&o effects,
gi$ing you a s1uare selection centered on your starting point" Note that pressing
these -eys before starting your selection intersects the resulting selection &ith the
e+isting one"
Tool *ptions

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%ee %election *ools for help &ith options that are common to all these tools" 3nly options
that are specific to the <ectangle %elect tool are e+plained here"
+llipse 'election Tool

*he @llipse %election tool is designed to select circular and elliptical regions from an
image, &ith high(1uality anti(aliasing if you &ant it" For information on selections and ho&
they are used in GIMP see %elections' for information on features common to all selection
tools see %election *ools"
*his tool is also used for rendering a circle or ellipse on an image" *o render a filled
ellipse, create an elliptical selection, and then fill it using the ,uc-et Fill tool" *o create an
elliptical outline, the simplest and most fle+ible approach is to create an elliptical
selection and then stro-e it" :o&e$er, the 1uality of anti(aliasing &ith this approach is
rather crude" . higher 1uality outline can be obtained by creating t&o elliptical selections
&ith different si>es, subtracting the inner one from the outer one' ho&e$er this is not
al&ays easy to get right"
o% to Activate
*he @llipse %election *ool can be acti$ated from an image menu as *ools %election
*ools @llipse %elect ' from the *oolbo+ by clic-ing on the tool icon ' or from the
-eyboard using the shortcut e"
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,ey modi)iers
%ee %election *ools for help &ith modifier -eys that affect all these tools in the same &ay"
3nly effects that are specific to the @llipse %elect tool are e+plained here"
" )trl= Pressing the )trl -ey after starting your selection, and holding it do&n until you
are finished, causes your starting point to be used as the center of the selected
ellipse, instead of a corner of the rectangle that may contain it" Note that if you
press the )trl -ey %e4ore starting to ma-e the selection, the resulting selection &ill
be subtracted from the e+isting selection"
" %hift= Pressing the %hift -ey after starting your selection, and holding it do&n until
you are finished, constrains the selection to be a circle" Note that if you press the
%hift -ey %e4ore starting to ma-e the selection, the resulting selection &ill be added
to the e+isting selection"
" )trl %hift = Pressing both -eys combines the t&o effects, gi$ing you a circular
selection centered on your starting point"
*ptions

that are specific to the @llipse %elect tool are described here"
;ou can access to the @llipse %election options by double(clic-ing on the icon"
!ree 'election Tool A2assoB

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*he Free %election tool, or Lasso, lets you create a selection by dra&ing it free(hand &ith
the pointer, &hile holding do&n the left mouse button 7or, for a stylus, pressing it against
the tablet8" 5hen you release the mouse button, the selection is closed by connecting the
current pointer location to the start location &ith a straight line" ;ou can go outside the
edge of the image display and come bac- in if you &ant to" *he Lasso is often a good tool
to use for "ro"g'ing in" a selection' it is not so good for precise definition" @+perienced
users find that it is often con$enient to begin &ith the lasso tool, but then s&itch to
Muic-Mas- mode for detail &or-"
For information on selections and ho& they are used in GIMP see %elections" For
information on features common to all selection tools see %election *ools"
*he Free %election tool is much easier to use &ith a tablet than &ith a mouse"
o% to Activate
*he Lasso *ool can be acti$ated from an image menu as *ools %election *ools Free
%elect ' from the *oolbo+ by clic-ing on the tool icon ' or from the -eyboard using the
shortcut f"
,ey modi)iers
*he Free %elect tool does not ha$e any special -ey modifiers, only the ones that affect all
selection tools in the same &ay" %ee %election *ools for help &ith these"
*ptions

*he Free %elect tool has no special tool options, only the ones that affect all selection
tools in the same &ay" %ee %election *ools for help &ith these"
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!u>>y 'election Tool AMagic WandB

*he Fu>>y %elect 7Magic 5and8 tool is designed to select areas of the current layer or
image based on color similarity" It starts selecting &hen you clic- at a spot in the image,
and e+pands out&ard li-e &ater flooding lo&(lying areas, selecting contiguous pi+els
&hose colors are similar to the starting pi+el" ;ou can control the threshold of similarity by
dragging the mouse do&n&ard or to the right= the farther you drag it, the larger the
selected region" .nd you can reduce the selection by dragging up&ards or to the left"
5hen using this tool, it is $ery important to pic- the right starting point" If you select the
&rong spot, you might get something $ery different from &hat you &ant, or e$en the
opposite"
*he 5and is a good tool for selecting ob2ects &ith sharp edges" It is fun to use, so
beginners often start out using it a lot" ;ou &ill probably find, ho&e$er, that the more you
use it, the more frustrated you become &ith the difficulty of selecting e+actly &hat you
&hat, no more, no less" Perhaps the most frustrating aspect is that after you ha$e
released the mouse button, you can4t ma-e small ad2ustments to the threshold= you ha$e
to start o$er again from scratch" More e+perienced users find that the Path and )olor
%elect tools are often more efficient, and use the 5and less" %till, it is useful for selecting
an area &ithin a contour, or touching up imperfect selections" It often &or-s $ery &ell for
selecting a solid(colored 7or nearly solid(colored8 bac-ground area"
Note that as the selected area e+pands out&ard from the center, it does not only
propagate to pi+els that touch each other= it is capable of 2umping o$er small gaps" *he
distance it can 2ump o$er is set in the *ool 3ptions page of the Preferences dialog= the
FDefault thresholdF for Finding )ontinguous <egions" ,y raising or lo&ering this $alue, you
can ma-e the Magic 5and either more or less aggressi$e" 7Filling &ith the ,uc-et Fill and
,lend tools &ill also be affected"8
o% to Activate
*he Magic 5and *ool can be acti$ated from an image menu as *ools %election *ools
Fu>>y %elect ' from the *oolbo+ by clic-ing on the tool icon ' or from the -eyboard
using the shortcut >" 7FNF stands for FNauberF, the German &ord for Magic"8
*he Fu>>y %elect tool does not ha$e any special -ey modifiers, only the ones that affect
all selection tools in the same &ay" %ee %election *ools for help &ith these"
*ptions

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that are specific to the Magic 5and tool are e+plained here"
'elect 1y Color Tool

*he %elect by )olor tool is designed to select areas of an image based on color similarity"
It &or-s a lot li-e the Fu>>y %elect tool 7FMagic 5andF8" *he main difference bet&een
them is that the Magic 5and selects contig"o"s regions, &ith all parts connected to the
starting point by paths containing no large gaps' &hile the %elect by )olor tool selects all
pi+els that are sufficiently similar in color to the pi+el you clic- on, regardless of &here
they are located" .lso, clic-ing and dragging in the image has no effect on the %elect by
)olor tool"
o% to Activate
*he %elect ,y )olor *ool can be acti$ated from an image menu as *ools %election
*ools %elect by )olor ' from the *oolbo+ by clic-ing on the tool icon ' or from the
-eyboard using the shortcut %hift )trl)
*he select by color tool does not ha$e any special -ey modifiers, only the ones that affect
all selection tools in the same &ay" %ee %election *ools for help &ith these"
*ptions

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that are specific to the %elect by )olor tool are e+plained here" Note that they are the
same options as the Magic 5and tool has"
<egarding mo$ing selection, this tool does4nt &or- li-e others= &hen selection by color is
created, you can mo$e it only if you select another selection tool"""
'cissors Tool

*he Intelligent %cissors tool is an interesting piece of e1uipment= it has some features in
common &ith the Lasso, some features in common &ith the Path tool, and some features
all its o&n" It is useful &hen you are trying to select a region defined by strong color(
changes at the edges" *o use the %cissors, you clic- to create a set of Fcontrol nodesF at
the edges of the region you are trying to select" *he tool produces a continuous cur$e
passing through these control nodes, follo&ing any high(contrast edges it can find" If you
are luc-y, the path that the tool finds &ill correspond to the contour you are trying to
select"
@ach time you left(clic- &ith the mouse, you create a ne& control point, &hich is
connected to the last control point by a cur$e that tries to follo& edges in the image" *o
finish, clic- on the first point 7the cursor changes to indicate &hen you are in the right
spot8" ;ou can ad2ust the cur$e by dragging the control nodes, or by clic-ing to create
ne& control nodes" 5hen you are satisfied, clic- any&here inside the cur$e to con$ert it
into a selection"
,e sure not to clic- inside the cur$e until you are completely done ad2usting it" 3nce you
ha$e con$erted it into a selection, undoing ta-es you bac- to >ero, and you &ill ha$e to to
start constructing the cur$e again from scratch if you need to change it" .lso be sure not
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to s&itch to a different tool, or again all of your carefully created control nodes &ill be
lost" 7,ut you still can transform your selection into a path and &or- it &ith the Path tool"8
Unfortunately, there seem to be some problems &ith the edge(follo&ing logic for this tool,
&ith the result that the selections it creates tend to be pretty crude in a lot of cases" .
good &ay to clean them up is to s&itch to Muic-Mas- mode, and use paint tools to paint
in the problematic parts" 3n the &hole, most people find the Path tool to be more useful
than the %cissors, because, e$en though it does not ha$e the intelligent edge(finding
capability, the paths it produces persist until you delete them, and can be altered at any
time"
o% to Activate
*he Intelligent %cissors can be acti$ated from an image menu as *ools %election *ools
Intelligent %cissors ' from the *oolbo+ by clic-ing on the tool icon ' or from the
-eyboard using the shortcut i"
*he %cissor tool does not ha$e any special -ey modifiers, only the ones that affect all
selection tools in the same &ay" %ee %election *ools for help &ith these"
*ptions

that are specific to the Intelligent %cissors tool are e+plained here"
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1rush Tools
Common !eatures

*he GIMP *oolbo+ includes nine Fbrush toolsF, all grouped together at the bottom 7in the
default arrangement8" *he feature they all ha$e in common is that all of them are used by
mo$ing the pointer across the image display, creating brushstro-es" Four of them O the
Pencil, Paintbrush, .irbrush, and In- tools O beha$e li-e the intuiti$e notion of FpaintingF
&ith a brush" *he others use a brush to modify an image in some &ay rather than paint
on it= the @raser erases' the )lone tool copies from a pattern or image' the )on$ol$e tool
blurs or sharpens' the Dodge/,urn tool lightens or dar-ens' and the %mudge tool smears"
*he ad$antages of using GIMP &ith a tablet instead of a mouse probably sho& up more
clearly for brush tools than any&here else= the gain is fine control is in$aluable" *hese
tools also ha$e special "Press"re sensiti1it+" options that are only usable &ith a tablet"
In addition to the more common Fhands(onF method, it is possible to apply brush tools in
an automated &ay, by creating a selection or path and then Fstro-ingF it" ;ou can choose
to stro-e &ith any of the brush tools, including nonstandard ones such as the @raser,
%mudge tool, etc", and any options you set for the tool &ill be applied" %ee the section on
%tro-ing for more information"
,rush tools &or- not only on image layers, but on other types of dra&able ob2ects as &ell=
layer mas-s, channels, and the selection" *o apply a brush tool to a layer mas- or
channel, simply ma-e it the image4s acti$e dra&able by clic-ing on it in the Layers dialog
or )hannels dialog" *o apply a brush tool to the selection, s&itch to Muic-Mas- mode"
FPainting the selectionF in this &ay is a $ery po&erful method for efficiently creating
precise selections"
,ey modi)iers
" )trl= :olding do&n the )trl -ey has a special effect on e$ery brush tool e+cept the
in- tool" For the Pencil, Paintbrush, .irbrush, @raser, and %mudge tools, it s&itches
them into Fcolor pic-erF mode, so that clic-ing on an image pi+el causes GIMP4s
foreground to be set to the acti$e layer4s color at that point 7or, for the @raser,
GIMP4s bac-ground color8" For the )lone tool, the )trl -ey s&itches it into a mode
&here clic-ing sets the reference point for copying" For the )on$ol$e tool, the )trl
-ey s&itches bet&een blur and sharpen modes' the the Dodge/,urn tool, it s&itches
bet&een dodging and burning"
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" %traight Line %hift= :olding do&n the %hift -ey has the same effect on all brush tools=
it places the tool into straig't )ine mode" *o create a straight line &ith any of the
brush tools, first clic- on the starting point, t'en press the %hift -ey" .s long as you
hold it do&n, you &ill see a thin line connecting the pre$iously clic-ed point &ith the
current pointer location" If you clic- again, &hile continuing to hold do&n the %hift
-ey, a straight line &ill be rendered" ;ou can continue this process to create a series
of connected line segments"
" )trl %hift = :olding do&n both -eys puts the tool into constrained straig't )ine mode"
*his is similar to the effect of the %hift -ey alone, e+cept that the orientation of the
line is constrained to the nearest multiple of !A degrees" Use this if you &ant to
create perfect hori>ontal, $ertical, or diagonal lines"
Tool *ptions

Many tool options are shared by se$eral brush tools= these are described here" 3ptions
that apply only to one specific tool, or to a small number of tools, are described in the
sections de$oted to those tools"
!urther In)ormation
.d$anced users may be interested to -no& that brush tools actually operate at a sub(
pi+el le$el, in order to a$oid producing 2agged(loo-ing results" 3ne conse1uence of this is
that e$en if you &or- &ith a hard(edged brush, such as one of the )ircle brushes, pi+els
on the edge of the brushstro-e &ill only be partially affected" If you need to ha$e all(or(
nothing effects 7&hich may be necessary for getting a good selection, or for cutting and
pasting, or for operating pi+el(by(pi+el at a high >oom le$el8, there are t&o things you can
do= 7!8 for painting, use the Pencil tool, &hich ma-es all brushes perfectly hard and
disables sub(pi+el anti(aliasing, or 7#8 for other types of brush tools, chec- the F:ard
edgeF bo+ in the *ool 3ptions"
1uc7et !ill

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*his tool fills a selection &ith the current foreground color" If you %hiftEclic- and use the
,uc-et tool, it &ill use the bac-ground color instead" Depending on ho& the tool options
are set, the ,uc-et Fill tool &ill either fill the entire selection, or only parts &hose colors
are similar to the point you clic- on" *he tool options also affect the &ay transparency is
handled"
*he amount of fill depends on &hat Fill *hreshold you ha$e specified" *he fill threshold
determines ho& far the fill &ill spread 7similar to the &ay in &hich the magic &and &or-s8"
*he fill starts at the point &here you clic- and spreads out&ard until the color or alpha
$alue becomes "too di44erent""
5hen you fill ob2ects in a transparent layer 7such as letters in a te+t layer8 &ith a different
color than before, you may find that a border of the old color still surrounds the ob2ects"
*his is due to a lo& fill(threshold in the ,uc-et Fill options dialog" 5ith a lo& threshold, the
buc-et tool &on4t fill semi(transparent pi+els, and they &ill stand out against the fill
because they ha$e -ept their original color" If you &ant to fill areas that are totally
transparent, you ha$e to choose right(clic-X%electX%elect .ll, and ma-e sure that the
layer4s ">eep &ransparenc+" button 7in the Layers dialog8 is unchec-ed" If the 9eep
*ransparency button is chec-ed, only the opa1ue parts of the layer &ill be filled, and if
you don4t use the %elect .ll command, only the opa1ue "is)and" that you clic-ed on &ill be
filled"
Activate Tool
" *he ,uc-et Fill can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools/
Paint *ools/,uc-et Fill"
" *he *ool can also be called by clic-ing the tool icon=
*ptions
Gradient Tool

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*his tool fills the selected area &ith a gradient blend of the foreground and bac-ground
colors by default, but there are many options" *o ma-e a blend, drag the cursor in the
direction you &ant the gradient to go, and release the mouse button &hen you feel you
ha$e the right position and si>e of your blend" *he softness of the blend depends on ho&
far you drag the cursor" *he shorter the drag distance, the sharper it &ill be"
*here are an astonishing number of things you can do &ith this tool, and the possibilities
may seem a bit o$er&helming at first" *he t&o most important options you ha$e are the
Gradient and the %hape" )lic-ing the Gradient button in the tool options brings up a
Gradient %elect &indo&, allo&ing you to choose from among a $ariety of gradients
supplied &ith GIMP' you can also construct and sa$e custom gradients"
For %hape, there are !! options= Linear, ,ilinear, <adial, %1uare, )onical 7symmetric8,
)onical 7asymmetric8, %hapeburst 7angular8, %hapeburst 7spherical8, %hapeburst
7dimpled8, %piral 7cloc-&ise8, and %piral 7countercloc-&ise8' these are described in detail
belo&" *he %hapeburst options are the most interesting= they cause the gradient to follo&
the shape of the selection boundary, no matter ho& t&isty it is" Unli-e the other shapes,
%hapeburst gradients are not affected by the length or direction of the line you dra&= for
them as &ell as e$ery other type of gradient you are re1uired to clic- inside the selection
and mo$e the mouse, but a %hapeburst appears the same no matter &here you clic- or
ho& you mo$e"
)hec- out the Difference option in the Mode menu, &here doing the same thing 7e$en
&ith full opacity8 &ill result in fantastic s&irling patterns, changing and adding e$ery time
you drag the cursor"
Activate Tool
" *he ,lend *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools/
Paint *ools/ ,lend"
*ptions
Painting Tools APencilC PaintbrushC AirbrushB

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*he tools in this group are GIMP4s basic painting tools, and they ha$e enough features in
common to be &orth discussing together in this section" Features common to all brush
tools are described in the )ommon Features section" Features specific to an indi$idual
tool are described in the section de$oted to that tool"
*he Pencil is the crudest of the tools in this group= it ma-es hard, non(anti(aliased
brushstro-es" *he Paintbrush is intermediate= it is probably the most commonly used of
the group" *he .irbrush is the most fle+ible and controllable= it is the only one for &hich
the amount of paint applied depends on the speed of brush mo$ement" *his fle+ibility
also ma-es it a bit more difficult to use than the Paintbrush, ho&e$er"
.ll of these tools share the same brushes, and the same options for choosing colors,
either from the basic palette or from a gradient" .ll are capable of painting in a &ide
$ariety of modes"
,ey modi)iers
*ptions
Pencil

*he Pencil tool is used to dra& free hand lines &ith a hard edge" *he pencil and
paintbrush are similar tools" *he main difference bet&een the t&o tools is that although
both use the same type of brush, the pencil tool &ill not produce fu>>y edges, e$en &ith a
$ery fu>>y brush" It does not e$en do anti(aliasing"
5hy &ould you &ant to &or- &ith such a crude toolP Perhaps the most important usage is
&hen &or-ing &ith $ery small images, such as icons, &here you operate at a high >oom
le$el and need to get e$ery pi+el e+actly right" 5ith the pencil tool, you can be confident
that e$ery pi+el &ithin the brush outline &ill be changed in e+actly the &ay you e+pect"
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If you &ant to dra& straight lines &ith the Pencil 7or any of se$eral other paint tools8, clic-
at the starting point, then hold do&n %hift and clic- at the ending point"
Activate Tool
" *he Pencil *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools
Paint *ools Pencil
" or by clic-ing on the N -eyboard shortcut"
*ptions

%ee the ,rush *ools 3$er$ie& for a description of tool options that apply to many or all
brush tools"
Paintbrush Tool

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*he paintbrush tool paints fu>>y brush stro-es" .ll stro-es are rendered using the current
brush"
Activate Tool
" ;ou can call the Paintbrush *ool in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools/
Paint *ools/Paintbrush "
" or by using the P -eyboard shortcut"
*ptions

brush tools"
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+raser

*he @raser is used to remo$e areas of color from the current layer or from a selection of
this layer" If the @raser is used on something that does not support transparency 7a
selection mas- channel, a layer mas-, or the ,ac-ground layer if it lac-s an alpha
channel8, then erasing &ill sho& the bac-ground color, as displayed in the )olor .rea of
the *oolbo+ 7in case of a mas-, the selection &ill be modified8" 3ther&ise, erasing &ill
produce either partial or full transparency, depending on the settings for the tool options"
If you need to erase some group of pi+els completely, lea$ing no trace behind of their
pre$ious contents, you should chec- the F:ard edgeF bo+ in the *ool 3ptions" 3ther&ise,
sub(pi+el brush placement &ill cause partial erasure at the edges of the brush(stro-e,
e$en if you use a hard(edged brush"
If you use GIMP &ith a tablet, you may find it con$enient to treat the re$erse end of the
stylus as an eraser" *o ma-e this &or-, all you need to do is clic- the re$erse end on the
@raser tool in the *oolbo+" ,ecause each end of the stylus is treated as a separate input
de$ice, and each input de$ice has its o&n separate tool assignment, the re$erse end &ill
then continue to function as an @raser as long as you don4t select a different tool &ith it"
o% to Activate
*he @raser can be acti$ated from an image menu as *ools Paint *ools @raser ' from
the *oolbo+ by clic-ing on the tool icon ' or from the -eyboard using the shortcut @"
,ey modi)iers
%ee the ,rush *ools 3$er$ie& for a description of -ey modifiers that ha$e the same effect
on all brush tools"
" )trl= For the @raser, holding do&n the )trl -ey puts it into "co)or pic0er" mode, so
that it selects the color of any pi+el it is clic-ed on" Unli-e other brush tools,
ho&e$er, the @raser sets the %ac0gro"nd color rather than the foreground color" *his
is more useful, because on dra&ables that don4t support transparency, erasing
replaces the erased areas &ith the current bac-ground color"
" .lt= For the @raser, holding do&n the .lt -ey s&itches it into "anti-erase" mode, as
described belo& in the *ool 3ptions section" Note that on some systems, the .lt -ey
is trapped by the 5indo& Manager" If this happens to you, you may be able to use
%hift(.lt instead"
Tool *ptions
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brush tools"

brush tools" *he @raser tool has only one special option 7.nti(@rase8, but the 3pacity
control is mentioned here as &ell because its name may be a bit confusing"
Airbrush Tool

Activate Tool
" *he .irbrush *ool can be called from the image(menu= *ools/ Paint *ools/.irbrush "
*ptions

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brush tools"
In7 Tool

*he In- tool uses a simulation of an in- pen &ith a controllable nib to paint solid brush
stro-es &ith an antialiased edge" *he si>e, shape and angle of the nib can be set to
determine ho& the stro-es &ill be rendered"
Activate Tool
" ;ou can call the In- *ool in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools/ Paint
*ools/In- "
" ;ou can also call this *ool by clic-ing on the tool icon=
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*ptions

brush tools"
Clone Tool

*he )lone tool uses the current brush to copy from an image or pattern" It has many uses=
one of the most important is to repair problem areas in digital photos, by Fpainting o$erF
them &ith pi+el data from other areas" *his techni1ue ta-es a &hile to learn, but in the
hands of a s-illed user it is $ery po&erful" .nother important use is to dra& patterned
lines or cur$es= see Patterns for e+amples"
If you &ant to clone from an image, instead of a pattern, you must tell GIMP &hich image
you &ant to copy from" ;ou do this by holding do&n the )trl -ey and clic-ing in the
desired source image" Until you ha$e set the source in this &ay, you &ill not be able to
paint &ith the )lone tool= the tool cursor tells you this by sho&ing a "4or%idden" symbol"
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If you clone from a pattern, the pattern is ti)ed' that is, &hen the point you are copying
from mo$es past one of the edges, it 2umps to the opposite edge and continues, as
though the pattern &ere repeated side(by(side, indefinitely" 5hen you clone from an
image this does not happen= if you go beyond the edges of the source, the )lone tool
stops producing any changes"
;ou can clone from any dra&able 7that is, any layer, layer mas-, or channel8 to any other
dra&able" ;ou can e$en clone to or from the selection mas-, by s&itching to Muic-Mas-
mode" If this means copying colors that the target does not support 7for e+ample, cloning
from an <G, layer to an Inde+ed layer or a layer mas-8, then the colors &ill be con$erted
to the closest possible appro+imations"
o% to Activate
*he )lone tool can be acti$ated from an image menu as *ools Paint *ools )lone ' from
the *oolbo+ by clic-ing on the tool icon ' or from the -eyboard using the shortcut c,
or % under GIMP(#"!B"
,ey modi)iers
on all brush tools"
Tool *ptions

brush tools"
!urther In)ormation
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Convolve A1lur?'harpenB

*he )on$ol$e tool uses the current brush to locally blur or sharpen your image" ,lurring
&ith it can be useful if some element of your image stands out too much, and you &ould
li-e to soften it" If you &ant to blur a &hole layer, or a large part of one, you &ill probably
be better off using one of the ,lur Filters" *he direction of a brushstro-e has no effect= if
you &ant directional blurring, use the %mudge tool"
In F%harpenF mode, the tool &or-s by increasing the contrast &here the brush is applied"
. little bit of this may be useful, but o$erapplication &ill produce noise" %ome of the
@nhancement Filters, particularly the Unsharp Mas-, do a much cleaner 2ob of sharpening
areas of a layer"
;ou can create a more sophisticated sharpening brush using the )lone tool" *o do this,
start by duplicating the layer you &ant to &or- on, and run a sharpening filter, such as
Unsharp Mas-, on the copy" *hen acti$ate the )lone tool, and in its *ool 3ptions set
%ource to "Image so"rce" and .lignment to "2egistered"" %et the 3pacity to a modest
$alue, such as !B" *hen )trl(clic- on the copy to ma-e it the source image" If you no&
paint on the original layer, you &ill mi+ together, &here the brush is applied, the
sharpened $ersion &ith the unsharpened $ersion"
,oth blurring and sharpening &or- incrementally= mo$ing the brush repeatedly o$er an
area &ill increase the effect &ith each additional pass" *he <ate control allo&s you to
determine ho& 1uic-ly the modifications accumulate" *he 3pacity control, ho&e$er, can
be used to limit the amount of blurring that can be produced by a single brushstro-e,
regardless of ho& many passes are made &ith it"
o% to Activate
*he )on$ol$e tool can be acti$ated from an image menu as *ools Paint *ools
)on$ol$e ' from the *oolbo+ by clic-ing on the tool icon ' or from the -eyboard using
the shortcut "
,ey modi)iers
on all brush tools"
" )trl= :olding do&n the )trl -ey toggles bet&een ,lur and %harpen modes' it re$erses
the setting sho&n in the *ool 3ptions"
Tool *ptions

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brush tools"
6odge or 1urn

*he Dodge or ,urn tool uses the current brush to lighten or dar-en the colors in your
image" *he mode &ill determine &hich type of pi+els are affected"
Activate Tool
" *he Dodge or ,urn *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu=
*ools/ Paint *ools /Dodge,urn"
*ptions

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brush tools"
'mudge Tool

*he %mudge tool uses the current brush to smudge colors on the acti$e layer or a
selection" It ta-es color in passing and uses it to mi+ it to the ne+t colors it meets, on a
distance you can set"
Activate Tool
" *he %mudge *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools
Paint *ools %mudge"
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" or by pressing the % -ey on -eyboard"
*ptions

brush tools"
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Trans)orm Tools
Common !eatures

Inside the *ransformation tool dialog, you &ill find se$en tools to modify the presentation
of the image or the presentation of an element of the image, selection, layer or path"
@ach transform tool has an 3ption dialog and an Information dialog to set parameters"
Move Tool

*he Mo$e *ool is used to mo$e layers, selections or guides" It &or-s also on te+ts"
Activate Tool
" *he Mo$e *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools
*ransform *ools Mo$e
or by the M -eyboard shortcut"
" *he Mo$e tool is automatically acti$ated &hen you create a guide"
:olding do&n the space bar changes the acti$e tool to Mo$e temporarily" *he Mo$e
tool remains acti$e as long as the space bar is held do&n" *he original tool is
reacti$ated after releasing the space bar"
6e)ault behaviour
,y default, this tool &or-s on the acti$e layer and the %elect a Layer or a Guide option is
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chec-ed" Let4s suppose that your image has more than one layer, a selection and a guide"
*he mouse pointer ta-es the shape of the familiar /(&ay arro& &hen it passes o$er the
image elements originating from the acti$e layer' then, clic-(and(drag &ill mo$e the
acti$e layer" 5hen the mouse pointer is on an image element originating from a non(
acti$e layer or on a guide, it loo-s li-e a small hand' then, clic-(and(drag &ill mo$e this
layer or this guide"
*o mo$e a selection frame, &ithout mo$ing its content, Use the )trl.lt -ey(combination"
*his has the same action as selecting " Se)ection" in .ffect"
*ptions

Crop and (esi>e Tool

*he )rop *ool is used to crop or clip an image or layer" *his tool is often used to remo$e
borders, or to eliminate un&anted areas to pro$ide you &ith a more focused &or-ing
area" It is also useful if you need a specific image si>e that does not match the original
dimensions of your image"
*o use the tool, clic- inside the image and drag out a rectangular region before releasing
the mouse button" 5hen you clic-, a dialog pops up sho&ing you the dimensions of the
crop region, and allo&ing you to perform $arious actions" If you &ant to alter the crop
region, you can do so either by clic-ing and dragging on the corners, or by changing the
$alues in the dialog" 5hen you are ready, you can complete the operation either by
clic-ing inside the crop region, or by pressing the )rop or <esi>e buttons on the dialog"
7%ee belo& for &hat these mean"8
If you find that the dialog gets in your &ay more than it helps you, you can pre$ent it from
appearing by holding do&n the %hift -ey &hen you first clic- on the image" 5or-ing this
&ay means altering the crop region by dragging the corners, and e+ecuting the operation
by clic-ing inside the image"
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Activate Tool
" *he )rop *ool can be called &ay the follo&ing &ay, from the image(menu= *ools
*ransform *ools )rop and <esi>e "
. different and 1uic-er &ay to crop selections is using the Image )rop Image function
in the Image menu"
*ptions

(otate Tool

*vervie%
*his tool is used to rotate the acti$e layer, a selection or a path" 5hen you clic- on the
image or the selection &ith this tool, a grid or an outline is superimposed and a 2otation
In4ormation dialog is opened" *here, you can set the rotation a+is, mar-ed &ith a point,
and the rotation angle" ;ou can do the same by dragging the mouse pointer on the image
or the rotation point"
Activate Tool
" ;ou can call the <otate tool in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools
*ransform *ools <otate
" *he *ool can also be called by clic-ing the tool icon= in the *oolbo+"
" or by using the %hift< -ey combination"
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<otation tool options
*he <otation Information dialog &indo&
'cale Tool

*vervie%
*he %cale *ool is used to scale layers, selections or paths 7the 3b2ect8"
5hen you clic- on image &ith the tool the %caling Information dialog bo+ is opened,
allo&ing to change separately 5idth and :eight" .t the same time a Pre$ie& &ith a grid
or an outline is superimposed on the ob2ect and handles appear on corners that you can
clic- and drag to change these dimensions" . small circle appears at center of the
Pre$ie& allo&ing to mo$e this pre$ie&"
Activate Tool
" *he %cale *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools
*ransform *ools %cale
" or by using the %hift * -ey combination"
*ptions

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*he %caling Information dialog &indo&
'hear Tool

%hear tool is used to shift one part of an image, a layer, a selection or a path to a
direction and the other part to the opposite direction" For instance, a hori>ontal shearing
&ill shift the upper part to the right and the lo&er part to the left" . rectangle becomes a
diamond" *his is not a rotation= the image is distorted" *o use this tool after selecting,
clic- on the image or the selection= a grid is surperimposed and the %hearing Information
dialog is opened" ,y dragging the mouse pointer on the image you distort the image,
hori>ontally or $ertically according to the the direction gi$en to the pointer" 5hen you are
satisfied, clic- on the %hear button in the info dialog to $alidate"
Activate Tool
" *he %hear *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools
*ransform *ools %hear
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" or by using the %hift% -ey combination"
*ptions

%hearing Information &indo&
Perspective Tool

*he Perspecti$e *ool is used to change the perspecti$e of the acti$e layer content, of the
selection boundaries or of a path" 5hen you clic- on the image, according to the Pre$ie&
type you ha$e selected, a rectangular frame or a grid pops up around the selection 7or
around the &hole layer if there is no selection8, &ith a handle on each of the four corners"
,y mo$ing these handles by clic-(and(drag, you can modify the perspecti$e" .t the same
time, a "&rans4ormation in4ormations " pop up, &hich lets you $alid the transformation" .t
the center of the element, a point lets you mo$e the element by clic-(and(drag"
Activate Tool
" *he Perspecti$e *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu=
*ools/ *ransform *ools/Perspecti$e "
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*ptions

*he dialog &indo& of the "Perspecti1e" tool
!lip Tool

*he Flip tool pro$ides the ability to flip layers or selections either hori>ontally or $ertically"
5hen a selection is flipped, a ne& layer &ith a Floating %election is created" ;ou can use
this tool to create refle+ions"
Activate Tool
" *he Flip *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools/
*ransform *ools/Flip "
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*ptions

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Color Tools
Color 1alance Tool
*he color balance tool modifies the color balance of the acti$e selection or layer"
Activate Tool
*he )olor ,alance *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools/
)olor *ools/)olor ,alance "
*ptions

ue-'aturation Tool
*he :ue(%aturation tool is used to ad2ust hue, saturation and lightness le$els on a range
of color &eights for the selected area or acti$e layer"
Activate Tool
;ou can call the :ue(%aturation *ool in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools/
)olor *ools/:ue(%aturation "
*ptions

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Colori>e Tool
*he )olori>e tool renders the acti$e layer or selection into a greyscale image seen
through a colored glass" %ee :% )olor Model for :ue, %aturation, Luminosity"
Activate Tool
*he )olori>e *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools/ )olor
*ools/)olori>e "
*ptions

1rightness-Contrast tool
*he ,rightness()ontrast tool ad2usts the brightness and contrast le$els for the acti$e
layer or selection" *his tool is easy to use, but relati$ely unsophisticated" *he Le$els and
)ur$e tools allo& you to ma-e the same types of ad2ustments, but also gi$e you the
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ability to treat bright colors differently from dar-er colors" Generally spea-ing, the ,) tool
is great for doing a F1uic- and dirtyF ad2ustment in a fe& seconds, but if the image is
important and you &ant it to loo- as good as possible, you &ill use one of the other tools"
In GIMP #"/, a ne& &ay of operating this tool has been added= by clic-ing the mouse
inside the image, and dragging &hile -eeping the left mouse button do&n" Mo$ing the
mouse $ertically changes the brightness' mo$ing hori>ontally changes the contrast" 5hen
you are satisfied &ith the result, you can either press the F39F button on the dialog, or hit
the <eturn -ey on your -eyboard"
Activate Tool
*he ,rightness()ontrast *ool can be called from an image menu= *ools )olor *ools
,rightness()ontrast " If you find yourself using this tool often, you can add it to the
*oolbo+ using the *ools dialog"
*ptions
Threshold Tool
*he *hreshold tool transforms the current layer or the selection into a blac- and &hite
image, &here &hite pi+els represent the pi+els of the image &hose alue is in the
threshold range, and blac- pi+els represent pi+els &ith alue out of the threshold range"
;ou can use it to enhance a blac- and &hite image 7a scanned te+t for e+ample8 or to
create selection mas-s"
.s this tool creates a blac- and &hite image, the anti(aliasing of the original image
disappears" If this poses a problem, rather use the Le$els tool"
Activate Tool
*he *hreshold *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools )olor
*ools *hreshold,
or by clic-ing on the icon in *oolbo+ if this tool has been installed in it" ;ou can do that
through the *ool dialog"
*ptions

Using Threshold and 8uic7 Mas7 to create a selection mas7
*hat4s not al&ays the case, but an element you &ant to e+tract from an image can stand
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out &ell against the bac-ground" In this case, you can use the *hreshold tool to select this
element as a &hole" Gro--ing the GIMP described a method based on a channel mas-,
but no&, using the Muic- mas- is easier"
First start decomposing you image into its <G, and :% components by using the
Decompose filter" . ne& grey(scaled image is created and the components are displayed
as layers in the Layer Dialog" *hese layers come &ith a thumbnail but it is too small for an
easy study" ;ou can, of course, increase the si>e of this pre$ie& &ith the dialog menu 7the
small triangular button8, but playing &ith the "e+es " is more simple to display the &anted
layer in the decompose image" %elect the layer that isolates the element the best"

)all the *hreshold tool from the decompose image" ,y mo$ing the blac- cursor, fit
threshold to isolate the best the element you &ant to e+tract" *his &ill probably not be
perfect= &e &ill enhance the result &ith the selection mas- &e are going to create"
Ma-e sure you ha$e selected the right layer &hen you call the *hreshold tool= &hen it is
opened, you can4t change to another layer"

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Ma-e sure the image displaying the selected layer is acti$e and copy it to the clipboard
&ith )trl)"
No&, ma-e the original image acti$e" )lic- on the Muic- Mas- button at the bottom(left
corner of the image &indo&= the image gets co$ered &ith a red 7default8 translucent
mas-" *his red color does not suit &ell to our image &ith much red= go to the )hannel
Dialog, acti$ate the "3"ic0 mas0" channel and change this color &ith the @dit )hannel
.ttributs" )ome bac- to the original image" Press )trl to paste the pre$iously copied
layer"

oilY" ;our selection mas- is ready= you can impro$e the selection as usually" 5hen the
selection is ready, disable the Muic- mas- by clic-ing again on its button= you &ill see the
marching ants around the selection"

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5e used the Noom to &or- at a pi+el le$el, the Lasso to remo$e large un&anted areas,the
pencil 7to get hard limits8, blac- paint to remo$e selected areas, &hite paint to add
selected areas, especially for stem"
2evels tool
*he Le$el tool pro$ides features similar to the :istogram tool but can also change the
intensity range of the acti$e layer or selection"
Activate Tool
;ou can call the Le$el *ool in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools )olor *ools
Le$els
*ptions

.lthough this tool is not present in *ool bo+, ne$ertheless it has a *ool 3ption Dialog
under the *oolbo+" *hese options are described here=
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Curves Tool
*he )ur$es tool is the most sophisticated tool used to ad2ust the tonality of images"
Activate Tool
*he )ur$es *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools/ )olor
*ools/)ur$es "
Ad;ust Color Curves

.lthough this tool is not present in *ool bo+, ne$ertheless it has a *ool 3ption Dialog
under the *oolbo+" *hese options are described here=
Posteri>e Tool
*his tool is designed to intelligently &eigh the pi+el colors of the selection or acti$e layer
and reduce the number of colors &hile maintaining a semblance of the original image
characteristics"
Activate Tool
*he Posteri>e Dialog can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools
)olor *ools Posteri>e
or by double(cli-ing on the icon in *ool,o+, if )olor *ools ha$e been added to it"
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*ptions

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*ther
Path Tool

*he Path tool allo&s to create comple+ selections called ,e>ier )ur$es, a bit li-e Lasso but
&ith all the adaptability of $ectorial cur$es" ;ou can edit your cur$e, you can paint &ith
your cur$e, or e$en sa$e, import, and e+port the cur$e" ;ou can also use paths to create
geometrical figures" Paths ha$e their o&n dialog bo+= Dialog"
Activate Tool
" ;ou can call the Path *ool in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools Paths "
" or by using the , -eyboard shortcut"
*ptions
%ee *he "Pat'" concept"
Color Pic7er Tool

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*he )olor Pic-er *ool is used to select a color on the acti$e layer" ,y clic-ing a point on a
layer, you can change the acti$e color to that &hich is located under the pointer" *he
%ample Merge option lets you grab the color as it is in the image, resulting of the
combination of all layers"
Activate Tool
" *he )olor Pic-er *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu=
*ools )olor Pic-er"
If you hold )trl -ey do&n &hile using a paint tool, mouse pointer turns to the color(
pic-er icon" If you clic- then, you select the color pointed by the color(pic-er as
foreground color" )olor(pic-er dialog is not opened during this operation"
*ptions

Magni)y Tool

*he Magnify *ool is used to change the >oom le$el of your &or-ing image" If you only clic-
on the image, the >oom is applied to the &hole image" ,ut you can also clic-(and(drag
the mouse pointer to create a >oom rectangle" *hen, the action of this rectangle is better
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understood if the "*))ow window resi6ing" option is unchec-ed= you can see that the
content of this rectangle &ill be enlarged or reduced so that its biggest dimension fit the
corresponding dimension of the image &indo& 7if the biggest dimension of the rectangle
is &idth, then it &ill fit the &idth of the image &indo&8"
Activate Tool
" *he Magnify *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools
Magnify "
*ptions

Eoom menu
Using the Magnify tool is not the only &ay to >oom an image" *he Noom menu pro$ides
access to se$eral functions for changing the image magnification le$el" For e+ample, you
can easily choose an e+act magnification le$el from this menu"
Measure Tool

*he Measure *ool is used to gain -no&ledge about pi+el distances in your &or-ing image"
,y clic-ing and holding the mouse button, you can determine the angle and number of
pi+els bet&een the point of clic- and &here the mouse pointer is located" *he information
is displayed on the status bar or can also be displayed in the Info 5indo&"
5hen you pass the mouse pointer o$er the end point it turns to a mo$e pointer" *hen if
you clic- you can resume the measure"
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'tatus 1ar
Informations are displayed in the status bar, at the bottom of the Image &indo&" *he
status bar sho&s a pair of numbers" *he first number is the distance %etween t'e origine
point and t'e mo"se pointer" Mostly the measure unit is sho&n as Pi#e)" *he second
number is the ang)e in e$ery 1uadrant, from BQ to CBQ"
Activate Tool
" ;ou can call the Measure *ool in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools
Measure "
" ;ou can also access to it by clic-ing the tool icon=
,ey modi)iers
*ptions
Measuring sur)aces
;ou can4t measure surfaces directly, but you can use the :istogram that gi$es you the
number of pi+els in a selection"
Te5ttool

*he *e+t tool places te+t into an image" 5hen you clic- on an image &ith this tool the
&e#t @ditor dia)og is opened &here you can type your te+t, and a te+t layer is added in the
Layer Dialog" In the &e#t Option dia)og, you can change the font, color and si>e of your
te+t, and 2ustify it, interacti$ely"
Activate Tool
" *he *e+t *ool can be called in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu= *ools *e+t "
" or by using the * -eyboard shortcut"
*ptions

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Te5t +ditor

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Color and Indicator Area
Color Area

Indicator Area

*his part of the *oolbo+ sho&s the currently selected brush, pattern, and gradient"
)lic-ing on any of them brings up a dialog that allo&s you to change it"
Active image area
. thumbnail of the acti$e image can be displayed in this area if the "Disp)a+ *cti1e
Image" option is chec-ed in Preferences/*oolbo+"
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Chapter
6ialogs
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6ialog introduction
Dialogs are the most common means of setting options and controls in the GIMP" *he
most important dialogs are e+plained in this section"
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Image structure related dialogs
2ayers dialog

*he Layers dialog is the main interface to edit, modify and manage your layers" ;ou can
thin- of layers as a stac- of slides or clothes on your body" Using layers, you can
construct an image of se$eral conceptual parts, each of &hich can be manipulated
&ithout affecting any other part of the image" Layers are stac-ed on top of each other"
*he bottom layer is the bac-ground of the image, and the components in the foreground
of the image come abo$e it"

Activate 6ialog
*he Layer dialog can be called in many &ays =
" from the toolbo+(menu= File Dialog Layers
" from the image(menu= Dialog Layers
" from an other dialog(menu= .dd *ab Layers
" from the 7default8 shortcut= )trlL
Using the 2ayerdialog
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2ayer mas7s

Channels dialog

*he )hannels dialog is the main interface to edit, modify and manage your channels"
)hannels ha$e a double usage" *his is &hy the dialog is di$ided into t&o parts= the first
part for color channels and the second part for selection mas-s"
)olor channels= )olor channels apply to the image and not to a specific layer" ,asically,
three primary colors are necessary to render all the &ide range of natural colors" .s other
digital soft&are, the Gimp uses <ed, Green, and ,lue as primary colors" *he first and
primary channels display the <ed, Green, and ,lue $alues of each pi+el in your image" In
front of each channel is a thumbnail displaying a grayscale representation of each
channel, &here &hite is !BBV and blac- is BV of the primary color" .lternati$ely, if your
image is not a colored but a Grayscale image, there is only one primary channel called
Gray" For an Inde+ed image &ith a fi+ed number of -no&n colors there is also only one
primary channel called Inde+ed" *hen there is a optional channel called .lpha" *his
channel displays transparency $alues of each pi+el in your image" In front of this channel
is a thumbnail displaying a grayscale representation of the transparency &here &hite is
opa1ue and $isible, and blac- is transparent and in$isible" If you create your image
&ithout transparency then the .lpha channel is not present, but you can add it from the
Layers dialog menu" .lso, if you ha$e more than one layer in your image, Gimp
automatically creates an .lpha channel"
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Gimp doesn4t support )M;9 or ;U color models"

*he right image is decomposed in three color channels 7red, green, and blue8 and the
.lpha channel for transparency" 3n the right image the transparency is displayed as a
gray chec-erboard" In the color channel &hite is al&ays &hite because all the colors are
present and blac- is blac-" *he red hat is $isible in the red channel but 1uite in$isible in
the other channels" *his is the same for plain green and blue &hich are $isible only in
their o&n channels and in$isible in others"
Calling the 6ialog
*he )hannel dialog can be acti$ated in many &ays =
" from the toolbo+(menu= File Dialogs )hannels
" from the image(menu= Dialogs )hannels
" from another dialog(menu= .dd *ab )hannels
Using the Channeldialog
*vervie%
*he top channels are the color channels and the optional .lpha channel" *hey are al&ays
organi>ed in the same order and they cannot be erased" %election mas-s are described
belo& and displayed as a list in the dialog" @$ery channel appears in the list in form of a
thumbnail" . right(clic- in a channel thumbnail opens the channel menu"
Channel attributes
@$ery channel is sho&n in the list &ith its o&n attributes" *he main attribute is the
name of the channel itself" ;ou can edit selection mas-s by double(clic-ing on their
name" . doubleWclic- on the thumbnail opens a full dialog &here you can also set the
$isual aspect of the channel in the image &indo&" In front of the thumbnail there is an
eye icon= by clic-ing on it you define &hether the channel is $isible or not" .s a result of
this $isibility, the $ie& of the image changes in the image &indo& and a &hite image
becomes yello& if you remo$e the $ie& of the blue because yello& is the complementary
color for blue" If you remo$e the $ie& of the .lpha channel, e$erything becomes
transparent and nothing else than a grey chec-erboard is $isible" *he aspect of this
$irtual bac-ground can be changed in the Preferences" *he chain icon enables grouping
of channels for operations on multiple channels"
.cti$ated channels appear highlighted in blue in the dialog" If you clic- on a channel in
the list you toggle acti$ation of the corresponding channel" Disabling a color channel red,
blue, or green has se$ere conse1uencies" For instance if you disable the blue channel, all
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pi+els from no& on added to the image &ill not ha$e blue component, and so a &hite
pi+el &ill ha$e the yello& complementary color"
Managing channels
Under the channel list is a set of buttons allo&ing you to perform some basic operations
on channel list"
Channels Menu

'election mas7s

)hannels can be used to sa$e and restore your selections" )lic-ing on the Muic- mas-
button on the Image &indo& automatically creates a ne& channel called Mmas- and
sa$es the displayed acti$e selection to a thumbnail in front of the channel"*here are
many selection tools in the Gimp li-e rectangular selection tool or fu>>y selection for
continuous selections" %election Mas-s are a graphical &ay to build selections into a gray
le$el channel &here &hite pi+els are selected and blac- pi+els are not selected" *herefore
gray pi+els are partially selected" ;ou can thin- of them as feathering the selection, a
smooth transition bet&een selected and not selected" *his is important to a$oid the ugly
pi+eli>ation effect &hen you fill the selection or &hen you erase its content after isolating
a sub2ect from bac-ground"
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Using 'electionmas7s
3nce the channel is initiali>ed, selected 7highlighted in blue8, $isible 7eye(icon in the
dialog8, and displayed as you &ant 7color and opacity attributes8, you can start to &or-
&ith all the paint tools" *he colors used are important" If you paint &ith some color other
than &hite, grey, or blac-, the color alue 7luminosity8 &ill be used to define a gray
7medium, light, or dar-8" 5hen your mas- is painted, you can transform it to a selection
by clic-ing on the )hannel to selection button or from the conte+t menu"
;ou can &or- in selection mas-s not only &ith the paint tool but also &ith other tools" For
instance, you can use the selection tools to fill areas uniformly &ith gradients or patterns"
,y adding many selection mas-s in your list you can easily compose $ery comple+
selections" 3ne can say that a selection mas- is to a selection as a layer is to an image"
.s long as a selection mas- is acti$ated you are &or-ing in the mas- and not in the
image" *o &or- in the image you ha$e to deacti$ate all selection mas-s" Don4t forget also
to stop displaying mas-s in the image by remo$ing the eye icon" )hec- also that all <G,
and .lpha channels are acti$ated and displayed in the image"
8uic7 Mas7

. Muic- Mas- is a %election Mas- intended to be used temporarily to paint a selection"
*emporarily means that, unli-e a normal selection mas-, it &ill not be sa$ed in the list
after its transformation to selection" *he selection tools sometimes sho& their limits &hen
they ha$e to be used for doing comple+ dra&ing selection, as progressi$e" In this case,
using the Muic-Mas- is a good idea &hich can gi$e $ery good results"
Activate Tool
" *he Muic-Mas- can be acti$ated in the follo&ing order, from the image(menu=
%elect/*oggle Muic-Mas-"
" *he Muic-Mas- can also be acti$ated by clic-ing the left(bottom button sho&ed in
red on the screenshot"
" It can also be acti$ated by using %hiftEM shortcut"
Creating a 8uic7 Mas7
*o initiali>e a Muic- Mas-, clic- the bottom(left button in the image &indo&" If a
selection &as acti$e in your image, then its content appears unchanged &hile the
border is co$ered by a tranlucent red color" If no selection &as acti$e then all the image is
co$ered by a tranlucent red color" .t e$ery moment you can hide the mas-by clic-ing on
the eye icon in front of the MMas-" From the channel dialog you can double clic- on the
name or the thumbnail to edit the MMas- attributes" *hen you can changethe 3pacity and
its filling color" 3nce a 1uic- mas- is initiali>ed clic- on it to be sure it is selected and blue
highlighted in the list, and start to paint on it &ith any Gimp paint tool" *he mas- is coded
in gray tones, so you must use &hite or gray to decrease the area limited by the mas-
and blac- to increase it" *he area painted in light or dar- gray &ill be transition areas for
the selection li-e feathering" 5hen your mas- is ready, clic- again on the bottom(left
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button in the image &indo& and the 1uic- mas-&ill be remo$ed from the channel list and
con$erted to aselection" Muic- mas-4s purpose is to paint a selection and its transitions
&ith the paint tools &ithout &orrying about managing selection mas-s" It4s a good &ay to
isolate asub2ect in a picture because once the selection is made you only ha$e to remo$e
its content 7or in$erse if the sub2ect is in the selection8"
Using 8uic7 Mas7#s
%creenshot of the image &indo& &ith acti$ated Muic-Mas-" *he Muic-Mas- is filled &ith a
gradient from blac- 7left8 to &hite 7right8"
*he Muic-Mas- is no& disabled and a selection is initialised from the Muic-Mas-, &hich
&as filled by a gradient before" ;ou see the selection borders in the middle of the image"
. stro-e is no& added during the enabled selection" *he -ey is, that the blac- color &ill
ha$e no opacity of the resulting stro-e 7right8 and &hite color &ill ha$e a full opacity of
the stro-e 7left8"
.fter the Muic-Mas- ,utton is pressed, the command generates a temporary I(bit 7B(#AA8
channel, on &hich the progressi$e selection &or- is stored" If a selection is already
present the mas- is initiali>ed &ith the content of the selection" 3nce Muic-Mas- has
been acti$ated, the image is co$ered by a red semi(transparent $eil" *his one representes
the non(selected pi+els" .ny paint tool can be used to create the selection on the
Muic-Mas-" *hey should use only greyscale color, conforming the channel properties,
&hite enabling to define the future selected place" *he selection &ill be displayed as soon
as the Muic-Mas- &ill be toggled but its temporary channel &ill not be a$ailable anymore"
*o sa$e in a channel the selection done &ith the Muic-mas- select in the image menu
%elect/%a$e to )hannel
Usage
3pen an image or begin a ne& document"
.cti$ate the Muic-mas- using the left(bottom button in the image &indo&" If a selection is
present the mas- is initiali>ed &ith the content of the selection"
)hoose a dra&ing tool and use it &ith greyscale colors on the Muic-Mas-"
Deacti$ate the Muic-mas- using the left(bottom button in the image &indo&"
Path dialog

*he Paths dialog is used to manage paths, allo&ing you to create or delete them, sa$e
them, con$ert them to and from selections, etc"
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*he Paths dialog is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for help on
manipulating it" It can be acti$ated in se$eral &ays=
6ialog call
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs Paths "
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs )reate Ne& Doc- Layers, )hannels, and Paths "
*his gi$es you a doc- containing three dialogs, &ith the Paths dialog one of them"
" From an image menu= Dialogs Paths "
" From the *ab menu in any doc-able dialog= .dd *ab Paths "
Using the Paths dialog
@ach path belongs to one image= paths are components of images 2ust li-e layers" *he
Paths dialog sho&s you a list of all paths belonging to the currently acti$e image=
s&itching images causes the dialog to sho& a different list of paths" If the Paths dialog is
embedded in a FLayers, )hannels, and PathsF doc-, you can see the name of the acti$e
image in the Image Menu at the top of the doc-" 73ther&ise, you can add an Image Menu
to the doc- by choosing F%ho& Image MenuF from the *ab menu"8
If you are familiar &ith the Layers dialog, you ha$e a head start, because the Paths dialog
is in se$eral &ays similar" It sho&s a list of all paths that e+ist in the image, &ith four
items for each path=
If the list is non(empty, at any gi$en moment one of the members is the image4s acti1e
pat', &hich &ill be the sub2ect of any operations you perform using the dialog menu or
the buttons at the bottom= the acti$e path is sho&n highlighted in the list" )lic-ing on any
of the entries &ill ma-e it the acti$e path"
<ight(clic-ing on any entry in the list brings up the Paths Menu" ;ou can also access the
Paths Menu from the dialog *ab menu"
1uttons
*he buttons at the bottom of the Paths dialog all correspond to entries in the Paths menu
7accessed by right(clic-ing on a path list entry8, but some of them ha$e e+tra options
obtainable by holding do&n modifier -eys &hile you press the button"
Paths Menu

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*he Paths menu can be brought up by right(clic-ing on a path entry in the list in the Paths
dialog, or by choosing the top entry 7FPaths MenuF8 from the Paths dialog *ab menu" *his
menu gi$es you access to most of the operations that affect paths"
Colormap dialog

*he )olormap 7Inde+ed Palette is a better name8 dialog allo&s you to edit the colormap of
an inde+ed image" 7If the mode of the acti$e image is <G, or Grayscale instead of
Inde+ed, the dialog is empty and unusable"8 *his is a doc-able dialog' see the section on
Dialogs and Doc-ing for help on manipulating it" It can be acti$ated in t&o &ays=
6ialog call
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs )olormap
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" From the image menu= Dialogs )olormap
Colormaps and Inde5ed Images
In an Inde+ed image, colors are assigned to pi+els by an indirect method, using a loo-up
table called a co)ormap" In GIMP, the ma+imum number of entries in a colormap is #AG"
For a ma+imum(si>ed colormap, each inde+ from B to #AA is assigned an arbitrary <G,
color" *here are no rules restricting the colors that can be assigned to an inde+ or the
order they appear in= any inde+ can be assigned any color"
In an Inde+ed image, instead of being assigned a color directly 7as happens in <G, and
Grayscale images8, each pi+el is assigned an inde+" *o determine the color that should be
sho&n for that pi+el, GIMP loo-s up the inde+ in the image4s colormap" @ach inde+ed
image has its o&n pri$ate colormap"
It is important to reali>e that the colors in the colormap are the on)+ co)ors a1ai)a%)e for
an inde+ed image 7that is, unless you add ne& colors to the colormap8" *his has a ma2or
effect on many gimp operations= for e+ample, in a pattern fill, GIMP &ill usually not be
able to find e+actly the right colors in the colormap, so it &ill appro+imate them by
Dithering" If the colormap is too limited or poorly chosen, this can easily produce $ery
poor image 1uality"
*he )olormap dialog allo&s you to alter the colormap for an image, either by creating
ne& entries, or by changing the colors for the e+isting entries" If you change the color
associated &ith a gi$en inde+, you &ill see the changes reflected throughout the image,
as a color shift for all pi+els that are assigned that inde+" *he entries are numbered &ith B
in the upper left corner, ! to its right, etc"
Using the Colormap dialog
:ere are the operations you can perform using this dialog=
If you ma-e a mista-e, you can undo it by focusing the pointer in the image &hose
colormap you ha$e changed, and then pressing )trl(N or choosing @dit Undo in the image
menu"
*his dialog pro$ides the most commonly used methods for altering the colormap for an
inde+ed image" *he color tools, such as ,rightness/)ontrast, :ue/%aturation, etc, do not
operate on inde+ed images" *here are a fe& plug(ins that do so, including the
FNormali>eF, F)olor @nhanceF, and F%tretch )ontrastF operations, and it is possible to
create others as &ell"
istogram dialog

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*he :istogram dialog sho&s you information about the statistical distribution of color
$alues in the image that is currently acti$e" *his information is often useful &hen you are
trying to co)or %a)ance an image" :o&e$er, the :istogram dialog is purely informational=
nothing you do &ith it &ill cause any change to the image" If you &ant to perform a
histogram(based color correction, use the Le$els tool"
6ialog call
*his is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for help on
manipulating it" It can be acti$ated in t&o &ays=
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs :istogram
" From the image menu= Dialogs :istogram
About istograms
In GIMP, each layer of an image can be decomposed into one or more color channels= for
an <G, image, into <, G, and , channels' for a grayscale image, into a single alue
channel" Layers that support transparency ha$e an additional channel, the alpha channel"
@ach channel supports a range of intensity le$els from B to #AA 7integer $alued8" *hus, a
blac- pi+el is encoded by B on all color channels' a &hite pi+el by #AA on all color
channels" . transparent pi+el is encoded by B on the alpha channel' an opa1ue pi+el by
#AA"
For <G, images, it is con$enient to define a alue FpseudochannelF" *his is not a real
color channel= it does not reflect any information stored directly in the image" Instead, the
alue at a pi+el is gi$en by the e1uation J ma+7<,G,,8" @ssentially, the alue is &hat
you &ould get at that pi+el if you con$erted the image to Grayscale mode"
For more information on channels, please consult the 5or-ing &ith Images section"
Using the istogram dialog
$avigation 6ialog

*he Na$igation dialog is designed to offer easy mo$ement around the acti$e image if the
>oom is set higher than &hat the image &indo& can display" If this is the case, there is an
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in$ersely colored rectangle that sho&s the location of the current $ie& area in respect to
the image" *his rectangular outline can be dragged to change the $ie&ing region"
Activate the dialog
*he Na$igation &indo& dialog can be called in many &ays =
" from the toolbo+(menu= File/ Dialogs/ Na$igation
" from the image(menu= Dialogs/ Na$igation
" from the image(menu= ie&/ Na$igation &indo&, the %hiftE)trlEN &ill call the
Na$igation 5indo&"
" from another dialog(menu= .dd *ab/ Na$igation
;ou can access more 1uic-ly to it 7but &ithout the >oom functions8 by clic-ing on the
icon, at the right bottom corner of the image &indo&"
Using the $avigation 6ialog
Undo istory dialog

*his dialog sho&s you a list of the actions you ha$e most recently performed on an
image, &ith a small s-etch that attempts to illustrate the changes produced by each" ;ou
can re$ert the image to any point in its Undo :istory simply by clic-ing on the right entry
in the list" For more information on GIMP4s Undo mechanism and ho& it &or-s, see the
section on Undoing"
Activate the dialog
*he Undo :istory dialog is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for
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help on manipulating it" It can be acti$ated in se$eral &ays=
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs Undo :istory "
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs )reate Ne& Doc- Layers, )hannels, and Paths "
*his gi$es you a doc- containing four dialogs, &ith the Undo :istory dialog one of
them"
" From an image menu= @dit Undo :istory "
" From an image menu= Dialogs Undo :istory "
" From the *ab menu in any doc-able dialog= .dd *ab Undo :istory "
Using the Undo istory dialog
*he most basic thing you can do is to select a point in the Undo :istory by clic-ing on it in
the list" ;ou can go bac- and forth bet&een states in this &ay as much as you please,
&ithout losing any information or consuming any resources" In most cases, the changes
are $ery fast"
.t the bottom of the dialog are three buttons=
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Image content related dialogs
Colors dialog

*he )hannel dialog lets you manage and pic- up ne& colors" It is di$ided into fi$e
separate parts= GIMP, )M;9, *riangle, 5atercolor and %cales" ;ou can use the eyedropper,
&hich is the last button of the dialog, to pic- up a color any&here on your screen"
Activate 6ialog
*he dialog can be called in the follo&ing &ays =
" from the toolbo+(menu= File Dialogs )olors
" from the toolbo+= clic- on the current Foreground or ,ac-ground color"
" from the image(menu= Dialogs )olors
" from an other dialog(menu= .dd *ab )olors
Using the dialog
1rushes dialog

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*he ,rushes dialog is used to select a brush, for use &ith painting tools= see the ,rushes
section for basic information on brushes and ho& they are used in GIMP" *he dialog also
gi$es you access to se$eral functions for manipulating brushes" ;ou can select a brush by
clic-ing on it in the list= it &ill then be sho&n in the ,rush/Pattern/Gradient area of the
*oolbo+" . fe& do>en basic brushes come pre(installed &ith GIMP, along &ith a fe&
assorted bi>arre ones that mainly ser$e to sho& you the range of possibilities" ;ou can
also create custom brushes using the ,rush @ditor, or by sa$ing images in a special brush
file format"
Activate 6ialog
*he ,rushes dialog is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for help
on manipulating it" It can be acti$ated in se$eral &ays=
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs ,rushes "
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs )reate Ne& Doc- ,rushes, Patterns, and
Gradients " *his gi$es you a doc- containing three dialogs, &ith the ,rushes dialog
one of them"
" From the *oolbo+, by clic-ing on the brush symbol in the ,rush/Pattern/Gradient
area"
" From an image menu= Dialogs ,rushes "
" From the *ab menu in any doc-able dialog= .dd *ab ,rushes "
" From the *ool 3ptions dialog for any of the paint tools, by clic-ing on the ,rush icon
button, you get a popup &ith similar functionality that permits you to 1uic-ly choose
a brush from the list' if you clic on the button present on the right botton of the
popup, you open the real brush dialog" Note that, depending on your Preferences, a
brush selected &ith the popup may only apply to the currently acti$e tool, not to
other paint tools" %ee the *ool 3ption Preferences section for more information"
Using the brush dialog
*he functions performed by these buttons can also be accessed from the dialog pop(up
menu, acti$ated by right(clic-ing any&here in the brush grid/list, or by choosing the top
item, ,rushes menu, from the dialog *ab menu"
1rush +ditor

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*he ,rush @ditor allo&s you either to $ie& the brush parameters of a brush supplied by
GIMP, and you can4t change them, or to create a custom brush from a geometrical shape,
a circle, a s1uare, a diamond" *his editor has se$eral elements=
&'e dia)og %ar= .s &ith all dialog &indo&s, a clic- on the small triangle prompts a menu
allo&ing you to set the aspect of the ,rush @ditor"
&'e tit)e %ar= *o gi$e a name to your brush"
&'e pre1iew area= ,rush changes appear in real time in this pre$ie&"
Settings=
Patterns dialog

In GIMP, a pattern is a small image used to fill areas by placing copies of side by side" %ee
the Patterns section for basic information on patterns and ho& they can be created and
used"
;ou can use them &ith ,uc-et Fill et )lone tools and the Fill &ith pattern command"
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*he Patterns dialog is used to select a pattern, by clic-ing on it in a list or grid $ie&= the
selected pattern &ill then be sho&n in the ,rush/Pattern/Gradient area of the *oolbo+" .
fe& do>en more or less randomly chosen patterns are supplied &ith GIMP, and you can
easily add ne& patterns of your o&n"
Activate 6ialog
*he Patterns dialog is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for help
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs Patterns "
Gradients " *his gi$es you a doc- containing three dialogs, &ith the Patterns dialog
one of them"
" From the *oolbo+, by clic-ing on the pattern symbol in the ,rush/Pattern/Gradient
area"
" From an image menu= Dialogs Patterns "
" From the *ab menu in any doc-able dialog= .dd *ab Patterns "
" From the *ool 3ptions dialog for the )lone tool, by clic-ing on the Pattern icon
button" *his option appears because the )lone tool is capable of painting &ith
patterns"
Using the pattern dialog
Gradients dialog

*he Gradients dialog offers a gradient palette &hich is used to select a gradient (( a set of
colors arranged in a linear scale (( for use &ith the ,lend tool and numerous other
operations" It also gi$es you access to se$eral functions for manipulating gradients" ;ou
can select a gradient by clic-ing on it in the list= it &ill then be sho&n in the
,rush/Pattern/Gradient area of the *oolbo+" . fe& do>en nice gradients come pre(installed
&ith GIMP" ;ou can create more using the Gradient @ditor" General information about
gradients and ho& they are used in GIMP can be found in the Gradients section"
*he first four gradients are particular= they reproduce the gradient bet&een Foreground
and bac-ground colors of toolbo+ in different &ays"
Activate 6ialog
*he Gradients dialog is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for help
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" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs Gradients "
Gradients " *his gi$es you a doc- containing three dialogs, &ith the Gradients dialog
one of them"
" From the *oolbo+, by clic-ing on the current gradient in the ,rush/Pattern/Gradient
area"
" From an image menu= Dialogs Gradients "
" From the *ab menu in any doc-able dialog= .dd *ab Gradients "
" From the image by using the G shortcut"
Using the Gradients dialog
*he most basic, and most commonly used, operation &ith the dialog is simply to clic- on
one of the gradients in the scrollable list, in order to ma-e it GIMP4s current gradient,
&hich &ill then be used by any operation that in$ol$es a gradient"
If you do"%)e-c)ic0 on a gradient, you open the Gradient @ditor &here you &ill be able to
edit its name" Note, ho&e$er, that you are only allo&ed to change the names of gradients
that you ha$e created yourself, not the ones that come pre(installed &ith GIMP" If you try
to rename a pre(installed gradient, you &ill be able to edit the name, but as soon as you
hit return or clic- some&here else, the name &ill re$ert to its original $alue" It is a general
rule that you cannot alter the resources that GIMP pre(installs for you= brushes, patterns,
gradients, etc' only ones that you create yourself"
*he buttons at the bottom of the dialog allo& you to operate on gradients in se$eral
&ays=
*he functions performed by these buttons can also be accessed from the dialog pop(up
menu, acti$ated by right(clic-ing any&here in the gradient list" *he menu also gi$es you
one additional function=
Gradient +ditor

*he Gradient @ditor allo&s you to edit the colors in a gradient" It can only be used on
gradients you ha$e created yourself 7or on a copy of a system gradient8, not on system
gradients that come pre(installed &ith GIMP" *his is a sophisticated tool that may ta-e a
bit of effort to understand" *he concept behind it is that a gradient can be decomposed
into a series of ad2oining segments, &ith each segment consisting of a smooth transition
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from the color on the left edge to the color on the right edge" *he Gradient @ditor allo&s
you to pac- together any number of segments, &ith any colors you &ant for the left and
right edges of each segment, and &ith se$eral options for the shape of the transition from
left to right"
o% to Activate the Gradient +ditor
;ou can acti$ate the Gradient @ditor in se$eral &ays=
" ,y double(clic-ing on the gradient stripe in the Gradient dialog"
" From the conte+t menu you get by right clic-ing on the selected gradient name"
" ,y clic-ing on the @dit gradient button in the Gradient Dialog"
" From the Gradient Menu you get by clic-ing on the small triangle representing the
*ab Menu in the Gradient Dialog"
6isplay
Gradient +ditor Menu

;ou can access the Gradient @ditor menu either by right(clic-ing on the gradient display,
or by choosing the top item in the dialog4s tab menu" *he menu allo&s you to set the left
and right edge colors for each segment, and control the transition from one color to the
other"
*he follo&ing commands can be found in the menu=
*here is no FundoF a$ailable &ithin the Gradient @ditor, so be carefulD
Palettes

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. pa)ette is a set of discrete colors, in no particular order" %ee the Palettes section for
basic information on palettes and ho& they can be created and used"
*he Palettes dialog is used to select a palette, by clic-ing on it in a list or grid $ie&" . fe&
do>en more or less randomly chosen palettes are supplied &ith GIMP, and you can easily
add ne& palettes of your o&n" *he Palettes dialog also gi$e you access to se$eral
operations for creating ne& palettes or manipulating the ones that already e+ist"
*he Palettes dialog is not the same thing as the Inde+ Palette dialog, &hich is used to
manipulate the colormaps of inde+ed images"
Activate 6ialog
*he Palettes dialog is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for help
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs Palettes "
" From an image menu= Dialogs Palettes "
" From the *ab menu in any doc-able dialog= .dd *ab Palettes "
Using the Palettes dialog
)lic-ing on a palette in the dialog ma-es it GIMP4s acti$e palette" *his does not really
ha$e any significance, though" Double(clic-ing on a palette brings up the Palette @ditor,
&hich allo&s you to set GIMP4s foreground or bac-ground colors by clic-ing on colors in
the palette display"
Double(clic-ing on a palette name 7in List ie& mode8 lets you to edit the name" Note
that you are only allo&ed to change the names of palettes that you ha$e added yourself,
not those that are supplied &ith GIMP" If you edit a name that you are not allo&ed to
change, it &ill re$ert bac- to its pre$ious $alue as soon as you hit return or mo$e the
pointer focus else&here"
Palettes Menu

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*he Palettes Menu can be accessed by right(clic-ing in the Palettes dialog, or by choosing
the top item from the dialog *ab menu"
Palette +ditor

*he Palette @ditor is used mainly for t&o purposes= first, for setting GIMP4s foreground or
bac-ground colors 7as sho&n in the )olor .rea of the *oolbo+8 to selected colors from the
palette' second, for modifying the palette" ;ou can acti$ate the Palette @ditor for any
palette in the Palettes dialog, but you can only modify palettes that you ha$e created
yourself, not the palettes that are supplied &hen you install GIMP" 7;ou can, ho&e$er,
duplicate any palette and then edit the ne&ly created copy"8 If you modify a palette, the
results of your &or- &ill automatically be sa$ed &hen you e+it from GIMP"
o% to Activate the Palette +ditor
*he Palette @ditor is only accessible from the Palettes dialog= you can acti$ate it by
double(clic-ing on a palette, or by pressing the F@dit PaletteF button at the bottom, or by
choosing F@dit PaletteF from the Palettes Menu"
*he Palette @ditor is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for help on
manipulating it"
Using the Palette +ditor
If you clic- on a color bo+ in the palette display, GIMP4s foreground color &ill be set to the
selected color= you can see this in the )olor .rea of the *oolbo+" If you hold do&n the )trl
-ey &hile clic-ing, GIMP4s bac-ground color &ill be set to the selected color"
Double(clic-ing on a color not only sets the foreground, it also brings up a color editor
that allo&s you to modify the selected palette entry" 7*his only happens if the palette is
one you are allo&ed to modify= that is, one you ha$e added to GIMP yourself"8
<ight(clic-ing in the palette display area brings up the Palette @ditor menu" It4s functions
are mainly the same as those of the buttons at the bottom of the dialog"
,elo& the palette display area, at the left, appears a te+t entry area that sho&s the name
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of the selected color 7or FUnnamedF if it does not ha$e one8" *his information has no
functional significance, and is present only to ser$e you as a memory aid"
*o the right of the name entry is a spinbutton that allo&s you to set the number of
columns used to display the palette" *his only affects the display, not ho& the palette
&or-s" If the $alue is set to B, a default &ill be used"
.t the bottom of the dialog are a set of buttons, &hich mostly match the entries in the
Palette @ditor menu, accessible by right(clic-ing in the palette display area" :ere are the
buttons=
Palette +ditor Menu

*he Palette @ditor Menu can be accessed by right(clic-ing on the palette display in the
Palette @ditor, or by choosing the top entry from the dialog *ab menu" *he operations in it
can also be e+ecuted using the buttons at the bottom of the Palette @ditor dialog"
!onts dialog

*he Fonts dialog is used for selecting fonts for the *e+t tool" It also allo&s you to refresh
the list of a$ailable fonts, if you add ne& ones to your system &hile GIMP is running"
Activate 6ialog
*he Fonts dialog is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for help on
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs Fonts "
" From the image menu bar= Dialogs Fonts "
" From the *ab menu in any doc-able dialog= .dd *ab Fonts "
" From the *ool 3ptions for the *e+t tool" If you clic- on the FFontF button, a Font(
selector pops up" In the lo&er right corner is a button that, if pressed, brings up the
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Fonts dialog"
Using the !onts dialog
*he most basic thing you can do is to select a font by clic-ing on it= this font &ill then be
used by the *e+t tool" If instead of clic-ing and releasing, you hold do&n the left mouse
button &ith the pointer positioned o$er the font e+ample 7F.aF8, a &indo& sho&ing a
larger te+t e+ample &ill pop up 7FPac- my bo+ &ith fi$e do>en li1uor 2ugs"F8"
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Image management related dialogs
1u))ers dialog

,uffers are temporary repositories for image data, created &hen you cut or copy part of a
dra&able 7a layer, layer mas-, etc"8" ;ou can sa$e a document in this buffer in t&o &ays=
@dit ,uffer )opy Named or @dit ,uffer )ut Named . dialog pops up as-ing you to name a
buffer to store the data in" *here is no hard limit on the number of named buffers you can
create, although, of course, each one consumes a share of memory"
*he ,uffers dialog sho&s you the contents of all e+isting named buffers, and allo&s you
to operate on them in se$eral &ays" It also sho&s you, at the top, the contents of the
Global ,uffer, but this is merely a display= you can4t do anything &ith it"
*he ,uffers dialog is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for help
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs ,uffer "
" From an image menu= Dialogs ,uffer , or @dit ,uffer Paste Named "
" From the *ab menu in any doc-able dialog= .dd *ab ,uffer "
Named buffers are not sa$ed across sessions" *he only &ay to sa$e their contents is to
paste them into images"

In the *ab menu for the ,uffers dialog, you can choose bet&een ie& as Grid and ie& as
List" In Grid mode, the buffers are laid out in a rectangular array" In List mode, they are
lined up $ertically, &ith each ro& sho&ing a pre$ie& of the contents of the buffer, its
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name, and its pi+el dimensions"

)lic-ing on a buffer in the display area ma-es it the acti$e buffer, i" e", the one that &ill
be used for paste commands e+ecuted &ith the ,uffers Menu or the buttons at the
bottom of the dialog" Double(clic-ing on a buffer causes its contents to be pasted to the
acti$e image' this is a 1uic- &ay of e+ecuting the FPaste ,ufferF command"
.t the bottom of the dialog are four buttons" *he operations they perform can also be
accessed from the ,uffers Menu that you get by right clic-ing on the acti$e buffer"
" Paste 1u))er
*his command pastes the contents of the selected buffer into the acti$e image, as a
floating selection" *he only difference bet&een this and the ordinary Paste command
is that it uses the selected buffer rather than the global clipboard buffer"
" Paste 1u))er Into
*his command pastes the contents of the selected buffer into the acti$e image4s
selection, as a floating selection" *he only difference bet&een this and the ordinary
Paste Into command is that it uses the selected buffer rather than the global
clipboard buffer"
" Paste 1u))er as $e%
*his command creates a ne& single(layer image out of the contents of the selected
buffer" *he only difference bet&een this and the ordinary Paste as Ne& command is
that it uses the selected buffer rather than the global clipboard buffer"
" 6elete 1u))er
*his command deletes the selected named buffer, no 1uestions as-ed" ;ou cannot
delete the Global ,uffer"
;ou can change the si>e of the buffer pre$ie&s in the dialog using the FPre$ie& %i>eF
submenu of the dialog4s *ab menu"
Images dialog

*he Images Dialog displays the list of open images on your screen' each of them is
represented &ith a thumbnail" *his dialog is useful &hen you ha$e many o$erlapping
images on your screen= thus, you can raise the &anted image to foreground"
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*he Images dialog is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for help
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs Images "
" From an image menu= Dialogs Images "
" From the *ab menu in any doc-able dialog= .dd *ab Ihmages "
Grid?2ist modesC Previe%s si>e
.s in all dialogs &ith thumbnails, the *ab menu gi$es you the possibility of adapting
thumbnail display to your li-ing" %ee Doc-ing
Using the Images dialog
.t the top of the dialog appears the name of the currently selected image, if the "S'ow
Image Se)ection" option is chec-ed in *ab Menu" Useless if you ha$e selected Grid mode=
any&ay, the name is displayed"
.t center, open images appear, as a list or a grid, according to the selected mode" *he
current image is highlighted in list mode, outlined in grid mode" 5ith a double clic-" 5ith
a simple clic- on an image name, you raise this image to the foreground of your screen"
5ith a simple clic- you select this image so that buttons can act on it"
" 2aise t'is imageAs disp)a+= *he selected image appears at the foreground of your
screen"
" Create a new disp)a+ 4or t'is image= Duplicates the image &indo& 7not the image8 of
the selected image"
" De)ete= this button is not &or-ing"
6ocument istory dialog

*he :istory Dialog displays the list of the documents you ha$e opened in pre$ious
sessions" It is more complete than the list you get &ith the "Open 2ecent" command"
Activate 6ialog
;ou can access to this dialog in different &ays=
" From the toolbo+(menu and the image Menu bar= File 3pen <ecent Document
:istory
" From the image Menu(bar= Dialogs Document :istory
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*ptions
*he scroll bar allo&s you to bro&se all images you ha$e opened before"
*he Open t'e se)ected entr+ button allo&s you to open the image you ha$e selected"
5ith F%hiftF -ey pressed, it raises an image hidden behind others" 5ith F)trlF -ey pressed,
it opens the 3pen Image dialog"
*he 2emo1e t'e se)ected entr+ button allo&s you to remo$e an image from the :istory
dialog" *he image is remo$ed from the recently open images list also" ,ut the image itself
is not deleted"
*he 2ecreate Pre1iew button updates pre$ie& in case of change" 5ith F%hiftF -ey pressed,
it acts on all pre$ie&s" 5ith F)trlF -ey pressed, pre$ie&s that can4t be found out are
deleted"
Templates
6ialog

*emplates are templates for an image format to be created" Gimp offers you a lot of
templates and you can create your o&ns" 5hen you create a Ne& image, you can access
to the list of e+isting templates but you can4t manage them" *he "&emp)ates" dialog
allo&s you to manage all these templates"
*he *emplates dialog is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for
help on manipulating it" It can be acti$ated in t&o &ays=
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs *emplates "
" From an image menu= Dialogs *emplates "
In the *ab menu for the *emplates dialog, you can choose bet&een ie& as Grid and ie&
as List" In Grid mode, templates are laid out in a rectangular array of identical icons
7unless you ga$e them a particular icon, as &e &ill see later8" 3nly the name of the
selected template is displayed" In List mode, they are lined up $ertically' icons are
identical too' all names are displayed"
In this *ab menu, the Pre$ie& %i>e option allo&s you to change the si>e of thumbnails"
Using the Templates dialog
;ou select a template by clic-ing on its icon" <ight clic-ing re$eals a local menu that
offers the same functions as buttons"
*he buttons at the bottom of the dialog allo& you to operate on templates in se$eral
&ays=
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+dit Template

*he dialog allo&s you to set the specifications of the selected template"
;ou can access to this editor by clic-ing on the @dit *emplate button in the *emplates
dialog"
*he .d$anced 3ptions dialog
*hese are options that &ill mainly be of interest to more ad$anced users"
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Misc dialogs
Tools dialog

*he *ools dialog is used mainly to control the appearance of the *oolbo+" It allo&s you to
customi>e the set of tools for &hich icons are sho&n in the *oolbo+, and the order in
&hich the icons are arranged" Probably the most common use for it is to ma-e the )olor
tools a$ailable directly from the *oolbo+" ;ou can also use the *ools dialog to select a tool
by clic-ing on its symbol, but for this purpose you might as &ell 2ust use the *oolbo+"
*he *ools dialog is a doc-able dialog' see the section on Dialogs and Doc-ing for help on
" From the *oolbo+ menu= File Dialogs *ools "
" From an image menu= Dialogs *ools "
" From the *ab menu in any doc-able dialog= .dd *ab *ools "
Grid?2ist modes
In the *ab menu, you can choose bet&een ie& as Grid and ie& as List" In Grid mode,
the tools are laid out in a rectangular array" In List mode, they are lined up $ertically, &ith
each ro& sho&ing the tool name, tool icon, and an "e+e" icon if the tool is currently $isible
in the *oolbo+"
Using the Tools dialog
*he most basic thing you can do is to select a tool by clic-ing on its icon= this has the
same effect as clic-ing on an icon in the *oolbo+" ;ou can do this in either List or Grid
mode= the other functions of the dialog are a$ailable only in List mode"
*he most important function of the *ools dialog is to let you choose &hich tools to ma-e
$isible in the *oolbo+, by toggling the "e+e" icons that appear on the left side of each ro&
in List mode" In particular, if you use the )olor tools a lot, you may benefit from toggling
$isibility on for them here"
;ou can also change the order of tools in the *oolbo+, by clic-ing on an item in the *ools
dialog, in List mode, and dragging it up or do&n in the list" If you scre& things up, you can
al&ays press the F<esetF button at the bottom of the dialog, to restore the defaults for
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order and $isibility"
<ight(clic-ing inside the dialog produces the *ools menu, &hich gi$es you an alternati$e
&ay of toggling $isibility or restoring the defaults"
Pre)erences
Introduction

*he preferences dialog can be accessed from the *oolbo+ menu, as File Preferences " It
lets you customi>e many aspects of the &ay GIMP &or-s" *he follo&ing sections detail the
settings that you can customi>e, and &hat they affect" *his information applies
specifically to Gimp #"#, but the settings for Gimp #"B are similar enough that you should
be able to understand them based on the e+planations here"
.ll of the Preferences information is stored in a file called gimprc in your personal GIMP
directory, so if you are a "power "ser" &ho &ould rather &or- &ith a te+t editor than a
graphical interface, you can alter preferences by editing that file" If you do, and you are
on a Linu+ system, then man gimprc &ill gi$e you a lot of technical information about the
contents of the file and &hat they are used for"
$e% Image Pre)erences

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*his tab lets you customi>e the default settings for the Ne& Image dialog" %ee the Ne&
Image Dialog section for an e+planation of &hat each of the $alues means"
6e)ault Image Grid

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*his page lets you customi>e the default properties of GIMP4s grid, &hich can be toggled
on or off using ie& %ho& Grid from the image menu" *he settings here match those in
the )onfigure Image Grid dialog, &hich can be used to reconfigure the grid for an e+isting
image, by choosing Image )onfigure Grid from the image menu" %ee the )onfigure Grid
dialog section for information on the meaning of each of the settings"
Inter)ace

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Theme

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*his page lets you select a theme, &hich determines many aspects of the appearance of
the GIMP user interface, including the set of icons used, their si>es, fonts, spacing allo&ed
in dialogs, etc" *&o themes are supplied &ith GIMP= Default, &hich is probably best for
most people, and %mall, &hich may be preferable for those &ith small or lo&(resolution
monitors" )lic-ing on a theme in the list causes it to be applied immediately, so it is easy
to see the result and change your mind if you don4t li-e it"
;ou can also use custom themes, either by do&nloading them from the net, or by copying
one of the supplied themes and modifying it" )ustom themes should be places in the
themes subdirectory of your personal GIMP directory= if they are, they &ill appear in the
list here" @ach theme is actually a directory containing .%)II files that you can edit" *hey
are pretty complicated, and the meaning of the contents goes beyond the scope of this
documentation, but you should feel free to e+periment= in the &orst case, if you mess
things up completely, you can al&ays re$ert bac- to one of the supplied themes"
;ou cannot edit the supplied themes unless you ha$e administrator permissions, and
e$en if you do, you shouldn4t= if you &ant to customi>e a theme, ma-e a copy in your
personal directory and &or- on it" If you ma-e a change and &ould li-e to see the result
Fon the flyF, you can do so by sa$ing the edited theme file and then pressing <eload
)urrent *heme"
elp 'ystem

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*ptions
Tool *ptions

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*ptions
Toolbo5

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*ptions

*his page lets you customi>e the appearance of the *oolbo+, by deciding &hether the
three Fconte+t informationF areas should be sho&n at the bottom"
Image Windo%s

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*ptions
Image Windo% Appearance

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*he only parts that may need further e+planation are the ones related to padding"
"Padding" is the color sho&n around the edges of the image, if it does not occupy all of
the display area 7sho&n in light gray in all the figures here8" ;ou can choose among four
colors for the padding color= to use the color specified by the current theme' to use the
light or dar- colors specified for chec-s, such as represent transparent parts of the image'
or to use a custom color, &hich can be set using the color button for "C"stom padding
co)or""
Image Windo% Title and 'tatusbar

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Choosing a !ormat
;ou can choose among se$eral predesigned formats, or you can create one of your o&n,
by &riting a 4ormat string in the entry area" :ere is ho& to understand a format string=
anything you type is sho&n e+actly as you type it, &ith the e+ception of 1aria%)es, &hose
names all begin &ith FVF" :ere is a list of the $ariables you can use=
6isplay

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*ptions

Input 6evices

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Input Controllers

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*his dialog has t&o tabs that allo& you to assign actions to the mouse &heel and to
-eyboard -eys=
Main Mouse 5heel tab
;ou &ill find an e+ample of these notions in )reating a $ariable si>e brush "
Windo% Managment

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*his page lets you customi>e the &ay &indo&s are handled in GIMP" ;ou should note that
GIMP does not manipulate &indo&s directly, instead it sends re1uests to the &indo&
manager 7i" e", to 5indo&s if you are running in 5indo&s' to Metacity if you are running
in a standard Gnome setup in Linu+' etc8" ,ecause there are many &indo& managers, and
not all of them are &ell beha$ed, it cannot be guaranteed that the functions described
here &ill actually &or- as described" :o&e$er, if you are using a modern, standards(
compliant &indo& manager, they ought to"
*ptions
+nvironment

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*ptions
!olders

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*his page allo&s you to set the locations for t&o important folders used by GIMP for
temporary files" *he pages belo& it allo& you to customi>e the locations searched for
resources such as brushes etc"' see Data Folders for a description that applies to them"
;ou can change the folders here by editing the entries, or by pressing the buttons on the
right to bring up a file chooser &indo&"
6ata !olders

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GIMP uses se$eral types of resources O such as brushes, patterns, gradients, etc" O for
&hich a basic set are supplied by GIMP &hen it is installed, and others can be created or
do&nloaded by the user" For each such resource type, there is a Preference page that
allo&s you to specify the searc' pat'= the set of directories from &hich items of the type
in 1uestion are automatically loaded &hen GIMP starts" *hese pages all loo- $ery much
the same= the page for brushes is sho&n to the right as an e+ample"
,y default, the search path includes t&o folders= a s+stem folder, &here items installed
along &ith GIMP are placed, and a persona) folder, inside your personal GIMP directory,
&here items added by you should be placed" *he system folder should not be mar-ed as
&ritable, and you should not try to alter its contents" *he personal folder must be mar-ed
as &ritable or it is useless, because there is nothing inside it e+cept &hat you put there"
;ou can customi>e the search path &ith the buttons at the top of the dialog"
6evice 'tatus dialog

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*his &indo& gathers together the current options of *oolbo+, for each of your input
de$ices= the mouse 7named "Core pointer"8 or either the tablet, if you ha$e one" *hese
options are represented by icons= foreground and bac-ground colors, brush, pattern and
gradient" @+cepted for colors, clic-ing on an icon opens the &indo& &hich lets you select
another option' the tool(bo+ &ill be updated &hen changing"
In addition, you can add tabs and other dialog by clic-(and(drag"
*he "2ecord de1ice stat"s" button at the bottom of the &indo&, seems to ha$e the same
action as the "2ecord de1ice stat"s now" option in the Input De$ices section in
preferences"
Activate 6ialog
;ou &ill find this dialog in the *oolbo+ menu bar through File Dialogs De$ice %tatus
+rror Console
*he @rror console offers more possibilities than the single ".I(P (essage"" *his is a log of
all errors occuring &hile GIMP is running" ;ou can sa$e all this log or only a selected part"
Activate 6ialog
" ;ou &ill find this command in the toolbo+ menu bar through File Dialogs @rror
)onsole ,
The +rror Console 6ialog

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" )lear errors= *his button lets you delete all errors in the log"
" %a$e all errors= *his button lets you sa$e the &hole log" ;ou can also select a part of
the log 7by clic-(and(dragging the mouse pointer or by using the %hift.rro& -eys -ey
combination8 and sa$e only this selected part by pressing the %hift -ey"
. dialog &indo& %a$e @rror Log to File lets you choose the name and the destination
directory of this file=

;ou &ill as &ell find these button actions in the dialog sub(menu by clic-ing on "
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Chapter
Menus
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Introduction to the GIMP Menus

*here are many places in GIMP &here you can find menus" *he aim of this chapter is to
e+plain all the commands that are accessible from the menus in the *oolbo+ and Image
&indo&s" .ll the conte+t menus and the menu entries for the other dialogs are described
else&here in the chapters that describe the dialogs themsel$es"
Conte5t Menus
If you right(clic- on certain parts of the GIMP interface, a "conte#t men"" opens, &hich
leads to a $ariety of functions" %ome places &here you can access conte+t menus are=
" )lic-ing on an image &indo& displays the Image menu" *his is useful &hen you are
&or-ing in full(screen mode, &ithout a menubar"
" )lic-ing on a layer in the Layers Dialog or on a channel in the )hannels Dialog
displays functions for the selected layer or channel"
" <ight(clic-ing on the image menubar has the same effect as left(clic-ing"
" <ight(clic-ing on the title bar displays functions &hich do not belong to GIMP, but to
the &indo& manager program on your computer"
6etachable 'ubmenus
*here is an interesting property associated &ith some of the menus in GIMP" *hese are
any of the menus from the *oolbo+ menubar and any of their submenus, as &ell as the
Image conte+t menu you get by right(clic-ing on the image &indo& and any of its
submenus" 7;ou can tell that a menu item leads to a submenu because there is an icon
ne+t to it"8 5hen you bring up any of these menus, there is a dotted line at the top of it"
,y clic-ing on this dotted line, you detach the menu under it and it becomes a separate
&indo&"

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Detached submenus originating from the *oolbo+ are only $isible &hen the *oolbo+ is
acti$e" Detached submenus originating from the Image &indo& are actually independent"
*hey are al&ays $isible, their functions al&ays apply to the current image, and they
persist &hen all of the images are closed" ;ou can close a detached submenu by clic-ing
on the dotted line again or closing the &indo& from the &indo& manager on your
computer 7often by clic-ing on an 6 icon in the upper right corner of the &indo&8"
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Toolbo5 !ile Menu
Toolbo5 !ile Menu

*he *oolbo+ is the heart of the GIMP" It contains the most commonly used controls, and
the highest(le$el menus" *&o of the menus, File and :elp, can also be accessed from the
menubars located abo$e each image display, although their contents are some&hat
different" *he *oolbo+ is the only place to access the 6tns 7@+tensions8 menu"
"
"
"
"
"
;ou may find other entries in this menubar &hich are not described here" *hey are not
part of standard GIMP, but ha$e been added by some of the plug(ins" ;ou can find more
information about the additional menu entries in the documentation for the plug(ins"
Ac@uire

*he .c1uire submenu of the *oolbo+4s File menu contains a list of &ays you can import
images into the GIMP" *his allo&s you to import images from sources other than a dis- or
the net&or-, such a screen capture or an image from a scanner"
Activating the 'ubmenu
" ;ou can access this command in the *oolbo+ menu= File .c1uire
'ubmenu entries
*hese commands $ary some&hat, depending upon your system, since the GIMP ma-es
calls to system functions"
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The Pre)erences command
*he File Preferences command displays the Preferences dialog, &hich lets you alter a
$ariety of settings that affect the loo-, feel, and performance of the GIMP"
Activating the Command
" ;ou can access this command in the *oolbo+ menu bar through File Preferences
The 6ialogs sub-menu

*he Dialogs submenu of the *oolbo+4s File menu contains a list of a$ailable dialogs that
you can use &hile you are editing an image (( patterns, palettes, brushes, etc" ;ou can
open and close dialogs as needed, or, if you &ant them to stay around, you can doc-
them" Dialogs are described in detail in
Accessing the 6ialogs 'ubmenu
" ;ou can access this submenu in the *oolbo+ through= File Dialogs
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=tns
Introduction to the =tns menu

*he 6tns menu gets its some&hat cryptic name from the term, "@#tensions"" .ccordingly,
you &ill find $arious commands for managing e+tensions 7also -no&n as "p)"g-ins"8 and
for accessing scripts here"
,esides the commands presented here, you might find other entries on this menu" *hey
are not part of GIMP itself, but are e+tensions to it" ;ou can find descriptions of their
capabilities in the documentation for the e+tensions"
The Module Manager
5ith the Module Manager command, you can sho& the $arious e+tension modules &hich
are a$ailable and control &hich of them should be loaded" Modules perform functions
such as choosing colors and display filtering" .ny changes you ma-e to the settings &ith
the Module Manager command &ill ta-e effect the ne+t time you start GIMP" *hese
changes affect GIMP4s functional capabilities, its si>e in memory and its startup time"
" ;ou can access this command from the toolbo+ menubar through 6tns Module
Manager
6escription o) the Module Manager 6ialog

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*he scrolled &indo& of the Module Manager sho&s the loadable modules" ;ou can clic- on
the bo+es in the .utoload column to chec- or unchec- them" *he directory path for each
module is sho&n in the Module path column" Information about the selected module is
displayed at the bottom of the dialog"
The Unit +ditor
*he Unit @ditor command displays a dialog &hich sho&s information about the units of
measurement that are currently being used by GIMP" It also allo&s you to create ne& units
&hich can be used by GIMP in a $ariety of situations"
" ;ou can access this command from the toolbo+ menubar through 6tns Unit @ditorR "
6escription o) the Unit +ditor dialog %indo%

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*he figure abo$e sho&s the "Unit @ditor" dialog &indo&" *he list sho&s the units of
measurement &hich are currently defined" ;ou can clic- on the Ne& button or the
Duplicate button to create a ne& measurement unit, as described belo&"
6escription o) the list elements
" Sa1ed= If this column is chec-ed, a unit definition &ill be sa$ed &hen GIMP e+its"
%ome units are al&ays -ept, e$en if they are not mar-ed &ith a chec-" *hese are
highlighted in the list"
" ID= *he string GIMP uses to identify the unit in its configuration files"
" /actor= :o& many units ma-e up an inch"
" Digits= *his field is a hint for numerical input fields" It specifies ho& many decimal
digits the input field should pro$ide to get appro+imately the same accuracy as an
"inc'" input field &ith t&o decimal digits"
" S+m%o)= *he unit4s symbol if it has one 7e"g" F for inches8" *he unit4s abbre$iation is
used if doesn4t ha$e a symbol"
" *%%re1iation= *he unit4s abbre$iation 7e"g" "cm" for centimeters8"
" Sing")ar= *he unit4s singular form, &hich GIMP can use to display messages about
the unit"
" P)"ra)= *he unit4s plural form, &hich GIMP can use to display messages about the
unit"
6e)ining $e% Units

;ou can display the dialog sho&n abo$e by clic-ing on either the Ne& button or the
Duplicate button on the Unit @ditor dialog" *he input fields on the dialog are described
abo$e"
If you clic- on the Ne& button, the dialog loo-s as sho&n" If you clic- on the Duplicate
button, the $alues initially displayed in the input fields of the dialog are the $alues of the
unit you ha$e currently selected in the Unit @ditor dialog" ;ou can then edit the $alues to
create your ne& unit"
Plug-In 1ro%ser
*he Plug(In ,ro&ser command displays a dialog &indo& &hich sho&s all of the e+tensions
7plug(ins8 &hich are currently loaded in GIMP, both as a list and as a hierarchical tree
structure" %ince many of the filters are actually plug(ins, you &ill certainly see many
familiar names here" Please note that you do not run the e+tensions from this dialog
&indo&" Use the appropriate menu entry to do that instead" For e+ample, you can run
filter plug(ins by using the Filter command on the image menubar"
" ;ou can access this command from the toolbo+ menubar through 6tns Plug(in
,ro&ser
6escription o) the Plug-In 1ro%ser dialog %indo%

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*he figure abo$e sho&s the list $ie& of the Plug(In ,ro&ser" ;ou can clic- on the name of
a plug(in in the scrolled &indo& to display more information about it" %elect the List ie&
by clic-ing on the tab at the top of the dialog"
;ou can search for a plug(in by name by entering part or all of the name in the %earch=
te+t bo+ and clic-ing on the %earch by Name button" *he left part of the dialog then
displays the matches found"

*he figure abo$e sho&s the tree $ie& of the Plug(In ,ro&ser" ;ou can clic- on the name of
a plug(in in the scrolled &indo& to display more information about it" ;ou can clic- on the
arro&heads to e+pand or contract parts of the tree" %elect the *ree ie& by clic-ing on
the tab at the top of the dialog"
;ou can search for a plug(in by name by entering part or all of the name in the %earch=
te+t bo+ and clic-ing on the %earch by Name button" *he left part of the dialog then
displays the matches found"
Not e$erything in these huge dialog &indo&s is $isible at the same time" Use the scroll
bars to $ie& their content"
The Procedure 1ro%ser
*he Procedure ,ro&ser command displays the procedures in the PD,, the Procedure
Database" *hese procedures are functions &hich are called by the scripts or plug(ins" ;ou
can find a more detailed description of the PD, in the glossary" *he bro&ser is most useful
for ad$anced users &ho &rite scripts or plug(ins"
" ;ou can access this command from the toolbo+ menubar through 6tns Procedure
,ro&ser
6escription o) the Procedure 1ro%ser dialog %indo%

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*he figure abo$e sho&s the Procedure ,ro&ser dialog &indo&" If you clic- on an item in
the scrolled list on the left, information about it is displayed on the right" ;ou can also
search for a specific procedure by name by entering part or all of the name of the
procedure in the %earch= te+t bo+ and clic-ing on the %earch by Name button, or search
for one by its description by entering a search string in the %earch= te+t bo+ and clic-ing
on the %earch by ,lurb button"
The 'cript-!u submenu

*he %cript(Fu command displays a submenu &hich contains a large number of %cript(Fu
scripts and options, including the %cript(Fu console" %cript(Fu is a language for &riting
scripts, &hich allo& you to run a series of GIMP commands automatically"
Activating the submenu
" ;ou can access this command from the toolbo+ menubar through 6tns %cript(Fu
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The elp Menu o) the Toolbo5 Windo%
Introduction to the elp menu

*he :elp menu contains commands that assist you &hile you are &or-ing &ith *he GIMP"
;ou may find other commands besides the ones described here on your computer" *hese
commands are not part of *he GIMP itself, but ha$e been added by some of the plug(ins"
Please refer to the documentation on the e+tensions for more information about these
menu commands"
elp
*he :elp command displays the GIMP Users Manual in a bro&ser" ;ou can set the bro&ser
you &ould li-e to use in the :elp %ystem section of the Preferences dialog, as described in
" *he bros&er may be the built(in GIMP help bro&ser, or it may be a &eb bro&ser"
If the help does not seem to &or-, please $erify that the ".imp Users (an"a)" is installed
on your system" ;ou can find the most recent help at http=//docs"gimp"org/en/inde+"html
" ;ou can access this command from the toolbo+ menubar through :elp :elp ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut F!"
Conte5t elp
*he )onte+t :elp command ma-es the mouse pointer conte+t(sensiti$e and changes its
shape to a "B"" ;ou can then clic- on a &indo&, dialog or menu entry and GIMP displays
help about it, if it is a$ailable" ;ou can also access conte+t help at any time by pressing
the F! -ey &hile the mouse pointer is o$er the ob2ect you &ould li-e help about"
" ;ou can access this command from the toolbo+ menu through :elp )onte+t :elp
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift F! "
Tip o) the 6ay
*he *ip of the Day command displays the *ip of the Day dialog" *his dialog contains
useful tips to help you gain a better understanding of some of the subtle points of using
*he GIMP" Ne& users &ill find it $ery $aluable to pay attention to these, because they
often suggest &ays of doing something that are much easier or more efficient than more
ob$ious approaches"
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6escription o) the dialog %indo%

. ne& tip is displayed each time you start *he GIMP" ;ou can disable this by un(chec-ing
the %ho& tip ne+t time GIMP starts bo+ on the dialog"
About
*he .bout command sho&s the .bout &indo&, &hich displays information about the
$ersion of *he GIMP you are running and the many authors &ho &rote it"
Activating the About Command
" ;ou can access this command in the toolbo+ menu through :elp .bout

The GIMP *nline

*he GIMP online command displays a submenu &hich lists se$eral helpful &eb sites that
ha$e to do &ith $arious aspects of GIMP" ;ou can clic- on one of the menu items and your
&eb bro&ser &ill try to connect to the U<L"
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The !ile Menu o) the Image Windo%
!ile menu

*here is a File menu on both the *oolbo+ &indo& and the image &indo&" 3nly some of the
menu items in these t&o menus are the same"
*he contents of the File menu on your computer may ha$e different entries than the ones
sho&n here" *hese entries are not part of the GIMP itself, but are added by some of the
plug(ins" ;ou can get more information about any of these items by reading the
documentation about the plug(in it belongs to"
$e%
Using the Ne& Image dialog, you can create a ne& empty image and set its properties"
*he image is sho&n in a ne& image &indo&" ;ou may ha$e more than one image on your
screen at the same time"
;ou can access the command from either the *oolbo+ menubar or the Image menubar
through= File Ne& ,
or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl N "
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*pen
*he 3pen command acti$ates a dialog that lets you load an e+isting image from your
hard(dri$e or an e+ternal medium" For alternati$e, and sometimes more con$enient, &ays
of opening files, see the Files section"
Activating the 6ialog
" ;ou can access the 3pen dialog from the toolbo+ &indo& or from an image &indo&
through= File 3pen "
" ;ou can also open the Dialog by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl3"
!ile bro%sing
*he left panel is di$ided into t&o parts" *he upper part lists your main directories and
your storage de$ices' you cannot modify this list" *he lo&er part lists your boo-mar-s'
you can add or remo$e %oo0mar0s" *o add a boo-mar-, select a directory or a file in the
middle panel and clic- on the .dd button at the bottom of the left panel" ;ou can also use
the .dd to boo-mar-s command in the conte+t menu, &hich you get by clic-ing the right
mouse button" ;ou can delete a boo-mar- by selecting it and clic-ing on the <emo$e
button"
*he middle panel displays a list of the files in the current directory" )hange your current
directory by double left clic-ing on a directory in this panel" %elect a file &ith a single left
clic-" ;ou can then open the file you ha$e selected by clic-ing on the 3pen button" Note
that a double left clic- opens the file directly' if you ha$e selected a file different from the
current one, a message &arns you before GIMP o$er&rites your &or-"
<ight(clic-ing on the middle panel displays the 3pen Location dialog that allo&s you to
type a path to a file" ;ou can also open this dialog by typing )trlL "
*he selected image is displayed in the Pre$ie& &indo& if it is an image created by GIMP"
File si>e, resolution and the image4s composition are displayed belo& the pre$ie& &indo&"
If your image has been modified by another program, clic- on the Pre$ie& &indo& to
update it"
*he path of the current directory is displayed abo$e the middle panel" ;ou can na$igate
along this path by clic-ing on one of the buttons"
*his button sho&s .ll Files by default" *his means that all file types &ill be displayed in
the middle panel, e$en if they are not images" ;ou can 4i)ter the list for a particular file
type"
*he Determine File *ype button has a default of .utomatic" In most cases you don4t need
to pay any attention to this, because the GIMP can determine the file type automatically"
In a fe& rare situations, neither the file e+tension nor internal information in the file are
enough to tell GIMP the file type" If this happens, you can set it by selecting it from the
list"
*pen 2ocation
*he 3pen Location dialog lets you load an image from a net&or- location, specified by a
U<I, in any of the formats that GIMP supports, or from a path to your hard dis- or any
dri$e" *he default directory name is /home/ZusernameR/ on Linu+ and )=KDocuments and
%ettingsKZusernameRKMy DocumentsKMy ImagesK on 5indo&s, &hich is used as the base
of the relati$e address" ;ou can also enter an absolute path"
5hen you are $isiting an Internet site, you can right clic- on an image and choose "Cop+
)in0 address" in the drop(do&n menu" *hen paste it in the "Open Location" dialog to open
it in GIMP"
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" ;ou can access this command from the *oolbo+ menu and the image menu= File
3pen Location

*pen (ecent
%electing 3pen <ecent displays a submenu &ith the names of the files that you ha$e
opened recently in GIMP" %imply clic- on a name to reopen it" ;ou can customi>e the
number of items sho&n in the menu, by changing the 3pen <ecent Menu %i>e $alue in
the Interface page of the Preferences dialog" %ee the Document :istory dialog at the
bottom of the 3pen <ecent submenu, if you cannot find your image"
" *his menu item can be accessed from the toolbo+ or image menus, as File 3pen
<ecent ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl 3 "
*pen as 2ayer
*he 3pen Image as layer dialog is identical to the 3pen Image dialog" 5ith this dialog,
you can open an image file, &hich is added to the current image as the top layer in the
stac-"
" *his command can be accessed from the image menu bar as File 3pen as layer""" "
" *he default shortcut is )trl .lt 3 "
'ave
*he %a$e command sa$es your image to dis-" If you ha$e already sa$ed the image, the
pre$ious image file is o$er&ritten &ith the current $ersion" If you ha$e not already sa$ed
the image, the %a$e command does the same thing as the %a$e .s command= GIMP
opens the File %a$e dialog, so that you can choose the data format, the path and the
filename of the ne& image file"
If the image &as pre$iously sa$ed, it is automatically sa$ed to the same location, using
the same file name, file type, and options" *o sa$e it differently in any respect, use either
%a$e .s or %a$e . )opy"
If you 1uit &ithout ha$ing sa$ed your image, GIMP as-s you if you really &ant to do so, if
the "Con4irm c)osing o4 "nsa1ed images" option is chec-ed in the @n$ironment page of
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the Preferences dialog"
" ;ou can access this command in the image menu bar through File %a$e ,
" or from the -eyboard by using the shortcut )trl%"
'ave as
*he %a$e as command brings up the "/i)e Sa1e" dialog" In its basic form, as sho&n belo&,
this gi$es you a te+t bo+ to use to assign a name to the file, and a dropdo&n list of
boo-mar-s to use to select a directory to sa$e it in" Normally the file format is determined
by the e+tension you use in the file name 7i"e", "2pg for a ?P@G file8" ;ou can use the %elect
File *ype option e+pander to pic- a different file type, but you should a$oid doing this
unless absolutely necessary, to a$oid confusion"
If the directory you &ant is not in the list of boo-mar-s, clic- on ,ro&se for other folders
to e+pand the dialog into its full form" ;ou can find an e+planation of the layout, and help
on creating and using boo-mar-s, in the Files section"
If you sa$ed the image pre$iously and don4t need to change the file name or any of the
options, you can use the %a$e command instead"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through File %a$e as ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift )trl % "
The 1asic 'ave as 6ialog
*here are t&o different forms of the %a$e as dialog" *he simple form only lets you type in
the filename and choose the directory the file should be sa$ed in" If the folder you &ant is
not on the list, you can type in the path to the directory, along &ith the filename" ;ou can
also clic- on the small triangle to display the full folder bro&ser" ;ou must also choose the
image format, by selecting the file e+tension 7e"g", "+cf or "png8"

The 'ave 6ialog %ith a 1ro%ser
*he left panel is di$ided into t&o parts" *he upper part lists your main directories and
your storage de$ices' you cannot modify this list" *he lo&er part lists your boo-mar-s'
you can add or remo$e %oo0mar0s" *o add a boo-mar-, select a directory or a file in the
middle panel and clic- on the .dd button at the bottom of the left panel" ;ou can also use
the .dd to boo-mar-s command in the conte+t menu, &hich you get by clic-ing the right
mouse button" ;ou can delete a boo-mar- by selecting it and clic-ing on the <emo$e
button"
*he middle panel displays a list of the files in the current directory" )hange your current
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directory by double left(clic-ing on a directory in this panel" %elect a file &ith a single left
clic-" ;ou can then sa$e to the file you ha$e selected by clic-ing on the %a$e button" Note
that a double left clic- sa$es the file directly"
;ou can right clic- on the middle panel to access the S'ow 8idden /i)es command"
*he selected image is displayed in the Pre$ie& &indo& if it is an image created by GIMP"
File si>e, resolution and the image4s composition are displayed belo& the pre$ie& &indo&"
If your image has been modified by another program, clic- on the pre$ie& to update it"
@nter the filename of the ne& image file here"
If the image has already been sa$ed, GIMP suggests the same filename to you" If you
clic- on Sa1e, the file is o$er&ritten"
*his drop(do&n list is only a$ailable in the basic form of the dialog" It pro$ides a list of
boo-mar-s for selecting a directory in &hich to sa$e your file"
.bo$e the middle panel, the path of the current directory is displayed" ;ou can na$igate
along this path by clic-ing on one of the buttons"
If you &ant to sa$e the image into a folder that doesn4t yet e+ist, you can create it by
clic-ing on )reate Folder and follo&ing the instructions"
*his button sho&s .ll Files by default" *his means that all file types &ill be displayed in
the middle panel, e$en if they are not images" ;ou can 4i)ter the list for a particular file
type"
.t Determine File *ype, you ha$e to select the file format for sa$ing the file" If you select
,y @+tension, the file type is determined by the e+tension you add to the name, for
e+ample, "$;pg" for ?P@G format"
*o preser$e all the components of your image &hen you sa$e it L the layers, channels,
etc" L use F"+cfF format, &hich is the GIMP4s nati$e format"
'ave a Copy
*he %a$e a )opy command does the same thing as the %a$e command, but &ith one
important difference" It al&ays as-s for a file name and sa$es the image into the specified
file, but it does not change the name of the acti$e image or mar- it as "c)ean"" .s a
result, if you try to delete the image, or e+it from GIMP, you are informed that the image
is "dirt+" and gi$en an opportunity to sa$e it"
*his command is useful &hen you &ant to sa$e a copy of your image in its current state,
but continue to &or- &ith the original file &ithout interruption"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar as File %a$e a )opy""" " It
does not ha$e a default shortcut"
'ave as Template
*he %a$e as *emplate command creates a template &ith the same dimensions and color
space as the current image" . dialog pops up, &hich as-s you to name the ne& template,
then the template is sa$ed and becomes a$ailable in the Ne& Image dialog" If you gi$e a
name that already e+ists, GIMP generates a uni1ue name by appending a number to it"
;ou can use the *emplates dialog to modify or delete templates"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through File %a$e as
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*emplate " *here is no default -eyboard shortcut"
(evert
*he <e$ert command reloads the image from dis-, so that it loo-s 2ust li-e it did the last
time it &as sa$ed L unless, that is, you or some application other than GIMP ha$e
modifed the image file, in &hich case, the ne& contents are loaded"
5hen GIMP re$erts a file, it actually closes the e+isting image and creates a ne& image"
,ecause of this, re$erting an image is not undoable, and causes the undo history of the
image to be lost" GIMP tries to protect you from losing your &or- in this &ay by as-ing
you to confirm that you really &ant to re$ert the image"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through File <e$ert " *here is
no default -eyboard shortcut"
Print
*he Print command is not really part of GIMP" It simply calls the printing interface of your
operating system to set the printer options"
;ou can access this command from the image menubar through File Print "
Close
*he )lose command closes the image and remo$es its &indo&" )losing an image is not
undoable= once it is closed, e$erything is gone, including the undo history" If the image is
not "c)ean" L that is, if you ha$e changed it since the last time you sa$ed it L you are
as-ed to confirm that you really &ant to close it" Note that an image is mar-ed as clean
&hen it is sa$ed to a file, e$en if the file format chosen does not preser$e all the
information in the image, so it is a good idea to thin- for a moment about &hat you are
doing before closing an image" If there is the slightest possibility that you &ill regret it, it
can4t hurt to sa$e a copy as an 6)F file"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through File )lose ,
" For most systems on &hich the GIMP runs, you can also e+ecute it by clic-ing on a
"C)ose" button some&here on the image &indo& titlebar" *he location and
appearance of this button are determined by the &indo&ing system and the &indo&
manager"
If you close the image &indo&, as described abo$e, GIMP simply closes your image"
:o&e$er, if you close the *oolbo+ &indo& by using the "C)ose" button, GIMP itself
e+its"
8uit
*he Muit command causes GIMP to close all images and e+it" If there are any open images
&hich contain unsa$ed changes 7that is, they are not mar-ed as "c)ean"8, GIMP notifies
you and displays a list of the unsa$ed images" ;ou can then choose &hich images you
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&ould li-e to sa$e, or you can cancel the command" Note that if you ha$e a large number
of images open, or are using a large part of the <.M on your system, it may ta-e a little
&hile for e$erything to shut do&n"
" ;ou can access this command from the *oolbo+ menubar or the image menubar
through File Muit ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl M "
" For most systems on &hich the GIMP runs, you can also e+ecute it by clic-ing on a
"C)ose" button some&here on the *oolbo+ &indo&4s titlebar" *he location and
appearance of this button are determined by the &indo&ing system and the &indo&
manager"
If you close the image &indo&, as described abo$e, GIMP simply closes your image"
:o&e$er, if you close the *oolbo+ &indo& by using the "C)ose" button, GIMP itself
e+its"
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The +dit Menu o) the Image Windo%
+dit menu entries

In this section, you &ill find help for commands in the @dit menu item"
;ou may find commands in the menu &hich are not described here" *hey don4t belong to
GIMP itself, but ha$e been added by some of the plug(ins" ;ou can find a description of
these menu commands in the documentation for the corresponding plug(ins"
Undo
If you ha$e made dra&ing or editing changes to the image &hich you don4t &ant to -eep,
the Undo command allo&s you to undo the last change and return the image to its
pre$ious state" .lmost anything you do to an image can be undone in this &ay 7&ith the
e+ception of scripts, &hich deacti$ate this function8" Further Undo operations may be
performed, depending upon the number of Undo le$els configured in the @n$ironment
page of the Preferences Dialog" %ee the section on Undoing for more information about
GIMP4s $ery sophisticated "Undo" functions"
*he operation that has been ""ndone" is not lost immediately= you can get it bac- by
using the <edo command right a&ay" ,ut if you perform another operation, the "Undo"
&ill be irretrie$ably lost"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit Undo ,
" by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl N ,
" or by simply clic-ing on the status you &ant in the Undo :istory dialog"
(edo
*he <edo command re$erses the effects of the Undo command" @ach "Undo" action can
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be re$ersed by a single "2edo" action" ;ou can alternate "Undo" and "2edo" as many
times as you li-e" Note that you can only "2edo" an operation if the last action you did
&as an "Undo"" If you perform any operation on the image after Undoing something, then
the former <edo steps are lost, and there is no &ay to reco$er them" %ee the Undoing
section for more information"
*o see the operations &hich you ha$e done and undone, use the Undo :istory dialog"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit <edo ,
" by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl ; ,
" or by simply clic-ing on the status you &ant in the Undo :istory dialog"
Undo istory
*he Undo :istory command acti$ates the Undo :istory dialog, &hich sho&s you
thumbnails representing the operations you ha$e done so far on the current image" *his
o$er$ie& ma-es it easier for you to undo steps or to redo them"
Use the arro&s for Undo and <edo, or simply clic- on the thumbnail, to bring the image
bac- to a pre$ious state" *his is especially useful &hen you are &or-ing on a difficult tas-,
&here you often need to undo se$eral steps at once" It is much easier to clic- on step !B
than to type )trl N ten times"
*he "C)ear "ndo 8istor+" command may be useful if you are &or-ing on a comple+ image
and you &ant to free some memory"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit Undo :istory "
*here is no default -eyboard shortcut"
Cut
*he )ut command deletes the contents of the image4s selections, and sa$es them in a
clipboard so that they can later be pasted using the "Paste", "Paste Into", or "Paste *s
New" commands" If there is no selection, the entire current layer is cut" *he areas &hose
contents are cut are left transparent, if the layer has an alpha channel, or filled &ith the
layer4s bac-ground color, other&ise"
*he )ut command only &or-s on the current acti$e layer" .ny layers abo$e or belo& the
acti$e layer are ignored"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit )ut ,
Copy
*he )opy command ma-es a copy of the current selection and stores it in the )lipboard"
*he information can be recalled using the Paste, Paste Into, or Paste .s Ne& commands" If
there is no selection, the entire current layer is copied" "Cop+" only &or-s on the current
acti$e layer" .ny layers abo$e or belo& it are ignored"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image memubar through @dit )opy ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl ) "
Copy 9isible
*he )opy isible command is similar to the )opy command" :o&e$er, it does not 2ust
copy the contents of the current layer' it copies the contents of the $isible layers 7or the
selection of the $isible layers8, that is, the ones that are mar-ed &ith an "e+e""
Please note that the information about the layers is lost &hen the image data is put in the
clipboard" 5hen you later paste the clipboard contents, there is only one layer, &hich is
the fusion of all the mar-ed layers"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit )opy isible "
Paste
*he Paste command puts &hate$er is in the )lipboard from the last "Cop+" or "C"t"
command into the current image" *he pasted section becomes a "4)oating se)ection" and
is sho&n as a separate layer in the Layers Dialog"
If there is an e+isting selection on the can$as, it is used to align the pasted data" If there
is already a selection, the data is pasted using the selection as a center point" If you &ant
the selection to be used as a clipping region for the pasted data, you should use the
"Paste Into" command"
;ou can ha$e only one floating selection at any one time" ;ou cannot &or- on any other
layer &hile there is a floating selection' you ha$e to either anchor it or remo$e it"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit Paste "
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl "
Paste Into
*he Paste Into command acts in a similar &ay to the Paste command" *he primary
difference becomes apparent if there is a selection &ithin the can$as" Unli-e the "Paste"
command, &hich simply centers the pasted image data o$er the selection and replaces
the selection &ith its o&n, "Paste Into" clips the pasted image data by the e+isting
selection" *he ne& selection can be mo$ed as usual, but it is al&ays clipped by the
original selection area"
If no selection e+ists, the "Paste Into" command places the data from the )lipboard into
the center of the can$as, as the "Paste" command does"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit Paste Into "
Paste as $e%
*he Paste .s Ne& command creates a ne& image and pastes the image data from the
)lipboard into it" If the data is not rectangular or s1uare in shape, any regions that do not
e+tend to the edge of the can$as are left transparent 7an .lpha channel is automatically
created8" 3f course, you ha$e to )opy your selection before you use this command, so
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that you get an image &ith the same dimensions as the selection"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit Paste as Ne& "
1u))ers

*he commands in this submenu operate on named %"44ers" ;ou can use the ,uffers dialog
to $ie& and manage any named buffers you ha$e created"
" ;ou can access this submenu from the image menubar through @dit ,uffer "
Cut $amed
*he )ut Named command cuts the contents of the selection from the acti$e layer in the
usual &ay, but instead of storing the contents in the global clipboard, it stores it in a
special buffer that you name using a pop(up dialog"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit ,uffer )ut ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift )trl 6 "
Copy $amed
*he )opy Named command copies the contents of the selection from the acti$e layer in
the usual &ay, but instead of storing the contents in the global clipboard, it stores it in a
special buffer that you name using a pop(up dialog"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit ,uffer )opy ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift )trl ) "
Paste $amed
*he Paste Named command simply brings up the ,uffers dialog" ,y selecting one of the
listed buffers, and pressing one of the buttons at the bottom, you can either Paste ,uffer,
Paste ,uffer Into, or Paste ,uffer as Ne&"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit ,uffer Paste
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift )trl "
Clear
*he )lear command deletes e$erything in the current selection" If there is no current
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selection, the contents of the acti$e layer are remo$ed" If the acti$e layer has an alpha
channel, the deleted selection is made transparent" ;ou can restore the original color to
the transparent area using the @raser tool, by setting it to .nti(@rase" If the layer does not
ha$e an alpha channel, the deleted area is filled using the current bac-ground color"
)learing a selection does not delete the selection itself" Unli-e "C"t", "C)ear" does not
place the deleted contents in the )lipboard and the contents of the clipboard are
unaffected"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit )lear ,
!ill %ith !G Color
*he Fill &ith FG )olor command fills the image4s selection &ith the solid color sho&n in
the foreground part of the )olor .rea of the *oolbo+" 7*he color is also sho&n to the left of
the menu entry"8 If some areas of the image are only partially selected 7for e+ample, as a
result of feathering the selection8, they are filled in proportion to ho& much they are
selected"
Please note that if the image has no selection, the &hole acti$e layer is filled"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit Fill &ith FG
)olor ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl , "
;ou can also fill a selection by clic-(and(dragging from the *oolbo+ foreground color"
!ill %ith 1G Color
*he Fill &ith ,G )olor command fills the acti$e layer selection &ith the solid color sho&n
in the ,ac-ground part of the )olor .rea of the *oolbo+" 7*he color is also sho&n to the
left of the menu entry"8 If some areas of the image are only partially selected 7for
e+ample, as a result of feathering the selection8, they are filled in proportion to ho& much
they are selected"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit Fill &ith ,G
)olor ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl " "
;ou can also fill a selection by clic-(and(dragging from the *oolbo+ bac-ground color"
!ill %ith Pattern
*he Fill &ith Pattern command fills the image4s selection &ith the pattern sho&n in the
,rush/Pattern/Gradient area of the *oolbo+" 7*he pattern is also sho&n to the left of the
menu entry"8 If some areas of the image are only partially selected 7for e+ample, as a
result of feathering the selection8, they are filled in proportion to ho& much they are
selected"
;ou can select another pattern by using the Pattern Dialog"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit Fill &ith Pattern
,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl ' "
'tro7e 'election
*he %tro-e %election command stro-es a selection in the image" *here are t&o &ays you
can stro-e the selection, either by using a paint tool or &ithout using one" *his means
that the selection border, &hich is emphasi>ed in the image &ith a dotted line, can be
dra&n &ith a stro-e" *here are $arious options &hich you can use to specify ho& this
stro-e should loo-"
*his command is only acti$e if the image has an acti$e selection"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit %tro-e
%election "
" ;ou can also access it through the %election @ditor"
The 'tro7e 'election dialog
*he options for stro-ing selections and for stro-ing paths are the same" ;ou can find the
documentation about the options in the dialog bo+ in the %tro-e Path section"
'tro7e Path
*he %tro-e Path command stro-es a path in the image" *here are t&o &ays you can stro-e
the path, either by using a paint tool, or &ithout using one" *here are $arious options
&hich you can use to specify ho& this stro-e should loo-"
*his command is acti$e only if there is a path in your image"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through @dit %tro-e Path "
" ;ou can also access it by clic-ing on the button &ith the same name in the Path
dialog"
6escription o) the 6ialog Windo%

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*he )hoose %tro-e %tyle dialog bo+ allo&s you to choose bet&een stro-ing the path &ith
the options you specify or stro-ing it &ith a paint tool" If you stro-e the path &ith a paint
tool, the current paint tool options are used to dra& the stro-e"
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'elect
Introduction to the 'elect menu

*his section e+plains the commands on the %elect menu of the image menubar"
,esides the commands presented here, you might also find other entries on the menu"
*hey are not part of GIMP itself, but are e+tensions 7plug(ins8" ;ou can find descriptions of
these menu entries &ith the documentation of the plug(ins"
'elect All
*he %elect .ll command creates a ne& selection &hich contains e$erything on the current
layer"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect .ll ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl . " ;ou can also access it &ith the %election
@ditor"
$one
*he None command cancels all selections in the image" If there are no selections, the
command doesn4t do anything" Floating selections are not affected"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect None " In
addition, you can use the %election @ditor to access it"
" ;ou can also use the -eyboard shortcut %hift )trl . "
Invert
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*he In$ert command in$erts the selection in the current image" *hat means that all of the
image contents &hich &ere pre$iously outside of the selection are no& inside it, and $ice
$ersa" If there &as no selection before, the command selects the entire image"
Don4t mi+ up this command &ith the In$ert layer command"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect In$ert " In
addition, you can use the %election @ditor to access it"
" ;ou can also use the -eyboard shortcut )trl I "
!loat
*he Float command con$erts a normal selection into a "4)oating se)ection"" ;ou can find
more information about floating selections in the Glossary"
In early $ersions of GIMP, floating selections &ere used for performing operations on a
limited part of an image" ;ou can do that more easily no& &ith layers, but you can still
use this &ay of &or-ing &ith images" In addition to using the Float command, you can
also create a floating selection by mo$ing a selection using the "(o1e" tool, &ithout
pressing the .lt -ey 7or %hift.lt in Linu+8, &hich automatically creates a floating selection"
;ou can also create a temporary layer, named "/)oating Se)ection", &ith the entries on the
Layer menu"
;ou cannot perform any operations on other layers if the image has a floating selection,
so after you ma-e the changes you &ant to the floating selection, you ha$e to anc'or it"
*hat is, you ha$e to attach it to a normal 7non(floating8 layer, usually the original layer
7the one &hich &as acti$e pre$iously8" *o anchor the floating selection, use the .nchor
Layer command" ;ou can also anchor it to an e+isting layer by clic-ing any&here on the
image outside of the floating selection, &hich then merges it &ith the bac-ground layer"
;ou can also anchor it to a ne& layer by using the Ne& Layer command"
If you display the layer boundary by using the %ho& Layer ,oundary command, you may
ha$e difficulty selecting a precise area of the image &hich you &ant in a layer" *o a$oid
this problem, you can ma-e a rectangular selection, transform it into a floating selection
and anchor it to a ne& layer" *hen simply remo$e the original layer"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect Float ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift )trl L "
1y Color
*he %elect ,y )olor command is an alternate &ay of accessing the "Se)ect ,+ Co)or" tool,
one of the basic selection tools" ;ou can find more information about using this tool in
%elect ,y )olor"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect ,y )olor ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift 3 "
!rom Path
*he From Path command transforms the current path into a selection" If the path is not
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closed, the command connects the t&o end points &ith a straight line" *he original path is
unchanged"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect From Path "
" In addition, you can clic- on the Path to %election button in the Path dialog to
access the command"
" ;ou can also use the -eyboard shortcut %hift "
'election +ditor
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect %election
@ditor "
6escription o) the 'election +ditor dialog %indo%

The 'election to Path Advanced 'ettings dialog

*he "Se)ection to Pat' *d1anced Settings" dialog contains a number of options, most of
&hich you can set &ith either a slider bar or a te+t bo+" *here is also one chec- bo+"
*hese options are mostly used by ad$anced users" *hey are=
" *)ign &'res'o)d= If t&o endpoints are closer than this $alue, they are made to be
e1ual"
" Corner *)wa+s &'res'o)d= If the angle defined by a point and its predecessors and
successors is smaller than this, it is a corner, e$en if it is &ithin Corner S"rro"nd
pi+els of a point &ith a smaller angle"
" Corner S"rro"nd= Number of points to consider &hen determining if a point is a
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corner or not"
" Corner &'res'o)d= If a point, its predecessors, and its successors define an angle
smaller than this, it is a corner"
" @rror &'res'o)d= .mount of error at &hich a fitted spline is unacceptable" If any pi+el
is further a&ay than this from the fitted cur$e, the algorithm tries again"
" /i)ter *)ternati1e S"rro"nd= . second number of ad2acent points to consider &hen
filtering"
" /i)ter @psi)on= If the angles bet&een the $ectors produced by /i)ter S"rro"nd and
/i)ter *)ternati1e S"rro"nd points differ by more than this, use the one from /i)ter
*)ternati1e S"rro"nd"
" /i)ter Iteration Co"nt= *he number of times to smooth the original data points"
Increasing this number dramatically, to AB or so, can produce $astly better results"
,ut if any points that "s'o")d" be corners aren4t found, the cur$e goes &ild around
that point"
" /i)ter Percent= *o produce the ne& point, use the old point plus this times the
neighbors"
" /i)ter Secondar+ S"rro"nd= Number of ad2acent points to consider if /i)ter S"rro"nd
points defines a straight line"
" /i)ter S"rro"nd= Number of ad2acent points to consider &hen filtering"
" >eep >nees= *his chec- bo+ says &hether or not to remo$e "0nee" points after
finding the outline"
" Line 2e1ersion &'res'o)d= If a spline is closer to a straight line than this $alue, it
remains a straight line, e$en if it &ould other&ise be changed bac- to a cur$e" *his
is &eighted by the s1uare of the cur$e length, to ma-e shorter cur$es more li-ely to
be re$erted"
" Line &'res'o)d= :o& many pi+els 7on the a$erage8 a spline can di$erge from the line
determined by its endpoints before it is changed to a straight line"
" 2eparametri6e Impro1ement= If reparameteri>ation doesn4t impro$e the fit by this
much percent, the algorithm stops doing it"
" 2eparametri6e &'res'o)d= .mount of error at &hich it is pointless to reparameteri>e"
*his happens, for e+ample, &hen the algorithm is trying to fit the outline of the
outside of an "O" &ith a single spline" *he initial fit is not good enough for the
Ne&ton(<aphson iteration to impro$e it" It may be that it &ould be better to detect
the cases &here the algorithm didn4t find any corners"
" S"%di1ide Searc'= Percentage of the cur$e a&ay from the &orst point to loo- for a
better place to subdi$ide"
" S"%di1ide S"rro"nd= Number of points to consider &hen deciding &hether a gi$en
point is a better place to subdi$ide"
" S"%di1ide &'res'o)d= :o& many pi+els a point can di$erge from a straight line and
still be considered a better place to subdi$ide"
" &angent S"rro"nd= Number of points to loo- at on either side of a point &hen
computing the appro+imation to the tangent at that point"
!eather
*he Feather command feathers the edges of the selection" *his creates a smooth
transition bet&een the selection and its surroundings" ;ou normally feather selection
borders &ith the "/eat'er @dges" option of the selection tools, but you may feather them
again &ith this command"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect Feather "
6escription o) the !eather 'election dialog %indo%

'harpen
*he %harpen command reduces the amount of blur or fu>>iness around the edge of a
selection" It re$erses the effect of the Feather %election command" *he ne& edge of the
selection follo&s the dotted line of the edge of the old selection" .nti(aliasing is also
remo$ed"
Please do not confuse this command &ith the %harpen filter"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect %harpen "
'hrin7
*he %hrin- command reduces the si>e of the selected area by mo$ing each point on the
edge of the selection a certain distance further a&ay from the nearest edge of the image
7to&ard the center of the selection8" Feathering is preser$ed, but the shape of the
feathering may be altered at the corners or at points of sharp cur$ature"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect %hrin-""" "
6escription o) the 'hrin7 dialog

Gro%
*he Gro& command increases the si>e of a selection in the current image" It &or-s in a
similar &ay to the %hrin- command, &hich reduces the si>e of a selection"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect Gro& "
6escription o) the Gro% 'election dialog

A Peculiarity o) (ectangular 'elections
5hen you gro& a rectangular selection, the resulting selection has rounded corners" *he
reason for this is sho&n in the image belo&=

If you do not &ant rounded corners, you can use the <ounded <ectangle command &ith a
BV radius"
1order

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*he %elect ,order command creates a ne& selection along the edge of an e+isting
selection in the current image" *he edge of the current selection is used as a form and the
ne& selection is then created around it" ;ou enter the &idth of the border, in pi+els or
some other unit, in the dialog &indo&" :alf of the ne& border lies inside of the selected
area and half outside of it"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect ,order "
6escription o) the 1order dialog %indo%

(ounded (ectangle
*his script(fu con$erts a selection 7rectangular, elliptic or else8 to a rectangular selection
&ith rounded corners" *he 2adi"s is a percentage of half the selection &idth or height,
&hiche$er the smaller" %elect )onca$e if you &ant round edges to be indented" <ounded
<ectangle &or-s by adding circles to or subtracting circles from the selection"
Activate 6ialog
" *his command is found at %elect <ounded <ectangle""" "
*ptions
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Toggle 8uic7Mas7
It has the same action as clic-ing on the small button in the bottom left corner of the
image" %ee Muic- Mas-
Activate 6ialog
" *his command is found at %elect *oggle Muic-Mas-
" Default shortcut is %hiftM
'ave to Channel
*he %elect to )hannel command sa$es the selection as a channel" *he channel can then
be used as a channel selection mas-" ;ou can find more information about them in the
)hannel Dialog section"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect %a$e to
)hannel "
" ;ou can also access it from the %election @ditor"
To Path
*he *o Path command con$erts a selection into a path" *he image does not seem to
change, but you can see the ne& path in the Paths Dialog" ,y using the Path tool in the
*oolbo+, you can precisely adapt the outline of the selection" ;ou can find further
information regarding paths in the Paths dialog section"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through %elect *o Path "
" ;ou can also access it from the %election @ditor &hich offers you a lot of .d$anced
3ptions"
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9ie%
Introduction to the 9ie% Menu

*his section describes the ie& menu, &hich contains commands that affect the $isibility
or appearance of the image and $arious elements of the interface"
,esides the commands described here, you may also find other entries in the menu" *hey
are not part of GIMP itself, but ha$e been added by e+tensions 7plug(ins8" ;ou can find
information about the functionality of a plug(in by referring to its documentation"
$e% 9ie%
*he Ne& ie& command creates a ne& image &indo& for the current image, &hich you
can set up differently from the e+isting display" ;ou can create multiple $ie&s of any
image, &hich are numbered "!, "#, etc", but only the >oom factor and other $ie&ing
options may be different" .ny changes, other than $ie&ing changes, &hich you ma-e in
one &indo& also appear in the other displays &hich sho& the same image" *he ne& $ie&s
are not separate image files' they are simply different aspects of the same image" ;ou
might use multiple $ie&s, for e+ample, if you &ere &or-ing on indi$idual pi+els at a high
>oom factor" ;ou could then see the effects your changes &ould ha$e on the image at a
normal si>e"
;ou can delete a $ie& by closing its &indo&" If you close the last &indo& displaying an
image, the image itself is closed" :o&e$er, if you ha$e made changes to the image &hich
you ha$e not yet sa$ed, you are as-ed for confirmation"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& Ne& ie& "
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6ot )or 6ot
*he Dot for Dot command enables and disables "Dot 4or Dot" mode" If it is enabled
7chec-ed8 and the >oom factor is !BBV, e$ery pi+el in the image is displayed as one pi+el
on the screen" If it is disabled, the image is displayed at its "rea)" si>e, the si>e it &ill ha$e
&hen it is printed"
For Dot for Dot mode to &or- properly, the resolution of the image must be the same as
the screen resolution in the Preferences menu"
@nabling this mode is recommended if you are &or-ing on icons and &eb graphics" If you
are &or-ing on images intended to be printed, you should disable Dot(for(Dot mode"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& Dot for Dot "
Eoom

*he Noom submenu contains $arious commands &hich affect the magnification of the
image in the image &indo& 7>ooming8" @nlarging an image 7>ooming in8 is useful if you
need to &or- &ith high precision, ma-ing pi+el(le$el image modifications or precise
selections" 3n the other hand, reducing an image 7>ooming out8 is handy for getting an
o$erall impression of the image and seeing the results of changes &hich affect the entire
image" Please note that >ooming is not undoable, since it does not affect the image data,
only the &ay it is displayed"
,esides the entries in this submenu, there is also a >oom pull(do&n menu at the bottom
edge of the image &indo& 7if the status bar is displayed8" ;ou can also ma-e settings
regarding >ooming in the Na$igation dialog" ;ou can also use the Magnify tool &hich lets
you >oom a particular area of the image"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& Noom " Note
that the "5oom" label on the "9iew" menu sho&s the current >oom factor, for
e+ample, Noom 7!BBV8"
Contents o) the Eoom submenu
*he $arious "5oom" submenu commands are described belo&, along &ith their default
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-eyboard shortcuts, if any"
5hen you are &or-ing at the pi+el le$el, you can use the Ne& $ie& command" *his allo&s
you to see &hat is happening to the image at its normal si>e at the same time"
'hrin7 Wrap
*he %hrin- 5rap command resi>es the &indo& so that it is e+actly the same si>e as the
image at the current >oom factor" If the image doesn4t completely fit on the screen, the
image &indo& is enlarged so that the largest possible part of the image is sho&n" Please
note that GIMP &ill do this automatically if you set the "2esi6e window on 6oom" and
"2esi6e window on image si6e c'ange" options in the Image 5indo& page of the
Preferences dialog"
Please note also that the beha$ior described here is not performed by GIMP itself, but by
the "window manager", a part of the operating system of your computer" For that reason,
the functionality described may be different on your computer, or in the &orst case,
might not be a$ailable at all"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& %hrin- 5rap ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl @ "
!ull 'creen
*he Fullscreen command enables and disables displaying the image &indo& on the entire
screen" 5hen it is enabled, the image &indo& ta-es up the &hole screen, but the image
stays the same si>e" 5hen you enable full(screen mode, the menubar may not be
displayed, but if this happens, you can right(clic- on the image to access the image
menu" ;ou can set the default appearance for full(screen mode in the Preferences menu"
If you use GIMP on an *pp)e (acintos' computer, full(screen mode may not &or-, since
.pple doesn4t pro$ide the necessary functionality" Instead, you can ma+imi>e the image
&indo& by clic-ing on the .reen ,"tton, so the image occupies most of the screen"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& Full %creen ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut F!!"
In)o Windo%
*he Info 5indo& command displays general information about the current image, as &ell
as information about the pi+el &hich is currently under the mouse pointer"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& Info &indo& ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift )trl I "
6escription o) the In)o Windo%
*he Info 5indo& displays basic information about the current image, including its name
and a thumbnail, as &ell as about the pi+el &hich is currently under the mouse pointer"
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$avigation Windo%
*he Na$igation 5indo& command opens the na$igation &indo&" *his allo&s you to easily
na$igate through the image, to set >oom le$els and to mo$e the $isible parts of the
image" ;ou can find more information about using it in the Na$igation dialog chapter"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& Na$igation
5indo& ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift )trl N "
" ;ou can also access it more rapidly by clic-ing on the icon in the lo&er right corner
of the image &indo&"
6isplay !ilters
*he images you create, &e hope, &ill be seen by many people on many different systems"
*he image &hich loo-s so &onderful on your screen may loo- some&hat different to
people &ith sight deficiencies or on a screen &ith different settings from yours" %ome
information might not e$en be $isible"
Disp)a+ /i)ters allo& you to $ie& your image as if it &ere seen by people &ith a sight
deficiency or on a different screen" Don4t &orry, the filters display the image in a different
&ay, but they ne$er change the image" ,esides that, if you sa$e the image that is
displayed, the original image is sa$ed" For the same reason, you can4t undo the action of
a filter &ith )trlN"
*he filters a$ailable are called "Co)or De4icient 9ision", ".amma", "Contrast" and "Co)or
Proo4"=
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& Display Filters "
6escription o) the 6isplay !ilters 6ialog

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*his dialog has t&o small &indo&s" *he left &indo& displays the .$ailable Filters" ;ou can
mo$e a filter to the right &indo& by selecting it and clic-ing on the right arro& button"
*he .cti$e Filters &indo& on the right displays filters you ha$e chosen and &hich &ill be
applied if the ad2acent bo+ is chec-ed" ;ou can mo$e filters from the right &indo& to the
left &indo& by using the left arro& button" If you select a filter by clic-ing on its name, its
options are displayed belo& the t&o &indo&s, in the )onfigure %elected Filter area"
Color 6e)icient 9ision
Description of the "Co)or De4icient 9ision" dialog
In this drop(do&n menu you can select from among=
Gamma
*he ".amma" dialog
*he correspondence bet&een electrical intensity and color brightness is not e+act and it
depends upon the de$ice 7the camera, the scanner, the monitor, etc"8" ".amma" is a
coefficient used to correct this correspondence" ;our image must be $isible in both dar-
and bright areas, e$en if it is displayed on a monitor &ith too much luminence or not
enough" *he ".amma" Display Filter allo&s you to get an idea of the appearance of your
image under these conditions"
Contrast
*he "Contrast" dialog
:ere, &e are bac- in the medical domain" "Contrast Sensiti1it+" is the capacity of the
$isual system to distinguish slight differences in contrast" %ome people &ith cataracts
7&hich means that the lens has opa1ue crystals that scatter light o$er the retina8 or
retinal disease 7for instance, due to diabetes, &hich destroys the rods and cones8 ha$e a
deficiency in sensiti$ity to contrast= for e+ample, they &ould ha$e difficulties
distinguishing spots on a dress"
5ith the "Contrast" Filter, you can see the image as if you &ere suffering from cataracts"
;ou may ha$e to increase the contrast of the image so that your grandmother can see it
&ell" In most cases, only $ery lo& $alues of the )ontrast )ycles parameter are of interest"
:igher $alues create a side(effect &hich doesn4t interest us here= if you increase the
luminosity $alue abo$e #AA, the complementary color appears"
If you are interested in this sub2ect, you can bro&se the 5eb for "contrast sensiti1it+""
Color Proo)
*he $arious systems for reproducing colors cannot represent the infinity of colors
a$ailable" @$en if there are many colors in common bet&een the $arious systems and
nature, some of the colors &ill not be the same" *he "gam"t" is the color range of a
system" Co)or Pro4i)es allo& you to compensate for these differences"
,efore you print an image, it may be useful for you to see if you &ill get the result you
&ant by applying a profile" *he "Co)or Proo4" filter sho&s you ho& your image &ill loo-
after a color profile has been applied"

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;ou can apply the filter you ha$e selected in one of four &ays=
'ho% 'election
*he %ho& %election command enables and disables displaying the dotted line surrounding
the selection in the image &indo&" Please note that the selection still e+ists, e$en if
displaying this line is disabled"
;ou can set the default for displaying the selection in the Image 5indo& .ppearance
dialog"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& %ho& %election
,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl * "
'ho% 2ayer 1oundary
*he %ho& Layer ,oundary command enables and disables displaying the yello& dotted
line that surrounds a layer in the image &indo&" *he dotted line is actually only $isible
&hen the layer is smaller than the image &indo&" 5hen the layer is the same si>e as the
image &indo&, the layer boundary is obscured by the image border"
;ou can set the default for the layer boundary in the Image 5indo& .ppearance dialog"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& %ho& Layer
,oundary "
'ho% Guides
*he %ho& Guides command enables and disables diplaying of Guides in the image
&indo&"
;ou can set the default for the guides in the Image 5indo& .ppearance dialog"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& %ho& Guides ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift )trl * "
'nap to Guides
*he %nap to Guides command enables and disables snap to guides" 5hen snap to guides
is enabled, the guides you set 7see %ho& Guides8 almost seems magnetic' &hen you
mo$e a layer or selection, the guides appear to pull on it &hen it approaches" *his is
enormously useful for accurate placement of image elements"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& %nap to Guides
"
'ho% Grid
,y using the %ho& Grid command, you can enable and disable displaying the grid" 5hen
you enable it, the grid o$erlays the image and ma-es it easier for you to line up selected
image elements"
;ou can set the default for the grid in the Image 5indo& .ppearance dialog"
%ee also the )onfigure Grid command and the %nap to Grid command"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& %ho& Grid "
'nap to Grid
*he %nap to Grid command enables and disables snap to grid" 5hen snap to grid is
enabled, the grid you set 7see %ho& Grid8 almost seems magnetic' &hen you mo$e a
layer or selection, the grid points appear to pull on it &hen it approaches" *his is
enormously useful for accurate placement of image elements"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& %nap to Grid "
Padding Color

;ou can change the color of the can$as &hich surrounds the image by using the Padding
)olor command" *he can$as is the surface the image lies on" It loo-s li-e a frame around
the image in the image &indo&" *his is 2ust a matter of personal preference, since the
padding color does not ha$e any effect on the image itself" Please note that this color is
not the same as the color used by the Fill tool"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& Padding )olor "
Padding Color *ptions
" /rom &'eme= *he color of the theme defined in Preferences *heme is used"
" Lig't-Dar0 C'ec0 Co)or= *he chec- representing transparency, &hich is defined in
Preferences Display is used"
" Se)ect C"stom Co)or= 3pens the )olor %elector &indo& to let you choose a color to
use"
" *s in Pre4erences= *he color selected in the Image 5indo& .ppearance is used"
'ho% Menubar
*he %ho& Menubar command enables and disables displaying the menubar" It may be
useful to disable it if you are &or-ing in full(screen mode" If the menubar is not displayed,
you can right(clic- on the image to access the menubar entries"
;ou can set the default for the menubar in the Image 5indo& .ppearance dialog"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& %ho& Menubar
"
'ho% (ulers
*he %ho& <ulers command enables and disables displaying the rulers" It may be useful to
disable them if you are &or-ing in full(screen mode"
;ou can set the default for the rulers in the Image 5indo& .ppearance dialog"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& %ho& <ulers ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift )trl < "
'ho% 'crollbars
*he %ho& %crollbars command enables and disables displaying the scrollbars" It may be
useful to disable them if you are &or-ing in full(screen mode"
;ou can set the default for the scrollbars in the Image 5indo& .ppearance dialog"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& %ho&
%crollbars "
'ho% 'tatusbar
*he %ho& %tatusbar command enables and disables displaying the status bar" It may be
useful to disable it &hen you are &or-ing in full(screen mode"
;ou can set the default for the status bar in the Image 5indo& .ppearance dialog"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through ie& %ho&
%tatusbar "
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The Image Menu o) the Image Windo%
The Image Menu o) the Image Windo%

*he Image menu contains commands &hich use or affect the entire image in some &ay,
not 2ust the acti$e layer or some other specific part of the image"
;ou may find other commands in the menu besides the ones described here" *hese
commands are not part of *he GIMP itself, but are added by some of the plug(ins" Please
refer to the documentation on the e+tensions for more information about these menu
commands"
6uplicate
*he Duplicate image command creates a ne& image &hich is an e+act copy of the current
one, &ith all of its layers, channels and paths" *he GIMP )lipboard and the :istory are not
affected"
Activating the command
" ;ou can access this command from the image menu through Image Duplicate ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl D "
Mode

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*he Mode submenu contains commands &hich let you change the color model of the
image" *here are three modes"
" ;ou can access this submenu from the image menubar through Image Mode "
The Contents o) the Mode 'ubmenu
" <G,
" Grayscale
" Inde+ed
" )ompose
" Decompose
(G1 mode
*he <G, command con$erts your image to <G, mode" %ee the <G, description in the
Glossary for more information" Normally, you &or- in this mode, &hich is &ell(adapted to
the screen" It is possible to con$ert an <G, image to Grayscale or Inde+ed mode, but be
careful= once you ha$e sa$ed the image, you can no longer retrie$e the <G, colors, so
you should &or- on a copy of your image"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menu bar through Image Mode <G, "
Grayscale mode
;ou can use the Grayscale command to con$ert your image to grayscale &ith #AG le$els
of gray, from B 7blac-8 to #AA 7&hite8" %ee the glossary for more information about
grayscale mode"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image Mode
Grayscale "
Inde5ed mode
*he Inde+ed command con$erts your image to inde+ed mode" %ee inde+ed colors in the
Glossary for more information about Inde+ed )olor Mode"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menu bar through Image Mode
Inde+ed "
The Convert Image to Inde5ed Colors dialog
*he Inde+ed command opens the )on$ert Image to Inde+ed )olors dialog"

;ou can edit the color palette of an inde+ed image by using the )olormap Dialog"
6ecompose
5ith the Decompose command, you can decompose an image into its color components"
;ou can find more information about using this command in the Decompose filter section"
Decompose "
Compose
5ith the )ompose command, you can re(compose an image that has been decomposed
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into its color components" ;ou can find more information about using this command in the
)ompose filter section"
)ompose "
Trans)orm

*he items on the *ransform submenu transform the image by flipping it, rotating it or
cropping it"
" ;ou can access this submenu from the image menubar through Image *ransform "
The Contents o) the Trans)orm 'ubmenu
*he *ransform submenu has the follo&ing commands=
" Flip :ori>ontally' Flip ertically
" <otate CBQ )5' <otate CBQ ))5' <otate !IBQ
" Guillotine
!lip ori>ontallyF !lip 9ertically
;ou can flip the image, or turn it o$er li-e a card, by using the Flip :ori>ontally or Flip
ertically commands" *hese commands &or- on the &hole image" *o flip a selection, use
the Flip *ool" *o flip a layer, use the functions of the Layer *ransform menu or the Flip *ool"
Activating the Commands
" ;ou can access the hori>ontal flip command from the image menubar through Image
*ransform Flip :ori>ontally "
" ;ou can access the $ertical flip command from the image menubar through Image
*ransform Flip ertically "
(otation
;ou can rotate the image CBQ cloc-&ise or counter(cloc-&ise, or rotate it !IBQ, by using
the rotation commands on the *ransform submenu of the Image menu" *hese commands
can be used to change bet&een Portrait and Landscape orientation" *hey &or- on the
&hole image" If you &ant to rotate the image at a different angle, rotate a selection or
rotate a layer, use the <otate *ool" ;ou can also rotate a layer by using the Layer
*ransform menu"
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Activating the Commands
;ou can access these three commands from the image menubar through
" Image *ransform <otate CB degrees )5 ,
" Image *ransform <otate CB degrees ))5 and
" Image *ransform <otate !IBQ "
Guillotine
*he Guillotine command slices up the current image, based on the image4s guides" It cuts
the image along each guide, similar to slicing documents in an office &ith a guillotine
7paper cutter8 and creates ne& images out of the pieces" For further information on
guides, see the glossary entry for Guides"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image *ransform
Guillotine "
Canvas 'i>e
*he "can1as" is the $isible area of the image" ,y default the si>e of the can$as coincides
&ith the si>e of the layers" *he )an$as %i>e command lets you enlarge or reduce the
can$as si>e &ithout modifying the contents of the layers in the image" 5hen you enlarge
the can$as, you create free space around the contents of the image" 5hen you reduce it,
the $isible area is cropped, ho&e$er the layers still e+tend beyond the can$as border"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image )an$as %i>e "
6escription o) the Canvas si>e dialog

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*he 3ffset $alues are used to place the image on the can$as" *he pre$ie& &indo&
displays the image in a frame &ith a thin border" 5hen the can$as is smaller than the
image, the pre$ie& &indo& sho&s it in a frame &ith a thin blac- border"
5hen you clic- on the <esi>e button, the can$as is resi>ed, but the pi+el information and
the dra&ing scale of the image are unchanged"
If the layers of the image did not e+tend beyond the borders of the can$as before you
changed its si>e, there are no layers on the part of the can$as that &as added by resi>ing
it" *herefore, this part of the can$as is transparent and displayed &ith a chec-ered
pattern, and it is not immediately a$ailable for painting" ;ou can either flatten the image,
in &hich case you &ill get an image &ith a single layer that fits the can$as e+actly, or you
can use the Layer to Image %i>e command to resi>e only the acti$e layer, &ithout
changing any other layers" ;ou can also create a ne& layer and fill it &ith the bac-ground
you &ant" ,y doing this, you create a digital "passe-parto"t" 7a -ind of glass mount &ith a
remo$able bac- for slipping in a photograph8"
Print 'i>e
;ou can use the Print %i>e dialog to change the dimensions o4 a printed image and its
reso)"tion" *his command does not change the number of pi+els in the image and it does
not resample the image" 7If you &ant to change the si>e of an image by resampling it, use
the %cale Image command"8
*ptions in the Print 'i>e 6ialog

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*he output resolution determines the number of pi+els used per unit length for the
printed image" Do not confuse the output resolution &ith the printer resolution, &hich is
e+pressed in dpi 7dots per inch8' se$eral dots are used to print a pi+el"
5hen the dialog is displayed, the resolution sho&n in the bo+es is the resolution of the
original image" If you increase the output resolution, the printed page &ill be smaller,
since more pi+els are used per unit of length" )on$ersely, and for the same reason,
resi>ing the image modifies the resolution"
Increasing the resolution results in increasing the sharpness of the printed page" *his is
1uite different from simply reducing the image si>e by scaling it, since no pi+els 7and no
image information8 are remo$ed"
!it Canvas to 2ayers
*he Fit )an$as to Layers command adapts the can$as si>e 7that is, the dra&ing area8 to
the si>e of the largest layer in the image, in both &idth and height"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image Fit )an$as to
Layers "
'cale Image
*he %cale Image command enlarges or reduces the physical si>e of the image by
changing the number of pi+els it contains" It changes the si>e of the contents of the
image and resi>es the can$as accordingly"
It operates on the entire image" If your image has layers of different si>es, ma-ing the
image smaller could shrin- some of them do&n to nothing, since a layer cannot be less
than one pi+el &ide or high" If this happens, you &ill be &arned before the operation is
performed"
If you only &ant to scale a particular layer, use the %cale Layer command"
If scaling &ould produce an image larger than the "(a#im"m new image si6e" set in the
@n$ironment page of the Preferences dialog 7&hich has a default of G/Mb8, you are
&arned and as-ed to confirm the operation before it is performed" ;ou may not
e+perience any problems if you confirm the operation, but you should be a&are that $ery
large images consume a lot of resources and e+tremely large images may ta-e more
resources than you ha$e, causing GIMP to crash or not perform &ell"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image %cale image "
The 'cale Image 6ialog

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%ee also the %cale tool, &hich lets you scale a layer, a selection or a path"
Crop Image
*he )rop Image command crops the image to the boundary of the selection by remo$ing
any strips at the edges &hose contents are all completely unselected" .reas &hich are
partially selected 7for e+ample, by feathering8 are not cropped" If there is no selection for
the image, the menu entry is insensiti$e and grayed out"
*his command crops all of the image layers" *o crop 2ust the acti$e layer, use the )rop
Layer command"
" ;ou can access this command on the image menu bar through Image )rop Image "
Autocrop Image
*he .utocrop Image command remo$es the borders from an image" It searches the acti$e
layer for the largest possible border area that is all the same color, and then crops this
area from the image, as if you had used the )rop tool"
Note carefully that this command only uses the acti1e )a+er of the image to find borders"
If other layers ha$e color $ariations e+tending into the border >one of the acti$e layer,
they are cropped a&ay"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image .utocrop
Image "
Eealous Crop
*he Nealous )rop command crops an image using a single solid color as a guide" It crops
the edges, as &ith the .utocrop command, but it also crops the areas in the middle of the
image &hich ha$e the same color 7at least, in principle8"
Please note that .utocrop crops all of the layers, although it only analy>es the acti$e
layer" *his may lead to a loss of information from the other layers"
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+5ample

" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image Nealous )rop
"
Merge 9isible 2ayers
*he Merge isible Layers command merges the layers &hich are $isible into a single
layer" isible layers are those &hich are indicated on the Layers dialog &ith an "e+e" icon"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image Merge isible
Layers ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl M "
6escription o) the Merge 9isible 2ayers 6ialog

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!latten Image

*he Flatten Image command merges all of the layers of the image into a single layer &ith
no alpha channel" .fter the image is flattened, it has the same appearance it had before"
*he difference is that all of the image contents are in a single layer &ithout transparency"
If there are any areas &hich are transparent through all of the layers of the original
image, the bac-ground color is $isible"
*his operation ma-es significant changes to the structure of the image" It is normally only
necessary &hen you &ould li-e to sa$e an image in a format &hich does not support
le$els or transparency 7an alpha channel8"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image Flatten
Image "
Guides

*he Guides submenu contains $arious commands for the creation and remo$al of guides"
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Activating the 'ubmenG
" ;ou can access this submenu from the image menubar through Image Guides "
The Contents o) the Guides 'ubmenu
*he Guides submenu contains the follo&ing commands=
" Ne& Guide
" Ne& Guide 7by Percent8
" Ne& Guides from %election
" <emo$e all Guides
(emove all guides
*he <emo$e all Guides command remo$es all guides from the image"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image Guides
<emo$e all guides "
$e% Guide Aby PercentB
*he Ne& Guide 7by Percent8 command adds a guide to the image" *he position of the
guide is specified as a percentage of the :eight and 5idth"
;ou can add guides to the image more 1uic-ly by simply clic-ing and dragging guides
from the image rulers and positioning them &here you &ould li-e" Guides you dra& &ith
clic-(and(drag are not as precisely positioned as those you dra& &ith this command,
ho&e$er"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image Guides Ne&
Guide 7by Percent8 "
$e% Guide Aby PercentB *ptions

$e% Guide
*he Ne& Guide command adds a guide to the image" For more information about guides,
see the glossary entry on Guides"
;ou can add guides to the image more 1uic-ly, but less accurately, by simply clic-ing and
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dragging guides from the image rulers and positioning them &here you &ould li-e"
Guide
$e% Guide *ptions

$e% Guides )rom 'election
*he Ne& Guides from %election command adds four guide lines, one for each of the
upper, lo&er, left and right edges of the current selection" If there is no selection in the
current image, no guides are dra&n"
Guides from %election "
Con)igure Grid
*he )onfigure Grid command lets you set the properties of the grid &hich you can display
o$er your image &hile you are &or-ing on it" *he GIMP pro$ides only )artesian grids" ;ou
can choose the color of the grid lines, and the spacing and offsets from the origin of the
image, independently for the hori>ontal and $ertical grid lines" ;ou can choose one of fi$e
different grid styles"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Image )onfigure
Grid "
6escription o) the Con)igure Grid dialog

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In the )onfigure Image Grid dialog, you can set the properties of the grid &hich is sho&n
&hen you turn on the image grid"
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2ayers
Introduction to the 2ayer Menu

*he items on the Layer menu allo& you to &or- on layers" In addition to accessing the
Layer menu from the Image menubar and by right(clic-ing on the image &indo&, you can
get to it by right(clic-ing on the thumbnail of a layer in the Layers dialog" ;ou can also
perform se$eral of the operations on this menu by clic-ing on buttons in the Layers
dialog, for e+ample, resi>ing a layer, managing layer transparency and merging layers"
*his menu can contain other entries besides the ones described in this section" *hey are
not part of GIMP itself, but are e+tensions 7plug(ins8" Please refer to the documentation
about the plug(ins for more information"
$e% 2ayer
*he Ne& Layer command adds a ne&, empty layer to the layer stac- of the image, 2ust
abo$e the acti$e layer" *he command displays a dialog in &hich you can specify the si>e
of the ne& layer"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Ne& Layer "
6escription o) the $e% 2ayer 6ialog

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6uplicate layer
*he Duplicate Layer command adds a ne& layer to the image &hich is a nearly identical
copy of the acti$e layer" *he name of the ne& layer is the same as the name of the
original layer, but &ith " cop+" appended to it"
If you duplicate a bac-ground layer &hich does not ha$e an alpha channel, the ne& layer
is pro$ided &ith one" In addition, if there are any "parasites" attached to the acti$e layer,
they are not duplicated" 7If your understanding of the &ord "parasites" is limited to small,
unpleasant creatures, please ignore the last sentence"8
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Duplicate
Layer
Anchor layer
5hen you mo$e or paste a selection, a temporary layer, called a "4)oating )a+er" or
"4)oating se)ection", is added to the layer stac-" .s long as the floating layer persists, you
can &or- only on it" *o &or- on the rest of the image, you must "anc'or" the floating layer
to the former acti$e layer &ith the .nchor layer command" If the image does not contain
a floating selection, this menu entry is insensiti$e and grayed out"
If there is an acti$e selection tool, the mouse pointer is displayed &ith an anchor icon
&hen it is outside of the selection" . left clic- then anchors the floating selection"
;ou may also clic- on the Ne& layer command on the Layers dialog, &hich anchors the
floating selection to a ne& layer" %ee "
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer .nchor layer ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl : "
Merge 6o%n
*he Merge Do&n command merges the acti$e layer &ith the layer 2ust belo& it in the
stac-, ta-ing into account the $arious properties of the acti$e layer, such as its opacity
and combination mode"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Merge Do&n "
6elete 2ayer
*he Delete Layer command deletes the acti$e layer from the image"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menu(bar through Layer Delete Layer
"
The 'tac7 'ubmenu

*he layer stac- is simply the list of layers in the Layers dialog" *he %tac- submenu
contains operations &hich either select a ne& layer as the acti$e layer, or change the
position of the acti$e layer in the layer stac-"
" ;ou can access this submenu from the image menubar through Layer %tac- "
The Contents o) the 'tac7 'ubmenu
*he %tac- submenu contains the follo&ing commands=
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
'elect Previous 2ayer
*he %elect Pre$ious Layer command selects the layer 2ust abo$e the acti$e layer in the
layer stac-" *he command highlights the layer in the Layers Dialog and ma-es it the ne&
acti$e layer" If the acti$e layer is already at the top of the stac-, this menu entry is
insensiti$e and grayed out"
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Note that on a standard 5indo&s(style @nglish -eyboard, the default shortcut PageWUp
does not refer to the -ey on the numeric -eypad, but to the other PageWUp -ey in the
group of si+ -eys to the left of the numeric -eypad"
*he -eyboard shortcuts for %elect Pre$ious Layer and %elect Ne+t Layer may be $ery
useful if you fre1uently pic- colors from one layer to use for painting on another layer,
especially &hen you use them &ith the color(pic-er tool, &hich you get by holding do&n
the )trl -ey &ith most of the painting tools"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer %tac- %elect
Pre$ious Layer ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut PageWUp,
" or the "Up-arrow" -ey,
" or simply by clic-ing on the layer name in the Layers Dialog"
'elect $e5t 2ayer
*he %elect Ne+t Layer command selects the layer 2ust underneath the acti$e layer in the
layer stac-" *he command highlights the layer in the Layers Dialog and ma-es it the ne&
acti$e layer" If the acti$e layer is already at the bottom of the stac-, this menu entry is
Note that on a standard 5indo&s(style @nglish -eyboard, the default shortcut PageWDo&n
does not refer to the -ey on the numeric -eypad, but to the other PageWDo&n -ey in the
Ne+t Layer ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut PageWDo&n,
" or the "Down-arrow" -ey,
" or simply by clic-ing on the layer name in Layers Dialog"
'elect Top 2ayer
*he %elect *op Layer command ma-es the top layer in the stac- the acti$e layer for the
image and highlights it in the Layers dialog" If the acti$e layer is already the top layer in
the stac-, this menu entry is insensiti$e and grayed out"
Note that on a standard 5indo&s(style @nglish -eyboard, the default -eyboard shortcut
:ome does not refer to the -ey on the numeric -eypad, but to the other :ome -ey in the
*op Layer ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut :ome,
" or simply by clic-ing on the layer name in the Layers Dialog"
'elect 1ottom 2ayer
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5ith the %elect ,ottom Layer command, you can ma-e the bottom layer in the stac-
become the acti$e layer for the image" It is then highlighted in the Layers dialog" If the
bottom layer of the stac- is already the acti$e layer, this menu entry is insensiti$e and
grayed out"
Note that on a standard 5indo&s(style @nglish -eyboard, the default -eyboard shortcut
refers to the @nd -ey in the group of si+ -eys to the left of the numeric -eypad, not to the
one in the numeric -eypad"
,ottom Layer ,
" by using the -eyboard shortcut @nd,
" or simply by clic-ing on the name of the layer in the Layers dialog"
(aise 2ayer
*he <aise Layer command raises the acti$e layer one position in the layer stac-" If the
acti$e layer is already at the top or if there is only one layer, this menu entry is
insensiti$e and grayed out" If the acti$e layer is at the bottom of the stac- and it does not
ha$e an alpha channel, it cannot be raised until you add an alpha channel to it"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer %tac- <aise
Layer ,
" or by clic-ing on the up(arro& icon at the bottom of the Layers dialog"
2o%er 2ayer
*he Lo&er layer command lo&ers the acti$e layer one position in the layer stac-" If the
acti$e layer is already at the bottom of the stac- or if there is only one layer, this menu
entry is insensiti$e and grayed out"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer %tac- Lo&er
Layer ,
" or by clic-ing on the do&n(arro& icon at the bottom of the Layers dialog"
2ayer to Top
*he Layer to *op command raises the acti$e layer to the top of the layer stac-" If the
acti$e layer is already at the top or if there is only one layer, this menu entry is
insensiti$e and grayed out" If the acti$e layer is at the bottom of the stac- and it does not
ha$e an alpha channel, you cannot raise it until you add an alpha channel to it"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer %tac- Layer to
*op ,
" or by pressing the %hift -ey and clic-ing on the up(arro& icon at the bottom of the
Layers dialog"
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2ayer to 1ottom
*he Layer to bottom command lo&ers the acti$e layer to the bottom of the layer stac-" If
the acti$e layer is already at the bottom of the stac- or if there is only one layer, this
menu entry is insensiti$e and grayed out"
,ottom ,
" or by pressing the %hift -ey and clic-ing on the do&n(arro& icon at the bottom of the
Layers dialog"
The Colors 'ubmenu

*he )olors submenu contains operations &hich alter colors &ithin the acti$e layer" *he
operations at the top of the list access the )olor tools for the image" *hese are described
in the *oolbo+ chapter"
*his command operates only on the layer &hich is acti1e at t'e time t'e command is
ca))ed" @$en after you ma-e another layer the acti$e layer, the operation continues to
affect the layer on &hich you performed the command"
" ;ou can access this submenu from the image menubar through Layer )olors "
Contents o) the Colors 'ubmenu
In addition to the menu items relating to the color tools &hich are at the top of the list,
the )olors submenu contains the follo&ing menu items=
"
"
"
6esaturate
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,y using the Desaturate command, you can con$ert all of the colors on the acti$e layer to
corresponding shades of gray" *his differs from con$erting the image to grayscale in t&o
respects" First, it only operates on the acti$e layer and second, the colors on the layer are
still <G, $alues &ith three components" *his means that you can paint on the layer, or
indi$idual parts of it, using color at a later time"
*his command only &or-s on layers of <G, images" If the image is in Grayscale or
Inde+ed mode, the menu entry is insensiti$e and grayed out"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer )olors
Desaturate "
Invert
*he In$ert command in$erts all the pi+el colors and brightness $alues in the current layer,
as if the image &ere con$erted into a negati$e" Dar- areas become bright and bright
areas become dar-" :ues are replaced by their complementary colors" For more
information about colors, see the Glossary entry about )olor Model"
*his command only &or-s on layers of <G, and Grayscale images" If the current image is
Inde+ed, the menu entry is insensiti$e and grayed out"
Don4t mi+ up this command &ith the In$ert %election command"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer )olors In$ert "
+5ample

The Auto 'ubmenu

*he .uto submenu contains operations &hich automatically ad2ust the distribution of
colors in the acti$e layer, &ithout re1uiring any input from the user" %e$eral of these
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operations are actually implemented as plugins"
" ;ou can access this submenu from the image &indo& through Layer )olors .uto "
Contents o) the Auto 'ubmenu
*he .uto submenu contains the follo&ing entries=
"
"
"
"
"
+@uali>e
*he @1uali>e command stretches e$ery <, G and , component bet&een B and #AA" *he
results of this command can $ary 1uite a bit" %ometimes @1uali>e &or-s $ery &ell to
enhance the contrast in an image, bringing out details &hich &ere hard to see before"
3ther times, the results loo- $ery bad" It is a $ery po&erful operation and it is &orth
trying it to see if it &ill impro$e your image"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer )olors .uto
@1uali>e ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift Page Do&n "
+5ample

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'tretch Contrast
*his command is some&hat similar to Normali>e plug(in in its effects, e+cept that it &or-s
on each color channel of the layer indi$idually, rather than 2ust the brightness $alues"
*his usually leads to color shifts &ithin the image, so it may not produce the result you
are loo-ing for" %tretch )ontrast operates on layers from <G,, Grayscale, and Inde+ed
images"
Activate 6ialog
" *his command can be accessed from an image menubar as Layer )olor .uto %tretch
)ontrast "
Color +nhance
F)olor @nhanceF increases the saturation range of colors in the layer &ithout altering
brightness or hue" It does this by con$erting the colors in :% space, measuring the
range of saturation $alues across the image, then stretching this range to be as large as
possible, and finally con$erting the colors bac- to <G," It &or-s on layers from <G, and
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Inde+ed images" If the image is Grayscale, the menu entry &ill be insensiti$e"
Activate 6ialog
" *his command can be accessed from an image menubar as Layer )olor .uto )olor
@nhance "
'tretch '9
*his command does the same thing as %tretch )ontrast, e+cept that it &or-s in :% color
space rather than <G, color space" *hus, it independently stretches the hue channel, the
saturation channel, and the $alue channel" 3ccasionally the results are good, often they
are a bit odd" %tretch :% operates on layers from <G, and Inde+ed images" If the image
is Grayscale, the menu entry &ill be insensiti$e"
Activate 6ialog
" *his command can be accessed from an image menubar as Layer )olors .uto
%tretch :% "
$ormali>e
*his command scales brightness $alues across the acti$e layer so that the dar-est point
becomes blac-, and the brightest point becomes as bright as possible &ithout altering its
hue" *his is often a Fmagic fi+F for images that are dim or &ashed out" Normali>e &or-s
on layers from <G,, Grayscale, and Inde+ed images"
Activate 6ialog
" *his command can be accessed from an image menubar as Layer )olor .uto
Normali>e "
The Mas7 'ubmenu

*he Mas- submenu of the Layer menu contains commands &hich &or- &ith mas-s=
creating a mas-, applying a mas-, deleting a mas- or con$erting a mas- into a selection"
%ee the Layer Mas-s section for more information on layer mas-s and ho& to use them"
" ;ou can access this submenu from the image menubar through Layer Mas- "
The Contents o) the Mas7 'ubmenu
*he Mas- submenu contains the follo&ing commands=
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"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
Add 2ayer Mas7
*he .dd Layer Mas- command adds a layer mas- to the acti$e layer" It displays a dialog
in &hich you can set the initial properties of the mas-" If the layer already has a layer
mas-, or if it cannot ha$e one because it does not ha$e an alpha channel, the menu entry
is insensiti$e and grayed out"
. layer mas- lets you define &hich parts of the layer are opa1ue, semi(transparent or
transparent" %ee the Layer Mas- section for more information"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Mas- .dd
Layer Mas-
" or from the pop(up menu you get by right(clic-ing on the acti$e layer in the Layers
Dialog"
6escription o) the Add 2ayer Mas7 6ialog

5hen you clic- on the 39 button, a thumbnail of the layer mas- appears to the right of
the thumbnail of the layer in the Layers Dialog"
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Apply 2ayer Mas7
*he .pply Layer Mas- command merges the layer mas- &ith the acti$e layer" *he
transparency information in the layer mas- is transferred to the alpha channel and the
layer mas- is remo$ed" If the acti$e layer does not ha$e a layer mas-, the menu entry is
insensiti$e and grayed out" %ee the Layer Mas-s section for more information"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Mas- .pply
Layer Mas- ,
Dialog"
6elete 2ayer Mas7
*he Delete Layer Mas- command deletes the acti$e layer4s layer mas-, &ithout modifying
the acti$e layer itself" If the acti$e layer does not ha$e a layer mas-, the menu entry is
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Mas- Delete
Layer Mas- ,
Dialog"
+dit 2ayer Mas7
5hen you clic- on the @dit Layer Mas- item on the Layer Mas- submenu, a chec- is
displayed ne+t to it, the layer mas- becomes the acti$e component of the current layer
and the layer mas- is displayed in the Layers Dialog &ith a &hite border" 5hen you
unchec- it, the layer itself becomes the acti$e component and it is displayed &ith a &hite
border" ;ou can also acti$ate the component you &ant more simply by clic-ing on it in the
Layers Dialog"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Mas- @dit
Layer Mas- "
" ;ou can undo this action by unchec-ing the menu entry in the LayerMas- menu or
by clic-ing on the layer component in the Layers Dialog"
6isable 2ayer Mas7
.s soon as you create a layer mas-, it acts on the image" *he Disable Layer Mas-
command allo&s you to suspend this action" 5hen you clic- on the menu entry, a chec-
is displayed ne+t to it and the border of the layer mas-4s thumbnail in the Layers Dialog
turns red"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Mas- Disable
Layer Mas- ,
" or by holding do&n the .lt -ey 7 )trl .lt on some systems8 and single(clic-ing on the
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layer mas-4s thumbnail in the Layers Dialog"
" ;ou can undo this action by unchec-ing the menu entry in the LayerMas- menu or
by .lt(clic-ing 7or )trl .lt (clic-ing8 again on the layer mas-4s thumbnail"
'ho% 2ayer Mas7
*he %ho& Layer Mas- command lets you see the layer mas- better by turning the image
in$isible" 5hen you clic- on the menu entry, a chec- is displayed ne+t to it and the layer
mas-4s thumbnail in the Layers Dialog is sho&n &ith a green border" *he layer itself is not
modified' you can turn it $isible again later"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Mas- %ho&
Layer Mas- ,
" or by holding do&n the .lt -ey 7 )trl .lt on some systems8 and single(clic-ing on the
layer mas-4s thumbnail in the Layers Dialog"
" ;ou can undo this action by unchec-ing the menu entry in the LayerMas- submenu
or by .lt(clic-ing 7or )trl .lt (clic-ing8 again on the layer mas-4s thumbnail"
Mas7 to 'election
*he Mas- to %election command con$erts the layer mas- of the acti$e layer into a
selection, &hich replaces the selection that is already acti$e in the image" 5hite areas of
the layer mas- are selected, blac- areas are not selected, and gray areas are con$erted
into feathered selections" *he layer mas- itself is not modified by this command"

" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Mas- Mas- to
%election ,
Dialog"
Add 2ayer Mas7 to 'election
*he .dd to %election command con$erts the layer mas- of the acti$e layer into a
selection, &hich is added to the selection that is already acti$e in the image" 5hite areas
of the layer mas- are selected, blac- areas are not selected, and gray areas are
con$erted into feathered selections" *he layer mas- itself is not modified by this
command"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Mas- .dd to
%election ,
Dialog"
'ubtract 2ayer Mas7 )rom 'election
*he %ubtract from %election command con$erts the layer mas- of the acti$e layer into a
selection, &hich is subtracted from the selection that is already acti$e in the image" 5hite
areas of the layer mas- are selected, blac- areas are not selected, and gray areas are
con$erted into feathered selections" *he layer mas- itself is not modified by this
command"

" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Mas- %ubtract
from %election ,
Dialog"
Intersect 2ayer Mas7 %ith 'election
*he Intersect &ith %election command con$erts the layer mas- of the acti$e layer into a
selection" *he intersection of this selection and the selection that is already acti$e form
the ne& selection for the image" 5hite areas of the layer mas- are selected, blac- areas
are not selected, and gray areas are con$erted into feathered selections" *he layer mas-
itself is not modified by this command"

" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Mas-
Intersect &ith %election ,
Dialog"
The Transparency 'ubmenu o) the 2ayer menu
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*he *ransparency submenu contains commands &hich use or affect the alpha channel of
the acti$e layer"
" ;ou can access this submenu from the image menubar through Layer *ransparency "
The Contents o) the Transparency 'ubmenu
*he *ransparency submenu contains the follo&ing commands=
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
Add Alpha Channel
*he .dd .lpha )hannel command adds an alpha channel to the acti$e layer" 5ithout an
alpha channel, a layer cannot ha$e transparency or a layer mas-" If the acti$e layer
already has an alpha channel 7and it must, unless it is the bottom layer of the image8, the
menu entry is insensiti$e and grayed out"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer *ransparency
.dd alpha )hannel "
Color to Alpha
;ou can ma-e colors of the acti$e layer transparent by using the )olor to .lpha command"
;ou can find a description of this command in the section about the filter"
*his command operates only on the layer &hich is acti1e at t'e time t'e command is
ca))ed" @$en after you choose another layer to be the acti$e layer, the operation
continues to affect the layer on &hich you performed the command"
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)olor to .lpha "
'emi-)latten
*he %emi(Flatten command is described in the %emi(flatten filter chapter" *he command
is useful &hen you need an anti(aliased image &ith inde+ed colors and transparency"
%emi(flatten "
Threshold Alpha
*his command con$erts partial transparency into all(or(none transparency, by applying a
user(specified cutoff threshold to the layer4s alpha channel" It only &or-s on alpha(
channel(possessing layers from <G, images= if the image is Grayscale or Inde+ed, or the
layer lac-s an alpha channel, the menu entry &ill be insensiti$e" If 9eep transparency has
been toggled on in the Layers dialog, the command &ill sho& an error message and
refuse to operate"
Activate 6ialog
" *his operation can be accessed from an image menubar as Layer *ransparency
*hreshold .lpha "
6ialog %indo% description

Alpha to 'election
*he .lpha to %election command creates a selection in the image from the acti$e layer4s
alpha channel, &hich encodes transparency" 3pa1ue areas are fully selected, transparent
areas are unselected, and translucent areas are partially selected" *his selection rep)aces
the e+isting selection" *he alpha channel itself is not changed"
*he other commands in this group of operations are similar, e+cept that instead of
completely replacing the e+isting selection &ith the selection produced from the alpha
channel, they either add the t&o selections, subtract the alpha selection from the e+isting
selection, or create a selection that is the intersection of the t&o"
.lpha to %election
" or from the pop(up menu &hich appears &hen you right(clic- on the acti$e layer in
the Layer Dialog"
+5ample
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Add to 'election
*he .dd to %election command creates a selection in the image from the pi+els of the
acti$e layer according to their transparency" 3pa1ue areas are fully selected, transparent
areas are unselected, and translucent areas are partially selected" *his selection is added
to an e+isting selection" *he alpha channel itself is not changed"
*he other commands in this group of operations are similar, e+cept that instead of adding
to the e+isting selection &ith the selection produced from the acti$e layer, they either
completely replace the selection &ith a selection produced from the alpha selection,
subtract the alpha selection from the e+isting selection, or create a selection that is the
intersection of the t&o"
.dd to %election "
+5ample

'ubtract )rom 'election
*he %ubtract from %election command creates a selection in the image from the pi+els of
the acti$e layer according to their transparency" 3pa1ue areas are fully selected,
transparent areas are unselected, and translucent areas are partially selected" *his
selection is s"%tracted from an e+isting selection" *he alpha channel itself is not changed"
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%ubtract from %election
the Layer Dialog"
+5ample

Intersect %ith 'election
*he Intersect &ith %election command creates a selection in the image from the pi+els of
the acti$e layer according to their transparency" 3pa1ue areas are fully selected,
transparent areas are unselected, and translucent areas are partially selected" *his
selection is intersected &ith an e+isting selection= only common parts of both selections
are -ept" *he alpha channel itself is not changed"
Intersect &ith %election
the Layers Dialog"
+5ample

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The Trans)orm 'ubmenu

*he *ransform submenu of the Layer menu contains commands &hich flip or rotate the
acti$e layer of the image"
" ;ou can access this submenu from the image menubar through Layer *ransform "
The Contents o) the Trans)orm 'ubmenu
*he *ransform submenu contains the follo&ing commands=
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
!lip ori>ontally
*he Flip :ori>ontally command re$erses the acti$e layer hori>ontally, that is, from left to
right" It lea$es the dimensions of the layer and the pi+el information unchanged"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer *ransform Flip
:ori>ontally "
+5ample

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!lip 9ertically
*he Flip ertically command re$erses the acti$e layer $ertically, that is, from top to
bottom" It lea$es the dimensions of the layer and the pi+el information unchanged"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer *ransform Flip
ertically "
(otate HI degrees CW
*he <otate CB degrees )5 command rotates the acti$e layer by CBQ around the center of
the layer, &ith no loss of pi+el data" *he shape of the layer is not altered, but the rotation
may cause the layer to e+tend beyond the bounds of the image" *his is allo&ed in GIMP
and it does not mean that the layer is cropped" :o&e$er, you &ill not be able to see the
parts &hich e+tend beyond the boundary of the image unless you resi>e the image
can$as or mo$e the layer"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer *ransform
<otate CB degrees )5 "
(otate HI degrees CCW
*he <otate CB degrees ))5 command rotates the acti$e layer by CBQ counter(cloc-&ise
around the center of the layer, &ith no loss of pi+el data" *he shape of the layer is not
altered, but the rotation may cause the layer to e+tend beyond the bounds of the image"
*his is allo&ed in GIMP and it does not mean that the layer is cropped" :o&e$er, you &ill
not be able to see the parts &hich e+tend beyond the boundary of the image unless you
resi>e the image can$as or mo$e the layer"
<otate CB degrees ))5 "
(otate 3JI degrees
*he <otate !IB degrees command rotates the acti$e layer by !IBQ around the center of
the layer, &ith no loss of pi+el data" *he shape of the layer is not altered, but the rotation
may cause the layer to e+tend beyond the bounds of the image" *his is allo&ed in GIMP
and it does not mean that the layer is cropped" :o&e$er, you &ill not be able to see the
parts &hich e+tend beyond the boundary of the image unless you resi>e the image
can$as or mo$e the layer"
<otate !IB degrees "
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Arbitrary (otation
*he .rbitrary <otation command rotates a layer by a specified angle" It is an alternate
&ay of accessing the <otate tool" %ee the section about that tool for more information"
.rbitrary <otation ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift < "
*))set
*he 3ffset command shifts the contents of the acti$e layer" .nything shifted outside the
layer boundary is cropped" *his command displays a dialog &hich allo&s you to specify
ho& much to shift the layer and ho& to fill the space that is left empty by shifting it"
3ffset ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut %hift )trl 3 "
6escription o) the *))set dialog

2ayer 1oundary 'i>e
In GIMP, a layer is not al&ays the same si>e as the image it belongs to" It might be
smaller or it might be larger, in &hich case some parts of it are hidden" *he Layer
,oundary %i>e command displays a dialog in &hich you can set the dimensions for the
acti$e layer" *his command changes the dimensions of the layer, but it does not scale its
contents"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer Layer
,oundary %i>e "
6escription o) the 2ayer 1oundary 'i>e dialog

2ayer to Image 'i>e
*he Layer to Image %i>e command resi>es the layer boundaries to match the image
boundaries, &ithout mo$ing the contents of the layer &ith respect to the image"
Image %i>e "
'cale 2ayer
*he %cale Layer command resi>es the layer and its contents" *he image loses some of its
1uality by being scaled" *he command displays a dialog &here you can set parameters
concerning the si>e of the layer and the image 1uality"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer %cale Layer "
6escription o) the 'cale 2ayer 6ialog

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Crop 2ayer
*he )rop Layer command crops only the acti$e layer to the boundary of the selection by
remo$ing any strips at the edge &hose contents are all completely unselected" .reas
&hich are partially selected 7for e+ample, by feathering8 are not cropped" If there is no
selection for the image, the menu entry is insensiti$e and grayed out"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer )rop layer "
+5ample

Autocrop 2ayer
*he .utocrop Layer command automatically crops the current layer by remo$ing a border"
It loo-s for the the largest possible area around the outside edge &hich all has the same
color and then crops this area from the layer" ;ou can use it to isolate an ob2ect from a
single(color bac-ground"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer .utocrop
Layer "
Align 9isible 2ayers
5ith the .lign isible Layers command, you can $ery precisely position the $isible layers
7those mar-ed &ith the "e+e" icon8" *his degree of precision is especially useful &hen you
are &or-ing on animations, &hich typically ha$e many small layers" )lic-ing on .lign
isible Layers displays a dialog &hich allo&s you to choose ho& the layers should be
aligned"
In GIMP !"#, the default base for the alignment &as the top $isible layer in the stac-" In
GIMP #, the default alignment base is the edge of the can$as" ;ou can still align the image
on the bottom layer of the stac-, e$en if it is in$isible, by chec-ing Use the 7in$isible8
bottom layer as the base in the dialog"

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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Layer .lign isible
layers " *here is no default -eyboard shortcut"
6escription o) the 2ayer Align dialog

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Tools
Introduction to the Tools Menu

*he menu entries on the *ools menu access the GIMP tools" .ll of the tools a$ailable in
GIMP are e+tensi$ely described in the *oolbo+ section"
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The !ilters Menu o) the Image Windo%
Introduction to the !ilters menu

In GIMP terminology, a 4i)ter is a plug(in that modifies the appearance of an image, in
most cases 2ust the acti$e layer of the image" Not all of the entries in this menu meet that
definition, ho&e$er' the &ord "4i)ter" is often mis(used to mean any plug(in, regardless of
&hat it does" Indeed, some of the entries in this menu do not modify images at all"
5ith the e+ception of the top three items of the Filters menu, all of the entries are
pro$ided by plug(ins" @ach plug(in decides for itself &here it &ould li-e its menu entry to
be placed" *herefore, the appearance of this menu can be completely different for each
user" In practice, though, the appearance does not $ary $ery much, because most plug(
ins come &ith GIMP &hen it is installed, and of course they are al&ays in the same places
in the menu"
Plug(ins are not restricted to 2ust the Filters menu= a plug(in can place entries in any
menu" Indeed, a number of GIMP4s basic functions 7for e+ample, %emi(flatten in the Layer
menu8 are implemented by plug(ins" ,ut the Filters menu is the default place for a plug(in
to place its menu entries"
For general information on plug(ins and ho& to use them, see the section on Plug(ins" ;ou
can find information on the filters that are pro$ided &ith GIMP in the Filters chapter" For
filters you install yourself, please refer to the information &hich came &ith them"
(epeat 2ast
*he <epeat Last command performs the action of the most recently e+ecuted plug(in
again, using the same settings as the last time it &as run" It does not sho& a dialog or
re1uest confirmation"
Please note that this command repeats the most recently e+ecuted p)"g-in, regardless of
&hether it is in the Filters menu or not"
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" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Filters <epeat filter ,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl F "
(e-sho% 2ast
*he <e(sho& Last command interacti$ely runs the most recently e+ecuted plug(in" Unli-e
the "2epeat Last" command, &hich does not display a dialog, the "2e-s'ow Last"
command displays a dialog &indo&, if the plug(in has one" It is displayed &ith the settings
you used the last time you ran the plug(in 7assuming that the plug(in follo&s the GIMP
programming con$entions8"
Please note that this command repeats the most recently e+ecuted p)"g-in, regardless of
&hether it is in the Filters menu or not"
5hen you are using a plug(in, especially one that does not ha$e a pre$ie& &indo&, you
may $ery &ell ha$e to ad2ust the parameters se$eral times before you are satisfied &ith
the results" *o do this most efficiently, you should memori>e the shortcuts for Undo and
<e(sho& Last= )trl N follo&ed by )trl %hift F "
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Filters <e(sho& filter
,
" or by using the -eyboard shortcut )trl %hift F "
(eset All !ilters
Normally, each time you run an interacti$e plug(in, its dialog is displayed &ith all of the
settings initiali>ed to the ones you used the last time you ran it" *his may be a problem if
you made a mista-e setting the $alues and you can4t remember &hat they &ere originally"
3ne &ay to reco$er is to e+it GIMP and start again, but the <eset all Filters command is a
slightly less drastic solution= it resets the $alues for a)) plug(ins to their defaults" ,ecause
it is a dramatic step, it as-s you to confirm that you really &ant to do it" ,e careful= you
cannot undo this command"
" ;ou can access this command from the image menubar through Filters <eset all
Filters "
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Chapter
!ilters
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!ilter introduction
. filter is a special -ind of tool designed to ta-e an input layer or image, apply a
mathematical algorithm to it, and return the input layer or image in a modified format"
*he GIMP uses filters to achie$e a $ariety of effects and those effects are discussed here"
" ,lur
" )olors
" Noise
" @dge(Detect
" @nhance
" Generic
" Glass @ffects
" Light @ffects
" Distorts
" .rtistic
" Map
" <ender
" 5eb
" .nimation
" )ombine
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1lur )ilters
1lur )ilters introduction

*his is a set of filters that blur images, or parts of them, in $arious &ays" If there is a
selection, only the selected parts of an image &ill be blurred" *here may, ho&e$er, be
some lea-age of colors from the unblurred area into the blurred area" *o help you pic- the
one you &ant, &e &ill illustrate &hat each does &hen applied to the image sho&n at right"
*hese are, of course, only e+amples= most of the filters ha$e parameter settings that
allo& you to $ary the magnitude or type of blurring"

*he most broadly useful of these is the Gaussian blur" 7Don4t let the &ord FGaussianF
thro& you= this filter ma-es an image blurry in the most basic &ay"8 It has an efficient
implementation that allo&s it to create a $ery blurry blur in a relati$ely short time"

If you only &ant to blur the image a little bit((to soften it, as it &ere((you might use the
simple F,lurF filter" In Gimp #"# this runs automatically, &ithout creating a dialog" *he
effect is subtle enough that you might not e$en notice it, but you can get a stronger
effect by repeating it" In Gimp #"B the filter sho&s a dialog that allo&s you to set a
Frepeat countF" If you &ant a strong blurring effect, this filter is too slo& to be a good
choice= use a Gaussian blur instead"

*he %electi$e ,lur filter allo&s you to set a threshold so that only pi+els that are similar to
each other are blurred together" It is often useful as a tool for reducing graininess in
photos &ithout blurring sharp edges" 7In the e+ample, note that the graininess of the
bac-ground has been reduced"8 *he implementation is much slo&er than a Gaussian blur,
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though, so you should not use it unless you really need the selecti$ity"

*he Pi+eli>e filter produces the &ell(-no&n F.braham LincolnF effect by turning the image
into a set of large s1uare pi+els" 7*he 3ilify filter, in the .rtistic Filters group, has a similar
effect, but &ith irregular blobs instead of perfectly s1uare pi+els"8
;ou can find a nice e+planation of the .braham Lincoln effect at "

*he Motion ,lur filter blurs in a specific direction at each point, &hich allo&s you to create
a sense of motion= either linear, radial, or rotational"
Finally, the *ileable ,lur filter is really the same thing as a Gaussian blur, e+cept that it
&raps around the edges of an image to help you reduce edge effects &hen you create a
pattern by tiling multiple copies of the image side by side"
*ileable ,lur is actually implemented by a %cript(Fu script that in$o-es the Gaussian blur
plug(in"
1lur
*vervie%

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*he simple ,lur filter produces an effect similar to that of an out of focus camera shot" *o
produce this blur effect, the filter ta-es the a$erage of the present pi+el $alue and the
$alue of ad2acent pi+els and sets the present pi+el to that a$erage $alue"
Filter ad$antage is its calculation speed" It suits big images"
Filter disad$antage is that its action is hardly perceptible on big images, but $ery strong
on small images"
Activate the )ilter
*his filter can be called from the image menu= Filters ,lur ,lur
Gaussian 1lur
*vervie%

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;ou can find this filter in the image menu under Filters ,lur Gaussian ,lur
*he II< Gaussian ,lur plug(in acts on each pi+el of the acti$e layer or selection, setting its
alue to the a$erage of all pi+el alues present in a radius defined in the dialog" . higher
alue &ill produce a higher amount of blur" *he blur can be set to act in one direction
more than the other by clic-ing the )hain ,utton so that it is bro-en, and altering the
radius" GIMP supports t&o implementations of Gaussian ,lur= II< G"," and <L@ G"," *hey
both produce the same results, but each one can be faster in some cases"
*ptions

'elective Gaussian 1lur
*vervie%

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;ou can find this filter in the image menu under Filters ,lur %electi$e Gaussian ,lur
)ontrary to the other blur plug(ins, the %electi$e Gaussian ,lur plug(in doesn4t act on all
pi+els= blur is applied only if the difference bet&een its $alue and the $alue of the
surrounding pi+els is less than a defined Delta $alue" %o, contrasts are preser$ed because
difference is high on contrast limits" It is used to blur a bac-ground so that the foreground
sub2ect &ill stand out better" *his add a sense of depth to the image &ith only a single
operation"
*ptions

Motion 1lur
*vervie%

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;ou can find this filter in the image menu under Filters ,lur Motion ,lur
*he Motion ,lur filter creates a mo$ement blur" *he filter is capable of Linear, <adial, and
Noom mo$ements" @ach of these mo$ements can be further ad2usted, &ith Length, or
.ngle settings a$ailable"
*ptions

Pi5elise
*vervie%

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;ou can find this filter in the image menu under Filters ,lur Pi+elise
*he Pi+eli>e filter renders the image using large color bloc-s" It is $ery similar to the effect
seen on tele$ision &hen obscuring a criminal during trial" It is used for the F.braham
Lincoln effectF= see "
*ptions

Tileable 1lur
*vervie%
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;ou can find this filter in the image menu under Filters ,lur *ileable ,lur
*his tool is used to soften tile seams in images used in tiled bac-grounds" It does this by
blending and blurring the boundary bet&een images that &ill be ne+t to each other after
tiling"
If you &ant to treat only images borders, you can4t apply filter to the &hole image" *he
solution to get the &anted effect is as follo&s=
Duplicate layer7 Layer Duplicate Layer 8 and select it to &or- on it"
.pply "&i)ea%)e ,)"r" filter &ith a #B pi+els radius to this layer"
%elect all 7 )trl.8 and reduce selection 7 %election %hrin- 8 to create a border &ith the
&anted &idth"
Delete selection &ith )trl9"
Merge layers &ith Layer Merge do&n
*ptions

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Color )ilters
Introduction to Color !ilters
*he )olor filters group contains se$eral filters to modify colors in an image, a layer or a
selection" ;ou can find filters to compose, decompose, uncolor colors, and many other
effects"
Ad;ust !G-1G
*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters )olors Map .d2ust FG(,G "
.d2ust FG(,G belongs to color map filters &hich ma-e connection bet&een a color source
and an image" :ere, image pi+els ha$ing ForeGround color &ill turn to blac- &hile pi+els
ha$ing ,ac-Ground color &ill turn to &hite" 3ther colors &ill turn to their complementary
color" *here &ill be no change if FG is blac- and ,G is &hite"

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*ptions
*his filter has no option"
Alien Map .
*vervie%

*his filter is found in Filters )olors Map .lien map # "
*his filter renders $ery modified colors by applying trigonometric functions" .lien Map #
can &or- on <G, and :%"
*ptions

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T%o Colors +5change
*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters )olors Map )olor @+change "
*his filter replaces a color &ith another one"
*ptions

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Colormap (otation

*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters )olors Map )olor Map <otation "
)olormap <otation lets you e+change one color range to another range"
Main *ptions
;ou ha$e there t&o color circles, one for the FFromF color range and the other for the F*oF
color range=
Grey *ptions

In this tab, you can specify ho& to treat gray" ,y default, grey is not considered as a color
and is not ta-en in account by the rotation" :ere, you can con$ert slightly saturated
colors into grey and you can also con$ert grey into color"
Previe%s
Units
;ou can select here the angle unit used to locate colors in the :ue/%aturation circle" *his
choice is $alid only for the current filter session= don4t clic- on alid 2ust after selecting
unit, return to the &anted tabD
Map Color (ange

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*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters )olors Map )olor <ange Mapping "
Unli-e @+change filter, Map )olor <ange maps a defined color range against another
defined color range"
*ptions
'ample Colori>e

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*vervie%

*his filter is found in Filters )olors Map %ample )olori>e "
*his filter allo&s you to colori>e old blac-(and(&hite images by mapping a color source
image or a gradient against it"
;our gray(tone image must be changed to <G, before using this filter
7Image/ImageRModeR<G,8"
*ptions
*he filter &indo& is di$ided into t&o parts= Destination on the left, %ampling on the right"
Gradient Map
*vervie%

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*his filter uses the current gradient, as sho&n in the ,rush/Pattern/Gradient area of the
*oolbo+, to recolor the acti$e layer or selection of the image to &hich the filter is applied"
*o use it, first choose a gradient from the Gradients Dialog" *hen select the part of the
image you &ant to alter, and acti$ate the filter by choosing Filters )olors Map Gradient
Map from the image menu" *he filter runs automatically, &ithout sho&ing any dialog or
re1uiring any further input" It uses image color intensities 7B ( #AA8, mapping the dar-est
pi+els to the left end color from the gradient, and the lightest pi+els to the right end color
from the gradient" Intermediate $alues are set to the corresponding intermediate colors"
1order Average

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters )olors ,order .$erage "
*his tool calculates the a$erage color in a border around acti$e layer or selection"
)alculated color becomes the foreground color in *oolbo+" *his filter is interesting &hen
you ha$e to find a 5eb page color bac-ground that differs as less as possible from your
image border" *he action of this filter is not registered in Undo :istory and can4t be
deleted &ith )trlEN"
*ptions
Channel Mi5er
*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters )olors )hannel Mi+er "
*his filter combines $alues of the <G, channels" It &or-s &ith images &ith or &ithout an
alpha channel" It has monochrome mode and a pre$ie&"
*ptions

1uttons
Colorcube Analysis
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*vervie%

*his filter is found in Filters )olors )olorcube .nalysis "
It gi$es data about image= dimensions, file si>e, color number, compression ratio"""
*ptions
Colori)y
*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters )olors )olorify "
It renders a greyscaled image li-e it is seen through colored glass"
*ptions

Color to Alpha

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*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters )olors )olor to .lpha "
*he )olor to .lpha filter ma-es transparent all pi+els &ith a selected color" .n .lpha
channel is created" It &ill attempt to preser$e anti(aliasing information by using a partially
intelligent routine that replaces &ea- color information &ith &ea- alpha information" In
this &ay, areas that contain an element of the selected color &ill maintain a blended
appearance &ith their surrounding pi+els"
*ptions
Compose
*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters )olors )ompose *his filter is acti$e in Filters/)olors after using
Decompose"
*his filter reconstructs an image from its <G,, :%""" components"
*ptions

6ecompose
*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters )olors Decompose
*his filter separates an image into its different components 7<G,, :%"""8"
*ptions

!ilter Pac7
*vervie%

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*his tool offers you a collection of unified filters to treat the image" 3f course, same
functions can be performed by particular filters, but you ha$e here an interesting,
intuiti$e, o$er$ie&"
'tarting )ilter
*his filter is found in the image menu, $ia Filters )olors Filter Pac- "
*ptions
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ot

*vervie%
*his filter is found in the image menu $ia Filters )olors :ot
It identifies and modifies pi+els &hich might cause problem &hen displayed onto P.L or
N*%) * screen"
*ptions
Ma5 (G1

*vervie%

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*his filter is found in the image menu $ia Filters )olors Ma+ <G, "
For e$ery pi+el of the image, this filter holds the channel &ith the ma+imal / minimal
intensity"
*ptions
(etine5
*vervie%
*his filter is found in the image &indo& menu under Filters )olors <etine+ "
F<etine+F impro$es $isual rendering of an image &hen lighting conditions are not good"
5hile our eye can see colors correctly &hen light is lo&, cameras and $ideo cams can4t
manage this &ell" *he M%<)< 7Multi%cale <etine+ &ith )olor <estoration8 algorithm, &hich
is at the root of the F<etine+F filter, is inspired by the eye biological mecanisms to adapt
itself to these conditions" F<etine+F stands for <etina E corte+"
,esides digital photography, <etine+ algorithm is used to ma-e the information in
astronomical photos $isible and detect, in medicine, poorly $isible structures in 6(rays or
scanners"
*ptions

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*hese options call for notions that only mathematicians can understand" In actual
practice, user has to grope about for the best setting"

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'emi-!latten
*vervie%
*his filter is found in the image menu through Filters )olors %emi(Flatten It is a$ailable if
your image holds an .lpha channel 7ZImageRLayers/*ransparency/.dd an alpha
channel8" 3ther&ise, it is greyed out"
*he %emi(flatten filter helps those in need of a solution to anti(aliasing inde+ed images
&ith transparency" *he GIF inde+ed format supports complete transparency 7B or #AA
alpha $alue8, but not semi(transparency 7! ( #A/8= semi(transparent pi+els &ill be
transformed to no transparency or complete transparency, ruining anti(aliasing you
applied to the logo you &ant to put onto your 5eb page"
,efore applying the filter, it4s essential that you should -no& the bac-ground color of your
5eb page" Use the color(pic-er to determine the e+act color &hich pops up as the
Foreground color of the *oolbo+" In$ert FG/,G colors so that ,G color is the same as 5eb
bac-ground color"
%emi(flatten process &ill combine FG color to layer 7logo8 color, proportionally to
corresponding alpha $alues, and &ill rebuild correct anti(aliasing" )ompletely transparent
pi+els &ill not ta-e the color" ery transparent pi+els &ill ta-e a fe& color and &ea-ly
transparent &ill ta-e much color"
'mooth Palette

*vervie%

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*his filter is found in the image menu $ia Filters )olors %mooth Palette "
It creates a striped palette from colors in acti$e layer or selection" *he main purpose of
this filter is to create color(maps to be used &ith the Flame filter"
*ptions
9alue invert
*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters )olors alue In$ert
*his filter in$erts alue 7luminosity8 of the acti$e layer or selection" :ue and %aturation
&ill not be affected, although the color &ill sometimes be slightly different because of
round(off error" If you &ant to in$ert :ue and %aturation also, use Layers )olors In$ert "
Note that hue and saturation can be distorted 1uite a bit by this filter for colors &ith a
high luminosity 7 for instance, :% !B#Q,!BBV, CIV, a bright green, gi$es :% CGQ,
!BBV, #V8 " *hus, you should not e+pect to be able to apply this filter t&ice in a ro& and
get bac- the image you started &ith"
*ptions
*his filter has no options"
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$oise )ilters
$oise )ilters introduction
Noise filters add noise to the image" *o remo$e small defects from an image, see
Despec-le filter"
url

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Noise :url "
*he :url filter changes each affected pi+el to a random color, so it produces real random
noise" .ll color channels, including an alpha channel 7if it is present8 are randomi>ed" .ll
possible $alues are assigned &ith the same probability" *he original $alues are not ta-en
into account" .ll or only some pi+els in an acti$e layer or selection are affected, the
percentage of affected pi+els is determined by the <andomi>ation 7V8 option"
*ptions
'catter (G1

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in the image &indo& menu under Filters Noise %catter <G, "
*he %catter <G, filter adds a normally distributed noise to a layer or a selection" It uses
the <G, color model to produce the noise 7noise is added to red, green and blue $alues of
each pi+el8" . normal distribution means, that only slight noise is added to the most pi+els
in the affected area, &hile less pi+els are affected by more e+treme $alues" 7If you apply
this filter to an image filled &ith a solid grey color and then loo- at its histogram, you &ill
see a classic bell(shaped Gaussian cur$e"8
*he result is $ery naturally loo-ing noise"
*ptions
Pic7

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Noise Pic- "
*he Pic- filter replaces each affected pi+el by a pi+el $alue randomly chosen from its
eight neighbours and itself 7from a 0[0 s1uare the pi+el is center of8" .ll or only some
pi+els in an acti$e layer or selection are affected, the percentage of affected pi+els is
determined by the <andomi>ation 7V8 option"
*ptions
'catter '9

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Noise/%catter :%
*he %catter :% filter creates noise in the acti$e layer or selection by using the :ue,
%aturation, alue 7luminosity8 color model"
*ptions
'lur

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Noise %lur "
%lurring produces an effect resembling melting the image do&n&ards' if a pi+el is to be
slurred, there is an IBV chance that it is replaced by the $alue of a pi+el directly abo$e it'
other&ise, one of the t&o pi+els to the left or right of the one abo$e is used" .ll or only
some pi+els in an acti$e layer or selection are affected, the percentage of affected pi+els
is determined by the <andomi>ation 7V8 option"
*ptions
'pread

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Noise %pread "
*he %pread filter s&aps each pi+el in the acti$e layer or selection &ith another randomly
chosen pi+el by a user specified amount" It &or-s on color transitions, not on plain color
areas" No ne& color is introduced"
*ptions
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+dge-detect )ilters
+dge-detect introduction
@dge detect filters search for borders bet&een different colors and so can detect contours
of ob2ects"
*hey are used to ma-e selections and for many artistic purposes"

Most of them are based on gradient calculation methods and gi$e thic- border lines" Loo-
at fig"! &hich represents color intensity $ariations" 3n the left is a slo& color gradient
&hich is not a border" 3n the right is a 1uic- $ariation &hich is an edge" No&, let us
calculate the gradient, the $ariation speed, of this edge, i"e the first deri$ati$e 7fig"#8" 5e
ha$e to decide that a border is detected &hen gradient is more than a threshold $alue
7the e+act border is at top of the cur$e, but this top $aries according to borders8" In most
cases, threshold is under top and border is thic-"
*he Laplacian edge detection uses the second deri$ati$e 7fig"08" *he top of the cur$e is
no& at >ero and clearly identified" *hat4s &hy Laplace filter renders a thin border, only a
pi+el &ide" ,ut this deri$ati$e gi$es se$eral >eros corresponding to small ripples, resulting
in false edges"
%ome blurring before applying edge filters is often necessary= it flattens small ripples in
signal and so pre$ents false edges"
6i))erence o) Gaussians

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*vervie%
*his filter is located at Filters @dge detect Difference of Gaussians
*his filter is ne& in GIMP #"#" It does edge detection using the so(called FDifference of
GaussiansF algorithm, &hich &or-s by performing t&o different Gaussian blurs on the
image, &ith a different blurring radius for each, and subtracting them to yield the result"
*his algorithm is $ery &idely used in artificial $ision 7maybe in biological $ision as &ellD8,
and is pretty fast because there are $ery efficient methods for doing Gaussian blurs" *he
most important parameters are the blurring radii for the t&o Gaussian blurs" It is probably
easiest to set them using the pre$ie&, but it may help to -no& that increasing the smaller
radius tends to gi$e thic-er(appearing edges, and decreasing the larger radius tends to
increase the FthresholdF for recogni>ing something as an edge" In most cases you &ill get
nicer results if <adius # is smaller than <adius !, but nothing pre$ents you from re$ersing
them, and in situations &here you ha$e a light figure on the dar- bac-ground, re$ersing
them may actually impro$e the result"
*ptions
+dge
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*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageR/Filters/@dge(Detect/@dge
*ptions
2aplace
*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filtres @dge detect Laplace "
*his filter detects edges in the image using Laplacian method, &hich produces thin, pi+el
&ide borders"
'obel

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters @dge detect %obel "
%obel4s filter detects hori>ontal and $ertical edges separately on a grey(le$el image" )olor
images are turned into grey(le$els"
*ptions
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+nhance )ilters
+nhance )ilters introduction
@nhance filters are used to compensate for image imperfections" %uch imperfections
include dust particles, noise, interlaced frames 7coming usually from a * frame(grabber8
and insufficient sharpness"
6einterlace

*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/@nhance/Deinterlace
Images captured by $ideocards, especially &hen fast mo$ement is recorded, may loo-
blurred and stripped, &ith splitted ob2ects" *his is due to ho& cameras &or-" *hey don4t
record #A images per second, but AB, &ith half $ertical resolution" *here are t&o
interlaced images in one frame" First line of first image is follo&ed by first line of second
image follo&ed by second line of first image""" etc" %o, if there ha$e been an important
mo$e bet&een the t&o images, ob2ects &ill appear splitted, shifted, stripped"
*he Deinterlace filter -eeps only one of both images and replaces missing lines by a
gradient bet&een pre$ious and follo&ing lines" *he resulting image, or selection, &ill be
some&hat blurred, but can be impro$ed by enhance filters
. test image can be found at &&&"alparysoft"com
*ptions
6espec7le

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/@nhance/Despec-le
It is used to remo$e small defects due to dust, or scratches, on a scanned image, and
also moir\ effect on image scanned from a maga>ine" ;ou ought to select isolated defects
before applying filter"
*ptions
6estripe

*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/@nhance/Destripe"""
It is used to remo$e $ertical stripes caused by poor 1uality scanners" It &or-s by adding a
pattern that &ill interfere &ith the image, remo$ing stripes if setting is good" *his
Fnegati$eF pattern is calculated from $ertical elements of the image, so don4t be
surprised if you see stripes on the pre$ie& of an image that has none" .nd if pattern
FstrengthF is too high, you image &ill be striped"
If, after a first pass, a stripe persists, rectangular(select it and apply filter again 7all other
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selection type may &orsen the result8"
*ptions
$2 !ilter

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters @nhance NL Filter " NL means FNon LinearF" Deri$ed from the
Uni+ pnmnlfilt program, it 2oins smoothing, despec-le and sharpen enhancement
functions" It &or-s on the &hole image, not on the selection"
*his is something of a s&iss army -nife filter" It has 0 distinct operating modes" In all of
the modes each pi+el in the image is e+amined and processed according to it and its
surrounding pi+els $alues" <ather than using the C pi+els in a 0+0 bloc-, H he+agonal area
samples are ta-en, the si>e of the he+agons being controlled by the radius parameter" .
radius $alue of B"0000 means that the H he+agons e+actly fit into the center pi+el 7ie"
there &ill be no filtering effect8" . radius $alue of !"B means that the H he+agons e+actly
fit a 0+0 pi+el array"
*ptions
*perating Modes
*his filter can perform se$eral distinct functions, depending on the $alue of the parameter
alpha"
'harpen

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/@nhance/%harpen
Most of digiti>ed images need correction of sharpness" *his is due to digiti>ing process
that must chop a color continuum up in points &ith slightly different colors= elements
thiner than sampling fre1uency &ill be a$eraged into an uniform color" %o sharp borders
are rendered a little blurred" *he same phenomenon appears &hen printing color dots on
paper"
*he %harpen filter accentuates edges but also any noise or blemish and it may create
noise in graduated color areas li-e the s-y or a &ater surface" It competes &ith the
Unsharp Mas- filter, &hich is more sophisticated and renders more natural results"
*ptions
Unsharp Mas7

*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/@nhance/Unsharp Mas-
3ut(of(focus photographs and most digiti>ed images often need a sharpness correction"
*his is due to the digiti>ing process that must chop a color continuum up in points &ith
slightly different colors= elements thinner than sampling fre1uency &ill be a$eraged into
an uniform color" %o sharp borders are rendered a little blurred" *he same phenomenon
appears &hen printing color dots on paper"
*he Unsharp Mas- filter 7&hat an odd nameD8 sharpens edges of the elements &ithout
increasing noise or blemish" It is the -ing of the sharpen filters"
%ome scanners apply a sharpen filter &hile scanning" It4s &orth disabling it so that you
-eep control on your image"
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*ptions
More in)ormation
*o pre$ent color distortion &hile sharpening, Decompose your image to :% and &or-
only on alue" *hen )ompose the image to :%" Go to Image/Mode and clic- on
Decompose" Ma-e sure the FDecompose to LayersF bo+ is chec-ed" )hoose :% and clic-
39" ;ou &ill get a ne& grey(le$el image &ith three layers, one for :ue, one for %aturation,
and one for alue" 7)lose the original image so you &on4t get confused8" %elect the alue
layer and apply your sharpening to it" 5hen you are done, &ith that same layer selected,
re$erse the process" Go to Image/Mode and clic- on )ompose" .gain choose :% and
clic- 39" ;ou &ill get bac- your original image e+cept that it &ill ha$e been sharpened in
the alue component
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Generic )ilters
Generic )ilters introduction
Generic filters are filters you can build your o&n filters &ith" *hat loo-s complicatedP %ee
)on$olution Matri+ filter and you &ill understand better"
Convolution matri5

*vervie%
;ou can find this filter $ia the image menu under Filters Generic )on$olution Matri+
:ere is a mathematician4s domain" Most of filters are using con$olution matri+" 5ith the
)on$olution Matri+ filter, if the fancy ta-es you, you can build a custom filter"
5hat is a con$olution matri+P It4s possible to get a rough idea of it &ithout using
mathematical tools that only a fe& ones -no&" )on$olution is the treatment of a matri+
by another one &hich is called F-ernelF"
*he )on$olution Matri+ filter uses a first matri+ &hich is the Image to be treated" *he
image is a bi(dimensional collection of pi+els in rectangular coordinates" *he used -ernel
depends on the effect you &ant"
GIMP uses A+A or 0+0 matrices" 5e &ill consider only 0+0 matrices, they are the most
used and they are enough for all effects you &ant" If all border $alues of a -ernel are set
to >ero, then system &ill consider it as a 0+0 matri+"
*he filter studies successi$ely e$ery pi+el of the image" For each of them, &hich &e &ill
call the Finitial pi+elF, it multiplies the $alue of this pi+el and $alues of the I surrounding
pi+els by the -ernel corresponding $alue" *hen it adds the results, and the initial pi+el is
set to this final result $alue"
. simple e+ample=

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3n the left is the image matri+= each pi+el is mar-ed &ith its $alue" *he initial pi+el has a
red border" *he -ernel action area has a green border" In the middle is the -ernel and, on
the right is the con$olution result"
:ere is &hat happened= the filter read successi$ely, from left to right and from top to
bottom, all the pi+els of the -ernel action area" It multiplied the $alue of each of them by
the -ernel corresponding $alue and added results=
7!BBUB8E7ABU!8E7ABUB8U7!BBUB8E7!BBUB8 E7!BBUB8E7!BBUB8E7!BBUB8E7!BBUB8E7!BBUB8
J AB" *he initial pi+el too- the $alue AB" Pre$iously, &hen the initial pi+el had $alueJAB, it
too- the $alue !BB of the abo$e pi+el 7the filter doesn4t &or- on the image but on a copy8
and so disappeared into the F!BBF bac-ground pi+els" .s a graphical result, the initial
pi+el mo$ed a pi+el do&n&ards"
*ptions
+5amples
Design of -ernels is based on high le$els mathematics" ;ou can find ready(made -ernels
on the 5eb" :ere are a fe& e+amples=

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6ilate
*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Generic Dilate
*his filter &idens and enhances dar- areas of the acti$e layer or selection"
For e$ery image pi+el, it brings the pi+el alue 7luminosity8 into line &ith the lo&est alue
7the dar-est8 of the I neighbouring pi+els 70+0 matri+8" %o, a dar- pi+el is added around
dar- areas" .n isolated pi+el on a brighter bac-ground &ill be changed to a big Fpi+elF,
composed of C pi+els, and that &ill create some noise in the image"

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In this image, the studied pi+el has a red border and the studied matri+ has a green
border" I hope you ha$e understood ho& to go on &ith the process and get a 0+0 pi+el
bloc-= &hen the FIF pi+el is inside the green border, the studied pi+el turns to blac-"
. larger dar- area &ill dilate by one pi+el in all directions=

*he filter &as applied 0 times"
3n more comple+ images, dar- areas are &idenned and enhanced the same, and
some&hat pi+ellated" :ere, the filter &as applied 0 times=

3f course, if bac-ground is dar-er than foreground, it &ill co$er the &hole image"
*ptions
*his filter has no options"
+5amples

+rode
*vervie%

*his filter is found in Filters Generic @rode
*his filter &idens and enhances bright areas of the acti$e layer or selection"
For e$ery image pi+el, it brings the pi+el alue 7luminosity8 into line &ith the upper alue
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7the brightest8 of the I neighbouring pi+els 70+0 matri+8" %o, a bright pi+el is added
around bright areas" .n isolated pi+el on a dar-er bac-ground &ill be changed to a big
Fpi+elF, composed of C pi+els, and that &ill create some noise in the image" . larger bright
area &ill dilate by one pi+el in all directions"
3n more comple+ images, bright areas are &idened and enhanced the same, and
some&hat pi+ellated"
*ptions
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Glass +))ects )ilters
Glass +))ects )ilters introduction
Glass @ffects filters result in an image as if it &ere seen through a lens or glass tiles"
Apply 2ens

*vervie%

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;ou can find this filter $ia the image menu under Filters Glass effects .pply Lens
.fter applying this filter, a part of the image is rendered as through a spherical lens"
*ptions

Glass Tile
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*vervie%

;ou can find this filter $ia the image menu under Filters Glass effects Glass *ile
.fter applying this filter, the acti$e layer or selection is rendered as through a glass bric-
&all"
*ptions

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2ight +))ects )ilters
2ight +))ects )ilters introduction
Light @ffects filters render se$eral illumination effects of the image"
!lare!=

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Light @ffectsender FlareF6
*his filter gi$es the impression that sun hit the ob2ecti$e &hen ta-ing a shot" ;ou can
locate the reflection &ith a reticule you can mo$e, but you ha$e not the possibilities that
Gflare filter offers"
*ptions
G)lare

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Light @ffectsender Gflare
Gflare effect reminds the effect you get &hen you ta-e a photograph of a blinding light
source, &ith a halo and radiations around the source" *he Gflare image has three
components= .)ow &hich is the big central fireball, 2a+s and Second /)ares
*ptions
*he %ettings tab allo&s you to set manually the parameters &hile the %elector tab let you
choose presets in a list"
'ettings
'elector
*he %elector tab allo&s you to select a Gflare pattern, to change it and sa$e it"
G)lare +ditor

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2ighting +))ects

*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters Light @ffectsender Lighting @ffects
*his filter simulates the effect you get &hen you light up a &all &ith a spot" It doesn4t
produce any drop shado&s and, of course, doesn4t re$eal any ne& details in dar- >ones"
*ptions
'par7le

*vervie%
;ou can find this filter in the image menu under Filters Light @ffects %par-le
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*his filter adds spar-les to your image" It uses the lightest points according to a threshold
you ha$e determined" It is difficult to foresee &here spar-les &ill appear" ,ut you can put
&hite points on your image &here you &ant spar-les to be"
Parameter 'ettings
%liders and input bo+es allo& you to set $alues"
'uper$ova

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Light @ffectsender %uper No$a
*his filter creates a big star reminding a super(no$a" It &or-s &ith <G, and G<.; images"
Light effect decreases according to !/r &here r is the distance from star center"
Dieses Filter er>eugt einen grossen %tern im ,ild, der an eine %uperno$a erinnert" %ie
-]nnen das Filter so&ohl auf Farb( als auch auf Graustufenbilder an&enden"
Parameter 'ettings

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6istort )ilters
6istort )ilters introduction
*he distort filters transform your image in many different &ays"
1linds

*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Distorts/,linds
It generates a blind effect &ith hori>ontal or $ertical battens" ;ou can lift or close these
battens, but not lift the &hole blind up"
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*ptions
+5ample

Curve 1end

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Distorts )ur$e ,end "
*his filter allo&s you to create a cur$e that &ill be used to distort the acti$e layer or
selection" *he distortion is applied gradually from an image or selection border to the
other
*ptions
+5ample
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+mboss

*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Distorts/@mboss"
;ou can use it only &ith <G, images" If your image is grayscale, it &ill be grayed out in
the menu"
It stamps and car$es the acti$e layer or selection, gi$ing it relief &ith bumps and hollo&s"
,right areas are raised and dar- ones are car$ed" ;ou can $ary the lighting"
*ptions
IWarp

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Distorts/I5arp
*his filter allo&s you to deform interacti$ely some parts of the image and, than-s to its
.nimate option, to create the elements of a fade in/fade out animation bet&een the
original image and the deformed one, that you can play and use in a 5eb page"
*o use it, first select a deform type then clic- on the Pre$ie& and drag the mouse pointer"
'ettings
+5ample

Mosaic

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Distorts/Mosaic"""
It cuts the acti$e layer or selection into many s1uares or polygons &hich are slightly
raised and separated by 2oins, gi$ing so an aspect of mosaic"
*ptions
Page Curl

*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Distorts/Pagecurl
It curls a corner of the current layer or selection into a -ind of cornet sho&ing the
underlying layer in the cleared area" . ne& F)url LayerF and a ne& .lpha channel are
created" *he part of the initial layer corresponding to this cleared area is also transparent"
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*ptions
+5ample

Polar Coords

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Distorts Polar )oords "
It gi$es a circular or a rectangular representation of your image &ith all the possible
intermediates bet&een both"
*ptions
+5amples

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(ipple

*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Distorts/<ippel"""
It displaces the pi+els of the acti$e layer or selection to &a$es or ripples reminding a
reflection on disturbed &ater"
*ptions
'hi)t

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Distorts %ift "
It shifts all pi+el ro&s, hori>ontally or $ertically, in the current layer or selection, on a
random distance and &ithin determined limits"
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*ptions
$e%sprint

*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Distorts/Ne&sprint
*his filter halftones the image using a clustered(dot dither" :alftoning is the process of
rendering an image &ith multiple le$els of grey or colour 7i"e" a continuous tone image8
on a de$ice &ith fe&er tones' often a bi(le$el de$ice such as a printer or typesetter"
*he basic premise is to trade off resolution for greater apparent tone depth 7this is -no&n
as spatial dithering8"
*here are many approaches to this, the simplest of &hich is to thro& a&ay the lo&(order
bits of tone information' this is &hat the posteri>e filter does" Unfortunately, the results
don4t loo- too good" :o&e$er, no spatial resolution is lost"
*his filter uses a clustered(dot ordered dither, &hich reduces the resolution of the image
by con$erting cells into spots &hich gro& or shrin- according to the intensity that cell
needs to represent"
Imagine a grid super(imposed on the original image" *he image is di$ided into cells by the
grid ( each cell &ill ultimately hold a single spot made up of multiple output pi+els in order
to appro+imate the dar-ness of the original image in that cell"
3b$iously, a large cell si>e results in a hea$y loss in resolutionD *he spots in the cells
typically start off as circles, and gro& to be diamond shaped" *his change in shape is
controlled by a spot function" ,y using different spot functions, the e$olution in the shape
of the spots as the cell goes from fully blac- to fully &hite may be controlled"
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*ptions
More e+planations, illustrati$e diagrams, a gallery and a tutorial are to be found on the
plug(in author site= http=//&&&"cl"cam"ac"u-/^and!BBB/ne&sprint/ ;ou are strongly
encouraged to $isit it, since halftoning is a large and comple+ area"
:ere is an e+ample, from the author4s gallery=

9ideo

*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Distorts/ideo"
.pply lo& dotpitch <G, simulation to the specified dra&able"
*ptions
9alue Propagate

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Distorts/alue Propagate
It &or-s on color borders" It spreads pi+els that ha$e a alue bet&een selected thresholds,
in selected directions"
*ptions
Waves

*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Distorts/5a$es"
5ith this filter you get the same effect as a stone thro&n in a 1uiet pond, gi$ing
concentric &a$es"
*ptions
Whirl and Pinch

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters Distorts 5hirl and Pinch
F5hirl and PinchF distorts your image in a concentric &ay"
F5hirlF distorts the image much li-e the little &hirlpool that appears &hen you empty
your bath"
FPinchF can be compared to applying your image to a soft rubber surface and s1uee>ing
the edges or corners" If the Pinch amount slider is set to a negati$e $alue, it &ill loo- as if
someone tried to push a round ob2ect up to&ard you from behind the rubber s-in" If the
Pinch amount is set to a positi$e $alue, it loo-s li-e someone is dragging or suc-ing on
the surface from behind, and a&ay from you"
*he FpinchF effect can sometimes be used to compensate for image distortion produced
by telephoto or fisheye lenses 7Fbarrel distortionF8"

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Parameter 'ettings
Wind

*vervie%
*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/Distorts/5ind"
*he 5ind filter can be used to create motion blur, but it can also be used as a general
distort filter" 5hat is characteristic about this filter is that it &ill render thin blac- or &hite
lines" 5ind &ill detect the edges in the image, and stretch out thin &hite or blac- lines
from that edge" *his is &hy you can create the illusion of motion, because the edges are
&hat &ill be blurred in a photograph of a mo$ing ob2ect"
Parameter 'ettings
*he interface is 1uite simple" ;ou can set the %trength of the &ind and a *hreshold $alue"
*hreshold &ill restrict the effect to fe&er areas of the image" %trength controls the
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amount of &ind, so a high $alue &ill render a storm" ;ou can also increase the effect by
setting the %tyle to ,last, &hich &ill produce thic-er lines than 5ind"
;ou can only set the &ind in t&o directions, either Left or <ight" :o&e$er, you can control
&hich edge the &ind &ill come from using the $alues Leading, *railing or ,oth" ,ecause
*railing &ill produce a blac- &ind, it creates a less con$incing motion blur than Leading,
&hich &ill produce &hite &ind"
*he follo&ing illustrations are based on this image=
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Artistic )ilters
Artistic )ilters introduction
.rtistic filters create artistic effects li-e cubism, oil painting, can$as"""
Apply Canvas
*vervie%

*his filter is found in ImageRFilters/.rtistic/.pply )an$as"""
*his filter applies a can$as(li-e effect to the current layer or selection" It te+tures the
image as if it &ere an artist4s can$as"
*ptions
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Cartoon
*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters .rtistic )artoon
*he )artoon filter modifies the acti$e layer or selection so that it loo-s li-e a cartoon
dra&ing" Its result is similar to a blac- felt pen dra&ing subse1uently shaded &ith color"
*his is achie$ed by dar-ening areas that are already distinctly dar-er than their
neighborhood"
*ptions

Cubism

*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters .rtitic )ubism
*he )ubism plug(in modifies the image so that it appears to be constructed of small
s1uares of semitransparent tissue paper"
If setting possibilities of this filter are not enough for you, see GIMPressionist filter &hich
offers more options"
*ptions

If you are using this to generate bac-ground images for &eb pages and the li-e, &or- &ith
a small range of colors painted randomly on a small s1uare" *hen apply the )ubism filter
&ith the desired settings" .s a last step, try Filters/Map/Ma-e %eamless to ad2ust the
image so it &ill tile seamlessly in your bac-ground"
GIMPressionist
*vervie%

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;ou can find this filter $ia the image menu under Filters .rtistic GIMPressionist
It4s the -ing of .rtistic filters" It can do &hat )ubism and .pply )an$as do and much
more" It gi$es your image the loo- of a painting" .ll is going as if your image &as painted
again on a paper and &ith a brush you4d ha$e choosen" It &or-s on the acti$e layer or
selection"
Parameter 'ettings
GIMPressionist- *rientation Map +ditor
*vervie%
*he 3rientation(map editor is an anne+e of the GIMPressionist filter" ;ou can get to it by
clic-ing on the @dit button in the F3rientationF tab" 5ith this editor, you can set the
direction that brush stro-es gi$en by filter &ill ha$e"
Parameter 'ettings

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;ou can place one or se$eral $ectors" ;ou can set their direction and their strength" *hey
&ill act ont the corresponding area of the image"
GIMPressionist- 'i>e Map +ditor
*vervie%
*he %i>e(map editor is an anne+e of the GIMPressionist filter" ;ou can get to it by clic-ing
on the @dit button in the F%i>eF tab" 5ith this editor, you can set the si>e that brush
stro-es gi$en by filter &ill ha$e"
Parameter 'ettings

;ou can place one or se$eral $ectors" ;ou can set their strength" *hey &ill act on the
corresponding area of the image"
*ili)y
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*vervie%

*his filter is found in Filters .rtistic 3ilify"""
*his filter ma-es the image loo- li-e an oil painting" *he Mas- %i>e controls the outcome=
a high $alue gi$es the image less detail, as if you had used a larger brush"
*he Gimpressionist filter can produce similar effects, but allo&s a much &ider $ariety of
options"
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*ptions

Photocopy
*vervie%

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*he Photocopy filter modifies the acti$e layer or selection so that it loo-s li-e a blac- and
&hite photocopy, as if toner transfered &as based on the relati$e dar-ness of a particular
region" *his is achie$ed by dar-ening areas of the image &hich are measured to be dar-er
than a neighborhood a$erage, and setting other pi+els to &hite"
'tarting )ilter
;ou can find this filter from the image menu through Filters .rtistic Photocopy "
*ptions

'o)t Glo%
Mode o) action

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*his filter lights the image &ith a soft glo&" %oft Glo& produces this effect by ma-ing
brigth areas of the image brighter"
'tarting )ilter
;ou can find this filer in the Image menu= Filters .tistic %oft Glo& "
*ptions

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Map )ilters
Map )ilters introduction
Map filters use an ob2ect named map to modify an image= you map the image to the
ob2ect" %o, you can create 0D effects by mapping your image to another pre$iously
embossed image 7F,umpmapF Filter8 or to a sphere 7FMap 3b2ectF filter8" ;ou can also
map a part of the image else&here into the same image 7FIllusionF and FMa-e %eamlessF
filters8, bend a te+t along a cur$e 7FDisplaceF filter8"""
1ump Map
*vervie%
*his filter is found in the image &indo& menu under Filters Map ,ump Map "
*his filter creates a 0D effect by embossing an image 7the card8 and then mapping it to
another image" ,ump heigth depends on pi+el luminosity and you can set light direction"
%ee @mboss for more informations about embossing" ;ou can bump map any type of
image, unli-e the @mboss filter"
*ptions

6isplace

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*vervie%
;ou can find this filter from the image menu Filters M Displace
*his filter uses a 4displace(map4 to displace corresponding pi+els of the image" *his filter
displaces the content of the specified dra&able 7acti$e layer or selection8 by the amounts
specified in 6 and ; Displacement multiplied by the intensity of the corresponding pi+el in
the 4displace map4 dra&ables" 1oth = and < displace maps must be gray-scale
images and have the same si>e as the dra%able " *his filter allo&s interesting
distortion effects"
*ptions
Using gradient to bend a te5t
Follo& follo&ing steps=
%tart &ith opening your image"
Duplicate this image" .cti$ate this duplicate and ma-e it gray(scaled
7ZIM.G@R/Image/Mode/Gray%cale8" Fill it &ith the &anted gradient" *his image &ill be
your Disp)acement map, &ith the dimensions of original image"

.cti$ate original image" )reate a &e#t La+er &ith your te+t" %et layer to image si>e= right(
clic- on the layer in layer dialog and, in the pop(menu, clic- on "La+er to image si6e""
Note that letters in te+t layer lie on transparent bac-ground' no& this filter doesn4t
displace transparent pi+els" 3nly letters &ill be displaced"
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.cti$ate te+t layer" 3pen Displace filter &indo&" %et parameters particularly displacement
coefficient according to the result in Pre$ie&" 39"

*his method also applies to standard layers=

*o get the &anted gradient, first dra& a blac- to &hite gradient" *hen use the )ur$es tool
to modify the gradient cur$e"
!ractal Trace
*vervie%
*his filter transforms the image &ith the Mandelbrot fractal= it maps the image to the
fractal"
;ou get to this filter $ia the Image menu through Filters Map Fractal trace
*ptions

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Illusion
*vervie%
*his filter is found in the image &indo& menu under Filters Map Illusion "
5ith this filter, your image 7acti$e layer or selection8 loo-s li-e a -aleidoscope" *his filter
duplicates your image in many copies, more or less dimmed and split, and puts them
around center of image"
*ptions

Ma7e 'eamless
*vervie%

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;ou can find this filter in image menu under Filters Map Ma-e %eamless
*his filter modifies the image for tiling by creating seamless edges" %uch an image can be
used as a pattern for a &eb(page" *his filter has no option, and result may need
correction"
Map *b;ect
*vervie%
*his filter maps a picture to an ob2ect 7plane, sphere, bo+ or cylinder8"
*his filter is found in the image &indo& menu under Filters Map Map 32ect "
Previe% domain
*his pre$ie& has se$eral possibilities=
General *ptions tab

2ight tab

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Material tab

*rientation tab

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1o5 tab
*his tab appears only &hen you select the ,o+ ob2ect"

Cylinder tab
*his tab appears only &hen you select the )ylinder ob2ect"

Paper Tile
*vervie%
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*his filter is found in the image &indo& menu under Filters Map Paper *ile "
*his filter cuts the image 7acti$e layer or selection8 into se$eral pieces, &ith s1uare form,
and then slides them so that they, more or less, o$erlap or mo$e apart" *hey can go out
image borders a little"

*ptions

'mall Tiles
*vervie%
*his filter is found in the image &indo& menu under Filters Map %mall *iles "
*his filter reduces the image 7acti$e layer or selection8 and displays it in many copies
inside the original image"
*ptions
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Tile
*vervie%

*his filter is found in the image &indo& menu under Filters Map *ile "
*his filter ma-es se$eral copies of the original image, in a same or reduced si>e, into a
bigger 7ne&8 image"
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Warp
*vervie%
*his filter is found in the image &indo& menu under Filters Map 5arp " *his filter has no
Pre$ie&"
*his filter displaces pi+els of acti$e layer or selection according to grey le$els of a
Disp)acement map" Pi+els are displaced according to the gradient slope in the
displacement map" Pi+els corresponding to solid areas are not displaced' the higher the
slope, the higher the displacement"

*his filter offers the possibility of mas-ing a part of the image to protect it against filter
action"
*ptions

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9an Gogh A2ICB
*vervie%
*his filter is found in the image &indo& menu under Filters Map an Gogh 7LI)8 "
FLI)F stands for Line Integral )on$olution, a mathematical method" Plug(in author uses
mathematical terms to name his options""" *his filter is used to apply a directional blur to
an image, or to create te+tures" It could be called F.stigmatismF as it blurs certain
directions in the image"
It uses a blur map" Unli-e other maps, this filter doesn4t use grey le$els of this blur map"
/i)ter ta0es in acco"nt on)+ gradient direction<s=" Image pi+els corresponding to solid
areas of the map are ignored"

*ptions

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" *o create a blur, chec- 5ith %ource Image " 3nly Filter Length slider and perhaps
Intregation %teps slider, are useful"
" *o create a te+ture, chec- 5ith 5hite Noise " .ll sliders can be useful"
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(endering )ilters
(ender )ilters introduction
Most Gimp filters act on a layer by transforming its contents, but the filters in the
F<enderF group are a bit different" *hey create patterns from scratch, in most cases
obliterating anything that &as pre$iously in the layer" %ome create random or noisy
patterns, others regular of fractal patterns, and one 7Gfig8 is a general(purpose 7but
rather limited8 $ector graphics tool"
Plasma

*vervie%

;ou can find this filter in image menu follo&ing Filters <ender )louds Plasma
Plasma generates colorful clouds, &hich can be used for te+tures" ;ou control the
turbulence in the plasma cloud &ith the *urbulence slide"
.ll of the colors produced by Plasma are completely saturated" %ometimes the strong
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colors may be distracting, and a more interesting surface &ill appear &hen you
desaturate the image using Layer/)olors/Desaturate"
.n enhanced $ersion of the Plasma plug(in, called P)asmaC, &ith many more options and
parameters, is a$ailable from the Gimp Plugin <egistry"
*ptions
'olid $oise

*vervie%

;ou can find this filter from the image menu through Filters <ender )louds %olid noise
%olid Noise is a great te+ture ma-er" Note that this noise is al&ays gray, e$en if you
applied it to a $ery colorful image 7it doesn4t matter &hat the original image loo-s li-e ((
this filter completely o$er&rites any e+isting bac-ground in the layer it is applied to8" *his
is also a good tool for creating displacement maps for the plug(in or for the plug(in" 5ith
the FturbulenceF setting acti$e, the results loo- 1uite a bit li-e real clouds" .n e+ample is
sho&n belo&"
*ptions
!lame

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*vervie%

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*his filter is found in Filters <ender Nature Flame
5ith the Flame filter, you can create stunning, randomly generated fractal patterns" ;ou
can4t control the fractals as you can &ith the Ifs )ompose filter, but you can steer the
random generator in a certain direction, and choose from $ariations of a theme you li-e"
In the main &indo&, you can set <endering and )amera parameters" *he first three
parameters in the <ender display are ,rightness, )ontrast and Gamma" *he result of
these options is $isible in the Pre$ie& &indo&, but it4s generally better to stic- to the
default $alues, and correct the rendered image later &ith Image/)olors"
*he other three parameters affect the rendering process and don4t sho& in the pre$ie&
&indo&" %ample Density, &hich controls the resolution of the rendered pattern, is the
most important of these" *he )amera parameters allo& you to >oom and offset the flame
pattern, until you4re happy &ith &hat you see in the pre$ie& &indo&" Flame also offers
the possibility to store and load your fa$orite patterns"
*ptions
I!' Compose

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters <ender Nature IF% fractal
*his fractal(based plug(in is truly &onderfulD 5ith this $ersatile instrument, you can
create ama>ingly naturalistic organic shapes, li-e lea$es, flo&ers, branches, or e$en
&hole trees" 7FIF%F stands for FIterated Function %ystemF"8
*he -ey to using this plug(in lies in ma-ing $ery small and precise mo$ements in fractal
space" *he outcome is al&ays hard to predict, and you ha$e to be e+tremely gentle &hen
you change the pattern" If you ma-e a component triangle too big, or if you mo$e it too
far 7e$en e$er so slightly8, the pre$ie& screen &ill blac- out, or more commonly, you4ll get
stuc- &ith a big shapeless particle cloud"
. &ord of ad$ice= 5hen you ha$e found a pattern you &ant to &or- &ith, ma-e only small
changes, and stic- to $ariations of that pattern" It4s all too easy to lose a good thing"
)ontrary to &hat you might belie$e, it4s really much easier to create a leaf or a tree &ith
IF% )ompose than to ma-e a defined geometrical pattern 7&here you actually -no& &hat
you4re doing, and end up &ith the pattern you had in mind8"
For a brief introduction to IF%4s see Foley and $an Dam, et al," )omputer Graphics,
Principles and Practice, #nd @d", 7.ddison 5esley, !CCB8"
*ptions
A 1rie) Tutorial
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*his is a rather comple+ plug(in, so to help you understand it, &e4ll guide you through an
e+ample &here you4ll create a leaf or branch"
Many forms of life, and especially plants, are built li-e mathematical fractals, i"e", a shape
that reproduces or repeats itself indefinitely into the smallest detail" ;ou can easily
reproduce the shape of a leaf or a branch by using four 7or more8 fractals" *hree fractals
ma-e up the tip and sides of the leaf, and the fourth represents the stem"
3/ ,efore in$o-ing the filter= %elect File Ne& Image .dd a transparent layer &ith
Layers Layers and )hannels Ne& Layer %et the foreground color in the toolbo+ to blac-,
and set the bac-ground to &hite"
./ 3pen IF% )ompose" %tart by rotating the right and bottom triangles, so that they
point up&ard" ;ou4ll no& be able to see the outline of &hat4s going to be the tip and
sides of the leaf" 7If you ha$e problems, it may help to -no& that the three $ertices of a
triangle are not e1ui$alent"8

4/ *o ma-e the leaf symmetrical, ad2ust the bottom triangle to point slightly to the left,
and the right triangle to point slightly to the right"
0/ Press Ne& to add a component to the composition" *his is going to be the stem of
the leaf, so &e need to ma-e it long and thin" Press %tretch, and drag to stretch the
ne& triangle" Don4t be alarmed if this messes up the image, 2ust use %cale to ad2ust the
si>e of the o$erlong triangle" ;ou4ll probably also ha$e to mo$e and rotate the ne&
fractal to ma-e it loo- con$incing"

K/ ;ou still ha$e to ma-e it loo- more leaf(li-e" Increase the si>e of the top triangle,
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until you thin- it4s thic- and leafy enough" .d2ust all fractals until you4re happy &ith the
shape" <ight(clic- to get the popup menu, and choose %elect all" No& all components
are selected, and you can scale and rotate the entire leaf"

L/ *he final step is to ad2ust color" )lic- on the )olor *ransformation tab, and choose a
different color for each fractal" *o do this, chec- %imple and press the right color
s1uare" . color circle appears, &here you can clic- or select to choose a color"

M/ Press 39 to apply the image, and $oilY, you4$e 2ust made a perfect fractal leafD No&
that you4$e got the hang of it, you4ll 2ust ha$e to e+periment and ma-e your o&n
designs" .ll plant(imitating fractals 7be they oa- trees, ferns or stra&s8 are more or less
made in this fashion, &hich is lea$es around a stem 7or se$eral stems8" ;ou 2ust ha$e to
t&ist another &ay, stretch and turn a little or add a fe& more fractals to get a totally
different plant"
6i))raction Patterns

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*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters <ender Patterns Diffraction Patterns "
*his filter lets you ma-e diffraction or &a$e interference te+tures" ;ou can change the
Fre1uency, )ontours and %harp @dges for each of the <G, channels" ;ou can also set
,rightness, %cattering and Polari>ation of the te+ture" *here is no automatic pre$ie&, so
you must press the pre$ie& button to update" 3n a slo& system, this may ta-e a bit of
time"
*his is a $ery useful filter if you &ant to create intricate patterns" It4s perfect for ma-ing
psychedelic, bati-(li-e te+tures, or for imitating patterns in stained glass 7as in a church
&indo&8"
It seems clear that the plugin &or-s by simulating the physics of light stri-ing a grating"
Unfortunately, the original authors ne$er got around to &riting do&n the theory behind it,
or e+plaining &hat the parameters mean" *he best approach, then, is 2ust to t&iddle
things and see &hat happens" Fortunately, almost anything you do seems to produce
interesting results"
CM2 +5plorer
*vervie%

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*his filter is the -ing of te+ture creating filters" It is e+tremely efficient but $ery comple+"
It uses a mathematical method named )ellular .utomata"
'tarting )ilter
;ou can find this filter from the image menu through Filters <ender Pattern )ML @+plorer
*ptions
Grid

*vervie%
*his filter is found in Filters <ender Pattern Grid "
It renders a )artesian grid in the acti$e layer, on top of the e+isting contents" *he &idth,
spacing, offsets, and colors of the grid lines can all be set by the user" ,y default, the
lines are &ith the Gimp4s foreground color" 7Note= this plugin &as used to create
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demonstration images for many of the other plugins"8
If you set the grid line &idths to B, then only the intersections &ill be dra&n, as plus(
mar-s"
*ptions
*here are separate options for controlling the hori>ontal grid lines, $ertical grid lines, and
intersections" ,y default, the hori>ontal and $ertical settings are loc-ed together, so that
all changes are applied symmetrically" If you &ant to change 2ust one of them, clic- on the
FchainF symbol belo& it to unloc- them" *he results of changing the FintersectionF
parameters are rather comple+"
,esides, for some options, you can select the unit of measurement than-s to a drop(do&n
list"
Ma>e

*vervie%
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;ou can find this filter in image menu follo&ing Filters <ender Pattern Ma>e
*his filter generates a random blac- and &hite ma>e pattern" *he result completely
o$er&rites the pre$ious contents of the acti$e layer" . typical e+ample is sho&n belo&"
)an you find the route from the center to the edgeP
*ptions
Nigsa%

*vervie%
;ou can find this filter in Filters <ender Pattern ?igsa&

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*his filter &ill turn your image into a 2igsa& pu>>le" *he edges are not anti(aliased, so a
little bit of smoothing often ma-es them loo- better 7i" e", Gaussian blur &ith radius !"B8"
If you &ant to be able to easily select indi$idual pu>>le(piece areas, as for the e+ample
abo$e, render the 2igsa& pattern on a separate layer filled &ith solid &hite, and set the
layer mode to Multiply" ;ou can then select pu>>le pieces using the magic &and 7fu>>y
select8 tool on the ne& 2igsa& layer"
*ptions
8bist

*vervie%
;ou can find this filter from the image menu through Filters <ender Pattern Mbist
*he Mbist filter generates random te+tures" . starting te+ture is displayed in the middle
s1uare, and different $ariations surround it" If you li-e one of the alternati$e te+tures,
clic- on it" *he chosen te+ture no& turns up in the middle, and $ariations on that specific
theme are displayed around it" 5hen you ha$e found the te+ture you &ant, clic- on it and
then clic- 39" *he te+ture &ill no& appear on the currently acti$e layer, completely
replacing its pre$ious contents"

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*ptions
Chec7erboard
*vervie%

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*his filter creates a chec-erboard pattern replacing the current layer content" )olors used
for pattern are current Fore( and ,ac- ground colors of toolbo+"
'tarting )ilter
;ou can find this filter in image menu follo&ing Filters <ender Pattern )hec-erboard
*ptions

'inus

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*vervie%

;ou can find this filter from the image menu through Filters <ender Pattern %inus
*he %inus filter lets you ma-e sinusoidally based te+tures, &hich loo- rather li-e &atered
sil- or maybe ply&ood" *his plug(in &or-s by using t&o different colors that you can
define in the )olors tab" *hese t&o colors then create &a$e patterns based on a sine
function"
;ou can set the 6 and ; scales, &hich determine ho& stretched or pac-ed the te+ture &ill
be" ;ou can also set the )omple+ity of the function= a high $alue creates more
interference or repetition in the pattern" .n e+ample is sho&n belo&"
*ptions
!ractal +5plorer
*vervie%

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'tarting )ilter
*his filter is found in Filters <ender Nature Fractal @+plorer
*ptions

G)ig
*vervie%

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*his filter is a tool= ;ou can create geometrical figures to add them to the image" It is $ery
comple+" I hope this paper &ill help you"
5hen using this filter, elements inserted in the image &ill be placed in a ne& layer" %o the
image &ill not be modified, all modifications occuring in this layer"
'tarting )ilter
;ou get to this filter $ia the Image menu through Filters <ender Gfig
*ptions

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Combine )ilters
Combine )ilters introduction
*he combine filters associate t&o or more images into a single image"
6epth Merge

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Depth Merge is a )ombine Filter that is useful to combine t&o different pictures"
*vervie%
It combines the t&o pictures selected as FsourcesF by blending them" Dar-est $alues are
predominant in the resulting image" *his could be done using blending modes but in this
case there aren4t any options"
*o &or- &ith this filter, at least t&o images are needed that ha$e to be same si>ed"
Accessing this !ilter
*his filter is in Filters/)ombine/Depth Merge
*ptions
!ilm

*vervie%
Film filter allo&s the user to merge se$eral pictures into a photographic film dra&ing"
*his filter does not in$ert colors, so it does not imitate negati$e film of the sort used to
produce prints" Instead you should thin- of the result as an imitation of slide film or
cinema film"
Accessing this !ilter
*his filter is in Image/Filters/)ombine/Film
*ptions
Double clic- on the tool buttons opens the *ool 3ptions dialog"
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)lic- on the colors to change the colors"
*hese open a ne& dialog &indo& if it &asn4t open yet, other&ise the corresponding dialog
gets focus"
*his accepts the ne& $alue you typed in a te+t field and returns focus to can$as"
Menus can also be acti$ated by .lt &ith the letter underscored in the menu name"
*his fits the &indo&s to the image si>e"
%crolling by -eys is accelerated, i"e" it speeds up &hen you press %hiftEarro&s, or 2umps
to the borders &ith )trlEarro&s"
Drag off the hori>ontal or $ertical ruler to create a ne& guideline" Drag a guideline onto
the ruler to delete it"
*his places a copy of the selection to the GIMP clipboard"
<efers to transparency" .n .lpha )hannel allo&s transparency control" )ertain image
formats may only contain a single .lpha )hannel allo&ing a transparency of on or off"
3ther formats allo& a $ariable le$el of transparency" *he smaller the alpha $alue of a
pi+el, the more $isible the color of the pi+el on the le$el belo& it" . pi+el &ith an alpha
$alue of B is completely transparent"
.ntialiasing is the process of re$ersing an alias, that is, lessening the F2aggies"
.ntialiasing produces smoother cur$es by ad2usting the boundary bet&een the
bac-ground and the pi+el region that is being antialiased" Generally, pi+el intensities or
opacities are changed so a smoother merge &ith the bac-ground is achie$ed" 5ith
selections, the selection edge is affected so that the selection edge opacity is lo&ered"

.n uncompressed bitmap format used by Microsoft 5indo&s for displaying
graphics" )olor depth is typically !, / or I bits, although the format does
support more"
FFrom *he Free 3n(line Dictionary of )omputing 7!0 Mar B!8 = bitmap . data
file or structure &hich corresponds bit for bit &ith an image displayed on a screen,
probably in the same format as it &ould be stored in the display4s $ideo memory or
maybe as a de$ice independent bitmap" . bitmap is characterised by the &idth and
height of the image in pi+els and the number of bits per pi+el &hich determines the
number of shades of grey or colours it can represent" . bitmap representing a coloured
image 7a Fpi+mapF8 &ill usually ha$e pi+els &ith bet&een one and eight bits for each of
the red, green, and blue components, though other colour encodings are also used" *he
green component sometimes has more bits that the other t&o to cater for the human
eye4s greater discrimination in this component" F
@ach image is di$ided up into separate channels and then recombined before being sent
to the output de$ice" .n output de$ice is most usually a screen" *he channels that are
used &hen rendering images to a screen are <ed, Green, and ,lue" 3ther output de$ices
may use different channels"
)hannels can be useful &hen &or-ing on images that need ad2ustment to one particular
color" If, for e+ample, the remo$al of Fred(eyeF is the goal, &or- on the <ed channel is
most ob$iously a ready solution" )hannels can be seen as mas-s that allo& or restrict the
output of the color that the channel represents" ,y running filters against this channel
information, many $aried and subtle effects can be put in to play by the e+perienced
GIMP user"
)lipboard is the term used to describe a temporary area of memory that is used to
transfer data bet&een applications or documents" *he GIMP uses slightly different
clipboard approaches &hen used under different operating systems" Under Linu+/6Free,
the 6Free clipboard is used for te+t and *he GIMP internal image clipboard is used for
images that are being transferred bet&een image documents" 5hen *he GIMP is used
&ith other operating systems, differences may be apparent" .ny differences should be
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outlined in the operating system specific documentation for the indi$idual GIMP pac-age"
*he most fundamental operations pro$ided by a clipboard interface allo& for )ut, )opy,
and Paste" )ut is used to denote the remo$al of an item that is sent to the clipboard" )opy
lea$es the item in the document and copies it to the clipboard" Paste copies to the
document &hate$er happens to be in the clipboard" *he GIMP &ill ma-e an intelligent
decision about &hat to paste depending upon the target" If the target is a can$as, then
paste operation &ill use the image clipboard" If the target is a te+t entry bo+, then the
paste operation &ill use the te+t clipboard"
Dithering refers to the math and $oodoo in$ol$ed in rendering an image that has fe&
colors seem li-e it has many" Dithering is accomplished in different &ays depending on
the output de$ice and the program" 3ne particularly effecti$e method is clustering pi+els
of color together in an attempt to simulate another color" *his is achie$ed by the human
eye and the tendency for it to mi+ colors &hile $ie&ing comple+ color patterns" .
common dithering effect is seen on tele$ision screens or in ne&spaper print"From a
distance the images seem to be constructed of many $aried colors or shades, but upon
closer inspection this is certainly not the case" . color tele$ision uses only three colors
clustered together in $arious states of on or off" . blac- and &hite ne&spaper uses only
blac- in-, yet pictures in ne&spapersappear to be constructed of grey tones" Furthermore,
there are techni1ues used to achie$e greater success in dithering"
*he GIMP can use the Floyd(%teinberg dithering techni1ue, for e+ample" *his dithering
method is simply put, a mathematical &ay of clustering the pi+els to accomplish better
results thanother dithering methods" 3f course, there are al&ays e+ceptions and there are
many different dithering models that are in usetoday"
. &ay that an image is &ritten" ;ou should select a file format &hich is suitable for your
situation" ?P@G and Post%cript are e+amples of file formats"
Feathering is a process by &hich the edges of a region are softly blended &ith the
bac-ground"

Floating selections are similar in function to layers e+cept that floating selections must be
anchored before &or- can resume on any other layers in the image" 5hile a selection is
floating, any number of functions can be used to alter the image data contained &ithin
the float"
*here are t&o methods a$ailable for anchoring a float" *he first, and most useful, is to
change the float into a ne& layer" *his is achie$ed by creating a ne& layer &hile the float
is acti$e" *he second method in$ol$es anchoring the float to an already e+isting layer"
*his is done by clic-ing any&here on the image e+cept on the float" Doing so &ill merge
the float &ith the bac-ground layer"
.ny pasted selection &ill be first rendered as a floating selection"
*his method of dithering loo-s at the current pi+el color and retrie$ing the closest $alues
from the palette" *hese colors are then distributed to the pi+el areas belo& and to the
right of the original pi+el"
*rademar-ed by )ompu%er$e, &ith LN5 compression patented by Unisys" GIF images are
in I bit inde+ed color and support binary transparency 7but not semi(transparency8" *hey
can also be loaded in interlaced form by some programs" *he GIF format also supports
animations and comments" Use GIF for transparent 5eb graphics and GIF animations" For
most purposes, though, PNG can be used in place of GIF and is a better choice"
GNU4s Not Uni+, is a pro2ect of a free 7Uni+ li-e8 operati$e system" *he pro2ect &as started
bac- in !CI0 than-s to the effort of the Free %oft&are Fundation, an organi>ation de$oted
to the creation and support of free soft&are" GIMP is an official GNU application" ;ou can
find a better definition on the &i-ipedia site"
*o place a guide, left(clic-(and(hold on a ruler and drag the mouse pointer in to the
image" . guide appears and follo&s the pointer" ;ou can so place t&o guides, a hori>ontal
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one and a $ertical one" *hey appear as blue dashed lines" *hey do not print"
Guides are a con$enient &ay to position a selection or a layer" .s soon as a guide is
created, the Mo$e tool is selected and the mouse pointer turns to a mo$e icon"
Guide beha$iour depends on the .ffect mode selected in the Mo$e tool" 5hen the
&rans4orm La+er mode is selected, the mouse pointer turns to a small hand &hen it
reaches a guide that becomes red and acti$e" ;ou can then mo$e it by a clic- and drag"
5hen the &rans4orm Se)ection mode is selected you can place a guide, but you can no
longer mo$e it after 1uitting it"
*o ma-e positioning easier you can 4magneti>e4 guides &ith the option %nap to Guides
;ou can abort displaying guides &ithout remo$ing them by the option %ho& Guides
. &ay of representing color in the form _rrggbb &here FrrF represents red, FggF green,
and FbbF blue" )ommonly used in &eb design"
:ue %aturation alue, a &ay of representing color" *he :ue is the color li-e red or blue,
the %aturation is ho& strong the color is and the alue is the brightness" *his is
sometimes called :%, or :ue %aturation ,rightness"
Image :oses are special brushes that contain many different frames" .n e+ample of this
might be a footstep brush that contains t&o images" 3ne of a left footprint and one of a
right footprint" During the application of this hypothetical hose brush, one &ould see the
left footprint follo&ed by that of the right in a continuous fashion" *his method of
animation for brushes is $ery po&erful"
*his paint mode renders each brush stro-e directly onto the acti$e layer" If incremental
mode is not set, there is a can$as buffer that is composited &ith the acti$e layer"

*he t&o images abo$e &ere created using a brush &ith spacing set to si+ty"
*he image on the left sho&s non(incremental painting and the image on the
right sho&s the difference that incremental painting can produce"
Incremental paint mode results in each brush application, through the
duration of a stro-e, being rendered in addition to any pre$ious brush
renderings"
5hen you enlarge an image pi+els become apart if image resolution is not enough" *hese
missing pi+els are replaced by pi+els that are calculated from surrounding pi+els, by
interpolation" Interpolation methods in *he GIMP are labelled &ith a speed mar-er" Faster
methods lead to lo&er 1uality transformations &hereas slo&er methods lead to higher
1uality transformations"
*his format supports compression and &or-s at all color depths" *he image compression
is ad2ustable, but be&are= *oo high a compression could se$erely reduce image 1uality,
since ?P@G compression is lossy" Use ?P@G to create *rue)olor 5eb graphics, or if you
don4t &ant your image to ta-e up a lot of space" ?P@G is a good format for photographs"
?P@G files usually ha$e an e+tension "2pg, "?PG, or "2peg" It is a $ery &idely used format,
because it compresses images $ery efficiently, &hile minimi>ing the loss of image 1uality"
No other format comes close to achie$ing the same le$el of compression" It does not,
ho&e$er, support transparency, or multiple layers" For this reason, sa$ing images as ?P@G
often re1uires them to be e+ported"

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5hen you sa$e a file in ?P@G format, you get a dialog that allo&s you to set the Muality
le$el, &hich ranges from ! to !BB" alues abo$e CA are generally not useful, though" *he
default 1uality of IA usually produces e+cellent results, but in many cases it is possible to
set the 1uality substantially lo&er &ithout noticably degrading the image" ;ou can test
the effect of different 1uality settings by chec-ing F%ho& Pre$ie& in image &indo&F in the
?P@G dialog" )hec-ing this causes each change in 1uality 7or any other ?P@G parameter8 to
be $isuali>ed in the image display" 7*his does not alter the image, though= it re$erts bac-
to its original state &hen the ?P@G dialog is closed"8
*he ?P@G algorithm is 1uite comple+, and in$ol$es a be&ildering number of options,
&hose meaning is beyond the scope of this documentation" Unless you are a ?P@G e+pert,
the Muality parameter is probably the only one you &ill benefit from ad2usting"

?P@G files from many digital cameras contain e+tra information called @6IF data,
specifying camera settings and other information concerning the circumstances under
&hich the image &as created" Gimp4s ability to handle @6IF data depends on &hether the
library Flibe+ifF is a$ailable on your system' it is not automatically pac-aged &ith Gimp" If
Gimp has been built &ith libe+if support, then @6IF data is preser$ed if you open an ?P@G
file, &or- &ith the resulting image, and then sa$e as ?P@G" *he @6IF data is not altered in
any &ay &hen you do this 7&hich means that certain fields &ithin it are no longer $alid8" If
Gimp is not built &ith @6IF support, this does not pre$ent files &ith @6IF data from being
opened, but it means that the @6IF data &ill not be present &hen the resulting image is
later sa$ed"

;ou can thin- of layers as a stac- of slides or clothes on your body" @ach part of clothes
you4re &earing is a layer in the layers dialog" Layers are stac-ed on top of each other" *he
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bottom layer is the bac-ground of the image and the components in the foreground of the
image come abo$e it"
<epresentation of an image &ith layers=

*he final image=

*his term describes the dotted line &hich surrounds a selection"
*he line is animated, so it loo-s as if little ants are running around
behind each other"
;ou can disable the marching ants by unchec-ing the ie& %ho&
%election option or by using the )trl* -ey combination"
GIMP offers #! layer modes" *he layer mode is used on the layers
that are under the selected layer" If there is only one layer, the layer mode has no effect"
It is therefore highly li-ely that at least t&o layers are re1uired" *he e+ample images sho&
the effects of each of the modes" *he left image is the normal state and the right image
sho&s the results of the layer mode"
Mas-s are special elements associated &ith a layer or a selection" *hey modify the
transparency of the layer or selection"
*hey belong to t&o types=
" La+er (as0= @$ery layer can ha$e its o&n mas-" *he layer mas- represents the
.lpha channel of the layer and allo&s you to manage the transparency of the layer"
,y painting on the layer mas-, you can ma-e some parts of the layer opa1ue or
transparent= painting &ith blac- ma-es the layer transparent and painting &ith &hite
ma-es the layer opa1ue" ;ou can use all of the tools to paint on the mas-" ;ou can
use the Layer mas- for transition effects, $olume effects, merging elements from
another image, etc" %ee Layer Mas- for more details"
" C'anne) (as0, also called Se)ection (as0= this mas- represents the .lpha channel of
the image" ,y painting on it &ith &hite, you remo$e the mas- and increase the
selection' &ith blac-, you reduce the selection" *his procedure lets you create a
selection $ery precisely" Moreo$er, )hannel Mas-s let you sa$e your selections' you
can retrie$e them later by using the "C'anne) to se)ection" command from the
)hannel menu" )hannel mas-s are so important in Gimp that a special type has
been implemented= the Muic- mas-" %ee %election mas- for more details"
(ar0eringsmas0e, a$ og til ogs` -alla >ana)mas0e= Denne mas-a representerer
alfa-analen til biletet" ed ` mala med -$itt f2ernar du mas-a og au-ar mar-eringa"
Maler du med s$art, blir mar-eringa redusert" P` denne m`ten -an du a$grensa
mar-eringa heilt naya-tig" ed h2elp a$ -analmas-ene -an du ogs` lagra
mar-eringane og henta dei tilba-e etter ans-2e med -ommandoen ">ana) ti) mas0e"
i -analmenyen" 9analmas-ene er my-2e bru-te i GIMP" Difor finn du ogs` ei
spesialmas-e som bli -alla %narmas-e" %2` meir om dette i Mar-eringsmas-er"
. pat' is a one(dimensional tracing, either polygonal, or cur$ed, or a mi+ture of segments
of both types" In GIMP, the main uses of paths are either to form the boundaries of
selections, or to be stro0ed to create $isible cur$es on an image" %ee the Paths section for
basic information on paths, and the Path *ool section for information on ho& paths can be
created and edited"
In the Procedure Database 7PD,8, all of the functions &hich GIMP and its e+tensions ma-e
a$ailable are registered" De$elopers can loo- up useful information in the database about
the functions pro$ided"
PDF 7Portable Document Format8 &as de$eloped by .dobe to address some of the
deficiencies of Postscript= most importantly, PDF files tend to be much smaller than
e1ui$alent Postscript files" .s &ith Postscript, Gimp4s support of the PDF format is $ia
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Ghostscript"
)reated by .dobe, Post%cript is a page description language mainly used by printers and
other output de$ices" It4s also an e+cellent &ay to distribute documents" Gimp does not
support Postscript directly= it depends on a po&erful free soft&are program called
Ghostscript"
*he great po&er of Postscript is its ability to represent $ector graphicsOlines, cur$es, te+t,
paths, etcOin a resolution(independent &ay" Postscript is not $ery efficient, though, &hen
it comes to representing pi+el(based raster graphics" For this reason, postscript is not a
good format to use for sa$ing images that are later going to be edited using Gimp or
another graphics program"
Linu+ distributions almost al&ays come &ith Ghostscript already installed 7not necessarily
the most recent $ersion8" For other operating systems, you may ha$e to install it yourself"
:ere are instructions for installing it on 5indo&s=
" Go to the Ghostscript pro2ect page on %ourceforge "
" Loo- for pac-age gnu(gs or ghostscript 7non(commercial use only8 and go to the
do&nload section"
" Do&nload a prepared 5indo&s distribution li-e gsGAB&0#"e+e or gsHBB&0#"e+e"
" %tart the e+ecutable and follo& the instructions of the installation procedure"
" )opy the e+ecutable gs&in0#c"e+e from the directory bin of the ghostscript
installation to the 5indo&s directory 7or any other directory that is contained in the
P.*:8" .s an alternati$e, ad$anced users can set an en$ironment $ariable G%WP<3G
to point to gs&in0#c"e+e 7e"g" c=KgsKgs6";;KbinKgs&in0#c"e+e8
No& you should be able to read Post%cript files &ith GIMP" Please note that you must not
mo$e the directories of ghostscript once the installation has finished" <egistry entries
ha$e been created that allo& ghostscript to find libraries" 7*hese instructions courtesy of
http=//&&&"-irchgessner"net"8
*he format that is supposed to replace the GIF format and thus pro$ide a solution to GIF4s
trademar- and patent issues" Inde+ed color, grayscale, and truecolor images are
supported, plus an optional alpha channel" PNG also uses compression, but unli-e ?P@G it
doesn4t lose image information"
P%D is .dobe Photoshop4s nati$e file format, and thus is comparable to 6)Fin comple+ity"
Gimp4s ability to handle P%D files is sophisticated but limited= some features of P%D files
are not loaded, and only P%D $ersions 66 or less are supported" Unfortunately, .dobe has
no& made the Photoshop %oft&are De$elopment 9it &hich includes their file format
specifications proprietary, and only a$ailable to a limited set of de$elopers blessed by
.dobe" *his does not include the Gimp de$elopment team' and the lac- of information
ma-es it $ery difficult to maintain up(to(date support for P%D files"

<G, in an acronym for <ed(Green(,lue" *hese are the three additi$e primary colors"
,lending together three )ig't so"rces &ith these colors &ith different relati$e intensity,
you can get any $isible color combination, starting from blac- 7all three sources &ith
intensities e1ual to >ero8 to &hite 7all three sources e1ual and at full light8" For more
information see )olor model in this glossary"
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%ample Merge is a techni1ue useful &hen &or-ing &ith more than one layer &here
operations that affect one layer may ta-e ad$antage of color or pi+el information on all
$isible layers" )onsider selection by color as an e+ample of a time that this function may
be useful"
5ith this techni1ue, GIMP uses more pi+els to calculate a transitional color, for instance,
for interpolation" *his techni1ue results in a better image, but it re1uires more time for
the calculations"
*G. 7*arga Image File8 format supports compression to I, !G, #/ or 0# bits per pi+el" It
&as originally de$eloped by the *rue$ision company"
*IFF 7*agged Image File Format8 &as de$eloped primarily for scanned raster graphics for
color separation" %i+ different encoding routines are supported, each &ith one of three
different image modes= blac- and &hite, grayscale and color" Uncompressed *IFF images
may be !, /, I or #/ bits per pi+el" *IFF images compressed using the LN5 algorithm may
be G, I or #/ bits per pi+el" ,esides Postscript format, *IFF is one of the most important
formats for preliminary stages of printing" It is a high 1uality file format, &hich is perfect
for images you &ant to import to other programs li-e FrameMa-er or )orelD<.5"
. U<L 7Uniform <esource Locator8 is a subdi$ision of Uniform <esource Identifiers 7U<Is8"
U<Ls identify a resource o$er a primary access mechanism 7commonly http or ftp8 and
the location of the resource in the computer net&or-" *he name of the U<I scheme is
therefore deri$ed from the net&or- protocol used for it as a rule" @+amples of that are
http or ftp"
%ince U<Ls are the first and most common -inds of U<Is, the terms are often used as
synonyms"
. Uniform <esource Identifier 7U<I8 is a string of characters that ser$es to identify an
abstract or a physical resource" U<Is are used for the identification of resources in the
Internet 7such as &eb pages, miscellaneous data, calling up &eb ser$ices, but also for
recei$ers of e(mail, for e+ample8 and they are especially used in the 5orld&ide 5eb"
*he 6)F file type is special because it is GIMP4s nati$e file type= that is, it &as designed
specifically to store all of the data that goes to ma-e up a GIMP image" ,ecause of this,
6)F files may be 1uite complicated, and there are fe& programs other than GIMP that can
read them"
5hen an image is stored as an 6)F file, the file encodes nearly e$erything there is to
-no& about the image= the pi+el data for each of the layers, the current selection,
additional channels if there are any, paths if there are any, and guides" *he most
important thing that is not sa$ed in an 6)F file is the undo history"
*he pi+el data in an 6)F file is represented in a ra&, uncompressed form= each byte of
image data e1uals one byte in the 6)F file" *hus, 6)F files for e$en modestly si>ed
images can be 1uite large= for e+ample, a !BBB+!BBB <G, image &ith 0 layers &ill
produce an 6)F file of o$er !B megabytes" It is not at all difficult to get 6)F files of o$er
!BB megabytes" Fortunately, although 6)F files do not intrinsically compress their data,
GIMP allo&s you to compress the files themsel$es, using either the g>ip or b>ip#
compression methods, both of &hich are fast, efficient, and freely a$ailable" )ompressing
an 6)F file &ill often shrin- it by a factor of !B or more" *he pi+el data in an 6)F file is
represented in a lossless compressed form= the image byte bloc-s are compressed using
the lossless <L@ algorithm" *his means that no matter ho& many times you load and sa$e
an image using this format= not a single pi+el or other image data &ill be lost or modified
because of this format"
*he GIMP de$elopers ha$e made a great effort to -eep the 6)F file format compatible
across $ersions" If you create a file using GIMP #"B, it ought to be possible to open the file
in GIMP !"#" :o&e$er, some of the information in the file may not be usable= for e+ample,
GIMP #"B has a much more sophisticated &ay of handling te+t than GIMP !"#, so a te+t
layer from a GIMP #"B 6)F file &ill appear as an ordinary image layer if the file is opened
in GIMP !"#"
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*he ;)b)r color model &as de$eloped for the P.L tele$ision standard as a color model
that is an easy de$iation from the ;U color model" In the meantime, it has become the
))I<(GB! standard for image and $ideo recording" For e+ample, it is used for ?P@G
pictures and MP@G $ideos, and therefore also on DDs, $ideo )Ds and for most other
&idespread digital $ideo standards" Note that a color model is still not a color space, since
it doesn4t determine &hich colors are actually meant by FredF, FgreenF and FblueF" For a
color space, there still needs to be a reference to a specific absolute color $alue"
*here are color models &hich do not e+press a color by the additi$e basic colors, red,
green and blue 7<G,8, but by other properties, for e+ample, the brightness(color model"
:ere, the criteria are the basic brightness of the colors 7from blac-, through gray, to
&hite8, the colors &ith the largest portion 7red, orange, yello&, green, blue, $iolet, or
other pure colors that lie bet&een them8 and the saturation of the colors 7FgaudyF to
pale8" *his color model is based on the ability of the eye to recogni>e small differences in
lunminosity better than small color differences, and to recogni>e those better than small
differences in saturation" *hat ma-es gray te+t &ritten on a blac- bac-ground easy to
read, but blue te+t on a red bac-ground $ery hard to read, e$en &ith the same basic
brightness" %uch color models are called brightness(color models"
*he ;)b)r model is a slight adaptation of such a brightness(color model" .n <,G color
$alue is di$ided into a basic brightness, ;, and t&o components, )b and )r, &here )b is a
measurement of the de$iation from gray in the blue direction, or if it is less that B"A, in
the direction of yello&" )r is the corresponding measurement for the difference in the
direction of red or tur1uoise" *his representation uses the peculiarity of the eye of being
especially sensiti$e to green light" *hat is &hy most of the information about the
proportion of green is in the basic brightness, ;, an only the de$iations for the red and
blue portions need to be represented" *he ; $alues ha$e t&ice the resolution of the other
t&o $alues, )b and )r, in most practical applications, such as on DDs"
*he ;U color model uses t&o components to represent the color information, luma 7the
strength of the light per area8 and the chrominance, or proportion of color 7chroma8,
&here the chrominance again consists of t&o components" *he de$elopment of the ;U
color model also goes bac- to the de$elopment of color tele$ision 7P.L8, &here &ays &ere
sought for transmitting the color information, in addition to the blac- and &hite signal, in
order to achie$e bac-&ards compatibility &ith old blac- and &hite tele$isions &ithout
ha$ing to maintain the a$ailable transmission band&idth" From the ;U color model of
the analog tele$ision techi1ues, the ;)r)b color model &as de$eloped, &hich is used for
most -inds of digital image and $ideo compression" @rroneously, the ;U color model is
also often spo-en about in those areas, although the ;)b)r model is actually used" *his
often causes confusion"
For the calculation of the luma signals 7also ULeuchtdichteU signal8, the underlying <G,
data is first U$errechnetU &ith the gamma $alue of the output de$ice, and an <4G4,4 signal
is obtained" *he three indi$idual components are added together &ith different &eights,
to form the brightness information, &hich also functions as the ,.% signal for the old
blac- and &hite tele$isions"
;J<EGE,
*he e+act calculation is more complicated, ho&e$er, since some aspects of the color
perception of the human eye ha$e to be ta-en into account" For e+ample, green is
percei$ed to be lighter than red, and this is percei$ed to be lighter than blue"
Furthermore, gamma correction of the basic color is first performed in some systems"
*he chrominance signals, and also the color difference signals, contain the color
information" *hey are formed by the difference of blue minus luma or red minus luma"
UJ,(;
J<(;
From the three generated components, ;, U and , the indi$idual color proportions of the
basic color can be calculated again later=
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; E U J ; E 7 , ( ; 8 J ; ( ; E , J ,
; E J ; E 7 < ( ; 8 J ; ( ; E < J <
; ( , ( < J 7 < E G E , 8 ( , ( < J G
Furthermore, because of the construction of the retina of the human eye, it turns out that
the brightness information is percei$ed at a higher resolution that the color, so that many
formats based on the ;U color model compress the chrominance to sa$e on the
band&idth during transmission"
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The very beginning
.ccording to Peter Mattis and %pencer 9imball, the original creators of GIMP, in their
announcement of GIMP B"A/=
*he GIMP arose from the ashes of a hideously crafted cs!G/ 7compilers8 class pro2ect" *he
setting= early morning" 5e &ere both &eary from lac- of sleep and the terrible strain of
programming a compiler in LI%P" *he limits of our patience had long been e+ceeded, and
yet still the dam held"
.nd then it happened" )ommon LI%P messily dumped core &hen it could not allocate the
!H M, it needed to generate a parser for a simple grammar using yacc" .n unbelie$ing
moment passed, there &as one shared loo- of disgust, and then our pro2ect &as $apor"
5e had to &rite something""" .N;*:ING""" useful" %omething in )" %omething that did not
rely on nested lists to represent a bitmap" *hus, the GIMP &as born"
Li-e the phoeni+, glorious, ne& life sprung out of the burnt remnants of LI%P and yacc"
Ideas &ent flying, decisions &ere made, the GIMP began to ta-e form"
.n image manipulation program &as the consensus" . program that &ould at the $ery
least lessen the necessity of using commercial soft&are under b5indo>e4 or on the
bMacintoy"4 . program that &ould pro$ide the features missing from the other 6 painting
and imaging tools" . program that &ould help maintain the long tradition of e+cellent and
free UNI6 applications"
%i+ months later, &e4$e reached an early beta stage" 5e &ant to release no& to start
&or-ing on compatibility issues and cross(platform stability" .lso, &e feel no& that the
program is actually usable and &ould li-e to see other interested programmers
de$eloping plug(ins and $arious file format support"
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The early days o) GIMP
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The *ne to change the %orld
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$e% in GIMP .
%ad to say, no $ersion of GIMP has yet been absolutely perfect" @$en sadder, it is li-ely
that no $ersion e$er &ill be" In spite of all efforts to ma-e e$erything &or-, a program as
complicated as GIMP is bound to scre& things up occasionally, or e$en crash"
,ut the fact that bugs are una$oidable does not mean that they should be passi$ely
accepted" If you find a bug in GIMP, the de$elopers &ould li-e to -no& about it so they
can at least try to fi+ it"
%uppose, then, that you ha$e found a bug, or at least thin- you ha$e= you try to do
something, and the results are not &hat you e+pect" 5hat should you doP :o& should
you report itP
*he procedure for ma-ing an en'ancement reD"estOthat is, for as-ing the de$elopers to
add a missing featureOis nearly the same as the procedure for reporting a bug" *he only
thing you do differently is to mar- the report as an FenhancementF at the appropriate
stage, as described belo&"
In common &ith many other free soft&are pro2ects, GIMP uses a bug(reporting
mechanism called ,"g6i))a" *his is a $ery po&erful &eb(based system, capable of
managing thousands of bug reports &ithout losing trac-" In fact, GIMP shares its ,ug>illa
database &ith the entire Gnome pro2ect" .t the time this is being &ritten, Gnome ,ug>illa
contains !/IG0# bug reportsOno, ma-e that !/IG00"
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Ma7ing sure it#s a 1ug
*he first thing you should do, before reporting a bug, is to ma-e an effort to $erify that
&hat you are seeing really is a bug" It is hard to gi$e a method for doing this that applies
to all situations, but reading the documentation &ill often be useful, and discussing the
1uestion on I<) or a mailing list may also be 1uite helpful" If you are seeing a cras', as
opposed to mere misbeha$ior, the odds that it is a true bug are pretty high= &ell &ritten
soft&are programs are not designed to crash under an+ circumstances" In any case, if you
ha$e made an conscientious effort to decide &hether it is really a bug, and at the end still
aren4t sure, then please go ahead and report it= the &orst that can happen is that you &ill
&aste a bit of time for the de$elopment team"
.ctually there are a fe& things that are -no&n to cause GIMP to crash but ha$e turned out
to be too incon$enient to be &orth fi+ing" 3ne of them is as-ing GIMP to do something
that re1uires $ast amounts of memory, such as creating an image one million pi+els on a
side"
;ou should also ma-e sure that you are using an up(to(date $ersion of GIMP= reporting
bugs that ha$e already been fi+ed is 2ust a &aste of e$erybody4s time" 7GIMP ! is no
longer maintained, so if you use it and find bugs, either upgrade to GIMP # or li$e &ith
them"8 Particularly if you are using the de$elopment $ersion of GIMP, ma-e sure that you
can see the bug in the latest release before filing a report"
If after due consideration you still thin- you ha$e a legitimate bug report or enhancement
re1uest, the ne+t step is to go to GIMP4s bug>illa 1uery page
7http=//bug>illa"gnome"org/1uery"cgi8, and try to see &hether somebody else has already
reported the same thing" *he 1uery page allo&s you to search the bug database in a
$ariety of &ays" Unfortunately this page is a bit more complicated to use than it really
ought to be, but here is basically &hat you should do=
5hen you ha$e set these things up, clic- on the F%earchF button at either the top or
bottom' they both do the same thing" *he result is either a list of bug reportsOhopefully
not too longOor a message saying FNarro boogs foundF" If you don4t find a related bug
report by doing this, it may be &orth trying another search &ith different terms" If in spite
of your best efforts, you file a bug report and it ends up being resol$ed as FDuplicateF,
don4t be too upset= it has happened repeatedly to the author of this documentation, &ho
&or-s &ith GIMP ,ug>illa nearly e$ery day"
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(eporting the 1ug
3-ay, so you ha$e done e$erything you could to ma-e sure, and you still thin- it4s
probably a bug" ;ou should then go ahead and file a bug report" *o do this, begin by going
to http=//bug>illa"gnome"org/enterWbug"cgi, and go do&n the page until you can select the
component FGIMPF"
*he first time you file a bug report, you &ill be as-ed to create a ,ug>illa account" *he
process is easy and painless, and you probably &on4t e$en get any spam as a result"
*his ta-es you to the bug report form, &hich you should fill out as follo&s" Note that most
of the information you enter can be changed later by the de$elopers if you get it &rong,
so try to get it right but don4t be obsessi$e about it"
;ou can ignore the rest" 5hen you ha$e filled out all of these things, press the F)ommitF
button and your bug report &ill be submitted" It &ill be assigned a number, &hich you
may &ant to ma-e note of' you &ill, ho&e$er, be emailed any time somebody ma-es a
comment on your bug report or other&ise alters it, so you &ill recei$e reminders in any
case" ;ou can see the current state of your bug report at any time by going to
http=//bug>illa"gnome"org and, at the bottom of the page, in the F.ctions=F area, entering
the bug number and pressing the FFindF button"
%ometimes it is $ery helpful to augment a bug report &ith a screenshot or some other
type of data" If you need to do this, go to the &eb page for your bug report, clic- on the
lin- F)reate a Ne& .ttachmentF, and follo& the directions" ,ut please don4t do this unless
you thin- the attachment is really going to be usefulOand if you need to attach a
screenshot, don4t ma-e it any larger than necessary" ,ug reports are li-ely to remain on
the system for years, so there is no sense in &asting memory"
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What appens to a 1ug (eport a)ter you
'ubmit it
.t any time after it is submitted, a bug report has a F%tatusF that describes ho& it is
currently being handled" :ere are the possible $alues of Stat"s and &hat they mean=
Cop+rig't <C= CEEE7CEEF7CEEC /ree So4tware /o"ndation7 Inc$ 59 &emp)e P)ace7
S"ite GGE7 ,oston7 (* ECFFF-FGEH US* @1er+one is permitted to cop+ and
distri%"te 1er%atim copies o4 t'is )icense doc"ment7 %"t c'anging it is not
a))owed$
*he purpose of this License is to ma-e a manual, te+tboo-, or other functional and useful
document FfreeF in the sense of freedom= to assure e$eryone the effecti$e freedom to
copy and redistribute it, &ith or &ithout modifying it, either commercially or
noncommercially" %econdarily, this License preser$es for the author and publisher a &ay
to get credit for their &or-, &hile not being considered responsible for modifications made
by others"
*his License is a -ind of FcopyleftF, &hich means that deri$ati$e &or-s of the document
must themsel$es be free in the same sense" It complements the GNU General Public
License, &hich is a copyleft license designed for free soft&are"
5e ha$e designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free soft&are, because
free soft&are needs free documentation= a free program should come &ith manuals
pro$iding the same freedoms that the soft&are does" ,ut this License is not limited to
soft&are manuals' it can be used for any te+tual &or-, regardless of sub2ect matter or
&hether it is published as a printed boo-" 5e recommend this License principally for
&or-s &hose purpose is instruction or reference"
*his License applies to any manual or other &or-, in any medium, that contains a notice
placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this
License" %uch a notice grants a &orld(&ide, royalty(free license, unlimited in duration, to
use that &or- under the conditions stated herein" *he FDocumentF, belo&, refers to any
such manual or &or-" .ny member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as FyouF"
;ou accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the &or- in a &ay re1uiring
permission under copyright la&"
. FModified ersionF of the Document means any &or- containing the Document or a
portion of it, either copied $erbatim, or &ith modifications and/or translated into another
language"
. F%econdary %ectionF is a named appendi+ or a front(matter section of the Document
that deals e+clusi$ely &ith the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document
to the Document4s o$erall sub2ect 7or to related matters8 and contains nothing that could
fall directly &ithin that o$erall sub2ect" 7*hus, if the Document is in part a te+tboo- of
mathematics, a %econdary %ection may not e+plain any mathematics"8 *he relationship
could be a matter of historical connection &ith the sub2ect or &ith related matters, or of
legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding them"
*he FIn$ariant %ectionsF are certain %econdary %ections &hose titles are designated, as
being those of In$ariant %ections, in the notice that says that the Document is released
under this License" If a section does not fit the abo$e definition of %econdary then it is not
allo&ed to be designated as In$ariant" *he Document may contain >ero In$ariant
%ections" If the Document does not identify any In$ariant %ections then there are none"
*he F)o$er *e+tsF are certain short passages of te+t that are listed, as Front()o$er *e+ts
or ,ac-()o$er *e+ts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this
License" . Front()o$er *e+t may be at most A &ords, and a ,ac-()o$er *e+t may be at
most #A &ords"
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. F*ransparentF copy of the Document means a machine(readable copy, represented in a
format &hose specification is a$ailable to the general public, that is suitable for
re$isingthe document straightfor&ardly &ith generic te+t editors or 7for images composed
of pi+els8 generic paint programs or 7for dra&ings8 some &idely a$ailable dra&ing editor,
and that is suitable for input to te+t formatters or for automatic translation to a $ariety of
formats suitable for input to te+t formatters" . copy made in an other&ise *ransparent file
format &hose mar-up, or absence of mar-up, has been arranged to th&art or discourage
subse1uent modification by readers is not *ransparent" .n image format is not
*ransparent if used for any substantial amount of te+t" . copy that is not F*ransparentF is
called F3pa1ueF"
@+amples of suitable formats for *ransparent copies include plain .%)II &ithout mar-up,
*e+info input format, La*e6 input format, %GML or 6ML using a publicly a$ailable D*D, and
standard(conforming simple :*ML, Post%cript or PDF designed for human modification"
@+amples of transparent image formats include PNG, 6)F and ?PG" 3pa1ue formats
include proprietary formats that can be read and edited only by proprietary &ord
processors, %GML or 6ML for &hich the D*D and/or processing tools are not generally
a$ailable, and the machine(generated :*ML, Post%cript or PDF produced by some &ord
processors for output purposes only"
*he F*itle PageF means, for a printed boo-, the title page itself, plus such follo&ing pages
as are needed to hold, legibly, the material this License re1uires to appear in the title
page" For &or-s in formats &hich do not ha$e any title page as such, F*itle PageF means
the te+t near the most prominent appearance of the &or-4s title, preceding the beginning
of the body of the te+t"
. section F@ntitled 6;NF means a named subunit of the Document &hose title either is
precisely 6;N or contains 6;N in parentheses follo&ing te+t that translates 6;N in another
language" 7:ere 6;N stands for a specific section name mentioned belo&, such as
F.c-no&ledgementsF, FDedicationsF, F@ndorsementsF, or F:istoryF"8 *o FPreser$e the
*itleF of such a section &hen you modify the Document means that it remains a section
F@ntitled 6;NF according to this definition"
*he Document may include 5arranty Disclaimers ne+t to the notice &hich states that this
License applies to the Document" *hese 5arranty Disclaimers are considered to be
included by reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming &arranties= any
other implication that these 5arranty Disclaimers may ha$e is $oid and has no effect on
the meaning of this License"
;ou may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or
noncommercially, pro$ided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice
saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you
add no other conditions &hatsoe$er to those of this License" ;ou may not use technical
measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you ma-e or
distribute" :o&e$er, you may accept compensation in e+change for copies" If you
distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follo& the conditions in
section0"
;ou may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated abo$e, and you may publicly
display copies"
If you publish printed copies 7or copies in media that commonly ha$e printed co$ers8 of
the Document, numbering more than !BB, and the Document4s license notice re1uires
)o$er *e+ts, you must enclose the copies in co$ers that carry, clearly and legibly, all
these )o$er *e+ts= Front()o$er *e+ts on the front co$er, and ,ac-()o$er *e+ts on the bac-
co$er" ,oth co$ers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these
copies" *he front co$er must present the full title &ith all &ords of the title e1ually
prominent and $isible" ;ou may add other material on the co$ers in addition" )opying &ith
changes limited to the co$ers, as long as they preser$e the title of the Document and
satisfy these conditions, can be treated as $erbatim copying in other respects"
If the re1uired te+ts for either co$er are too $oluminous to fit legibly, you should put the
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first ones listed 7as many as fit reasonably8 on the actual co$er, and continue the rest
onto ad2acent pages"
If you publish or distribute 3pa1ue copies of the Document numbering more than !BB,
you must either include a machine(readable *ransparent copy along &ith each 3pa1ue
copy, or state in or &ith each 3pa1ue copy a computer(net&or- location from &hich the
general net&or-(using public has access to do&nload using public(standard net&or-
protocols a complete *ransparent copy of the Document, free of added material" If you
use the latter option, you must ta-e reasonably prudent steps, &hen you begin
distribution of 3pa1ue copies in 1uantity, to ensure that this *ransparent copy &ill remain
thus accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time you
distribute an 3pa1ue copy 7directly or through your agents or retailers8 of that edition to
the public"
It is re1uested, but not re1uired, that you contact the authors of the Document &ell
before redistributing any large number of copies, to gi$e them a chance to pro$ide you
&ith an updated $ersion of the Document"
;ou may copy and distribute a Modified ersion of the Document under the conditions of
sections # and 0 abo$e, pro$ided that you release the Modified ersion under precisely
this License, &ith the Modified ersion filling the role of the Document, thus licensing
distribution and modification of the Modified ersion to &hoe$er possesses a copy of it" In
addition, you must do these things in the Modified ersion=
A/ Use in the *itle Page 7and on the co$ers, if any8 a title distinct from that of the
Document, and from those of pre$ious $ersions 7&hich should, if there &ere any, be
listed in the :istory section of the Document8" ;ou may use the same title as a pre$ious
$ersion if the original publisher of that $ersion gi$es permission"
1/ List on the *itle Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for
authorship of the modifications in the Modified ersion, together &ith at least fi$e of
the principal authors of the Document 7all of its principal authors, if it has fe&er than
fi$e8, unless they release you from this re1uirement"
C/ %tate on the *itle page the name of the publisher of the Modified ersion, as the
publisher"
6/ Preser$e all the copyright notices of the Document"
+/ .dd an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications ad2acent to the other
copyright notices"
!/ Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice gi$ing the public
permission to use the Modified ersion under the terms of this License, in the form
sho&n in the .ddendum belo&"
G/ Preser$e in that license notice the full lists of In$ariant %ections and re1uired )o$er
*e+ts gi$en in the Document4s license notice"
/ Include an unaltered copy of this License"
I/ Preser$e the section @ntitled F:istoryF, Preser$e its *itle, and add to it an item
stating at least the title, year, ne& authors, and publisher of the Modified ersion as
gi$en on the *itle Page" If there is no section @ntitled F:istoryF in the Document, create
one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document as gi$en on its *itle
Page, then add an item describing the Modified ersion as stated in the pre$ious
sentence"
N/ Preser$e the net&or- location, if any, gi$en in the Document for public access to a
*ransparent copy of the Document, and li-e&ise the net&or- locations gi$en in the
Document for pre$ious $ersions it &as based on" *hese may be placed in the F:istoryF
section" ;ou may omit a net&or- location for a &or- that &as published at least four
years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the $ersion it refers to
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gi$es permission"
,/ For any section @ntitled F.c-no&ledgementsF or FDedicationsF, Preser$e the *itle of
the section, and preser$e in the section all the substance and tone of each of the
contributor ac-no&ledgements and/or dedications gi$en therein"
2/ Preser$e all the In$ariant %ections of the Document, unaltered in their te+t and in
their titles" %ection numbers or the e1ui$alent are not considered part of the section
titles"
M/ Delete any section @ntitled F@ndorsementsF" %uch a section may not be included in
the Modified ersion"
$/ Do not retitle any e+isting section to be @ntitled F@ndorsementsF or to conflict in
title &ith any In$ariant %ection"
*/ Preser$e any 5arranty Disclaimers"
If the Modified ersion includes ne& front(matter sections or appendices that 1ualify as
%econdary %ections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at your
option designate some or all of these sections as in$ariant" *o do this, add their titles to
the list of In$ariant %ections in the Modified ersion4s license notice" *hese titles must be
distinct from any other section titles"
;ou may add a section @ntitled F@ndorsementsF, pro$ided it contains nothing but
endorsements of your Modified ersion by $arious parties((for e+ample, statements of
peer re$ie& or that the te+t has been appro$ed by an organi>ation as the authoritati$e
definition of a standard"
;ou may add a passage of up to fi$e &ords as a Front()o$er *e+t, and a passage of up to
#A &ords as a ,ac-()o$er *e+t, to the end of the list of )o$er *e+ts in the Modified
ersion" 3nly one passage of Front()o$er *e+t and one of ,ac-()o$er *e+t may be added
by 7or through arrangements made by8 any one entity" If the Document already includes a
co$er te+t for the same co$er, pre$iously added by you or by arrangement made by the
same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another' but you may replace
the old one, on e+plicit permission from the pre$ious publisher that added the old one"
*he author7s8 and publisher7s8 of the Document do not by this License gi$e permission to
use their names for publicity for orto assert or imply endorsement of any Modified
ersion"
;ou may combine the Document &ith other documents released under this License, under
the terms defined in section / abo$e for modified $ersions, pro$ided that you include in
the combination all of the In$ariant %ections of all of the original documents, unmodified,
and list them all as In$ariant %ections of your combined &or- in its license notice, and
that you preser$e all their 5arranty Disclaimers"
*he combined &or- need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical
In$ariant %ections may be replaced &ith a single copy" If there are multiple In$ariant
%ections &ith the same name but different contents, ma-e the title of each such section
uni1ue by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or
publisher of that section if -no&n, or else a uni1ue number" Ma-e the same ad2ustment to
the section titles in the list of In$ariant %ections in the license notice of the combined
&or-"
In the combination, you must combine any sections @ntitled F:istoryF in the $arious
original documents, forming one section @ntitled F:istoryF' li-e&ise combine any sections
@ntitled F.c-no&ledgementsF, and any sections @ntitled FDedicationsF" ;ou must delete
all sections @ntitled F@ndorsementsF"
;ou may ma-e a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released
under this License, and replace the indi$idual copies of this License in the $arious
documents &ith a single copy that is included in the collection, pro$ided that you follo&
the rules of this License for $erbatim copying of each of the documents in allother
respects"
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;ou may e+tract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it indi$idually
under this License, pro$ided you insert a copy of this License into the e+tracted
document, and follo& this License in all other respects regarding $erbatim copying of that
document"
. compilation of the Document or its deri$ati$es &ith other separate and independent
documents or &or-s, in or on a $olume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an
FaggregateF if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal
rights of the compilation4s users beyond &hat the indi$idual&or-s permit" 5hen the
Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other &or-s in
the aggregate &hich are not themsel$es deri$ati$e &or-s of the Document"
If the )o$er *e+t re1uirement of section 0 is applicable to these copies of the Document,
then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document4s )o$er
*e+ts may be placed on co$ers that brac-et the Document &ithin the aggregate, or the
electronic e1ui$alent of co$ers if the Document is in electronic form" 3ther&ise they must
appear on printed co$ers that brac-et the &hole aggregate"
*ranslation is considered a -ind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the
Document under the terms of section /" <eplacing In$ariant %ections &ith translations
re1uires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations
of some or all In$ariant %ections in addition to the original $ersions of these In$ariant
%ections" ;ou may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in the
Document, and any 5arranty Disclaimers, pro$ided that you also include the original
@nglish $ersion of this License and the original $ersions of those notices and disclaimers"
In case of a disagreement bet&een the translation and the original $ersion of this License
or a notice or disclaimer, the original $ersion &ill pre$ail"
If a section in the Document is @ntitled F.c-no&ledgementsF, FDedicationsF, or F:istoryF,
the re1uirement 7section /8 to Preser$e its *itle 7section !8 &ill typically re1uire changing
the actual title"
;ou may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document e+cept as e+pressly
pro$ided for under this License" .ny other attempt to copy, modify, sublicense or
distribute the Document is $oid, and &ill automatically terminate your rights under this
License" :o&e$er, parties &ho ha$e recei$ed copies, or rights, from you under this
License &ill not ha$e their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full
compliance"
*he Free %oft&are Foundation may publish ne&, re$ised $ersions of the GNU Free
Documentation License from time to time" %uch ne& $ersions &ill be similar in spirit to
the present $ersion, but may differ in detail to address ne& problems or concerns" %ee
http=//&&&"gnu"org/copyleft/"
@ach $ersion of the License is gi$en a distinguishing $ersion number" If the Document
specifies that a particular numbered $ersion of this License For any later $ersionF applies
to it, you ha$e the option of follo&ing the terms and conditions either of that specified
$ersion or of any later $ersion that has been published 7not as a draft8 by the Free
%oft&are Foundation" If the Document does not specify a $ersion number of this License,
you may choose any $ersion e$er published 7not as a draft8 by the Free %oft&are
Foundation"
*o use this License in a document you ha$e &ritten, include a copy of the License in the
document and put the follo&ing copyrightand license notices 2ust after the title page=
Cop+rig't <c= I@*2 IOU2 N*(@$ Permission is granted to cop+7 distri%"te and-or
modi4+ t'is doc"ment "nder t'e terms o4 t'e .NU /ree Doc"mentation License7
9ersion F$C or an+ )ater 1ersion p"%)is'ed %+ t'e /ree So4tware /o"ndationJ wit'
no In1ariant Sections7 no /ront-Co1er &e#ts7 and no ,ac0-Co1er &e#ts$ * cop+ o4
t'e )icense is inc)"ded in t'e section entit)ed ".NU /ree Doc"mentation License"$
If you ha$e In$ariant %ections, Front()o$er *e+ts and ,ac-()o$er *e+ts, replace the
F&ith"""*e+ts"F line &ith this=
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wit' t'e In1ariant Sections %eing LIS& &8@I2 &I&L@S7 wit' t'e /ront-Co1er &e#ts
%eing LIS&7 and wit' t'e ,ac0-Co1er &e#ts %eing LIS&$
If you ha$e In$ariant %ections &ithout )o$er *e+ts, or some other combination of the
three, merge those t&o alternati$es to suitthe situation"
If your document contains nontri$ial e+amples of program code, &e recommend releasing
these e+amples in parallel under your choice of free soft&are license, such as the GNU
General Public License, to permit their use in free soft&are"
%orry, but a help item is missing for the function you4re loo-ing for"
Feel free to 2oin us and fill the gap by &riting documentation for the Gimp" For more
information, $isit our pro2ect page on the Gimp 5i-i" *here is also a Mailing list a$ailable"
Generally, it4s a good idea to chec- the Gimp pro2ect page"
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GIMP User Manual

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title:

GNU Image Manipulation Program

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Ma7e 'ure <ou ave The Proper 'pacingC Too

or, as one line=

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*he result is the list 7! # 0 /8"

GNU Image Manipulation Program

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&hereas the follo&ing=

Accessing *ther +lements In A 2ist

GNU Image Manipulation Program

5ith the image cleared, &e4re ready to add some te+t=

*his &ill set dirty count to B, ma-ing it appear to be a FcleanF image"

Adding The $e% Code

)ongratulations, you are on your &ay to your ,lac- ,elt of %cript(FuD

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