Posted by ljmacphee on December 31, 2007 under gimp, graphics, how to | 
Some images that you post online you wish to protect. A very simple way to watermark your image is to to create a transparent image the same size as your original, put your logo or website url in white, copy that to a new layer in the original image and change the transparency to what ever pleases you.
Original image
Create an image the same size
Use the ‘advanced options when you create the watermark and make the background transparent.
In your original image to go Dialogs->Layers
In the layers dialog create a new layer same as the first by clicking the copy button on the bottom ( 2 pictures )
Go to the watermark image and click edit->copy
Go to the original image and click edit->paste
You can use the arrow keys on your key board to move the watermark’s position
Slide the Opacity slider in the layers dialog until you like the way the watermark looks in your image.
Posted by ljmacphee on September 17, 2007 under gimp, graphics |
The eraser does just what you’d expect. It erases your image. If you have a transparent background you can erase the parts of the photo you don’t want just leaving part of the image. This is useful for separating out items in an image.
Convolve blurs your image a bit. This is handy for smoothing out skin tones in portraits. You can also use convolve to sharpen specific areas of your image.
Smudge works as if you dragged your finger across a charcoal drawing. The area you run over will blur and the colors will drag following the mouse.
Dodge - Burn, dodge will lighten areas, burn darkens areas. This is useful for highlighting parts of an image.
Gimp Basics: Beginning
Posted by ljmacphee on September 10, 2007 under gimp, graphics |
Gimp has four main drawing tools, a pencil which draws with sharp edges. You can change the opacity, size, shape and use all the modes available to layers.
You have a paint brush which has all the same options as a pencil but the edges are not as sharp. The paint brush also offers more options to blend such as fade out, incremental and gradient color options.
The air brush works as you’d expect with opacity, modes, size, shape, fade out and gradient options. You can also control the paint rate and pressure.
Ink give the effect that using an old style ink brush and ink well would give you. You have 3 shapes, and can adjust your pen size and angle and pressure.
Next: Gimp Basics: Erase, convolve, smudge, dodge and burn
Posted by ljmacphee on September 3, 2007 under gimp, graphics, how to |
Suppose you want to create a web 2.0 design with all those wonderful layers, the first thing you do is hunt down the photos you need. The second thing you need to do is to pull out the sections you want so you can layer those together.
The simplest way I have found to do this in Gimp is not to use the cutting tools to cut out the part I want, but to cut out the parts I don’t want.
First make a copy of your image.
Open the image in Gimp.
Go into the image and select Edit->Copy
( now you have a copy of the full image in the buffer )
Go to the Gimp window and select File->new
( a pop up window will appear with the width and height of your image in it )
Select Advanced Options->Fill with: ->Transparency and click ok.
Now we have a transparent image open. Select Edit->Paste
Then select Layer->Anchor
Now we just have to erase the parts we don’t want. I usually start with the rectangle select tool in the top left corner. Select areas to erase and Click ‘Edit->Cut’
Cut out everything you can using the rectangle-cut method.
Ok now blow up your image so you can see to do the detail work View->Zoom
Now select the eraser ( it looks just like an old fashioned pink eraser ). You can start with a large brush and go to smaller brushes as you need to erase smaller areas. One thing that will make you crazy in Gimp is you select and use the eraser and it ignores you. If this happens click Select->None the erase only works in selected areas.
You will also find the color wand ( tool that looks like a magic wand on the top row is good for erasing sections you don’t want to keep. Select an area then crtl-x or Edit->delete.
Another tip is to erase small sections at a time. If you try to do a large area and erase a section you want to keep you’ll have to do the whole large area again. So erase a small section at a time by letting the mouse button up occasionally.
Zoom in and out as needed to see how you are doing.
Theres a few spots that need to be smoothed out here but the sea plant has been pretty much removed from the original image. Because it is on a transparent background you can paste it into your layered image that you are building.
YouTube: How To: Render Images in GIMP
See also:
Removing Backgrounds Quickly in Gimp