GIMP Discussion, Tips, and Tricks

[gr1mmy]

Right, so Blaze mentioned it, here it is.

Yes, GIMP is free and from what I hear, fairly close to Photoshop in setup and tools.

Link for GIMP. (http://www.gimp.org/about/)

[nope]

i vouch for gimp and hereby declare, its awesomeness openly. gimp is the be all end all, and will soon rule the world.
its a nice alternative for those who don't want to spend 500$ on a program or.. er, steal it >.>.

[Tensa Zangetsu]

What's wrong with er...stealing it? If it hurts it works....wait that's the wrong expression....but anyways I got photoshop CS2 and 3 for free...heh heh

[gr1mmy]

Well, the point is, if you have a sense of morality, use GIMP.

[nope]

I have gimp and PS, money spent 0$

[gr1mmy]

=P

Well, I've gotten used to GIMP.

[nope]

only know about or use 30% of the tools X(

[gr1mmy]

Well, just go look at the plug-ins and everything.

Is it possible to make a border like the one in my sig?

[Blaze]

I have no idea on how to use GIMP...it look so different from Photoshop..

[gr1mmy]

Thanks MO!

I was wondering about that too.

Btw, how do you make something transparent in GIMP?

[Manga-Otaku]

transparent. you can try selecting a layer and looking at the tasks. the little tab above the layers. And for a new image. Do the sizes and before you click okay press the color or fill. it will say transparent, BG color or FG color. Choose transparent.

[Tensa Zangetsu]

that seems hard....learning is tough, but patience is the key to everything

[nope]

for transparency like in different levels open the layers dialog its the bar that says opacity

[Pansori]

Oh, thank God for this thread! I just downloaded GIMP and have no clue what I am doing. I'm still messing around with it, but just the easy stuff (nothing fancy like the signature making). A friend of mine sent me a pic that I'm coloring in, but I want to move on to something bigger and better.

[gr1mmy]

Well, read X's tutorial and then experiment around.

You can also go to gimptalk and read up on a few things.

[gr1mmy]

Hrm, are there any good fire brushes out there?

[nope]

i have a fire brush set, its pretty good. the name has slipped my mind.

[gr1mmy]

Well, at least tell me how to use one.

Like, get the color right.

[zaragi]

wooooooow grimmy i lik ur taste dd u actually draw tat *-* if so wooooow i wsh i cld draw lik tat ^_^

[gr1mmy]

Go to my art thread if you want to talk about my images.

Thx ^^

[zaragi]

hehehe i lik ur stuff do u hav anymore?

[gr1mmy]

http://forum.onemanga.com./showthread.php?t=4139

Not all of them are great btw.

[nope]

i don't use the fire brush set to make fire, i usually just use it for effect. but if i were to guess, i would use a red color and outline with Orange using round brush.

[gr1mmy]

Gah... I really need to make something firey.

[nope]

there is a fire tutorial somewhere on how to make it from scratch i glanced at it and ended up making this crap
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff296/Redmedium/nope.png

[gr1mmy]

http://project-gimpbc.deviantart.com/gallery/

This guy converts a whole lot of photoshop brushes.

[Blaze]

I'm stuck right now...how do you switch brushes? I tried but it wouldn't show up the 1100 brushes I downloaded...(It was all in 1 folder) and I moved it to the brush folder too...

[gr1mmy]

Do you refresh your brushes?

I'm pretty sure you have to refresh.

[Blaze]

I'm sure I did?

[gr1mmy]

What are the file extensions? Are they in folders?

[nope]

make sure you extract all the brushes into the brush folder

[Blaze]

I think Window XP extracted for me

[gr1mmy]

It was in a zip folder then?

And where are all the brushes right now?

In the brush folder? Or what?

[Blaze]

Well,I re-downloaded it so it's not in the brush folder anymore i think...

Btw I'm suppose to put the folder into .gimp-2. 4's brush folder right?

[gr1mmy]

Yeah. It should go there.

[Manga-Otaku]

Grimmy why are you advertising your thread on your sig? lol

[Blaze]

nope does that too.They just probably want comments on sig,like where to work on and stuff? >.> Maybe...

[DuneDog]

Is there a script out there that condenses all the tool windows I have open (8 of them, to be precise) in to one tab in Windows navigation bar?

[Manga-Otaku]

In one tab? Usually if I open 4 windows it turns into one tab.

[nope]

i have it on my sig because im a gimp narcissist.

[gr1mmy]

@DuneDog.

If you open one random tool bar, there will be the tiny black triangle on the top right corner.

Click it, and select add tab, then, there's a bunch of tools for you to add on in tabs.

[Manga-Otaku]

Hmmm...GIMP isn't bad for rendering either.

[gr1mmy]

Well, I just use the path tool.

Know an easier way?

[nope]

the paths tool, if there ever was a tool i liked its that one. its just plain fun to use (especially when trying to render hair!!!) by fun i mean "makes crap easier"

[Manga-Otaku]

I want to ask after you select a new path. How do you trim or move it?

[DuneDog]

@DuneDog.

If you open one random tool bar, there will be the tiny black triangle on the top right corner.

Click it, and select add tab, then, there's a bunch of tools for you to add on in tabs.

Well, I surround my image with toolbar windows so I don't have to go hunting through tabs.

[Manga-Otaku]

Never mind. I got it. But I don't like using the path tool. XD

[gr1mmy]

The path tool just takes like...

Practice?

[Manga-Otaku]

I just do it by hand. Easier for me. But I've had GIMP much longer then you lol.

[nope]

how can you not like the path tool >.>, isn't that like.... blasphemy or something?! 0.o

[gr1mmy]

@MO, well, yeah probably. I've only just started trying to make images anyway.

The path tool is awesome XD

Is there anyway to make parts of a layer like... transparent?

[nope]

you can select the transparency by using the opacity bar in the layers dialog

[trumpetchick]

Well, I just got GIMP today and I have no idea what I'm doing! Does anyone have any tips for the basics or a good guide for beginners?

[nope]

i guess for starters the best to do is just play around with the tools, get a bearing on where everything is and what it all does.

[trumpetchick]

Yeah, i've been wandering. How to you render an image? I've been experimenting with paths, but I just can't seem to figure it out.

[nope]

what part cant you figure out?

[shonenshojo]

when your making renders it's best to use the layers it's easier that way

[trumpetchick]

Alright so in photoshop I would use the polygon lasso and say layer via cut and then cut the unwanted layer.

So in GIMP I'll have the area selected with paths and then what? Cut doesn't seem to work. (but then again I'm probably being disfunctional about something)

[nope]

open up the tool options dialog, and press the "create path from selection" button that makes a path where you have selected.

[Tamkalost]

if you want i can link you to my tutorial or some i know about, but not very many are beginner friendly

need help with gimp i suggest gimptalk.com

[Locke]

Since I got told to come here I wont bother reading all your posts, I'll just copy & paste.

Ok.

So I have to do a piece of digital artwork in GIMP for something stupid at school. I thought I'd do a sig since ya know, lots of people make them. Now I looked at tutorials & they seem as unfriendly as the program itself. Lack of specifics & some call themselves beginner tutorials yet I still find them insanely hard. (Yes I suck >_>)

I wanted to know if people who actually use the program could tell me how they started, their own tips & tricks. Rather than linking me to tutorials made some employee of GIMP. I mean I wouldn't mind this as a hobby either.

Thankyou.

[VTech]

Well...First you gotta atleast learn some of things in Gimp, like the tools, filters, brushes, and etc...

Mostly people start off by download brushes off of Deviantart, then they start brushes

But its bascially just play around with Gimp, then you'll manage to get the hang of it

Yeah, I suck at giving advice

[Locke]

But just playing around is what the GIMP tutorials do themselves & I find they don't really help me. It's all so vague & I don't work with vague. I need someone who can simply say, to do this you have to this that & that.

[VTech]

Try reading this: http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/

That was the first thing I did, when I just got Gimp, but really just play around with it, open up something, and just brush, smudge, etc...

[Locke]

How do you go from pissing around with brushes to a signature though? I mean I am not someone who can find what he needs by messing. I am someone who needs to be told step by step to get anything done.

Sorry I suck >_<

[shonenshojo]

Okay the first thing you need is to get used to the tools. Just hold your mouse over them in your main window.

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc122/07-ghost/GIMP/GIMPTOOLS.jpg
This is your main window it holds all your tools. Things circled in red are mainly what you will be using. The one circled in black is for resizing renders to fit your sig.

First go to the main window and create a new image(I'm guessing you know how to do that already).
Now press ctrl + L. You will get your "layers" dialog. This is probably going to be the most essential dialog you will need to make a sig. It should look like this.v
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc122/07-ghost/GIMP/GIMPlayers.jpg
Ignore the tabs at the top. The circled buttons are your "New layer, Duplicate Layer, and Delete layer buttons." With this you can create different things so that if you brush on something you can change the opacity so anything at the bottom will show, or you can change its mode to lighten, darken or blend in with the previous layer(check the mode options under the tabs for more).
Now Click your image window and select "Dialogs" on the top bar. There should be a list made. Click on "Brushes." You should get something like this pop up.
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc122/07-ghost/GIMP/GIMPbrushes.jpg
Your brush dialog is where you select your brushes to make your background. To use this effectively you will need to download brushes.
downloading brushes:www.deviantart.com
Search gimp brushes and download it. Actually installing the brushes would take another tutorial so here's the link:
http://www.gimptalk.com/forum/topic/How-To-Install-Brushes-1315-1.html
Experiment with your brushes and layers and once you think you've got the hang of it read a couple tutorials. www.gimptalk.com is a good place for tuts.

With the layers you can also create some pretty cool gifs. Such as this:
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc122/07-ghost/WSAC.gif
I think that's all the basics you would need to know.:/
Wow, I'm bad at this..

[Locke]

Wow thanks for that man.

o_o

*blink blink*

[Locke]

Ok, that special second toolbar just vanished & wont open.

Man I suck with this software. However it did help me to get new brushes & re-fit a render onto a background I can colour.

So it helped a lot.

[shonenshojo]

Second tool bar? Are you talking about the thing under the main window? If so it's just the tool options, you can open it in another dialog, like how you opened the brush dialog...

[Locke]

Hmm, so I made an image, rescaled the image & everything. But when I saved it the render returned to its original size :confused:

[shonenshojo]

Hmm, so I made an image, rescaled the image & everything. But when I saved it the render returned to its original size :confused:

There should be another window that pops up when you scaled the render. Did you press Okay in it. Or was that what you meant by "saving?"

[Locke]

When I click the scale tool I simply get a box that says scale, reset, cancel.

[shonenshojo]

Yeah on that click scale. Otherwise it doesn't work.>.>

[Locke]

Nope it doesn't work.

Ok I am officially gonna say **** this.

[VTech]

Actually it does cause the quality of the picture would reduce to ashes, lol

@Locke- Did you resize the pic, what you wanted like the height and width!?...Say you want the height at 300(put 300 on the Height part) and it will automatically do the width for you!

[Locke]

Ok, my first play. I just used a DtB render, made a red background with the culour of the blood on his mask & the random sunbrush :p.

http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/6396/bk2012qc6.th.png (http://img369.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bk2012qc6.png)

Will you then tell me where to go from here please :D

I've done a few more since this, but can anyone tell me to make text better?

[Oink McOink]

Ok, I need some info, I haven't edited an image in years and I don't know how to use gimp yet.meh

Can anyone tell me how do I resize image?meh

[nope]

in the image panel select the "scale image" option. A dialogue box will open up with the image dimensions. As you scale up or down the image will balance itself so that it doesn't warp, if you need to simply squish a picture click the chain and that will turn off the auto scale balance thing.

Locke: Selecting antialising in the text tool box increases the quality and smoothness of the text,other than that i dont know what you mean O.O if you want to download new fonts dafont.com is a good place to go. I dont know if that url works or if its a real site anymore because im to lazy to check.

[Dragon3443]

gimp is a huge program and i dont know where to start with my questions but here is probably the easiest to answer

is there a way to make a perfect circle??? if so i need the track to it

Ex of track

Filter>blur>blur just something like that so i can find it =D ty

[TavernKeep]

e>shift+drag?

[Frybringer]

I'm new to GIMP and was wondering if anyone knows of a tutorial to cut out parts of complex images. (I think they're called renders, but I'm not really sure) I was hoping to make a simple wallpaper, but GIMP tutorials are hard to find, and being new to GIMP, I can't really follow photoshop tutorials. If worse comes to worse I guess I'll take that graphic arts class in my school next year.

[timiee]

I'm new to GIMP and was wondering if anyone knows of a tutorial to cut out parts of complex images. (I think they're called renders, but I'm not really sure) I was hoping to make a simple wallpaper, but GIMP tutorials are hard to find, and being new to GIMP, I can't really follow photoshop tutorials. If worse comes to worse I guess I'll take that graphic arts class in my school next year.

oh ok lol if you want to cut the render out of a picture all you need to do is save it to your pictures then go into gimp and open it . it should pop up in a new window . (has GIMP 2.6) then go to your toolbox and click on paths tools:create and edit paths (it sorta looks like a inking pen with a white rod thing next to it and a wire coming out of the top of the inking pen) after that just click on the part you want in the picture and outline it carefully till you get back to the beginning. After that in your toolbox it should have a bar that says *selection from path* click on that and it should become a dashing line outlining your render then go to edit then copy visible and the render will appear in your brush section then just click the brush,adjust to the right size and place where you want it. i hope this is what you needed and i hope it helps >.<

[Frybringer]

^^Thanks a lot, really helped.

[_PaperMoon_]

Oooh.. Gimpers! ^^ I am using gimp as well, although not for that long. My brother used to spend hours and hours playing with Gimp and I guess I'm heading the same way ..XD

Here are our works ..
PaperMoon's Tribute (http://forum.onemanga.com/showthread.php?t=31147)

[Locke]

I have a question. I decided to try manga colouring. I know I'll suck and get frustrated. But then I found a new frustration and idk if you know anything about me. But when something is infuriatingly ridiculous I'd like to know why.

Okay I use GIMP 2.4. I go into my colouring, colours work fine. I think, I'll make this dudes hair yellow. Oh no, I chose yellow and now every one of my colours is a shade of grey.

WHAT TEH ****?!

[Kakuzake]

I have a question, I want to make some animated with my sig, but if you guys and give some Tuts, that would be great.

[brackend25]

personally i find gimp useful for getting rid of black bgs on spirte sheets and man verious things but gimp is is my 2nd favorite to corel paint shop pro x which has simlair features to gimp

[liu]

I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread like this where the more experienced users could throw out an idea for noobs to get beyond merely using the tools from the toolbar and also expand their reach within items in the menus. I'm by no means a seasoned user, but I think I've come a good distance in a short period of time, so I'll obviously throw out the first tip.

Let's try to make this thread worthwhile and stay as much on topic as possible. Feel free to ask questions, though.

[liu]

The other day, there was a small discussion about arcs. There was an answer given, but I'm not satisfied with the answer. Yesterday I stumbled across an idea that I think would be a little better at least until the GIMP incorporates a module into the drawing/painting tools to use ctrl and alt keys to create arcs.

To create an arc have an open image on whatever layer you want, etc. Select the "Paths tool: create and edit paths" or type b. It should be set to design. Select the start point of the arc, then the end point. This will create a straight path. Either select the path line and move it adjusting the control points to get what you want or hold control and select the line and adjust. There are various ways. Then pick the "Stroke Path" button and adjust the controls as you like. Experiment a little.

I hope the explanation is good enough. I don't really want to create a video of it.

[liu]

Well, the other day I had some ideas for more tips, but didn't write them down, so today all I can think of is something for total noobs: Using layers.

What are layers? Layers are like drawing on one piece of paper, laying on a piece of tracing paper and add some stuff like color or extra line work to it. This way you don't mess up the main drawing and you can easily correct mistakes, change colors, turn off layers, etc.

Now, the problem you might have is; where are these layers. Normally, they're turned on, but to save on screen space you might've turned them off. To reload the dialog box for it, go to the menu on your drawing screen under windows->dockable dialogs you will see many possibilities. Select layers. The dialog should come up.

Most likely there is a Background layer. You can leave this, rename it, delete it, whatever. To add a layer as to not disturb the one that is currently in existence, right click somewhere in the dialog box. You will see many selections. Pick new layer. Another dialog box will appear. You should type an easily identifiable name for the purpose that you will be using the layer. As your layer list grows, it becomes more important to id what layers contain what. When I render a character, I tend to have at least 15 layers.

To get a little more involved with layers and get used to them, you should note the word Mode: Normal near the top of the dialog. While having a layer selected that is above another layer, select the arrow beside normal twice and don't move your mouse. Using the scroll wheel (assuming you have one), scroll down, it will flip through different mode possibilities. If you don't have scrolling capabilities, all I can tell you is to select each mode one by one. There is technical jargon on what these different modes do, but it's better to see it with your own eyes. Just make sure there is something drawn on each layer and that they overlap in some way.

I'm going to leave it at that today. Play with layers and modes and even try the opacity selector to get a feel for it. Tomorrow, I think I'll discuss layer masks. They're fun and really important.

[liu]

Okay, since my thread and this one has been merged and it seems to have been a while since anyone posted anything real in here or useful, I'm going to hi-jack this into what I wanted it to be, which is a tips and tricks / tutorial of sorts. I hope we still have GIMP users here. First, I can answer Lockes question about why yellow turns gray, at least I'll try. Open your drawing, under the image menu you'll find modes. In the submenu there is RGB, grayscale, indexed, etc. You probably have grayscale selected. Change it to RGB.

As for the animated gifs, that deals with layers and naming them using something like 500ms, then saving as a gif. I know that doesn't completely answer it, but if you know gimp already, it shouldn't be too hard. I learned by opening a gif file and seeing what it was made of. Really simple.

On to the next tip. I said I'd discuss layer masks. The question of how to cut out a character (render) from its background, has been raised many times in the first eight pages, but the best answer was to use the paths tool. I assume that the next step would've been to create a selection and copy/paste into a new file. This works, but as I'm sure you know it's messy and difficult. Layer masks clean up and in many cases can speed up your work. To do this you need to understand LM's.

First things first. What is a layer mask? It's like another layer, but it's attached to a layer and is only grayscale. What it does is pretty amazing. Open an image. In the layers dialog, right click on any layer and select "Add layer mask". A popup dialog will come up with various radio buttons that you can select. For starters, let's leave white selected and hit add. Wow, that did nothing right? Well, over in the layers dialog, next to the layer you added the mask to, a white box appeared. Select the layer, then the white box. You should see a white rectangle bordering them as you do. This means that either the layer itself or the mask is active. When creating the mask, the mask will default to being active. Make sure it is now that way.

Under the toolbox dialog select the Blend (gradient) tool or type L. Make sure the gradient is black and white. Then on your image, create the gradient. You will see part of the image disappear. You will also notice that the once, white square of the LM, is now the black and white gradient. While the LM is active, you can smudge, draw, blur, sharpen, do many things to the black and white LM. If you hold down the alt button and select the LM box, the image will show the mask itself and the box will turn green. Turn it back on and hold ctrl and select it and it will turn red and the mask will be inactive from the image screen. Turn it back on. Play around with this for a bit by drawing in black around the part of the image you want to remove and white for parts you want to keep. Use the tools bolded above to smudge and draw. Take notice that as you add white, parts of the image come back. This alone makes LM's valuable, as you no longer have to worry about messing up an image because the selection and paths tools didn't cut properly.

For today, I'll let you chew on that and move on to using different selections and possibilities with LM's.

[Aribelle]

Oh cool, a GIMP thread :3

I agree that the paths tool is the best way to extract an image from its background. It's a little frustrating at first because it takes a while but it's much easier/quicker with practice. It also, IMO, makes a cleaner selection than the polygon tool (or I'm just really bad at using it, which is entirely possible ^^") and is easier to manipulate...which is good for making selections of oddly shaped things you want to fill...

Layer masks are fun...I use them mainly for blending the render into the background.

My favorite tool is the clone stamp though. With a lot of jitter. For me it's much faster than making a clipping mask and you get more control over what goes where \o/

[liu]

Hehe. Paths work, but paths along with layer masks work even better because you can blur the LM and keep or work in, better anti-aliasing, which paths alone have a hard time doing. I'll have to look into that jitter clone thing. I haven't been a fan of cloning lately, not that I don't think it isn't useful. It is. It just seems clunky to me.

[Aribelle]

I usually only apply jitter when I'm using a simple, small brush like the circle or the square...if it's a splatter brush or something then I generally don't. But it's fun to play around with :3 just be sure to set the spacing to a high setting, otherwise things clump together :<

[Vergil5]

I hope you don't mind if I ask a question about gimp. I just downloaded gimp today and I am trying to make a signature. This will be my first ever signature and I need help with putting a render into my signature. I'm not sure how to do it since this is my first time. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Renji=Axel+Reno]

Gimp is so confusin been about 4 months and I still only get half of the things T.T

[Aribelle]

Yeahh GIMP is confusing. But I've found various tutorials floating around DA to be really helpful in just learning different techniques <3

The one thing I don't like about it though is that when I have it open all my other applications run really slowly D:

@Vergil5 - to put a render into your sig what you do is:

1) open the render in GIMP

2) select all (ctrl + a) and copy (ctrl + c)

3) paste it into your sig (ctrl + v)

4) re-size it however you want (shift + t) and hold down ctrl + shift while you size it to keep the proportions the same

5) hit "m" and drag it wherever you want, and then either hit ctrl + v to paste it onto the layer you have activated or ctrl + shift + n to make it a new layer.

[MangaHut.com]

You have to go online and google it.
You'll find a whole bunch of guides that 'members here' can't tell you well enough.

[liu]

MangauHut.com. I don't think you need to make that sort of comment. Helping people to learn this program is the whole reason I'm resurrecting this thread. I think it's pretty lame that you sign up here just to post spam.

As for importing the image (render) you want, there is an easier way than posted above. You can create or open the file you want to import it in and under the file menu select "Open as Layers". This will allow you to find the image you want and import it in as a layer. Simple. Easy. No need to select, ctrlA, or anything else. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, you still need to resize it; the layer that is, not the image. Go to the layer menu and select "scale layer".

[liu]

Alright, let's play with layer masks some more. I want to keep these posts as not reading like a tutorial and more like tricks that help you know how to experiment.

Open a drawing whose background you want to remove. Right click the layer to get the layer mask dialog that we got yesterday. This time, select the "grayscale copy of layer" radio button and okay, then hold alt and select the mask in the layer dialog. This is called "show layer mask". So I'll use that now. So, what's a grayscale layer mask useful for, you ask? It makes the image look crappy, you say? That it does. This is where we get away from what's on the toolbox and go hunting through menus.

In the colors menu, there are three tools that come in real handy here.

First tool and easiest to use is "Invert". It does exactly what it says, it inverts the colors. This is useful when the part of the image you want to keep ends up becoming transparent. In a grayscale case like the one we should have now, many things are probably transparent, so this might not help at this time. However, that is the area you want the whitest, so if it's black, you might try to invert it first.

Second tool is "Levels". You have Input and Output levels. I tend to manipulate the Input levels only, but experiment and see what it does for you. Pick the arrows on the Input levels and drag them around. What you're looking for is to get the gray out and have at least enough black and white to differentiate between what you want to keep and remove. Make sure the "Preview" toggle is selected at the bottom of the dialog so you'll see the levels change in real time. If you find something you like, select okay. Before you do, you should notice the button/bar that reads "Edit these settings as Curves". That's the third tool.

Curves can look scary and intimidating. Don't worry, I'll try and explain the best I can. You'll notice that there is a grayscale bar along the x and y axis, a grid and a diagonal line in the middle with a bezier curve and some dots. The dots are what you need to manipulate. Also, just like you probably noticed with the levels, there is a graph imprinted behind the grid. This is the histiogram. From what I can tell, it's showing the gray levels of different parts of the image. I still have yet to try and dissect histiograms. Select the curve and move the points around. What you need to understand is what's going on. The x axis shows the image as it is rendered, i.e. what's black, gray or white. The y axis shows what the images contrast will become. IOW, if you select the curve and move it up and left, what's black according to the x axis, will become whiter. If you move it down, then to the right, what's white will become blacker. Basically, anything to the lower right will become darker and vice versa. I hope that makes sense. Play around with these options with your layer masks and take note that these can be used to manipulate colors as well. You can make many points on the curve, as long as they're not overlapping each other on a vertical axis. You'd learn that one quickly anyway.

What we are trying to accomplish with this type of layer mask is to create a black and white mask so we can get rid of backgrounds. So I don't leave you waiting for what to do next, I'll explain a bit more.

When you get your grayscale to a decent level of black and white, you then need to fill in the areas that you want removed with black and white for the areas you want to keep, using one of the pen tools. Same as the previous tip. Using grayscale may or may not be to your liking, but it can come in very handy and give you a head start to perfecting your layer mask.

Bonus tip for the day. If you have something that you've created a layer mask of and would like a selection of that area alone, right click in the layer dialog and select "Mask to Selection". From there you can copy and paste or whatever you want. If you want to create a path of that selection, go to "select" on the menu bar and select "To path" at the bottom of the list. This will create a path that you can turn on or off and manipulate if you so desire.

[Vergil5]

Thanks for the tips they really helped. But I need to know how to get rid of the background of the image. What I'm doing is using a render but it has a black background on it. I was wondering how cut out the black background?

[Aribelle]

The way I extract images is by using paths. Here (http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-using-paths.html) is a simple introduction to what paths are and how to use them. Outline the part of the stock image you want to extract, click "create selection from path", and then copy and paste. There are other ways, but that's the easiest for me.

[liu]

Could you link me to the image or post it. One idea would be to do a color select (shift + O), select the black, then do a layer mask using the selection radio button. You might want to also select the Invert toggle, otherwise the LM might be reversed from what you want. If the rendering you want is transparent, go to select, none, then color, invert. This should invert the LM and give you what you want.

If you don't deselect the image, a color invert will pretty much nullify the LM and the whole thing will be either white or black. Anyway, follow the tips above for fine tuning. Feel free to ask any other questions.

[Vergil5]

Here (http://planetrenders.net/renders/displayimage.php?album=search&cat=0&pos=14) is a link to the image.

Thanks for giving me a link to a tutorial Aribelle. I'm gonna read it and work on using paths for the renders. Thanks Liu for also helping me. I am going to try your method as well.

[Aribelle]

It says no image :(

Also if you got the image from Planet Renders it should already be rendered. Just download it and it should be good to go...the black background is there on the site but it's transparent once you save the image. If it's an effect c4d, however, then just paste it in with the black background and set the layer mode to screen or addition, or you can see which other layer modes you like.

[Vergil5]

Sorry about the image. I'll just download the image instead thanks for the help. I really don't know what I'm doing lol. But I need to learn so I can get better at this.

[Aribelle]

Lol, no worries. GIMP is confusing. Go to DeviantArt and look for GIMP signature tutorials; they'll be really helpful ^^

[liu]

Well, I think I've talked Layer Masks to death enough and what's there should be enough to get by on, but as LM's tend to not be the first things that a noob should learn, let's focus on how to create and use selections and paths. First, it's important to know what version of GIMP is being used. Under help, select about. It will tell you something like GIMP 2.6.6, which is what I'm currently using. I haven't checked but I believe it's the latest stable release. Anyway, this is important because previous to the 2.6 release there was a tool that existed, but didn't work. Well, that tool works now, for the most part, and is very useful but first let's familiarize ourselves with the different tools and what they do.

Look at the toolbox dialog, which should be open by default. Don't close it, it's your best friend. On said dialog, you see a bunch of images that look like they might do something. The first 8 images are selection and path tools.

The first two are by far the easiest to use due to familiarity, and should be pretty self-explanatory.

The third is the "free select tool" which is good for making quick, though messy, selections. Might not be bad for getting an LM started. You also need to note that if you don't close the selection it will create an open curve path that you can rotate and scale, but can be really annoying. Use with caution. To start over when you don't get what you want, hit escape a few times, or switch to another tool and back. If you want to use those features, just close it up when you're done and a selection will be created.

Fourth and fifth tool are "Fuzzy select tool" and "Color select tool". They both make selections based off of color. You'll want to adjust the threshold slider as you use these. Just try them. They will come in handy.

The sixth tool is the scissor select tool. It's the one that used to not work. What it's designed to do is work like the paths tool, only it draws its own bezier curves between the points you select based off of colors. When it doesn't quite select what you want, you can grab the curve itself and adjust it in real time, which allows you to see where to drop the new control point. When you've closed this selection, you need to select inside it to create the selection. Otherwise, you'll become frustrated at not having a selection.

The seventh is "Foreground select tool". It looks really cool, but I haven't figured out how to get it to actually make a selection. It's kinda like how the scissors tool used to not work. It would do everything really cool, but you couldn't actually make a selection. If anyone has figured out how to make it work, please do tell. Otherwise, hopefully it will be working in the next release.

The eighth tool is the "Paths tool". This one is probably the most popular. It is not really a selection tool, but can create selections, as well you can create paths from all the other selections, which is why I'm putting them together. The paths tool allows you to select points around your image that you want to create a path of. It creates lines between these points. You can create a completely closed path, then make adjustments, or make adjustments while creating the path. It's up to you. There are some points to take note of that should help you understand how to use them.

1) The points that you create are called control points. They have an on/off (active/inactive) switch. You flip it by selecting the point. You need one selected in order to make a continuous line, otherwise you'll end up making multiple paths or points with no line (curve).

2) The line between two points is called a curve. You make it arc by either selecting in and moving it, or holding ctrl while selecting the control point. You will see a dashed line and a square. We'll call these curve points. When they're directly on their control points, you get an angle, but when they are moved away, they cause the paths to arc. You select these to manipulate the curvature of the arcs. To add finer control, you hold control while selecting the curve itself and it will create another control point, with curve points already stretched out. On the toolbox you should see "Edit mode". I hardly use the radio buttons. I find it easier to use ctrl and alt if I need to move the path.

3) You don't have to close a path. The allows you to create arcs and curves or lines from the path. I don't think it would create a selection though. I haven't tried, and fear it might crash if I did.

That's it for understanding what makes paths tick, but the other options under edit mode need some clarification.

The polygonal toggle button will allow you to create curves that have no curve points. Therefore, you can only make angled paths, with no arcs.

Selection from path is pretty self explanatory, it creates a selection. The stroke path creates line work based on the options in the dialog box that pops up. Give them a try. The only thing that might make you wonder in there is the "Emulate brush dynamics" toggle, which I'll explain another time. They won't make or break you at this point.

[liu]

As that last one was very long winded, I felt it would be best to break it up a bit.

Within the selection tools, on everything except the paths tool, you will see the word "Mode" and four little red/white squares. These are important features that help you build a good selection if you don't want to use the path tool. Believe it or not, understanding how selections work can be quicker and better used than the paths tool and like I said before, you can create a path from a selection once you're done for future use.


First mode option is "Replace the current selection". It's the standard and only lets you create one selection at a time.

Second option: "Add to the current selection". This will allow you to make many rectangles that can overlap or be independent of a group of selections.

Third option: "Subtract from the current selection". When you use this mode, you create a cutout of an existing selection. Let's say you want that negative space behind that chunk of hair to not be in your selection; use the subtract option and create the selection around it. If you were to then select a pen tool and draw around this area, you'd see that the area that was selected will not take any of the brushing.

Fourth option: "Intersect with current selection". What it does is create a selection from any selections that are overlapping. Simply put, make a selection, then create another selection using this option that overlaps a corner of the first. What will be left is where they both existed in the same space. I don't think this one gets used very often.

Try these selection methods out and see what you think. If you're looking to use these with LM's, and you really should be, don't worry too much about it being a perfect selection, just get it close. You can manipulate the LM to get it perfect.

Something to note about paths. To create a path from a selection, you go to the select pull-down in the image menu and at the bottom hit "To Path". This appears to do nothing, but if you have your path dialog open, you will see unnamed paths that are most likely not visible i.e. they don't have the eye icon. Select the button just like the layers has and activate the eye. You should rename the paths so you can find them later. To open the paths dialog, my choice is to place it in the layers dialog as a tab, go to the layers dialog and the arrow to the far right of the word layers. Select it and you will find many options. Add tab is what you're looking for. Find the paths tab there. Use it. You can add other useful tabs too.

To make use of these paths, you select the paths tool and then select the path you want to work with.

[liu]

Okay, for today's tip, I'm going to talk about brush dynamics. This means that I'm skipping all the tools like rotate, crop and scale and moving straight over to the drawing tools. That's probably more important anyway, plus it continues the discussion about paths from yesterday. First thing to note is that all the tools from the pencil tool to the dodge/burn tool have this. Sorry paint bucket, gradient tool and ink tool, we're not playing with you today.

For this tip you'll want to open the "air brush" tool. Looking down the panel, you'll come to the words "Brush Dynamics". There is a little + sign to the left. Select it, it will open a grid of toggle buttons where it's possible that only one button is selected. Of all the tools that have Brush Dynamics, air brush has the most, but it will be the same for all of them.

The column on the left has three words: Pressure, Velocity, and Random. The row across the top has five: Opacity, Hardness, Rate, Size, and Color.

Pressure doesn't work with mice as it's an option for pen tools that gauge the hand pressure of the user. Leaving Opacity for pressure is probably a good idea as it would be important to have it recognize that the mouse has any pressure applied when you select the button.

The Velocity row measures the speed that the user moves the mouse/pen.

Random would apply all the options in the rows as it pleases. It can be fun and useful, but it can also be annoying. Use as needed. With a mouse, I've found that the best use for this is having size and opacity selected and making individual marks on the image to achieve the effect of depth and size for things like snow fall.
__________________________________________________ ______

Opacity is quite obvious as it determines how opaque or transparent to make the marks. If you select Velocity/Opacity, you will have brush work that becomes more opaque or transparent as you increase or decrease the rate at which you move the mouse. This might work better with other tools than air brush as air brush is designed to increase in opacity depending on the increments on the Pressure/Rate sliders at the bottom of the panel.

Hardness changes the hardness or softness of the edges of a brush stroke.

Rate is the speed at which color is applied. Imagine it like water coming out of a hose. The more you open the nozzle, the faster water comes out. This option is only on Airbrush, Sharp/Blur and smudge tools.

Size is imo one of the most important options. It should be obvious that the size of the stroke will change. By selecting it under velocity, it changes the thickness of the stroke by how fast or slow you move, and random is well, random. Go figure.

Color changes the color of the stroke based of of the foreground and background colors currently selected.

The last thing under brush dynamics and next to all the toggles are level indicator buttons that look like you have a good phone connection, right? These are a percentage indicator that you can set to determine how much pressure, velocity or randomness to use. For mouse users to get comfortable with this one, I'd set velocity to color, adjust the percentage and start filling in a blank image.

As with all these tips, I'm trying to give you a little room to experiment, so try these tips out, don't just read them. You will only learn to use the gimp by applying the information. Eventually, it will not be confusing.

[liu]

Today's tip is one that I'll let a page link demonstrate; anti-aliasing and super sampling (http://www.pantherproducts.co.uk/Articles/Graphics/anti_aliasing.shtml).
While the person who wrote it could make use of a spell and grammar checker, it should help you understand what these are and why they are so important. Read at least the first two pages. He only discusses this topic with text, but imagine an image "render" that you want to pull from a different source. By using Layer masks and Gaussian blurring the mask, you will be forcing the edges of the image on the background to become transparent and you'll be able to put your render on any background, regardless of color.

[liu]

Today is another simple one: Preferences. I'm not going to go over all of them. Mainly, I want to cover one that has bothered me lately.

Have you ever been using a pen tool or the eraser tool to clear away the edge of an image that you're working on, but that mouse pointer blocks what you're trying to see so you end up guessing a few times until you get it or give up in frustration? Well, under the edit pull-down menu, at the very bottom is a menu item called preferences. Select this and you are inundated with a dialog with way too much info. There are three important things that you might want to check out in all of this.

Default Image: Here you can change the standard width and height, resolution, color space i.e. RGB, Grayscale, etc. and how a new image will be filled, among other options. Any time you create a new image, it will start out like this.

Image Windows: This is the one I was speaking of concerning the mouse pointer. Here you can turn it off and only see the pen tool outline itself. Select Image Windows and under mouse pointers, deselect the "Show pointer for paint tools" toggle. You can play around with the settings in there as well, to get it however you like it.

Folders: This one's not so important as to change any settings, but it will show you where things like brushes are stored and where you save your new items to. One important note, "Don't save items under the Program Files path. They will be deleted when you upgrade. Put them under the documents and settings path or create your own path and set the path in preferences so the gimp or any program that uses it, will know where to look for them.

[Aribelle]

Layer boundaries drive me up the wall. I'm sure people have figured this out but you go to "view" and uncheck "show layer boundary" to make that ugly thing go away DX

[liu]

I've never tried that, but then I like to know the boundaries of layers in case I need to increase it for growing boundaries that need to be larger than the current layer boundary. Mostly, I've just set the layer to image size when I'm satisfied with where it's placed, except for text, usually. Nice tip though.

Oh, and thanks for chiming in, Ari. It gets kinda boring talking to myself all the time.

Also, I was wondering if anyone has anything they just don't get with GIMP? It would be nice to talk about something that others might want to work with so gimp isn't considered a confusing program anymore. Just like with any program, once you get used to it, it's easy.

Would it be wrong to put a link to this thread in my sig to attract some attention?

[Aribelle]

No problem ^^ I wish I had more to say...

I just don't have much use for layer boundaries...if I had more skill in gimp I'd probably find a place for them lol, but...that is not the case. I feel like they just get in the way and it makes it harder for me to look at whatever I'm working on as a whole.

[Apocalypse]

Wow can't believe there is a thread just for Gimp... which seems to be a bunch of useless information and jibber-jabber... Do I have to make a real thread just for Gimp advice and tutorials? *sigh* Guess I do, let me talk to an admin or mod and I'll have it up and running within an hour.

By the way, seeing as there are very few good Gimp users, I consider myself a extreme amateur, but I am willing to be a "mentor" to those that want me to be one... there are a few rules, but just PM me with a few of your works and I'll consider helping.
>.> I need more competition for Gimp stuff. <.<

[liu]

Well, today I'm a little out of time, so I guess I'll just comment on a simple idea. You have a image of some character that you want to paste into your freshly created tag. There are many ways of doing this, but the easiest I've found by far is to select file under the pull-down menu, then "Open as layers". Find the image in the ensuing dialog and select it. Your image will be now a part of your new tag, on its own separate layer that you don't have to rename, unless you want to as its name will be the same as the file you dropped in including its .jpg extension. Either way, no need for opening the original, copying or pasting. It's all done for you. Easy as pie. Have fun.

I think tomorrow I'll discuss the differences between xcf jpg and png, since those are the most common gfx extensions. I'll apologize now for the extended technical barrage, but one day, you may thank me for it.

[liu]

Let's get this started early today. I intend to keep this at a noob level. All I want is for you to understand what graphics formats are used in and out of GIMP and how they are used.

JPG. This is a file format used for viewing regular images. It doesn't allow transparency, so if you save to this format anything transparent will be filled in. I tested this on my Halloween tag and it just removed the layer mask that shrinks the rectangle that allows parts of the image to overflow the border. The jpg file format is considered a lossy format. What this means is that if you increase or decrease the image size, quality of the image will be lost. Edges will be jagged.

PNG. This file format is also used for viewing images. It doesn't allow layers, but does allow transparency. That doesn't mean you can't create and use layers in a png file. It just means that when you save it, close and reopen it, your layers will be gone. Same goes for jpg's. Unlike jpg's, png's are what is called a lossless format. This is the opposite of lossy and should maintain quality during resizing, but I wouldn't call it perfect.

The file format used to draw your graphics is XCF. This is equivalent to what photoshop calls PSD. These formats are intended for you to create your images in. They are not viewable by image tags and the like. They are for the sole purpose of creation. In fact, you can't even upload them to most sites. When you finish creating your xcf file, you should save it, then select file>save a copy, and save it as a jpg or png. I prefer png, but to each his own. Using save a copy will place a new, unopened image into the folder you selected, and keep the current xcf file open.

Finally, there is one more format I'd like to introduce here as GIMP actually has and makes limited use of them. SVG file format is a vector graphics format. What are vector graphics? To keep from getting too technical, vector graphics allow you to resize an image and have absolutely no loss of quality. Programs like Illustrator and Inkscape make excellent use of SVG's. It's what they mainly work in. I bring this up for GIMP, because when you create paths, you can export them for later use. The format you export them as is svg.

[Aribelle]

What's the difference between a png and a tif? Because tif files seem to retain color on my files better than png's. But they take up more space :<

I also thought I'd post some tutorials that were helpful for me - they're not super advanced and they're very easy to follow:

http://cisrulez.deviantart.com/art/Sneaux125-s-awesome-sig-tut-136775897 - steps 6 and 7 describe how to make a clipping mask

http://shallowmede-x.deviantart.com/art/GIMP-signature-tutorial-88683063 - I liked this one because it teaches you how to do gradient mapping and such

http://shallowmede-x.deviantart.com/art/ShineOnMe-GIMP-Signature-Tut-92750089 - use of the clone stamp tool and a way to work with stock images

And then these are just some that are fun to try:

http://gurssury.deviantart.com/art/Gimp-signature-tutorial-116812432

http://eugenio1.deviantart.com/art/Anime-SOTW-Tag-Tutorial-126417869

http://wolvyqueen.deviantart.com/art/Gimp-Signature-Effects-Tut-143709244

[liu]

Another major difference between most other image file formats and TIFF, is that TIFF allows for a wide range of different compression schemes and color spaces. These are specified in dedicated tags. Where other file formats are often designed to suit a single compression method, TIFF allows for JPEG or JBIG compression, the infamous LZW or the free-as-a-bird deflate compression, amongst many others. The same goes for color spaces. Theoretically, you could even use any compression method and color space of your own, though it goes without saying this would result in crippled portability. Reference (http://www.awaresystems.be/imaging/tiff/faq.html)
I forgot about the tif format as I don't use them when I can avoid them. Anyway, that should explain about why the colors seem to be better on the tif. Basically, it compresses all the color and other information to retain the best quality. That's why the files are so big. One possible reason your png files seem to lose their color quality isn't because the png can't handle the color. It was probably indexed. Remember the gif format. It has a problem of only being able to handle 256 colors, period. What's that have to do with pngs and indexing? Simple, whoever created it, probably wanted the file size to be more portable, i.e. smaller, so before saving it, they went to image>mode>indexed. In there you can have your png file stripped of all its glory and be more web worthy, i.e. be able to load quickly. Here's an example.
http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af338/liu6/instruction/AdmiraltyHeadLighthouse.jpghttp://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af338/liu6/instruction/AdmiraltyHeadLighthouse-1.png
The image to the left is just some pic I lifted off the net. The one on the right was indexed using web optimized pallete. See the loss. This is probably what happened to your png files you got, just not to such an extreme.

Thanks for the links. The first one?? How can you even read that. I like the second one on gradient maps. That's definitely a handy trick to have around. I'll have to look at the others later. Thanks for posting them.

BTW, if the images that I posted are a problem, I will find something that is more suitable, just let me know.

[liu]

Ari, I looked at all of those. There are definitely some good ideas in all of those, but I'd have to take them with a grain of salt. I didn't like the third one where the guy was constantly merging his layers. There are ways to avoid doing that, layer masks is one of them. How's he going to change anything if he'd like to try anything different? That's what I don't like about tutorials like those, they make assumptions that could lock you into bad habits if you don't realize that different practices could make better uses of the functionality of the program with similar results. It is nice to see how others make use of the program though. The image was really nice and I liked how the background looked marbleized. I just didn't like the constant merging.

[Aribelle]

Yes, merging is bad :< personally I think the best way to get around that is by using copy visible and paste as a new layer (or go to layer > new from visible in newer versions of gimp).

I think it's good to try as many tutorials as you can though - even if some of them do use methods that are not the best, as you go you find what works best for you and what's easiest to implement.

[liu]

Yep, that's a nice one when you want to copy everything into one layer. I'll try to remember that, next time I have the need.

[liu]

I most likely won't be around for a couple of weeks, and am leaving soon, so here's a quick simple tip dealing with issues that come when a tool usually works, but for some reason, on the particular image you're working on, it doesn't. Under the image>mode menu, you can change the colorspace that is being used. This is where you set an image to all colors RGB, grayscale, or indexed. Indexed was touched upon previously, and is a way for you to shrink the file size of images to smaller color amounts. This creates a loss of quality, so be careful. If you get an image that is b/w, and want to add color to it, change the colorspace from grayscale to RGB. Changing your image from grayscale or indexed to RGB will also open many previously unusable features.

Hope that's informative. See you next year.

[liu]

Happy New Year. Today let's focus on the use of b/w images. Why? Because they're important. You may not ever actually need to use them, but understanding what they can do is very useful. I'll show some images too, so be happy.
First we need an image.
http://i49.tinypic.com/3480uoo.jpg
This came from a c4d pack I think. Anyway, there are a few ways to make it b/w. The way I like to use best is under colors>colorize, then set the saturation bar to 0. Simple. Duplicate this layer before changing it.
http://i47.tinypic.com/2njv9eb.jpg
Then I adjust the contrast using curves. You could use levels or brightness-contrast, but I like the flexibility I have with curves. Here's what I get.
http://i48.tinypic.com/21jpqgj.jpg
So, what is it we're trying to do, you ask? It's ugly, right? Well, with this we can make better use of the bump map, layer masks, and other tools that use a grayscale pattern for making it's adjustment.

For bump maps, go to filters>map>bump map. Be sure and have the current layer set to the one you want to bump. If you want to keep the original intact, make a copy first. In here you find at the top Bump map: and a pull-down. This contains the layers of all open drawings. Imagine the possibilities. Open it and select your bw layer. There is a preview window and you should already see a difference. After this there are many more options to select. Tile bump map only works if you're using a smaller bump image than that of this image being bumped. Azimuth is a technical term that basically moves the bw around in a circle adjusting the way the shadow looks. To me it just looks like a blur. You need to find the right setting for your particular bump to work. 0 and 360 should be pointing north. If you grab the slider and move it to about 4 different areas it should look like it's moving in a ccw circle.

The elevation slider moves the bw image forward and back causing the image to look deeper or shallower. If you move all the way to the left, it will turn b/w and to the right it will have a shallow looking bump. The depth slider is similar to elevation, but works on the illusion of depth on the integration of the two images. Ambient adjusts the light on the b/w image, decreasing the amount of bump.

x/y offsets are what they say they are, they will move the b/w image horizontally and vertically.

I have no idea about the waterlevel. I think I actually saw something happen with it some time ago, but not since. I suppose I could read the help files, but then, so can anyone.

There are three types of Map types. Linear, Spherical and Sinusoidal. Just play with them and see what you like. I'm using Spherical on this one.
http://i49.tinypic.com/3480uoo.jpg http://i50.tinypic.com/29zq26o.jpg

There they are next to each other for comparison. I didn't create a deep bump, but you can if you want to. Lastly, the use of b/w images is important because what you need to know is that with tools that use them, they use the varying degrees of gray to determine how deep to make a bump as in bump maps, or transparencies such as layer masks.

note: I'm sure that GIMP and others can take an image or layer that is colored and use it in its grayscale form for these operations, but by showing this, you should be able to see that you have more flexibility in determining what's black, white and gray.

[Jesus_Anime_Freak]

I'm new to Gimp and I just figured out how to get pictures into the program but now I can't figure out how to make sigs with them. I keep trying to re-size it first and every time I do I only get a part of the picture.
How can I make a sig with one or more pictures and a background? Sort of like liu's sig?

[liu]

I'll assume I understand what you're asking. Correct me if I'm wrong. To create a sig, start with a clean image 500x150. Go to file>open as layers... and select the image you want to insert. Then go to layer>scale layer. Then scale it to size. You could also use the scale tool and it will scale the layer dynamically. For more images, just repeat the previous process. If you need to remove parts of an image, select the path tool and create a path around the part you want to keep. Then create a selection from the path, invert and delete. When you get the hang of using the path tool, go back to the bottom of page 9 and read up on layer masks. These combined with the use of paths improves the look of the edges of all images. Also, if you have areas that you'd like to be translucent, then layer masks are a must. Oh, save your main files as xcf, then when you're satisfied with the look of the image, go to file>save a copy as a png. Hope that helps.

[RareDragon]

well im going back to using GIMP and i always wondered is there a way to get better Text for GIMP, or were do u get yours from, i have 2.6.8

[Aribelle]

Like better fonts? Try here (http://www.1001freefonts.com/) and here (http://www.dafont.com/).

[liu]

The text isn't specific to GIMP or PS. It comes from www.dafont.com or elsewhere and you unzip them into your c:\windows\fonts\ folder. Then you reopen GIMP and they should be there. Although, it's probably better practice to put them into a folder of your choice and then set under preferences, a path to that folder where you put them. Anyway, glad to see another GIMP user. Hope to see some works from you. If you have any questions, just ask. I'm learning new stuff all the time. If there's any tidbits of info you have, I'd love to hear them, too.

[JustPassingBy]

There are plenty of different editing tutorials and most of them include a fontpackage.
I think I uploaded even one on our homepage with the most common ones.
If you are a beginning editor, it's best to get such a package instead of searching for each individual font.

Hm... GIMP... nostalgic programm, I actually started typesetting with it. ^^
Btw. does anybody know whether or not there's a good cleaning guide with GIMP?