The Gimp is an image manipulation program. Much like Adobe’s Photoshop. For many it would provide a viable alternative.
And its free!
The Gimp is available across most operating systems: Windows; Mac OS and Linux.
The Gimp maybe obtained from https://www.gimp.org/downloads/ or downloaded via the Linux repositories.
Presentation
The image above shows the three opening windows of the Gimp, from left to right:
- Toolbox
- Layers
- Main image view
Its this layout arrangement which is often cited as a hindrance to using the Gimp when coming from another image manipulation program.
However, the arrangement can be efficient in terms of desktop real estate space. When using two monitors I like to put the Toobox and Layers dialogue window on one screen and the main window on the second.
I find when working on an image I can set this on the main screen and group component parts together on the second screen. The position of the image window helping to organise my work. With a second all encompassing window that 2nd dimension to working is lost.
For those who prefer a single window as the working environment there’s an option to work single screen.
It’s surprising what can be achieved with the Gimp. A search on the internet or a wander through the menus can bring inspiration.
Toolbox Window
The upper part of this window shows a choice of icons, performing the most common actions on the image.
At the bottom of this section are the two colour blocks for colour selection: foreground and background.
Clicking on either of these colour blocks pops up a window to change the selected colour.
In the lower part of the window are options associated with the icon selection in the top pane. For example selecting the blend fill tool will show blend options, gradient selection, opacity and so on.
Layers Window
The Gimp supports image layers, as you would expect.
Layers are used to build an image. Its much easier to create elements on different layers rather than putting everything on the same layer.
In the lower part of the window is shown different brush types, patterns and gradients.
Image View Window
This is the main activity window for the Gimp. There is one window per image. Opening multiple images can result in a few of these windows.
Actions on the image maybe from the toolbox, or by selection from the menu running across the top of the image view.
Opening and Closing Images
Images can be opened from the menu bar at the top of the main image view, but I usually do so by dragging the image in from a folder.
If you do it this way then drag onto the toolbox. Otherwise the image may be included within the current working image layer.
Dragging the image to be opened from the folder view. Once released over the Toolbox it will open as its own image view Window. Each image which has been opened is shown in its own window with the menu across the top.
If you are opening a portrait photo, handily the Gimp will ask if you wish its orientation to be changed.
Here’s the 3 windows once again: toolbox, layers and image view, now with an image for editing.
Save and Export
Image work is saved as a Gimp project file with all of the layers.
An image is exported to a flat image file, jpg, png or other. Whilst the idea of exporting to a non-Gimp project file type was introduced a while ago now, I still find I click on save expecting to set the file type by the extension.
If you are saving as a jpg file for use on a website you may wish to downgrade the quality of the image. Thus reducing the weight of the saved image, making the website page more responsive and faster to download.
You can play games reducing the quality until pixelation is just visible – but is it worth that effort? I have found that a quality of 80 percent suffices, no pixelation, with a decent improvement in image weight.
Highlights of the Image View Menu
Select
My main use of the select menu options is to select none. Sometimes after making selections, particularly the free-form shapes where there can be a reluctance to let go.
Colours
Change the colour of the image. Whether its simple black and white or modifying the contrast and lightness.
Image
The image menu includes
If an opened image isn’t allowing all the colours and layers actions, check to see
The image can be scaled. And using the Canvas size, dimensions changed to fit. allows the horizontal or vertical dimension to be set.
Layers
This menu includes elements from the image menu, but used purely for the selected layer.
Again we see the transform sub-menu.
words about scaling and resizing the layer
Comments about pasting in an image as layer and setting it as a new layer within the layers toolbox..
Tools and Filters
Here are given the actions to perform on the image/layer. Actions such as drop shadows, pixelation of names and email
Lots of actions on the image listed under filters. And more available.
The Gimp has a healthy range of scripts available for image manipulation.
End of Session
To close the Gimp, close the main image window, not the toolbox windows. If you’ve closed the toolbox or layer window these can be restored from the Windows > recently closed docks selection.
Further Reading
You may find these references of interest:
The Gimp website: https://www.gimp.org/
A history of The Gimp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP
