Posted 12 years ago
·
Author
I am going to update this topic and add notes as I see necessary,this is a topic about how to install certain things such as scripts and plugins along with some things that will prove really helpful if you're going to read my tutorials,I recommend reading through this. It is going to be updated as I cannot write everything that needs to be written in just one day.
GIMP Basics
Where to download GIMP:
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html
.xcf file format:
.xcf is GIMP's exclusive file format. When you save a picture in this format, everything will remain the way you left it (layers, selections, undo history etc.). An .xcf picture cannot be uploaded to any image hosting site or imvu. ..png is the file format recommended for uploading. I always save my pictures as xcf while I am working on them and wait until im finished before I save them as .png/.gif because saving as png will permanently merge all of the layers.
To save a picture in .xcf format, go to File>save As, and add ".xcf" (without the quotations) to the end of the file name
How to capture images with GIMP:
There are several ways to do this.
I) Copying an image from your web browser. (FireFox)
1. Open GIMP.
2. Right click on any image on your browser and select "Copy Image".
3. On GIMP, go to File>Create>From clipboard.
II) The print screen method.
1. Open GIMP.
2. Go to File>New and set the size to something big enough.
3. Then hit your PrtScn key. (The name varies on the type of your computer, but it is usually similar)
4. Go on your image, right click and select Edit>Paste or just hit Ctrl+V
5. Grab your "Move Tool" and adjust the screenshot so as to make it easy for yourself to work with.
6. Anchor the layer you have just moved and you are done.
III) Using GIMP's "Screen shot..." feature.
1. Open GIMP.
2. Go to File>Create>Screen shot...
3. A window called WinSnap will pop up. Choose whether you want to grab a window in particular or the whole screen.
IV) Using your computer's screen shot capture tool. (It is available for all windows 7/vista users as far as I am aware of)
1. Start menu>Accessories>Snipping tool
2. This is pretty much self explanatory.
How to make the background of a picture transparent:
1) Take a screenshot of your avatar on a solid colour background. It is advised for the colour not to be anywhere on the clothes of the avatar, otherwise there are going to be a few more things to be done. (A lot of screenshot rooms have colour triggers)
2) Save your screenshot as .png and open it in GIMP.
3) Go to Layer>Transparency>Add Alpha Channel ( This step is essential. If you do not understand why, try skipping it once.)
4) Select the "Select by Colour Tool".
5) Click anywhere on the solid colour background. (The avatar and border should now be surrounded in "marching ants")
6) Hit your "Delete" key or go to Edit>Clear. Your background should now be transparent.
• If the "Select by Colour Tool" selects parts of your avatar, choose your "Free select Tool" and set it to "Substract from the current selection". After that, you can deselect the parts of your avatar that got caught up.
Outer glow on your avatar:
1) Create a layer with a screenshot of your avatar with a transparent background.
2) Duplicate the avatar layer and select the bottom avatar layer in the layers dialogue
3) Go to Filters>Alpha to Logo>Neon
4) In the window that appears, modify the settings and colours the way you want them and click OK
5) This Neon option should create four layers - Neon glow, Neon tubes, Background copy and background #1.
6) Delete "Background #1" if wish to put a different background behind the avatar.
• It is going to be shown as "Background #1" if you didn't rename it.
Notes = • or ()
GIMP = General Image Manipulation Program
Basic/Useful Resources And Information
It's good to always have a third GIMP window with the following tabs: Layers, Channels, Paths, Undo History, Brushes, Patterns, Gradients, Fonts. If you do not have a third GIMP window with tabs open, click on the button shown in the image below, then click add tab, left click, hold and drag the tabs' dialogue elsewhere.
The final result should be something close to this:
Free image hosting sites (I will be using imgur.com for my tutorials):
http://imgur.com/
photobucket.com/
imageshack.us/
• You can use other sites for image hosting, these are just some that I recommend.
Extraction/Compression programs:
http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm (Winrar)
http://www.7-zip.org/
http://legroom.net/software/uniextract
Fonts:
http://www.dafont.com/
http://www.1001freefonts.com/
http://www.fontfreak.com/
http://www.acidfonts.com/index.html
http://en.fontreactor.com/
Sites with GIMP brushes:
http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/ ... mpbrushes/
http://free-brushes.com/gimp/
http://www.obsidiandawn.com/brushes-categories
• I generally find deviantart the most helpful resource for anything GIMP related.
• File extension ".gbr" (GIMP brush). File extension ".gih" (GIMP brush pipe)
Sites with scripts and plugins:
http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/ ... s/?order=9
http://gimpscripts.com/
• File extension ".scm" (SCM file)
Patterns:
http://pattern8.com/
http://thedesigninspiration.com/category/patterns/
http://www.pgd-design.com/gimp/pat120.php
• File extension ".pat" (GIMP Pattern)
•I am using Windows 7 ultimate, which means that my file locations probably differ a bit if you are using a different operating system. But that does not matter as long as you remember where your GIMP folder is.
Installation Of Tools And Fonts
To install fonts:
1) Download the font
2) Extract the font
3) Either double click on it or move it to C:\Windows\Fonts
To install brushes:
1) Download the brushes
2) Extract the brushes to C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\brushes
• Extract only the .gbr and .gih files in that folder.
To install scripts:
1) Download the scripts
2) Extract all SCM files to C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\scripts
• You can usually find instructions for where to install scripts, there are some scripts that require you to put certain files to C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\gimpressionist\Presets in order to work.
To install patterns:
1) Download the pattern you want
2) Move it to C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\patterns
I think this is enough for today, I will write about GIMP's tools soon. In the meantime, anyone is free to ask questions or add some more helpful information which I will then put under consideration.
GIMP Basics
Where to download GIMP:
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html
.xcf file format:
.xcf is GIMP's exclusive file format. When you save a picture in this format, everything will remain the way you left it (layers, selections, undo history etc.). An .xcf picture cannot be uploaded to any image hosting site or imvu. ..png is the file format recommended for uploading. I always save my pictures as xcf while I am working on them and wait until im finished before I save them as .png/.gif because saving as png will permanently merge all of the layers.
To save a picture in .xcf format, go to File>save As, and add ".xcf" (without the quotations) to the end of the file name
How to capture images with GIMP:
There are several ways to do this.
I) Copying an image from your web browser. (FireFox)
1. Open GIMP.
2. Right click on any image on your browser and select "Copy Image".
3. On GIMP, go to File>Create>From clipboard.
II) The print screen method.
1. Open GIMP.
2. Go to File>New and set the size to something big enough.
3. Then hit your PrtScn key. (The name varies on the type of your computer, but it is usually similar)
4. Go on your image, right click and select Edit>Paste or just hit Ctrl+V
5. Grab your "Move Tool" and adjust the screenshot so as to make it easy for yourself to work with.
6. Anchor the layer you have just moved and you are done.
III) Using GIMP's "Screen shot..." feature.
1. Open GIMP.
2. Go to File>Create>Screen shot...
3. A window called WinSnap will pop up. Choose whether you want to grab a window in particular or the whole screen.
IV) Using your computer's screen shot capture tool. (It is available for all windows 7/vista users as far as I am aware of)
1. Start menu>Accessories>Snipping tool
2. This is pretty much self explanatory.
How to make the background of a picture transparent:
1) Take a screenshot of your avatar on a solid colour background. It is advised for the colour not to be anywhere on the clothes of the avatar, otherwise there are going to be a few more things to be done. (A lot of screenshot rooms have colour triggers)
2) Save your screenshot as .png and open it in GIMP.
3) Go to Layer>Transparency>Add Alpha Channel ( This step is essential. If you do not understand why, try skipping it once.)
4) Select the "Select by Colour Tool".
5) Click anywhere on the solid colour background. (The avatar and border should now be surrounded in "marching ants")
6) Hit your "Delete" key or go to Edit>Clear. Your background should now be transparent.
• If the "Select by Colour Tool" selects parts of your avatar, choose your "Free select Tool" and set it to "Substract from the current selection". After that, you can deselect the parts of your avatar that got caught up.
Outer glow on your avatar:
1) Create a layer with a screenshot of your avatar with a transparent background.
2) Duplicate the avatar layer and select the bottom avatar layer in the layers dialogue
3) Go to Filters>Alpha to Logo>Neon
4) In the window that appears, modify the settings and colours the way you want them and click OK
5) This Neon option should create four layers - Neon glow, Neon tubes, Background copy and background #1.
6) Delete "Background #1" if wish to put a different background behind the avatar.
• It is going to be shown as "Background #1" if you didn't rename it.
Notes = • or ()
GIMP = General Image Manipulation Program
Basic/Useful Resources And Information
It's good to always have a third GIMP window with the following tabs: Layers, Channels, Paths, Undo History, Brushes, Patterns, Gradients, Fonts. If you do not have a third GIMP window with tabs open, click on the button shown in the image below, then click add tab, left click, hold and drag the tabs' dialogue elsewhere.
The final result should be something close to this:
Free image hosting sites (I will be using imgur.com for my tutorials):
http://imgur.com/
photobucket.com/
imageshack.us/
• You can use other sites for image hosting, these are just some that I recommend.
Extraction/Compression programs:
http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm (Winrar)
http://www.7-zip.org/
http://legroom.net/software/uniextract
Fonts:
http://www.dafont.com/
http://www.1001freefonts.com/
http://www.fontfreak.com/
http://www.acidfonts.com/index.html
http://en.fontreactor.com/
Sites with GIMP brushes:
http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/ ... mpbrushes/
http://free-brushes.com/gimp/
http://www.obsidiandawn.com/brushes-categories
• I generally find deviantart the most helpful resource for anything GIMP related.
• File extension ".gbr" (GIMP brush). File extension ".gih" (GIMP brush pipe)
Sites with scripts and plugins:
http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/ ... s/?order=9
http://gimpscripts.com/
• File extension ".scm" (SCM file)
Patterns:
http://pattern8.com/
http://thedesigninspiration.com/category/patterns/
http://www.pgd-design.com/gimp/pat120.php
• File extension ".pat" (GIMP Pattern)
•I am using Windows 7 ultimate, which means that my file locations probably differ a bit if you are using a different operating system. But that does not matter as long as you remember where your GIMP folder is.
Installation Of Tools And Fonts
To install fonts:
1) Download the font
2) Extract the font
3) Either double click on it or move it to C:\Windows\Fonts
To install brushes:
1) Download the brushes
2) Extract the brushes to C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\brushes
• Extract only the .gbr and .gih files in that folder.
To install scripts:
1) Download the scripts
2) Extract all SCM files to C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\scripts
• You can usually find instructions for where to install scripts, there are some scripts that require you to put certain files to C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\gimpressionist\Presets in order to work.
To install patterns:
1) Download the pattern you want
2) Move it to C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\patterns
Quote wrote:Since GIMP 2.2 you can use.png, .jpg, .bmp, .gif, or .tiff files as patterns.
To make a pattern available, you place it in one of the folders in GIMP's pattern search path. By default, the pattern search path includes two folders, the system patterns folder, which you should not use or alter, and the patterns folder inside your personal GIMP directory. You can add new folders to the pattern search path using the Pattern Folders page of the Preferences dialog. Any PAT file (or, in GIMP 2.2, any of the other acceptable formats) included in a folder in the pattern search path will show up in the Patterns dialog the next time you start GIMP.
I think this is enough for today, I will write about GIMP's tools soon. In the meantime, anyone is free to ask questions or add some more helpful information which I will then put under consideration.
Last edited by Don Von Alpha Dom on Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:37 am, edited 3 times in total.
Reason: Update #1
