Gimp Intro
GNU Image Manipulation Program has been the free alternative to Adobe PhotoShop for the past decade. Though it doesn't have the features that the popular photo editor has, it has one capability that PhotoShop lacks. It is available natively on almost any desktop operating system and on multiple architectures.
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The application is primarily designed to edit and make changes to digital images, it also has tools to create raster drawings.
Page Contents
Menus
These are the items that give users access to all the features, functions and tools in Gimp. They are located at the to of the screen on Mac OS and at the top of the image window in other operating systems.
Left sidebar toolbar
This contains several key tools used in editing an image. They are organized in severak sections.
Layers and Brushes
These are located in the toolbar at the right of the image window. It contains layers and several choices of brushes.
Operating Systems
This section discusses the different operating systems that Gimp runs on.
Menus
File, Edit, Select, and View
File
This menu givers users the ability to save, create and print the image project they are working on. There are a few other related tasks in the menu.
Edit
Cut, copy, and paste, as well as undo and redo are standard items in the Edit menus of most applications. In Gimp, these also can be found here. There are also items for filling various elements, as well as links to preferences, keyboard short cut, and input devices dialogs.
Select
the menu gives users the ability to select elements in a project, such as paths or every element in a project.
View
Rotating and flipping an image can be done through this menu. Users also can manage colors, zoom in on elements in a project, show or hide toolbars and guides, as well as show or hide other elements and tools.
Image, Layers, Color, Tools
Image
The menu has different cropping options, and you can change the print size, image size and make several other adjustments to the image. There are several other items in the menu.
Layer
Most projects contain multiple layers. This allows users to transform layers, select how transparent they are, as well as do other things to layers.
Colors
Users can control the contrast, hue, shadows, saturation and other color aspects of the selected layer or object.
Tools
The menu has sub-menus of tools that can be added to the toolboxes on the left or right of the canvass.
Filters, Windows, and help
Filters
Blur, Enhance, and Distorts are a few of the sub-menus with tools to change the appearance of a photo or part of one.
Windows
This menu has items for docks, tab positions, and toolboxes.
Help
The menu contains a link to tips, context menus, bug reports, and other items.
Left-side toolbox
The collection of tools, located to the left of the image, will always remain visible, if Gimp is in Single-Window Mode. If this item, in the Windows menu, is deselected, the left-side toolbar, image, and layer controls will be in separate windows. Each individual window can be closed.
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The Toolbox window is the easiest way to access the most used tools for editing images. All of the tools in the toolbox are in the Tools menu as well. The Tools menu has more tools than the toolbox, but it takes several clicks to implement then, rather than an easy one-click for each tool in the Toolbox.
First section
The top section contains several different icons for the different tools. Click the desired one, and the below sections will change with items that support the chosen tool.
Second section
Section two has four tabs for each tool:
Tool Options
Device Status
Undo History
Images
Each one of these tabs has several buttons at the bottom of the window. These are the default tabs, but more can be added.
Layers and Brushes Window
This window is divided into two sections. Each of the tabs has buttons at the bottom of the section.
Top section
The top section has four tabs focused on drawing and creating artwork. There is also a tab for document history. These are the default tabs, but more can be added.
Brushes
Patterns
Fonts
Document History
Each of the tabs has buttons at the bottom of the section.
Second Section
Layers are used to create art with multiple images an drawings. There are two more tabs by default, but more can be added. Here are the default tabs:
Layers
Channels
Paths
Layers and Channels can be made visible and invisible. Layers also can be locked.
Operating systems
Windows
Windows 7 through 11 users can install Gimp on their computers. There is also a version that can be run from an external drive and used on different Windows computers.
Mac OS
Gimp runs natively on Mac 10.9 and later. This allows mac users with computers as old as 2007 to run Gimp.
Linux desktop
There are various ways to install Gimp on a Linux desktop operating system. Some even come with it preinstalled. Gimp is available on distos that were made for Intel/AMD chips, as well as Raspberry Pi and other computers with ARM processors.
Related Links
Gimp pages
This is your item description. Use this space to add a description of the services, products, team members or any other items you want to highlight on your site. Have a lot to say? Easily turn any item into a full page by clicking ‘Create a page from this item’ in the edit panel.
Linux operating systems
This is your item description. Use this space to add a description of the services, products, team members or any other items you want to highlight on your site. Have a lot to say? Easily turn any item into a full page by clicking ‘Create a page from this item’ in the edit panel.