About This Book

Authors

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Karin Kylander

Karin is a designer and illustrator, and also an architect with a Master's degree in Architecture from the Chalmers University of Technology. She has been working with graphic design and art since 1985. Computer aided design caught her interest in the late 1980s. At first, she worked with Macs and PCs using programs like Photoshop, PageMaker, Corel DRAW and Illustrator. In 1996, she entered the UNIX arena, and in 1997, she started using Gimp for image manipulation and graphic design. She now uses Gimp on a daily basis.

Most of Karin's work focuses on publications, posters and exhibition displays. If you'd like to see samples of her work, you have only to leaf through the Gallery chapter in this book.

Olof S. Kylander

Olof is a UNIX and network system administrator. He received his formal computer education at the Chalmers University of Technology. He has been into computers since the early 1980s. UNIX caught his attention in 1993, and he has been configuring various UNIX systems and networks ever since.

Olof currently works for the UNIX/Network consulting company Sigma-nbit in Gothenburg, and is presently occupied with configuring Solaris servers for Ericsson. He also has experience with other systems such as Mac, Windows, NT, Citrix and Novell. His specialties are thin clients and X Window System configuration, as well as Internet technologies. He is the author of the more technical parts of this book.

Frozenriver

Frozenriver, Karin's company, deals with digital design in various fields as well as providing training in digital image manipulation. The company specializes in different kinds of informational material, such as technical documentation/reports, brochures, magazines and exhibitions. Web design is also an up-and-coming service. Frozenriver can provide the entire range from a full advertisement concept to a leaflet at the local mall. Frozenriver can also provide support for Gimp users (along with other image manipulating programs such as Photoshop) in the form of training courses and advice by email.

If you wish to contact Frozenriver, please visit our website at http://www.frozenriver.nu or mail us at karin@frozenriver.com

Or even better, contact us directly:

Frozenriver
Karin Kylander
N.Dragspelsg 12
S-421 43 V.FRÖLUNDA
SWEDEN

Phone: +46 (0)31 47 43 56
Fax: +46 (0)31 49 48 33

Gimp Contributions

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First, we'd like to thank the many Gimp developers:

Spencer Kimball, Peter Mattis, Federico Mena, Zach Beane, Adrian Linkns, Miguel de Icaza, Tom Bech, Sven Neumann, Albert Cahalan, Adam D. Moss, Torsten Martinsen, Tristan Tarrant, Andreas Beck, David Mosberger, Gordon Matzigkeit, Peter Kirchgessner, Eric L. Hernes, Francisco Bustamante, Thorsten Schnier, Jochen Friedrich, Tim Newsome, Christoph Hoegl, Xavier Bouchoux, Owen Taylor, Andy Thomas, Ray Lehtiniemi, Marcelo Malheiros, Miles O'Neal, Chris Laas, Daniel Risacher, Gerd Knorr, Michel Taylor, Ole Steinfatt, Michael Sweet, Eiichi Takamori, Tracy Scott, Gordon Matzigkeit, Andrew Kieschnick, Alexander Schulz, Thomas Noel, Robert L.Cross, Kevin Turner, Sean Cier, Nick Lamb, Kim-Minh Kaplan, Matthias Cramer, Lauri Alanko, Tim Newsome, Bucky LaDieu, Scott Goehring, Morten Eriksen, Raphael Quinet, Daniel Skarda, Daniel Dunbar, Jens Ch. Restemeier, Marc Lehmann, Scott Draves, Alessandro Baldoni, Michael Schubart, Dan Risache, Josh MacDonald, Eduardo Perez, Daniel Cotting, Nathan Summers, John Beale, Marc Bless, John Breen, Brent Burton, Jim Geuther, Pavel Grinfeld, Matthias Greim, Jan Hubicka, Shuji Narazaki, Stephen Robert Norris, Tim Rowley, Christoph Hoegl, Wolfgang Hofer, Shawn Amundson, Edward Blevins, Roberto Boyd, Simon Budig, Seth Burgess, Ed Connell, Jay Cox, Andreas Dilger, Austin Donnelly, Misha Dynin, Larry Ewing, Nick Fetchak, David Forsyth, Heilco Goller, Michael Hammel, Simon Jones, Tim Janik, Tuomas Kuosmanen, Karl LaRocca, Jens Lautenbacher, Laramie Leavitt, Elliott Lee, Ralph Levien, Adrian Likins, Tor Lillqvist, Ingo Luetkebohle, Ed Mackey, Vidar Madsen, Ian Main, Michael Natterer, Erik Nygren, Tomas Ogren, Jay Painter, Asbjorn Pettersen, Mike Phillips, Mike Schaeffer, James Robinson, Manish Singh, Ian Tester, James Wang, Kris Wehner, Matthew Wilson and all of you we have forgotten (if we've forgotten you, please write to karin@frozenriver.com to let us know).

Contributors To This Book

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We'd also like to give credit to everyone that came up with suggestions, tips, constructive criticism, contributions, etc:

· Dov Grobgeld (Author of "A Tutorial For Perl Gimp Users")

· Mike Terry (Author of "Black Belt School Of Script-Fu")

· John Sigerson (PDF file format of GUM version 0.5 to 0.9)

· Aristidi Yannick (French translation)

· Yasuhiro Shirasaki (Leader of the Japanese translation team)

· Mark Probst (Documentation)

· Peter Uray (Documentation)

· Petri Alanko (Documentation)

· Ole Steinfatt (Documentation)

· Michal Gomulinski (Documentation)

· George J. Carret (Documentation)

· PhotoDisc (For their kind donation of high-quality images for this book project)

· Thom van Os (Images in Selective Gaussian Blur)

· Eric Galluzzo and Christopher Macgowan (Proofreading)

· Nicholas Lamb (Tip about selections)

· Michael Kaiser (Correction layers)

· Cristoph Hogeld (Contrib correction)

· Marco Schmidt

· Adrian Links

· Adam D. Moss (Tips about animation filters and psd)

· Tom Bech (Tips & lesson about light effects and map objects)

· Nathan Carl Summers (Tips & lesson about scissors)

· Wolfgang Hofer (Tips about animframe)

· Markku Verkkoniemi (Tip in Pre-Press about image delivery)

· Matt Chisholm (Found a bug in the font install chapter)

· and anyone that we've forgotten (please write to karin@frozenriver.com and let us know!)

How To Read This Book

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GIMP: The Official Handbook is the complete Gimp user's manual. It is the most comprehensive source of Gimp information available, covering nearly all aspects of this complex application. It's a user manual, so it will not cover "nuts and bolts" topics such as how to write Gimp plug-ins; however, some basic scripting tutorials have been included. All images in this manual have been created or manipulated using Gimp -- no other software has been used.

GIMP: The Official Handbook is divided into several parts. If you are an experienced graphics artist, you can read the first parts quickly in order to pick up the main differences between Gimp and the programs you are used to working with.

This book also covers features that aren't part of the standard Gimp distribution. These features can be found in the developer's version, or at the Plug-in Registry. We have covered all available Gimp features up to August 1999, with the exception of how to use pressure-sensitive drawing tablets, Gimp Perl scripting extensions, Dumpwindow, xmorph (a Gimpified version of the xmorph program) and HaruspexX (a SQL Gimp extension).

Part I

· What is Gimp; a brief history of Gimp and GTK+

· Gimp's default shortcuts (accelerator keys) and how to reassign them

· A gallery showing what you can achieve with the powerful resources of Gimp and providing some insight into advanced image manipulation.

Part II

· How to get and install Gimp for your system and troubleshooting

· Migrating from Photoshop to Gimp

Part III

· What file formats Gimp supports and how to use them; how to open and save files in Gimp

· Personal adjustments

· How to use the different paint tools

· How you can use the different edit functions

· Transformation functions

· How to work with text

· How to use the Gradient Editor as well as information about brushes, palettes and patterns

Part IV

· A general discussion about color models (to understand how different modes work in Gimp, you need the information in this chapter)

· How to prepare your Gimp image for pre-press

· Calibration discussion and a simple calibration of your system

· Scanning, discussion of scanner types and what to buy.

· Installation of Sane (Gimp's scanner interface) and usage of Sane within Gimp

Part V

· In-depth discussion about the image menu, which includes color, brightness, curves and other image adjustments (also covers image conversions like RGB to Indexed, as well as image transformations)

· How to use different selection methods

· How modes work in Gimp

· In-depth discussion on how to use layers -- the key factor to advanced image manipulation

· Channels: What they are and how to use them

Part VI

· The filter plug-ins available for Gimp; a glimpse of what they're all about

· Different color exchange filters

· How to use the lighting effects

· How to render fantastic patterns and images

Part VII

· Animations, or how AnimFrames can make it easy to create advanced web animations

· Xinput, usage and installation of Wacom tablets in Linux (XFree86)

Part VIII

· Discussion about the Script-Fus that come with Gimp

· Two different angles/tutorials on how to write Script-Fus and how they can help you automate Gimp tasks

Part IX

· Discussion about the Perl-Fus that come with Gimp

· Two different angles/tutorials on how to write Perl-Fus and how they can help you automate Gimp tasks

Part X

· How fonts works in Gimp and the X Window System; how to install more fonts

· How to compile plug-ins, make your own make file and use the configure script

Part XI

· Man pages in the Gimp distribution

· Initiation file descriptions as well as description of command line flags

· SIOD reference for those who write Script-Fu scripts

· Links and books that can be useful

Conventions

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You'll find four different typing styles besides the normal text in the GUM.

Bold is used the first time important concepts, items or topics are introduced. This can, for example, be words you'll see onscreen in Gimp -- pull-down menu titles, dialog titles, options -- but it can also be used in more general terms such as: color theory, font manager or halftone pattern.

Italics to emphasize important points. Bold italics for warnings.

Courier for describing the path to Gimp menu commands, programs you'll need to execute within a terminal window, file names and code.

Symbols

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Not A Standard Part Of The Gimp Distribution

This symbol will appear when a function or filter is not part of the standard distribution of Gimp. This means that you have to download it and probably compile it yourself. The primary source of extra functions and plug-ins are http://registry.gimp.org or ftp://ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp. If you bought the printed version of this book, the non-standard plug-ins and functions, as well as the standard ones, have been included both as binaries and source code on the enclosed CD.

Warning!

Look out for this symbol. Its purpose is to catch your attention, so you won't miss passages of vital importance or essential warnings. For example, don't do this or your system will crash, or some other unpleasantness will happen!

Beware Of Bugs!

This sign indicates that a filter or function is still in development stage, and that it may suffer from bug problems. Install or use functions marked with this symbol at your own risk.

Tutorial

Next to this sign, you'll find an example or a tutorial, helping you to understand the described function.

Tip

This sign indicates useful tips or advice on how to use a certain function, or that a passage describing important subjects will follow.