Image Manipulation using GIMP

Gimp Logo GIMP is a free art and image software tool. Its name means ''GNU Image Manipulation Program”. Its an easy to use tool that can produce powerful results!

Installing GIMP for Windows

First you need to download and install the GTK package. This is not the image editing tool itself but does provide the system files it needs to run. Download this file by right clicking on the link below and selecting ‘Save Target As’. Once this file has been downloaded, run the file and accept all the default settings:

Next you need to download and install the GIMP software itself. Download this file by right clicking on the link below and selecting ‘Save Target As’. Once this is installed you are then ready to install GIMP itself. Again, accept all the default settings:

Links to both of these can be found here:

http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

At the end of this installation procedure, it will offer you the opportunity to run GIMP, if you leave this tick-box on, it will run. If not you can double click on the Icon the installation will place on the desktop to run GIMP.

When you first run GIMP it will ask for a place to create a temp directory, again just click OK to accept the defaults. (There is also another screen that appears after this, just click to get rid of it!)

You are now ready to edit an image.

  • Opening the image: GIMP has two windows open – one is titled 'The GIMP' – on this window select 'File' and 'Open' then locate and highlight the image you wish to edit and press the 'Open' button.
  • Cropping the Image: If the image has boarders etc. that you don't wish to keep then you can crop the image to a new size by selecting the area you with to keep. This is done by selecting the 'Crop or Resize an Image' button (it can be found in the GIMP window, on the right, second row down, looks like a scalpel point). Select the window with your opened image on, move the mouse to the top left of where you wish the image's new border to be, hold down the left mouse button and draw a rectangle marking the new border. Once you start this process, a new box will appear with the dimensions of the new image you are creating, once you are happy with this, release the mouse button and click 'Crop' in this new window. (If you crop in the wrong place simply hold down 'Ctrl' key and press 'Z' to un-do!)
  • Resizing an Image: Select the window with the image you have opened in. On the top menu select 'Image' then 'Scale Image'. This will open a new window. The first option in this new window is 'Image Size'. You can enter the width you wish the new image to be and it will automatically change the height in proportion. (The image of chain link to the right of the width is the button that toggles off/on the proportional scaling of the images; normally best to leave it alone in resizing else you get distorted images!)
  • Adjusting the Canvas Size: If you wish to change the dimensions of the image to a set size, you can do this by changing the canvas size. Select the window with the image you have opened in. On the top menu select 'Image' then 'Canvas Size'. As with resizing an image you can simply enter the size you wish the image to be. Here you may find clicking the chain link button to allow you free-range in creating a new canvas size (e.g. 75 x75) helpful. Also use the 'Center' button to get an event canvas size.
  • Saving the Image: Once the image is as you wish, it is time to save a compressed web version of the image. Select the window with the image you have opened in. Select 'File' and 'Save a Copy'. This will preserve the original image while providing you with a new image to use on the website. Type in a name of the image then click on the little '+' below marked as 'Select File Type (by Extension).' This will open a new list of images. Scroll down until you see 'JPEG Image' and select this option. A new window will appear asking you to input the 'Quality' (the amount of compression) you wish to have on the image. Needless to say the greater the quality, the larger the file size. You can experiment with this to see a good balance of quality and file size to use, but 60% is often fine.
  • Finally: Once saved, you can close the window with the image. It will ask if you want to save changes to this. It is recommended you select 'Don't Save' so preserving the original as is.

Further GIMP Information

Wikipedia Entry on GIMP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP

Official GIMP Site
http://www.gimp.org/

Donate to GIMP (while it's free, as in freedom, its still good to support its open source development!)
http://www.gimp.org/donating/

GIMP and Open Office
http://wiki.gimp.org/gimp/OpenOfficeConvertion#preview

Photoshop to GIMP Help Guide
http://epierce.freeshell.org/gimp/gimp_ps.php