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Text and images are pretty much polar opposites, but quite often they intersect — usually in the form of text being used in images.
This necessitates a features that all image-editing programs seem to share — the text tool.
Gimp’s text tool is much like any other standard image editor’s text tool, but we’ll cover it today in some detail.
Solid colors are all very well and good, but a little variety is nice, too.
Gradients and patterns can add that variety. They can also add too much variety, but used wisely, they can be just right.
Palettes and colormaps are useful additions to the party, so we’ll cover the basics of all these in this lesson.
In Gimp’s main menu is a “Colors” drop-down with 20+ options that we will briefly explore in this second part of Coloring in Gimp.
The first nine entries in the color menu are a variety of color tools that can also be found under Tools > Color Tools and as options that can be added to the toolbox.
The remaining entries are no less useful and/or interesting.
The color selection dialog includes a number of different modes for color-selection.
Its features and functionality are standard but wide-ranging, so you can use what works best for you each time you pick a new color.
The Gimp toolbox is a window (or dock) featuring multiple icons, each of which are tools that perform tasks in Gimp.
A basic understanding of each tool is necessary to fully utilize the functionality that Gimp has to offer.
But first, let’s give an honorable mention to the toolbar spaces above and below the cluster of tool icons.
Customizations and preferences are, of course, my priority when working with any new application.
Even in the cases that I do not yet know my preferences, I like to know what options are available to be customized as I go.
To that end, let’s go through some basics of how Gimp is set up — vs. how it can be set up — along with some of the operational aspects.
Gimp is an acronym for the GNU Image Manipulation Program.
It is a free, open source raster image editor available on multiple operating platforms (Windows, Linux, OS X, etc.)
Gimp features a customizable interface, photo enhancement and digital retouching features, as well as support for multiple hardware devices and file formats.
It is expandable by way of plugins and extensions that can be added or created via its scripting interface.
As a cross-platform image-editor, Gimp is unparalleled.