After installation of The GIMP 2, when you start it for the very first time, you will see something as shown below:
http://www.swish-db.com/forum/uploads/img-20-1.jpg
Now, what you have to do first, is make the environment too suitable and comfortable for designing, so that the usual tools and tasks can be accessed quickly and easily. For that you will have to do some initial work once.
Follow the steps:
1. First of all, there is a window showing the 'TIP OF THE DAY', I think when it should appear when you launch the gimp. But if you wish to turn it off, just uncheck the checkbox labeled
Show tip next time GIMP stats and close the window.
2. Now, close the window on right of the screen, a new window will appear displaying you some message, you simply click button
Close all Tabs.
3. Go through menus
File >
Dialogs >
Create New Dock > and click
Layer, Channels & Paths
A new window will appear, in this new window note the layer tab, in layers tab, in front of label
Layers you can see a small button the left arraw, just click it and go through menus
Add Tab and you will be shown a list of tool tabs, you only select
Brushes,
Patterns,
Gradients,
Tools,
Tool Options.
Then click the Undo History Tab and click the button [X] to close it, becuase it is not that necessary at this level.
TIP : You can change the arrangement of tabs simply by dragging their icon over other tab to bring in before the drop target. Now, if a tab has come out of the window and became separate window while dragging, you simply drag it from its inner label and drop it on suitable place, as shown here:
http://www.swish-db.com/forum/uploads/img-21-2.jpg
Now, go into Tab
Tools, and turn all the tools
ON by clicking the (EYE) icon on left of each tool icon + name, so that all tools are available in the main gimp window (
which is on left side of screen), see image below, where I turned all tools
ON:
http://www.swish-db.com/forum/uploads/img-22-3.jpg
Finally,
Go through menus
File >
Preferences to save the windows' postion. In Preferences window simply click
Window Management in the list provided on left side, adn click button
Save Window Positions Now.
Then click the
Environment from left list, and follow alter enteries of right side fields as shown here, if you have RAM greater or equal to 128 MB, and click button
OK in the bottom-right corner of the window:
http://www.swish-db.com/forum/uploads/img-23-4.jpg
REMEMBER : If you close the tabbed window on rightside, you will have to repeat the last 3 steps again, to avoid that, always close gimp from its main window shown on left side.
Now after restarting, gimp must look like this (
on your desktop, regardless the windows' postions):
http://www.swish-db.com/forum/uploads/img-24-5.jpg
YOU ARE DONE UPTO HERE.
Now few more tips on working with usual tools (
CORE TIPS) :
To quickly give NAME / Rename the layer, simply double click the laye in Layers tab and enter the desired name.
To emerge two layers quickly, bring the layers just over/below eachother, then click the upper layer, rightclick it and press
W.
Mostaly when you emerge all layers, the layers' attributes are discarded and it becomes nromal layer after merge. So better is to delete any flat filled background layer first and then rightclick anywhere in layers tab and press
F which will Flatten the Image.
When you have clicked the Brush tool make sure you have selected the appropriate brush form the
Brushes tab by clicking the desired brush.
After working with eraser, brush, convolve, area select tool, best is you select the
Move layers & selections Tool.
To know what the selected tool does, keep your mouse over it and it will disply you a tooltip text.
If you have opened more than one images, the layers tab will display the layers of only the image window in focus / on top.
To insert quick new layer, rightclick within the layers tab and press
N.
To quickly delete a layer, rightclick the desired layer within the layers tab and press
D.
To copy a layer to take to other image, simply select it from layers tab and press Ctrl+C, then go to the image where you want to insert it, and press Ctrl+V. New layer will become a
Floating Selection, to make it normal layer simply rightclick it and press
N from keyboard.
If you have created a path using
Path creation and editting tool, and then you switch to other tool the paths will be lost. To prevent this problem, immediately after completing the path, go through menus
Slect >
Save to Channel, or make it selection using the path through
Slect >
Select from path which automatically saves the path. Saved paths may be reused by double-clicking them from
Paths tab.
Making new brush is too easy in gimp. Select the area from your image which you wish to use as brush, then go through menus within the image window
Script-Fu >
Selection >
To Brush. GIMP will automatically save the selection as a new brush of gimp itself, and select it immediately for use.
The same way, you can make custom fill patterns, by selecting desired area and going through menus
Script-Fu >
Selection >
To Pattern.
that's all for now, read further tutorials for specific type of designing.
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