Instructions for Using Gimp
(go to homepages.ihug.co.nz/~vespers/education/Downloads.html)
1. / / When you first open Gimp, a tip of the day will open. Close this and you will see two windows on the desktop.2. / / Click on ‘File’ and then ‘New’
3. / / Another window will open up. Click on the black down arrow next to the word ‘Template’ and then choose ‘A5’
4. / / Click on the picture shown to change the paper setup to landscape and then click on ‘OK’
5. / / Another larger window will then pop up which will be where we create our first image. To put a background picture in, go to ‘File’ on the new window and select ‘Open as Layer’. Double click on ‘Desktop’ and then double click on ‘Backgrounds. Choose the background picture you want and then click ‘Open’
6. / / Your picture now appears on the image background. If it is too small, you will need to scale the layer. Click on ‘Layer’ and then ‘Scale layer’ and use the up arrow next to Width to increase the size of the picture. You will have to estimate how big to try. Click on ‘Scale’ when you have finished and your picture will change size.
7. / / Now it is time to put yourself in the picture. Go to ‘File’ and then ‘Open as layer’ and choose the photo of yourself you have just taken to put into the background photo. This new layer will sit on top of the background layer. You will now see three layers in your ‘Layer, channels, paths’ window. (Note: If you click on the eye next to that layer, it becomes invisible. You can drag the layers so that they are in a different order. )
8. / / If you need to rotate your picture, go to ‘Layer’ and then ‘Transform’ to choose how much to rotate.
9. /
/ You will now need to get rid of the background around the photo of you. To do this, click on the scissors tool. I suggest you have the ‘Feather Edges’ option ticked and set at about 20 to 30. This will make your cut out edges a little softer.
10 /
/ Start clicking around your body. You will notice that in-between your dots, the scissors tool tries to find the edge of the shape. If it doesn’t find it, you can click and drag the line to where you want it. When you have gone all the way around click on the first dot you did and then click in the centre of your body. You should see a moving white and black line around you. Hold down ‘Ctrl’ and tap c (to copy) and then hold down ‘Ctrl’ and tap v (to paste).
11 /
/ This now shows up as a pasted layer in the Layers window. Click on the ‘New Layer’ button to turn this pasted layer into a new layer and then click on the original layer and delete it. You will now just see your cut out photo on the background.
Hint: If you want to get rid of a part of your layer, use a selection tool to select the part you DON’T want and then hold down Ctrl and push ‘k’. This ‘kills’ that part.
/ To change settings such as the brightness and contrast, click on ‘Layer’ and then ‘Colors’ (US spelling!)
/ Gimp can also change your image in many different ways. This is mostly done through the filters. Below I have shown you what some of the filters will do to this picture of a frog. You will need to experiment with these.
Blur> Pixelize / / Colors>Map>Alien 2 / / Colors> Colorify (black&white) /
Colors>
Retinex / / Colors>
Value Invert / / Noise>
Scatter RGB /
Noise>
Hurl / / Edge Detect >Neon / / Edge Detect
> Difference of Gaussians /
Edge Detect >Edge / / Glass Effect >Glass tile / / Glass Effect >Apply lens /
Light effects >Lightning / / Light effects > Supernova / / Distorts> Whirl and pinch /
Distorts> Ripple / / Distorts > Emboss / / Distorts > Mosiac /
Artistic > Apply canvas / / Map > Make seemless / / Map > Fractal Trace /
Map > Small tiles / / Map > Illusion / / Render> Pattern>
Jig saw /
/ To turn your layers into a single image, click on ‘Image’ > ‘Flatten image’. Then go to ‘File’>’Save as’. Type a name for your picture, choose a place to save it. Click on the down arrow next to ‘Select File Type’ and scroll down and click on JPEG and click on ‘Save’. You’re finished!!