“So, you’ve just finished installing Linux at the recommendation
of your friends, or just out of personal interest. You’re browsing
through some of the programs that came with it, and you happen to
see one in the graphics sub-menu called “GIMP”. You pop it open, a
whole bunch of weird and funky dialogs come up, and *BAM*, you’re
there. It looks like a drawing program, but some of it still leaves
you scratching your head. Or, perhaps you dont have it installed,
but you’ve heard a lot about it and wish to give it a shot.
Hopefully, this article will help to demystify this wonderful
graphics program for Linux.“
“GIMP stands for “GNU Image Manuipulation Program”. For those of
you who have ever used Photoshop for Windows, some of this will
seem like a review, but this article will help you transfer from
Photoshop into GIMP. GIMP was initally created by Peter Mattis and
Spencer Kimball as a viable alternative to the X paint programs at
the time. The first release was in 1996. For those of you that dont
yet have the GIMP, go to http://www.gimp.org and follow the
instructions to download and install GIMP. This article assumes
that you already have GIMP installed. With that out of the way, its
time to get to the good stuff… “
“When you first open the GIMP, a dialog will come up, and a
loading bar will scroll showing various plug-ins loading into GIMP.
Then, you will be presented with a toolbox and a “Tip of the day”.
Dont turn off these “Tips of the day” – I’ve been using GIMP for a
long time, and I still find that sometimes a tip will popup with
exactly the answer I have been looking for. The dialog box that
comes up has a variety of tools that you can use to create and
manipulate your image. To find out what each tool does, hover your
mouse over its button, and a dialog box will come up.”