[Gimp-user] how to use layers
Thomas, Don't make the mistake to get Photoshop because you think it's easier when in reality it's just as hard to learn. It's got nothing to do with the interface but all with the fact that both are complicated programs. There is plenty of help if you know how to find it. Meet the gimp has been mentioned and you should check that out. A video that shows you what to do often make things click in your head. Akkana Peck's book is very good too. Just read it from the start and try to do all the things she explains yourself. There are also many youtube videos on GIMP. A lot for more advanced users but also some for beginners. There's also a video course out on gimp 2.6 by VTC. http://www.vtc.com/products/GIMP-2.6-Tutorials.htm Good beginners videos. 12 hours in all. But a bit pricey compared to Akkana's book and in the end you'll get more info from the book while it is just as easy to follow. Take your time to learn GIMP. Photoshop isn't going to teach you itself by magic either. You'll need books and tutorials too. -- jolie S (via www.gimpusers.com) ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
[Gimp-user] how to use layers
All the advice posted so far in response to your post is good. And, if you browse this forum, you will see a post from me similar to yours in just the last week (or two). Someone mentioned Rolf Steinort's podcast series Meet The Gimp. I would recommend you download episode #15. The first half (roughly) doesn't deal with layers, but the balance of that episode offers a good example of layer use where he uses the RAW version of a photo to spice up just one small area in the identical jpeg version (his camera can shoot and save RAW files and jpegs simultaneously - mine does too, but I rarely shoot in anything but RAW). His task in this episode is not dissimilar to what you are attempting to accomplish, and the episode will, I believe, give you an excellent grounding in the practical use of layers. Peck's book is excellent as an introduction to GIMP (I've been through it cover to cover several times), but she doesn't go into as much detail on layers as what I needed in order to get the hang of it. BTW, if you do decide to switch to PS, expect a similar challenge in learning to use layers. The principles are quite similar. The theory of layers wasn't hard for me to grasp, but I had difficulty with the mechanics (in Gimp and in PS). The simple stuff is, indeed, simple. You can easily drop some text on a layer and see easily enough how it behaves as a separate layer - not unlike the sort of things I do in Adobe InDesign (I'm still getting my feet wet with Scribus - not difficult, but definitely a little different than InDesign). But, when you start working with a couple of photos, it's easy to allow yourself to get confused mechanically. I'd copy a layer, then wonder why my attempts to work with it wouldn't work. Rolf Stenort's series, especially #15 really opened my eyes. Example: I had two (actually a whole series of) photos that I wanted to layout for printing at 5 x 7 using 8 1/2 x 11 inch glossy stock. In InDesign, I would import (Place as Adobe calls it) the two photos on a page (background layer), use guides lines to size them to 5 x 7, align them, and send them to the printer. In Gimp, it's so similar, but, IMO, even easier. You open both images, open a third blank image to use as the background layer. I used Edit copy to send each image (one at a time) to the clipboard, then I touch the blank image with my mouse pointer to make it the active document, edit, paste as new layer, and the image in the clipboard is pasted into the blank document. My pasted image was huge compared to the blank document, so I used the zoom tool (magnifying glass) to zoom out really far so that I could see tiny representations of the background (blank) image and the pasted image. Select the move tool (blue cross with arrowheads), click to switch to 'move active layer', drag the imported image to the blank image, right click on that image, select Layers from the drop down menu, click scale image, switch the units to Inches, type 7 x 5 or 5 x 7 in the boxes, hit the scale button, and that image is finished. Follow the above procedure to bring the second image onto the blank document, and you are ready to print. The result of all the above would give you three layers in the image that you will print, the blank background, the 5 x 7 of photo image #1, and a 5 x 7 of photo image #2. You could merge or flatten that image if you want, or you can just print it, and Gimp will complain that it doesn't want to export these layers (or something to that effect) and offer to export for you. Hit that export button and (I'm guessing) Gimp sends a flattened version of the file to the printer. Either way, (with or without flattening) it works just fine, and you have just worked with three layers. Using layer masks or using multiple layers to control such variables as contrast, exposure, selective dodging or burning, etc. are not that much more involved. Work through that tutorial #15 a couple of times, and I guarantee you'll start to get the hang of it. I regret that you let your frustration get to you as you posted this question. I'm certain you didn't mean to resort to knocking the GIMP - but doing so tends to blunt the enthusiasm of those who might offer helpful responses - and, what's more significant (to me, at least) is that you will meet an almost identical learning curve with respect to layers no matter what image editor you use (if you use one that includes the layers feature). I assure you that I'm nearly as novice at all this as you - I might have a week's jump start on you, that's all. Hang in there. Once you start to get it, the layer thing is very satisfying, and you will feel a thrill (well, I do) whenever you complete a task using Gimp that you thought previously could only be completed using those expensive proprietary programs (PS, InDesign, Pagemaker (ok, I'm dating myself), etc. Good luck. Post back and let us know how it works out for you. We'll all be rooting (well, I'll be rooting, and
[Gimp-user] how to use layers
I've read the documentation several times and every tutorial I could get my hands on, but I still can't make any sense out of how to properly use layers.. For example, I want to merge two pictures, by taking some regions from one picture and some from another. I though I could do this by making unwanted regions transparent - this seems obvious. I also tried some other techniques basd on a few tutorials, but none seemed to work well. But I simply don't get results that make any sense. The vagueness of the docuemntation and being unable to find any other guide is not helping. Is this a case where GIMP simply makes it so difficult compared to Photoshop that I'd be better off buying a Windows machine and using Photoshop? I wanted to use GIMP for my photo manipulation. I had assumed after all these years that it was usable. I hope I'm not forced to go to Photoshop over something simple like this. If there's no chance that GIMP can be used as efficiently as photoshop, perhaps it would be sensible to give up sooner rather than later. But this is a big expense for me, at the least I'll need to buy a second machine, or give up on Linux on the desktop altogether. It's so tragic that after all these years, GIMP's user interface has seen no improvement. I had hoped that at least the documentation would be useful. -- thomas w. (via www.gimpusers.com) ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
Re: [Gimp-user] how to use layers
thomas w. for...@gimpusers.com wrote: I've read the documentation several times and every tutorial I could get my hands on, but I still can't make any sense out of how to properly use layers.. For example, I want to merge two pictures, by taking some regions from one picture and some from another. I though I could do this by making unwanted regions transparent - this seems obvious. I also tried some other techniques basd on a few tutorials, but none seemed to work well. The best way to merge two pictures is probably to copy the relevant part of the first one (make a selection with one of the numerous tools and copy it) and then to paste it into the other picture. Then you have a new floating selection on this picture, and you may decide whether you want to immediately merge it into the background, or probably better, you prefer to make it a new layer. But I simply don't get results that make any sense. The vagueness of the docuemntation and being unable to find any other guide is not helping. I'm much more suspecting the vagueness of your explanations: what exactly are you doing, and what results do you get? Is this a case where GIMP simply makes it so difficult compared to Photoshop that I'd be better off buying a Windows machine and using Photoshop? Certainly not. Using layers is really basic in GIMP, and anybody can manage to do this. By all means, don't buy anything more, you already have all what you need! I wanted to use GIMP for my photo manipulation. I had assumed after all these years that it was usable. I hope I'm not forced to go to Photoshop over something simple like this. GIMP is very suited to photo manipulation. Ask the proper questions and you will get useful answers. If there's no chance that GIMP can be used as efficiently as photoshop, perhaps it would be sensible to give up sooner rather than later. But this is a big expense for me, at the least I'll need to buy a second machine, or give up on Linux on the desktop altogether. Already said, already answered. It's so tragic that after all these years, GIMP's user interface has seen no improvement. I had hoped that at least the documentation would be useful. What are your specific criticisms about the interface and the documentation? -- Olivier Lecarme ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
Re: [Gimp-user] how to use layers
On 08/25/2009 07:23 PM, thomas w. wrote: I've read the documentation several times and every tutorial I could get my hands on, but I still can't make any sense out of how to properly use layers.. For example, I want to merge two pictures, by taking some regions from one picture and some from another. Hi, This seems like the first thing you need to grasp about layers: layers are not supposed to be merged, the whole point of layers is that they allow you to divide an image into several independent parts. Instead of merging, you could add a layer mask to the top-most layer and get rid of the parts you don't want using the mask. It's so tragic that after all these years, GIMP's user interface has seen no improvement. I had hoped that at least the documentation would be useful. GIMP development happens slowly but steadily. Being completely ignorant about the efforts that have been made to improve the GIMP UI lately is a good way to demotivate further work to be done. Just have some patience, or better, help us improve GIMP instead of complaining. BR, Martin -- My GIMP Blog: http://www.chromecode.com/ ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
Re: [Gimp-user] how to use layers
I've read the documentation several times and every tutorial I could get my hands on, but I still can't make any sense out of how to properly use layers.. I felt like this not so long ago and then along came Rolf Steinort and www.meetthegimp.org and things started to fall into place. Norman ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
Re: [Gimp-user] how to use layers
thomas w. wrote: I wanted to use GIMP for my photo manipulation. I had assumed after all these years that it was usable. I hope I'm not forced to go to Photoshop over something simple like this. GIMP is really good for photo post-processing. I use it a lot; even though I bought a laptop with some stuff preinstalled, photoshop elements included. I gave it a couple tries, but I feel more comfortable with the Gimp (despite the fact that for some particular images I like the sharpening tool best that the filters/enhance/unsharpen mask in the Gimp. Overall, I have ended by no using PE at all. If there's no chance that GIMP can be used as efficiently as photoshop, perhaps it would be sensible to give up sooner rather than later. But this is a big expense for me, at the least I'll need to buy a second machine, or give up on Linux on the desktop altogether. The Gimp is a complex and powerful tool, which means it has a learning curve. But it is not by any means less efficiently usable than photoshop. If anything, you could say about the lack of support for CMYK (it is on the way) and bit depth = 8 (improving this is in the way too). It's so tragic that after all these years, GIMP's user interface has seen no improvement. I had hoped that at least the documentation would be useful. Concerning to the UI, I'd say that it is matter of tastes. I really like the Gimp UI; it feels less crammed with stuff, as you can work directly on the image window, and by using the tab key bring the tools window back and forth. I really hope the Gimp developers are not planning to 'photoshop-ize' it!. And the documentation is useful enough! For advise with how to set the layout in the UI, as well as for the layers stuff, I really recommend visiting http://meetthegimp.org. For a lazy guy like me, it really made the difference! In about 10 chapters, you'll be able to solve the UI and layers stuff, and maybe you'll feel compelled to watch the rest of the chapters. Hope it helps Cheers ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
Re: [Gimp-user] how to use layers
thomas w. writes: For example, I want to merge two pictures, by taking some regions from one picture and some from another. I though I could do this by making unwanted regions transparent - this seems obvious. Yes, that's exactly the way to do it. And the best way to do that is to make a layer mask on the upper layer, then paint black, white or grey on the layer mask according to how transparent you want to make it (black for transparent, white for opaque). Is this a case where GIMP simply makes it so difficult compared to Photoshop that I'd be better off buying a Windows machine and using Photoshop? Not at all! Layer masks make this very straightforward in GIMP. For instance, start with step 4 of the selective colorization tutorial: http://gimp.org/tutorials/Selective_Color/ Or try a short video tutorial I made demonstrating layer masks: http://apress.com/book/view/1430210702 ...Akkana Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional: http://gimpbook.com ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
