GNU Image Manipulation Program

GNU Image Manipulation Program

User Manual

Copyright © 2002-2023 The GIMP Documentation Team

Legal Notice

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.

Table of Contents

1. GIMP User Manual Authors and Contributors

I. Getting Started

1. Introduction

1. Welcome to GIMP

1.1. Authors
1.2. The GIMP Help system
1.3. Features and Capabilities

2. What's new in GIMP

2. Fire up GIMP

1. Running GIMP

1.1. Known Platforms
1.2. Language
1.3. Command Line Arguments

2. Starting GIMP the first time

2.1. Finally . . .

3. First Steps with Wilber

1. Basic Concepts

2. Main Windows

2.1. The Toolbox
2.2. Image Window
2.3. Dialogs and Docking

3.1. Things That Cannot be Undone

4. Common Tasks

4.1. Intention
4.2. Change the Size of an Image for the screen
4.3. Change the Size of an Image for print
4.4. Compressing Images
4.5. Crop An Image
4.6. Find Info About Your Image
4.7. Change the Mode
4.8. Flip An Image
4.9. Rotate An Image
4.10. Separating an Object From Its Background

5. How to Draw Straight Lines

5.1. Intention
5.2. Examples

4. What to do if you are stuck

1. Introduction

2. Common Causes of GIMP Non-Responsiveness

2.1. There is a floating selection
2.2. The selection is hidden
2.3. You are acting outside the selection
2.4. The active drawable is not visible
2.5. The active drawable is transparent
2.6. You are trying to act outside the layer
2.7. You are trying to act on a layer group
2.8. The image is in indexed color mode.
2.9. No visible effect when trying to use a brush, eraser or other tool
2.10. No visible effect when trying to use the move tool, rotate or other transform tool
2.11. Eraser and brushes no longer work
2.12. Eraser does not make area transparent
2.13. Unexpected colors when trying to use a brush or eraser
2.14. The crop tool leaves an empty area after cropping
2.15. I've been waiting for a long time and GIMP is not responding
2.16. General guidelines on what to check if you are stuck

3. How to fix missing windows and dialogs

3.1. All tool windows are missing
3.2. Tool options dialog is missing
3.3. Some of the tool icons are missing
3.4. The area showing the opened images at the top is missing

4. How to fix problems exporting images

4.1. I am exporting to a jpeg image and my transparent area turned white or black
4.2. I am exporting to a gif image and the colors changed

II. How do I Become a GIMP Wizard?

5. Getting Images into GIMP

1. Image Types

2. Creating new Files

3. Opening Files

3.1. Open File
3.2. Open Location
3.3. Open Recent
3.4. Using External Programs
3.5. File Manager
3.6. Drag and Drop
3.7. Copy and Paste
3.8. Image Browser

6. Getting Images out of GIMP

1.1. Save / Export Images
1.2. File Formats

2. Preparing your Images for the Web

2.1. Images with an Optimal Size/Quality Ratio
2.2. Reducing the File Size Even More
2.3. Saving Images with Transparency

7. Painting with GIMP

1. The Selection

1.1. Feathering
1.2. Making a Selection Partially Transparent

2. Creating and Using Selections

2.1. Moving a Selection
2.2. Adding or subtracting selections

3. The QuickMask

3.1. Overview
3.2. Properties

4. Using QuickMask Mode

5.1. Path Creation
5.2. Path Properties
5.3. Paths and Selections
5.4. Transforming Paths
5.5. Stroking a Path
5.6. Paths and Text
5.7. Paths and SVG files

7. Adding New Brushes

8. The GIH Dialog Box

9. Changing brush size

9.1. How to change the size of a brush
9.2. Creating a brush quickly

10. Gradients

11. Patterns

12. Palettes

12.1. Colormap

13. Presets

14. Drawing Simple Objects

14.1. Drawing a Straight Line
14.2. Creating a Basic Shape

8. Combining Images

1. Introduction to Layers

1.1. Layer Properties

2. Layer Modes

2.1. Normal Layer Modes
2.2. Lighten Layer Modes
2.3. Darken Layer Modes
2.4. Contrast Layer Modes
2.5. Inversion Layer Modes
2.6. HSV Components Layer Modes
2.7. LCh Components Layer Modes

3. Legacy Layer Modes

4. Creating New Layers

5. Layer Groups

9. Text Management

1. Text Management

1.1. Text Area
1.2. Managing Text Layer
1.3. Text Toolbox
1.4. Text Context Menu

2.1. Embellishing Text
2.2. Adding Fonts
2.3. Font Problems

10. Enhancing Photographs

1. Working with Digital Camera Photos

1.1. Introduction
1.2. Improving Composition
1.3. Improving Colors
1.4. Adjusting Sharpness
1.5. Removing Unwanted Objects from an Image
1.6. Saving Your Results

11. Color Management with GIMP

1. Color Management in GIMP

1.1. Problems of a non Color Managed Workflow
1.2. Introduction to a Color Managed Workflow

12. Enrich my GIMP

1. Preferences Dialog

1.1. Introduction
1.2. System Resources
1.3. Debugging
1.4. Color Management
1.5. Image Import and Export
1.6. Experimental Playground
1.7. Tool Options
1.8. Default Image Preferences
1.9. Default Image Grid
1.10. Interface
1.11. Theme
1.12. Icon Theme
1.13. Toolbox
1.14. Dialog Defaults
1.15. Help System
1.16. Display
1.17. Window Management
1.18. Image Windows
1.19. Image Window Appearance
1.20. Image Window Title and Statusbar
1.21. Image Window Snapping Behavior
1.22. Input Devices
1.23. Input Controllers
1.24. Folders
1.25. Data Folders

2. Grids and Guides

2.1. The Image Grid
2.2. Guides

3. Rendering a Grid

4. How to Set Your Tile Cache

5. Creating Shortcuts to Menu Commands

6. Customize Splash-Screen

13. Scripting

1.1. Introduction
1.2. Using Plugins
1.3. Installing New Plugins
1.4. Writing Plugins

2. Using Script-Fu Scripts

2.1. Script-Fu?
2.2. Installing Script-Fu scripts
2.3. Do's and Don'ts
2.4. Different Kinds Of Script-Fus

3. A Script-Fu Tutorial

3.1. Getting Acquainted With Scheme
3.2. Variables And Functions
3.3. Lists, Lists And More Lists
3.4. Your First Script-Fu Script
3.5. Giving Our Script Some Guts
3.6. Extending The Text Box Script
3.7. Your script and its working

III. Function Reference

1. The Toolbox

1.1. Introduction
1.2. Tool Icons
1.3. Color and Indicator Area
1.4. Tool Options

2. Selection Tools

2.1. Common Features
2.2. Rectangle Selection
2.3. Ellipse Selection
2.4. Free Selection (Lasso)
2.5. Fuzzy selection (Magic wand)
2.6. Select By Color
2.7. Intelligent Scissors
2.8. Foreground Select

3. Paint Tools

3.1. Common Features
3.2. Dynamics
3.3. Brush Tools (Pencil, Paintbrush, Airbrush)
3.4. Bucket Fill
3.5. Gradient
3.6. Pencil
3.7. Paintbrush
3.8. MyPaint Brush
3.9. Eraser
3.10. Airbrush
3.11. Ink
3.12. Clone
3.13. Heal
3.14. Perspective Clone
3.15. Blur/Sharpen
3.16. Smudge
3.17. Dodge/Burn

4. Transform Tools

4.1. Common Features
4.2. Align
4.3. Move
4.4. Crop
4.5. Rotate
4.6. Scale
4.7. Shear
4.8. Perspective
4.9. 3D Transform
4.10. Unified Transform
4.11. Handle Transform
4.12. Flip
4.13. The Cage Tool
4.14. Warp Transform

5.1. Overview
5.2. Paths
5.3. Color Picker
5.4. Zoom
5.5. Measure
5.6. Text
5.7. GEGL Operation

15. Dialogs

1. Dialog Introduction

2. Image Structure Related Dialogs

2.1. Layers Dialog
2.2. Channels Dialog
2.3. Paths Dialog
2.4. Colormap Dialog
2.5. Histogram dialog
2.6. Navigation Dialog
2.7. Undo History Dialog

3. Image-content Related Dialogs

3.1. FG/BG Color Dialog
3.2. Brushes Dialog
3.3. MyPaint Brushes Dialog
3.4. Patterns Dialog
3.5. Gradients Dialog
3.6. Palettes Dialog
3.7. Tagging
3.8. Fonts Dialog

4. Image Management Related Dialogs

4.1. Buffers Dialog
4.2. Images Dialog
4.3. Document History Dialog
4.4. Templates Dialog

5. Miscellaneous Dialogs

5.1. Tool Presets Dialog
5.2. Tool Preset Editor
5.3. Device Status Dialog
5.4. Error Console
5.5. Dashboard
5.6. Save File
5.7. Export File
5.8. Sample Points Dialog
5.9. Pointer Dialog
5.10. Symmetry Painting dialog
5.11. Keyboard Shortcuts Dialog

1. Introduction to Menus

1.1. The Image Menu Bar
1.2. Context Menus
1.3. Tear-off menus
1.4. Tab menus

2. The “File” Menu

2.1. Overview
2.2. New…
2.3. Create
2.4. File Open…
2.5. Open as Layers…
2.6. Open Location…
2.7. Open Recent
2.8. Save
2.9. Save as…
2.10. Save a Copy…
2.11. Revert
2.12. Export… and Overwrite…
2.13. Export As…
2.14. Create Template…
2.15. Print
2.16. Send by Email
2.17. Copy Image Location
2.18. Show in File Manager
2.19. Close
2.20. Close all
2.21. Quit

3. The “Edit” Menu

3.1. “Edit” Menu Entries
3.2. Undo
3.3. Redo
3.4. Undo History
3.5. Cut
3.6. Copy
3.7. Copy Visible
3.8. Paste
3.9. Paste Into Selection
3.10. Paste In Place
3.11. Paste Into Selection In Place
3.12. Paste as
3.13. Buffer
3.14. Clear
3.15. Fill with FG Color
3.16. Fill with BG Color
3.17. Fill with Pattern
3.18. Fill Selection Outline
3.19. Fill Path
3.20. Stroke Selection
3.21. Stroke Path
3.22. Preferences
3.23. Input Devices
3.24. Keyboard Shortcuts
3.25. Modules
3.26. Units

4. The “Select” Menu

4.1. Introduction to the “Select” Menu
4.2. Select All
4.3. None
4.4. Invert
4.5. Float
4.6. By Color
4.7. From Path
4.8. Selection Editor
4.9. Feather
4.10. Sharpen
4.11. Shrink
4.12. Grow
4.13. Border
4.14. Remove Holes
4.15. Distort
4.16. Rounded Rectangle
4.17. Toggle QuickMask
4.18. Save to Channel
4.19. To Path

5. The “View” Menu

5.1. Introduction to the “View” Menu
5.2. New View
5.3. Show All
5.4. Dot for Dot
5.5. Zoom
5.6. Flip & Rotate (0°)
5.7. Center Image in Window
5.8. Shrink Wrap
5.9. Full Screen
5.10. Navigation Window
5.11. Display Filters
5.12. Color Management
5.13. Show Selection
5.14. Show Layer Boundary
5.15. Show Canvas Boundary
5.16. Show Guides
5.17. Show Grid
5.18. Show Sample Points
5.19. Snap to Guides
5.20. Snap to Grid
5.21. Snap to Canvas
5.22. Snap to Active Path
5.23. Padding Color
5.24. Show Menubar
5.25. Show Rulers
5.26. Show Scrollbars
5.27. Show Statusbar

6. The “Image” Menu

6.1. Overview
6.2. Duplicate
6.3. Mode
6.4. RGB mode
6.5. Grayscale mode
6.6. Indexed mode
6.7. Precision
6.8. Color Management
6.9. Enable Color Management
6.10. Assign Color Profile
6.11. Convert to Color Profile
6.12. Discard Color Profile
6.13. Save Color Profile to File
6.14. Transform
6.15. Flip Horizontally; Flip Vertically
6.16. Rotation
6.17. Canvas Size
6.18. Fit Canvas to Layers
6.19. Fit Canvas to Selection
6.20. Print Size
6.21. Scale Image
6.22. Crop Image
6.23. Slice Using Guides
6.24. Zealous Crop
6.25. Merge Visible Layers
6.26. Flatten Image
6.27. Align Visible Layers…
6.28. Guides
6.29. New Guide
6.30. New Guide (by Percent)
6.31. New Guides from Selection
6.32. Remove all guides
6.33. Configure Grid…
6.34. Image Properties
6.35. Metadata
6.36. Metadata Viewer
6.37. Metadata Editor

7. The “Layer” Menu

7.1. Introduction to the “Layer” Menu
7.2. New Layer
7.3. New From Visible
7.4. New Layer Group
7.5. Duplicate layer
7.6. Anchor layer
7.7. Merge Down
7.8. Merge Layer Group
7.9. Delete Layer
7.10. The Text Commands of the Layer Menu
7.11. Discard Text Information
7.12. “Stack” Submenu
7.13. Select Previous Layer
7.14. Select Next Layer
7.15. Select Top Layer
7.16. Select Bottom Layer
7.17. Raise Layer
7.18. Lower Layer
7.19. Layer to Top
7.20. Layer to Bottom
7.21. The “Reverse Layer Order” command
7.22. The “Mask” Submenu
7.23. Add Layer Mask
7.24. Apply Layer Mask
7.25. Delete Layer Mask
7.26. Show Layer Mask
7.27. Edit Layer Mask
7.28. Disable Layer Mask
7.29. Mask to Selection
7.30. Add Layer Mask to Selection
7.31. Subtract Layer Mask from Selection
7.32. Intersect Layer Mask with Selection
7.33. The “Transparency” Submenu of the “Layer” menu
7.34. Add Alpha Channel
7.35. Remove Alpha Channel
7.36. Color to Alpha
7.37. Semi-flatten
7.38. Threshold Alpha
7.39. Alpha to Selection
7.40. Add Alpha channel to Selection
7.41. Subtract from Selection
7.42. Intersect Alpha channel with Selection
7.43. The “Transform” Submenu
7.44. Flip Horizontally
7.45. Flip Vertically
7.46. Rotate 90° clockwise
7.47. Rotate 90° counter-clockwise
7.48. Rotate 180°
7.49. Arbitrary Rotation
7.50. Offset
7.51. Layer Boundary Size
7.52. Layer to Image Size
7.53. Scale Layer
7.54. Crop Layer

8. The “Colors” Menu

9. The “Tools” Menu

9.1. Introduction to the “Tools” Menu

10. The “Filters” Menu

10.1. Introduction to the “Filters” Menu
10.2. Repeat Last
10.3. Re-show Last
10.4. Reset All Filters
10.5. The “Python-Fu” Submenu
10.6. The “Script-Fu” Submenu

11. “Windows” Menu

12. The “Help” Menu

12.1. Introduction to the “Help” Menu
12.2. Help
12.3. Context Help
12.4. Tip of the Day
12.5. About
12.6. Search and Run a Command
12.7. Plug-In Browser
12.8. The Procedure Browser
12.9. Bug Reports and Feature Requests
12.10. GIMP online
12.11. User Manual

17. Filters

1. Introduction

2. Common Features

3. Blur Filters

3.1. Introduction
3.2. Focus Blur
3.3. Gaussian Blur
3.4. Lens Blur
3.5. Mean Curvature Blur
3.6. Median Blur
3.7. Pixelize
3.8. Selective Gaussian Blur
3.9. Variable Blur
3.10. Circular Motion Blur
3.11. Linear Motion Blur
3.12. Zoom Motion Blur
3.13. Tileable Blur

4. Enhance Filters

4.1. Introduction
4.2. Antialias
4.3. Deinterlace
4.4. High Pass
4.5. Noise Reduction
4.6. Red Eye Removal
4.7. Symmetric Nearest Neighbor
4.8. Sharpen (Unsharp Mask)
4.9. Despeckle
4.10. Destripe
4.11. NL Filter
4.12. Wavelet Decompose

5. Distort Filters

5.1. Introduction
5.2. Apply Lens
5.3. Emboss
5.4. Engrave
5.5. Lens Distortion
5.6. Kaleidoscope
5.7. Mosaic
5.8. Newsprint
5.9. Polar Coordinates
5.10. Ripple
5.11. Shift
5.12. Spherize
5.13. Value Propagate
5.14. Video
5.15. Waves
5.16. Whirl and Pinch
5.17. Wind
5.18. Curve Bend
5.19. Emboss (legacy)
5.20. Page Curl

6. Light and Shadow Filters

6.1. Introduction
6.2. Bloom
6.3. Supernova
6.4. Lens Flare
6.5. Gradient Flare
6.6. Lighting Effects
6.7. Sparkle
6.8. Drop Shadow
6.9. Long Shadow
6.10. Vignette
6.11. Drop Shadow (legacy)
6.12. Perspective
6.13. Xach-Effect

7. Noise Filters

7.1. Introduction
7.2. CIE lch Noise
7.3. HSV Noise
7.4. Hurl
7.5. Pick
7.6. RGB Noise
7.7. Slur
7.8. Spread

8. Edge-Detect Filters

8.1. Introduction
8.2. Difference of Gaussians
8.3. Edge
8.4. Laplace
8.5. Neon
8.6. Sobel
8.7. Image Gradient

9. Generic Filters

9.1. Introduction
9.2. Convolution Matrix
9.3. Distance Map
9.4. GEGL graph
9.5. Normal Map
9.6. Dilate
9.7. Erode

10. Combine Filters

10.1. Introduction
10.2. Depth Merge
10.3. Filmstrip

11. Artistic Filters

11.1. Introduction
11.2. Apply Canvas
11.3. Cartoon
11.4. Cubism
11.5. Glass Tile
11.6. Oilify
11.7. Photocopy
11.8. Simple Linear Iterative Clustering (SLIC)
11.9. Softglow
11.10. Waterpixels
11.11. Cartoon (legacy)
11.12. Clothify
11.13. GIMPressionist
11.14. Oilify (legacy)
11.15. Predator
11.16. Softglow (legacy)
11.17. Van Gogh (LIC)
11.18. Weave

12. Decor Filters

12.1. Introduction
12.2. Add Bevel
12.3. Add Border
12.4. Coffee Stain
12.5. Fog
12.6. Fuzzy Border
12.7. Old Photo
12.8. Round Corners
12.9. Slide
12.10. Stencil Carve
12.11. Stencil Chrome

13. Map Filters

13.1. Introduction
13.2. Bump Map
13.3. Displace
13.4. Fractal Trace
13.5. Illusion
13.6. Little Planet
13.7. Panorama Projection
13.8. Recursive Transform
13.9. Paper Tile
13.10. Tile Seamless
13.11. Fractal Trace (legacy)
13.12. Map Object
13.13. Tile

14. Rendering Filters

14.1. Introduction
14.2. Flame
14.3. Fractal Explorer
14.4. IFS Fractal
14.5. Cell Noise
14.6. Perlin Noise
14.7. Plasma
14.8. Simplex Noise
14.9. Solid Noise
14.10. Difference Clouds
14.11. Bayer Matrix
14.12. Checkerboard
14.13. Diffraction Patterns
14.14. Grid
14.15. Linear Sinusoid
14.16. Maze
14.17. Sinus
14.18. Spiral
14.19. Checkerboard (legacy)
14.20. CML Explorer
14.21. Grid (legacy)
14.22. Jigsaw
14.23. Qbist
14.24. Spyrogimp
14.25. Circuit
14.26. Gfig
14.27. Lava
14.28. Line Nova
14.29. Sphere Designer

15. Web Filters

15.1. Introduction
15.2. ImageMap
15.3. Semi-Flatten
15.4. Slice

16. Animation Filters

16.1. Introduction
16.2. Blend
16.3. Burn-In
16.4. Rippling
16.5. Spinning Globe
16.6. Waves
16.7. Optimize
16.8. Playback

I. Keys and Mouse Reference

File — Key reference for the File menu
Edit — Key reference for Edit menu
Select — Key reference for Select menu
View — Key reference for View menu
Image — Key reference for Image menu
Layers — Key reference for Layer menu
Tools — Key reference for the Tools menu
Filters — Key reference for Filters menu
Windows — Key reference for Windows menu
Help — Key reference for Help menu
Zoom tool — Key reference for the Zoom tool

Bibliography

A. GIMP History

1. The Very Beginning
2. The Early Days of GIMP
3. The One to Change the World
4. Version 2.0
5. What's New in GIMP 2.2?
6. What's New in GIMP 2.4?
7. What's New in GIMP 2.6?
8. What's New in GIMP 2.8?
9. What's new in GIMP 2.10?

B. Reporting Bugs and Requesting Enhancements

1. Making sure it's a Bug
2. Reporting the Bug

C. How to Contribute

1. Prerequisites

1.1. Join Discourse
1.2. Create a Local Working Copy of Code
1.3. Installing your sandbox
1.4. The gimp-help folder

2. Workflow

2.1. Writing
2.2. Validating
2.3. Images
2.4. Create HTML Files
2.5. Sending your files

4. Working under Windows

D. Tone Mapping and Shadow Recovery Using GIMP’s ‘Colors/Exposure’

1. High bit depth GIMP’s floating point “Colors/Exposure”: much better than Curves for lightening the shadows and midtones of an image without blowing the highlights
2. A step-by-step example showing how to recover shadow information using high bit depth GIMP’s floating point “Colors/Exposure”
3. Use Notes
4. Conclusion

E. GNU Free Documentation License

1. PREAMBLE
2. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
3. VERBATIM COPYING
4. COPYING IN QUANTITY
5. MODIFICATIONS
6. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
7. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
8. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
9. TRANSLATION
10. TERMINATION
11. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
12. ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents

F. Eeek! There is Missing Help


		Preface

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