Gimp 2.5 Released

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Note: This is the unstable development branch of GIMP. These enhancements are scheduled for next stable release, which will be GIMP 2.6.

Changes in GIMP 2.5.1
=====================

- further improvements to the status bar
- made the center point of rectangles snap to the grid and rulers
- improved Alpha to Logo filters
- better cursor feedback in the Intelligent Scissors tool
- rotate JPEG thumbnails according to the EXIF orientation
- tweaked behavior of the new Polygon Selection tool
- improved event smoothing for paint tools
- prepared PSP plug-in to deal with newer versions of the file format
- allow plug-ins to work in parallel on different layers of the same image
- pass through GEGL command-line options
- added 22 new variations to the Flame plugin
- only show operations from relevant categories in the GEGL tool
- added new translation (Icelandic)
- bug fixes and code cleanup

Contributors:

Sven Neumann, Michael Natterer, Martin Nordholts, Øyvind Kolås,
Alexia Death, Ulf-D. Ehlert, Daniel Hornung, Michael Deal, Aurimas Juška,
Luis Barrancos

Changes in GIMP 2.5.0
=====================

Core:

- improved rectangle tool drawing for narrow mode
- ported lots (but not all) drawing code to Cairo
- optimized image rendering by using pre-multiplied alpha
- use new GLib features such as GRegex
- use new GTK+ features such as the new GtkTooltip API
- much improved GimpCurve object
- cleaner and smaller tool options
- enable brush scaling for the Smudge tool
- added debugging framework that can be enabled at run-time
- depend on GEGL and use it optionally in some color operations
- optional GEGL processing for all color tools
- add proper settings objects for all color tools
- add list of recently used settings to all color tools
- added experimental GEGL tool to use arbitrary GEGL operations
- event filtering and smoothing for better paint tool performance
- added motion constraints in the Move Tool
- some operations do not any longer automatically add an alpha channel
- some preparation for tagging resource files
- cutting a selection doesn’t clear the selection any longer
- added new polygon select tool
- load brushes and other data files recursively (search through subdirs)
- started work on language selector for the text tool (unfinished)
- allow to set opacity of the transform tool preview
- merged toolbox menu into the image menu
- always keep an image window around
- improved image statusbar
- dropped ‘documents’ in favor of ~/.recently-used.xbel
- started to work on text box functionality in the text tool
- numerous bug fixes and cleanups

Plug-ins:

- dicom: improved handling of 16 bit image data
- help: use GIO to access the help index
- print: moved Page Setup out of the Print dialog
- psd-load: rewritten, cleaner and more features
- randomize: added previews
- ripple: added a Phase Shift control
- screenshot: optionally add the mouse cursor image on an extra layer
- uri: use GIO/GVfs where available
- whirlpinch: allow a larger range for the whirl angle

Python binding:

- allow to specify colors using CSS color names
- added new method Image.new_layer()

Script-Fu:

- enforce R5RS syntax for ‘let’
- improved Frosty Logo script

PDB:

- added new text layer API
- added gimp-vectors-export-to-file and gimp-vectors-export-to-string
- added procedure to test for existance of a procedure in the PDB
- improved error handling for procedures

Libraries:

- added some Cairo utilities
- allow to use markup in tooltips
- libgimpthumb doesn’t any longer depend on other GIMP libraries

Miscellaneous:

- use the gimptool program on Unix, too, instead of the gimptool script
- create the list of supported MIME types at compile-time
- gimp shows library versions when called with ‘–version –verbose’

http://www.gimp.org/

Gimp 2.4.5 Released

Gimp News 1 Comment

Changes in GIMP 2.4.5
=====================

- fixed a regression introduced by the brush cursor optimization (bug #514309)
- fixed bug in transform tool preview (bug #340965)
- fixed PSD export of images with layer masks
- fixed base64 encoding routine of the Mail plug-in
- use the correct background color when creating a new image (bug #514082)
- explicitly link libgimpthumb with GLib (bug #515566)
- improved selection of the font sample string (bug #514021)
- unified handling of “Enter” and “Space” keysyms (bug #516544)
- fixed bug in the Glossy script when used with a pattern (bug #517285)
- correctly record dimensions in Exif data when saving as JPEG (bug #517077)
- fixed sensitivity of plug-in menu items (bug #517683)
- fixed potential crashes in Wind, Warp, Small Tiles (bug #516369)
- added default keyboard shortcut for “Paste As New Image” (Ctrl-Shift-V)
- added default keyboard shortcut for “Copy Visible” (Ctrl-Shift-C)
- fixed missing preview update in Curves tool (bug #518012)
- fixed a bug in the Frosty Logo script (bug #472316)
- fixed backward transformations using the PDB (bug #518910)
- translation fixes and updates (de, eu, eo, fr, he, hu, it, ja, ko)

http://www.gimp.org/

Using GIMP Brushes

Gimp Brushes No Comments

Brushes in GIMP can be a lot of fun and can add interesting touches to an image.

This is a brief view of the Pencil Tool, Paintbrush Tool and the Airbrush Tool in GIMP. In the GIMP Toolbox, starting with the Pencil and to the end, the Ink Tool is the only one that does not use the Brushes dialog for its shape. Even the Eraser Tool will erase with the shape used from the brushes.

The Pencil Tool is for drawing hard edged lines and will make jagged edges on curves and angled lines. It does not use antialiasing and the edges are sharp. You can use any style brush in the Brushes dialog with the pencil. If you use a fuzzy brush, the edges will be even more jagged. One place to use the Pencil Tool is drawing very thin lines. The Paintbrush Tool makes them look somewhat fuzzy and faded.

The Paintbrush Tool gives a smoother edge. Using a fuzzy-edged brush makes, well, a fuzzy edge.

Use the Airbrush Tool for a softer and semi-transparent look.

More interesting are the different options in the Brushes dialog.

Start with a new image, the default size is fine, and fill the background with any color. You can change it any time by changing the FG or BG color and filling it with the Bucket Fill Tool. Be sure to specify FG or BG in the dialog and select the Fill whole selection option.

Next make a new transparent layer. This is the layer you will be drawing on. You can press the Delete key on your keyboard to clear it and use it over for other brush experiments.

Choose a color that will show over the BG color you used in the Background layer. The regular or, parametric brushes, have a little blue triangle on the right. Animated brushes have a red one. There are some in my brushes that have no triangles in the corners but they behave the same as parametric brushes.

Parametric brushes make the same image in a continuous line and the files have .gbr as the extension. Animated brushes have different images in them, file extension is .gih.

Starting with the Paintbrush tool, choose a medium-sized, round brush. Draw a line across the top of your transparent layer. If it looks to thick or too thin you can change it by scaling it up or down. Find the size you like best and just leave it for now.

In the brush dialog, next to Opacity there is a slider bar. Change the opacity to about 50. Draw another line under the first one. You will have a slightly transparent line.

Tick Apply jitter with the mouse and change the setting to about 3. Draw another line. Try it with higher and lower settings.

Select Use color from gradient, choose a colorful one and draw a line. You may want to try it with the opacity set back to 100.

If you run out of room on your image, press the Delete key. Try the other paint tools to do the same exercise.

Pressing the Reset button down in the right corner of the brushes dialog will reset the dialog to the default setting for the current tool you are using if you want to start a new image or want to do something else. It’s nice to be able to do that so you don’t have to go back and change the settings manually.

One added note here. You can do a point to point drawing with a paint tool. Choose a brush, click the image, hold down the Shift key, and click around with the brush while still holding down Shift. You can make angular selections or draw curved lines, letting up the mouse button to go to the next place. Continue to hold down the Shift key until you are done.

You can visit here to see some more advanced uses of brushes, get some brushes, and see examples of parametric and animated brushes. Instructions about how to make animated brushes will be added. Visit often because it is a growing thread.

Tonya

2/8/2008: Instructions about how to make animated brushes have been added.

Bling Text Script Updated to V1.3

Script-Fu No Comments

Thanks goes out to Tonya who updated to the Bing Text Script to V1.3 with new hearts patterns included.

You can grab the new version on the scripts page.

Discussion thread located on the Graphics and Art section of Upstate Forums.

Enjoy!!

Gimp 2.4.3 Released

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No new features are being added here, just bug-fixes.

Changes in GIMP 2.4.3

- avoid filename encoding problems in the WMF import plug-in (bug #499329)
- fixed horizontal flipping of linked layers (bug #499161)
- raised the priority of the display idle renderer on Win32 (bug #499150)
- fixed a missing update in the Lighting plug-in UI (bug #500317)
- fixed a potential crash in the projection code (bug #500178)
- fixed a minor Makefile issue (bug #500826)
- removed some pointless warnings from the JPEG and TIFF load plug-ins
- fixed size calculation for the image size warning dialog (bug #329468)
- fixed loading of tool options for the rectangle tools (bug #498948)
- push/pop a context in the Fog filter
- fixed potential crashes in the Python binding
- corrected grid drawing with non-integer spacing (bug #502374)
- fixed grid snapping for coordinates less than the grid offset
- made the healing brush work properly when dragged (bug #492575)
- update tool state when a device change happens (bug #493176)
- improved validation of strings sent over the wire (bug #498207)
- fixed integer check in Script-Fu (bug #498207)
- fixed potential out-of-memory problem in Script-Fu
- fixed compilation on msys/mingw (bug #503124)
- fixed localisation of Python plug-ins on Win32 (bug #502506)
- translation updates (ca, cs, de, gl, it, ko, lt, sv, uk)

http://www.gimp.org/

More Scripts Updated to Gimp 2.4

Script-Fu 2 Comments

The following scripts have been updated to Gimp 2.4.

Feurio (new)
Electricity (new)
Ice Fire (new)
Ice Cube (new)
Chrominium (new)

My next step will be to incorporate animation features into these scripts so stay tuned!!

More updated scripts are located in the scripts section. Discussion thread with examples located here.

Scott

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