GIMP subforum?

[jowensphoto]

Not sure if this has already been addressed but I thought I'd throw it out there...

Photoshop is certainly the most widely used PP program, but it seems like there's a lot of GIMPers on here too. It's not hard to Google "GIMP tutorials" or videos, but a lot of them are in other languages. Some of the ones in English are just not clear and hard to understand.

I've been able to post a GIMP subject in different forums and get responses, but I think the forum could really benefit for a GIMP sub-forum, perhaps located by the PS one.

 

[480sparky]

I'll throw my vote out for this one as well.

One of my biggest gripes with a lot of Googled tutorials is they are using an older version of GIMP. I'd say easily 50-60% of 'em are outdated.

 

[jowensphoto]

Good point. Where's Josh with the binary-esque screen name? Another fellow GIMPer.

 

[Josh66]

I don't do a lot of in-depth editing, but GIMP is pretty much all I use.

If there were a sub-forum, I guess it would be in this forum:
Graphics Programs and Photo Gallery

There are no other sub-forums in there though (like Photoshop, Lightroom, Paint Shop Pro, etc...), so I don't really expect to see one for GIMP...

Flickr actually has a lot of good GIMP stuff too:
Flickr: GIMP users

 

[Josh66]

I really want to learn more about writing scripts for GIMP too... Seems pretty much the same as Actions in PS, I've just never tried to make one...

 

[Josh66]

One of my biggest gripes with a lot of Googled tutorials is they are using an older version of GIMP. I'd say easily 50-60% of 'em are outdated.

Another point worth mentioning is that most of them are based on the Linux version (Linux is the only OS officially supported by GIMP). For the most part, I don't think it's a problem (it also helps that I run Linux, lol), but I can see where it could be confusing sometimes to Windows users.

(I mainly mean directions on installing scripts, plug-ins, etc...)

 

[480sparky]

.........(I mainly mean directions on installing scripts, plug-ins, etc...)

Yes! It seems you need a 6-year degree in computer programming in order to understand how to install a simple plug-in.

 

[Josh66]

.........(I mainly mean directions on installing scripts, plug-ins, etc...)

Yes! It seems you need a 6-year degree in computer programming in order to understand how to install a simple plug-in.

Yeah, the last one I installed took a while to figure out...

Had to change the permissions of the file, change the file extension, make it executable, and then move it to the proper folder from the terminal. Couldn't just drag & drop. And, of course, I had to figure that out on my own.

In the end, it wasn't hard, but it would have been nice if they said up front that you had to do all that stuff.

 

[480sparky]

1. This tutorial has been tested with:Windows XP (32-bit), GIMP 2.6.11, Python 2.6.6, PyGtk all-in-one (all 32-bit), had to reboot (see step 11)
   • Windows Vista (32-bit), GIMP 2.6.11, Python 2.6.6, PyGtk all-in-one (all 32-bit), had to reboot (see step 11)
   • Windows Vista (64-bit), GIMP 2.6.11, Python 2.6.6, PyGtk all-in-one (all 32-bit)
   • Windows 7 (64-bit), GIMP 2.6.11, Python 2.6.6, PyGtk all-in-one (all 32-bit)
   • If it works for you, please post your configuration to the comments.
2. Before you install Python scripts and wonder why they don’t work, make sure that your GIMP installation contains Python support.
   You can determine this by looking into the “Filters” menu. If there’s a entry named “Python-Fu” next to “Script-Fu”, Python support is available.
   On the screenshot, you can see a German GIMP installation without Python support (no Python-Fu menu entry next to Script-Fu).
   This tutorial will cover the situation that GIMP for Windows is already installed and the missing Python support shall be added.
3. Python is a programming language (scripting language) that is not shipped with GIMP, but can be downloaded separately. GIMP accesses to an installed Python interpreter and makes use of it.
   If Python is not available at the time of installing GIMP, the required Python support module for GIMP won’t be installed (see screenshot: it shows a GIMP installation window in custom mode, the “GIMP Python Extension” checkbox is disabled because Python is not available). It also shows that only Python 2.5 and 2.6 are supported.
   As a consequence, you will have to install the necessary GIMP modules (= re-install GIMP) after installing Python, too!
4. There has been some confusion about different 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows, GIMP and Python.
   There are some rules for selecting the components:
   • There are GIMP builds for Win64, but they’re experimental and should only be used for testing. So if you download GIMP, you’ll normally get a 32-bit GIMP (perfectly usable with Win32 and Win64).
   • GIMP and Python have to be compiled for the same platform. So either you use the experimental 64-bit GIMP and Python 64-bit (not recommended) or you use the default 32-bit GIMP and a 32-bit version of Python (recommended).
   • Only Python 2.5 and Python 2.6 are supported by GIMP. I tried Python 2.7 and it didn’t work for me, Python 3 won’t either.
5. Download these files:
   From python.org – choose the latest Python 2.6 version, then download the “Windows x86 MSI Installer”*
   PyGtk – click on “all-in-one installer” and download the pygtk-all-in-one-…win32-py2.6.msi file.
   *If you’re using the experimental GIMP/64, download Python/64 and PyGtk/64 instead. If you don’t know what this means, ignore this note.
6. At first, install Python by launching the .msi file. Choose “install for all users”.
7. Then run the PyGTK all-in-one-installer and install PyCairo, PyGtk and PyGObject. (If you are asked, install for all users too.)
8. As explained above, you have to install GIMP’s Python support now. The easiest way to do so is to re-install GIMP (in my test, preliminary uninstall was not required).
   If you chose the customized setup (not required), you can see that the “GIMP Python Extension” will be installed now.
9. Python support is now available in GIMP. Check by verifying that the Python-Fu menu is now available (see screenshot).
10. By default, Python plugins (the .py files for the effects) must be stored either
    You can see and configure these directories when you start GIMP and choose Edit/Preferences/Folders\Plug-Ins.
    As soon as you restart GIMP, the plugins should be available. On the screenshot you can see the directory of “user1” where the Python-Fu plugins have to be stored.
    • in the .gimp-2.6/plug-ins directory of the user’s home folder (for instance, C:\Users\MyUsername\.gimp-2.6\plug-ins) or
    • in the lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins subdirectory the GIMP installation directory (for instance, C:\Program Files (x86)\GIMP-2.0\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins.
11. If the plug-ins show up but don’t do anything:
    • Reboot your system. On some systems, I had to reboot after installing GIMP. I don’t know why and I don’t want to know it, but before it didn’t work and then it did.
    • Also try to put the plug-ins into the GIMP installation folder (not the user folder) as described above.

Seriously......... does it have to be this difficult?

 

[Josh66]

Just curious what custom keyboard shortcuts you guys have set up in GIMP...

I have shortcuts for my most commonly used stuff...

CTRL+Left Arrow = Rotate 90 degrees CCW
CTRL+Right Arrow = Rotate 90 degrees CW
CTRL+Down Arrow = Rotate 180 degrees
CTRL+Num Pad 0 = Resize Dialog
CTRL+Up Arrow = Levels Dialog

Saves a ton of time for me, especially since I pretty much always have to rotate before I do anything.

 

[davesnothere11]

I didn't know I could do custom shortcuts.
I guess I should actually read the user/help manual.

 

[480sparky]

Just curious what custom keyboard shortcuts you guys have set up in GIMP...
........

No clue. The only one I use is Ctrl+D to create a duplicate image to edit.

 

[davesnothere11]

I use a lot of the existing shortcuts but it would be nice to add zoom to fit the window as a shortcut.

 

[Josh66]

Go to 'Edit' -> 'Keyboard Shortcuts'. That brings up a list of all possible actions you can do. Including running any plug-ins you have installed. Find the thing you want to do (you'll have to expand whatever category it's in), click it, then make a new shortcut for it.

And of course, there are tons of shortcuts preset. What I like is that the menus say what the keyboard shortcut is for each option, if there is one. New shortcuts you add show up there as well.

 

[Josh66]

I use a lot of the existing shortcuts but it would be nice to add zoom to fit the window as a shortcut.

Edit -> Keyboard Shortcuts

Expand the 'View' category:

view by J E, on Flickr

Find the 'Fit Image to Window' option:

zoom to fit window by J E, on Flickr

If there already is a shortcut, it will show what it is (SHIFT+CTRL+E in my case). If there is no shortcut already assigned, it will say 'Disabled'. Click where it says disabled, then press the shortcut you want on your keyboard.