Have you ever looked at GIMPshop? It's a flavor, or variety of the GIMP. Someone decided to doctor up the GIMP to make it look and feel more like Photoshop, especially for digital scrapbooking. It's also free, just like the regular GIMP. I haven't looked at it myself but I'm curious to hear more about it, especially from someone who has used the GIMP as well, to hear a comparison.
Here is a link for more info if you are interested: http://www.gimpshop.com/
Happy Scrapping! ~Jen
I was talking to my cousin yesterday about this blog and the fact that I have this blog to brag about the great things that the GIMP can do. And the fact that it's free means you don't have to spend a lot of money to start digital scrapbooking. The GIMP is FREE! Yes, you read that right. And you can download it to your computer right now if you want to.
The GIMP is available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux.
I hope this is not new information for any of you, but in case it is, let me know in the comments! I'm always happy to help people who are just starting out with the GIMP.
Happy Scrapping! ~Jen
Okay, let's pick up where we left off. Open the GIMP and then close any extra windows that might pop up, leaving only the toolbox open. Click on "File", then "Preferences." Now, I have GIMP 2.4 for Linux so yours may be different, but some defaults did not translate to the new version for me. First is the Toolbox appearance. Go down to the Toolbox option in your preferences window. Here you can select or unselect information you want displayed in your toolbox, such as foreground/background colors, active brush, pattern, gradient, etc. Not a HUGE deal, but one that I am going to change so it suits me better.
Next is Default Image. If you create a lot of elements or papers, you may want to adjust the default image size. Keep in mind that the bigger you make it, the more memory the GIMP will use--in fact, the GIMP has actually told me I am using too much memory in the past and I have learned this the hard way. :-)
Default grid is something that is very important to me and I was happy when I discovered how to change it. When you are trying to align photos or squares of any kind, using the grid can be an amazingly big help! My preference for grid default is a solid line style with 100 pixel spacing. Set what you think you want here, and then try it out. You can always change it from your image window, or come back here and change the default.
Appearance, under Image Windows, may or may not be important to you. The defaults that I have seem to be enough. I might change them on a case by case basis in the image window but you can decide what is best for you. I would suggest changing the settings in the image window to see what you like, before changing them in the defaults.
In the Display settings, you can change what the canvas looks like when your image is transparent. You can change the size and style of the checkerboard you see. You can also select your monitor resolution here, but I just let the GIMP do that for me.
That's all we're going to get to today. Hope that tides you over 'til next time!
Happy Scrapping! ~Jen
I decided I'm going to spend a few posts talking about preferences set-up. I want my GIMP personalized--don't you?? Well, you can do it--to an extent--and I want you to learn how to do it, too.
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First of all, open the GIMP. (If your layers dialogue opens, go ahead and close it because we aren't going to do a LO right now.) Now toodle around the menus in the toolbox. There's a LOT of stuff in there that I never used to use--in fact, I didn't even know it was there! But now that you've glanced around, let me give you a tour!
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First, left-click on the little GIMP guy in the top left corner. He's above the "File" drop down button. The first option is "Advanced." Choose "Advanced" and then choose the first option "Keep above others". When I do this it will allow me to look at the tool box while I am typing this blog, AND always have the toolbox visible while I am working on a LO. This is nice for me because I always seem to need it when it is buried! Ugh. Now it won't be buried anymore! To turn it off, go back to the same button and click it again. It appears that I will have to reset this feature every time I open GIMP. However, as we explore more menus and more options, this might change.
You could also select "Keep below others" if you prefer using the "tools" dropdown menu on the image (or LO) window.
NOTE: DO NOT click on "no border" or "full screen". They are annoying, at least to me, and seem to have no useful purpose in the realm of digi-scrapping.
I think that's all I'm going to cover in the "Advanced" section.
Now click on the GIMP guy again. Go down to "shade". If you REALLY don't like looking at the toolbox, and selecting "Keep below others" is not enough for you, you could use the "shade" feature. This treats the toolbox window like a window shade. You reverse the feature by de-selecting it.
ANOTHER NOTE: Closing the toolbox will shut down GIMP.
Okay, that is all we will be doing with the GIMP guy. And if all of that was confusing to you or did not make sense or you could not find any of it, do not dispair. GIMP runs on different operating systems, and yours just might be different than mine.
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Now to the "File" drop down menu. There are several options here, as I'm sure you have noticed before. Here's the list I see: New, Open, Open location, Open recent, Acquire, Preferences, Keyboard shortcuts, Units, Dialogs, Close all, Quit.
"New" gives you a window to create a new, blank image. You can decide the size manually, or use a template. In digital scrapbooking, I find that I never use this feature. It may be useful if you find yourself creating your own blinkie, digi-elements or digi-paper, however.
Next is Open. Open takes you to a window where you can open any file on your hard drive, disc or memory card. Choosing this option limits you to opening the file in the size that it already is. For instance, I scrap in 12" x 12" or 3600 x 3600 pixels, with 300 dpi. If I open a file with these dimentions, my resulting image (or LO) will be those dimentions. So, I always open my background paper first when I do a LO. More on this later.
Next we will skip to "Open recent." When you click on this it will give you a list and tiny thumbnails of your recent files, whether they be photos, LO's or anything else you might have opened. If you want to dock this list for frequent reference, you can click on the very bottom item which is a folder of your recently opened history.
I think I'm gonna stop there now. I know we haven't gotten to many "preferences" yet, but we will so hang in there. I have to get some laundry started and go pick up my son at preschool. A mother's work is never done ya know! :D
Happy Scrapping! ~Jen
Well, I don't know if I would call myself an artist--more of a "wife of a computer geek" who found the GIMP through her husband. I like to think I'm creative, and he will sometimes roll his eyes at me for what I think is cool! So, now a friend of mine wants me to make a blinkie for her website to link to my blog, and I have no idea how to do it. I guess just make a really tiny layout and call it good. Maybe 100pixels x 200 pixels? What do you think? Oh, and any suggestions would be much appreciated on the look of my blog, since I am completely HTML-illiterate, and not very blog-savy. Ciao!
I am having so much fun! Now I gotta figure out how to post a pic on here for y'all to see. :D
My wonderful 2 year old is yammering at me about everything trivial under the sun--it's a wonder I'm sitting upright these days. But when I get a chance (and the strength) I digi-scrap.
One wonderful community of scrappers I have found is at www.digitalscrapbookplace.com. They have wonderful forums and a couple of threads about using GIMP! One is in the beginners forum and one is in the software forum. Another resource I have found--and a new friend as well--is at www.digitalpapertearing.com. She added a tutorial for using her digital tears with GIMP. What a servant! :D Thanks so much to you!
Anyway, now that those little intro's are out of the way, off to play with the kiddo! :D
Since no one else in the WORLD seems to scrap with GIMP why not start a blog about it and let the masses come to me?!
I must say, I was exagerating a bit by saying "no one," and will enlighten you all about my few but humble sources of aid and encouragement in another entry. For now I will bask in my glory.
