mirror of https://github.com/GNOME/gimp.git
120 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
120 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
The GIMP: the GNU Image Manipulation Program
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The main difference between v1.0 and much earlier versions is the
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use of a tile based memory management for images. This allows the GIMP
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to work with images much larger than physical memory in a usable
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fashion. Before such memory management, the GIMP was nearly unusable
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for large images. (Large being something on the order of
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4000x3000). With the tile memory management, image size is effectively
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limited by disk space. It is due to the switch to a tile based memory
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management system that old plug-ins will not work with this version of
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the GIMP.
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The plug-in API has changed drastically from previous versions. The
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result is that it is now possible to access much of the GIMP's
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internals through a database of procedures aptly named the procedure
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database. Plug-ins fit into the procedure database by inserting
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themselves into it. The result is that plug-ins can call GIMP internal
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procedures and other plug-ins. Most plug-ins now fully support the
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procedural database, so that you can call them from scripts and other
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places as well.
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The procedure database is self-documenting. To add a procedure to the
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procedure database the programmer must specify a help string and help
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strings for the arguments and return values. This allows us to
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automatically create documentation for the procedures in the procedure
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database. The documentation resides in "docs" and is provided in
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texinfo format.
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A new type of plug-in called an extension has been created. Extensions
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are similar to plug-ins in that they are external program, but they
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differ in when and how they are run. The essential difference is that
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plug-ins are associated with a particular image/drawable, while
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extensions are not.
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A good example of a complex extension is Script-fu, which resides in
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the "plug-ins/script-fu" directory. Script-fu is a simple Scheme
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interpreter that provides bindings to the GIMP's procedural database.
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This way you can write useful scripts that call the GIMP's functions
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and plug-ins, thus allowing automatization of repetitive tasks. Many
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scripts are included for your enjoyment in the
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"plug-ins/script-fu/scripts" directory.
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Another extension is the "dbbrowser" utility, which lets you
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interactively browse through the procedures installed in the
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procedural database. This will mainly be of use to Script-fu
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programmers. Dbbrowser is also nicely integrated in the interactive
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Script-fu console.
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Lastly, there is new file format (xcf) designed specifically for
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saving GIMP images. It handles layers, channels and tiles as well as
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saving all of the state information about the image, such as the
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active channel, the selection, etc. It also will probably change
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sometime in the future to implement some form of compression for the
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tiles.
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The GIMP's home page is at
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http://www.gimp.org
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Please be sure to visit this site for information, documentation,
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tutorials, news, etc. All things GIMP-ish are available from there.
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The automated plug-in registry is located at
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http://registry.gimp.org
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There you can get the latest versions of plug-ins using a convenient
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forms-based interface.
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We have several mailing lists dedicated to GIMP user and development
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discussion. To subscribe, send mail to
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majordomo@scam.xcf.berkeley.edu
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and in the body of the message put
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subscribe <list-name> your@email.address
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substituting <list-name> for "gimp-user" or "gimp-developer" (without
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the quotes, of course) depending on the list you want to subscribe
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to. The mailing list archives can be found at
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http://www.findmail.com/listsaver/gimp-developer/
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http://www.findmail.com/listsaver/gimp-user/
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Gimp-user is a mailing list dedicated to user problems, hints and
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tips, discussion of cool effects, etc. Gimp-developer is oriented to
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GIMP core and plug-in developers. Most people will only want to be
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subscribed to gimp-user.
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And finally, for the real junkies, there is an IRC channel devoted to
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the GIMP :-) On Byxnet (a private mostly-GIMP network) there is #gimp.
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Many of the developers hang out there. Some of the Byxnet servers are:
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irc.mint.net:6666
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irc.canweb.net:6667
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rudolf.canberra.edu.au:6666
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levien.com:6666
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You can customize the look of the interface quite a bit my editing the
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~/.gimp/gtkrc file. A sample file, gtkrc.forest, is included (Thanks to
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Tuomas Kuosmanen)
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Included is a set of keybindings similar to those in Adobe Photoshop (tm).
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You can find them in the ps-menurc file. To use them, copy this file to
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~/.gimp/menurc
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We sincerely hope you enjoy the program. Please report problems to
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bugs@gimp.org. Before reporting a problem, you may want to see if someone
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else has already did (check the http://www.wilberworks.com/bugs.cgi for
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this).
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Have fun,
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Spencer Kimball <spencer@xcf.berkeley.edu>
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Peter Mattis <petm@xcf.berkeley.edu>
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Federico Mena <federico@nuclecu.unam.mx>
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Manish Singh <yosh@gimp.org>
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