mirror of https://github.com/GNOME/gimp.git
156 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
156 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
# This is a list of tips for the GIMP. Every time the GIMP is
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# started, one tip will be selected from this file and will be
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# displayed in the "Tip of the day" dialog.
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#
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# - Lines starting with '#' are comments.
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# - Blank lines or comments separate two tips (they are not ignored).
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# Multiple blank lines are treated as one. If you want to have a
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# blank line in a tip, put a space or tab in it.
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# - Text will appear in the dialog as it is in this file. This is
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# done on purpose in order to have more freedom in the layout of the
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# tips than with automatic word-wrapping, but this also means that
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# you have to avoid excessively long lines in this file.
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# - Tips should be concise: 3 lines or less.
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#
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# Tips in this file have been contributed by Zachary Beane, Mo Oishi,
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# Raphael Quinet, Sven Neumann and other people on the gimp mailing
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# lists.
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# --------------------------------------------------------------------
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# The first tip should be a welcome message, because this is the
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# first thing that a new user will see.
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#
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# FIXME: re-write this welcome message:
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Welcome to the GIMP !
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Nearly all image operations are performed by right-clicking
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on the image. And don't worry, you can undo most mistakes...
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# Tips for beginners start here
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#
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The GIMP uses layers to let you organize your image. Think of them
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as a stack of slides or filters, such that looking through them you
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see a composite of their contents.
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You can perform many layer operations by right-clicking on the text
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label of a layer in the Layers dialog (Dialogs->Layers & Channels).
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When trying to save files as GIF, XPM, or any other indexed
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color format, you need to convert the image to indexed using
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the Image menu.
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You can get the Tool Options menu to open by double-clicking
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any button in the toolbar.
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You can change the name of a layer by double-clicking
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on its name in the Layers dialog box.
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The layer named "Background" is special. You can't add
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transparency or a layer mask to it. To add transparency, you
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must first "add alpha" to the layer by right-clicking in the
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layers dialog and selecting "Add Alpha Channel".
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When using a drawing tool (Paintbrush, Airbrush, or Pencil),
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Shift-click will draw a straight line from your last drawing
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point to your current cursor position.
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Most plug-ins work on the current layer of the current image. In
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some cases, you will have to merge all layers (Layers->Flatten Image)
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if you want the plug-in to work on the whole image.
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Most file-formats can't handle layers and for that reason only
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the active layer is saved. Use XCF, the GIMP's native file format
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to keep layers, channels and guides when saving.
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Not all effects can be applied to all kinds of images. This
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is indicated by a grayed-out menu-entry. You may need to
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change the image to RGB, add an alpha-channel or flatten it.
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# Tips for intermediate users start here
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#
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The file selection dialog box has command-line completion with
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Tab, just like the shell. Type part of a filename, hit tab, and voila!
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It's completed.
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You can reassign shortcut keys on any menu by bringing up the menu,
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selecting a menu item, and pressing the new shortcut key combination.
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This is dynamic and is saved when you exit GIMP.
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All the old channel operations have been replaced with the more
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powerful and flexible Layer and Layer Mode operations. They may
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take getting used to, but they are simply a better way to operate.
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You can use the middle mouse button to pan around
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the image, if it's larger than its display window.
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Click and drag on a ruler to place a Guide on an image. All
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dragged selections will snap to the guides. You can remove
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guides by dragging them off the image with the Move tool.
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The GIMP supports gzip compression on the fly. Just add
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'.gz' (or '.bz2', if you have bzip2 installed) to the filename
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and your image will be saved compressed. Of course loading
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compressed images works too.
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Pressing and holding the Shift key before making a selection allows
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you to add to the current selection instead of replacing it. Using
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Ctrl before making a selection subtracts from the current one.
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You can press or release the Shift and Ctrl keys while you are
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making a selection in order to constrain it to a perfect square
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or circle, or to have it centered on its starting point.
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# Tips for advanced users start here
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#
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You can adjust the selection range for fuzzy select
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by clicking and dragging left and right.
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Shift-click on the eye icon in the Layers dialog to hide all
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layers but that one. Shift-click again to show all layers.
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Ctrl-click on the layer mask's preview in the Layers dialog
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toggles the effect of the layer mask.
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Alt-click on the layer mask's preview in the Layers dialog
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toggles viewing the mask directly.
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You can use Alt-Tab to cycle through all layers in an image
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(if your window manager doesn't trap those keys...).
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Shift-click with the Bucket Fill tool to have it use
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the background color instead of the foreground color.
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Control-drag with the Transform tool in rotation mode
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will constrain the rotation to 15 degree angles.
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You can adjust and re-place a selection by using Alt-drag.
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If your fonts turn out blocky, that's because they're not scalable
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fonts. Most X servers support scalable Type 1 Postscript fonts.
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Download and install them.
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# FIXME: The next tip should disappear once we have solved the
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# problems of stale pluginrc files and plug-in directories.
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# All other files in ~/.gimp can be kept after an upgrade.
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# In particular, we should try to preserve gimprc. --Raphael
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When installing a new version, be sure to
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delete your ~/.gimp directory first.
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Using Edit->Stroke allows you to draw simple squares or circles by
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painting the edge of your current selection with the active brush.
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More complex shapes can be drawn with Filters->Render->Gfig.
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To create a perfect circle, hold Shift while doing an ellipse select. To
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place a circle precisely, drag horizontal and vertical guides tangent to
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the circle you want to select, place your cursor at the intersection
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of the guides, and the resulting selection will just touch the guides.
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# (end of tips)
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