More Free Guides to GIMP, for Maximum Graphics Muscle
If you spend much of your time working with graphics you're probably familiar with GIMP, one of the very best open source graphics applications. We've covered GIMP on several occasions, and collect resources for it that can help you create eye-popping effects. For example, Scott Photographics has an excellent exploration of how to create see-through text effects posted, and you can learn to do these with GIMP in about five minutes. GHacks.net also has a very good tutorial up on adding brushes to GIMP, which can greatly expand your arsenal of effects. In this post, you'll find many other worthwhile resources for GIMP--all of them free--and links to other graphics-focused coverage we've done here at OStatic.
GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a long-standing and hugely respected open source graphics program, and many readers probably already use it. Originally created at U.C. Berkeley its interface and feature set run neck-and-neck with expensive proprietary alternatives such as Photoshop, and it has a thriving community of developers and plug-in creators.
There are many good books on GIMP, but you may very well find everything you need in the way of instruction in Grokking the GIMP. The book is available in a free HTML tarball in addition to a printed copy that you can buy. I highly recommend looking at the links in the contents. This free, online book takes you through layers, filters, resizing tips, masks, blending colors, case studies and way more than that. The screenshots and instructions are from an older version of GIMP, but many of the tutorials will still give you what you need to perform advanced tasks. (For many more free books on open source software titles, check this post.)
One of the best aspects of GIMP is that it has a thriving community of plug-in developers. There are plug-ins for granular tasks such as new ways to edit images, plug-ins for more flexible graphics printing options, and more. The registry of plug-ins is here.
Keyboard shortcuts always come in handy with graphics programs, and many Photoshop users employ them. In the link at the bottom of this page, you'll find useful shortcuts for GIMP.
On GIMP's own site, you'll find many tutorials. With them, you can create floating logos, learn how to do red eye removal in photos, make vignettes out of photos, and more. There are lots more community-driven and video tutorials at Gimp-Tutorials.net. Many of the tutorials there are complemented by useful comments and tips from readers. This set of tutorials is also very rich and varied.
Of course, don't forget about GIMP documentation. There's plenty of it, and you'll find it available in many languages.
Finally, be aware that GIMP is just one of the many open source programs out there for graphics, and you can use a number of the others with GIMP to give you maximum flexibility. Take a look at our latest overall graphics resources collection for help in this area.