2012-05-19

Welcome!

Welcome to readers of "The Book of GIMP"!

This companion website is a way of communication between the readers and the main author (Olivier Lecarme). Here you'll find a short presentation of the book and of its authors, as well as its table of contents.

The forum will allow you to discuss, ask questions, suggest changes or additions.

The resources page lists a number of sites about GIMP and the related free software products.

You'll also find here the source of most illustrations of the book, chapter by chapter, except screenshots and photos of people. However, an illustration used in several chapters appears here only once. When not published with the permission of their author, all these illustrations are copyrighted along the Creative Commons License.

This website will also be used for posting possible errata or additions to the published text.

Finally, since GIMP will continue to live after publication of the book, posts will describe the new changes and improvements from time to time.


2012-04-01

Filters Not Described in the Book

Erase Every Other Row

Erase Every Other Row is similar to the Deinterlace filter, but, instead of interpolating the erased row with the surrounding ones, it replaces the erased row with transparency or with the background color.Erase Every Other Row can also operate on vertical stripes.
The Erase Every Other Row dialog is simple. Choose between rows and columns, between even or odd, and between transparency (erase) or the background color (fill)--unless the layer lacks an Alpha channel, in which case the only option is the background color.

Video

Video simulates the distortions that can occur in an image that was captured with a video camera. The dialog is unusual, since the preview of the various video patterns is displayed on a fixed image of a fox, rather than on the image being transformed. Additive adds the pattern to the image; otherwise it's subtracted. Rotated rotates the pattern by 90 degrees. To see the effects of the various video patterns, click through them in the dialog. The Figure shows the result of applying a Wide-striped Video Pattern to Figure 2.33.


Xach-Effect

The Xach-Effect filter adds a translucent 3D effect to a selection or Alpha channel. We created a rectangular selection in the image. The Xach-Effect filter works by detaching the selection from the image and moving it by the Highlight offset amount specified in the dialog. The Highlight color appears around the detached selection, and its Highlight Opacity is an Alpha value in [0 to 255], which means the default of 66 is equivalent to 26\%. The last three fields specify the drop shadow parameters, just like in the Drop Shadow filter. Finally, if the Keep selection box is checked, the selection remains after the filter is run.

Blinds

The Blinds filter simulates the effect of blinds in front of the image. The effect of Blinds is demonstrated on the image of Figure 17.53. You can choose the orientation of the blind blades, their width (called Displacement), and their number. The blinds can be the current Background color or Transparent.

Predator

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The Predator dialog does not include a preview. The filter uses an edge-detect algorithm, and Edge amount in [0 to 24] changes the sensitivity of the edge detection. If Pixelize is checked, the filter applies pixelization to the result. Set the amount of pixelization via Pixel amount in [1 to 16]. If Keep selection is checked, the filter is applied to the current selection, and if not, it's applied to the current layer. If Separate layer is checked, the filter leaves the original layer untouched and creates a new layer.

Slide

The Slide filter requires an RGB image with only one layer. It builds a color transparency with border and holes and crops or resizes the image so its proportions are 3:2, which are the proportions of a 32~mm slide. The Slide dialog allows you to input text that is printed in the slide borders and number of the slide and choose the font family and the font color. As with the preceding filters, a checkbox allows you to create a new image instead of changing the original.

Filmstrip

The Filmstrip filter simulates a strip of positive photographic film (remember those?) with one or more photographs. Before choosing the filter, open the target images in GIMP. In the Image Selection area of the dialog, the left column shows the images that are open, and the right column shows the images that will be included in the film. Add an image to the right column by selecting it in the left column and clicking +Add. Conversely, remove an image from the right column by clicking its name and then -Remove. The Height of the resulting images can be set in the corresponding field or will be determined based on the images used if the Fit height to images box is checked. The Color will be the color of the film surrounding the images. Images are numbered in the film, according to the adjustable parameters: Start index, Font, Color, and position in the film (At top or At bottom). The Advanced tab, not shown here, allows you to change the sizes of all the components of the simulation relative to the image size. The default values have been computed to simulate a filmstrip correctly, making adjustments on the Advanced tab generally leads to strange and unnatural results.

Stencil Carve

Stencil Carve uses a grayscale source image as a stencil to carve a design into a target image of the same size. The source image must have only one layer without an Alpha channel, otherwise the filter name is grayed out in the Decor menu. The Stencil Carve dialog contains only two parameters: a menu to select the target image and a checkbox to select Carve White Areas. If the box is unchecked, the inverse of the source image is used as the stencil. A possible result is shown here. The source image was a grayscale copy of the target image.

Stencil Chrome

Stencil Chrome also requires a grayscale image without an Alpha channel. This filter uses an environment map as a stencil to add a chrome effect to the source image. The figure shows the result of applying the Stencil Chrome filter with a spiral gradient. The environment map is also a grayscale image, which has to be the same size as the original. Rather than selecting an image open in GIMP, you can choose the environment map from anywhere on your drive. The various parameters are rather self-explanatory. This filter is rather unstable, however, which means that from time to time it crashes. Be sure to save your image before working with it.

Fog

Fog creates a new layer above the current layer in the image, and adds a semi-transparent fog. The dialog contains only four parameters: the name of the new layer, the color of the fog (the default color produces a sulfurous, cough-inducing smoke), its turbulence [1 to 10] and its opacity.

Chapter 16. Transformation Tools

16.2 Two poppies in Olivier's garden, Grasse, Provence, France
16.14 Manhattan landscape from the Empire State Building, New York, USA (photo taken by Florian Lecarme, with his authorization)
16.25 A rose "Heritage" (David Austin) in Olivier's garden, Grasse, Provence, France
16.26 The old city of Grasse from Olivier's balcony, Grasse, Provence, France
16.39 Olivier on his house's balcony, Grasse, Provence, France
16.76 Façade of St Peter's Cathedral, Rome, Italy (photo taken by Florian Lecarme, with his authorization)

Chapter 21. Scripts and Plug-ins

21.13 Olivier on Isola Bella, Borromean Islands, Lago Maggiore, Piedmont, Italy
21.17 A white peacock on Isola Bella, Borromean Islands, Lago Maggiore, Piedmont, Italy

Chapter 20. Image formats

20.1 An Icon (SVG format)
20.4 A vector graphic image (SVG format)

Chapter 19. Obtaining and Printing Images

19.16 Gap Cliff, Watsons Bay, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
19.29 Delphinium ajacis in Olivier's garden, Grasse, Provence, France (raw format)
19.29 Delphinium ajacis in Olivier's garden, Grasse, Provence, France

Chapter 18. Animation Tools

18.4 Initial logo
18.5 Final logo
18.6 Resulting animation (GIF)
18.11 Chapel Notre-Dame des Anges, Fond d'Aussois, Aussois, Savoy, France
18.15 The Entrance, New South Wales, Australia
18.22 Lake of Le Bourget, seen from La Chambotte, Savoy, France
18.23 Video of Aria (2006-), Olivier's she-cat

Chapter 17. Filters

The 10 filters not described in the book are described here.

17.3 Ferry on lake Como from Bellagio harbor, Bellagio, Lombardia, Italy
17.7 Gardens of Villa Melzi and Lake Como, Bellagio, Lombardy, Italy
17.22 Fragment of a video of Aria (2006-), Olivier's she-cat
17.26 Old photo from Olivier's family photo albums
17.31 The lake of Allos, Provence, France (old photo from Olivier's family photo albums
17.38 Tryphon (1993-2008) and Aria (2006-), Olivier's cats
17.40 Interior of the church of Abbaye du Thoronet, Provence, France
17.47 Patio, Gardens of Serre de la Madone, Menton, Provence, France
17.49 Tryphon (1993-2008), Olivier's Siamese cat
17.59 Gardens of Villa Melzi and Lake Como, Bellagio, Lombardy, Italy
17.68 Manhattan landscape from the Empire State Building, New York, USA (photo taken by Florian Lecarme, with his authorization)
17.123 Patio of Villa Balbianello, Lenno, Lake Como, Lombardia, Italy
17.183 Park of the Naumkeag Mansion, Lenox, Massachusetts, United States
17.186 Hellebores in Olivier's Garden, Grasse, Provence, France
17.222 Lavabo of the Cloister, Abbaye du Thoronet, Provence, France
17.230 Example of the Flame filter
17.231 Example of the Flame filter
17.233 Example of the Flame filter
17.234 Example of the Flame filter
17.238 Example of IFS Fractal filter
17.250 Example of CML filter
17.251 Example of CML filter
17.252 Example of CML filter
17.253 Example of CML filter
17.255 Example of Diffraction Patterns filter
17.256 Example of Diffraction Patterns filter
17.257 Example of Diffraction Patterns filter
17.260 Example of Jigsaw filter
17.264 Example of Qbist filter
17.265 Example of Qbist filter
17.266 Example of Qbist filter
17.270 Example of Sinus filter
17.277 Example of Fractal Explorer filter
17.278 Example of Fractal Explorer filter
17.279 Example of Fractal Explorer filter
17.280 A boy playing harmonica, Aussois, Savoy, France
17.283 Budapest Parliament, Budapest, Hungary - Example of Gfig filter
17.290 Example of Sphere Designer filter
17.292 Example of Spyrogimp filter
17.293 Example of Spyrogimp filter
17.296 Example of Spyrogimp filter
17.297 Example of Spyrogimp filter