Category Archives: Gimp

Episode 191: PNG or JPG – The Big Fight

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This is a PNG in JPG lookDownload the Video! (26:07 49.7MB)

In the last Episode I looked under the hood of JP(E)G and PNG. This time it gets a bit more practical – which is better for what?

I tackle two examples from the GIMP Magazine web site and test, if they would be better saved as JPG or PNG. The Plugin “Save for Web” is really usefull for this task.(The image for this blog entry is a PNG by the way, showing JPG compression artifacts. As a JPG it would be five times the size. )

I “developed” a method for comparing two layers – just set the top layer mode to “difference”, make a new layer from visible and check that with the threshold tool for pixels, that are not completely black. After locating the problematic zones in an image with this tool, one can decide what settings are “good enough”.

Conclusion: It depends. It depends on the file, your use case, your level of “good enough” and your compassion for people on a mobile device in EDGE-Hell.

The show starts with a little extension of the last show, Pascal mentioned some options for saving a JPG file that I had overlooked.

The TOC

00:00:00 Start of video
00:01:00 Progressive mode in JPEG
00:04:09 Progressive mode is not fully supported by browsers
00:04:23 Optimized mode
00:05:56 Baseline?
00:06:17 The quality setting
00:07:09 GIMPMagazine and MTG header image – PNG or JPG?
00:09:23 Checking for quality loss in JPG
00:10:03 Comparing two layers with difference mode
00:10:48 Using the histogram for analysis of the amount of difference
00:11:25 Locating the differences
00:13:50 Trying 85, 75 and 90 as quality settings
00:16:13 When in doubt, compare different settings
00:16:36 Save your work as XCF.GZ
00:17:12 Second example – a drawing
00:19:56 Conclusion
00:23:19 Stay at 4:4:4 for subsampling with photos
00:25:16 Final words of wisdom
00:26:07 End of video

Creative Commons License
Meet the GIMP Video Podcast by Rolf Steinort is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://meetthegimp.org.

GIMP Team gives in to constant nagging!

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mtc-logoAs the usually well informed Steve Czajka from the GIMP Magazine reports in a special issue, the GIMP Team has started to rebrand the project. The name GIMP wasn’t professional sounding enough to reach the self defined goal of building a program that fulfills the demands of graphic professionals.

The GIMP Magazine has already changed it’s design. I will follow when I have secured the new domain names, implemented the name server changes and updated the web server for the former GIMP Magazine and Meet the ???????.

They could have announced that a bit earlier…..

Episode 189: Currywurst for Beginners

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189Download the Video! (53:45 107MB)

Download the Companion File! (19.9MB)

This is an episode completely in “Beginners Level”, some of you have asked for such a thing. I go through the editing of an image and cover a lot of topics. Nothing really in depth, but you should be able to work your way through other material after viewing this one.

I start with a short tour through the user interface of GIMP, you find more about that in the GIMP documentation and other places. In between there is a bit about saving vs. exporting an image – without the nasty and pointless discussion.

The image itself has to be rotated a bit, cropped, treated with a bit of curves, burned, and dodged, given more omphh with a layer in overlay mode that of course has to be modified with a layer mask.  Finally the image will be scaled down, sharpened and exported as a JPEG while the original XCF file is conserved. Quite a tour – so I needed nearly an hour.

(I’ll update the links here later.)

The TOC

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:56 Comments about the GAP problems
00:01:43 This episode is for beginners
00:02:58 Currywurst and Friedrichshain
00:04:18 The user interface – a short tour
00:04:35 The window header and saving into XCF
00:05:30 Exporting an image as JPG or PNG
00:06:50 Fullscreen and single window mode
00:07:20 Menues, Toolbox, Docks, Tabs
00:09:23 The image area with the canvas, rulers, sliders and buttons
00:10:20 Moving around in the image and zooming
00:12:00 Single window mode vs. multi window mode
00:13:01 TAB to switch the Toolbox and Docks on and off
00:13:32 The image – back story
00:15:30 What has to be done – making a plan
00:16:40 Rotate the image to straighten it
00:19:17 Cropping to a 3:2 aspect ratio
00:19:57 Inside Out Cropping
00:22:50 Make a backup layer
00:23:20 Curves Tool for contrast changes
00:27:30 Burning and Dodging with a layer in Soft Light Mode for local brightness changes
00:30:50 An extra layer for notes
00:33:30 Burning and Dodging
00:38:00 The Smudge Tool
00:41:27 Increasing contrast with a layer copy in Soft Light Mode
00:43:30 Adding a layer mask to apply the effect selectively
00:45:50 Softening the layer mask with a Gaussian Blur
00:47:45 Saving the image
00:48:03 Reducing the size for the Web
00:49:30 Sharpening
00:51:38 Exporting to JPEG
00:53:45 End of video

Creative Commons License
Meet the GIMP Video Podcast by Rolf Steinort is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://meetthegimp.org.

Episode 187: Cleaning Up

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187Download the Video! (35:45 68.1MB)

The last episode got a lot of comments – thank you all for them! And in this episode I try to follow all of the tips you gave me. I remember layer groups and drop shadows, see that Alpha to selection is really better and fight with Copy&Paste in the text tool.

I got a present too – a fine script in Scheme for generating the title screen. Of course that has to be explored. Did you know that you can export the content of a selection as a new image by key stroke? I found out about SHIFT-CTRL-V. Saul’s script gets also a first analytical look – Scheme looses its terror if you come close.

Matthias pointed to an other Colour Design site and the GIMP Magazine will publish a new issue next week.

And finally I take a good look at the “Blender Master Class”, a very fine book about the 3D software Blender.

The TOC

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:40 Using chapter marks in the video
00:01:30 Layer groups
00:05:23 Alpha to Selection – better than selecting by color
00:09:00 Drop shadow filter
00:10:10 Copy and Paste with the text tool is a bit broken
00:13:37 A script in Scheme
00:14:12 Exporting selections from GIMP as graphic image files / Create from clipboard
00:15:20 Exporting vs. saving – don’t discuss, just follow your orders! ;-)
00:16:30 Installing a Scheme (.scm) script
00:17:30 Testing the script
00:18:45 Comparing the results
00:19:30 Analyzing the script
00:25:40 Thanks to Saul Goode
00:26:16 Another Color Design website
00:26:45 GIMP Magazine launch ahead
00:27:30 Book review: Blender Master Class, Ben Simonds
00:35:45 End of video

Creative Commons License
Meet the GIMP Video Podcast by Rolf Steinort is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://meetthegimp.org.

Episode 186: A new Face!

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186Download the Video! (33:04 56.5MB)
Download the companion file!(0.9MB)

Long time no show – but this project is not dead. For the fresh start a new design for the intro is needed. And a new design needs new colours.

I used the Colorschemedesigner to create a palette of colours fitting the “Original MTG Orange” from the logo. Clever algorithms use old artists knowledge about colour combinations. This site even exports a GIMP palette file which is then imported into GIMP.

For the lettering I wanted some fresh fonts and found them at the League of Movable Type.

The TOC

The video now has chapters – you can jump to the TOC entries!

00:01:00 Finding a palette with Color Scheme Designer
00:04:58 Exporting the palette to GIMP
00:05:43 Find the directory for the palette
00:06:30 Using palettes in GIMP
00:08:20 Creating a new image template
00:09:45 Create a new image
00:10:28 Inserting the logo from a file
00:11:11 Setting guides to half and a third of the image
00:11:44 Move the logo with help of the guides
00:13:20 Free fonts from the League of Movable Type
00:14:10 Editing text in GIMP with the on canvas editor
00:16:24 A drop shadow for text
00:17:36 A drop shadow for the logo
00:18:55 Saving the image
00:19:28 Adding the CC-Logo – loading images from the web
00:20:35 Using layers for different versions of one text
00:27:16 Rapport – stacking layers exactly on top of each other
00:28:29 Moving a stack of “chained” layers
00:29:08 Can you help me with the design?
00:29:44 Outlook into the next episodes

Creative Commons License
Meet the GIMP Video Podcast by Rolf Steinort is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://meetthegimp.org.

Get a new, great GIMP book for 40% off the regular price!

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The review for this book should be in the show that I am finally have started to produce. But my voice is gone due to a really nasty cold and there is a one week 40% discount on this book. You can get a paper copy AND the e-Book or the e-Book in different versions alone.

I have the PDF version sitting around to review for weeks and took now a real look into it. The one on dead trees is still somewhere over the Atlantic.

I love that book. To quote myself from a G+ discussion:

[...] This book here is in part a manual – and a different one from the one at docs.gimp.org. They complement each other like the man pages and a good text book about Linux. It draws connections which are not in the official documentation and explains concepts where docs.gimp explains single functions. Both have their place, like man pages and text book.

I have the pdf here for review at Meet the GIMP (and as I am missing a guy with the cattle prod at the moment haven’t looked deeply into it) and I like very much what I see. It clearly shows that Olivier Lecarme is a very experienced scholar – the book even contains an appendix with the basics about the science of light, color, the perception thereof and the technical background of image editing. And tips for selected exercises throughout the book – work of a professor clearly. He is retired, so no finals to be expected. ;-)

And for all on the more northern latitudes – it contains lots of images of lovely Mediterranean scenes, mostly in Olivier’s garden and at least one of a grumpy cat.

I’ll read some parts carefully today (sick at home with a bad cold), but just now after 2 hours of browsing I would say: BUY IT!

If you have missed a comprehensive textbook on GIMP, get this one.

Not sure yet? Have look at one chapter or the table of contents.

(Full disclosure: About a year ago I have helped in the production of a GIMP book by No Starch Press and got nicely paid for that. But I owe them nothing.)

Episode 185: The 52.02 €rror – Printing with Profiles

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Download the Video! (36:50 73.4MB)
Download the companion file with my printer profiles! (3.9MB)

I gave myself a real photo printer for the 5th anniversary of “Meet the GIMP!” and have now my work-flow ready to print in the “right” colors. One reason I shied away from printing for years were the costs. Original Printer Ink is one of the most costly fluids that are traded commercially (1544.54€/l (1) is not the highest price you can pay) and good paper is expensive. But now I have found a combination of a good printer, which is subsidized by small and expensive ink tanks and a good second party ink for 1/6 of the price. The ink is pigment based and so doesn’t bleach out in the light so fast as dye inks. Added to that two good but cheap papers for making beginners mistakes.

Of course the colors are off when I print with the usual TurboPrint driver. TurboPrint knows neither ink nor papers. So I needed two printer profiles – one of them was already payed for with the ink starter set. Well, I had to buy two more profiles because I had made a big mistake while printing the test sheets. Take care to switch off all color correction while printing calibration charts.

With the right ICC profiles GIMP can give you a Soft Proof of the image that is going to be printed. The look of the printed image is simulated on the screen and you can adapt the image to get your best result.
All you need to know (and much more) about calibration and the different “intents” is at Cambridge in Colour and at the Idea Machine.

(1) It’s even worse than I said in the video. The ink cartridge holds 11ml and costs 16.99€ Epson list price. That’s 1544.54 per liter. farbenwerk C7 runs up to 275€/l in the set and 230€/l for the ink only. Quite a difference.

The TOC

00:20 Gimp Magazine had a great start
01:10 New printer
03:00 Replacement ink by farbenwerk.com
03:50 Pigment ink vs. dye ink
05:50 Arguments for refillable inks
06:30 Filling of cartridges
09:20 Paper from Monochrom.de
11:20 Paper color changes the image
11:50 How printing works
16:00 Printer profiling explained
17:00 Profiling done
21:30 Getting the profile into TurboPrint
23:50 Soft proofing in GIMP
24:30 Out of gamut colors
25:40 Display filter for soft proof
26:30 Printing a real image with profile and soft proof
27:30 Adapting to printable colors with curves
30:10 Difference between LCD and paper / display intent
31:00 Printing in TurboPrint
34:15 6 colors – all black (Carbon ink for monochrome images)

Creative Commons License
Meet the GIMP Video Podcast by Rolf Steinort and Philippe Demartin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://meetthegimp.org.

Episode 184: Scraping the Web!

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Download the Video! (14:04 28.0MB)
I found a new feature in GIMP, no idea how long it has been hidden in the files menue. One can import a whole web page in one image! Better than a screen shot, because you don’t need to scroll down. The web site of the GIMP Magazine results in an image of 1024×16037 pixels, quite an extreme portrait format. It doesn’t work with all sites and sometimes results in render errors. But it is a nice tool.

The GIMP Magazine will have it’s launch in some days on September 5, you should know this by now. ;-)

I helped a bit publishing a book, working as a Technical Reviewer. I got the drafts of all the chapters as a Libre Office File and worked through it, filling it up with nasty comments. So I can claim that I have read every word in Michael J. Hammel’s book “Artist’s Guide to GIMP, 2nd Edition” that I have on the lab bench in the second part of the video.
It is not a text book but a collection of small and medium sized projects. You learn by doing stuff.
Of course I am a little bit biased, got some money, fun and a box of books, but I would also have recommended the first edition of this book. And the second one is better!

The TOC

Not really needed here – the show starts with creating an image from a web site and switches over to the book review at 7:40. Nothing more in it.

Creative Commons License
Meet the GIMP Video Podcast by Rolf Steinort and Philippe Demartin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://meetthegimp.org.

GIMP Magazine launches September 5th!

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Great news, just CTRL-C CTRL-V from a mail form Steve:

GIMP Magazine features the amazing works created from this world wide community.  Photography, digital arts, graphic arts, web design, tips & tricks, step by step tutorials, master classes, help desk questions, product reviews and so much more are showcased and explored in this quarterly publication.  This publication is available for free and is licensed Creative Commons CC-AT-SA 2.5.

 

GIMP Magazine launches to the world on September 5, 2012 when people can:

 

We will be  hosting a launch party on the popular Canadian Technology and Pop Culture Podcast called Dyscultured.  Everyone is invited to attend this event and meet some of the GIMP Magazine team members, ask questions, and provide suggestions for upcoming issues!  The event will be LIVE to the world!  The GIMP Magazine team and the Dyscultured crew will also be in the chat, powered by none other than the open source Mibbit and IRC.  Yeah, the Dyscultured crew is all about the Creative Commons, open source, and all that!  So please attend and have some fun with a bunch of Canadians eh!

 

Starting at Issue #2 we are planning to make the magazine also available in print format, as well as specialized digital formats for tablet devices.  We are deep into the creation of Issue #2 that is tentatively scheduled for December 2012.  Submissions for Issue #2 will close September 30 2012. Issue #2 is filling up fast so use our new form and get your submissions in soon! http://gimpmagazine.org/submissions

 

We would greatly appreciate it if you could help spread the word to your community, as I know they would find this free resource invaluable.  Posted on our website is our logo and a launch party graphic if you want to include it in a tweet, a blog post, story article, or simply forward this to your team.

 

Follow the discussions at:

Website http://gimpmagazine.org

Twitter (www.twitter.com/GIMPMagazine)

Google+ (+GIMP Magazine)