Gimp Image Editing - Winter 2011

This Thursday, at 7 pm in Dreese Labs room 264, Brian Swaney will be demonstrating use of the GIMP image editor. GIMP is what some might consider an open source alternative to the proprietary $800 Photoshop application, except that many people refuse to consider it on the grounds that it is allegedly inferior, and therefore unusable. While I’m not familiar with Photoshop, I will debunk the myth about GIMP being unusable, and show just how powerful GIMP can be for those who take the time to learn it. I’ll do this by teaching you how to perform arbitrary Photoshop-esque techniques in GIMP.

For those who don’t remember, I did promise to cover the new Gimp 2.8, which was scheduled to be released December 27th, 2010[1]. However, Gimp 2.8 has not yet been released. I expect to have the beta version (2.7.1) as well as the stable version (2.6.10) in case things go wrong. The gimp 2.7 may be unstable, so I can make no promises, and I am aware of at least one feature anticipated in 2.8 that is not included in the 2.7.1 version I found.

Image manipulation is done a by-case basis, so what works on one image may not work on another. Use of these editors is best learned by practice, as opposed to lectures, so the presentation will be interactive and based on audience feedback. Use of a laptop with GIMP already installed was recommended. Questions are also encouraged, so please come prepared with ideas of what you would like to see - as basic as “how do I save as a JPEG” to as advanced as “how do I remove braces?” or anything else you can think of. Asking your questions below in advance will help me to prepare relevant content for you.

While I have some example content, basic to advanced, the talk will be focused on what you want to cover. This can be anything from a quick adjustment of the color/contrast/angle for your pictures, to completely removing a girlfriend/parent/sibling, to rendering lightning bolts, to making the picture just… lie. By the time you leave, you should qualify as a Fox News editor.