On 01/21/2013 03:49 PM, RogueRanger wrote:

When I make these, taking stock photographs and using the lasso selection tool in CS4, I have an option by right clicking on my selection and choosing 'feather' which softens the edges of the selection and makes it look less like a simple cut out. Does anyone know how to achieve the same result with Gimp?

Select the lasso (actually, any) selection tool in GIMP, check the "feather" and possibly "antialiasing" checkbox(es), then make your selection. You can adjust the amount of feathering; the feathering will approximately bridge the selection line, so the selection will include roughly r/2 pixels outside the line and r/2 inside, where "r" is the feathering "Radius". The number "r" can be as small or as large as you like, in tenths of a pixel.

On 01/21/2013 03:49 PM, RogueRanger wrote:

When I make these, taking stock photographs and using the lasso selection tool in CS4, I have an option by right clicking on my selection and choosing 'feather' which softens the edges of the selection and makes it look less like a simple cut out. Does anyone know how to achieve the same result with Gimp?

Select the lasso (actually, any) selection tool in GIMP, check the "feather" and possibly "antialiasing" checkbox(es), then make your selection. You can adjust the amount of feathering; the feathering will approximately bridge the selection line, so the selection will include roughly r/2 pixels outside the line and r/2 inside, where "r" is the feathering "Radius". The number "r" can be as small or as large as you like, in tenths of a pixel.

Hi,

On 21 Jan 13 23:49 RogueRanger said:

I have an option by right clicking on my selection and choosing 'feather'...Does anyone know how to achieve the same result with Gimp?

Make your selection, right-click anywhwere on the image, choose "Select" then "Feather", choose the feathering options on the dialogue that appears. How much easier/similar do you want? :-)

Greg Chapman http://www.gregtutor.plus.com
Helping new users of KompoZer and The GIMP

On 01/21/2013 07:26 PM, Greg Chapman wrote:

Hi,

On 21 Jan 13 23:49 RogueRanger said:

I have an option by right clicking on my selection and choosing 'feather'...Does anyone know how to achieve the same result with Gimp?

Make your selection, right-click anywhwere on the image, choose "Select" then "Feather", choose the feathering options on the dialogue that appears. How much easier/similar do you want? :-)

Assuming you need a consistent size for your thumbnails, here's a workflow for that.

Part one, crop and scale the source image to the required dimensions:

Make a rectangular selection of any size in the upper left corner of the source image.

Go to the Tool Options tab in your dock, which will display settings for your selection area. In the Size boxes, enter the size of your finished image in pixels. Then select Fixed Aspect Ratio.

Back on the image canvas, move and resize your selection until it frames the subject properly. Then do Image > Crop To Selection.

Next up, do Image > Scale, and enter the size your finished web image should be. When you set the width, the height should automatically come out right. (Within one pixel or so.)

Part two, the feathered edge:

Select > All

Select > Shrink (adjust radius to suit your needs)

Select > Feather (adjust radius to suit your needs)

Select > Invert (or, Ctrl+i)

Delete (or, Ctrl-x)

File > Export, and save as PNG (or, Ctrl+e and proceed from there)

This will give you a well composed image of the desired size, with a feathered, anti-aliased edge that blends with whatever background color the web page in question presents.

:o)

Steve

Hi Rogue,

On 22 Jan 13 01:35 RogueRanger said:

But the lasso arc was still active and I wasn't able to end it. What am I doing wrong?

Just double-click on the final point and it will join with the original point automatically to enclose the lassooed area.

The tool itself will remain the selected one until you select another.

Greg Chapman http://www.gregtutor.plus.com
Helping new users of KompoZer and The GIMP Still exploring BlueGriffon

On 22 Jan 13 21:59 RogueRanger said:

everytime I create a new area, (layer) it opens in yet another window,

Have you tried turning on:

Windows > Single-window mode ?

Greg Chapman http://www.gregtutor.plus.com
Helping new users of KompoZer and The GIMP

Hello,

These are some things that make it hard for me. The tool menus unlike PS are not a part of the main window and seem to be seperate windows on their own (2 of them) that is annoying

You can turn on single-window mode mode by right-clicking -> Windows -> Single-Window Mode

everytime I create a new area, (layer) it opens in yet another window, as does opening up another file. So if I'm trying to do a signature and I'm using 3 or even four items, I have that many seperate windows open.

This isn't usual GIMP-behavior. You should check, whether you're actually creating new layers or new images. To do so, look at the layers-dialogue (usually located to the right of your canvas, you can also find it by pressing Ctrl+L). When you create a new layer (resulting in a new window being opened), are there two layers shown in the dialogue or is it actually a new stack of layers (= new image) with just one layer in it?

Also the rectangular selection tool seems to be on all the time whether I select it or not. I've tried deleting the software and reinstalling but that doesn't work

Do you mean all the time as in "I cannot select i.e. the paintbrush tool"? That would be some pretty serious bug, assuming you know basic point-and-click interaction.
However, seeing how you're already talking about adding signatures and stuff, it seems more likely that you're confused by the rectangular select being the default tool which is active upon startup and often becomes the active tool after a task is performed. In Photoshop, the default tool is the move tool and you have to select the rect. select if you want to use it, in GIMP it's the other way around. It may seem unnatural to you due to what you're used too, but it's not "better" or "worse" than Photoshop's way (at least there haven't been any user studies about it) and I can guarantee you, that it's just as hard learning Photoshop after using GIMP as the other way around. Since there will be similar cases in the future, there is something that you should really try to understand: Despite being often described as such, GIMP is not "Photoshop for free" or "Photoshop but not as powerful" or otherwise "like Photoshop". It is a bitmap-manipulation-program (actually an xcf-manipulation-program, but let's not dive into that), that is separate and different from Photoshop and therefore, some of the operational concepts are different from Photoshop's. Sometimes things won't be were they "of course" (also called: where you've been trained to expect them by your prior program usage) should be, and sometimes you'll be pleasantly surprised by how they are arranged in the GIMP. Switching to GIMP isn't 1:1, but if you accept that GIMP may follow other premises than Photoshop, and that those premises aren't automatically bad just because of that, getting used to them isn't really all that hard.

So if everything goes right, this was at least a little helpful,

bw, Tobias Lunte//Tobl

I'm sorry if you get this email twice, but it was returned to sender so I'm not sure which of the recipients haven't gotten it.

--

Hello,

These are some things that make it hard for me. The tool menus unlike PS are not a part of the main window and seem to be seperate windows on their own (2 of them) that is annoying

You can turn on single-window mode mode by right-clicking -> Windows -> Single-Window Mode

everytime I create a new area, (layer) it opens in yet another window, as does opening up another file. So if I'm trying to do a signature and I'm using 3 or even four items, I have that many seperate windows open.

This isn't usual GIMP-behavior. You should check, whether you're actually creating new layers or new images. To do so, look at the layers-dialogue (usually located to the right of your canvas, you can also find it by pressing Ctrl+L). When you create a new layer (resulting in a new window being opened), are there two layers shown in the dialogue or is it actually a new stack of layers (= new image) with just one layer in it?

Also the rectangular selection tool seems to be on all the time whether I select it or not. I've tried deleting the software and reinstalling but that doesn't work

Do you mean all the time as in "I cannot select i.e. the paintbrush tool"? That would be some pretty serious bug, assuming you know basic point-and-click interaction.
However, seeing how you're already talking about adding signatures and stuff, it seems more likely that you're confused by the rectangular select being the default tool which is active upon startup and often becomes the active tool after a task is performed. In Photoshop, the default tool is the move tool and you have to select the rect. select if you want to use it, in GIMP it's the other way around. It may seem unnatural to you due to what you're used too, but it's not "better" or "worse" than Photoshop's way (at least there haven't been any user studies about it) and I can guarantee you, that it's just as hard learning Photoshop after using GIMP as the other way around. Since there will be similar cases in the future, there is something that you should really try to understand: Despite being often described as such, GIMP is not "Photoshop for free" or "Photoshop but not as powerful" or otherwise "like Photoshop". It is a bitmap-manipulation-program (actually an xcf-manipulation-program, but let's not dive into that), that is separate and different from Photoshop and therefore, some of the operational concepts are different from Photoshop's. Sometimes things won't be were they "of course" (also called: where you've been trained to expect them by your prior program usage) should be, and sometimes you'll be pleasantly surprised by how they are arranged in the GIMP. Switching to GIMP isn't 1:1, but if you accept that GIMP may follow other premises than Photoshop, and that those premises aren't automatically bad just because of that, getting used to them isn't really all that hard.

So if everything goes right, this was at least a little helpful,

bw, Tobias Lunte//Tobl