On Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 12:10 PM, Paul Naudé wrote:

Hi

I am an everyday user of GIMP (awesome, awesome product - wish I could program to help but you guys rock) and have just one suggestion to add:

I still often need to use MS Paint, to quickly add something like a block, line or circle. Unless I am unaware of a plug in for this purpose, it would be great if GIMP could do that too (just these basic things so I can remove Paint from my taskbar altogether ;-)

Hi Paul,

This feature has been sitting among our low-priority goals in the roadmap for quite a few years.

Alex

You can use the paths tool (hotkey b) to draw a shape, then do a "stroke path".

You can also make a circular or rectangular selection and drag a colour into it to fill the selection to make a solid shape.

That said, if you find you are doing this a lot, I recommend Inkscape, as it's not only easy to make shapes in the manner you are wanting, but also allows resizing and other modifications without pixelisation/blurring the results.

Until gimp fully supports vector layers, it will always be a bit of a hack to get what you want.

Hope it helps. -C

On 27 Aug 2017 19:01, "Paul Naudé" wrote:

Hi

I am an everyday user of GIMP (awesome, awesome product - wish I could program to help but you guys rock) and have just one suggestion to add:

I still often need to use MS Paint, to quickly add something like a block, line or circle. Unless I am unaware of a plug in for this purpose, it would be great if GIMP could do that too (just these basic things so I can remove Paint from my taskbar altogether ;-) [image: Inlynprent 1]

My permanent taskbar shortcuts:

[image: Inlynprent 2]

Regards

Paul Naudé

Hi,

On Sun, 27 Aug 2017 22:31:22 +0300 Alexandre Prokoudine wrote:

On Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 12:10 PM, Paul Naudé wrote:

Hi

I am an everyday user of GIMP (awesome, awesome product - wish I could program to help but you guys rock) and have just one suggestion to add:

I still often need to use MS Paint, to quickly add something like a block, line or circle. Unless I am unaware of a plug in for this purpose, it would be great if GIMP could do that too (just these basic things so I can remove Paint from my taskbar altogether ;-)

Hi Paul,

This feature has been sitting among our low-priority goals in the roadmap for quite a few years.

I think that lines can be drawn using the pencil tools and one can do rectangular or elliptical selections and use "stroke". If something is still missing then one can set up a bounty for implementing this feature. (I'm interested!)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Emma Watson Factoids - http://shlom.in/emwatson-facts

People who think they know everything greatly annoy those of us who do.
    — Source unknown, via Linux’s fortune-mod

Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply .

Hey Paul. See I'm really lazy. I hate drawing things over and over, resetting fonts, etc.
If you do this a lot, I'd set up a template (takes about 5 minutes) for it in Inkscape (this is what I do for product composition because it takes ages to move and transform things in GIMP).

Try this: 1. Open inkscape
2. Open Document properties (ctrl+shift+d), Change the units to px instead of mm.
3. Save the file as "screenshot_template_master.svg" in the same folder as your screenshots are saved. 4. Drag and drop one of your previous screenshots into the template (choose "linked" as the import type). 5. With the image still selected, hit ctrl+shift+r (this resizes the canvas to the selected object)
6. With the image still selected, right click on it and choose "image properties"
7. Under the file name get rid of all the path information and just put "1.jpg" (or 1.png if windows saves screenshots in png) 8. Lock the layer
9. make a new layer, and name it "arrows circles and junk" or whatever you like. Raise the layer to the top of the stack. 10. Off the canvas, draw a collection of circles, arrows, rectangles, etc. 11. Save the file.

With this template file you have a few options for using all your nice crisp vector bits:

A. You can simply rename the screenshot you want to "1.jpg" after windows saves it, then open your template in Inkscape. Inkscape will automatically load the new screenshot into the document for you, and you can simply move your arrows and circles around, then export.

B. If renaming files is too much work, simply drag the new screenshot into the template and choose "link".

C. If you'd rather just paste the screenshot into the document you can do that too. You don't have to turn on snapping. Just move the screenshot where you want it and use (ctrl+shift+r) to move the canvas to the new screenshot. Alternatively, turn on page corner snapping for a cleaner way to do this.

Note: If you need jpeg instead of png, install inkscape extension "export layers", and choose JPEG as the export file type.

It's a bit of setup, but the time savings is massive in redrawing/moving, rotating stuff, and you have an ever growing collection of scale-able vector elements you can use on your other projects.

Trust me, you'll be doing a file search for "master" as a regular thing after only a short time of reaping the benefits of reusable vectors.

Let me know if you have issues. :) -C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 1:02 PM, Paul Naudé wrote:

Thanks for your suggestions.

Yes I use Inkscape too, but for a quick and dirty screen shot and a "this item here" reference, MS Paint is still the quickest.

Maybe a GIMP script that links the steps you suggest could be a workaround. I will look into that.

Regards

Paul Naudé

2017-08-27 22:00 GMT+02:00 C R :

You can use the paths tool (hotkey b) to draw a shape, then do a "stroke path".

You can also make a circular or rectangular selection and drag a colour into it to fill the selection to make a solid shape.

That said, if you find you are doing this a lot, I recommend Inkscape, as it's not only easy to make shapes in the manner you are wanting, but also allows resizing and other modifications without pixelisation/blurring the results.

Until gimp fully supports vector layers, it will always be a bit of a hack to get what you want.

Hope it helps. -C

On 27 Aug 2017 19:01, "Paul Naudé" wrote:

Hi

I am an everyday user of GIMP (awesome, awesome product - wish I could program to help but you guys rock) and have just one suggestion to add:

I still often need to use MS Paint, to quickly add something like a block, line or circle. Unless I am unaware of a plug in for this purpose, it would
be great if GIMP could do that too (just these basic things so I can remove
Paint from my taskbar altogether ;-) [image: Inlynprent 1]

My permanent taskbar shortcuts:

[image: Inlynprent 2]

Regards

Paul Naudé _______________________________________________ gimp-developer-list mailing list
List address: gimp-developer-list@gnome.org List membership:
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer-list List archives: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list

If you are really REALLY lazy, and don't care that much about the quality of the stroke, then do this:

In GIMP: 1. Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts
2. Type "stroke" in the search bar
3. Change the shortcut for vectors-stroke-last-values from "disabled" to "Ctrl+Alt+s"

Now anytime you have a selection (circle or rectangle, or otherwise), simply hit Ctrl+Alt+s to add a stroke to it. It will be whatever colour you have currently as your foreground colour.

If the line is too thin or too thick, just hit the / key and type "stroke" into the search bar. Choose Selection to Stroke, and it will pop up the dialog for changing line width etc. The next time you use your hotkey, it will apply the same stroke you last used. this works everytime you re-open gimp too, so it's something yo probably only need to do once. :)

I don't recommend this way, but if you'd rather doe it all in GIMP, this is the easiest way.

Also note that Ctrl+, (Ctrl + comma) will fill the selection with whatever your foreground colour is. So you can get a filled and stroked shape by Ctrl+, then Ctrl+Alt+s.

Hope it helps! -C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 4:43 PM, C R wrote:

Hey Paul. See I'm really lazy. I hate drawing things over and over, resetting fonts, etc.
If you do this a lot, I'd set up a template (takes about 5 minutes) for it in Inkscape (this is what I do for product composition because it takes ages to move and transform things in GIMP).

Try this: 1. Open inkscape
2. Open Document properties (ctrl+shift+d), Change the units to px instead of mm.
3. Save the file as "screenshot_template_master.svg" in the same folder as your screenshots are saved. 4. Drag and drop one of your previous screenshots into the template (choose "linked" as the import type). 5. With the image still selected, hit ctrl+shift+r (this resizes the canvas to the selected object)
6. With the image still selected, right click on it and choose "image properties"
7. Under the file name get rid of all the path information and just put "1.jpg" (or 1.png if windows saves screenshots in png) 8. Lock the layer
9. make a new layer, and name it "arrows circles and junk" or whatever you like. Raise the layer to the top of the stack. 10. Off the canvas, draw a collection of circles, arrows, rectangles, etc. 11. Save the file.

With this template file you have a few options for using all your nice crisp vector bits:

A. You can simply rename the screenshot you want to "1.jpg" after windows saves it, then open your template in Inkscape. Inkscape will automatically load the new screenshot into the document for you, and you can simply move your arrows and circles around, then export.

B. If renaming files is too much work, simply drag the new screenshot into the template and choose "link".

C. If you'd rather just paste the screenshot into the document you can do that too. You don't have to turn on snapping. Just move the screenshot where you want it and use (ctrl+shift+r) to move the canvas to the new screenshot. Alternatively, turn on page corner snapping for a cleaner way to do this.

Note: If you need jpeg instead of png, install inkscape extension "export layers", and choose JPEG as the export file type.

It's a bit of setup, but the time savings is massive in redrawing/moving, rotating stuff, and you have an ever growing collection of scale-able vector elements you can use on your other projects.

Trust me, you'll be doing a file search for "master" as a regular thing after only a short time of reaping the benefits of reusable vectors.

Let me know if you have issues. :) -C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 1:02 PM, Paul Naudé wrote:

Thanks for your suggestions.

Yes I use Inkscape too, but for a quick and dirty screen shot and a "this item here" reference, MS Paint is still the quickest.

Maybe a GIMP script that links the steps you suggest could be a workaround. I will look into that.

Regards

Paul Naudé

2017-08-27 22:00 GMT+02:00 C R :

You can use the paths tool (hotkey b) to draw a shape, then do a "stroke path".

You can also make a circular or rectangular selection and drag a colour into it to fill the selection to make a solid shape.

That said, if you find you are doing this a lot, I recommend Inkscape, as it's not only easy to make shapes in the manner you are wanting, but also allows resizing and other modifications without pixelisation/blurring the results.

Until gimp fully supports vector layers, it will always be a bit of a hack to get what you want.

Hope it helps. -C

On 27 Aug 2017 19:01, "Paul Naudé" wrote:

Hi

I am an everyday user of GIMP (awesome, awesome product - wish I could program to help but you guys rock) and have just one suggestion to add:

I still often need to use MS Paint, to quickly add something like a block, line or circle. Unless I am unaware of a plug in for this purpose, it would
be great if GIMP could do that too (just these basic things so I can remove
Paint from my taskbar altogether ;-) [image: Inlynprent 1]

My permanent taskbar shortcuts:

[image: Inlynprent 2]

Regards

Paul Naudé _______________________________________________ gimp-developer-list mailing list
List address: gimp-developer-list@gnome.org List membership:
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer-list List archives: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list

One correction: should be "select-stroke-last-values" not "vector-stroke-last-values", obviously.

-C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 5:01 PM, C R wrote:

If you are really REALLY lazy, and don't care that much about the quality of the stroke, then do this:

In GIMP: 1. Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts
2. Type "stroke" in the search bar
3. Change the shortcut for vectors-stroke-last-values from "disabled" to "Ctrl+Alt+s"

Now anytime you have a selection (circle or rectangle, or otherwise), simply hit Ctrl+Alt+s to add a stroke to it. It will be whatever colour you have currently as your foreground colour.

If the line is too thin or too thick, just hit the / key and type "stroke" into the search bar. Choose Selection to Stroke, and it will pop up the dialog for changing line width etc. The next time you use your hotkey, it will apply the same stroke you last used. this works everytime you re-open gimp too, so it's something yo probably only need to do once. :)

I don't recommend this way, but if you'd rather doe it all in GIMP, this is the easiest way.

Also note that Ctrl+, (Ctrl + comma) will fill the selection with whatever your foreground colour is. So you can get a filled and stroked shape by Ctrl+, then Ctrl+Alt+s.

Hope it helps! -C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 4:43 PM, C R wrote:

Hey Paul. See I'm really lazy. I hate drawing things over and over, resetting fonts, etc.
If you do this a lot, I'd set up a template (takes about 5 minutes) for it in Inkscape (this is what I do for product composition because it takes ages to move and transform things in GIMP).

Try this: 1. Open inkscape
2. Open Document properties (ctrl+shift+d), Change the units to px instead of mm.
3. Save the file as "screenshot_template_master.svg" in the same folder as your screenshots are saved. 4. Drag and drop one of your previous screenshots into the template (choose "linked" as the import type). 5. With the image still selected, hit ctrl+shift+r (this resizes the canvas to the selected object)
6. With the image still selected, right click on it and choose "image properties"
7. Under the file name get rid of all the path information and just put "1.jpg" (or 1.png if windows saves screenshots in png) 8. Lock the layer
9. make a new layer, and name it "arrows circles and junk" or whatever you like. Raise the layer to the top of the stack. 10. Off the canvas, draw a collection of circles, arrows, rectangles, etc. 11. Save the file.

With this template file you have a few options for using all your nice crisp vector bits:

A. You can simply rename the screenshot you want to "1.jpg" after windows saves it, then open your template in Inkscape. Inkscape will automatically load the new screenshot into the document for you, and you can simply move your arrows and circles around, then export.

B. If renaming files is too much work, simply drag the new screenshot into the template and choose "link".

C. If you'd rather just paste the screenshot into the document you can do that too. You don't have to turn on snapping. Just move the screenshot where you want it and use (ctrl+shift+r) to move the canvas to the new screenshot. Alternatively, turn on page corner snapping for a cleaner way to do this.

Note: If you need jpeg instead of png, install inkscape extension "export layers", and choose JPEG as the export file type.

It's a bit of setup, but the time savings is massive in redrawing/moving, rotating stuff, and you have an ever growing collection of scale-able vector elements you can use on your other projects.

Trust me, you'll be doing a file search for "master" as a regular thing after only a short time of reaping the benefits of reusable vectors.

Let me know if you have issues. :) -C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 1:02 PM, Paul Naudé wrote:

Thanks for your suggestions.

Yes I use Inkscape too, but for a quick and dirty screen shot and a "this item here" reference, MS Paint is still the quickest.

Maybe a GIMP script that links the steps you suggest could be a workaround. I will look into that.

Regards

Paul Naudé

2017-08-27 22:00 GMT+02:00 C R :

You can use the paths tool (hotkey b) to draw a shape, then do a "stroke path".

You can also make a circular or rectangular selection and drag a colour into it to fill the selection to make a solid shape.

That said, if you find you are doing this a lot, I recommend Inkscape, as it's not only easy to make shapes in the manner you are wanting, but also allows resizing and other modifications without pixelisation/blurring the results.

Until gimp fully supports vector layers, it will always be a bit of a hack to get what you want.

Hope it helps. -C

On 27 Aug 2017 19:01, "Paul Naudé" wrote:

Hi

I am an everyday user of GIMP (awesome, awesome product - wish I could program to help but you guys rock) and have just one suggestion to add:

I still often need to use MS Paint, to quickly add something like a block, line or circle. Unless I am unaware of a plug in for this purpose, it would
be great if GIMP could do that too (just these basic things so I can remove
Paint from my taskbar altogether ;-) [image: Inlynprent 1]

My permanent taskbar shortcuts:

[image: Inlynprent 2]

Regards

Paul Naudé _______________________________________________ gimp-developer-list mailing list
List address: gimp-developer-list@gnome.org List membership:
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer-list List archives: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list

This should not deter GIMP developers from adding a proper shape drawing feature. I highly recommend bribing Shlomi Fish to do it if you have the dosh. :)

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 5:05 PM, C R wrote:

One correction: should be "select-stroke-last-values" not "vector-stroke-last-values", obviously.

-C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 5:01 PM, C R wrote:

If you are really REALLY lazy, and don't care that much about the quality of the stroke, then do this:

In GIMP: 1. Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts
2. Type "stroke" in the search bar
3. Change the shortcut for vectors-stroke-last-values from "disabled" to "Ctrl+Alt+s"

Now anytime you have a selection (circle or rectangle, or otherwise), simply hit Ctrl+Alt+s to add a stroke to it. It will be whatever colour you have currently as your foreground colour.

If the line is too thin or too thick, just hit the / key and type "stroke" into the search bar. Choose Selection to Stroke, and it will pop up the dialog for changing line width etc. The next time you use your hotkey, it will apply the same stroke you last used. this works everytime you re-open gimp too, so it's something yo probably only need to do once. :)

I don't recommend this way, but if you'd rather doe it all in GIMP, this is the easiest way.

Also note that Ctrl+, (Ctrl + comma) will fill the selection with whatever your foreground colour is. So you can get a filled and stroked shape by Ctrl+, then Ctrl+Alt+s.

Hope it helps! -C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 4:43 PM, C R wrote:

Hey Paul. See I'm really lazy. I hate drawing things over and over, resetting fonts, etc.
If you do this a lot, I'd set up a template (takes about 5 minutes) for it in Inkscape (this is what I do for product composition because it takes ages to move and transform things in GIMP).

Try this: 1. Open inkscape
2. Open Document properties (ctrl+shift+d), Change the units to px instead of mm.
3. Save the file as "screenshot_template_master.svg" in the same folder as your screenshots are saved. 4. Drag and drop one of your previous screenshots into the template (choose "linked" as the import type). 5. With the image still selected, hit ctrl+shift+r (this resizes the canvas to the selected object)
6. With the image still selected, right click on it and choose "image properties"
7. Under the file name get rid of all the path information and just put "1.jpg" (or 1.png if windows saves screenshots in png) 8. Lock the layer
9. make a new layer, and name it "arrows circles and junk" or whatever you like. Raise the layer to the top of the stack. 10. Off the canvas, draw a collection of circles, arrows, rectangles, etc. 11. Save the file.

With this template file you have a few options for using all your nice crisp vector bits:

A. You can simply rename the screenshot you want to "1.jpg" after windows saves it, then open your template in Inkscape. Inkscape will automatically load the new screenshot into the document for you, and you can simply move your arrows and circles around, then export.

B. If renaming files is too much work, simply drag the new screenshot into the template and choose "link".

C. If you'd rather just paste the screenshot into the document you can do that too. You don't have to turn on snapping. Just move the screenshot where you want it and use (ctrl+shift+r) to move the canvas to the new screenshot. Alternatively, turn on page corner snapping for a cleaner way to do this.

Note: If you need jpeg instead of png, install inkscape extension "export layers", and choose JPEG as the export file type.

It's a bit of setup, but the time savings is massive in redrawing/moving, rotating stuff, and you have an ever growing collection of scale-able vector elements you can use on your other projects.

Trust me, you'll be doing a file search for "master" as a regular thing after only a short time of reaping the benefits of reusable vectors.

Let me know if you have issues. :) -C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 1:02 PM, Paul Naudé wrote:

Thanks for your suggestions.

Yes I use Inkscape too, but for a quick and dirty screen shot and a "this item here" reference, MS Paint is still the quickest.

Maybe a GIMP script that links the steps you suggest could be a workaround. I will look into that.

Regards

Paul Naudé

2017-08-27 22:00 GMT+02:00 C R :

You can use the paths tool (hotkey b) to draw a shape, then do a "stroke path".

You can also make a circular or rectangular selection and drag a colour into it to fill the selection to make a solid shape.

That said, if you find you are doing this a lot, I recommend Inkscape, as it's not only easy to make shapes in the manner you are wanting, but also allows resizing and other modifications without pixelisation/blurring the results.

Until gimp fully supports vector layers, it will always be a bit of a hack to get what you want.

Hope it helps. -C

On 27 Aug 2017 19:01, "Paul Naudé" wrote:

Hi

I am an everyday user of GIMP (awesome, awesome product - wish I could program to help but you guys rock) and have just one suggestion to add:

I still often need to use MS Paint, to quickly add something like a block, line or circle. Unless I am unaware of a plug in for this purpose, it would
be great if GIMP could do that too (just these basic things so I can remove
Paint from my taskbar altogether ;-) [image: Inlynprent 1]

My permanent taskbar shortcuts:

[image: Inlynprent 2]

Regards

Paul Naudé _______________________________________________ gimp-developer-list mailing list
List address: gimp-developer-list@gnome.org List membership:
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer-list List archives: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list

No problem. happy GIMPing. :)
-C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 5:14 PM, Paul Naudé wrote:

Got it, thanks! That is really helpful. Learnt quite a lot!

On 28 Aug 2017 6:05 p.m., "C R" wrote:

One correction: should be "select-stroke-last-values" not "vector-stroke-last-values", obviously.

-C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 5:01 PM, C R wrote:

If you are really REALLY lazy, and don't care that much about the quality of the stroke, then do this:

In GIMP: 1. Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts
2. Type "stroke" in the search bar
3. Change the shortcut for vectors-stroke-last-values from "disabled" to "Ctrl+Alt+s"

Now anytime you have a selection (circle or rectangle, or otherwise), simply hit Ctrl+Alt+s to add a stroke to it. It will be whatever colour you have currently as your foreground colour.

If the line is too thin or too thick, just hit the / key and type "stroke" into the search bar. Choose Selection to Stroke, and it will pop up the dialog for changing line width etc. The next time you use your hotkey, it will apply the same stroke you last used. this works everytime you re-open gimp too, so it's something yo probably only need to do once. :)

I don't recommend this way, but if you'd rather doe it all in GIMP, this is the easiest way.

Also note that Ctrl+, (Ctrl + comma) will fill the selection with whatever your foreground colour is. So you can get a filled and stroked shape by Ctrl+, then Ctrl+Alt+s.

Hope it helps! -C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 4:43 PM, C R wrote:

Hey Paul. See I'm really lazy. I hate drawing things over and over, resetting fonts, etc.
If you do this a lot, I'd set up a template (takes about 5 minutes) for it in Inkscape (this is what I do for product composition because it takes ages to move and transform things in GIMP).

Try this: 1. Open inkscape
2. Open Document properties (ctrl+shift+d), Change the units to px instead of mm.
3. Save the file as "screenshot_template_master.svg" in the same folder as your screenshots are saved. 4. Drag and drop one of your previous screenshots into the template (choose "linked" as the import type). 5. With the image still selected, hit ctrl+shift+r (this resizes the canvas to the selected object)
6. With the image still selected, right click on it and choose "image properties"
7. Under the file name get rid of all the path information and just put "1.jpg" (or 1.png if windows saves screenshots in png) 8. Lock the layer
9. make a new layer, and name it "arrows circles and junk" or whatever you like. Raise the layer to the top of the stack. 10. Off the canvas, draw a collection of circles, arrows, rectangles, etc.
11. Save the file.

With this template file you have a few options for using all your nice crisp vector bits:

A. You can simply rename the screenshot you want to "1.jpg" after windows saves it, then open your template in Inkscape. Inkscape will automatically load the new screenshot into the document for you, and you can simply move your arrows and circles around, then export.

B. If renaming files is too much work, simply drag the new screenshot into the template and choose "link".

C. If you'd rather just paste the screenshot into the document you can do that too. You don't have to turn on snapping. Just move the screenshot where you want it and use (ctrl+shift+r) to move the canvas to the new screenshot. Alternatively, turn on page corner snapping for a cleaner way to do this.

Note: If you need jpeg instead of png, install inkscape extension "export layers", and choose JPEG as the export file type.

It's a bit of setup, but the time savings is massive in redrawing/moving, rotating stuff, and you have an ever growing collection of scale-able vector elements you can use on your other projects.

Trust me, you'll be doing a file search for "master" as a regular thing after only a short time of reaping the benefits of reusable vectors.

Let me know if you have issues. :) -C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 1:02 PM, Paul Naudé wrote:

Thanks for your suggestions.

Yes I use Inkscape too, but for a quick and dirty screen shot and a "this
item here" reference, MS Paint is still the quickest.

Maybe a GIMP script that links the steps you suggest could be a workaround.
I will look into that.

Regards

Paul Naudé

2017-08-27 22:00 GMT+02:00 C R :

You can use the paths tool (hotkey b) to draw a shape, then do a "stroke
path".

You can also make a circular or rectangular selection and drag a colour
into it to fill the selection to make a solid shape.

That said, if you find you are doing this a lot, I recommend Inkscape, as
it's not only easy to make shapes in the manner you are wanting, but also
allows resizing and other modifications without pixelisation/blurring the
results.

Until gimp fully supports vector layers, it will always be a bit of a hack
to get what you want.

Hope it helps. -C

On 27 Aug 2017 19:01, "Paul Naudé" wrote:

Hi

I am an everyday user of GIMP (awesome, awesome product - wish I could
program to help but you guys rock) and have just one suggestion to add:

I still often need to use MS Paint, to quickly add something like a block,
line or circle. Unless I am unaware of a plug in for this purpose, it would
be great if GIMP could do that too (just these basic things so I can remove
Paint from my taskbar altogether ;-) [image: Inlynprent 1]

My permanent taskbar shortcuts:

[image: Inlynprent 2]

Regards

Paul Naudé _______________________________________________ gimp-developer-list mailing list
List address: gimp-developer-list@gnome.org List membership:
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer-list List archives: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list

Another note: use Shift+alt+s if you are on Ubuntu Linux - Apparently Ctrl+Alt+s is taken by the window manager to hide the window (slow disapproving head shake).

-C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 5:15 PM, C R wrote:

No problem. happy GIMPing. :)
-C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 5:14 PM, Paul Naudé wrote:

Got it, thanks! That is really helpful. Learnt quite a lot!

On 28 Aug 2017 6:05 p.m., "C R" wrote:

One correction: should be "select-stroke-last-values" not "vector-stroke-last-values", obviously.

-C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 5:01 PM, C R wrote:

If you are really REALLY lazy, and don't care that much about the quality of the stroke, then do this:

In GIMP: 1. Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts
2. Type "stroke" in the search bar
3. Change the shortcut for vectors-stroke-last-values from "disabled" to "Ctrl+Alt+s"

Now anytime you have a selection (circle or rectangle, or otherwise), simply hit Ctrl+Alt+s to add a stroke to it. It will be whatever colour you have currently as your foreground colour.

If the line is too thin or too thick, just hit the / key and type "stroke" into the search bar. Choose Selection to Stroke, and it will pop up the dialog for changing line width etc. The next time you use your hotkey, it will apply the same stroke you last used. this works everytime you re-open gimp too, so it's something yo probably only need to do once. :)

I don't recommend this way, but if you'd rather doe it all in GIMP, this is the easiest way.

Also note that Ctrl+, (Ctrl + comma) will fill the selection with whatever your foreground colour is. So you can get a filled and stroked shape by Ctrl+, then Ctrl+Alt+s.

Hope it helps! -C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 4:43 PM, C R wrote:

Hey Paul. See I'm really lazy. I hate drawing things over and over, resetting fonts, etc.
If you do this a lot, I'd set up a template (takes about 5 minutes) for it in Inkscape (this is what I do for product composition because it takes ages to move and transform things in GIMP).

Try this: 1. Open inkscape
2. Open Document properties (ctrl+shift+d), Change the units to px instead of mm.
3. Save the file as "screenshot_template_master.svg" in the same folder as your screenshots are saved. 4. Drag and drop one of your previous screenshots into the template (choose "linked" as the import type). 5. With the image still selected, hit ctrl+shift+r (this resizes the canvas to the selected object)
6. With the image still selected, right click on it and choose "image properties"
7. Under the file name get rid of all the path information and just put "1.jpg" (or 1.png if windows saves screenshots in png) 8. Lock the layer
9. make a new layer, and name it "arrows circles and junk" or whatever you like. Raise the layer to the top of the stack. 10. Off the canvas, draw a collection of circles, arrows, rectangles, etc.
11. Save the file.

With this template file you have a few options for using all your nice crisp vector bits:

A. You can simply rename the screenshot you want to "1.jpg" after windows saves it, then open your template in Inkscape. Inkscape will automatically load the new screenshot into the document for you, and you can simply move your arrows and circles around, then export.

B. If renaming files is too much work, simply drag the new screenshot into the template and choose "link".

C. If you'd rather just paste the screenshot into the document you can do that too. You don't have to turn on snapping. Just move the screenshot where you want it and use (ctrl+shift+r) to move the canvas to the new screenshot. Alternatively, turn on page corner snapping for a cleaner way to do this.

Note: If you need jpeg instead of png, install inkscape extension "export layers", and choose JPEG as the export file type.

It's a bit of setup, but the time savings is massive in redrawing/moving, rotating stuff, and you have an ever growing collection of scale-able vector elements you can use on your other projects.

Trust me, you'll be doing a file search for "master" as a regular thing after only a short time of reaping the benefits of reusable vectors.

Let me know if you have issues. :) -C

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 1:02 PM, Paul Naudé wrote:

Thanks for your suggestions.

Yes I use Inkscape too, but for a quick and dirty screen shot and a "this
item here" reference, MS Paint is still the quickest.

Maybe a GIMP script that links the steps you suggest could be a workaround.
I will look into that.

Regards

Paul Naudé

2017-08-27 22:00 GMT+02:00 C R :

You can use the paths tool (hotkey b) to draw a shape, then do a "stroke
path".

You can also make a circular or rectangular selection and drag a colour
into it to fill the selection to make a solid shape.

That said, if you find you are doing this a lot, I recommend Inkscape, as
it's not only easy to make shapes in the manner you are wanting, but also
allows resizing and other modifications without pixelisation/blurring the
results.

Until gimp fully supports vector layers, it will always be a bit of a hack
to get what you want.

Hope it helps. -C

On 27 Aug 2017 19:01, "Paul Naudé" wrote:

Hi

I am an everyday user of GIMP (awesome, awesome product - wish I could
program to help but you guys rock) and have just one suggestion to add:

I still often need to use MS Paint, to quickly add something like a block,
line or circle. Unless I am unaware of a plug in for this purpose, it would
be great if GIMP could do that too (just these basic things so I can remove
Paint from my taskbar altogether ;-) [image: Inlynprent 1]

My permanent taskbar shortcuts:

[image: Inlynprent 2]

Regards

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On 08/19/17 11:10, Paul Naudé wrote:

Hi

I am an everyday user of GIMP (awesome, awesome product - wish I could program to help but you guys rock) and have just one suggestion to add:

I still often need to use MS Paint, to quickly add something like a block, line or circle. Unless I am unaware of a plug in for this purpose, it would be great if GIMP could do that too (just these basic things so I can remove Paint from my taskbar altogether ;-) [image: Inlynprent 1]

Strangely, nobody mentioned "Filters>Render>Gfig...".

There are also several scripts available to create paths with geometric shapes.

A nice filter, but unfortunately isn't a substitute for on-canvas editing/shape making.
Having to apply to change shape/fuzzy of brush is a bit cumbersome.

Turn this into a tool for working on canvas, with full access to the undo/redo history stack, and it would be great. :)

It still would not replace the power of vector layer support unfortunately.

Thanks for pointing it out though, Ofnuts!

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 9:00 PM, Ofnuts wrote:

On 08/19/17 11:10, Paul Naudé wrote:

Hi

I am an everyday user of GIMP (awesome, awesome product - wish I could program to help but you guys rock) and have just one suggestion to add:

I still often need to use MS Paint, to quickly add something like a block, line or circle. Unless I am unaware of a plug in for this purpose, it would
be great if GIMP could do that too (just these basic things so I can remove
Paint from my taskbar altogether ;-) [image: Inlynprent 1]

Strangely, nobody mentioned "Filters>Render>Gfig...".

There are also several scripts available to create paths with geometric shapes.

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