This article shows you how to make the background of an image transparent in GIMP.

Making an Image Transparent in GIMP

How do you make the background of an image transparent? This can be achieved by removing the background of the image and keeping only the necessary elements in the forefront. In image editing, removing the background of an image is one of the most common actions you will perform.

When the background is transparent, it takes the color and details of the new image. For example, putting a transparent image on top of a yellow image will have a yellow background.

Removing a Solid-Color Background

If the target image has a solid-colored background, then removing the background will be easier.

For this demonstration, I have created the following image. The image is quite simplistic. It contains two circles, one inside the other, on top of a flat-colored background.

Load the image in GIMP.

Next, add an alpha channel. To add this channel, go to Layer >> Transparency >> Add Alpha Channel.

The change should be visible under the Layer tab.

Now, it is time to select the background. GIMP offers two tools for selecting the background: the Color tool and the Fuzzy Select tool. In this method, we will select the Color tool from the left sidebar. Alternatively, you can use the Shift + O keyboard shortcut to open this tool.

Now, click on the background. GIMP will mark the entire background that matches the selected color. This selection will be highlighted.

Once the background has been highlighted, it is now time to delete it. To delete the selected area, go to Edit >> Clear. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Delete.

And, voilà! The background has been removed successfully! Finish the process by un-marking the selected area. Go to Select >> None. Alternatively, press the Ctrl + Shift + A keyboard shortcut.

Removing a Multi-Colored Background

In the previous step, the target image was a simple geometric design with a flat-color background. What if the background were something more complex? For example, when taking a selfie, the background is not a flat color. Removing the background in such an image would not work with the previous method.

In principle, the task of removing the background will be the same. You will identify the area of the image that you want to retain, select the area that you want to remove, and remove the background by deleting it. In this section, however, the selection tools will differ.

Load the target image in GIMP. As in the previous example, I will use the same simple I created for the demonstration.

Add an alpha channel to the image.

We will use the Path tool to select the area to retain. Using this tool, you can outline the image portion that will remain intact. While using this tool, you click on the image and drag the cursor to outline the image you want to keep. The clicked point is marked with a dot, and all the dots generated are connected to mark the area. Because of this, the marking may or may not be as smooth as intended. The more vertices that are used, the smoother the marking will be.

Once you are finished marking the image, press Enter to end the marking process, and the entire object will be selected.

We have selected the part we want to keep, and now, we must invert the selection. This way, GIMP will select all the remaining portions to delete. In this case, the deleted portion will be the background. To invert the selected portion, go to Select >> Invert. Alternatively, use the Ctrl + I keyboard shortcut.

Now, we will simply remove the contents of the selection. Go to Edit >> Clear. Alternatively, use the Delete keyboard shortcut.

Voilà! The background has now been removed successfully!

Saving the Image

Once the background of the image has been removed, it is now time to save the transparent image. To export the transparent image as a different image, go to File >> Export As. Alternatively, use the Shift + Ctrl + E keyboard shortcut.

As for the file type, change the extension of the filename (GIMP automatically converts and saves in the format).

Final Thoughts

Removing the background of an image can be a simple task with GIMP. Learning the tools involved in this process does not take much time. The only issue is the time it takes to outline your selection. Any high-quality background removal, especially with a complex background, will require quite a lot of time.

GIMP not your jam? Worry not. There are more awesome alternatives to Photoshop that you can run on Linux. Check out the best Photoshop alternatives on Linux here.

Happy computing!

GIMP is a powerful image editor that’s free of charge and open-source. It’s a cross-platform tool that’s often compared to Adobe Photoshop. GIMP comes with tons of features and plugins to offer the finest image editing experience.

In this guide, check out how to resize an image using GIMP.

Resizing Image

While GIMP offers a ton of value and power, oftentimes, people find it difficult to operate. It’s understandable as GIMP isn’t the simplest image editor out there. While having tons of features is a boon, it also complicates things for novice users. However, once learned, GIMP is quite powerful.

In image editing, readjusting the dimensions of an image is a common task. For the most part, image resizing is necessary if it’s too large to fit the target job. For example, an image with 1920x1080px resolution needs to be scaled down for the thumbnail.

GIMP offers simple methods to resize an image to the desired dimension.

Resize the Image Using GIMP

GIMP is available for all the major Linux distros. If not installed, then install GIMP snap by running the following command.

Snaps are universal Linux packages that can be installed on any supported distro. Check out the official Snapcraft documentation on how to install snap.

For the demonstration, this image is grabbed from Unsplash. Check it out on Unsplash.

Fixed the image resize
Open the image in GIMP.

To change the image dimension, go to Image >> Scale Image.

When the dialog box opens up, enter the target image dimension. The link button signifies whether the aspect ratio will be locked/unlocked.

Click “Scale” to apply the change.

Free-hand image resize
What if there’s no necessity of resizing the image with precision? Then, we can perform a free-hand image resizing. Essentially, it will be dragging the image with a cursor to reshape it.

To do so, open the image in GIMP, and press “Shift + S”. This will start free-hand resizing. Similar to the prior method, make sure to lock/unlock the aspect ratio option.

To apply the changes, click “Scale”.

Saving the image
Once the change is applied, save the image. Go to File >> Save.

By default, GIMP will save the file in XCF format. Note that an XCF file created by a new version may not work on an older GIMP.

Exporting the image
To export the image in a more convenient format, go to File >> Export as. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut “Shift + Ctrl + E”.

In this example, to save the file in PNG format, change the file extension from the file name to “.PNG”. Click “Export” to proceed.

GIMP will ask what information to preserve. If not sure, then go with the default options. Click “Export” to finish the process.

Final thoughts

Resizing images using GIMP is quite a simple task. Follow the method that suits your needs.

In certain situations, instead of the whole image, only a part of it may be relevant. Check out how to crop images in GIMP.

Happy computing!

GIMP is a powerful software for image editing and related tasks. It comes with tons of basic and advanced features. Often, GIMP is compared to Adobe Photoshop as the FOSS alternative.

As an image editor, GIMP can work on existing images and draw an image from scratch. In this guide, check out how to draw a circle using GIMP.

Drawing a circle in GIMP

Drawing a circle is an essential task for any image editor. In GIMP, the “Ellipse selection” is the tool that will allow us to create a circle.

The very first step is to create a new image. From the GIMP main window, go to File >> Menu. Alternatively, we can use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + N”. If there needs a circle to be drawn on top of an existing image, create a new layer from Layer >> New Layer. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut “Shift + Ctrl + N”.

GIMP will ask for the image properties. It will come with the default values. Change them as necessary.

The image is created successfully.

Open the “Ellipse select” tool from Tools >> Selection Tools >> Ellipse Select. Alternatively, select it from the toolbox.

It’s time to draw the ellipse. Click and drag the cursor on the image and start drawing a circle. It’ll look something like this.

The border of the circle needs stroking to make it solid. To do so, go to Edit >> Stroke Selection.

It’ll open a dialog box, asking for the stroke properties. Click “Stroke” to apply the selection.

Need to work on the border while keeping the inside of the circle clean? Go to Select >> Border.

Select the border properties, especially the border width.

The result would look like this.

Filling the circle with color

This is an additional step and may not apply in all situations. In case you want to fill the circle with a specific color, then follow this method.

First, select the color from the color selection icon. For example, red is selected as the foreground color, and blue is selected as the background color. Select the right color for the background/foreground.

To fill the foreground of the circle, press “Ctrl + , (comma)”. To fill the background of the circle, press “Ctrl + . (dot)”.

Saving the picture

To export the picture, go to File >> Export As. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut “Shift + Ctrl + E”.

GIMP will ask for the location to save the file. As for the file format, change the file extension in the file name. GIMP will automatically recognize the change and save the file in the desired format.

Final thoughts

GIMP is an awesome tool for drawing images. However, it doesn’t offer you to create a perfect circle. Three’s only the option to draw an ellipse. The best one can do draw a near-perfect circle by hand. The dimension of the circle can be dragged and changed to a seemingly accurate circle. It may require some practice.

Not interested in GIMP? Worry not. There are lots of Photoshop alternatives that you can try. Check out best Photoshop alternatives on Linux.

Happy computing!

GIMP on Linux Mint

Install GIMP on Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distro. Ubuntu and other major distros offer GIMP directly from the package server. We can use APT to install GIMP in one shot.

GIMP is also available as snap and flatpak packages. These are universal Linux packages that can be installed in any Linux distro irrespective of its structure as long as the snap and flatpak package managers are available. I’ll be showcasing all of the methods.

Let’s get started!

Installing GIMP using APT

Fire up a terminal. First, we’re going to update APT and all the installed packages.

Once the task finishes, tell APT to install GIMP.

Install GIMP using snap

Snap is a universal Linux package system. A snap package will work on any Linux distro as long as the snappy package manager is supported. This reduces the trouble of the developers and users alike.

First, we need snappy, the snap package manager. If you already have snappy installed, then simply skip these steps and head directly to the GIMP snap installation. Otherwise, follow along with the guide.

To install snappy, run the following command.

Now, tell snappy to install the snap core. Yes, snap itself is a snap package. Run the next command.

Here, I already have the snap core installed, so this message is popping up.

Restart snap service to take the changes into action.

Now, snappy is ready to grab GIMP. GIMP is available from the Snapcraft store. Tell snappy to install GIMP.

Install GIMP using flatpak

Flatpak is another type of universal Linux package, similar to snap. A flatpak package can be installed on any Linux distro as long as the flatpak package manager is supported. By the time of writing this article, flatpak is supported by 22 distros.

Similar to snap, we need the flatpak package manager first. In the case of Linux Mint, flatpak comes preinstalled, no setup required. Unless you’ve uninstalled flatpak at any point, skip directly to GIMP flatpak installation. Otherwise, follow along.

Run the command for installing flatpak.

Add the Flathub repository. Flathub can be described as the official package server of flatpak.

Finally, install GIMP flatpak. Check out GIMP on Flathub.

Using GIMP

Once the installation is complete, we’re ready to use GIMP. Start GIMP from the menu.

Here, I’ve loaded an image from my personal wallpaper collection. GIMP offers tons of tools and features. Feel free to play around.

Now, GIMP is not so simple that one can generally master all by himself. There are tons of guides and tutorials available all over the internet on GIMP. YouTube is a good place to start looking for.

Final thoughts

GIMP isn’t the only photo editor. Of course, it’s one of the best out there. However, there are tons of other photo editors that you may find interesting. There’s no one-size-fits-all tool, so the more you experience, the better. Check out the top 5 image editors for Linux.

Enjoy!

What does GIMP do?

One of the most important jobs you can do in GIMP, is cropping the parts you want. Perhaps you want your motive to have another background or you need to remove details that are irrelevant or sensitive. In these cases, you can paint over or cut out parts of the picture. In this article, you will see a few ways to crop a picture with GIMP. You can cut the parts you have selected; the most straightforward case is cutting a square. Simply choose the selection tool with the letter r choose your space and mark. You also have the option to choose a specific aspect ratio of you final picture. You do this with the Tool Options dialog. When you have your selection, find ‘Crop to Selection’ in the ‘image’ drop-down menu.

This is the simplest method so move on to the next level. You can use any regular shape to do the same, this is not as easy as cutting a straight line. It gets a bit more complicated when you want to cut out the person on the picture or, as I thought, the panda. Since the shape is not defined precisely by any geometric pattern you must trace along the edge. This is time consuming and error prone, but there are several other ways.

How do you choose your crop area?

The best way to decide the crop area is to use the selection tools. It is important to decide how exact you want to be and what you are trying to achieve. The tools available are, among others, ‘Intelligent Scissors’ and ‘Fuzzy Select’. If you have high contrast you can use ‘Fuzzy Select’ to choose the color your object has. The ‘Fuzzy Select’ is also excellent if you want to create shadow effects of your subject. For this method to work well, you need to tweak the threshold of maximum color difference. For cutting a contour, this is hard to get right. It is better to use the ‘Intelligent Scissors’ for a job like that. The Scissors is an exact tool but requires a bit of work. A steady hand is also helpful. To use the tool, invoke it from the Tools->Selection Tools menu or type ‘I’ on the keyboard.

The cursor changes to a pair of scissors. This is where it gets a little time-consuming; you need to cut the object out. You need to be precise but not too much, there are tricks. You start by clicking close to the edge of your object, a dot will appear. As soon as you move the cursor, a line appears. At the end is a round circle called a node. Now, keep on clicking along the edge of your object, the entire way around. When you study your work you will see that the line that the tool created has followed the edge but not perfectly. Before you hit enter to confirm your choice, you can go back along the line to fine-tune it.

If the feature missed details, you can click on the line and drag it closer. You can also move a node by holding down Ctrl-Shift and dragging the node. To confirm the shape, hit enter. At this point, you can also expand or shrink your selection by as many pixels as you wish. This is a useful strategy where you can deliberately choose a bit to much and shrink afterwards. Now, go to ‘Edit->Copy’ and enter. Next use ‘Edit->Paste as’ -> ‘New Image’, to make a new image. If you use the menu, you will see that you can past in to new layer and even new brush. This can be really useful for making beautiful patterns. Now you have a new image open, just save it with a new name and add it to something else.

More automated ways

A more automated way of taking out a special object from a picture is the ‘Foreground Select’ tool. This tool is designed to select a number of colors and mark everything else. The selection is made within the area you mark. Many users call this the lasso tool due to the symbol that is used at the cursor while you use it. To start using the ‘Foreground Select’ tool, pick it from the ‘Tools -> Selection’ menu. The lasso shows up next to your cursor. Now, you mark the area around the object roughly.

The tool will try to identify the object based on what you mark and your next step. When you have drawn a line around the object, the cursor changes to the draw tool. The reason for this is that you now need to define the different colors that it is made of. The selection is not always perfect, so you may need to continue marking the parts of the object that the tool did not select from the beginning. This procedure can be a little tedious but it saves time compared to the alternative.

GIMP is a powerful tool and the more you use it the more you can you it’s powers. Practice by setting projects that require new features so you can experience yourself how they work.

After 6 years of development, a new version of GIMP, version 2.10 was released recently. GIMP 2.10 comes with a lot of new features and improvements. You can learn more about the new features and improvements of GIMP 2.10 at https://www.gimp.org/release-notes/gimp-2.10.html

In this article, I will show you how to install GIMP 2.10 on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and how to do basic image editing with GIMP 2.10. Let’s get started.

Installing GIMP 2.10 using Flatpak:

GIMP 2.10 is available as a Flatpak package. It is the preferred way to install GIM 2.10 on Linux based operating systems according to the official website of GIMP.

Flatpak may not be installed by default on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. But Flatpak is available in the official package repository of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. So, you can easily install Flatpak.

First update the APT package repository cache with the following command:

The APT package repository cache should be updated.

Now install Flatpak with the following command:

Now press y and then press <Enter> to continue.

Flakpak should be installed.

Now install GIMP 2.10 with Flatpak with the following command:

Type in your login user’s password and click on Authenticate.

GIMP 2.10 Flatpak package installation process should start.

Now press y and then press <Enter>.

The installation should continue.

Once the installation is complete, you should see the following window:

Now you can run GIMP 2.10 with the following command:

The splash screen of GIMP 2.10 should show up.

GIMP 2.10 Flatpak version is running on Ubuntu MATE 18.04 LTS.

Installing GIMP 2.10 using PPA:

GIMP 2.10 is not available in the official package repository of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. If you want to install GIMP 2.10 using APT package manager, you have to add a GIMP unofficial PPA.

To add the GIMP unofficial PPA, run the following command:

Now press <Enter>.

The unofficial GIMP PPA should be added and the APT package repository cache should be updated.

Now install GIMP 2.10 with the following command:

Now press y and then press <Enter>.

GIMP 2.10 should be installed.

Starting GIMP 2.10:

Now you can find GIMP 2.10 launcher in the Application Menu of your Ubuntu 18.04 LTS operating system. Click on the GNU Image Manipulation Program icon to start it.

GIMP 2.10 splash screen should show up.

GIMP 2.10 should start as you can see in the screenshot below.

Creating a New File on GIMP:

To create a new blank file, go to File > New… or you can press <Ctrl> + n.

Now you can set your image’s Width and Height in the Image Size section as marked in the screenshot below.

You can choose from a lot of pre-defined Templates from the Template section as you can see from the screenshot below. Choosing a Template will also set your Width and Height accordingly.

You can also click on the Advanced Options to see more options. Once you’re happy with your configuration, click on OK.

A new file should be created.

Now you can draw and do many things here with one of the tools as marked in the screenshot below.

Saving Your Work:

Once you’re done with your drawing and editing, go to File > Save… or press <Ctrl> + s to save your work.

Now in the Save Image dialog, navigate to the directory where you want to save your work, type in a filename, select the Image type and click on Save. Your work should be saved. The GIMP’s own file format is XCF, it is what PSD for Adobe Photoshop. This image type keeps all the Layers and other object data, so that you can open them and make changes later.

As you can see, my work is saved as an XCF file.

Opening an Image File on GIMP:

You can open an image file with GIMP if you go to File > Open… or press + o.

Now select your file and click on Open.

In case your image has different Color Profile than the one GIMP uses, you may see the following window. You can click on Keep to keep the original Color Profile, or you can click on Convert to convert the original Color Profile to GIMP Color Profile. I will keep the original Color Profile.

Your image should open.

Resize Images with GIMP:

You can use GIMP 2.10 to resize images.

First open an image.

Now go to Image > Scale Image…

You should see the Scale Image window. You can click on the marked icon to toggle Relative Scaling. If Relative Scaling on enabled, changing the Width or Height of the image will change the other as well. If you disable Relative Scaling, then you can change the Width and Height of the image separately.

Once you’re done, click on Scale.

The image should be resized.

Exporting Images with GIMP:

GIMP saves its images as XCF file. This file is only good for GIMP. If you send it to someone, he/she won’t be able to open it without GIMP. So you want to send a common image format such as JPEG or PNG, which can even be opened in a web browser or image viewer in any operating system.

To do that go to File > Export… or press <Ctrl> + e

Now type in your filename, select your destination directory and finally click on the type selector as marked in the screenshot below.

Now select JPEG or PNG from the list.

Now click on Export.

Click on Export again.

The file should be exported.

That’s how you install GIMP 2.10 on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Thanks for reading this article. ]]> https://linuxhint.com/install-gimp-gnu-image-linux/ Fri, 12 May 2017 22:15:40 +0000 http://sysads.co.uk/?p=16757 Gimp, aka GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a multi-platform and open-source tool that is used in photo editing, graphics designing, and making illustrations. It comes with all the tools that a designer or a photographer needs—being open-source means open to customization. Gimp supports many third-party plugins that help to enhance productivity. Gimp is undoubtedly the best alternative to paid commercial applications like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

There are different approaches to get it on an Ubuntu device. Let’s check all of these approaches one by one:

Installing GIMP on Linux using Software store:

The first method is simple, open the Ubuntu software store and search “GNU Image Manipulation Program,” as shown in the images below:

To begin the downloading and installation process of Gimp, click on the “Install” button:

Once the downloading and installation is completed, search gimp in the applications:

Open It:

Installing GIMP on Linux using PPA Repository:

The second approach is for terminal users. To download and install Gimp, you need to copy and paste the below-mentioned command:

Update the packages database using:

Now, to install Gimp, type the command mentioned below:

Gimp will be installed on your Linux device; search it in applications:

Installing GIMP on Linux using Flatpak:

Flatpak is another new package deployment and management utility. Gimp can also be installed using Flatpak. To install Gimp using flatpak, first install flatpak utility using command:

After getting it installed, copy the below-mentioned command in the terminal and press the return key:

It will ask for permissions. Press “Y/y” to continue the process:

After installation, Gimp probably won’t be viewed in the applications. To run Gimp, use the command:

Or try rebooting using:

After restarting the Gimp application will appear in the applications menu:

Uninstalling Gimp 2.10 from Linux:

If you have installed Gimp using the software store, then again open the software store, search gimp, and click on the remove button to delete the application.

If you have installed Gimp using PPA, then type the below-mentioned command:

If you want to completely remove Gimp, use:

If the Gimp is installed using flatpak, then use the following command to delete Gimp from Linux:

After running the above command, three options will appear, select the appropriate option (number 1-3) and press “Enter” to continue the deletion process.

Some significant features of G’MIC are:

• It is cross-platform and available for different image processing applications.
• Comes with different stylish filters.
• Allows morphing images and deformation.
• Comes with colorimetric filters.
• Let’s create color palettes.

Let’s check how to get it for GIMP on Ubuntu.

How to install the G’MIC plugin for GIMP on Ubuntu 20.04 (LTS) & 20.10:

To install G’MIC, it is a must to have GIMP installed on your Ubuntu device. If there is not GIMP, install it first. Then add the repository using the below-mentioned command:

Update the packages list using:

Now, to install the plugin, execute the command:

Press “Y/y” to continue the installation.

To check it, open GIMP and the click on “Filters” tab:

It can be seen at the bottom of the drop-down menu as shown in the above image, open it. There are hundreds of effects and filters, along with an adjustment panel. Any effect can be selected and applied, as shown in the image below.

After adding effect and adjusting it, click on “Apply” and then “OK”:

The image can be saved in any format.

Conclusion:

G’MIC is a powerful image-adding framework available from all image manipulating programs such as Krita, Photoshop, and GIMP. It comes with tons of effects such as artistic, black and White, deformation, and even 3D effects with easy-to-use user interface. In this guide, we learn how to install the G’MIC plugin for GIMP.