Slashdot Mirror

The Gimp, frankly, rocks. But like most pieces of complex software, it's a bit of a...problem to learn how to use. Enter chromatic's review of Carey Bunk's Grokking The Gimp. If you want to know more about image manipulation, check it out. Grokking the GIMP author Carey Bunks pages 342 publisher New Riders rating 8.2 reviewer chromatic ISBN 0-7357-0924-6 summary Principles of image manipulation explained in the context of the GIMP.

The Scoop One of the standout userland programs to come from Free Software development, the GIMP offers a powerful range of features for digital imagery. Unfortunately, not everyone's had the privilege of (or inclination for) sitting through 'Principles of Color' or similar classes. Not to fear, the author has - - and he's willing to share his knowledge.

Compounding the complexity challenge, the GIMP has its own way of doing things. Half of the work of editing an image seems to be making a good selection. Again, the author has theory to divulge and tips to present to improve your technique. Though only a few tools and methods are discussed, they are fundamental to all advanced operations. (Note that the book covers the as-yet unreleased 1.2 GIMP -- the 1.1.x betas have been quite usable for months.)

What's to Like? This attractive book is well-printed, with plenty of full-color images and good figures. It's also well-designed and the layout is excellent. The decision to add a few common problems and frequently asked questions at the end of most chapters is commendable. It's not designed as a reference book, but the index and table of contents are detailed enough to locate specific actions later.

Banks assumes little prior knowledge of the GIMP. Chapter one is a brief tutorial of the program's features and functions. More experienced users can skip this, though I found a couple of timesaving tidbits. The same may be said of chapter two, on layers, though the material quickly moves beyond what an average user might discover in an afternoon. The selections and masks chapters form the real foundation for most GIMP work -- how do you choose parts of your image to edit? A little theory, a few tools, and some examples later, you'll have multiple answers for that question.

The next two chapters pile on the theory. First, Bunks discusses the theory of color -- running the gamut (so to speak) from additive to subtractive, RGB, HSV, CMYK, and grayscale. There's plenty of math (more than one would need), and the explanations here are quite detailed. It's fundamental knowledge, and most readers can probably pick up just enough to get by. Don't skip ahead and miss the very useful touchup discussions in chapter 6. (The author considers them worth the price of the book -- given the results on some of my images, I'm inclined to agree.)

The final three chapters each cover different tasks one might wish to accomplish. Bunks explores various techniques while creating projects. Screenshots and commentary accompany step-by-step instructions. It's in these sections that the full power of the GIMP comes into play. Rounding things out are a handy keyboard shortcut guide and a detailed index.

What's to Consider? Things do get pretty heady in the theory section. Non-programmers (and people who haven't already worked with professional imaging) will have some slow going trying to absorb the math and colorspace information. It's not essential to use the GIMP, but knowing the differences between the modes and the limitations of each is necessary for most serious work.

Readers looking for a guide to the dozens of distributed plugins will be disappointed -- this book is more interested in the general techniques used in nearly every non-simple project. Finally, the book seems a little short. It's 342 pages, but the information is good enough that perhaps more subjects can be covered in a future edition. (That's a good thing.)

The Summary Nearly anyone will benefit from the deep magic behind the menu operations. Move past cheesy banners and poorly-executed lasso operations. Double the size and power of your toolbox, and get to know the GIMP. (If you're not convinced, browse the book online!)

Or buy it at ThinkGeek.

Table of Contents

1. GIMP Basics
2. Review of Layers
3. Selections
4. Masks
5. Colorspaces and Blending Modes
6. Touchup and Enhancement
7. Compositing
8. Rendering Techniques
9. Web-Centric GIMP

1. GIMP Resources
2. Keyboard Shortcuts

Carey Bunks wrote to tell us that last week, "a new GIMP site, Gimp-Savvy.com, has come online and is making available the complete text of the recently released book Grokking the GIMP . This new GIMP resource, written by me and published by New Riders, has been released under an Open Publication License. The goals of Gimp-Savvy.com are to provide high-level educational and practical resources for the GIMP, and to promote its skillful and knowledgeable use."

It's good to see high-quality books on open source software, and this one is well-organized, thorough and profusely illustrated. It happens to make a great online GIMP tutorial as well.

Note: as you might expect, many of the Web pages that make up the book are image-heavy (as you might expect), so if you're on a slow connection, browse the detailed, outline-format table of contents carefully.

And if you do have the bandwidth, you can slurp down the entire book to browse later. When's the last time you read a book that came as an HTML tarball?

Carey Bunks wrote to tell us that last week, "a new GIMP site, Gimp-Savvy.com, has come online and is making available the complete text of the recently released book Grokking the GIMP . This new GIMP resource, written by me and published by New Riders, has been released under an Open Publication License. The goals of Gimp-Savvy.com are to provide high-level educational and practical resources for the GIMP, and to promote its skillful and knowledgeable use."

It's good to see high-quality books on open source software, and this one is well-organized, thorough and profusely illustrated. It happens to make a great online GIMP tutorial as well.

Note: as you might expect, many of the Web pages that make up the book are image-heavy (as you might expect), so if you're on a slow connection, browse the detailed, outline-format table of contents carefully.

And if you do have the bandwidth, you can slurp down the entire book to browse later. When's the last time you read a book that came as an HTML tarball?

Carey Bunks wrote to tell us that last week, "a new GIMP site, Gimp-Savvy.com, has come online and is making available the complete text of the recently released book Grokking the GIMP . This new GIMP resource, written by me and published by New Riders, has been released under an Open Publication License. The goals of Gimp-Savvy.com are to provide high-level educational and practical resources for the GIMP, and to promote its skillful and knowledgeable use."

It's good to see high-quality books on open source software, and this one is well-organized, thorough and profusely illustrated. It happens to make a great online GIMP tutorial as well.

Note: as you might expect, many of the Web pages that make up the book are image-heavy (as you might expect), so if you're on a slow connection, browse the detailed, outline-format table of contents carefully.

And if you do have the bandwidth, you can slurp down the entire book to browse later. When's the last time you read a book that came as an HTML tarball?