Gimp and CorelDRAW¶
Gimp introduction¶
According to Wikipedia, GIMP is a free and open-source raster graphics editor used for image manipulation and image editing, free-form drawing, transcoding between different image file formats, and more specialized tasks. According to their website, the software is mainly used for image manipulation, graphic design, and artwork creation. It is similar to inkscape in that you can quickly draw images.
GIMP install¶
Since I have homebrew installed already, you can revisit that here, I can just run a terminal script to install GIMP.
brew tap homebrew/cask && brew install --cask gimp.
brew install --cask gimp
So, I started to watch the tutorials.
Gimp Quickies¶
I used this tutorial to learn about Gimp and got started.
It contained some simple information about fipping, editing, and changing the size of an image.
Simple Logo¶
I used this tutorial to create the simple logo in Gimp.
In GIMP, there is feature under Filters –> Map –> Bump Map, and it basically allows the text to be raised under another layer (such as a filter, or a picture). However, it didn’t work for me multiple times, even though I was following the instructions. I tried the exact same procedure on a windows machine, and it worked. I think I forgot to download GIMP for Mac.
Bump Map feature:
Then, I tried to do a feature called anchor layer, which basically anchors down a free-floating layer, and does things like putting an image within letters. In other words, it “cuts out” letters drawn from a picture, imprinting the pattern within the letters. I asked fellow Fab Academy student Jed Smith for help, and he told me that I must make the background black and the text white.
I tried that, and it worked.
This is my final product:
Overall, my experience with GIMP is anything but satisfactory. In my opinion, it is very confusing to use and very convoluted. It wasn’t easy to switch between tools, and only certain colors works with certain features (just like how only a mix of black and white worked with the anchor layer tool). Also, the avatars for the tools are difficult to read and many tools’ backgrounds are the same as the main background, making them hard to use. So, this would not be a software that I will commonly use.