Re: [Gimp-user] Crop to oval?

["Ronald F. Guilmette" <rfg tristatelogic com>]

In message <4F763699 3000808 gmail com>, 
Stefan Maerz <stefanmaerz gmail com> wrote:

> On 03/30/2012 03:19 PM, Ronald F. Guilmette wrote:
> > Anyway, a relative just sent me an old old family photo that some nitwit,
> > perhaps a generation or two ago, did some seriously violence to with a pair
> > of scissors.  To salvage this one and to make it look presentable I really
> > need to be able to take the scan I have of it and crop it into a oval shape.
> > (Yes, it is a portrait.)
> >
> > P.P.S.  For bonus points, somebody please also explain to me how to fade
> > the edges of the oval slowly to white.  that would be really cool, and
> > would, I'm sure, impress the bejesus out of some of my relatives
> Hi Ronald,
>
> Gimp's user interface is a bit hard to learn at first. Just do some 
> tutorials, and you'll pick it up in no time.

Any suggestions for which ones?  URLs?

> For your question, I don't know of a way to do this without the use of 
> layers.
>
> With the oval selected, press CTRL+X to cut it out.
> Then do a CTRL+V To paste the oval. This puts the oval into a "Floating 
> Selection". It is almost like a layer, but not quite.

OK, I did what you just said.

> Now a little about Gimp's interface: You have three windows. In "Layers, 
> Channels, Paths, Undo - Brushes, Patterns, Gradients" there is an area 
> for Layers (you probably know this).

I'm still on the early/steep part of the learning curve, but yes, I've seen
that one.

> At the bottom of the layers area 
> (above brushes) and to the left is a create new layer. Press it this 
> turns the "Floating Selection" into a layer.

Hummm... OK.  Yes, I see.  Now it says "Pasted Layer" next to it, instead of
"floating layer".

> Next you can select on the other layer (Titled "Background" by default), 
> and delete it by right clicking and pressing "Delete Layer". At this 
> point you should have your image as you desire.

Okey dokey.  Yes.  So now I got just my oval'd pic on top of the checkerboard.

Question:  *Now* what the bleep do I do?  I gotta put some 255-white into
the rest of the rectangle that's not covered by the oval.  So how do I do
that?  And then how do I subsequently smush my oval pic together with the
outer whiteness and save the whole shebang together as a single JPEG?
(Do I gotta do a "flatten layers" in here somewhere?)

(Sorry, but I really am ignorant, as you see.  So even though what I'm asking
is probably very basic, I still have no idea how to do this.)

> Instructions for feathering (the bonus points):
>
> If your oval's layer isn't selected for any reason select it now.

OK, hold on.  When you say "select it now" do you just mean that I should
place and size my oval, you know, and then just leave it with the marquee
outline flashing around it?  Or once it has been placed and sized to my
satisfaction, do I need to do one more step, e.g. place the cursor inside
the oval and then either left-click or else hit return?  (I know that I
always have to do the latter when I am cropping to a rectangle.  In fact
that's one of teh very few tghings that I _do_ know.)

> Then pick the "Select by Color Tool" from the Toolbox. Set the threshold to 
> 255(in the bottom half of the toolbox) and click on your oval. This 
> selects your oval...

Hummm... if I have placed and sized my oval to my satisfaction, and then I
click on the lttle "Select by Color Tool" icon (and set the threshold to 255)
and if I then just left click inside of my oval (which still has the marquee
outline blink around it) the only thing that seems to happe is that the
blinking marquee goes away.

This can't be right.  Is it?  I'm thinking that I messed up your simple
instructions somehow.