Re: [Gimp-user] Creating Transparent Text

[Steve Kinney <admin pilobilus net>]

On 02/19/2013 04:26 PM, Helen wrote:
> Wow!   I've never done a vector path, but what you did is so clear
> and clean that I only wish I
> had not cropped off my last name before sending the file!  Is vector
> path a gimp tool?  I'll look it up.
> Something new to learn.   Thank you!

I was looking for excuses to do "exercises" with the GIMP, part of
getting used to the new interface.  Among the many improvements in
2.8, nodes and paths - in both the "Lasso" a.k.a. Free Select tool,
and the Path drawing tool, are easier to SEE against the background
of the image on canvas.  Yay!

The Paths Tool in the GIMP is its built in vector drawing tool.  The
toolbox button that turns it on looks like a pen nib.  There is also
a dockable dialog for managing paths, where they are handled in a
way similar to Layers.  This dock includes push button commands to
convert selections to paths, paths to selections, and has the
"stroke" tool for painting along paths - using the current brush, or
as a line with adjustable options.

Making paths in the GIMP is a portable skill:  The same type of
editing interface - bezier curves - is also found in "full time"
vector editors like Inkscape, and in CAD programs.  Drawing with
nodes and handles has a moderate learning curve, but I think it's
well worth the effort.  The signature took just a few minutes to
make, using the sample provided as a guide.

I went looking for tutorials to point at, but came up mostly empty.
 Grokking The GIMP, where I learned the basics, is getting very
obsolete - the Paths dock dialog and etc. have changed a lot since
it was written for GIMP 1.x.  With that caveat:

http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html?node36.html

(See Subsection 3.1.1.4 Bezier Paths)

This video provides a run through with GIMP 2.8 that should get
anybody well started on their own experimentation with GIMP curves.
 Major clue:  To adjust node handles symmetrically, hold down the
shift key!  Otherwise they move independently.

http://jimmac.musichall.cz/demos/gimp/paths-tool2.avi

Note:  I don't know why this video shows the use of Transform tools
on the canvas; you can't Transform vector paths in the GIMP, as far
as I know.  To make sense of the "cube" part, see:

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Drawing_Shapes/

:o)

Steve