Re: [Gimp-user] Changing the size of an oval?

[Alexandre Prokoudine <alexandre prokoudine gmail com>]

On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 7:27 PM, Keith Purtell wrote:

> My base image is a screen capture of the most commonly-used screen in our
> main software here. I want to create copies of my groovy new circle and
> place it over the buttons employees will use each day. Plus re-size the
> circles as needed. (Note that I've been using Photoshop in the past, and
> it's driving me nuts that I don't know how to "see" each new layer in GIMP.)
> Can someone point me to a "layers/circles for dummies" tutorial? Thanks!

I wouldn't do it in GIMP for all the money in the world. Not until
vector layers get a UI :)

Personally I use Inkscape for that. Here is how I do it:

1. Create a really large canvas, e.g. A3.
2. Import all the (cropped) images, embedding them into SVG.
3. Make sure every picture has origin coordinate rounded to a value
without decimal bit (e.g. X is strictly 200 px, not 200,45), so that
it isn't blurred.
4. Create a new layer above.
5. Lock the layer with images below.
6. Draw all the circles.
7. Unlock the layer with images, select each pictures and export it to PNG.

With Inkscape I can freely scale circles as they are vector objects,
and I can easily tweak their opacity. If you can't trade speed over
flexibility, try Shutter.

Alexandre Prokoudine
http://libregraphicsworld.org