Re: [Gimp-user] Creating Transparent Text



On 02/16/2013 11:16 AM, Denise Hamilton wrote:
I am working on a webpage to sell my photography. I am trying to
create text with my copyright information on the photos so that they
cannot be copied (pirated). 

I have read the GIMP documentation and experimented with adding text
to the photo. I cannot find how to make the text visible but not
solid. I do not want it to impact the viewing of the photos.

Someone once told me I needed to create a "mask" to do this or a
custom brush.  Someone here on the gimp-user list said i could do it
just with the text tool.

Any help you can offer will be appreciated.
Last summer I made an effort to explore various watermark techniques
which were doable using The GIMP.

The most fascinating method I found was explained in one particular web
tutorial which I am sure I bookmarked, saved to my hard drive, or both
and will simply need to relocate in order to point you to it if you'd
like to pursue it.

The basic idea is to create and save in your ".gimp-2.x" directory a
tiled pattern file (i.e. "filename.pat") which contains the text of your
copyright notice and/or anything else you want your watermark to
contain.  I believe the text was opaque and white on a transparent
background.

You then load into The GIMP an image you wish to watermark.  Add a
transparent layer above it and "flood fill" that layer with your white
watermark pattern.

Then you perform a couple of funky image tricks on it before turning the
opacity of the watermark layer down to almost but not quite zero.  At
that point it becomes virtually invisible and most people will never
know it's there.

Then to reveal the watermark should you ever need to prove the image is
yours in a court of law or whatever...  Just load into The GIMP both
your unwatermarked original and the watermarked copy as two separate layers.

Then change the layer mode of the upper layer to "Grain Extract" or
whatever it is - I cannot right now remember.  The parts which are
common to both images will be opaque gray but the parts which are
different (i.e. the watermark itself) will become clearly visible.

This technique survives pretty much every known technique intended to
defeat watermarking.  I was very impressed with the idea of it.

Myke



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