NarniaWeb Community Forums

@AslanistheBest: Just as a side note: I'd suggest copying and pasting. I am not positive, but I feel safer copying rather than officially "downloading" but it might be the same thing. Once you get your window to open, highlight, or right click and "copy" the file onto your desktop, and go from there (into a different file, or whatever you like).
Personal preference though.

Anyhoo - I am in here due to GIMP troubles. I was reading through the last few pages, but still have not been able to figure out brushes exactly. Can someone give me step-by-step instructions on how to open a brush and apply it to a picture? Do I open it seperately from another picture? Do I need to start a new file through GIMP, or can I access my saved files of textures (on my Documents) somehow from GIMP??
I see the whole Layers option thing, and get that, but I am not sure on how to re-size pictures (and textures). Can I not just take the corner of an image and use my mouse? Or do I always have to type in the pixel size? (I also see a crop tool, but is there another way?)
The brushes at the bottom (of the same box as layers) look more like paint/pencil things then actual textures/brushes we can get off of NWeb. Is this where I put/use regular textures from?
Also, how do I "de-select" a tool? Or undo something? There is always the undo button, but sometimes that doesn't work for me. (like when a spot on the picture is circled and the dotted lines are blinking.... *confuzzlement* ) Is there a way I can get back to having a simple mouse arrow, and not have a tool selected?
Thank you to anyone who can answer any of this!!!
Ya, sorry about my rambling, but I would appreciate explanations of certain things. You don't have to answer every single question.

Hi, Follower!

Here's a step-by-step on opening brushes, downloading them into GIMP, and applying them to a picture. I hope it helps!

Firstly, brushes are what you use with the Paintbrush or Eraser tool. Textures are very different and don't show up in the Brushes window of the Layers dialog. If you already knew that, I'm sorry; I just wanted to make sure that's clear.

Okay...

1. Once you've downloaded your brush file, go to the folder you downloaded the brushes into. I usually save mine in the Downloads folder in My Documents.

2. The brush pack should show up as a compressed or zipped folder. Right-click on the folder and select "Extract All" from the drop-down menu.

3. Go through the Extraction Wizard that opens (all you should have to do is click Next). Before clicking Finish, make sure that the "Show Extracted Files" box is checked.

4. The unzipped folder of brushes should appear.

5. Open GIMP.

6. Click on Edit. Click on Preferences at the bottom of the menu.

7. There should be a Folders icon towards the bottom on the left. Click on the little plus sign next to that icon.

8. A Brushes icon should appear under the Folders. Click on that.

9. This is the list of the brush files you've downloaded into GIMP. To download new brushes, click on the icon with a piece of paper on it, at the top of the brush window.

10. Click on the folder icon at the upper right of the brush window.

11. A Documents window should pop up. Go to the folder where you've saved your brushes. (So, mine would be saved in My Documents>Downloads.)

12. Once you've found your brush file, click on it and click OK.

13. The file should now appear in the brushes list. Check the box to the left of the file and click OK.

14. Close and restart GIMP.

15. Your brushes should appear in the Brushes window of the Layers dialog!

16. To use a brush, click on the Paintbrush tool and select whichever brush you want to use from the Brushes window.

I hope that helps! It can seem like a lot of work at first, but it'll quickly become habit and be much easier.

malkah - THANK YOU!!! I get the system a lot better now (and even though I didn't have to un-zip any files I do appreciate you talking me through it). The only problem is that the brushes will not appear in my brushes little tab on the layers menu-dialogue. (on the right) I have tried to download files and individual brushes (clicking the check-box like you said) but they will not appear when I re-open GIMP. Any idea what's going on here?

Can someone explain how to add a texture to an image using gimp, it would be grately appreciated.

@ Follower:

First off, sorry for taking so long to get back to you!

Okay, as long as your brush files are unzipped, they should be showing up in the Layers dialog. So if they're not, I would try refreshing the Brushes tab. The Refresh button is at the very bottom of the Layers dialog; it looks like two connected arrows.
Also, there is a limit as to how much the Brushes tab can hold (not to how many files you can upload, but they won't show up in the tab). So if your brushes aren't showing up, you might want to try deleting some of the others.

I'm sorry I can't give you a definite answer; hope this helps!

Hi,
When I save an image as JPG in Gimp it often either becomes all pixally or blurry. I was wondering how can I avoid this? Also since I'm very new to Gimp could you possibly explain what tabs to hit step by step.
(ex. go to : windows> dockable dialogs> Layers or go to: Tools> color tools> colorize) It would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
~wolf

Hi wolfly!

Thought I'm not sure how Gimp's tabs and layers work, I think I know how to help you with your JPG file problem. I actually encountered this same difficulty when I switched from saving as Giffs to JPGs. I discovered that I wasn't getting much more improved quality. Now there are two ways to avoid the ruining of your quality.

#1. You can set the quality of the JPG by checking the low, good, or best circles when you go to save as JPGs. Bear in mind this may not be allowed in Gimp, since I us PS.

#2. This is the simple and affective way to get the best out of your image. Save it as a PNG. They (in my opinion) have the best quality for any sized image. It's doesn't blur or pixalize it, and shouldn't take up more space then a GIFF or JPG file would. I am currently saving all my pictures as PNGs.

I hope this helps. If you can't understand what I wrote or have more question feel free to PM me.

In addition, wolfly i think it also helps to have a good quality image to start off with - something that isn't pixally or need to enlarged when you are making it into an icon.

I have a rather odd problem. I have been wanting to change my signature for a long time now, but I can't. The "Edit signature" part of the "Edit profile" should have the picture's address, (if I have understood the instructions on the other thread correctly), but it doesn't. It's completely empty, in spite of the fact that I have a signature! How can I change a picture that doesn't exist in my profile, but exists in real life?

Is it possible that you haven't changed your signature since you transferred your account over here? That's the only possible explanation I can think of for the Signature box being empty. I'm pretty sure that if you just put whatever you want into the box, it will replace your current signature. (Save the link to your current one first, though!) Let me know if that doesn't work.

I indeed haven't changed it before in the new forum . Thank you, it worked!

NarniaWeb's costume site is a great place to go!

For Miraz's sword, it's on this page. Peter sword is on this page. And Susan's bow and arrow are on this page.

Hope this helps!

~Wunder

I need someone to help me with the signature. I have the pic but I have no idea how to edit it.

Do you mean edit it in a photo-editing program or do you mean edit as in changing the image in your current signature to something else?

~Wunder