Very new to GIMP.

I am so frustrated to learn GIMP.

Tonight, I simply want to create a text and then outline it as a text. Then I googled. But the thing is, I cannot follow any of the tutorials I dug out. Not because I didn't follow closely, but because not all of the menu items the tutorials talk about are available to me (and what can I do then?) and most of the tutorials don't tell us when it was written and what version of Gimp it was targeting.

So frustrating.

BTW, I am using Gimp 2.6.2 on Windows XP Professional SP2.

Thank you. I am not trying to complete any minor task. I am trying to learn Gimp.

Now, sample tutorials. I am not saying they are not good tutorials, and I actually appreciate their effort very much. Only that it helps if they say to what version it was targeting and when it was written.

For example, this one:

http://gimpology.com/submission/view/how_to_outline_text/

At step 3, I got lost, because "Create Path from Text" isn't available to me.

Another one here:

http://www.obscurasite.com/artstuff/tutorials/gimp-text-outline/

I got lost at the 2nd step, because pressing the right mouse button on the image does not give me the so-called "Dialogs [image: ->] Layers&Channels" menu options.

Also, the tiny little button the author mentions under Add Some Color section does'nt seem to be available to me for my version.

One more at:

http://gimp-tutorials.net/outlinetext

I got lost at Step 6, because "Alpha to Selection" is grayed out and thus I cannot select it.

See how frustrating it is?

Maybe I am doing something wrong or maybe I am having bad luck in picking up tutorials that are targeting at a different version of Gimp.

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:15 PM, Ajay Gautam wrote:

Gimp could be a little difficult in the beginning. Takes time and patience - stick with it.

Why not use MS Paint for simple tasks such as these?

Aj

On 2/9/09, Don wrote:

Very new to GIMP.

I am so frustrated to learn GIMP.

Tonight, I simply want to create a text and then outline it as a text.

Then

I googled. But the thing is, I cannot follow any of the tutorials I dug out. Not because I didn't follow closely, but because not all of the

menu

items the tutorials talk about are available to me (and what can I do

then?)

and most of the tutorials don't tell us when it was written and what

version

of Gimp it was targeting.

So frustrating.

BTW, I am using Gimp 2.6.2 on Windows XP Professional SP2.

--
Happiness is a long walk with a putter.

Thank you very much. I'll definitely try it out tomorrow.

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:49 PM, Michael J. Hammel < mjhammel@graphics-muse.org> wrote:

On Mon, 2009-02-09 at 23:00 -0500, Don wrote:

Tonight, I simply want to create a text and then outline it as a text. Then I googled. But the thing is, I cannot follow any of the tutorials I dug out. Not because I didn't follow closely, but because not all of the menu items the tutorials talk about are available to me

There shouldn't be much in the way of menu issues for this task. If you need to outline text, try this:

1. Open a new window (File->New, any size should be fine to experiment on).
2. Choose the Text tool from the Toolbox. 3. Click in the canvas window (also referred to as an image window). This will open the Text Editor dialog window. 4. Type some text in the Text Editor, then click on the Close button. The text will be visible in the canvas window and has been added as a new layer in the Layers dialog.
5. Choose Layer->Transparency->Alpha to Selection. This will create a selection around your text.
6. Choose Layer->New to create a new layer (you want to outline the text in a new layer so it doesn't modify the original text). The new layer should be transparent, which should be the default setting in the New Layer dialog that pops up.
6. Choose Edit->Stroke Selection. This will open a dialog window where you can select the way you will stroke (re: outline) the text. The first time you can just choose the defaults and click on Stroke. Later you can experiment with different settings to change the way the outline is drawn.
7. In the Layers dialog turn off the visibility of the text layer. Do that by clicking on the eyeball to the left of the layer name and preview image.

Now you can see the outlined text. Things that you'll want to adjust in your next attempt:
1. the location of the text before you outline it. You may want to use the move tool to place the text properly in the center of the canvas window.
2. The font, size, color, etc. of the text. This is handled in the Tool Options dialog before you click on the canvas but after you've selected the Text tool from the Toolbox.
3. The style of the stroke in the Stroke Selection dialog. 4. The foreground color from the Toolbox. The foreground color will be used for the color of the outline when you stroke the selection.

This may sound like a lot of work but it's really pretty easy once you try it a few times.

Hope that helps.

-- Michael J. Hammel
mjhammel@graphics-muse.org / http://www.graphics-muse.org

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Without software to do something useful with it, hardware's nothing more than a really complicated space heater. --- Neil Stephenson

I just followed your instruction and created text outline with a breeze. I did hit some very old tutorials, which I wasn't able to tell because they don't say when it was written and what version it was targeting.

Thank you very much.

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:49 PM, Michael J. Hammel < mjhammel@graphics-muse.org> wrote:

On Mon, 2009-02-09 at 23:00 -0500, Don wrote:

Tonight, I simply want to create a text and then outline it as a text. Then I googled. But the thing is, I cannot follow any of the tutorials I dug out. Not because I didn't follow closely, but because not all of the menu items the tutorials talk about are available to me

There shouldn't be much in the way of menu issues for this task. If you need to outline text, try this:

1. Open a new window (File->New, any size should be fine to experiment on).
2. Choose the Text tool from the Toolbox. 3. Click in the canvas window (also referred to as an image window). This will open the Text Editor dialog window. 4. Type some text in the Text Editor, then click on the Close button. The text will be visible in the canvas window and has been added as a new layer in the Layers dialog.
5. Choose Layer->Transparency->Alpha to Selection. This will create a selection around your text.
6. Choose Layer->New to create a new layer (you want to outline the text in a new layer so it doesn't modify the original text). The new layer should be transparent, which should be the default setting in the New Layer dialog that pops up.
6. Choose Edit->Stroke Selection. This will open a dialog window where you can select the way you will stroke (re: outline) the text. The first time you can just choose the defaults and click on Stroke. Later you can experiment with different settings to change the way the outline is drawn.
7. In the Layers dialog turn off the visibility of the text layer. Do that by clicking on the eyeball to the left of the layer name and preview image.

Now you can see the outlined text. Things that you'll want to adjust in your next attempt:
1. the location of the text before you outline it. You may want to use the move tool to place the text properly in the center of the canvas window.
2. The font, size, color, etc. of the text. This is handled in the Tool Options dialog before you click on the canvas but after you've selected the Text tool from the Toolbox.
3. The style of the stroke in the Stroke Selection dialog. 4. The foreground color from the Toolbox. The foreground color will be used for the color of the outline when you stroke the selection.

This may sound like a lot of work but it's really pretty easy once you try it a few times.

Hope that helps.

-- Michael J. Hammel
mjhammel@graphics-muse.org / http://www.graphics-muse.org

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Without software to do something useful with it, hardware's nothing more than a really complicated space heater. --- Neil Stephenson

I agree with you and perfectly understand what you say. I understand layers very well, because I used photoshop before. The thing is, the old tutorials confuse me by the menu options which are not available to me for my version of Gimp 2.6.2, and their screen shot look different from this version.

On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 7:51 AM, Ajay Gautam wrote:

Did you checkout the tutorials at Gimp's own site: http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/ ?

I went through some of these, and wasn't as frustrated. Then again, I have been trying to use gimp for a few years before I actually sat down for an official tutorial. After a few tutorials, and the book, The Artist's Guide to GIMP Effects, I was amazed at what I could do with GIMP.

On a philosophical note, Using Gimp requires a different mindset. I remember my days of frustration, just like you. I can understand. My fatal mistake was to not change my expectations when I started using Gimp. I expected Gimp to be more or less a glorified Paint program, and easy to use. It was only after I changed my mindset (to think in Layers, and selections), that i started to understand, and learn gimp. Then, I fell in love with gimp :)

It takes a little time, and patience to learn gimp. Stick with it, ride it out... (and other cliches)... There is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow...

Good luck :)

Ajay

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:53 PM, Don wrote:

Thank you. I am not trying to complete any minor task. I am trying to

learn

Gimp.

Now, sample tutorials. I am not saying they are not good tutorials, and I actually appreciate their effort very much. Only that it helps if they

say

to what version it was targeting and when it was written.

For example, this one:

http://gimpology.com/submission/view/how_to_outline_text/

At step 3, I got lost, because "Create Path from Text" isn't available to me.

Another one here:

http://www.obscurasite.com/artstuff/tutorials/gimp-text-outline/

I got lost at the 2nd step, because pressing the right mouse button on

the

image does not give me the so-called "Dialogs Layers&Channels" menu options.

Also, the tiny little button the author mentions under Add Some Color section does'nt seem to be available to me for my version.

One more at:

http://gimp-tutorials.net/outlinetext

I got lost at Step 6, because "Alpha to Selection" is grayed out and thus

I

cannot select it.

See how frustrating it is?

Maybe I am doing something wrong or maybe I am having bad luck in picking

up

tutorials that are targeting at a different version of Gimp.

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:15 PM, Ajay Gautam wrote:

Gimp could be a little difficult in the beginning. Takes time and patience - stick with it.

Why not use MS Paint for simple tasks such as these?

Aj

On 2/9/09, Don wrote:

Very new to GIMP.

I am so frustrated to learn GIMP.

Tonight, I simply want to create a text and then outline it as a text. Then
I googled. But the thing is, I cannot follow any of the tutorials I

dug

out. Not because I didn't follow closely, but because not all of the menu
items the tutorials talk about are available to me (and what can I do then?)
and most of the tutorials don't tell us when it was written and what version
of Gimp it was targeting.

So frustrating.

BTW, I am using Gimp 2.6.2 on Windows XP Professional SP2.

--
Happiness is a long walk with a putter.

On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 12:31 AM, Owen wrote:

On Mon, 9 Feb 2009 23:53:38 -0500 Don wrote:

Thank you. I am not trying to complete any minor task. I am trying to learn Gimp.

Now, sample tutorials. I am not saying they are not good tutorials, and I actually appreciate their effort very much. Only that it helps if they say to what version it was targeting and when it was written.

For example, this one:

http://gimpology.com/submission/view/how_to_outline_text/

At step 3, I got lost, because "Create Path from Text" isn't available to me.

Make sure your text layer is selected Where it says File, Edit etc, look for Layer Then you will see 'Text to path'

Another one here:

http://www.obscurasite.com/artstuff/tutorials/gimp-text-outline/

I got lost at the 2nd step, because pressing the right mouse button on the image does not give me the so-called "Dialogs [image: ->] Layers&Channels" menu options.

Old tutorial, Go to Windows, 'Dockable Dialogs'

These windows are open by default actually. The old tutorials simply confuse me by complicating things.

Thank you very much. Looks like a wonderful site.

On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 2:43 AM, norman wrote:

A lot depends on what you want to do. If it is to do with photography then I can recommend www.meetthegimp.org and have a look at the early videos to start with.

Best of luck

Norman