Silhouette Challenge, producing silhouettes.
All
A number of Silhouette Challenge participants have asked me about the GIMP software I have been using in order to generate silhouette's. I use GIMP 2.6.11 which is available as a free download from numerous sites, including GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program.. Whereas it no doubt has loads of uses, the one thing it can do is to enable fast production of a silhouette, which would otherwise take a considerable amount of time using MS Paint.
The following are brief instructions on producing a silhouette using GIMP software:
- Open selected picture using GIMP as the editing programme
- Select "Layer" from menu at the top left
- Select "New Layer" from the drop down menu
- Enter Layer Name as "Fill" and make sure "Transparency" is highlighted in the Layer Fill type options
- Select OK
- From the Toolbox select the "Paths Tool"
- Select 'View" from menu at top left
- According to Picture size, select "Zoom" and go to 200 or 400%.
- Now this is where you need to be careful...using the mouse click at regular intervals around the image, effectively outlining it with a series of dots. You will see as you do it that a straight line is generated between each dot, so if you are doing curved or intricate bits you have to keep the dots close together. You can always zoom in while you are doing this.
- Once you have dots all around the image and you are just a dot away from your starting point, hit the Enter key
- Take the zoom back to 100% (just so you can see what you are doing)
- From the Toolbox select "Bucket Fill" then click on the Black Square below and make sure that H is selected (it should be by default, and once selected you wont have to do this again)
- Move the cursor into the interior of the outlined image and left click the mouse. The image you have outlined should now be black
If you want to retain the background you can stop at this point and save the image.
To save:
- choose a file name
- click 'Save". For some reason on mine nothing happens at this point, so I have to click "Save" again
- a box then appears prompting you to Export the file (as at this point it is NOT a JPEG)
- click "Export"
- another box then appears entitled "Save as JPEG". It also has a quality setting, which on mine defaults at 90%....I've never touched that!
- click "Save"
If you want a white background, before saving:
- Select "Select" from the menu at the top left
- Click "None"
- From the Toolbox go to "Fill Type" and select BG
- Click on the White Square just below the Black Square and make sure that H is selected (it should be by default, and once selected you wont have to do this again)
- Move the cursor into the background of the picture (anywhere) and left click the mouse. The background should now be white.
Then save as described above.
The downside with GIMP is that you have to outline the image in one go...in other words there are problems with biplanes, undercarriage struts etc. I normally outline as much as I can on these, and then fill in the missing bits using Paint.
I hope this proves useful.
Cheers
Ken