GIMPshop: Tips on How to Make Selections and Create Shapes

This particular section will be discussing the selection features of the image editing program GIMPshop. If everyone is ready, let's go ahead and dive in to find out how to use these particular features.

Making Selections. As many of you may notice, there are several selection tools to choose from in GIMPshop.The two selection tools that I will be mainly discussing in this section is the rectangular and the elliptical selectors. Hopefully by using these tools, you will gain a better understanding of how to use selectors.

Example 01. In this example, we will be try and create a rectangle or square with the rectangular selection tool. Firstly, open a new or blank page for this project by going to The GIMP box and selecting File>New for a new page or File>Open if you have already created your own blank page. Once you have opened a new project, left click on the rectangular selector icon in The GIMP box. If you want to use the shortcut instead, simple push the letter M on your keyboard. After selecting the tool, go to the blank page you opened or created and draw a rectangular box by left clicking once and holding down the button until you have created a rectangle or square of a desired size. If you have done it correctly, you should see an outline of the rectangle or square you created, and it should resemble Image 01. If you see the outline, click on the paint or fill bucket located to the right of the text icon (T) in The GIMP box. Fill the rectangle of square you have created by left clicking once in the rectangle or square outline. If you have correctly completed this process, you should now have a colored filled rectangle or square similar to Image 02. Now that you know how to fill selections, let's move on to outlining shapes with the selection tools.

Example 02. In this example, we will be trying to create an outlined circle. To begin with, click on the elliptical selector located to the right of the rectangular icon in The GIMP box. If you wish to use the shortcut, simply push Shift +M on your keyboard. Once you have created a circle, fill the shape with your color of choice with the paint bucket. To create the outline, you need to still have the shape selected (outlined in a moving dashed line). If the circle is still selected, go to the Menubar and click on Select>Contract. The Contract Selection dialog box should have now popped up. In order to create the outline or border around the circle, you must now adjust the size of the border. As you may expect, the smaller the number, the smaller the border, and the larger the number, the larger the border. In this example, lets try and use a border with 10 pixels. Also, keep the contract from image border option checked. Once you have set your border size, click OK. You should now see a dashed outline inside the circle. To actually make the border visible, use the paint bucket to fill the circle with another color. If done correctly, the circle should now resemble Image 03. Hopefully, you succeeded on your first attempt. If not, just repeat the process again until you get it right.

The GIMPshop program is an excellent program for many users who want to edit or enhance images. By understanding the selection tools, individuals should be able to not only create shapes, but also select regions of existing an image in order to enhance the image with the program's other features, such as leveling, contrasting, and sharpening. Individuals might also find using the selection tool to be essential and effective when editing images. Have fun editing, and don't forget to try out some of the many other features of GIMPshop.