How to Change Eye Color in Gimp 2.6

The technology available to us today is beyond amazing, but exactly how do you use this technology and make it do what you want?

We are going to be focusing on Gimp 2.6 for now. In this article I will walk you through step-by-step on how to change a persons' eye color in Gimp 2.6. Here we go...

Step one: Insert the picture you would like to use, into Gimp. You can do this by clicking the "File" button at top left of your display page. Scroll down to "open", find the picture you want, and select.

Step two: Now you have to make a new layer of that picture. Do this by clicking "Layer" at the top of the screen by "File", "Edit", "Select", and so on. Click "Layer" and scroll down to "New Layer". Name your new layer whatever you would like. I suggest "eyes" so you can keep track of what the layers are for. The layer fill type should be marked as "Transparency".

To view your layer window, press 'CTRL + L' on your keyboard.

Step three: Make sure you are still on your new layer while you are doing this step. Go to your toolbox and select the "Paths Tool". It looks kind of like the tip to a fountain pen. Once you have that tool, you are going to trace the outline of colored portion of the eye. Do this by clicking a once, which will show up with a circle, and continue doing this completely around the color portion of the eye until your last circle touches your beginning circle.

Step four: In the toolbox, under all the tools, you should see a long grey box. In that box you should see something that says "Paths" in bold black print. Under it there should be another button called "Design" with a white circle next to it. Mark that cirle. The click the button in that same grey box that reads "Selection from path".

Step five: Now go to the color box that's under the tools in the toolbox. Click the first square and choose the color you would like the eye to be. Use the "Bucket fill tool", it looks just like a paint bucket, to fill in the color portion of the eye with the new color. You should still have a selection path circle around the color portion of the eye; that's good, you want it to be there. The new color should now be covering the original eye color, inside the selection path, and it's going to be solid.

Step six: Look to the buttons at the top of the screen again (up by the "File" button). Find a button that reads "Filter" and click it. Scroll down until you find a button that reads "Blurs" and let it open to another scroll window. Now you should see different types of blurs. You are looking for "Gaussian Blur". Once you have selected it, a new window should pop up. To te right of that new window, you should see "Blur method". Check the "RLE". Now look to the "Blur radious". Change the Horizonal and Vertical both to 9.0, then click "OK".

Step seven: Look at your layers window. Make sure you are on the right layer (this would be the layer that you made to make the new eye color in). Now at the top of the layer window, look for a place that says "Mode" and has the drop down screen to the right of it. Click the arrow pointing down, scroll down, and click "Overlay". If the color of the eye is not as bright or dark as you would like, you can select the "Bucket fill tool" again and click inside the selection path of the eye color while you are still in overlay. This will darken or brighten it (depending on the color).

Unselect your path and get rid of the selection path lines around the color of the eye by going to the top of the screen and clicking "Select". Scroll down and click the button that says "None."

Step eight: Time for the finishing touches. Use the "Blur/Sharpen tool" to ease any hard edges of the color. This tool button will like like a tear drop in your toolbox. Make sure you have the Convolve Type set on Blur and not Sharpen. Use your tool to lightly go over the new color of the eye.

And that's how you change eye color in Gimp 2.6!