Web Portfolio Checkpoint

In theory, you have been working on your Web Portfolio all semester. Remember that you should copy (not move) the work that you want to put in your portfolio into your www folder. All of your work should be linked to the main page for your portfolio, which must be named index.html and must be directly inside your www folder. Remember that by the time of the final exam, your Web Portfolio should be complete, and it should include one extra project that was not part of the labs. The Web Portfolio counts for 10% of your final grade for the course.

The work that you do for today's lab should be added immediately to your Web Portfolio. It should be placed in your www folder, and there should be a clearly marked link from the index.html page to the lab work.

At this time, I will not be grading any part of your Web Portfolio except the work that you do for this lab. However, you might want to use the opportunity to get some work done on the portfolio! You should be able to decide on a format for the final version, and you can include work from past labs.

Starting Up; New, Open, Export, Save

When you start Gimp for the very first time, you will see three windows. In the center of the screen is an empty image window, with a row of menus across the top. The other windows are dialog boxes.

You will probably be happier if you immediately select the
"Single Window Mode" command at the bottom of the "Windows"
menu, which makes for an easier-to-use interface.

The "File" menu in the image window has the usual commands such as "New", "Open", "Save", "Save As", "Close", and "Quit". Note that the "Save" and "Save As" commands will save your work as a Gimp project, not as an actual image. A Gimp project can only be used by Gimp,and it certainly can't be used on a web page.

To save an image, use the "Export" command.

imp is most often used to modify existing images. If you open an existing image file, then the "Export" command will become an "Overwrite" commands that lets you save your changes to the same file. Save your work with a file name that ends in .jpg or .png. (If your image is partly transparent, only .png will work. For most other images, .jpg is preferred. However, .png can give smaller file sizes for image that contain large blocks of color, and it can sometimes give a better appearance to sharp edges and text.)

1. Create a Logo

For the first exercise, you will use one of the submenus in Gimp's "File" menu to create a logo. The logo will be an image containing some text, suitable for use as a header on a web page. You should use the logo that you create as a header on the web page that you create for this lab. (You might consider using it as a header for the index page of your portfolio.)

To create a logo, go to "File" / "Create" / "Logos", and select one of the logos from the list. You will get a dialog box where you get to enter some text for the logo. You might want to change the font and the font size. There will be other settings that you can play with, but you will probably want to leave them alone, at least at first. Here's an example that I made, using the "3D Outline" logo:

You will probably have to try several logo styles before you find one that you like. Once you have one that you want to keep, use the "Export" command to save it to a file.

When you export an image, you might get a dialog where you can set some options for the image. It should be fine to accept the default values.

2. Adjust Image Colors

One use for an image processing program is to adjust the colors of images. Sometimes, this is done to fix colors that are not reproduced properly by a camera, or to improve the contrast or color balance. Another use to to make the image more suitable as a background image. A good background image has only a small range of colors, so that the text on top of the image can be read easily. For dark text, you want a light background image. For light text, you want a dark background image.

Gimp has several tools for adjusting the colors in an image. You'll find them in the "Colors" menu. For this exercise, you should apply the "Levels" tool to a photographic image. Here is an example. I used "Levels" to adjust the "Values" in the image on the left below, giving the faded image on the right. This would make the image more suitable as a background for dark text.

Here is how I used the Levels tool to do this. While editing the original image, I used the "Levels" command in the "Colors" Menu. Here is part of the Levels dialog box:

The "Input Levels" area shows data from the original image. The "Output Levels" area shows how the input data will be mapped onto the data for the modified image. In this case, I simply dragged the small black triangle under "Output Levels" to the right into the position you see here. This says that input values between 0 and 255 are mapped onto output values between 183 and 255. This means, essentially, that all the pixels become whiter. To make a darker image, you would slide the white triangle to the left. In general, you will have to adjust both triangles to get the range of colors that you want.

You might try changing the "Channel" setting of the Levels dialog from "Value" to "Red", "Blue", or "Green". This allows you to adjust just the selected color component of the image. The Levels tool gives you complete control over colors. Some of the other tools in the "Colors" menu are easier to use but give you less control.

You should use the "Levels" tool to adjust the colors of an image. You can make an image suitable for use as a background image, you can try to improve the coloring of an image, or you can just go for an interesting effect. You can use one of the images in the folder /classes/cs120/lab12-pics or one of the nature pictures from /classes/cs120/slideshow. Or you can use one from some other source. (One source of images is the Wikipedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org. To find images that you can use freely on your web site without attribution, try adding "public domiain" to the search. For example, search for "mountain public domain" to search for images of mountains that are in the public domain. There are also many images that are free to use, as long you include an attribution to the copyright owner. Check the specific restrictions on the image that you want to use.)

Include both the original image and your modified image on your web page.

3. Use A Filter (or Several)

A "filter" is something that can be applied to an image, usually to modify the image in some way. They might better be called "effects." For example, there is a filter for blurring the image, one for making the image look like an old photograph, and one to make it look like its made out of cloth. Some filters in Gimp generate images from nothing, and some do even more complicated things. You will find Gimp's filters in the "Filter" menu.

You should make an attractive or interesting image by applying one or more filters. Experiment with applying various filters to an existing image. Again, you can use an image I gave you or one of your own. You probably don't want to work on a really big image for this exercise. To reduce the size of the image, use the "Scale Image" command in the "Image" menu. Ask for help if you need it.

As you experiment, use the "Undo" command, CONTROL-Z, to undo any changes that you don't like!

Some suggested filters to try: Distorts/Emboss, Distorts/Mosaic, Distorts/Ripple, Edge-Detect, Artistic/Apply-Canvas, Artistic/Cubism, Decor/Old-Photo, Map/Warp.

You might want to show the same image on your web page, with several different effects applied to it.

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As mentioned, some of Gimp's filters actually create content from scratch. In particular, you might use Render/Lava, or any of the filters in Render/Clouds to make a background image. Start with the "New" command. Specify a small size, such as 256-by-256. Use a filter such as Render/Clouds/Solid-Noise or Render/Clouds/Plasma. Adjust the colors, if you like. Once you have an image, choose Filters/Map/Make-Seamless. This makes the image "tilable," so that the left edge matches up with the right edge and the top edge with the bottom. If you are reading this page in a web browser, the background image on this section of the page was made in this way.

4. Start From Scratch

So far, I haven't mentioned one of the most important Gimp windows: the Toolbox dialog. In Single Window Mode, you should see it on the left edge of the window. The Toolbox is shown at the right, with some of its features labeled. It has icons for the various painting tools and for setting the foreground and background colors. In the actual toolbox, you can point your mouse at an icon to see a short description of that tool. Below the icon area are the tool options for the currently selected tool. When you select a different tool, this part of the window changes to reflect the options for the selected tool. Initially, the paintbrush tool is selected, and the options for the paintbrush are shown.

For your fourth exercise, you should create an image from scratch, using the painting tools. I don't expect you to be an artist, but try to make someting interesting or nice looking.

Use the "New" command in the file menu to create a new, empty image. Don't make it too big -- maybe 640-by-480 or 500-by-400. Try out the paintbrush tool, and try changing some of its options. Try changing the foreground color (which is used for drawing) by clicking on the forgeground color patch in the Toolbox. Remember that CONTROL-Z can be used to undo any change you make. Also, of course, you can always start over. You will want to spend some time experimenting with various tools before setting out to create your final image.

You'll notice that Gimp does not have tools for drawing shapes such as rectangles and circles. However, it is possible to draw such shapes using selections. The selection tools -- at the top of the Toolbox -- can be used to select regions in the image. For example, click the Rectangle tool, and drag the mouse on the image to select a rectangular region. Note that one of the options for the Rectangle select allows you to round off the corners of the rectangle. The Ellipse Select tool can be used to select ovals in the image. The Free Select (or Lasso) tool, which is next to the Ellipse, can be used to select polygonal regions: Just click a sequence of points to select the vertices of the polygon, and click back on the initial point to close the polygon. You can also drag the Lasso tool to draw the outline of a region freehand.

Once you have a selection, there are many things that you can do with it. One important fact is that when there is a selection, you can only draw inside the selection -- the area outside the selection is unaffected by painting tools.

The Bucket Fill Tool, which looks like a spilling paint bucket, is especially useful with selections. Choose the bucket tool, and set its option to "Fill entire selection". Then click inside the selected area to fill that area with color. Also try setting the "Pattern fill" option for the Bucket tool, which allows you to fill the selected area with a pattern. To change the pattern that is used, click on the image of the pattern, just below the "Pattern fill" option.

Selections are one of the most important aspects of Gimp. There are many ways to make selections, and there is an entire menu devoted to manipulating selections. For example, use the "Border" command in the "Select" menu to make a selection consisting just of the outline of the current selection.

Drawing straight lines in Gimp is a little strange. To draw a line with the Paintbrush tool, click the mouse on the image, then immediately press the shift key. Move the mouse while holding down the shift key (without holding down any button on the mouse). Then click the mouse again. A line is drawn from the original click to the final click. This technique works with some other tools besides the paintbrush.

You will certainly want to try the Gradient Tool. A gradient is a sequence of colors, arranged in some pattern. Many different gradients are avaiable in the Gradient tool options; click the image of the gradient, in the gradient options, to choose a different gradient. Apply a gradient by dragging the mouse to specify the points where the color sequence begins and ends. The colors can be applied in various shapes; try changing the "Shape" option to see how this works. Remember that you can limit the area affected by the gradient by making a selection. Also note that some of the more interesting gradients include transparent colors, which create regions where the gradient is transparent or translulcent.

Note: For smoother gradients, turn on "Adaptive supersampling" in the gradient tool options. This can greatly improve the appearance!

The picture on the left, for example, was made entirely with the Gradient tool, using, for example, the "Square Wood Frame" gradient with the shape option set to "Square" and the "Radial Eyeball" and "Radial Rainbow Hoop" gradients with the shape set to "Radial." The Gradient tool can be used for some neat effects. The background image for this page was prepared from the original with one application of the Gradient tool, with the foreground color set to white and the gradient set to the "FG to Transparent" gradient. To make a similar background image:

• Start with an existing image. Cut a vertical strip from the image to use as the basis for the background. To do that, use the Rectangle Select tool to select the region that you want to use, then use the "Crop to Selection" command from the "Image" menu.
• Choose the Gradient tool, and select the gradient named "FG to Transparent".
• Change the Foreground Color to white. You can do this by clicking the little Swap Colors arrow next to the color patches in the Toolbox.
• Now, drag on the image from right to left. The point where you start the drag will be white (the foreground color), while the point where you end will be unaffected. The white color will fade in over the length of the drag. Use CONTROL-Z, and try again, until you get exactly what you want.

You will want to try some of the other tools as well, such as the Smudge tool, the Eraser, and maybe the Clone tool. For help on using any tool, look at the message in the bottom of the image window while using the tool.

5. Freedom!

As your final exercise for this lab, do anything you want! Make at least one more image, either from scratch or from an existing image.

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If you want to learn a little more about the power of selections, you might try to make something like the image shown at the right. This image was cut out of a larger image. The effect around the border is achieved by making some pixels translucent. This was done using the fact that pixels can be "partially selected." Here is how to make a similar image:

• Open a photographic image in Gimp.
• In the Layers dialog, which you should see at the top right of the window, right-click the "Background" layer and choose "Add Alpha Channel" (if it is not already selected). This will allow you to create an image with transparency.
• Make an elliptical -- or other -- selection containing the part of the image that you want to cut out.) Note: After making the selection with the Ellipse tool, you can adjust it by dragging the handles in the corners or by dragging the selection itself.)
• Use the "Feather" command in the "Select" menu to soften the edge of the selection. Feather the selection by about 40 pixels. This means that instead of having a sharp boundary, the selection fades from fully selected to partly selected to not selected over a distance of 40 pixels.
• Invert the selection, using the "Invert" command in the "Select" menu, so that the outside of the ellipse is selected instead of the inside.
• Use the "Cut" command from the "Edit" menu to erase the selection. Since you reversed the selection, this removes everything outside the original selection.
• Draw a rectangular selection around the remaining image.
• Use the "Crop to Selection" command in the "Image" menu to discard the part of the image outside the selected rectangle.
• Be sure to save the image in ".png" format (since jpeg doesn't support transparency).