Gimp

[Craig]

Hi all it is time for what i think is my most silly question yet.

I have never use programs like gimp before and I am struggling to do what i think should be simple.

I am just trying to get used to the program and I am trying to do a simple design(small pic an 3 words) and i am also trying to do 3 lots for 3 mugs on 1 sheet of a4 yet i cant manage to wrap my head around it.

Can anyone point me i the direction of an idiots guide that may be of use to me as I have no idea whe it comes to these programs

Thanks for any help and sorry for what is probably a really silly question and probably 1 of the easiest things to do :redface:

cheers
Craig

[JSR]

Sometimes, these programs do so much that they make it difficult to do the simplest of things. I have GIMP and Photoshop Elements 6, but I rarely use either. More often than not, I fall back on "easy to use" software like my outdated version of Fireworks or whatever, and then use Qimage for the layout and printing.

My main issue with GIMP was that it didn't make it easy to do simple things and that the Portable version takes an absolute age to load (what with loading all those filters and things first). My main issue with Photoshop Elements 6 was that I couldn't just tell it to print four copies of the same coaster on the same page, or three copies of the same mug on the same page, without going through some convoluted "copy & paste" rigmarole first.

These are undoubtedly fine pieces of software if you need to use all of the functions and have time to learn about their features but, if you just want to tweak, add a bit of text, and print, then they're like using an elephant gun to swat a fly.

My advice is - don't feel you need to use a piece of software just because everyone says you should. Use what's familiar to you, and work from that. Once you've made your design in your favourite software, then you can work on using something else to print with the ICC profile if that's necessary.

[Russ]

.... probably a really silly question and probably 1 of the easiest things to do :redface:

Its only easy if you know it...

I usually work in Photoshop, but I just downloaded Gimp to see what it was like. There may be other ways of doing this, but I think I were you I'd save the design, then open a new A4 document, then with the new A4 doc active, choose File/Open As Layers and open the saved design. It should open in the new A4 doc. Repeat this twice and you see the 3 layers in the layers tab. Click and hold and drag to move a layer. repeat until there are 3 copies of the design showing - it will be a tight fit, esp if you go for a full 9.5cm high design. Note - this may cause the top & bottom layer to be cropped slightly, If this happens, either shorten the design, or just put 2 copies on one A4 page.
Hope this helps...

[crystaluk]

You sound like me Craig a week ago!! Plenty of google and you tube vids later I can do the simple stuff in photoshop. We can watch/learn but we don't absorb until our own trial and errors. Its hard getting your head round the layers at first but play around and watch plenty of videos that you can follow step by step. Good luck I was up till 5 trying to "learn" somedays but it does pay off.

[Craig]

Thanks guys i apppreciate it I have spent hours watching youtube vids but i cannot seem to find 1 that is similar to what i am trying to do(which it thought was pretty normal).
I was even struggling to change the picture, basically it is a pic of a skull and crossbones with some words underneath for my daughters birthday party. My missus made a design in paint with a pic an the words, i can import that into gimp but then i didnt like the pic so thought i would change it and couldnt work out how .

the other bit i was struggling with is what Russ as said above i wll try that thanks Russ

thanks all I will keep plugging away an see what happens, I am finding it ifficult due to never using these editing programs before and also not knowing anyone that does use.

Thanks again everyone

[WorthDoingRight]

Well an A4 sheet is 210mm wide by 297mm long - most printers will not print to the edge of the sheet so best to leave 15mm each side which means your images need to be no more than 180mm wide. The same applies to the top and bottom so you have roughly 270mm of sheet to play with and you will want a margin between each print so realistically your image should be around 70mm high so you get 2 margins top and bottom and decent space between each sheet. So if you aim for 180mm x 70mm designs you should easily be able to lay three out on a sheet. At a push if you decrease the margins slightly you may be able to get 180mm x 80mm designs on.

For anything larger than 180mm x 80mm you will have to settle for 2 up length ways down the A4 sheet instead. I do mine 2 up at 220mm x 95mm (max) with small margins and spacing.

The best way to begin is to start with a page layout in Gimp of A4 size with left and right margins of 15mm and top and bottom margins of say 13mm. Then use the ruler function to drag some guidelines down onto the sheet to make it 3 x 70mm sections with 30mm between. Then you just need to work inside these 3 sections.