Hi, "miriam clinton (iriXx)" <iriXx@xxxxxxxxx> writes: >>>The Rect Select Options though is a feature that few designers need >>>in a menu - it would be better to use a custom Color swatch tool - >>>which is invaluable. >>> >>> >> >>I don't understand. Would you mind to elaborate on this? >> >> > Its a valuable tool, but something that, in Photoshop, only appears > when the Pen tool is selected. Hhmm, so you didn't even change a tool yet in GIMP? Otherwise you would have noticed that the tool options change with the active tool. > A visual Navigation (zoom in-out) tool or a Color Swatch tool (CMYK > /and/ RGB) would be far more valueable in the left hand floating > palette. Feel free to add these to your docks. There are lots of dialogs to choose from and GIMP will remember the setup across sessions. Please configure GIMP to your needs. > There is a tool called Colormap. I presume it is used for making > swatches - I selected it from the right-click menu. I would love to > be able to make swatches - I rely on custom swatches for my print > work. But I can't seem to get it to even recognise the current > selected colors - > it just appears to be a black and grey grid like an empty layer. If you want to create or edit palettes, perhaps you should start from the Palettes dialog instead of using Colormap which is about editing the colormap of indexed images such as GIF images. >> Huh? Go to the Layers menu, choose "Add Layer Mask". Also available >> from the right-click menu in the Layers dialog. > I couldnt actually access this - it was greyed out completely. You can't add a layer mask to a layer that doesn't have an alpha channel. This is one of the things that is explained in the Tips of the Day. You certainly missed it accidentally. > It wasnt a popup window as such but a complete crash. I'm testing > under windows as I dont have room for GNU/Linux on my laptop, but > also as this will (hopefully) also be a default environment as many > use Photoshop under Windows. Unfortunately I dont have a Mac, but I > would suspect porting would be easier to OS X. No, it was just a popup window. The annoying fact is just that you must not close this window since it's the terminal that actually runs the GIMP process. Closing it will quit GIMP. Needless to discuss this any further though since this behaviour has been changed recently. > Again - this is a problem for designers - GIMP requires a lot of > reading of documentation to find out how the hell you're supposed to > do something (especially applying layer masks!). Designers don't > like reading docs - in fact, a lot of us are dyslexic (myself > included) - dyslexia is a common trait among artists, writers, > dancers and musicians. If you're interested in the science, it lives > in the temporal lobe of the brain alongside the artistic > capabilities. I am sure you didn't read any documentation when you started working with Photoshop and you certainly found your way instantly... Miriam, I think this thread is not helping anyone. Well, perhaps it helps you to make your first steps in GIMP with first-class support but it would better be moved to the gimp-user list then. There are many people there who will help you with your newbie questions. I hope that after making yourself familiar with GIMP you will return here and perhaps contribute some workflow comparisons. That would really help us to determine where the user interface or our tools and plug-ins need improvements. I am not trying to say that we don't need to make GIMP easier for beginnners but of course these problems are all known to us and will be addressed when developer time permits. Sven
