Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- basic_game_image_editing_with_gimp [2014/03/29 02:58] – mithat
+++ basic_game_image_editing_with_gimp [2014/03/29 03:33] – [Converting images to PNG] mithat
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== Basic Games Image Editing with GIMP ======
+====== Basic Game Image Editing with GIMP ======
 This is a guide to using [[http://www.gimp.org|GIMP]] for doing some of the more common kinds of things you need to do when editing images for use in games.
@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
     - Click "Export".
   - To save changes you have made to a PNG file, go to //File > Export to imageName.png//
+Note: If you do a //File > Save// or File > //Save As...//, GIMP will save the file in its own .xcf format.
 ===== Cropping images =====
@@ Line 51: / Line 53: @@
 ===== Making backgrounds transparent =====
+The following assumes the image you want to modify is well-suited to having its background made transparent. An image that's well suited to this is one where:
+  * The backgrond is all one color.
+  * The image has a clear border.
+You can still make backgrounds transparent with images that don't meet both these requirements, but the process is more involved.
+To make the background of a "well suited" image transparent:
+  - Add a transparent layer to the image with //Layer > Transparency > Add Alpha Channel//.
+  - Select the Fuzzy Select Tool (//Tools > Selection Tools > Fuzzy Select// or in the Toolbox).
+  - Click on the background.
+    - Confirm that the background has been correctly detected and selected.
+    - You may need to adjust the tool's Threshold parameter to get the best results.
+    - You can "unselect" everything from //Select > None//.
+  - Clear the selected region by going to //Edit > Clear// or by hitting the Delete key.
+===== Resizing images =====
+To shrink an image down,
+  - Go to //Image > Scale Image...// (NOT //Canvas Size...// or //Print Size...//).
+  - In the dialog's Image Size area, select **pixels** from the top right-side dropdown menu.
+  - If you want the height and width to scale proportionately, make sure the link image is set to "linked".
+  - Set the width and/or height.
+  - Click the "Scale" button.
+Feel free to experiment with the different Interpolation settings. Some algorithms work better for some images than others. "Cubic" seems to be a good default. You can use the above method to make an image larger as well, but shinking images works muuuuch better than making them larger.