CHAPTER 9: Android Graphic Design: Making Your UI Designs Visual 335This time, instead of using the Delete function, we are going to use the Copy function, either by
using the Ctrl-C keyboard shortcut, or by using the Edit ➤ Copy menu sequence in GIMP. What
this will do is to put those pixels which are inside of the circular selection area into your system
memory’s “clipboard,” which is used to hold things in memory that you will want to use later, like
text, if you’re using a word processor, or pixels, if you’re using GIMP.
Next, we are going to use the Edit ➤ Paste as ➤ New Layer utility in GIMP, to create a transparency
layer using the alpha channel which is in the selected circular galaxy image area, which is now in your
workstation’s memory, in a reserved area of memory which is commonly called the “clipboard.”
Creating a Composite Layer Using the Clipboard
GIMP has another really cool workflow feature which makes creating multi-layered image
composites easier when you use the clipboard a lot to hold image elements which you have
extracted from other image layers by using selection sets (and then copied into system memory).
This menu sequence combines the Edit ➤ Paste and the Layer ➤ New Layer operations into one
single unified Edit ➤ Paste as ➤ New Layer operation that will create a new layer for you, and then
paste the pixels into that layer from your clipboard.
Figure 9-20. Turn off ring layer visibility via the eye icon (shown off) and invert the selection using Select ➤ Invert