MaximumPC 2008 12

PICTURE

PERFECT

Using Layers and Effects

Give your images a professional touch

L

ayers and eff ects go hand in hand. They comple-

ment one another and, despite sounding compli-

cated, are easy to master. Layers are the soft ware

equivalent of the onion skin paper used by animators in

the days before CGI. They enable you to position one im-

age above another, and each layer is entirely independent

of all the others. You can move layers around, drag them

above and below other layers, and show and hide them at

will. This means you can construct complex images from

simple parts and, as long as each layer is kept separate,

you’re always free to change things around. You can alter

the opacity, for example, and you can change the way the

colors in one layer aff ect the colors in another. But best of

all, you can process the image in one layer with an eff ect,

while all other layers remain untouched.

EFFECTS EQUAL FILTERS

GIMP has some fantastic eff ects to choose from and refers

to them as fi lters. You can perform wonderful contor-

tions on your image data, ranging from the utilitarian and

perfunctory to the creative and abstract. Filters can create

texture and fracture, distort, or alter the color of an image.

Just select the area of an image you want to change and

choose the eff ect from the Colors or Filters menu.

COLORS

The Colors menu contains the practical eff ects. The

Brightness-Contrast panel, for example, is a worthwhile

tool whenever you import a digital photo. Increasing the

contrast while decreasing the brightness of a photograph

will nearly always improve the image, adding more

STEP BY STEP

Ba`e a H]aYol

1. CREATE A NEW
   LAYER
   Click the New Layer
   button on the lower
   border of the Layers
   dialog and make
   sure the Layer
   Fill Type is set to
   Transparency. This is
   because we want our
   shape to be visible
   only in this layer to
   create an accurate
   shadow.
   3. DUPLICATE LAYER
   Click the Duplicate Layer
   button and select the
   lower copy. Choose Color
   Balance from the Colors
   menu. Disable Preserve
   luminosity and drag the
   Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow
   sliders to 100 in each
   color range.
   4. CREATE SHADOW
   To create a realistic
   shadow, use a blur
   effect. There are sev-
   eral to choose from
   in the Filters > Blur
   menu, but we prefer
   the look of Gaussian.
   The last step is to
   use the Move tool
   to slightly offset the
   shadow layer.


2. DRAW YOUR
   SHAPE
   Import or draw the
   shape you want
   to use to cast a
   shadow. Text is a
   special case, as
   you also need to
   select “Discard
   Text Information”
   from the new text
   layer’s right-click
   menu.

LAYER DIALOG

Each layer has its own preview

thumbnail, and you can drag-and-

drop layers around. Click the Eye

symbol to toggle visibility. Increase

transparency using Opacity.

LAYER MASKS

A layer can have something called a layer

mask channel. This is a separate grayscale

image that defi nes which parts of the layer

are visible and which remain opaque.

To enlarge the thumbnail images in the Layers

dialog, go to Edit > Preferences, select the Inter-

face tab from the menu at the right and choose

a larger size for the “Default layer & channel

preview size.”

5+| MAXIMUMPC | DEC 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com

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