![Oval Oval](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125625988/457485882.jpg)
I have the following image, which I open in gimp: I then use the rectangle selection tool to select a character and copy the selection. When I use paste new image, I get a new image that is exactly the same size as my selection, but it contains an empty transparent layer, instead of what I (thought) copied. I've tried merging the visible layers (even though there is only one) and what not, but nothing seems to change the outcome. I've never had this problem with other images before.
An easy way to compile and install GIMP and other great Free software on your Mac is by using Macports. The installer allows you to choose from a large directory of packages. To install gimp using Macports, you simply do sudo port install gimp once you have Macports installed.
Any idea what is going on and how I can get gimp to copy/paste my section? Possibly you need to use 'Copy Visible' not 'Copy'.
Copy seems to disregard the selection and copy the whole image instead. No idea what happens when layers are selected but not visible, or vice versa; in previous experience it has been important to ensure careful selection of layer(s) whenever something doesn't behave as expected, but I found this problem with a single layer. If the entire image is copied and pasted over the entire image then the result will be no change, which may be what you are seeing. GIMP seems to have a strange idea of what a selection is for the purpose of copy and paste, amongst other misnomenclature.
There's no need to go out and buy Adobe Photoshop and take Photoshop classes. Just follow this simple GIMP tutorial to learn how to fade out the edge of an image. One of the features that gives images a web 2.0 kind of look is fading out the edges. This is most commonly seen in the image reflection effects.
I'm not going to cover a reflection in this post. I'll just cover the image fade out part for now. I'm going to start out with an image of our favorite Linux mascot, Tux.
I've already trimmed out the white background and made it transparent. Add a Layer Mask. Open up the Layers menu CTRLL.
![Gimp Gimp](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125625988/584735237.jpg)
If you're opening just a basic jpeg or png there should be just one layer at this point. In the Layers menu, right click on the layer and select Add Layer Mask. Make sure White (full opacity) is selected and click Add. You should see a white box show up next to the thumbnail of your image in the Layers menu. Create the Fade Effect. Right click on your layer and make sure that Edit Layer Mask is selected.
Make sure that the Foreground Color is set to Black and the Background Color is set to White in the GIMP tools menu. Click on the Blend Tool (it should be just to the right of Bucket Fill). Drag a vertical line from the bottom of the image to where you want to stop the fade effect. ( Hint: Hold down the CTRL key to help make the line vertical.) If you right click in the Layers menu, you can select Show Layer Mask. It should look something like this: GIMP with Layer Mask shown Right click again and select Apply Layer Mask. Tux in GIMP with Fade Effect You can now save your file. In the image window select File?Save As.
Enter a new name and click Save. A menu will pop up with save options. The defaults should be fine. Here's the final product. Tux with Fade Effect.
This tutorial is actually showing how to fade the image to transparency. So as long as you save it to a format that supports transparency, like PNG, then whatever color is behind it will show through. JPG does not support transarency, so don't use that. The image in my site header was done in the same way as this tutorial. You can see how the checkerboard pattern shows through in my 3rd image.
That checkerboard represents the transparent background in GIMP. You could download my final image, (right click and save), and place it on your page as an example to see how it looks. Give it a try, I think you'll find that you can do what you want with this tutorial. A VERY easy way to fade out from an elliptical view of a picture: Open a picture that you want to use (jpeg - I'm not sure about other formats) Layer- Add Layer Mask (White - Full Opacity) Ellipse Select (select the area you want to use) Bucket Fill (black foreground, White background) into the ellipsed area Rectangular Select (to encompass the outermost edges of the fade-out) Colors - Invert Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur (IIR) (I like to use a setting of 150) Layer - Mask - Apply Layer Mask Copy Paste onto the Gimp page you will use. Hey I was frustrated.
All I wanted to do is fade the image (make it faint) so i could put text over it, as in use it for a background in a text document. I'm new to gimp and I was just fooling around and discovered that if you go to colors, then click on levels, it gives you a couple of sliders labeled input and output. By messing with them I was able to fade the image just like I wanted to.
I just thought this might be a simple, helpful solution for some others out there who are wanting to do the same thing.