My husband just updated my computer system, so everything looks just a tad different, including GIMP. When I first opened it there was a new nifty graphic while it loaded. Then, once it loaded, I had to figure out all the icons in the tool box because they all looked just enough different that I could not just automatically click what I wanted without thinking like I usually do when I am doing photo edits.
Since I have a new version of GIMP, I decided to play around with it a bit tonight. Here is what I came up with (Be sure to click on it to get a good look; it loses some quality to get it to fit on my blog):
After spending some time looking at banners and wanting to add a bit more to the one I did the other night, I just started over and ended up with this. I won’t be using this “as is”; I still want to play around a bit. However, I thought I would share what I have done so far.
1. I opened a new file with the dimensions required. In this case, 760 x 100.
2. I opened three separate photographs.
3. I chose the crop tool and cropped the photos to the dimensions needed. For the background, 760 x 100. For the small thumbnail photos, I chose a square, not worrying about the pixels for the moment.
4. I then scaled the thumbnails down to 75 x 75.
5. I copied one photo at a time into the new, still empty file. I copied using the menu for each photo, then pasted using the menu for the main file. For the first photo (I pasted in the background first), I anchored the layer since there was not anything else there. For the thumbnails, after pasting, I then clicked on the floating layer in the layers dialog box and named the layer, which makes it no longer floating.
6. After getting all three photos on the banner, I had to move the thumbnails around a bit. Making sure I was in the correct layer, I chose the Move tool to move the thumbnail where I wanted it.
7. Adding text makes a new layer. When doing this I discovered that I was stuck in pick layer mode and was having trouble moving my text after I put it in. There is a spot to choose whether you are picking a layer or moving it at the bottom of the Tool menu when the move tool is chosen. Check this if you cannot move your text and keep moving your background like I did several times before figuring out what I was doing wrong.
GIMP TIP OF THE DAY: Look at the bottom of your Tool Menu if you cannot move something with the move tool. You might be in Pick Layer mode.