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Sample sections available for new GIMP book
Jul. 27, 2007

Those wanting to perform serious graphics tasks on their Linux desktops may benefit from a new book by Michael J. Hammel's, coming soon from No Starch Press. The Artist's Guide To GIMP Effects is a four-color tome said to "harness all of the GIMP's powerful features."

(Click here for a larger view of cover art)

The book, which features extensive illustrations and step-by-step tutorials that encourage "hands-on learning and experimentation," begins with a crash course on using GIMP's interface and core tools, such as brushes, patterns, selections, layers, and masks, the publisher said. Readers then learn:
  • Photographic techniques to create ripped edges or sepia-tones, swap
    colors, produce motion blurs, even fix rips in an old photograph
  • Web and interface design techniques to create patterns, navigation tabs,
    and fancy buttons and borders
  • Type effects to create depth, perspective, and neon- and graffiti-style
    lettering
  • Special effects to simulate clouds, textures, cracks, lighting, and
    underwater effects
According to the publisher's announcement, the author, an embedded software engineer living in Colorado Springs, has been involved with the GIMP since version 0.54 and was a contributor to its early development. Hammel authored a column on the GIMP for Linux Format magazine for three years and is the author of The Artist's Guide to GIMP (Frank Kasper & Associates, 1998) and Essential GIMP for Web Professionals (Prentice Hall PTR, 2001).

Four sample sections are available for download from the publisher's website, here (2.5MB ZIP download), and an extended Table of Contents is located here (PDF download). The sample sections included in the downloadable ZIP file are:
  • Section 2.11 -- Casting Light Through a Window
  • Section 3.3 -- Tabs
  • Section 4.2 -- Movie Poster
  • Section 5.8 -- Spray Paint
The 360-page book (ISBN 978-1-59327-153-4) will be published by No Starch Press, priced at $44.95. Further details are available here.



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