Author Topic: the GIMP!!! (Read 4093 times)

sambo · « **on:** February 14, 2006, 04:13:48 PM »

ok so i know a couple of people on here have a piece of software called "The GIMP" that they use for shrinking pictures in both physical and file size... my question to those people is... how the hell do you do it????

i need to reduce the file size of some pics and ive downloaded the program but have no idea what to do...

tewboss · « **Reply #1 on:** February 14, 2006, 06:42:22 PM »

If you export the file as a GIF or JPEG then you get the opportunity to reduce the image quality. The default for saving is 85%, so just reduce the amount using the slider on the export window. I hope this makes sense.

I'm presuming you don't want to physically reduce the dimensions of the image. If you do then click on the 'Image' menu and select 'Canvas Size'.

Some image formats compress the image data into a smaller file size. Bitmap images (.bmp) aren't compressed, where as GIF or JPEG compress the image so that it is a smaller file size.

Ol · « **Reply #2 on:** February 14, 2006, 07:02:22 PM »

Quote from: tewboss

I'm presuming you don't want to physically reduce the dimensions of the image. If you do then click on the 'Image' menu and select 'Canvas Size'.

I'm afraid that's wrong! You need to select Image size to shrink the image, otherwise the image will stay the same size, but get cropped around the edges!

If you want to crop, then it is easier to use the crop tool than the Canvas Size.

For sambo: if you took the picture with a trillion mega pixel camera then you will need to reduce the dimensions aswell as the file size. The recommended dimensions are 640x480. This will more often or not reduce the filesize below the forum max of 80kB. If it doesn't you then need to go File Save as, and then you should be prompted with a sliding scale of quality. If you tick the image preview box you will be able to see the new size in kB.

rgds
Ol.

sambo · « **Reply #3 on:** February 14, 2006, 07:09:42 PM »

lol ol the cr@ppy camera i used was only 2 mega pixels so no worries there- thats why i had to take the pics outside because the exposure is so shitee you cant see anything indoors.

booboo_bass · « **Reply #4 on:** February 14, 2006, 07:56:31 PM »

use photoshop...image > image size

or something like that (doesnt photobucket.com resize automatically?)

Ol · « **Reply #5 on:** February 15, 2006, 09:15:21 AM »

Quote from: booboo_bass

use photoshop...image > image size

or something like that (doesnt photobucket.com resize automatically?)

Not everyone has access to photoshop. The GIMP is opensource, hence free. It is the closest free equivalent to Photoshop.
If anyone is interested http://www.gimp.org/

rgds
Ol.

sambo · « **Reply #6 on:** February 15, 2006, 09:20:12 AM »

yup figured it out in GIMP Ol... pictures can be found in my other thread in this section...