The New Image dialog
The dialog allows you to create a new image window and to set its specifications. You may have more than one image on your screen.
The Dialog for creating a new image can be called in the following ways, from the toolbox and image-menu:
-> .You can also open the Dialog by using a keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+N
Options
The scrolling list allows you to select a template, mainly page or resolution format.
Width and Heigth can be set using input boxes, in pixels or in the unit you can select.
On the right, two buttons allow to select either Portrait or Landscape mode. Under buttons, file size in MegaBytes is displayed.
Resolution in width (X) and heigth (Y) can be set in the unit you can select. Default value is 72 ppi (72 pixels/inch), which is enough for Web images, you can set this value in Preferences dialog. But if you want to print your image, more than 72 ppi will be necessary. Several measure units are available: pixels/inch, /mm, /point,/pica and you have also a button which offers more choice. I would advise you to use ppi (pixels per inch) as it is the usual norm for images. You may have a different resolution for X and Y axis by "breaking" the chain, but this is not recommended.
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Note |
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Please keep in mind, that every Pixel of an image is stored in the memory. If you're creating large files with a high density of pixels, Gimp will need some time for every function you're applying to the image. |
RGB: The image will be in Red, Green, Blue color system, that of your screen.
Grayscale: The image will be in black and white, with many gray shades. Besides its artistic interest, this image type may be necessary for some plug-ins. Nevertheless, Gimp offers you the possibility to change a RGB image into grayscale.
You can select there the backgroung color of your image.
ForeGround and BackGround are colors you can find in the Toolbox color selector.
White is the color the more used.
Transparent gives a transparent background to your image. It appears as a black and white checkerboard. An Alpha channel is created.
You can add a comment about the image. (Keep in mind, though, that not every image format saves the image comment.)
This menu item can be reached from the toolbox or image menus, as Ctrl-O.
-> , or by using the keyboard shortcutSelecting it shows a submenu with the names of files that you have opened recently in GIMP. Just choose a name with the pointer to reopen it. You can customize the number of items shown in the menu, by changing the "Open Recent Menu Size" value in the Interface page of the Preferences dialog. See the Document History dialog section for more information.
This command can be accessed from an image menubar as
-> . It does not have a default shortcut."Save a Copy" does the same things as the
command, except that it does not change the name of the image, and does not cause the image to be marked as "clean". The effect of this is that if you try to delete the image, or exit from GIMP, you will be informed that the image is dirty and given an opportunity to save it.This command can be accessed from an image menubar as
-> . It does not have a default shortcut."Save as Template" creates a template with the same dimensions and colorspace as the image. A dialog pops up asking you to name the new template, after which it is saved so that it becomes available in the New Image dialog. If you give a name that already exists, a unique name is generated by appending a number to it. You can use the Templates dialog to modify or delete templates.
This command can be accessed from an image menubar as
-> . It does not have a default shortcut."Revert" causes the image to be reloaded from disk, so that it will look just like it did the last time it was saved---unless, that is, the file has in the meantime been overwritten by you or some application other than GIMP, in which case the new contents will be loaded. For technical reasons, when GIMP reverts a file, it actually closes the existing image and creates a new image. Because of this, reverting an image is not undoable, and causes the undo history of the image to be lost. GIMP tries to protect you from losing your work in this way by asking you to confirm that you really want to revert the image.
This command can be accessed from an image menubar as Ctrl-W. In most environments, it can also be executed by clicking a "Close" button somewhere on the image window titlebar. The location and appearance of this button are determined by the windowing system and window manager.
-> , or by using the keyboard shortcut"Close" closes the image and removes its window. Closing an image is not undoable: once it is closed, everything is gone, including the undo history. If the image is not clean---that is, if you have changed it since the last time you saved it---then you will be asked to confirm that you really want to close it. Note that images are marked as clean when saved to a file even if the file format chosen does not preserve all information present in the image, so it is a good idea to think for a moment about what you are doing before closing an image. If there is the slightest possibility that you will regret it, it can't hurt to save a copy as an XCF file.
This command can be accessed from the Toolbox or an image menubar as Ctrl-Q. In most environments, it can also be executed by clicking a "Close" button somewhere on the Toolbox window. The location and appearance of this button are determined by the windowing system and window manager.
-> , or by using the keyboard shortcut"Quit" causes GIMP to close all images and exit. If there are any images open that are not marked as "clean", you are notified of this and given an opportunity to cancel the action. (In GIMP 2.2., you are given a list of the unsaved images and asked which of them, if any, you would like to save before quitting.) Note that if you have a large number of images open, or are using a large proportion of the RAM on your system, it may take a little while for everything to shut down.
The dialog allows you to load an existing image from your harddrive or an external medium.
The dialog for open an image can be called in the following order, from the toolbox and image-menu:
/ .You can open the Dialog by using a keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+O
Three windows are displayed. In the Folders window, you can select the folder (the directory) to be explored. You can go back up the folder hierarchy by using "../". If you want to refresh the current directory, clicK on "./". In the Files window, the selected folder files are displayed. You select a file by a single left click (a double left click opens the image directly). The selected file is displayed in the Preview if it is an image recognized by Gimp. Clic in the preview to generate or update the preview.
With Ctrl+click you can select more than one file and so, you can open several images at the same time.
File size, resolution and composition are displayed under Preview.
After clicking on this text box, you can input a file name. You enjoy autocompletion: you enter first letters of the file and press TAB key. Only files beginning by these letters will be displayed in Files window, and if only one file has these letters, its name will automatically be displayed in text box. It's a handy way to find a file out of a large list.
Automatic option allows file type to be determined automatically. With Linux, file extensions (.bmp, .png...) is not priority. File type is determined according to proper file characteristics. In some exceptionnal cases, when Gimp doesn't recognize file type, you can set it by selecting it in the dropping list. Only files with this type can then be openned.
Three buttons at top of window: Create a file, Delete File and Rename File are self-explanatory.