Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional [Paperback]

Akkana Peck (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1430210702 | ISBN-13: 978-1430210702 | Publication Date: December 24, 2008 | Edition: 2nd ed.

Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition is an update to the most successful GIMP book to date. This revision covers the latest release of The GIMP, with several major additions to the software. The reputation of the first edition, combined with increasing popularity of the software, adds up to a recipe for success on this new edition.

With four-color screenshots throughout, this book is aimed at those that need to utilize a full featured image manipulation program but don’t have hundreds of dollars to pay for Photoshop. The GIMP is also the preferred image manipulation application for open source advocates, and is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews:

"Peck’s textbook provides a thorough treatment of topics ranging from installation (on various platforms) and background on common graphic file formats, to drawing, photograph manipulation, filters/effects, and even scripting … . In addition, a thorough treatment of the tools useful to experienced designers is provided … . Peck’s book is effective in showing just how far GIMP has progressed in 12 years. Beginners may be surprised … with this free application, especially with the assistance of this clear, concise, and attractive textbook." (Ian van der Linde, ACM Computing Reviews, Vol. 49 (2), February, 2008)

About the Author

Akkana Peck is a freelance software developer and writer who has been working with open source software for nearly 20 years. She has worked for a diverse collection of companies which include Netscape, Silicon Graphics, Sun, HP, and Apple, and has written imaging software ranging from GIMP plugins, to cartography, to scientific visualization.

Akkana is a longtime member of the GIMP community and enjoys giving GIMP courses and presentations, as well as filling up her hard drive with digital images. She lives in San Jose, California, with her husband and a motley assortment of old computers. You can find more of her musings at http://www.shallowsky.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 584 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 2nd ed. edition (December 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430210702
• ISBN-13: 978-1430210702
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Algorithms > Digital Image Processing
  • #97 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Systems Analysis & Design

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book if it were Up-to-Date, July 17, 2010

By 

TigerT (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional (Paperback)

Well written and easily understandable. This is the affordable manual so badly needed for Gimp. It is neither a tutorial or a reference, but has advantages of both. It's easy discussion style leads you through how to use Gimp, starting with the basics, and moving soon to advanced. But I have had no problem using the index to jump ahead to specific topics of interest, as the discussions made sense without reading everything in order. I feel like I will be a Gimp expert when I finish the book, but I and already getting lots of use from it in improving my digital photos.

The book is a couple of versions behind. There are a few mentions in the Appendix describing the differences in the newer versions, but the explanations are just short summaries. Most of the tools are still in the newer versions. But in newer versions (latest is 2.6.10) many tools have been relocated and can be hard to find. In fairness, with versions changing so rapidly, it would be difficult for any author or publisher to keep up. Because the book is advertised as covering version 2.6 but really doesn't, I downgraded my rating from five stars to four.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I needed, March 15, 2009

By 

Joseph C. Mooney (Christina Lake, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional (Paperback)

A few weeks ago I knew nothing whatsoever about the GIMP.
I downloaded version 2.6 and decided to learn how to use it.
After a frustrating attempt to educate myself with the online
help files I turned to Akkana Peck's Beginning Gimp, second edition.

I found her book to be just what I needed. It's a big book at just
under 600 pages, but I found it a reasonably quick read due in large
part to many full color examples and Akkana's clear writing style.

It is not easy to write technical documentation, and so it is wonderful
to encounter such a well written work. Ms. Peck has the rare talent
of being able to present volumes of technical information in a manner
that has enough detail to be useful, without overwhelming the reader with
minutiae, or being boring. Her style makes heavy use of examples,
which are nicely illustrated (kudos to the publisher to spending the extra
money for color images). Key concepts are presented in a well ordered manner, making it quite painless to understand the "Zen" of GIMP.

After reading the book cover to cover, working through most of the
example exercises, I feel I have expanded my image processing abilities
immensely. By the way, you can (and should) download all the example
material found on the publishers web site.

Many thanks to the extraordinarily talented programmers who created
this remarkable program. Thanks also to those who have created the
online help files (which are quite useful once one has a basic understanding of the GIMP).

And thanks again to Akkana Peck for making the initial learning curve so pleasant!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not completely step by step but I would recommend, July 11, 2010

By 

C. Keeney (Magnet, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional (Paperback)

The book is frustrating as it takes you through editing a picture and then stops...
For instance Masks which is probably one of the hardest things...she tells you how to work on the mask and then doesn't finish, so you are left with the mask to the side of the transparent layer and your background below that..What do I do next?
Even cropping...she did the same thing...
I bought the book because I was tired of wading through online tutorials..well I'm still having to do that because she leaves me hanging. She does a great job if she would just finish the steps.

I give 3 stars because I'm glad I have the book...because when you are drowning in frustation, you need something to hold onto.