Tutorial: Creating a Photographic Logo in GIMP

You might have noticed that OpenArtBox now has its own logo. Here's how you can quickly and easily create your own photographic logo in GIMP, no drawing ability required.

Opening a RAW File in GIMP

1. In GIMP, go to File>>Open. Find the photograph that you would like to use for your logo. When working with RAW image files, you will need the  UFRaw plugin for GIMP (you can find and download the plugin using Ubuntu Software Center). Clicking the gray box in the upper right hand corner of the Open Image dialog box will generate a preview of your image, and clicking Open will open your file in GIMP.

2. When you load a RAW image file with the UFRaw plugin installed, you can adjust settings such as white balance and color saturation. Use the drop down box to set the white balance to Manual WB, and use the Temperature and Green  channel sliders below for custom white balance settings. Then click the okay button in the bottom right side of the screen.

 
Creating an Image with a Transparent Background

1. Use the lasso tool to select the part of the image that you want to keep.

2. To create a new layer, right click in the layers and click “Create New Layer.” When the New Layer dialog box appears, make sure that “Transparency” is selected under Layer Fill Type. Click OK.

3. With the background layer selected, right click the area of your image that you have already selected with the lasso tool and select “copy.”

4. With your new layer selected, right click the image and select “paste.”

5. Delete the original background layer. You should now have an image with a transparent background.

Creating a Composite Image

1. Go to File>>Open, and open a second image file in GIMP.  Drag the background layer into your first image, and it will appear as a new layer in that image.

2. With the new layer selected, you can click and drag the second image to position it within the first image. Go to Layer>>Transform>>Arbitrary Rotation to rotate the image and Layer>>Scale Layer to resize the image.

Adding Finishing Touches and Saving

1. Select the layer that you would like to add a filter to. Go to Filters>>Artistic, and try out some of the filters and their settings until you find something you like.

2. If you would like to add text to your logo, select the text tool and click in the image to create a text box. You can set the font, font size, and color of the text in the panel in the left side of the screen.
 
3. Go to Image>>Scale Image. Scale your image down to the size you need your logo to be.
 
4. Go to File>>Save As, and save the image with a .png extension.

References

UFRaw User Guide. SourceForge. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/Guide.html

(September 8, 2008). Making Images with Transparent Backgrounds Using GIMP. CafeSuccess. Retrieved December 2, 2011,  from  http://cafesuccess.blogspot.com/2006/09/making-images-with-transparent.html

Interview with Demented, Part II

This is a continuation of OpenArtBox's interview with Demented. Demented is an active member of the GimpTalk forums, and is known as DementedSnake on Deviant Art (http://dementedsnake.deviantart.com/). 

(Continued from Part I)

 

OpenArtBox: Which open source art/design software packages do you
use? What, in particular, do you do with them?

Demented: I use (hold on, let me check...) MyPaint, GIMP, Inkscape, recordMyDesktop, OpenShot, Audacity, and MakeHuman; in that order, from most frequently used to least. Plus there are a few other things not directly used for art, but which help, like Firefox, or the Wacom drivers. I don't use them professionally, although I've thought about if I ever could (Wishful thinking, I know). For example, I see great artists like David Revoy, Ramon Miranda, and our very own Griatch the Scandinavian Tyrant, who all make use of libre software to create amazing works of art. Open source has come a long way in the short time I've known it. I see no reason why it shouldn't be professional grade, besides a shortage of free time or developers. But with the explosion of open source recently, both are increasing exponentially. Shouldn't be long now.

OpenArtBox: What do you like about the open source software that you use? Which features do you find particularly useful?

Demented: It's free, Free, and freedom. I can download as much as my bandwidth will allow, rip out the guts, throw my own version together and turn around and hand out copies. That's the whole point, and the greatest strength of FOSS. It cannot be tamed, confined, restricted, or killed off. It's the best kind of virus. A meme of grand ideals, if you like. I'll put up with the occasional silly bug for that kind of freedom. Plus, being able to read and write to almost any format imaginable has it's perks. My iPod cries if I try to put anything other than MP3s on it. Just sayin'.

OpenArtBox: What proprietary (non-open source) software packages have you used for art/design, and how do they compare to the open source packages you have used?

Demented: I've tried out Photoshop. It's nice, but I'm not crazy about it. It seems too heavy and bloated for my needs. In MyPaint, I can spin my canvas around like a top and not lose a bit of speed. I tried that in Photoshop, but had to enable some video card options first. Then it was just too sluggish to use and lagged when I tried to rotate the canvas. I'm not saying Photoshop is [an inferior product], but if it were open source, that problem would have had five developers giving six resolutions each within a week. FOSS is flexible, man. It's great. But this isn't "hate on commercial software" day. The official Wacom driver package is much nicer than the current open source one. The latter is good, but still a bit rough and unsure of itself. Plus, it doesn't have per-application support or built-in OLED functions yet. Go with what works. For me, that's mostly open source.

Interview with Demented, Part I

Demented is an active member of the GimpTalk forums, and is known as DementedSnake on Deviant Art (http://dementedsnake.deviantart.com/). You can find links to Demented's GIMP tutorials here.

OpenArtBox:  If you could, please give a little background information about yourself.

Demented: I'm just a lowly artist wannabe working my way up to an art hobbyist. No professional training or anything. So far I've been self-taught, though I'm looking into taking some classes to round out my pitiful knowledge. I live in the US, lower east coast. I love open source. If nothing else, the concept of thousands of people working to create free software to benefit the whole of humanity is an appealing thing.

OpenArtBox: What operating system do you use? If you use Linux, which distribution? In what ways do you feel that your operating system/Linux distribution of choice meets your needs as an artist/designer especially well?

Demented: I run Linux. I keep Windows 7 around for a few things like games and Netflix, but I spend most of my time in Linux Mint. I used Windows for a long time, and slowly started accumulating lots of FOSS like Firefox, GIMP, MyPaint, Audacity, etc.. One day I realized that most of the software I used was this weird thing called "open source". I looked into it and discovered that there was an entire open source operating system. I dabbed a bit with Debian on an old clunker and was hooked. It would be a year or so before I tried out Linux on my main computer (a Dell Latitude C600), but the moment I got to Debian's desktop, I knew it was something I just wanted to have. It was a GNOME 2 desktop.

Like I said, my programs were all already open source, so I was happy to find that everything I was used to was already on Linux. All of my needs were met before I even knew about it. I have a new machine now, and have only been using Linux full-time for a couple of years. It's a Gateway ZX4800 and came with Windows 7. The reason I mention this is that Windows 7 refused to let me use my tablet's drivers without forcing its own crappy driver instead. So I got a slow response time, buggy cursor issues, and random breakage where the tablet wouldn't work at all. I had to go around and start disabling Windows services in order to get my tablet working. But by doing that, I couldn't use my touchscreen. I was very pissed that I was being forced to choose what hardware I could use due to what I considered to be a greedy and unnaturally enforced monoculture. It was either use Window's broken software, or trash one of my devices. I think that's part of what drove me to take the plunge into Linux after years of dabbling. So far, it's been a bit bumpy, but a much...I don't know..."cleaner" experience, I guess.
 
(Continued in Part II)

Guest Blog from Chris Moezzi of Moezzination.blogspot.com

Chris Moezzi is a student at the University of Texas at Dallas. Moezzination.blogspot.com is a blog for those who would like to learn the Autodesk Maya MEL language. Also make sure to check out OpenArtBox's guest blog, OpenArtBox's Tips for Maya Users, on Moezzination.

Open Source Philosophy

The free and open-source nature of the Linux platform not only allows for a large degree of customization and utility that its original developers couldn’t have anticipated, it also helps build a community where people work on a collaborative effort. 

Proprietary Meets Open Source?

With the growing popularity of the open source philosophy and the implications it brings - such as a dedicated fan/user base - it seems that developers of proprietary software have taken notice.

Take Maya, the 3D package from Autodesk, for instance.

Price

Autodesk once charged the exorbitant amount of $16,000 to purchase a license for Maya. But last year, Autodesk started offering its software to students for free. Curiously, Autodesk doesn’t require proof of attendance, so anyone can actually get access to Maya, now.

Other expensive 3D packages that are now offered for free include:

• 3DS Max
• SoftImage
• Mudbox

Customization

Like Linux, Maya allows users to fully customize the interface, tools, and other functionalities through its embedded scripting language, called MEL. In fact, the entire UI can be replaced with an entirely new and customizable one - if the user is able to build one - through MEL scripts and simply use Maya for its 3D engine.

Portability and Sharing

What’s most important striking, however, is the fact that MEL scripts can be saved, exported, and imported – allowing the ability to share a MEL Script from one user to another. There are a number of forums where Maya users can share, trade, and sell MEL Scripts and Maya assets. Here are some of the most prominent ones:

• CG Society
• The Area
• Creative Cow
• Tutorialized
• Creative Crash

The Beginning or the End? Are Proprietary Companies Waking Up? 
 

They should be.  After all, there are more reasons to be open source than not. It will be interesting to see how art, technology, business, and the internet will shape each other in the years to come. However, if proprietary companies are following an altered version of the open-source philosophy, how does that affect developers who follow the true open-source philosophy? Time will only tell. For now, though, it only seems that Blender has a run for its money in the 3D domain of free / open source software.

Where to Find Help

One of the most important things to know about any piece of software is where to find help using it. Virtually everyone who uses a piece of software will need help with it at some point, whether it’s help getting started, help with some soft of technical problem , or help using the software’s advanced features. While the online documentation or help files that came with your software might be a good place to look for help, you may have a question that is not covered in the documentation, or you might need more help than the documentation provides.

Search Engines

Search engines are one way to find help, and are especially useful when you have a specific problem with your software (for example, if the software begins crashing whenever you try to save your file). Usually, just typing your problem into Google will find blog posts, forum threads, YouTube videos and even Ask.com pages in which someone else has already asked your question. It is rare that you will find a problem with a computer program that someone else hasn’t already encountered.

Tip: If you don't know what else to type in Google's search bar, feel free to use Google as if it were a high tech magic 8 ball.Typing your question in the form of a question certainly isn't necessary (or particularly useful), but since it doesn't hurt anything, many people do it anyway. The results of a search for “Where can I find the eraser tool in GIMP?” are almost if not completely identical to a search for “eraser tool GIMP.”

Software Specific Forums

One of the most useful places to look for help with a specific piece of software is on a forum that has been created just for users of that software. Here are forums for just a few of the most popular open source art and design software packages:

• GimpTalk (www.GimpTalk.com): The GimpTalk forums are a great place to discuss GIMP with other GIMP users from all over the world. There is also a thread just for tutorials written by GIMP users, including many tutorials written by Griatch, one of GimpTalk's administrators (read OpenArtBox's interview with Griatch here).
  
  
• InkScapeForum (www.InkScapeForum.com) : InkScapeForum is a place where InkScape users can discuss InkScape with one another, as well as show off their work completed in InkScape and promote their own InkScape related websites.
  
  
• BlenderArtists (www.BlenderArtists.org): The forums on Blender.org are actually for Blender developers, so if you want to discuss Blender with other users, you'll need to sign up for the BlenderArtists forums.
  
  
• Ubuntu (www.UbuntuForums.org): Ubuntu's forums include a community thread just for Art & Design. This is a good place to ask general questions about art and design software in Ubuntu Linux, especially if you need to to do a particular task, but you're not sure which program to use. For example, if you needed to view RAW image files in Ubuntu, you might post a question asking which programs will allow you to read and view RAW images.
  
  

Tip: Before posting, check out OpenArtBox's blog about “How to Ask a Question on a Forum.”

YouTube

You can find just about any kind of video tutorial on YouTube. From playing a guitar to cutting your own hair, if there are people who know how to do it, it's likely that at least one of those people will make a video tutorial about it. Video tutorials about how to use the different features of open source art and design software are no exception. YouTube is a great place to find tutorials about using certain tools in programs like GIMP and InkScape, as well as video tutorials for beginners who are using these programs for the first time.

References

1. Google. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://www.google.com 
2. GimpTalk. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://www.gimptalk.com
3. InkScapeForum. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://www.inkscapeforum.com
4. BlenderArtists. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://www.blenderartists.org
5. Ubuntu. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://www.ubuntuforums.org 
6. YouTube. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com

How to Ask a Question on a Forum

If you want to illicit the most useful responses, the way you ask a question matters. Avoid the following:

• TYPING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS AND OR WRITING WITHOUT PUNCTUATION
• Mispeling evr othr word (misspelling every other word) or writing in txtspk (textspeak)
• Posting your question in a text color or font that is difficult to read

In addition to simply making your question readable, make sure you give enough information about your problem. For example, if all you say is “My computer crashes when I try to save my file,” or “I can’t get GIMP's eraser tool to work,” the people reading your question probably aren’t going to have enough information to respond. Generally, you should try to give enough information about the problem that another user of the software could replicate the problem that you’re having on their computer.

In some cases (like when you’re encountering a technical problem with the software) you might also want to give information about the hardware you’re running the software on, such as the type of processor you are using, the size of your hard drive, or how much RAM your computer has. If you’re running software that can be run on multiple operating systems (which is the case with most free and open source software), specifying the operating system you’re running the software on is also likely to be helpful.

Interview with Griatch, Part II

This is a continuation of OpenArtBox’s interview with GimpTalk forum administrator Griatch. Griatch’s DeviantArt gallery can be found at http://www.griatch-art.deviantart.com/.

(Which open source art/design software packages do you
use? What, in particular, do you do with them? Response continued from Part I)

Griatch:  For hobby/art purposes, here's a selection:

 My main painting tool is MyPaint, it's a specialized procedural brush generator which is very powerful for creating brush strokes. It is intentionally limited in scope and meant to be used in conjunction with GIMP.

GIMP is what I use for post-processing and detailing of an image. It has all the features you need to modify and tweak colours, but also some very useful functions for painting. Before finding MyPaint, I did all my painting, from beginning to end, in GIMP without any trouble. MyPaint has better brushes, but GIMP has all the rest you need to create a finalized image.

Inkscape is a vector drawing program which is very good. I use it primarily for lettering comics and doing instructive diagrams and the like.

I keep wanting to really get into Blender, the 3D modeling software, but at this point I've done little more than fiddled with it. I also use Xfig (another vector program) and a bunch of others. Krita is another painter program which is coming strongly (focusing on natural media simulation), but which I've not yet really gotten into. 

OpenArtBox: What do you like about the open source software that you use? Which features do you find particularly useful?

Griatch: Apart from the features outlined above, I enjoy the fact that I can have a potential influence on their development. To take MyPaint as an example: There was a feature I liked to have - it was a simple tweak, so I simply added it to my copy of the code to use. Showing what I did to developers caused it to eventually go into the main MyPaint distribution. But even if the devs had decided against it, I could have kept using my private tweaked version working just the way I liked it. You cannot do things like this with a proprietary system.

OpenArtBox: What proprietary (non-open source) software packages have you used for art/design, and how do they compare to the open source packages you have used?

Griatch: Oh, I've tried a few. The only one I use semi-regularly is Google SketchUp, which runs fine under Wine emulation. It has probably the easiest-to-use UI of any 3D package I've seen. It's very useful to quickly testing out complex shapes from different angles. I have tried some demo versions of Photoshop and Painter and I'm sure they are great, but the lack of Linux support mean they aren't viable options for me even if I was willing to pay their hefty pricing schemes. Open-source software does all I need it to do.

Interview with Griatch, Part I

Griatch is a GimpTalk forum administrator, and has written many tutorials which are hosted on GimpTalk, including a beginner’s GIMP tutorial and a tutorial which covers setting up GIMP for artistic work. Griatch’s DeviantArt gallery can be found at http://www.griatch-art.deviantart.com/.

OpenArtBox: If you could, please give a little background information about yourself.

Griatch: I, Griatch, am Swedish. Professionally I am a scientist, an astrophysicist working on planet formation computer simulations. Doing art is just one of my many hobbies. As a programmer, one of my side projects is being the lead maintainer for the open-source Evennia game server package. I'm also creating music on my keyboard and writing short stories. Art-wise I do digital painting, almost exclusively things out of my own imagination. Examples can be found in my DA gallery here and on YouTube. I'm also dabbling in making comics. Being active in the open-source art community on GimpTalk.com (where I am an administrator) and other similar sites for many years now, I have also created many tutorials on using open-source software.

OpenArtBox: What operating system do you use? If you use Linux, which distribution do you use? In what ways do you feel that your operating system/Linux distribution of choice meets your needs as an artist/designer especially well?

Griatch: I am a Linux user, both at work and for private use. At work I use Debian stable and at home I use a distribution called aptosid, which is basically Debian sid (unstable), but with a thin layer of review in front of it to make it stable to use while still being able to use the bleeding-edge software.

Linux has excellent support for Wacom graphics tablets, and the range of programs available is more than adequate for most levels of artistic users, including professionals (of which I know quite a few that do perfectly well using free software).

OpenArtBox: Which open source art/design software packages do you
use? What, in particular, do you do with them?

Griatch: The nature of astronomy is that essentially all software is custom-built for very specialized equipment by the scientists themselves, and this meant open-source was a defacto standard among astronomers long before anyone had actually coined the term. There is a long tradition of open-source within many scientific fields I think. It simply helps to speed development and favours the scientific review if others can use your codes, check what you did in detail and verify your results.  (Response continued in Part II...)

Interview with Gary Sullivan

Gary Sullivan's Facebook icon
(created in GIMP)

Gary Sullivan has been a computer programmer for 32 years, and has recently been developing applications for Android. He is currently a computer science instructor at a community college, and also teaches private guitar lessons. He has been using the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) since 2006.

OpenArtBox: When did you first start using GIMP?

Gary Sullivan: I learned to use GIMP in 2006 when I was a yearbook coordinator at a private school. It was really confusing and hard to learn atfirst, because I had never used a similar program, and it seemed quirky. Some of the students hated it.

OpenArtBox: Then why did you choose to use GIMP, instead of another image manipulation program?

Gary Sullivan: I chose to use GIMP because neither I nor the school could afford Photoshop, and because the previous teacher had already chosen GIMP. Now I use it because I really like it, I've been using for over five years and I know it pretty well. I like GIMP because I create a lot of layered images. I use it for buttons with all their different states, and I also manipulate photos with shading and lighting effects, corrections, artistic effects, masks, etc. I've used it to create full-size posters that can have their text and content changed to create new versions.

OpenArtBox: What kind of posters have you created with GIMP?


Gary Sullivan: I create advertising posters for my guitar workshops, and I’ve also created posters for a charity concert. I photograph my own guitars and other instruments at high resolution, bring them into GIMP, crop out the backdrop, add new backgrounds and textures, and add text layers. Then I digitally alter the instruments (like removing fretboard markers and adding new ones, changing the parts, etc.) I made one poster with an electric guitar that morphed into an acoustic guitar. Each time I send the poster to the printer, I can edit the text, changing the dates and details to update the poster. They come out really nice; they're 22 by 14 inches at 300DPI.

OpenArtBox: What else are you currently doing with GIMP?

Gary Sullivan: I’m making Android apps. One of them sets the Android device wallpaper. I use GIMP to create the different size icons for the app (two layers, an image and a frame). I use it to create thumbnail images. The file has one frame, one background, and all of the thumbnail images. I can just make the one I want to create visible, then export it as a .png image. And I use it for the big wallpaper images. Each one can have a picture frame effect, which is just a layer with a transparent region for the photo. I also used GIMP to create my Facebook icon. I can put any picture I want on top of the Android Robot.

Open File Formats: What You Need to Know



Text File Icon
(GNU Public Licence)

What is a File Format, Anyway?

Even if you're not sure what a file format is, you're probably familiar with the “filename extensions” associated with file formats, such as:

• .mp3
• .txt
• .pdf
• .jpg

A file format specifies how a file is encoded, beginning with whether the file is a binary file (a file made up of 1s and 0s that can be read by a computer) or an ASCII file (a text file that can be read by a human).  The file format then specifies how the information in the file is organized.¹ 

What is an Open File Format?

An open file format, or “free file format” is a format that can be implemented by either proprietary or free/open source software at no cost to the developer.²

Aren’t All File Formats Free?

No. “Closed” file formats are copy righted or patented and cannot be used without a license. Private, non-commercial use is usually an exception; however, the definitions of “private” and “non-commercial” aren’t always easily understood.

Perhaps because of its widespread use, one of the most popular misconceptions is that the MP3 file format is free for anyone to use. What many people don’t know is that MP3 is a patented file format, and in order for the MP3 file format to be used by software applications or in order to distribute MP3 encoded audio files, a licensing fee must be paid.³

Why Should I Care About File Formats?

As an artist/designer, there are two main reasons for you to know your file formats:

1.    If you use open source software in your work, you’ll need to know about the file formats used by your software. For example, if you want to be able to open a file you created in a program that is different from the one you created it in, you’ll need to know how to save to a file format which can not only be opened by both programs, but results in minimal loss of information.

Example:  In InkScape, you have the option to save your work to an XCF file format, which can then be opened in GIMP with your project’s layer information intact.⁴

2.    If you’re doing work which will be distributed digitally, you’ll need to know which file formats require you to pay a licensing fee, and which can be used for free.

Example: You can’t use the MP3 file format to encode the audio files used for sound effects or background music in a video game without paying a licensing fee. An alternative would be to use open source Ogg Vorbis audio compression format. Ogg Vorbis is a completely open, patent-free audio streaming technology.⁵

More Information

• You can find more information on open formats at http://www.openformats.org/.⁶
• You can look up information about any file format at http://www.file-extensions.org/. ⁷

References

1.    File Format. Webopedia. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/F/file_format.html

2.    Open File Format. Wikipedia. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_file_format

3.    Frequently Asked Questions. mp3licensing.com. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://mp3licensing.com/help/index.html

4.    Preserve Layers When Opening and SVG file in GIMP. InkScapeForum.com. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1272&f=12

5.    Vorbis.com. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://www.vorbis.com/

6.    openformats.com. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://www.openformats.org/main

7.   File-Extensions.org. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://www.file-extensions.org/

Using Ubuntu Software Center

This video podcast was created in Ubuntu Linux using free and open source software packages, including Desktop Recorder screen capture software, Audacity sound editing software, and Kdenlive video editing software.

Setting Up an Open Source Workspace, Part II

Choosing a Linux Distribution

Because anyone can build their own operating system based on the open source Linux operating system, there are many different variations of Linux, or Linux distributions, to choose from. Personally, I recommend the Ubuntu Linux distribution for two reasons:

Ubuntu's GUI is similar to Windows and Mac OS

• Ubuntu’s GUI, or graphical user interface, is similar to Windows and Mac OS, making it simple for Windows and Mac users to learn to use.

• I’m completely biased! Ubuntu is the only desktop Linux distribution I use, so it would be difficult for me to recommend another distribution.

I’ll also be using Ubuntu for any tutorials I include in this blog, so if you’d like to follow along, it might be easier if you use Ubuntu too. However, there are many different Linux distributions to choose from. Other popular distributions include:

• Debian (http://www.debian.org/ )
• Fedora (http://fedoraproject.org/ )
• openSUSE  (http://www.opensuse.org/  )
• Mandriva (http://www.mandriva.com/ )

Live CDs

Ultimately, choosing a Linux distribution is a matter of personal preference. Luckily, it is usually easy to try out a distribution out to see if you like it before you install it on your computer—all you have to do is boot the operating system from a live CD.

For information about booting Ubuntu from a live CD, go to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD/ .

Installing Linux

For more information on installing Linux on your computer, I recommend starting with the “Learn Linux” section of Linux’s website (https://www.linux.com/learn). A quick Google search for “install Linux” or “Linux beginner’s guide” is a good way to find additional tutorials.  

Also make sure to read the documentation available for whatever Linux distribution you choose. Ubuntu’s documentation can be found at http://www.ubuntu.com/support.

References

1. Distributions. Linux.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011, from https://www.linux.com/directory/Distributions
2. Popular Distributions. Linux.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011, from https://www.linux.com/directory/Distributions/popular-distributions
3. LiveCD. Ubuntu Documentation. Retrieved October 21, 2011, from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD/
4. Learn Linux. Linux.com Retrieved October 21, 2011, from https://www.linux.com/learn
5. Ubuntu Support. Ubuntu.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011, from http://www.ubuntu.com/support

Setting Up an Open Source Workspace, Part I

Tux, the Linux Mascot
(Public Domain Image)

Why Should I Use Linux?

If you already have a Windows or Mac operating system installed on your computer, it isn’t absolutely necessary to install another operating system on your computer in order to take advantage of open source software. Most open source applications are cross-platform, which means that they are designed to run on more than one operating system. For example, The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) runs on Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems. However, there are a few reasons you might want to consider using Linux to run your open source applications:

• While most open source applications are cross platform, there are many that seem to work better in Linux. This is usually because they were originally designed to be used in Linux.  

• In some cases, the Linux version of an open source application is updated more frequently than the Windows and Mac OS versions.

• It can also be easier to install some open source applications in Linux. This is usually because there is a package version of the application available to Linux users that is not available to users of other operating systems. A package allows an application to be downloaded and installed as if it was one file instead of being downloaded and installed as multiple files.

“Dual Boot” Configuration

Even if you want to continue using Windows or Mac OS, you might want to consider installing Linux in a dual boot configuration. Installing Linux in a dual boot configuration involves either installing Linux on a partition of your primary hard drive or installing it on a secondary hard drive, which allows you to use both Linux and another operating system on the same computer. We will discuss choosing and installing a Linux distribution in more detail in Setting Up an Open Source Workspace, Part II.

Refereneces 

1. Cross-platform definition. The Linux Information Project. Retrieved from
http://www.linfo.org/cross-platform.html
2. Downloads. GIMP. Retrieved October 21, 2011, from http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
3. Software package. Webopedia.  Retrieved from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/software_package.html
4. Dual boot. Webopedia. Retrieved from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/dual_boot.html.
5. Windows Dual Boot. Ubunutu. Retrieved October 21, 2011, from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot.

A Brief History of Open Source and Graphic Design Software

In general, the history of software used in graphic design is fairly complex. But let’s just say it all began in 1985 with Aldus PageMaker 1.0, the first desktop publishing suite for the Macintosh operating system. Later, PageMaker was also released for the Windows operating system. Thus, the history of graphic design software begins with a commercial desktop publishing suite.*

Open source as we know it had had its beginnings the year before the release of PageMaker, with GNU, a free UNIX like operating system (the acronym GNU is recursive and stands for “GNU’s not Unix”).  This eventually led to the creation of the GNU license in 1989 (basically as a measure to prevent people from using free software code in commercial applications and then claiming copyright on it themselves).

In 1995, ten years after the origins of both design software and open source, a program named GIMP was developed by two California Berkeley students. GIMP was a graphical image manipulation program “akin to photoshop.” Originally standing for “General Image Manipulation Program”, the acronym came to mean “GNU Image Manipulation Program” after it was released under the GNU license.

GIMP 2.6.11 (current release as of October 2011)

Since the release of GIMP, many other open source software packages for graphic design have been developed. These include CinePaint, Open Office Draw, and InkScape, just to name a few.

*Aldus went on to turn down the opportunity to acquire the rights to a new program called Photoshop in 1990, which was licensed by Adobe instead. In 1994, Aldus was bought out by Adobe. Aldus PageMaker became Adobe PageMaker, the current release of which is Adobe PageMaker 7 (at the time of this writing).

References

Apple Macintosh Software - PageMaker 2.0a, 3½" Floppy Disk, 1987. Museum Victoria. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/1238704/apple-macintosh-software-pagemaker-2-0a-3-floppy-disk-1987

(August 1, 2011). Adobe PageMaker. Wikipedia. Retrieved October 15, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_PageMaker

West, Angela. (February 2, 2010). 20 Years of Adobe Photoshop. Webdesigner Depot. Retrieved October 15, 2011, from http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/02/20-years-of-adobe-photoshop/

What is GNU? GNU. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.gnu.org/

(January 6, 2003). The History of the GPL. Free-Soft. Retrieved October 14, 2011 from http://www.free-soft.org/gpl_history/

Prehistory (How it all started…). GIMP. Retrieved October 14, 2011 from http://www.gimp.org/about/prehistory.html

Introduction

At the time of this writing, I’m an Arts and Technology major at The University of Texas at Dallas, and I’ve started this blog as an assignment for ATEC 3320, Intro to Writing for the World Wide Web.  In the past I’ve also studied fashion design and graphic design at Wade College in Dallas, and I have a certificate in Game Design and Programming from Weatherford College, where I also worked as an assistant to the school’s web designer and as a junior programmer/information systems assistant.

So why did I choose to write a blog about open source software for artists and designers?

When I was growing up, my father worked in software development, and often, he brought his work home. What this means is that there have been computers in my home from the time of my earliest memories. Our home even had an Internet connection in the days before it became commonplace to have one.

 My older sister became a web developer when she was still in high school (at the time of this writing, she is currently the lead web developer for a major retailer). However, while I’ve always been comfortable around computers, being more artistically inclined, I never became a true “tech geek” until college. It was only through my interest in film editing, sound design, graphic design, web design, and game design that I really started to “geek out” over computers.

In my design work I have used commercial software packages such as Adobe Creative Suite, Final Cut and Soundtrack Pro, as well as open source packages such as GIMP and Blender. I have also experimented with various operating systems, including Windows, Mac, and Linux.  I would like to use this blog as an opportunity to further explore the possibilities of working in a completely open source design environment.