How to Install GIMP Paint Studio
GIMP is an incredible free open-source image editor that brings by default a limited set of brushes including the most common types: ordinary, color, image pipes and parametric, however, in most cases these are not enough for the needs of advanced users. So thanks to Ramon Miranda we can enjoy of GPS (GIMP Paint Studio) a really handy set of tool presets and brushes for those users who would like to paint but are new to the use of GIMP and cannot make proper use of its tools, so GPS is also for novel users. The brushes and tools presets included in this great toolbox can be applied to different procedures, such as painting, erasing, blurring, airbrushing, and inking.
So if you really want to expand GIMP's capabilities and at the same time make it easier to use specially for repetitive tasks I highly recommend that you install GPS.
A good starting point would be to have GIMP pre-installed on your PC before installing GPS. If not you can download GIMP from the "Download" button above. Secondly, download the most recent release of GPS from:
http://gps-gimp-paint-studio.googlecode.com/files/GPS_1_4 release.zip
As GPS requires a manual installation to your .gimp-2.6 directories, today I'm going to guide you step by step into the installation of this amazing tools-set for GIMP.
Note: If GIMP is running, close it (File->Quit). The GPS installation only takes a few minutes.
So, if you haven't now is a good moment to download the last version of GPS from Google Code site:
http://gps-gimp-paint-studio.googlecode.com/files/GPS_1_4 release.zip
Decompress the GPS_1_4 release.zip file into any location (e.g. the Desktop) and you'll get the following folders and files as seen in the next screenshot:
In the "brushes" folder you'll find the GPS brushes, so you have to copy the contents of
this folder to your GIMP brushes folder:
Under Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\.gimp-2.6\brushes
Under Windows 7:
C:\Users\<your username>\.gimp-2.6\brushes
Find the GPS palettes inside the "palettes" folder and copy its contents to your GIMP palettes folder:
Under Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\.gimp-2.6\palettes
Under Windows 7:
C:\Users\<your username>\.gimp-2.6\palettes
Now access the tool-options folder in the GPS folder and copy/paste all the contents to the GIMP "tool-options" folder:
Under Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\.gimp-2.6\tool-options
Under Windows 7:
C:\Users\<your username>\.gimp-2.6\tool-options
And finally gradients: copy from GPS and paste to:
Under Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\.gimp-2.6\gradients
Under Windows 7:
C:\Users\<your username>\.gimp-2.6\gradients
Now to the files:
"toolrc" and "sessionrc"
Add the toolrc and sessionrc files to the top level of your GIMP configuration folder to include some tools to the Toolbox.
Typically the path is this:
Under Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\.gimp-2.6
Under Windows 7:
C:\Users\<your username>\.gimp-2.6
Doing so will add icons for the Hue/Saturation and Curves dialogs to the Toolbox and it will enable you to use GPS dialog layout. Remember that doing this will replace the already existing toolrc and sessionrc files in the program directory (make a copy of these files or add .old as extension in case you want to restore them later).
Ready, Set, Go!
So now we are ready to go, just launch Gimp. and voilà!Your new GPS tools and brushes are installed and ready to be used.
3 Tips
As additional tips I recommend to open the Edit->Preferences->Image Windows/Mouse Pointers menu and uncheck the “Show brush outline” option and check the “Show pointer for paint tools” box. Which will increase the brushes' speed while painting.
Next you can apply two more changes that will improve the overall usability in terms of the of the user interface. First, go to Edit->Preferences->Toolbox and check the three boxes.
After that open the Edit->Preferences->Tool Options and disable the three options (Brush, Pattern, and Gradient) under the Paint Options Shared BetweenTools.
Here is a sample of the new brushes:
And a view of the multiple brushes you can use:
Of course, there is a lot more which I will show you in future tutorials as how to configure and use this new capabilities to make nice paintings with GIMP, just stay tuned!
Final Words
In the words of its creator GPS is: "one of the most complete sets of paintings that can be found freely on the network. And I hope many of you will benefit from all this stuff ''. We will certainly do benefit from this incredible free brushes set and tool presets. What's best about GPS is that the more you use it the more you will become familiar with it and you'll start changing settings based on your own work-flow experience and knowledge of The GIMP itself.
