Install GIMP Paint Studio - It's More like Photoshop & FREE

1. What is GIMP
2. How to install GIMP
3. What is Gimp Paint Studio (GPS)
4. How to install Gimp Paint Studio (GPS)
5. Online Resources – Install Help, Videos, Additional Content

1. GiMP: Open Source, Photoshop Alternative. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

2. Download the installer for your operating system at: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/. GIMP comes with a built-in help system. Once you have started the program, press F1 for context-sensitive help.

3. Gimp Paint Studio: (GPS) is an add-on to GiMP, a collection of brushes and accompanying "tool presets" for the free open-source program Gimp. It is also an independent initiative to push for the increased awareness that Gimp is not only useful for cropping photos, adjusting color balances and make minor website graphics. Gimp is also an excellent tool for digital painters, creating completely new works of art from scratch, a capacity that is not always fully realized by the default setup, untill now. Developers are working on more features for next releases.

4. How to install GPS (GiMP Paint Studio) – GO HERE FIRST and follow instructions: http://gofree.com/Tutorials/GimpGPSInstallTutorial.php

Text version of install below:
GIMP must be installed on your computer before installing GPS. If it is not you can download it from the official website: www.gimp.org

Once installed we can continue with the process. If GIMP is already running, exit the program (File->Quit). This will make it easier to follow the installation steps. This should only take a few minutes.

Download the last version of GPS From the google code page: http://code.google.com/p/gps-gimp-paint-studio/downloads/list

Unpack the file to any folder. If you open this folder you will find the following folders and files:
- brushes (folder)
- palettes (folder)
- tool-options (folder)sessionrc (file)
- toolrc (file)

The brushes folder holds all the GPS brushes. Copy the contents of this folder to your GIMP brushes folder On Linux: ~/.Gimp-2.6/brushes

On Windows: c:\documents and settings\\.Gimp-2.6/brushes

The palettes folder holds all the GPS color palettes. Copy this file to your GIMP palettes folder: On Linux: ~/.Gimp-2.6/palettes

On Windows: c:\documents and settings\\.Gimp-2.6/palettes

Open the tool-options GPS in the folder and copy all its contents inside the folder "tool-options" to ~/.Gimp-2.6/tool-options

If you want to add some tools to the Toolbox then copy the toolrc file to the top level of your GIMP configuration folder. This file will add icons for the Hue/Saturation and Curves dialogs to the Toolbox.

If you want to use GPS dialog layout then copy the file sessionrc to the top level of your GIMP configuration folder.

Note: this will change the layout of GIMP's windows. Save a backup copy of the original sessionrc (just rename it to sessionrc.old, for example) that you can restore if the new layout does not suit your needs.

Start Gimp. The next two steps are optional but will improve the overall usability of the user interface. First, go to Edit->Preferences->Toolbox and activate the three options there. Then go to Edit->Preferences->Tool Options. On this page, under the Paint Options Shared Between Tools, disable the three options (Brush, Pattern, and Gradient).

Final Tips Launch the GIMP.

Go to
Edit->Preferences->Image Windows/Mouse Pointers

disable the “Show brush outline” option and make sure you have “checked” or enabled the “Show pointer for paint tools”. This will increase the speed of brushes when you are painting.

Go to
Edit->Preferences->Toolbox
Enable the three options.

Go to
Edit->Preferences->Tool options/Paint options shared between tools
Disable the three options.

5. Online Resources – Install Help, Videos, Additional Content
- video tutorials, etc: http://code.google.com/p/gps-gimp-paint-studio/wiki/Installation
- GIMP: http://www.gimp.org
- GIMP User Manual: http://docs.gimp.org/2.6/en/
- GIMP Help: http://www.gimphelp.org/
- GPS Download site: http://code.google.com/p/gps-gimp-paint-studio/downloads/list
- GPS info: http://code.google.com/p/gps-gimp-paint-studio/