Submodule 12.3: Text in Gimp

Adding and "shaping" Text

Adding text in Gimp is simple. You just need to click the text tool and write your text.

In this video we will see how to:

1. Insert a text box
2. Modify the text box
3. Insert your text 
4. Align the text

In this video we will see how to:

1. Modify fonts and size
2. Change the color of the text

Notice that as soon as you create your text, Gimp creates a separate layer with this text.

You can find the file of the video at: courseGimp>xcfFiles>image100.xcf

"Shaping" Text

You can use the "Text along path"  to "shape" your text. To do this you will first need to create your shape using the path tool. 

In this video, we will show how to use the "text along path" to create a curved text. Moreover, we will color this text.

The steps covered in the video are:

• Create your path
• Put your text in the path. To do that, right click on your text layer in the layer dialogue box, and from the resulting floating menu, click the "Text along Path".
• Make your path a selection so you can color it.  Right-click on your path and select Path to Selection from the resulting floating menu
• Make your path not visible
• From the Layer menu, create a new transparent  layer for the selection
• Chose the coloring tool (Bucket) to give the color you want to your selection
• Select None to switch off the selection

You can find the file of the video at: courseGimp>xcfFiles>image102.xcf

e- book cover

These videos will show how to create an e-book cover, step by step.

The first step is to create the base template with the correct dimensions.

An e-book has dimensions 576 X 864 px or 6X9 inches. The resolution is 300 pixels per inch.

The next step is to insert the background image and correct its dimensions.

We will open the image as Layer.

Next, we will add guides. We need these to adjust our text correctly. 

The title that we are gonna give to the e-book is "Roads of Chocolate". The author is "John Smith".

In this video we will start entering our title, starting with the word "Chocolate".

We will adjust the size and color of our text.

We will continue with the remaining words of the title.

We will duplicate the text layer to create a new layer and change its text. 

We use different font-family.

We repeat the same process to write the author's name.

In this last step, we make some changes. We improve the position of our title and change the contrast of author's name so it will be more clearly visible.

You can find the file of the video at: courseGimp>xcfFiles>image110.xcf

In the end, we chose "Flatten Image". Our e-book cover is ready!

Exercise

Exercise

Open the file exersice12.1.xcf in the folder "courseGimp>exercises" and save it as exersice12.3.xcf. Add the appropriate text!

Your image is ready for the assignment of this module!