4b93eece0a
2000-12-19 Michael Natterer <mitch@gimp.org> * yes-i-patched-them-all-again ... Pre 1.2 Version 4
538 lines
8.5 KiB
HTML
538 lines
8.5 KiB
HTML
<HTML
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><TITLE
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>Introduction</TITLE
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.49"><LINK
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TITLE="GIMP User Manual"
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>GIMP User Manual</TH
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WIDTH="10%"
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>Prev</A
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><DIV
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CLASS="CHAPTER"
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><H1
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><A
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NAME="INTRO"
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>Chapter 1. Introduction</A
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></H1
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><DIV
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CLASS="TOC"
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><DL
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><DT
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><B
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>Table of Contents</B
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></DT
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><DT
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><A
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HREF="introduction.html#INTRODUCTION"
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>What is The <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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>?</A
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></DT
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><DT
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><A
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HREF="why_gimp.html"
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>What Can <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> Do For Me?</A
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></DT
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></DL
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><H1
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><A
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NAME="INTRODUCTION"
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>What is The <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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>?</A
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></H1
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><A
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NAME="AEN21"
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></A
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><A
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NAME="AEN23"
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></A
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><P
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> The <A
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HREF="http://www.gimp.org/"
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TARGET="_top"
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><SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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> <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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></SPAN
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></A
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> is an acronym for
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<A
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HREF="http://www.gnu.org/"
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TARGET="_top"
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><SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>GNU</SPAN
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></A
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> Image Manipulation
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Program. The <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> is an application
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suitable for such tasks as retouching of photographs, composing
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and authoring images. Its capabilities as an image manipulation
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program make it a worthy competitor to other similar programs such
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as Adobe <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Photoshop</SPAN
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> or Corel
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>PhotoPaint</SPAN
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>.
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</P
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><P
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> The biggest advantage of The <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> is
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it's free availability (e.g. from the Internet, packaged with
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various Linux distrubtions, etc). Even more importantly, it's not
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freeware. The <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> is an
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>OSS</SPAN
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> (Open Source Software) program covered by
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the <A
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HREF="http://www.gnu.org/license/gpl/"
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TARGET="_top"
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><SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>GPL</SPAN
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> license</A
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>, which gives
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you the freedom to access and also to change the source code that
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makes up the program.
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</P
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><P
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> This is how and why <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> is constantly
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being developed and improved, not only by it's core developers,
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but by a large amount of contributers and users.
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</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN42"
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>A Brief List of Features and Capabilities</A
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></H2
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><P
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> <P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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> Full suite of painting tools including brushes, a pencil,
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an airbrush, an ink tool, and cloning.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Tile-based memory management so image size is limited
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only by available disk space.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Sub-pixel sampling for all paint tools, allowing for
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high-quality anti-aliasing.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Full Alpha channel (transparency) support.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Layers and channels.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Advanced scripting capabilities provided by a procedural
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database so you can call internal
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> functions from external
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scripts, such as Script-Fu, Perl-Fu (Perl scripts) and
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Python-Fu (Python scripts).
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Multiple undo and redo, limited only by disk space.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Transformation tools including rotate, scale, shear, and
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flip.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> File formats supported include PostScript,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>JPEG</SPAN
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>, <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>GIF</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>PNG</SPAN
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>, <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>XPM</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>TIFF</SPAN
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>, <SPAN
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CLASS="ABBREV"
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>TGA</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>MPEG</SPAN
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>, <SPAN
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CLASS="ABBREV"
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>PCX</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ABBREV"
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>BMP</SPAN
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> and many others.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Selection tools including rectangular, elliptical, free,
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fuzzy, paths, and intelligent scissors.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Plug-ins that allow for the easy addition of new
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functions, new file formats, and new effects filters.
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</P
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></LI
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></UL
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>
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN78"
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>Platform Support</A
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></H2
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><P
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> The <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> is probably most known for
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its use on the GNU/Linux platform, but there are many platforms
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that <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> can run on.
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> is known to work on
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>GNU/Linux</SPAN
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>, <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>Microsoft
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Windows 95, 98, NT4 and 2000</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>OpenBSD</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>NetBSD</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>FreeBSD</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>Solaris</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>SunOS</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>AIX</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>HP-UX</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>Tru64</SPAN
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>, <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>Digital
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Unix</SPAN
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>, <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>OSF/1</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>IRIX</SPAN
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>, <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>OS/2</SPAN
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>
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and <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>BeOS</SPAN
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>.
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</P
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><P
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> Porting <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> to other platforms is
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possible only due to source code availability.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN101"
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>About the Help System</A
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></H2
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><P
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> The <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> help system will provide you
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with the necessary information on how to use all the functions
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> provides. It will do so in a
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short effective way best described as an extended quick
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reference. The difference between the
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> help system and a pure quick
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reference is that the help system will describe how to use
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the functions in a productive manner as well as their
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functionality.
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</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><H3
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><A
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NAME="AEN107"
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>How to Use the Help System</A
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></H3
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><P
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> The built-in <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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> help browser has
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three notebook tabs: the one that help pages are displayed in,
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the contents tab showing a structured list of help items, and
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the index which shows an list of all chapters and keywords in
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the help system. The advantage of the built-in help browser is
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that you can easily navigate the help system and display the
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help text in the main tab. However, if you prefer, you can use
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Netscape <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Navigator</SPAN
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> (choose in the
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Preferences dialog) from which you can also access all parts
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of the help system. If you are using <SPAN
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CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
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>Microsoft
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Windows</SPAN
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>, your default internet browser will be
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used (usually either Netscape
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Navigator</SPAN
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> or Microsoft
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Internet Explorer</SPAN
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>).
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><H3
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><A
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NAME="AEN115"
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>What to Expect of the Help System</A
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></H3
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><P
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> Besides the description of the functionality of the functions
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in The <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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>, you will also find
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descriptions of how to organize your work with
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GIMP</SPAN
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>, how to configure it, various
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tips and tricks, a quick reference page of short cuts and
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modifier keys, and much more.
|
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</P
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></DIV
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></DIV
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="left"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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><A
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HREF="contents.html"
|
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>Prev</A
|
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
|
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ALIGN="center"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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><A
|
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HREF="contents.html"
|
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>Home</A
|
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
|
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HREF="why_gimp.html"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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>GIMP User Manual</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
|
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ALIGN="center"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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> </TD
|
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
|
|
VALIGN="top"
|
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>What Can <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
|
|
>GIMP</SPAN
|
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> Do For Me?</TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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