COSC 122 - Computer Fluency
Lab 2: Drawing Graphics and Manipulating Images


In this lab, we will experiment with a photo editing program called GIMP. You may work with other people as long as you draw different images.

Source: This lab is based on the image lab for CPSC 111 at UBC Vancouver.

Image Editing

Image editing software allows you to create and draw images and manipulate digital photos. GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is open source software similar to Adobe Photoshop. We will use it to create our own original image and edit and enhance digital photos. The skills learned will transfer to other image editing software. You may download and install GIMP on your own computer from http://www.gimp.org/.

Skills learned:

TASK: Open GIMP which you can find by searching for "GIMP 2" in the start menu search bar.

Two windows will open up. A main window where the image will be displayed and a Toolbox menu that contains icons for drawing commands.

Main Window

Toolbox Window

GIMP Drawing Tutorial

Our first goal is to create our own original image. To start, under the File menu select New... and a dialog box will appear. Click OK to accept the default image size, although you may change this if you wish.

New Image Dialog

Changing the Background Color

Set Background

Saving an Image

Save your image as Lab2.xcf by selecting File -> Save. Make sure to save the image in your COSC122/Lab2 folder that you created in Lab 1. The GIMP native XCF file format allows you to reload your image later and continue. When you are done, you can also save the image as a png or jpeg. Make sure to add the XCF extension when you are saving as GIMP will not do so automatically.

Freehand Drawing

Shape Drawing

Advanced Brush Options

For drawing, you can choose different tool options like opacity, mode, type & size of brush, gradient, and length in the Toolbox menu.

Special Effects

Special effects are under the Filter menu and include Blur -> Pixelize and Artistic->Cartoon. Use the selection tool to only apply an effect to a portion of your image.

Cropping

Cropping removes unwanted areas in your image. Click and drag a rectangle region on the image to select the portion of the picture you want to keep. Everything outside of this region will be removed.


Goal: Creating an Original Image

Use GIMP to create a new image by using different kinds of shapes, brushes, colors, and effects. Experiment with GIMP and flex your creativity. Some of the marks are based on creativity and explanation on what you created. Try to come up with something that you could add to your web page that we will be making in Lab 3.


Goal: Digital Photo Editing

GIMP allows you to perform digital photo editing including improving the composition, colours, sharpness, and removing unwanted elements. For this part of the lab, you will need a digital photograph of a person or scene. It can be one of your own or downloaded from the web using Google Image Search. You will need the original image and the modified image so that we can see the different changes you made to the image. Once you get your image in your Lab2 folder create a copy of it and change that. For example, if your image was called myphoto.jpg, create a copy of it and rename it as myphoto_edited.jpg. Submit both files for your assignment.

If your photograph is a portrait, you can get some tips on digitally enhancing your portrait by following this tutorial. If your photograph is a landscape or other scene, you might find some helpful ideas in this tutorial.

Note that you do not have to follow all the steps in the tutorial exactly - you can just use the tutorials as suggestions for editing your own image.

In either case, the purpose is to experiment with the photo editing capabilities of GIMP. Improve your photos by fixing them up, or by adding interesting artistic effects. Remember that creativity is part of your grade, and you need to be able to explain how and why you edited the image.


Resources

There is a lot more that you can do with GIMP then we have covered in this lab. If you have time, explore the possibilties of GIMP beyond what we have done here.

Helpful links:


Submission Instructions and Marking

For this lab assignment, submit using Canvas:

Grading (10 marks total)

The 2 marks for creativity will be awarded as follows:

In addition to the basic marks, there will be up to 10 bonus marks awarded for the best original picture or edited photo (voted on by the TAs and professor). The best picture gets +10 marks, 2nd best +9 marks, 3rd best +8 marks, ... and the 10th best +1 mark.


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