GimpDictionary

In order to understand the innards of the GIMP, it can be useful to understand its central concepts. The following list was kickstarted using my own translation dictionary. It should be useful for translators, editors, developers, people wanting to write about the GIMP or teach with it.

My own original dictionary was based on GIMP 1.2. Things may have changed.

For now, I have grouped many concepts by relation, as some names in the GIMP may just be the result of sloppy naming. Once you feel that definitions of a group have been sufficiently fleshed out, just sort them in alphabetical order, and move definitions to their own sub-page.

Keep in mind that this dictionary can be valuable to many different people with many different needs. Therefore, definitions embracing these many different needs are welcome. As a consequence, please do not delete terms that have used incorrectly in the past; rather, identify both the incorrect and correct usage.--Branko

* /image A collection of drawables, paths and metainformation. To the user, an image is the atomic object of manipulation. Currently, all layers in an image need to be of the same colour depth and type.

* /view The onscreen representation of an image, a window containing a canvas. A user can have multiple views per image, for instance, a zoomed-in view for detail work and a complete view for the overview. An image can also lack any views, for instance when it has been created or loaded by a script that can run without any user interaction.

* /drawable Something containing pixels, something representing a canvas, whose pixels can be manipulated. That which you can draw on. Typically, channels and layers.

* /close One closes a window, and quits a program.

* /exit Synonym of quit?

* /quit One quits a program, and closes a window.

* /boundary

* /border

* /edge

* /save

* /store

* /scale To change the size of an image, influencing its pixel values

* /resize To change the boundaries of a canvas, not influencing its pixel values; also: to scale

* /clip

* /crop

* /brightness Brightness is a generic term describing how much light reflects off an object. An object that reflects a lot of light, is said to be bright. All the values intensity, lightness, luminance, luminosity, and value are forms of brightness.

Brightness is also defined as the sum of the colour values of a pixel, divided by the number of colour values of a pixel. For instance, (R+G+B)/3.

All colours can be described by a combination of their hue, brightness and saturation (called HSB; in the GIMP, HSV is used, where V stands for value).

* /intensity (mentioned in the help files re: histogram)

* /lightness The average of the brightest and darkest colour values in a pixel. For instance, (max(R,G,B) + min(R,G,B))/2.

* /luminance Luminance is the form of brightness that resembles human perception most closely. In the RGB colour space, it is defined as: 0,30 * R + 0,70 * G + 0,11 * B.

* /luminosity (mentioned in the help files re: histogram)

* /value The brightest of the colour values of a pixel, for instance max(R,G,B). All colours can be described by a combination of their hue, brightness and saturation (called HSB; in the GIMP, HSV is used, where V stands for value).

* /blend ???

* /gradient A smooth transition of pixel values according to some formula, often used to create three-dimensional effects in a quick-and-dirty way.

* /color gradient A gradient with (somewhat) saturated values?

* /rate Speed or amount. (definition included for translators)

* /ratio Comparison between two amounts. For instance, a sugar-salt ratio of 1:2 means that for every tea-spoon of sugar, add two tea-spoons of salt. (definition included for translators)

* /about In Dutch, this is translated as Info when not followed by a qualifier, and as Over when followed by a qualifier; About --> Info; About The GIMP; Over de GIMP.

* /alpha A value denoting either the transparency or opacity of a pixel. For instance, in an RGBA layer, R stands for redness, G for greeness, B for blueness and A for transparency.

* /aspect ratio The width-height ratio of a rectangle (be it a pixel or a drawing of a rectangle). For an ellipse, it is the ratio of the smallest and the tallest radius of the ellipse.

* /blurb A short description in the DB Browser.

* /brush A shape (image) that can be used as a stamp for drawing on a canvas, producing the effect of a traditional painter's brush, but also much more outlandish effects, if so desired.

The GIMP is generally distributed with a large number of brushes. It has two brush formats: one bitmap based, the other formula based. The latter is much less flexible, but can be produced on the fly by moving a few sliders.

The GIMP's bitmap brushes can be of any shape, form, number of colours (within the range the GIMP supports: Cinepaint supports a wider bitdepth, for instance). They can also be animated, either in a predefined sequence or a random one. GIMP does not yet support so-called natural brushes.

* /burn A term borrowing from traditional dark-room techniques.

* /color cast Unwanted but slight predominance of a colour in a photo. It is often hard to detect a colour cast. Once it is know which is the offending colour, it is easy to correct the image using a power tool such as the GIMP. Generally, detecting a colour cast is done by finding the natural mask. See Grokking the GIMP for a vastly more complete description of how to detect and remove color casts.

* /color map Refers to the colors used by an image. In an indexed image, the internal indexed palette in use by that image. As of GIMP2.2, the "indexed palette" menu entry which would refer to the color map editor dialog is renamed to "Color map"

* /color picker A tool with which the color of a pixel or group of pixels can be determined for one or all layers. In GIMP 1.2, the color pixel will not detect alpha values (and incorrectly report them back as 0).

* /corrupted --> beschadigd

* /display --> weergave See: view.

* /dodge A term borrowing from traditional dark-room techniques.

* /floating Mathematical term, indicating that the position of a decimal comma or point defines a number and its fraction. In computing, the term is sometimes used pars pro toto for all values that contain a fraction or should map to one.

In the GIMP a "floating selection" is special transitional layer created automatically by the use of some tools on a selection. Many, possibly most, operations on the image will be disabled until the floating selection is either anchored back to the drawable it came from, or upgraded to a full layer.

* /hue A value indicating the position on a colour ring; the redness, purpleness, blueness, et cetera. All colours can be described by a combination of their hue, brightness and saturation (called HSB; in the GIMP, HSV is used, where V stands for value).

* /opaque Opposite of transparent.

* /paint Changing the colour of pixels on a canvas. In the GIMP, the term is also used to distinguish the drawing of hard edged lines (draw) with the drawing of soft-edged lines (paint). Generally in computer graphics applications, paint tools are those in which the canvas is pixel based; formula based canvasses, or vector tools, are called drawing tools.

* /parasite In the GIMP, a parasite is a piece of meta information. For instance, EXIF data may be stored as parasites. Users will generally not encounter this term, but translators, manual writers and developers may come across it.

* /pattern A shape (similar to a brush) that may be used by the fill tool to create repeating patterns of that shape.

* /saturation A value indicating the ratio grayness/colourness. All colours can be described by a combination of their hue, brightness and saturation (called HSB; in the GIMP, HSV is used, where V stands for value).

* /seed A mathematical term, indicating a starting value for a function. Since current, rule-based computers cannot generate real random numbers, a 'random' function must be 'seeded' to create a random appearing value. For general use, the current time tends to be a good seed (although this depends on the use of the function, of course).

* /spacing When used with the paint tool, this applies to the room between the first stamping of a brush on the canvas and its subsequent stampings.

* /stroke In GIMP 1.2, this is a line of brushes stamped along the curve of a path or the edges of a selection.

In GIMP 2.0, this is the same as in GIMP 1.2, but can also mean the curve of a path.

* /tool An interactive GIMP function.

last edited 2008-04-14 15:39:30 by VinceL