**This is an old revision of the document!**

Strengths [Weaknesses]

Easy

ffmpeg2theora is straightforward and takes some of the guesswork out of media conversion

GMIC http://www.nosuchhost.net/~cheese/fedora/packages/ALL/x86_64/gmic.html http://gmic.eu/gimp.shtml

Ever since version 2.4, GIMP can use Photoshop ABR brushes, so almost any website offering free brushes for image manipulation programs will have something to offer an artist in need of new brushes.

These sites seem to come and go at random, but the Great Linux Multimedia Sprints has plenty for you to freely install, use, and re-distribute. Be aware that not all brush sets are create equal; some are fine at low resolutions but degrade when increased in size, so audition the brushes that you install and judge them based on your own requirements. Installing too many will cause the brush menu in GIMP to respond slower, so don't go overboard.

Installing GIMP brushes is simple:

  • To install brushes on a system-wide basis, move the brush files (*.gbr
    • .arb *.vbr etc) to the /usr/share/gimp/2.0/brushes/ directory
  • To install them on a per-user basis, copy the files to that user's ~ /.gimp-2.x/brushes directory

Launch GIMP (or quit and then launch, if it was already running) and the brushes will in the brush palette. Notice that GIMP scans the brushes directory every time it launches, so keeping hundreds or brushes in the the brushes directory will make GIMP slower to launch. It may behoove you to familiarize yourself with the brushes you own, and only keep your favourite brushes in the brush directory, until GIMP developers come up with a more dynamic way to load brushes.

Gimp Paint Studio

GIMP Paint Studio (“GPS” for short) is a sort of project-within-a-project; it is an add-on pack for GIMP itself and brings with it a whole new personality by adding sets of brushes, color swatches, and presets so that you can achieve everything from realistic materials and brush emulation, airbrushing, inking, and any variety of special effects.

GPS is available from code.google.com/p/gps-gimp-paint-studio as a zip file. It releases as a traditional software would, so make sure to download the latest version corresponding to your version of GIMP.

Slackermedia's maintainers currently also maintains a SlackBuild for GPS on slackbuilds.org.

If you choose to manually install it, the install is simple; unzip the file and then copy the brushes into your GIMP brushes directory.

Warning

If you have custom GIMP *rc files, GPS will overwrite them during installation. Backup your GIMP *rc files before proceeding.

$

   curl
   http://gps-gimp-paint-studio.googlecode.com/files/GPS%201_5_final%20release.zip
   -O GPS1_5_finalrelease.zip; mkdir GPS_source

$

  unzip GPS*zip -d GPS_source ; cd ./GPS_source

$

  for gps in $(find ./* -type d) ; do cp $gps/*
  ~/.gimp*/$gps ; done

$

    cp ./GPS_source/*rc ~/.gimp*/

Once the files are copied, launch or re-launch GIMP and explore the new options.

Warning

GPS brushes are only brush presets, so they are not stored in your brushes menu.

The new brushes are stored in the Restore Options From… button at the bottom of the Paint Brush tab. Everything else is easily accessible in their respective tabs.