GFXShapes is a plug-in for the GIMP that lets you create common shapes quickly and easily. Available shapes include ellipses, rectangles, multipoint stars, many sided and irregular shaped polygons, triangles, fans and grids. Most shapes can be squished, rotated, scaled and positioned on the current page. Some offer 3D effects and most can be drawn using combinations of foreground and background colors or patterns. Shapes can drawn on a new layer or on the currently active layer. Multiple shapes can be created in a single session and saved using XML-based presets.
Table of Contents
- Getting Started
- Defining a shape - the Shape Preview
- Positioning objects in a shape set - the Page Preview
- Setting per-object and per-page drawing options
- Saving and Loading Presets
- Resetting Options to their Initial Settings.
- Apply changes and closing the window.
- Ellipses and circles
- Rectangles and squares
- Stars
- Polygons
- Fans
- Grids
- Tips
- Limitations
Drawing common objects using GFXShapes is a two step process. The first part is to select an object of interest and add it to your object set. The second part, which is actually optional (you can accept the default positioning of your objects if you like) is to position your objects in your image. Once you've done these two steps you can then apply your changes and the shapes will be drawn in your Canvas window.
Shapes are grouped into object sets for page layout management. Shapes in an object set can be edited, duplicated or deleted. Object sets can be saved as named presets to be loaded in future GFXShapes sessions. Most shapes provide one or more shape options specific to that shape.
Sample GFXShapes session, showing an irregular polygon made from a
regular polygon with 10 vertices, along with the page layout for multiple shapes.
The GFXShapes window is divided into three sections: the Shape Preview, the Page Preview and the draw options.
Defining a shape - the Shape Preview
Choose a predefined shape from the Shape Icon Bar on the left of the window by clicking once on the shape. The Shape Preview frame will display the outline of the shape chosen, along with one ore more colored grab boxes and colored move crosshairs at the center of the object. Press and hold the left mouse button down inside a grab box and drag the mouse to move the grab box. This changes the shape of the object. In some objects holding down the shift key will constrain the shape so that all grab boxes move the same amount.
Grab boxes can be used to scale some shapes, such as ellipses and rectangles. A shape can be made larger than the Shape Preview display. If part of the shape extends outside of this frame, it will extend outside the bounding box shown in the Page Preview. Keep this in mind when positioning such large objects on your page.
The move crosshairs are used to position the object within the bounding box of the Shape Preview. Press and hold down the left mouse button on the crosshairs and drag the mouse around the preview frame and the object will move with you.
Some objects can also be rotated around the crosshairs. Click and drag anywhere outside of a grab box and off the move crosshairs to rotate the object. If you find you have rotated when you didn't want to, use the Reset Rotation button to return the object to a zero rotation position within the Shape Preview frame.
Once an object is defined you can add it to the object set by pressing the Add Object button. This will add an entry to the Object Set list with the name of the object and a number. Once an object has been added to the Object Set list it is ready to be positioned on the page.
Positioning objects in a shape set - the Page Preview
The bounding box of the Shape Preview is used to position the object in the Page Preview. Select an shape from the Object Set by clicking on its name. This will cause the shapes bounding box to be highlighted in the Page Preview. Press and hold the left mouse button in the Page Preview frame to drag the box around the Page Preview. Note that the bounding box does not need to stay within the boundaries of the page - it may overlap the edges. In this case only the portion of the object that lies within the page boundaries will be drawn on the page when you use the Apply button.
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| This object extends outside shape and page boundaries |
Bounding boxes may be scaled larger or smaller using the Scale Bounding Box located just below the Page Preview frame. Scaling the bounding box will scale the shape inside the box as well. If a shape extends beyond its bounding box and the bounding box is set so one or more its edges align with one or more page edges, then the portion of the shape outside the bounding box will not be drawn because it lies outside the page boundaries.
Selecting an object from the Object Set makes it the active object and causes the Shape Preview to display that object. Changes to the Shape Preview will be applied to the selected object until either a shape from the Shape Icon Bar is chosen or another object from the Object Set is selected.
Note that when an object from the Object Set is being edited the Add Object button is inactive. Only new objects, created by clicking on an object in the Shape Icon Bar, can be added to the Object Set. Existing objects from the set can be edited by clicking on their names. Once an object is selected from the set it can also be deleted, by pressing the Delete Object button, or duplicated, by pressing the Duplicate Object button.
Setting per-object and per-page drawing options
Each object in an Object Set can have its own drawing options. The Fill Options frame provides a choice of outline and fill options for your object. Only one option can be set for any given object. Note that the ellipse shape offers a 3D option of its own that overrides any setting in the Fill Options frame.
Layer Options allow you to choose where the shapes will be drawn - either in a new layer or in the currently active layer. If New Layer is selected (which is the default setting), then a new layer that is the same size as the Canvas window will be created and placed on top of all other layers.
GFXShapes can save your current object set information in named presets. To save a configuration, select File->Save Preset from the menu bar at the top of the window. Provide both a name and a description - both items are required. When ready, click on the Save button at the bottom of the Save Preset window.
To load a previously saved preset, choose the File->Load Preset menu option. Click on the preset name in the Load Preset window. Then click on the Load button to activate the preset. Note that objects from loaded presets will be aligned on the current page according to their respective positions from the original page, that is, the percentage offsets from the page on which they were created. This will allow the objects to maintain their relative positions even on pages of different sizes.
Resetting Options To Their Initial Settings.
Resetting options to their default settings can be done by clicking on the Reset button at the bottom of the GFXShapes dialog window. Resetting the plug-in will remove any loaded presets as well.
Applying changes and closing the window.
Once you've made all the adjustments you need to your page just click on the Apply button at the bottom of the window. This will start GFXShapes on its way to creating the new image. The new layer should be created rather quickly, even if your original image was rather large.
GFXShapes doesn't work quite like most of the other GIMP plug-ins you are used to - it doesn't close immediately after you have used it one time. This way you can experiment a few times to find the right configuration for your new image without having to restart the plug-in each time. To close the window, simply choose the File->Quit menu option.
Ellipses have two grab boxes that can adjust the height and width of the ellipse. Holding the shift key down will adjust both width and height equally. Ellipses have just one shape option: Use 3D. When set, this option causes the rendered (re: drawn) ellipse to be filled with a gray gradient simulating a 3D sphere.
Like ellipses, rectangles have two grab boxes to adjust height and width. Also like ellipses, holding down the shift key will adjust both directions equally. Unlike ellipses, rectangles can be rotated around their center, which is denoted by the move crosshairs. Rectangles do not have any shape options.
A star defaults to having 5 points. It is adjusted using two grab boxes, one for inner points and one for outer points. The outerr grab box expands an invisible circle on which each outer point lies. The inner grab box manages an invisible circle for the inner points. The Shift key will adjust both equally.
Inner and outer are relative terms here - the inner circle can be expanded beyond the outer circle, and the outer circle can be reduced to a size smaller than the inner one.
Stars have only one shape option: Number of Points. This value determines the number of inner and outer points to the star. Stars must have a minimum of 5 points and can have a maximum of 32.
Polygons start with 8 vertices. The shape options for polygons allow a maximum of 32 vertices and a minimum of 5. Each vertice of a polygon has a grab box that can be moved independently of all others. The Shift key will move all grab boxes equally, having the same effect as if you used the move crosshairs.
Triangles are special cases of polygons which have 3 vertices. Shape options exist to make it easy to create triangles oriented in specific directions.
Fans are half circles filled with ribs. Each outer end of a rib is joined to its neighbor through an arc or a straight line. Fans can be rotated and scaled. Two grab boxes are provided with both boxes expanding or contracting the size of the fan the same amount. Fans also have either rounded or square tails. The tails do not change size with the fan. The number of ribs can run from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 32.
When rendered, the ribs of a fan are always black and are always visible. The tail can be turned off so it is not drawn in the final image. Ribs and the outline always show over fill colors or fill patterns.
A grid is a simple set of horizontal and verticall stripes that run the width and height of the bounding box. Grids cannot be rotated and are drawn in the foreground or background colors, or in black if a pattern fill option is selected. The maximum number of grid lines is 27. The number of horizontal grid lines always equals the number of vertical grid lines. The outside of the bounding box can also be drawn using the appropriate Grid shape option.
- 3D shading works best on circles. Flattened ellipses won't look quite as good.
- Ellipses can't be rotated. To rotate an ellipse, create it in GFXShapes in its own layer, then use GFXTrans to rotate the new layer.
- Use the Polygon shape to create complex figures. Up to 32 vertices can be added to the polygon, making it quite configurable for a closed figure.
- GFXShapes does not currently run in batch mode.
