Monday, 5 May 2014

Firkin App - using GIMP to make logos fit


The free GIMP image manipulation program does exactly what it says, but for a beginner like me with a single task that I only need to do occasionally, it can be confusing.  You can download the application from http://www.gimp.org/ and there are versions for Mac and Windows PC (maybe others too).

The following instructions give a quick guide to making logos fit the Firkin App ideal specification:
  1. Open GIMP and make a new image 256 x 256
  2. Add a new layer: Layer/New Layer command and make its fill Transparent. 
  3. Now File/Open As Layers and open the target image
  4. You may need to scale it up or down: Layer/Scale Layer so that its largest dimension is 256 px.  You may also need to select a relevant part of the image and crop it and then scale
  5. Make sure that the layer has an Alpha channel: Layer/Transparency/Add Alpha Channel
  6. Select any coloured background outside the outline of the logo using the Fuzzy Select tool
  7. Delete the selected coloured background
  8. Repeat the above two steps (6 and 7) until white/black/coloured background outside the logo's outline is cleaned up
  9. Export the file as a png file: File/Export As and then confirm Export - make sure there are no spaces in the file name!
  10. Now you can delete this layer using Layer/Delete Layer and move on to the next target image in step 3
  11. Repeat until all of your logos are in the ideal format

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