Rounded Corners with The GIMP

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Creating Round Corners

These days more often than not, people want rounded corners instead of the regular squares on images for websites, print work, and photographs.

It is true that this can be done in Photoshop and other expensive programs .  However, why pay all that money when it can be done very easily with the open source graphic editing tool, The GIMP .

Step 1: Download The GIMP and Install

The GIMP runs on any operating system so you can use it on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Linux, and Mac OS X.  Download The GIMP and follow the included instructions to install.  Installation should be very similar to any other install.

Step 2: Open and Create Project Canvas

First, open up The GIMP in your respective applications folder and create a new project (say 800 x 600 pixels, the average website size).

Next, click on the Rectangle Select Tool in the Toolbar .  If you don’t know what this tool looks like, mouse over each item until you find it.  Hint: It is usually the first item in the Toolbox.

Step 3: Create a Rectangle

With the Rectangle Select Tool selected, draw a rectangle on the canvas.

Step 4: Change the Color

If you want to change the color of the rectangle, you should do this now by selecting a new Foreground Color and clicking on the Paint Bucket Tool (Hint: it is the one that looks like the paint bucket ).  Once you have selected a color and the Paint Bucket, click anywhere within the rectangle.

Step 5: Round the Corners

Next, click on Select > Round Rectangle in the top menu above the canvas.  Play with the radius settings until you get it just right.  You can undo the rounded rectangle you just created at any time by selecting Edit > Undo .  Remember, the larger the radius settings, the more round your rectangle will be.

Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Web Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.