## Capítulo 1. Introducción

## 1. Bienvenido al GIMP

GIMP es una herramienta multiplataforma para crear y editar imágenes de todo tipo. GIMP es el acrónimo de GNU Image Manipulation Program (programa de manipulación de imágenes de GNU).

GIMP tiene muchas capacidades. Se puede usar como un programa de pintura sencillo, un programa de retoque fotográfico profesional, una herramienta para crear arte digital, un sistema de procesamiento por lotes en línea, un generador de imágenes para producción en masa, un conversor de formatos de imagen, etc.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and custom data to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be scripted.

GIMP is a Free Software application covered by the General Public License version 3 [GPL]. The GPL provides users with the freedom to access and alter the source code that makes up computer programs.

### 1.1. Known Platforms

One of GIMP's strengths is its free availability on a wide range of operating systems and architectures. Most GNU / Linux distributions include GIMP as a standard application. GIMP is also available for other operating systems such as Microsoft Windows or Apple's macOS (Darwin). The platforms on which GIMP has been known to work include:

GNU/Linux, Apple macOS, Microsoft Windows, OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, Solaris, SunOS, AIX, HP-UX, Tru64, Digital UNIX, OSF/1, IRIX, GNU/Hurd, OS/2, BeOS, and its successor Haiku.

GIMP is easily ported to other operating systems because of its source code availability. For further information visit the GIMP developers homepage. [GIMP-DEV].

### 1.2. History of GIMP

The first version of GIMP was written by Peter Mattis and Spencer Kimball in 1995. Over the years many other people have contributed by helping with development, testing, providing support, translating and writing documentation. A short history of GIMP is available online.

### 1.3. Wilber, GIMP's mascot

Figura 1.1. Wilber, GIMP's mascot

Wilber, created by Aryeom in 2024 for GIMP 3.0. License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.

The creature on GIMP's icon is called “Wilber”. It is the official mascot of GIMP and was created by Tuomas Kuosmanen in 1997. Over the years, the appearance was updated and modernized several times.

The most recent version was created by Aryeom, with input from several others. An overview of all historical Wilber versions is available here.

### 1.4. GIMP's Help system

The GIMP Documentation Team provides the information that tries to help you understand how to use GIMP. The User Manual is an important part of this help. The latest version is always available on the website of the Documentation Team [GIMP-DOCS] in HTML format. When using GIMP, context sensitive help is available by pressing the F1 key while the mouse is on top of a menu item or other part of GIMP's interface. Most dialogs will also show a help button that you can use to access the relevant part of the manual.

The manual in HTML format can also be installed locally on your computer. Installers are available for Windows, and on Linux your package manager may have a gimp-help package available. Though if your internet speed and bandwidth allow it, using the online manual is recommended since it is usually more up-to-date. When installing the local manual, you will have to adjust your help preferences to make use of the local copy.

### 1.5. Propiedades y capacidades

La siguiente lista es un pequeño repaso de algunas de las propiedades y capacidades que ofrece GIMP:

- Un surtido completo de herramientas de pintura incluyendo pincel, un lápiz, un aerógrafo, clonado, etc.

- Gestión de la memoria basada en teselas, de manera que el tamaño de la imagen está limitado solamente por el espacio disponible en el disco.

- Muestreo de subpíxel en todas las herramientas de pintura para obtener un suavizado de alta calidad.

- Asistencia completa del canal alfa para trabajar con transparencia.

- Capas y canales.

- Una base de datos de procedimientos para llamar a funciones internas de GIMP desde programas externos como Script-Fu.

- Capacidades de secuenciar comandos avanzadas.

- Múltiples deshacer/rehacer (limitado sólo por el espacio en disco).

- Herramientas de transformación incluyendo rotar, escalar, inclinar y voltear.

- Soporte para un rango amplio de formatos de archivo entre los que se incluyen JPEG, PNG, GIF, PSD, DDS, XPM, TIFF, TGA, MPEG, PS, PDF, PCX, BMP y muchos otros.

- Selection tools, including rectangle, ellipse, free, fuzzy, bezier and scissors.

- Complementos que permiten agregar fácilmente nuevos formatos de archivo y nuevos filtros de efectos.

Parte I. Primeros pasos |  | 2. Qué hay nuevo en GIMP

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