GIMP/Toolbox

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GIMP provides a comprehensive toolbox in order to quickly perform basic tasks. Toolbox is fully customizable, this means that you can add/remove any tool you want. Just go to "Windows > Dockable Dialogues > Tools", and select any tool you want.

By default not all tools are shown - GEGL operation tool and colour tools are omitted. All tools can also be accessed by opening the "Tools" menu. To switch the window to toolbox, you can use Ctrl + B. Note that shortcuts wrote here are the default values - you can change them any time you want in "Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts"

[edit] Tools

These tools are available by default in toolbox.

Icon	Name	Shortcut	Description	Additional Information
Selection tools
	Rectangle	R	Selects square or rectangular regions.	here
	Ellipse	E	Selects circular or elliptical regions.	here
	Free (Lasso)	F	Draw free-form selections.	here
	Fuzzy (Magic Wand)	U	Select continuous regions of colour.	here
	By Colour	Shift + O	Select all instances of a colour in an image.	here
	Scissors	I	Create paths to select shapes.	here
	Foreground	(none)	Select a region containing foreground objects.	here
Brush tools
	Bucket Fill	Shift + B	Fills an area with a colour or pattern.
	Blend (Gradient)	L	Fills an area with a gradient.	here
	Pencil	N	Paints hard-edged lines; that is, the pixels are not anti-aliased.
	Paintbrush	P	Paints soft- or fuzzy-edged lines; that is, the pixels are anti-aliased and/or feathered.
	Eraser	Shift + E	Erases pixels from a layer.
	Airbrush	A	Paint tool with variable pressure.
	Ink	K	Paints anti-aliased lines with a simulation of a nib.
	Clone	C	Copies pixels from one part of an image to another.
	Heal	H	Heals image irregularities.
	Perspective Clone	(none)	Clone from an image source after applying perspective transformation.
	Convolve (Blur/Sharpen)	Shift + U	Blurs or sharpens an image.
	Smudge	S	Spreads pixels in the direction of a "push".
	Dodge/Burn	Shift + D	Lightens or darkens an image's shadows, mid tones, or highlights.
Transform tools
	Move	M	Moves layers and selections.	here
	Align	Q	Align or arrange layers and/or other objects.
	Crop	Shift + C	Crops or clips the image.	here
	Rotate	Shift + R	Rotates the active layer, selection or path.
	Scale	Shift + T	Scales the active layer, selection or path.
	Shear	Shift + S	Shifts part of the image to some direction
	Perspective	Shift + P	Changes the perspective of the active layer, selection or path.
	Flip	Shift + F	Flips layers and selections.
Other tools
	Path	B	Allows selecting and modifying paths.
	Colour Picker	O	Selects the colour of any image opened on your screen.	here
	Magnify (Zoom)	Z	Alters the zoom level of the image.	here
	Measure	Shift + M	Shows distances and angles.	here
	Text	M	Places text into your image.	here

There are also some other tools hidden by default. These tools need to be accessed form the "Tools" menu, or by showing them in toolbox (Windows > Dockable Dialogues > Tool Options).

Icon	Name	Shortcut	Description	Additional Information
Colour tools
	Colour Balance	(none)	Modifies the colour balance of current selection or layer
	Hue-Saturation	(none)	Adjusts hue, saturation and lightness
	Colourize	(none)	Renders current selection or layer into a grey scale image seen through coloured glass
	Brightness-Contrast	(none)	Adjusts brightness and contrast
	Threshold	(none)	Transforms the current layer or selection into a black and white image.
	Levels	(none)	Changes the intensity range of the active layer or selection in every channel
	Curves	(none)	Changes the colour, brightness, contrast or transparency of the active layer or path.
	Posterize	(none)	Reduces the number of colours
	Desaturate	(none)	Converts all colour to the corresponding shades of grey.
Other tools
	GEGL operation	(none)	Executes a GEGL operation.

[edit] Tool options

By default, activating any tool, will have the effect of showing its options under the toolbox. Each tool has its own set of settings and any changes to them are kept trough the current session. There are also four buttons under any options.

• Save options to... - save options of the current tool
• Restore options from... - restore options from saved file
• Delete saved options... - delete saved options
• Reset to default values - reset the settings to default values.

You can hide them by clicking on the arrow next to the tool name and deselecting Show Button Bar. You can also access these from the same menu under Tool Options Menu.

[edit] Colour, Indicator and Active Image area

Below the toolbox can be placed these three areas. This is set in "Edit > Preferences > Toolbox" and any of the three can be hid there.

[edit] Colour area

Shows current foreground and background colour. Clicking on either will bring up the colour editor dialogue.

Clicking on the symbol in the lower left corner resets the colour to their defaults. The D key has the same effect.

Clicking on the symbol in the upper right corner swaps the foreground and background colours. The X key has the same effect.

[edit] Indicator area

Shows currently selected brush, pattern or gradient. Clicking on any of these allows you to change it.

[edit] Active Image area

Displays a thumbnail of the active image. Clicking on it will bring the Images dialogue up, allowing you the select an image.

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