NAME Gimp - Perl extension for writing Gimp Extensions/Plug-ins/Load & Save-Handlers SYNOPSIS my $img = new Image (600, 300, RGB); my $bg = $img->layer_new(600,300,RGB_IMAGE,"Background",100,NORMAL_MODE); $img->add_layer($bg, 1); $img->edit_fill($bg); $img->display_new; A complete & documented example script can be found at the end of this document (search for EXAMPLE). DOCUMENTATION The Manpages in html format, the newest version, links and more information can be found on the gimp-perl homepage, where you should get an overview over the gimp-perl extension: http://gimp.pages.de/ -or- http://www.goof.com/pcg/marc/gimp.html PREREQUISITES To install/use this perl extension, you need to have the following software packages installed (the given order is best): Perl5.004 (or higher): While this extension should run fine with older versions (it has been tested with 5.004_04), I work with Perl5.005 or higher, which has much more bugs fixed than the old 5.004. When in doubt, upgrade. GTK+, the X11 toolkit: http://www.gtk.org/ ftp://ftp.gimp.org/pub/gtk/ gtk+-1.2 or higher is recommended, but older versions mostly work (some features not implemented in gtk+-1.0 do not work properly, of course). Gtk, the perl extension for the above: ftp://ftp.gimp.org/pub/gtk/perl/ Gtk-0.6123 (or higher) is recommended. You might encounter some problems compiling it for Perl5.004 (or any version), in that case you might want to try the updated gnome-perl version on the gnome-cvs-server. See the the gimp-perl pages for more info. The GNU Image Manipulation Program, i.e. The GIMP: http://www.gimp.org/ ftp://ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/ gimp-1.1 (or newer, e.g. CVS or CVS snapshots) is recommended for full functionality, but any version since 1.0.2 should do, some features not implemented in 1.0 don't work, though. PDL, the Perl Data Language http://www.cpan.org/ Optionally, you can install the PDL module to be able to manipulate pixel data (or to be able to run the example plug-ins that do pixel manipulation). PDL is available at any CPAN mirror, version 1.9906 or higher is recommended. Without PDL, some plug-ins do not work, and accessing raw image data is impossible. INSTALLATION On unix, you should be able to run "perl Makefile.PL" make, make test && make install. To get a listing of configuration options, enter perl ./Makefile.PL --help a straight "perl Makefile.PL" should do the job on most systems, but watch out for warnings. If everything went fine, enter "make", "make test", "make install". After installation, these perl plug-ins should be visible from within the Gimp (and many, many more): <Toolbox>/Xtns/Perl Control Center <Toolbox>/Xtns/Perl-Server <Image>/Filters/Artistic/Windify <Image>/Filters/Misc/Prepare for GIF <Image>/Filters/Misc/Webify If you don't have unix, you can install linux instead (http://www.linux.org/) OVERWRITING INSTALL LOCATIONS (PREFIX) In the rare case that you want to install the Gimp-Perl modules somewhere else than in the standard location then there is a standard way to accomplish this. Usually, you can just use the PREFIX=/path option to the Makefile.PL, or the other common solution of adding the INST* path definitions onto the "make install" commandline. These options are described in the "perldoc ExtUtils::MakeMaker" manpage. If you are configuring the gimp-pelr module that comes with the Gimp sourcetree this won't work. In that case you can set the environment variable: PERL_MM_OPT='whatever options you want to pass to MakeMaker' before running configure. The arguments that you put into that variable will be passed to the Makefile.PL as if given on the commandline. If you are building a slp/deb/rpm/whatever package you usually want to use the normal prefix, while overwriting the prefix at "make install" time. In that case, just build gimp-perl (or the whole gimp) as usual, but instead of just calling "make install", use something like the following command (this example is for debian): make prefix=`pwd`/debian/tmp/usr PREFIX=`pwd`/debian/tmp/usr \ install The lowercase prefix is used by the Gimp, the uppercase PREFIX is used by perl. Rarely you also want to specifiy manpage directories etc.. you can also overwrite these (see "man ExtUtils::MakeMaker") as well, e.g. for debian: make prefix=`pwd`/debian/tmp/usr PREFIX=`pwd`/debian/tmp/usr \ INSTALLMAN1DIR=`pwd`/debian/tmp/usr/man/man1 \ INSTALLMAN3DIR=`pwd`/debian/tmp/usr/man/man3 \ install PS: I'm not a debian developer/fan. If at all, I'd recommend www.stampede.org (since they are using my compiler ;), but the _best_ thing is DIY. SUPPORT/MAILING LISTS/MORE INFO There is a mailinglist for general discussion about Gimp-Perl. To subscribe, send a mail with the single line subscribe to gimp-perl-request@lists.netcentral.net. If you want to get notified of new versions automatically, send a mail with the single line: subscribe notify-gimp to majordomo@gcc.ml.org. You can also upload your scripts to the gimp registry at http://registry.gimp.org/, part of it is dedicated to gimp-perl. BLURB Scheme is the crappiest language ever. Have a look at Haskell (http://www.haskell.org) to see how functional is done right. I am happy to receive opinions on both languages, don't hesitate to tell me. LICENSE The gimp-perl module is currently available under the GNU Public License (see COPYING.GPL for details) and the Artistic License (see COPYING.Artistic for details). Many of the scripts in the example section follow these rules, but some of them have a different licensing approach, please consult their source for more info. THREATS Future versions of this package might be distributed under the terms of the GPL only, to be consistent with the rest of the Gimp. Andreas keeps me from doing this, though. (c)1998,1999 Marc Lehmann <pcg@goof.com> EXAMPLE PERL PLUG-IN To get even more look & feel, here is a complete plug-in source, its the examples/example-fu.pl script from the distribution. #!/usr/bin/perl use Gimp; use Gimp::Fu; register "gimp_fu_example_script", # fill in a function name "A non-working example of Gimp::Fu usage", # and a short description, "Just a starting point to derive new ". # a (possibly multiline) help text "scripts. Always remember to put a long". "help message here!", "Marc Lehmann", # don't forget your name (author) "(c) 1998, 1999 Marc Lehmann", # and your copyright! "19990316", # the date this script was written "<Toolbox>/Xtns/Gimp::Fu Example", # the menu path "RGB*, GRAYA", # image types to accept (RGB, RGAB amnd GRAYA) [ # argument type, switch name , a short description , default value, extra arguments [PF_SLIDER , "width" , "The image width" , 360, [300, 500]], [PF_SPINNER , "height" , "The image height" , 100, [100, 200]], [PF_STRING , "text" , "The Message" , "example text"], [PF_INT , "bordersize" , "The bordersize" , 10], [PF_FLOAT , "borderwidth" , "The borderwidth" , 1/5], [PF_FONT , "font" , "The Font Family" ], [PF_COLOUR , "text_colour" , "The (foreground) text colour", [10,10,10]], [PF_COLOUR , "bg_colour" , "The background colour" , "#ff8000"], [PF_TOGGLE , "ignore_cols" , "Ignore colours" , 0], [PF_IMAGE , "extra_image" , "An additonal picture to ignore"], [PF_DRAWABLE , "extra_draw" , "Somehting to ignroe as well" ], [PF_RADIO , "type" , "The effect type" , 0, [small => 0, large => 1]], [PF_BRUSH , "a_brush" , "An unused brush" ], [PF_PATTERN , "a_pattern" , "An unused pattern" ], [PF_GRADIENT , "a_gradients" , "An unused gradients" ], ], sub { # now do sth. useful with the garbage we got ;) my($width,$height,$text,$font,$fg,$bg,$ignore,$brush,$pattern,$gradient)=@_; # set tracing Gimp::set_trace(TRACE_ALL); my $img=new Image($width,$height,RGB); # put an undo group around any modifications, so that # they can be undone in one step. The eval shields against # gimp-1.0, which does not have this function. eval { $img->undo_push_group_start }; my $l=new Layer($img,$width,$height,RGB,"Background",100,NORMAL_MODE); $l->add_layer(0); # now a few syntax examples Palette->set_foreground($fg) unless $ignore; Palette->set_background($bg) unless $ignore; fill $l BG_IMAGE_FILL; # the next function only works in gimp-1.1 $text_layer=$img->text_fontname(-1,10,10,$text,5,1,xlfd_size($font),$font); gimp_palette_set_foreground("green"); # close the undo push group eval { $img->undo_push_group_end }; $img; # return the image, or an empty list, i.e. () }; exit main;