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;