Drawing arrows in GIMP ... so near, yet so far (part2)

In my blog published 18/June/2010 (Drawing arrows in GIMP ... so near, yet so far) , I mentioned that you have to manually draw an arrow in GIMP.

Well, I was able to find a website offering a script , which can be inserted in GIMP, so you can draw arrows in any size !


Draw Arrow | GIMP Plugin registry
http://registry.gimp.org/node/20269

Screenshots below shows steps taken to insert script, and draw arrows in GIMP :













a) Download the "arrow.scm" script file from the link mentioned above.
b) Place the file in the scripts directory for GIMP , see screenshot above.













c) Place a path in the image file, and then go to Tools -> Arrow ... , to set the attributes for the arrow , and create the arrow (see screenshot).

Thank you "registry.gimp.org" ! .

There is one more way, use WINGDINGS 3, font , to create an arrow ( experiment on which letter creates the best arrow for you).












This screenshot shows an arrow created using letter 'a' , font Wingdings 3.

Note : All this screenshots were take in GIMP version 2.6.8 .

Drawing arrows in GIMP ... so near, yet so far

I wanted to try out GIMP , being a freeware advanced image editor and all. One of the first things I want to draw was an arrow to highlight an area in an image. I immediately hit a snag ... there is no option to draw an arrow ! I was expecting something like a Microsoft Powerpoint drawing toolbar to create shapes and arrows or something .......

Instead, I had to draw the arrow manually , painstakingly. See the Youtube video links below as I used as a guide to draw arrows using GIMP (ouch....) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL09Qj0q6vo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-Qn3P5Zo2M

Personally, I think this is a major downside from GIMP as it is difficult to draw shapes in GIMP, you have to go through so many menus to get a simple bordered circle, rectangle, square, etc. Also , there is just no simple way to create an arrow .... :( very bad. Cannot use it to edit & draw quick modifications on an image.

I have used Adobe Photoshop v6.0, a few years back, and that is one GOOD piece of software for image editing. Expensive, but good & comprehensive image design package. Packed with features, tools, and effects. Yet simple, & straight forward interface. I learned to use it myself, minimal training.

Looks like it's back to IrfanView image editor .....