1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN"
3                       "http://www.docbook.org/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd">
4<!--version history
5  2008-06-03 prokoudine: yet another shot at Russian content
6  2007-02-28 prokoudine: proofreading of translation into Russian
7  2007-02-28 lexa: minor review
8  2006-01-26 lexa: fixed link to the gpl homepage
9  2006-11-27 added norwegian translation by KoSt
10  2006-05-02 add Korean translation by Dust
11  2005-12-11 reviewed de by lexa
12  2005-11-01 Addition en;fr in Language by julien hardelin
13-->
14<sect1 id="introduction-gimp">
15  <title>Welcome to GIMP</title>
16
17  <indexterm>
18    <primary>GIMP</primary>
19    <secondary>Introduction</secondary>
20  </indexterm>
21  <para>
22    <acronym>GIMP</acronym> is a multi-platform photo
23    manipulation tool. <acronym>GIMP</acronym> is an acronym for
24    <acronym>GNU</acronym> Image Manipulation Program. The
25    <acronym>GIMP</acronym> is suitable for a variety of image
26    manipulation tasks, including photo retouching, image composition, and
27    image construction.
28  </para>
29  <para>
30    <acronym>GIMP</acronym> has many capabilities. It can be used as a
31    simple paint program, an
32    expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing
33    system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.
34  </para>
35  <para>
36    <acronym>GIMP</acronym> is expandable and extensible. It is designed
37    to be augmented with
38    plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting
39    interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex
40    image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.
41  </para>
42  <para>
43    One of The <acronym>GIMP</acronym>'s strengths is its free
44    availability from many sources for many operating systems. Most
45    <acronym>GNU</acronym>/<application>Linux</application> distributions
46    include The <acronym>GIMP</acronym> as a standard application.
47    The <acronym>GIMP</acronym> is also available for other
48    operating systems such as <productname>Microsoft Windows</productname>
49    or Apple's <productname>Mac OS X</productname>
50    (<application>Darwin</application>). The <acronym>GIMP</acronym>
51    is a Free Software application covered by the General Public License
52    <xref linkend="bibliography-online-gpl"/>. The <acronym>GPL</acronym>
53    provides users with the freedom to access and alter the source code that
54    makes up computer programs.
55  </para>
56
57  <sect2 id="authors">
58    <title>Authors</title>
59    <para>
60      The first version of the <acronym>GIMP</acronym>
61      was written by Peter Mattis and Spencer Kimball. Many other developers
62      have contributed more recently, and thousands have provided support and
63      testing. <acronym>GIMP</acronym>
64      releases are currently being orchestrated by Sven Neumann and Mitch
65      Natterer and the other members of the
66      <acronym>GIMP</acronym>-Team.
67    </para>
68  </sect2>
69
70  <sect2 id="introduction-help">
71    <title>The GIMP Help system</title>
72    <para>
73      The <acronym>GIMP</acronym> Documentation Team and other
74      users have provided you with the information necessary to understand
75      how to use <acronym>GIMP</acronym>. The User Manual is
76      an important part of this help. The current version is on
77      the web site of the Documentation Team
78      <xref linkend="bibliography-online-gimp-docs"/> in HTML format. The HTML
79      version is also available as context sensitive help (if you installed
80      it) while using <acronym>GIMP</acronym> by pressing the
81      <keycap>F1</keycap> key. Help on specific menu items can be accessed
82      by pressing the <keycap>F1</keycap> key while the mouse pointer is
83      focused on the menu item. Read on to begin your
84      <acronym>GIMP</acronym> journey.
85    </para>
86  </sect2>
87
88  <sect2 id="introduction-features">
89    <title>Features and Capabilities</title>
90    <para>
91      The following list is a short overview of some of the features and
92      capabilities which <acronym>GIMP</acronym> offers you:
93    </para>
94    <itemizedlist>
95      <listitem>
96        <para>
97          A full suite of painting tools including brushes, a pencil, an
98          airbrush, cloning, etc.
99        </para>
100      </listitem>
101      <listitem>
102        <para>
103          Tile-based memory management, so image size is limited only by
104          available disk space
105        </para>
106      </listitem>
107      <listitem>
108        <para>
109          Sub-pixel sampling for all paint tools for high-quality
110          anti-aliasing
111        </para>
112      </listitem>
113      <listitem>
114        <para>
115          Full Alpha channel support for working with transparency
116        </para>
117      </listitem>
118      <listitem>
119        <para>Layers and channels</para>
120      </listitem>
121      <listitem>
122        <para>
123          A procedural database for calling internal <acronym>GIMP</acronym>
124          functions from external programs, such as Script-Fu
125        </para>
126      </listitem>
127      <listitem>
128        <para>Advanced scripting capabilities</para>
129      </listitem>
130      <listitem>
131        <para>Multiple undo/redo (limited only by disk space)</para>
132      </listitem>
133      <listitem>
134        <para>
135          Transformation tools including rotate, scale, shear and flip
136        </para>
137      </listitem>
138      <listitem>
139        <para>
140	  Support for a wide range of file formats, including GIF, JPEG, PNG,
141	  XPM, TIFF, TGA, MPEG, PS, PDF, PCX, BMP and many others
142        </para>
143      </listitem>
144      <listitem>
145        <para>
146          Selection tools, including rectangle, ellipse, free, fuzzy, bezier
147          and intelligent scissors
148        </para>
149      </listitem>
150      <listitem>
151        <para>
152          Plug-ins that allow for the easy addition of new file formats and
153          new effect filters.
154        </para>
155      </listitem>
156    </itemizedlist>
157  </sect2>
158</sect1>
159