GIMP Question

[BentonGrey]

Howdy guys!  I'm working on something for an RPG, and I'm trying to crop pictures of planets into circles.  However, GIMP is giving me trouble, and I can't figure out how to ask the question in order to get any useful help with Google.  I'm hoping someone here, where there folks who know a whole lot more than me, might be able to help.  When I select a circle using the oval selection tool and click 'crop to selection', instead of ending up with a circle, I end up with a square immediately around the circle.  I can't get a circle out of it, no matter what I try.  I must be missing something.  Can anyone tell me what?

[daglob]

The crop tool always does a square. Be sure the background color is set to white, chose the area, invert the selection, and erase the area outside the circle. That's the way you do it in Photoshop, anyway. If not, send them my way and I'll do it. I'm busy tomorrow morning, but can get to it tomorrow afternoon late.

I should have asked if you were doing layers, and that white background might not be needed. The crop tool crops to the edge of the selection, but only in a square or rectangular shape.

[Deaths Jester]

<ponders what RPG and whether it's pen-and-paper or computer based...and if it's something brand spnaking new/in-development or a pre-existing series...or if it's a module..or...or...or if he might be able stick his nose into the thing and get some more RPG work done..or...or....>

[BentonGrey]

Thanks DG!  I didn't know that.  How silly!  If you can select a circle to crop, you should darn well be able to crop a circle!  Anyway, I tried that in GIMP, inverting the selection, but while that got rid of the background, it left a blank white space in the square edges.  There's got a be a way to make that transparent, which is all I really need.  I am not doing layers, but these images are just being imported into a Prezi, so there is no concrete format necessary.

Haha, DJ, if you're that curious, I'll be happy to tell you about it.  I'm running a short Star Wars campaign for my local group, pen and paper, but we also use a SMART Board for maps, tokens, etc. (The advantages of working at a university and having keys!).  We're playing the classic WEG d6 Star Wars from back in the day.  I always wanted to play with this system, but despite the fact that I had a ton of the books as a kid, I never got the chance, so I'm really excited!  I used to pour over those books back then, as they were another window into that beloved universe, long before there was either the hope or the disappointment of any new movies coming out.

I just discovered that basically all of the TONS AND TONS of materials for this system (which is super out of print, as WEG is gone) are available online, which is awesome!
http://www.starwarstimeline.net/Westendgames.htm

I'm running my own story, which is probably not a huge surprise to anyone, though I am adapting materials from Planets of the Galaxy 1.  I'm mostly just using a bunch of those planets to create a sector of the Outer Rim where my players can have adventures in an open (yet still manageably contained) setting.  I can throw together materials for all of the different planets and characters in the sector, and then just let them run wherever they want as they pursue the plot.

Speaking of which, here's the basic arc as I've sketched it out:

• Players are Rebel operatives post ANH who are sent to the Rim to negotiate support and supplies from Garnib, a minor world with little Imperial presence.  Yet, after they arrive, the world is raided by slavers, and they discover this has been happening a great deal recently.  The leaders agree to support the Rebellion if they can rescue their people.
• The heroes have to track the slavers down, which they can do by =
• A: Talking to an information broker on nearby Celanon, who happens to be in trouble with the local Hutt crimelord, which they would have to resolve, B: Raiding an Imperial facility and tapping into their data banks, as there is evidence that the Empire is complicit in the operations, or C: laying a trap for some slavers and getting the location of their operation from prisoners or their navcomputer.
• Or of course there is always D, something I never thought of...
• Once they locate the base, on a supposedly uninhabited jungle planet named Gorsh, the players must destroy the facility and free the slaves, and there are a bunch of ways they can go about that.
• The Slavers eliminated, the heroes will discover that a lot of the slaves were shipped off to some type of hush-hush Imperial operation, which they will have to discover, once again, multiple avenues.
• Finally, they will track the mysterious operations to a supposedly empty asteroid field, which they will have to navigate, in order to find the base in the center, where some mcguffin is being created.  They have to rescue the slaves and destroy the base.

I'm still trying to figure out what the mcguffin should be, as I don't want it to be just another superweapon.  The enslaved aliens are polar creatures with the ability to see in much broader spectrums than humans, so I'm thinking of having that be involved somehow.

Over the course of the adventure, they players will have to watch their step, as overt action will draw the attention of the local moff and his ISD and a dark Jedi Inquisitor. 

Does that answer your questions  ?

[daglob]

In Photoshop if you  delete part of the layer, it leaves a transparent area. I haven't played enough with GIMP to know for sure if it does the same. You could fill it with black and use one of the blend modes (provided GIMP uses them) to make it disappear.

[BentonGrey]

I've got it!  Thanks DG, and thanks for your offer to help me out!  I added an alpha layer, THEN deleted the extra, and bang!  Now I'm set!

Spoke too soon, darn it!  It LOOKED like it was transparent in GIMP, but it shows up white in Prezi.  Maybe I will take you up on your offer, DG.

[daglob]

What is Prezi? Something like Acrobat? Ah, no, looking at it online it's more like Power Point. I need to see if I have PP on here.

It probably was transparent but Prezi converted it. Have you tried saving it as a .gif? That works sometimes.

[BentonGrey]

Okay, NOW I've got it and have confirmed it.  I just had to export the images as PNGs, because JPEGs wouldn't keep the alpha layer.  I have learned a lot that I barely understand in the last hour. 

Yeah, Prezi is like fancy online Powerpoint, and I'm using it to create and move around in the space sector that is the adventure's setting.  I'll post the thing here when it's done.  I'm inordinately pleased with myself for the idea, because Perzi lets you zoom in and in and have new images and information at each level, which makes it perfect for having a sector view, then a system view, and then a planet view, and then even a location view. 

[Deaths Jester]

And here I thought it was going to be something bigger than a normal game session/campaign prep...darn...

[BentonGrey]

Haha, sorry to disappoint, DJ.  I am actually toying with some ideas for building my own RPG, but that's a distant idea.