[CALUG] adding simple text to images

[Dave Dodge]

On Wed, Mar 09, 2011 at 12:55:52PM -0800, Walt Smith wrote:
> I can't get gimp to simply put in text...errrr, I can,
> but it won't actually paste...

Gimp will normally put text into its own layer, so that it remains
movable/editable independent of the rest of the image.

If you need to forcibly combine the text pixels into the underlying
image, you can merge the layers.  With the text layer selected (which
should be the case right after editing it), "Layer->Merge Down" will
combine the text with the image layer directly under it.

Alternatively, after entering the text you can use "Image->Flatten
Image", which simply merges all layers together.

But really you don't need to do any of these layer operations
yourself.  Once you add the text you'll now have an image with two
layers, and when you try to save that to a format that doesn't support
layers (such as bmp or jpg) gimp will will automatically pop up a
dialog asking if you want it to flatten the image as part of the save
operation.

                                                  -Dave Dodge