Thanks for the reply! What I understand and don't, maybe it'll be easier for others....

Quote Originally Posted by jfrazierjr View Post
Ok.. few basics.


  • Pallete = a collection of colors. GIMP comes with quite a few, and you can create you own. If you use the same x colors all the time, it's easier to create a pallete and save than to try to find the colors by the hex value.
  • Layers = a stack. Things on top (higher up in the layer order) can cover things below it.
  • I get this stuff. A pallete is good cause the definition exists outside of image software. I figured out the layers thing pretty easily too.

    Channel = a special type of layer made of a black and white image. Channels are created by creating a selection, and then using the Selection->To Channel menu item. Channels are one way to quickly create a mask.
    From your description, I'm imagining a channel to be a way to allow bright and dark to flow through the layers underneath the channel. If the channel is really dark, the only the darkest parts of the layers beneath it get through. Vice versa for really light. This doesn't have to be an exhaustive definition, just a concept. Am I wrong?

    Layer Mask = a modifier to a layer that "masks" out part of an image from showing(see my sig for a tutorial on layer masks)
This makes a lot more sense. Somehow, you saying that a layer mask indeed partially masks a layer put two and two together in my mind. I told you I was new at this, heh.

For the invert, it is only available if you have a layer or a channel selected. If there is no selection, it has no way to know what to invert.
So I'm guessing I just didn't have it selected. I'll go back and give it another shot, thanks for the post!