I only use and want to use GIMP. I have used it a lot, and one popular thing that people do, can't be done now as easily as it could be done 3 years ago.

To remove a person from a picture, for example, back in 2013 I'd just use gimp and select the person and then use 'smart remove selection' and the brilliant script would make me feel like a script kiddy which I'm not btw, and assemble a new background from the surrounding picture. It could be undone and redone as many times as you'd like each with a different result that you could choose from.

Today's tools look to me as if they were written by the competition. You can't remove uncle jack from the image because it creates the new background not from around uncle jack, but FROM uncle jack, so he looks like uncle jack from fellujia iraq or chernobyl. Basically it just mashes up uncle jack.

PLUS you don't get the proper random result anymore, so you cannot choose. It's like going to the art store where normally you can buy a random colored pencil for cheap, but now instead of giving you useful different colors each time you buy, you just get red. Fail and Fail.

I can only now find the current replacement for smart remove selection which is called heal selection, but just mangles selection instead.

I can't find older versions of the script which takes parts of the image outside the part you want to 'remove', and gives a 'random' output, so you can choose.

Does anyone have the older version running on their machine ? or in a backup somewhere ?

Hi Taks, I contribute to the GIMP project. Do you by any chance have a link to the script you're referring in the plugin registry?

Edit: is it the resynthesizer plugin?

http://www.scriptol.com/design/gimp/...ng-objects.php

http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/resynthesizer

https://github.com/bootchk/resynthesizer

What version of Ubuntu are you using? I could test it.

look at resysenthizer plugin
http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/resynthesizer

use the github code
https://github.com/bootchk/resynthesizer

it builds just fine and i have been using it for many years

no solution yet.

ok, the new version that is installed here and "scrambles (the) selection" rather than "remove(s) selection" is found on the link you give under "download" heading on http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/resynthesizer where it refers to gimp registry. I look at the link address and compare the registry number to browser history and find that that is where I got the current broken version.

The link you give http://www.scriptol.com/design/gimp/...ng-objects.php describes two different functions, the first is removing a selection which is badly named re-synthesize but then again, that IS closer to 'scramble selection' which is what is occurring here. The first part does look the part, but doesn't work here. The second part, map-resynth is not what I speak of, as it requires a photo without uncle bob as well as a photo with uncle bob to make a photo without uncle bob, which obvious defeats purpose defeats the purpose.

Using a current version of mint (17.2 cinnamon) and gimp 2.8.10

John, those two links are seriously greek to me. I mean, I'm a smart user, and can even program, but I prefer instructions a cat could understand. Not so much just to make it easy for me, which would be nice even though I don't mind all this research, but it should be easy for every artist, otherwise it's an obvious feature to send people over to the commercial competition.

Actually "getting rid of uncle bob rather than scrambling his face" as the objective is reminding me of the movie title 'kill bill'. Good movie,..

did you look in the debian repos ?
or to see if it is there
resynthesizer dose NOT scramble the image
it INPAINTS from the surrounding area , from a few px to the whole image

an example :

1)original
http://imgbox.com/EJbDHRdz
2)with object to remove
http://imgbox.com/9Jr21v9w
3)removed
http://imgbox.com/0Fk5aLCJ

This is what it does.

( Image credit: Author: Paolo Neo http://www.public-domain-photos.com/...ing-girl-1.htm )

Attached Thumbnails

 

it looks like you are only selecting the " PATH" and not the area

do not use the path tool!!! use the "lasso " tool to draw around the object
or
paint it red or green or pink and select by color

PS. this is the same on linux as it is on MS Windows

orig with lasso selection
http://imgbox.com/M8PERG1b

filter/enhance/heal selected
http://imgbox.com/sAvzSfbO

inpainted
http://imgbox.com/QnqXKoiR

I can select by many means to get the same result. My favorite tool is often the fuzzy select tool, or was it once called smart select ? Also just tested ellipse and rectangle select, got the same result as previously attached. Went looking for the path tool, it's not something I was or do use normally. It's not the path tool. 'Lasso' I expect you mean free select tool. I do color select before many times, I use GIMP a LOT in the past, and can add subtract and intersect selections, store selections on other layers and so on. I don't think I've suddenly forgot how to use gimp, I am certain that the tool has been broken.

Considering how useful the tool is, it becomes an obvious target for the "competition" to send in their "volunteers" to "fix" or "upgrade" it. I just want to find the old version which works as I have used it thousands of times in the past. I want to do art again and my best most favorite tool has gone missing. !!!

Is there anyone who has gimp on linux, recently installed, that has this working ?

gimp2.8.18 builds from source just fine
and the DEVELOPMENT 2.9.4 also builds just fine
except it needs a newer version of libpng than is in the OpenSUSE 42.2 repos

but if you have not been building gimp from source for the last 17 years like i have
the question is WHY

For me it is habit and i also build the Gnome git source for gimp ,gegl,babl,mybrushes and libpng

now having both installed can be a bit tricky

but for a new user unless you WANT to learn to build from source there is no need

and breaking the gimp dependencies on deb's or rpm's can be a very annoying ISSUE .

Use the lasso to select the area. And... Filters -> Enhance -> Heal Selection.

Seemed to work for me. Not sure if that's what you are looking for.

That is exactly what I do but it doesn't work at all. The only difference is it's called free select tool on my GIMP, is free select tool correct ? ( I tried it again before writing this reply, thats only diff I notice )

I don't do builds anymore, I'm more into the arty side of myself and haven't done programming for quite some time (except arduino). With " apt-get install this " there hardly seems any need to build anything and certainly GIMP is SO mainstream and standard it should work. Yes, there are corporate interests that ruin things, Linux MINT has the Ubuntu people to thank for it's success because they made ubuntu suck all of a sudden. Isn't there a version of GIMP that works with MINT 17.2 out of the box that you can use to cut out uncle bob ?

So do you mean that because of dependencies the installed GIMP with MINT is broken when out of the box ? how can i tell if that is the issue ?

The icon is a lasso, the mouse over text is free select tool. Works for me in debian jessie. Do you have "gimp-plugin-registry" installed? According to apt-file that's the one with the plugin-heal-selection.py file in it. Are you closing the loop? The last click is on the first dot when selecting the region.

well then I'm selecting precisely as directed, there is no doubt there. we do have different linux flavors, debian vs mint. what is the most straightforward definitive way to check if "gimp-plugin-registry" is installed? Yes, closing the loop perfectly.

the resysenthizer plugin is installed corectly ?
and the Python scripts are also installed ? right

the code from the git site builds just fine