The Paths Tool is very commonly referred to as the pen tool, largely because of its icon in the Toolbox. The Paths Tool can be used for various purposes, but personally I probably most often find that I use it to make selections around elements of an image in cases where I'm not fully satisfied with the results produced by some of the dedicated selection tools.
On first acquaintance, the Paths Tool can seem a little confusing, but with a bit of practise you should find that it quickly becomes second nature to produce accurate paths, such as when tracing parts of an image.
There are very few options to worry about within the Tool Options dialog when using GIMP's Paths Tool.
Edit Mode
The Paths Tool can be set to three different modes and modifier keys mean you can quickly switch between these without using the Tool Options dialog.
- Design – this is the default setting and is used to initially draw a path
- Edit – you can use this to draw handles out of existing nodes that will allow you to adjust the the way that the segments of the path either side of the node curve
- Move – this simply allows you to move the path as a whole
Polygonal
You can check this if you want a path that is constructed of straight segments, rather than curved segments. After completing a path, you can use the Edit mode to change straight segments into curved.
Selection from Path
This button is a very quick way to convert a path to a selection.
Stroke Path
This button does exactly what the label says, opening the Stroke Path dialog which contains a few options for turning the path into a visible line.
The Paths Tools is a relatively simple tool with few options to worry about, but in practised hands it can be a very flexible tool for achieving manual selections where GIMP's automated selection tools struggle to produce the results that you need.
