Gimp with Resynthesizer plugin

Resynthesizer plugin for Gimp works similar to Adobe Photoshop content aware fill. It is not as easy to install which is a bit of a shame since it is great.

This post details the installation steps I had to do so that I get it to work.

You need the following files, installed in the order below:

1) python-2.6.msi. Gimp only supports python 2.5 and 2.6. If you install later versions, you won’t be able to activate “GIMP Python extensions” in the “Customize” window when installing Gimp.

2) pygtk-all-in-one-2.24.0.win32-py2.6.msi. Make sure that you download the ALL IN ONE bundle ~32Mb as it includes the additional PyCairo, PyGObject and PyGTK modules. They are needed, and if you don’t install them then “Filters/Python-fu” won’t appear in Gimp menus and nor the python plug-ins that come on top of the Resynthesizer.

3) gimp-2.6.11-i686-setup-1.exe. On the installation page “Ready to Install”, click “Customize”. After you confirm the installation folder and clicking “Next”, the window “Select Components” appears. Confirm that “GIMP Python extensions” is selected as below, then finish the installation. Let Gimp start and confirm that you have the “Filters/Python-fu” entry available in the menus.

GIMP Python extensions

4) Resynthesizer_v1.0-i686.zip. I found the link on the Resynthesizer plugin description. The current author (bootchk) says that he does not have the time to create a Windows installer but a good guy samj seemed to have compiled a Windows version and offering it.

Installing Resynthersizer is a bit of .zip unpacking and copying the files. The zip contains the main resynthesizer plug-in (the executables) as well as some other Python plugins that do their job based on it. I found the most useful one to be the Heal selection one (which, at the end, you will find it in “Filters/Enhance/Heal Selection”.

5) Unpack the .zip archive, and copy the 10 files (basically the *.py and *.exe) into Gimp’s plugin folder. You find the Gimp plugin folder into “Edit/Preferences” screen and clicking on the “Folders/Plug-ins” item:

GIMP Plug-ins folder

I’ve chosen to copy them into “c:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins”.

The list of files to be copied:

plugin-heal-selection.py
plugin-heal-transparency.py
plugin-map-style.py
plugin-render-texture.py
plugin-resynth-enlarge.py
plugin-resynth-fill-pattern.py
plugin-resynth-sharpen.py
plugin-uncrop.py
resynthesizer-gui.exe
resynthesizer.exe

I have the UAC disabled on Windows 7, but if you have UAC on, you need to copy the 10 files into your C:\Users\[username]\.gimp-2.6\plug-ins folder (in your home folder).

That’s it!

The magic happens after you select the area you want healed and then choose “Filters/Enhance/Heal selection…” tool:

Heal selection ...

The crane went away:

Photo healed

Happy editing 🙂

Observations:

It works also on Windows 7 64bit, but I kept everything 32bit just to be safe.