Background Removal in GIMP

The Internet is a great resource for images, but it can be annoying when images have large white backgrounds behind them. This simple trick in GIMP will get rid of the background meaning you can use your images on any background you want.

To start off, you will need to open your image in GIMP and go to Layers > Transparency and select "Add Alpha Channel". This will make it possible to actually remove the background of the image, instead of just making deleted parts of the image white.

Next, select the "Fuzzy Select" tool and click the background of the image. You should see black and white dots marching around the edge of the image.

Once you are done with that, just press CTRL+X to delete the background.

And now you are finished. You will need to export the image as a .png in order to save the transparency, otherwise, the background will just come back.

GIMP LowPoly Image Tutorial

In this tutorial, we will show how to create a LowPoly image in GIMP. Images with lots of color work best for this project.

To start, you will need to open GIMP and open your image. The one I used for this tutorial can be found here.

Next, select the Color Picker and select "Sample Average" and "Set Background Color" as shown below. Set the "Radius" option to about 40 for this image.

Next, select the "Free Select" tool and draw your first triangle on the picture. I like to start from a corner. If you are not familiar with the free select tool, do not click and hold to draw your lines! Just click once where you want to start, and then click again at every corner until you get back to where you started, then click the first yellow dot.

If you made the triangle correctly, you will see black and white dots moving around it like this.

Next, open the color picker tool and click the middle of the triangle.

Then press CTRL+X and the triangle will be replaced with a solid color.

Repeat these steps until the image is completely covered. Be careful not to leave blank space between the triangles. To be safe, when I do it I always overlap them slightly.

If you want to skip the hassle, you can follow this link and I will convert images for you. https://www.fiverr.com/matthew20218/create-lowpoly-art-from-your-picture

Battle of the Browsers: Chrome vs Firefox vs Edge vs Opera

Whether you're a hardcore Chrome user, or a die hard Firefox fan, come see how your favorite browser stacks up against the competition! Read the full smack down here. 

New Partnership with The Maker Zone

Recently, the good people at PiSupp.ly offered the opportunity to write for their maker focused section called The Maker Zone. All 14Squared articles will still be available here, but we will also be creating new content on The Maker Zone. You will be able to see the content a week before it is released here by going to the Maker Zone website. There it also lots of great content from many different authors on their website.

Announcing Raspbian for Education

Here at 14Squared, we are proud to announce a new project called Raspbian for Education. This unofficial flavor of Raspbian is built for education, with many convenient packaged pre-installed. We will be making a series of interactive lessons built in to encourage children's interest in programming. This project is still in development, but we hope to have a first release out sometime in the next 2 months. If you are interested in helping to develop the project, you can get in touch with me here.   

Upcoming PaPiRus Review

Recently, our friends at Pi Supply launched a Kickstarter for PaPiRus, a Raspberry Pi E-Ink display. Over here at 14Squared, this sounded awesome, so guess what? We will be writing a review of the PaPiRus! Our review will feature a getting started guide and some projects to get you set up with your very own PaPiRus. The display is currently on backorder but they are sold for $46.00 for the smallest of 3 size options, and $53.00 for the largest. We are very excited for the review, check back in a couple days for the review.

What is 14 Squared?

Hello!
14 Squared is a replacement for Raspberry Pi Bakery. The difference between the two is that while Raspberry Pi Bakery was only about the Raspberry Pi, 14 Squared will be about all things tech. We still plan to write Raspberry Pi tutorials and guides, but we will also write reviews, news, and other projects.