Script-Fu scripts are similar to very powerful “macros” that you may be familiar with from other programs. Script-Fu is based on an interpreted language called Scheme, and works by using functions that interact with GIMP's internal functions. You can do all kinds of things with Script-Fu, but an ordinary GIMP user will probably use it for automating things that:

Remember that you can do a whole lot with Script-Fu. The scripts that come with GIMP can be quite useful, but they can also serve as models for learning Script-Fu, or at least as a framework and source of modification when you make your own script. Read the Script-Fu Tutorial in the next section if you want to learn more about how to write your own scripts.

We will describe some of the most useful scripts in this chapter, but we won't cover them all. There are simply too many scripts. Some of the scripts are also very simple and you will probably not need any documentation to be able to use them.