Enable GIMP Layer Effects Plugin

The other day I was following an YouTube video on how to create your own logo. During the video they used a Bevel and Emboss layer function I didn’t seem to have. Looks like you should simple go to:

Layer --> Layer Effects

Turns out you need to install it as a plugin. You can find out more about the effect and how to use them here but they include:

• Bevel and Emboss
• Color Overlay
• Drop Shadow
• Gradient Overlay
• Inner Glow
• Inner Shadow
• Outer Glow
• Pattern Overlay
• Reapply Effects
• Satin

Being an Arch Linux user I prefer to use Pacman/Yaourt whenever I can.  I found a package called gimp-plugin-layerfx from the AUR which seemed to do exactly what I wanted.  However the package is out-of-date and the download site is no longer available.

I managed to get a copy of the files from GitHub.  So now I just needed to copy them to the Gimp plugin directory and restart Gimp.  On Arch Linux this is /usr/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins.

sudo mkdir /usr/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins/layerfxsudo mkdir /usr/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins/layerfx
sudo cp -v ~/Downloads/Gimp\ Plugins/gimp-plugin-registry-master/layer-effects/layerfx.* sudo cp -v ~/Downloads/Gimp\ Plugins/gimp-plugin-registry-master/layer-effects/layerfx.* /usr/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins/layerfx/
sudo chmod -v u+x /usr/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins/layerfx/layerfx.*

Now restart Gimp and you should have the layer effects.

You can also find a copy of the original file here and a copy of the original site below:

https://github.com/pixlsus/registry.gimp.org_static

I have not tested the above file from pixlsus but it should also work.