How to Use Flip Tool in GIMP

Sometimes powerful image editors such as GIMP and Photoshop make a simple task difficult or bury the option in an overwhelming interface. For example, take the case of trimming an image into a particular shape. Similarly, while GIMP provides a dedicated button to return an image, its use is unclear.

To flip an image means to rotate it 180 degrees horizontally or vertically. The final image is the mirror image of the original image. Things differ slightly by flipping an image, layer, or selection in GIMP.

If you wanted to use the flipping tool in GIMP, you will find all the information about it in this article. Here is a guide on how to return an image in GIMP.

There are two ways to do it. Check them.

1. Using the built-in Flip tool

The native inversion tool can be used to invert the layer, the selection and the path. You can switch in two directions: horizontal and vertical. The first one changes the direction of the image from left to right while the last one from top to bottom. Other than that, nothing else has changed. Whether it is pixel dimensions or information.

Return an image in GIMP

Here's how to do it.

Step 1: Start GIMP and open the image you want to return.

2nd step: Click the Flip tool present in the toolbox. The icon has two arrows inside a box.

Point: Use the Shift + F shortcut to activate the Failover tool.

Step 3: By default, horizontal flipping is enabled. If you click anywhere on the image, it will flip horizontally.

To change the direction to vertical, select Vertical under Direction in the Flip Tool Options. Then click again on the image to return it.

Point: When the flip tool is active, hold down the CTRL key (Windows) and the (macOS) key to toggle between the flip directions. You must hold down the key and click on the image.

Return the layer in GIMP

If you want to return a single layer of the image, select that layer by clicking on it in the Layers area. Then click the Return tool and flip it over by clicking anywhere on the image.

Return selection in GIMP

Inverting the selection is useful if you want to invert only part of the layer. It can be used to return alphabets, objects, etc.

For this, once you have opened the image in GIMP, click on one of the selection tools. Use the Fuzzy selection tool for text. Mark your selection on the image. For example, in the next image, I selected d and g in the guiding layer.

Then activate the Return tool and click anywhere on the image. You will get the desired result.

2. Using the transformation tool

Using the Transformer option is another way to get the same result. Unlike the Return tool that also allows you to reflect the selection, in this case, you can only reverse a layer or an entire image.

Flip a layer

For that, proceed as following:

Step 1: Open the image in GIMP.

2nd step: Click the Layer option in the top bar and select Transform from it.

Step 3: Choose the desired direction of rotation by clicking Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical. This will return the selected layer.

Return all layers in GIMP

To invert the contents of all layers, you must use another transform option. To do this, click the Image option in the top bar and select Transform, followed by your choice of flipping.

Bonus tip: Create a mirror effect in GIMP

To do this, we must first duplicate the image, then increase the size of the image, then return it.

Here are the steps in detail for the same thing.

Step 1: Open the image for which you want to create the mirror effect in GIMP.

2nd step: Right-click the layer in the Layers area and select Duplicate Layer.

Step 3: We must now increase the size of the canvas. To do this, click Image in the top bar and select Canvas Size.

Step 4: If you want to create the mirror effect horizontally, you need to increase the width of the canvas and, for the vertical mirror effect, increase the height. For this, you must enter * 2 (yes, it is an asterisk in front of 2) next to the dimension given in the corresponding box. For example, if I want to create a vertical mirror effect, I'll write * 2 in the Height box. Then click on the Resize box.

This will create an area of ​​the same size as your image.

Step 5: Click the Move tool and drag the layer to the empty area at the bottom.

Step 6: With the bottom layer selected, click the Return tool and choose Vertical Orientation. If you have increased the width, you must choose Horizontal here.

Step 7: Click anywhere on the image to flip the lower layer. This will create your image with the mirror effect.

Magic of the mirror

Returning the image produces impressive results. You can use it to change the direction of the object inside the image according to your needs. For example, if the object's man looks to the right, you can use the flip tool to make it appear to the left. Similarly, the mirror effect gives birth to interesting images.

Then: Images with a transparent background make it easy to manipulate images. Know how to make the background of the image transparent in GIMP.