GIMP :: Set Up Template For Dealing With Printing Four Images On Sheet

I wanted to set up a template for dealing with printing four images on a sheet.

I created an image the size of the sheet and then added four layers, each of the desired image size which needed to be positioned appropriately.

When I went to position the images, I could not find any reasonable way with the move command or with any of the layer operations to position each layer precisely.By that I mean simply type in the coordinates of the upper left corner, or move with the mouse where I see a text version of the upper left coordinate of the new layer position as I move.

If trying to position using the mouse, the lower left of the status line shows the position of the pointer itself, so that is useless in positioning the layer as a whole; and the numbers to the right of the per-cent size display show how much the layer has moved relative to its starting position, not the absolute position of the upper left corner. (I'll grant that the latter is useful, but in this case one needs something else, particularly if a layer has been moved and needs to be repositioned to a fixed location.)

The only way I could get what I wanted was to expand to 800%, and at that magnification I could grab the upper left corner with the mouse so the mouse position was itself the upper left corner position. Surely there's a better way?

Layer/Layer to Boundary Size... does not appear to work as advertised. The offset appears to be relative to the original size of the layer, not the original size of the image. The panner image is limited to the size of the layer, not the image. When you first bring up the dialog, you are unable to reposition the layer unless you change the layer size to make the layer smaller. If you make the layer half the size of its original size and then click "Center", the offset is set to - 1/2 the size of the original image, not + 1/2, which seems bizarre. The layer is scaled properly, and ends up where you would expect (based on the center command given, but not based on the offsets indicated), but the values in the Offset boxes seem to have the wrong sign. It works by moving the original layer relative to the desired new layer, rather than position the new layer size relative to the image. Which means you can't move the layer relative to the image if the layer is smaller than the image, and the graphic panner doesn't show you the layer position relative to the image as a whole. It is not at all intuitive and is not useful for quite a few common cases.

Layer/Transform/Offset shifts the contents, but not the layer itself. Which is what it is supposed to do, so that's ok; it's just not usable for this operation.