Cali's GIMP Tutorials and Tips - CLOSED (go to new thread)

Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

Woohoo! 100 pages Very Happy

Please dont post in this thread anymore. you can find the new one here. Thanks!

Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

Using Layer Modes to Enhance Your Avatar:

Edit: I just realized this method is similar to yaoilover's photoshop tutorial for enhancing avatars. Photoshop users should check her's out Wink

1) take a screenshot of your avatar using the print screen key and save it in png format

2) open up your screenshot in gimp. crop it and remove the background

this is the screenshot ill be using:

3) open your layers dialogue (dialogues > layers). select your avatar screenshot layer in the layers dialogue by clicking on it. duplicating it by clicking on this button

in the dialogue.

4) select the first layer and go to filters > blur > gaussian blur. use a blur radius of 5 pixels and click ok. go back to your layers dialogue and change the layer mode of the blurred layer to overlay.

this is what it should look like with the overlay:

5) if you want your pic more blurred, you can use a gaussian blur on the top layer a few more times or you can duplicate the top layer. Im going to duplicate the top layer once.

6) now merge all the avatar layers together by selecting a layer, right clicking on it in the layers dialogue, and selecting merge down. when dealing with layer modes, you must merge each altered layer to the original avatar layer. for example, im going to merge "avi 1" down to "avi 2", then ill merge "avi 1 copy" down to "avi 2".

7) (optional) duplicate your avatar layer and select the bottom layer in the layers dialogue. go to filters > blur > gaussian blur. This will give the edges of your avatar a blurry look without much effort of having to use the blur tool manually

this is what mine looks like:

~Cali

Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

Inner & Outer Borders

ill be starting off with this image:

as you can see, it has two layers: an avatar layer and a background layer

Create an outer border:

1 ) Make your top layer active in your layers dialogue and click on layer > layer to image size

2 ) Go to select > all. there should now be dotted lines moving around the outside of your pic

3 ) In your layers dialogue, click on the new layer button and in the new layer window that appears, select transparency and then click ok

4 ) Change your foreground colour to the colour you want your border to be. im going to use white (ffffff)

5 ) Go to edit > fill with foreground colour. your whole pic should now look like one solid colour

6 ) Go to select > shrink. Change the pixel value in the shrink window to whatever suits you. the higher the number, the wider the border. im going to use a pixel value of 4

7 ) Go to edit > cut. you should now have a border around the outside of your pic that looks something like this:

(i only put a thin black border around the outside edge of the white border so the white border is easier to see. i made the black border the same way i made the white one, only i used a pixel value of 1 on step 6)

Create an inner border:

1 ) Make your top layer active in your layers dialogue and click on layer > layer to image size

2 ) Go to select > all. there should now be dotted lines moving around the outside of your pic

3 ) In your layers dialogue, click on the new layer button and in the new layer window that appears, select transparency and then click ok

4 ) Change your foreground colour to the colour you want your border to be. im going to use white (ffffff)

5 ) Go to select >shrink. Change the pixel value in the shrink window to a much larger number. my pic is big so im going to use a value of 30. Play around with the shrink size until you get your selection to the area you want your inner border to be. you can always undo the shrink and do it again with a different value

6 ) Go to edit > fill with foreground colour

7 ) Go to select >shrink. the pixel value that you use this time will be the width of your inner border. im going to use a value of 1

8 ) Go to edit > cut. you can move the inner border layer underneath your avatar layer if you want to. you should now have a border on the inside of your pic that looks something like this:

now you can use the techniques you just learned to add some more to the pic. like outlines around the borders for example

~Cali

Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

For me, getting text to look right has always been the hardest part of any pic. Here are just some basic, easy ways of making your text blend in or stand out. You can use each technique individually, combine them, or change them to fit your pic. You must have a fairly basic knowledge of gimp's interface to follow these steps. for example, know where to find the dialogues, common tools, and buttons. If you dont, you can always ask for help.

Text Effects In Gimp:

Outline

- Make your text layer active (it should be highlighted in blue in the layers dialogue)
- In the image window, go to layer > transparency > alpha to selection
- In the image window, go to select > grow. choose a low value (i usually use 1)
- Add a new, transparent layer below your text layer and make it your active layer
- Change your foreground colour in the gimp window to the colour that you want your outline to be
- In the image window, go to edit > fill with foreground colour

Result:

Inner Shadow

- Make your text layer active
- In the image window, go to layer > transparency > alpha to selection
- In the image window, go to select > invert
- In the image window, go to filters > light and shadow > drop shadow
- Use the settings "offset x: 2", "offset y: 2", "blur radius: 5", "colour: black", "opacity: 80", and de-select "allow resizing"
- Click ok

Result:

Outer Glow

- Duplicate your text layer
- Make the lower text layer active
- In the image window, go to filters > alpha to logo > neon
- Change the effect size to a lower value (im using 50), leave the background colour black, change the glow colour to whatever colour you want the glow to be, and click ok
- Delete or lower the layer entitled "background"

Result:

Gradient

- Make your text layer active
- In the image window, go to layer > transparency > alpha to selection
- Create a new transparent layer above your text layer and make it active
- Select the gradient tool and choose the gradient you want to use
- In the image window, click above the text and drag your mouse to the bottom of the text. release to fill the text with your gradient. (hold ctrl while dragging to keep it in a straight line)
- Delete the lower text layer (the original text layer)

Result:

Adding Texture

- Make your text layer active
- In the image window, go to layer > transparency > alpha to selection
- Add a new transparent layer above your text layer and make it active
- Open up your patterns dialogue (dialogues > patterns) and choose the pattern you want to use (im using "crack")
- In the image window, go to edit > fill with pattern
- In the image window, go to colours > desaturate. Click ok
- In the layers dialogue, change the layer mode of the top text layer to overlay

Result:

2-Tone 3D

- Make your text layer active
- In the image window, go to layer > transparency > alpha to selection
- In the image window, go to select > shrink (im using a value of 3). Click ok
- Create a new transparent layer above the text layer and make it active
- Change your foreground colour in the main gimp window to a lighter tone of your text's colour
- In the image window, go to edit > fill with foreground colour
- Go to select > all
- Go to filters > blur > gaussian blur. set the horizontal and vertical values to 10. click ok
- Make the bottom text layer active. (your original full sized text layer)
- Go to filters > map > bump map. In the bump map window under the setting "bump map:", it must show your upper text layer (the lighter tone one that was blurred). Change the depth to 8 and leave all the other settings on default. Click ok
- Delete your upper text layer

Result:

Examples of Combinations

If i think of any more, ill add them

Font used: Planet Kosmos

~Cali

Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

Opacity: Fading your avatar

I will be teaching you how to have 2 of your avatars in one pic with the avatar in the back slightly faded into the background.

first, you will need 2 screenshots of your avatar. these are the two ill be using:

1) Open up your first screenshot in gimp and make the background transparent

2) Go to file > open as layer, and open up your second screenshot as a layer.

3) make the background of your second screenshot transparent as well

if you want, you can move your layers around in your layers dialogue (dialogues > layers) to get the background avatar behind the foreground avatar

4) In you layers dialogue, click on the new layer button and make a new layer. this will be your background. Make it solid (not transparent) and decorate it any way you want

5) Make your background avatar layer (named "Avi BG" in my example) active by clicking on it in the layers dialogue. Click on the Opacity bar in the layers dialogue and drag it to a lesser value. Im going to use an opacity value of 60

6) Add your own final touches and youre done!

The opacity can be changed on any layer. Its useful on shadows and brushes too, not just avatars

~Cali

Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

How to round the corners on your pic (with border):

*All of the layers in your pic must be merged before you start so make sure youre finished with your pic or you have a saved xcf version of it.

1) Open your avi pic or any pic with square corners. Go to select > rounded rectangle. in the window that appears, leave the settings the way they are and click ok. Marching ants should appear on the pic, showing a new selection with rounded corners.

2) Make sure your pic has an alpha channel (layer > transparency > add alpha channel)
Go to select > invert, then go to edit > cut

3) Adding a border:
Go to layer > transparency > alpha to selection. Choose the colour you want for your border and set it as the foreground colour. Open you layers dialogue and create a new transparent layer. Select the transparent layer and go to edit > fill with foreground colour.

4) With the outside of the pic still selected, go to select > shrink. The shrink value i used for mine was 5 pixels. It represents the width of your border.
Go to edit > cut

I made my border look like chrome with another technique (thats a whole different tutorial), and it turned out like this:

~Cali

Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

Gradient Colour Mapping in GIMP

In 12 steps, i will be teaching you how to make an image/background like this:

1 ) Open up a new white document in GIMP. Size doesn't matter (I'm using 160x220px)

2 ) Set your foreground colour to black (#000000) by double clicking on the foreground colour in the gimp window. If you don't know where that is, this pic will help: Click Here

3 ) choose a good brush for backgrounds. Abstract and fractal brushes work well.

4 ) brush over the white layer until it is about half covered in black

5 ) Open the layers dialogue ( dialogues > layers ). In the layers dialogue, click on the duplicate layer button. it looks like this:

you should now have two identical layers

6 ) select the first layer in the layers dialogue

7 ) in the main gimp window, change your foreground and background colours (by double clicking on them) to the two colours you want to use on your background.

im using #ff0000 and #ffa800

8 ) in the main gimp window, click on the gradient tool

click on the small picture beside "Gradient:" and select "FG to BG (RBG)" on the drop down menu

9 ) go back to your pic and right click on it. select colours > map > gradient map

your pic should look something like this:

10 ) go back to your layers dialogue and select the first layer (the one with colour on it)

11 ) click on the drop down arrow beside where it says "Mode:" at the top of the dialogue. change the layer mode to overlay

12 ) if the colour is too faded like in the image above, you can duplicate the overlay layer

you may have already figured out that when you use the colour gradient map, the black part becomes your foreground colour and the white part becomes your background colour. feel free to play around with it.

~Cali

Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

Blinking/Winking Avatar Animation:

for my pic, i took two separate screenshots. the first was a pic of my avatar with its eyes closed and the second was a pic of my avatar with its eyes open (you can get a pic of your avatar with closed eyes by typing in the blink trigger word in the chat window). open the open eyes pic in gimp and go to file > open as layers to open your closed eye pic as a layer.
If you dont want to do that, you can take a screenshot of your avatar with its eyes open, duplicate the layer of that pic in gimp, and colour in the eyes of your avatar on one of the layers.

follow the animation steps listed in my first post of this topic.

When you optimize your pic for gif, each layer of the pic becomes a frame. Open your layers dialogue. Notice that once the pic is a gif, there are numbers that appear beside each layer name in the list. The default number is 100ms. If a frame has 100ms written beside it's layer name, it means that the frame will appear for 100 milliseconds when played back as animation. Here is an example:

the layer dialogue for the above pic looks like this:

Now if you wanted to make the "open eyes" layer appear longer, double click on that layer in the layers dialogue. Change the number "100ms" to something higher. Im going to use 1000ms

The blinking animation is now more realistic. You can play around wit it and add more layers to get the animation you want. heres what mine looked like when it was finished:

*when you play the animation back, it will always start the animation on the second layer in your layers dialogue.

~Cali

Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

*IMPORTANT: credit goes to littleem from gimptalk.com for creating the tutorial from which i originally learned this effect. [ Tutorial ]. In the tutorial I've posted here, all the words and images are my own. I separated the chrome effect instructions from littleem's tutorial and rewrote them so theyre easier to understand and easily accessible

1 ) Open up a new pic with a transparent background. any size will do.

2 ) Change your foreground colour to #909090. select the brush or text tool and use it to add a simple image (whatever you want to be chrome) to the transparent layer in the 909090 grey colour.

3 ) Go to layer > transparency > alpha to selection

4 ) Set your background colour to white. Create a new transparent layer above your existing layer and make it active by clicking on it in the layers dialogue. Go to edit > fill with background colour

my layers dialogue:

5 ) Go to select > all

6 ) Got filters > blur > Gaussian blur. set both the horizontal and vertical pixel values to 8 and click ok

7 ) Make your grey layer active by clicking on it in the layers dialogue (the second layer down). Go to filters > map > bump map. In the bump map window, change the depth to 8 and click ok. Delete your white layer.

8 ) Go to colours > curves. In the curves window, drag the line with your mouse and make it look like this:

final pic:
(sorry, the white in the chrome kind of blends in with the white background)

~Cali

Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

This tutorial will teach you how to combine two avatars together and split them in two halves with a lightning bolt. You have to take two screenshots of your avatar wearing different outfits, but first you must decide what your avi is going to wear. You should keep the head, top, hairstyle, bottoms, and necklaces (as well as any accessories that go across the middle of your avi) the same in both of the screenshots. It looks good if you change things like hair colour, accessories, skin, gloves, eyes, etc. Im going to use these two avatars:

1 ) Create your first outfit and save it as an outfit by typing "*saveOutfit" (no quotations) in the chat window. Create your second outfit and save it as well. This isnt necessary but it saves a lot of time.

2 ) Position your avatar the way you want it on a solid colour background for your first screenshot. Take a screenshot and save it in png format. Its very important that you dont change the camera angle or viewpoint on your avi after taking the first screesnhot. just put on your second outfit, pose your avatar again if needed, take another screenshot, and save it in png format.

3 ) Open up screenshot #1 in gimp and make the background transparent. Go to file > open as layers, and open screenshot #2 as a layer. Make the background of screenshot #2 transparent. Both avatars should fit perfectly over each other.

4 ) Select your brush tool and choose a good lightning brush to use for splitting your avi down the middle. If you dont have lightning brushes, you can download some here

5 ) Open your layers dialogue (dialogues > layers) and use the new layer button to create a new transparent layer. move this transparent layer above both your avatar layers. Use the lightning brush to add a black lightning bolt to this layer. Use the move, rotate, and flip tools to position the bolt where you want it.

6 ) Use the eraser tool to erase the parts of the lightning bolt that you dont want on your pic. Im going to erase the second bolt on the right side of my pic.

7 ) Click the eye next to your second avatar layer (the one labeled "Avi 2" on mine) to turn it off for now. Make your first avatar layer active (the one thats labeled "Avi 1" on mine) by clicking on it in the layers dialogue. Use the eraser tool to erase all of this avi on one side of the bolt. You should zoom in so that you can get really close.

8 ) Turn your second avatar layer on by clicking the eye box next to it in the layers dialogue

9 ) In the above pic, see how parts of my furry avi can be seen underneath the human side? (the ear, for example). We need to fix this. Select your second avatar layer in the layers dialogue. Use the eraser tool to erase the showing parts of the second layer underneath the first layer.

10 ) Enhance your avatar any way you want. I chose the enhance each side of mine separately using different layer modes. I did this because the furry side of my avatar is dark and the human side of my avatar is light. i lightened the furry side with screen layers and darkened the human side with overlay layers to equal them out.

11 ) Merge all your avatar layers (everything so far except the bolt) into one layer to make it easier to work with. to do this, just click on an avatar layer and select "merge down".
(optional) Once all my avatar layers are merged, im going to add an unsharp mask to enhance it even more (filters > enhance > unsharp mask).

12 ) If you want, you can add a brush stroke at the base of the bolt to make it look like its crashing down. To do this, just create a new transparent layer above all the other layers and add a brush stroke to it. use the move, rotate, and flip tools to position it in the right place.

13 ) You can now add what ever modifications you want to the three layers you have. I usually like to edit the bolts. Just be creative ^_~

Final pic:

~Cali

Anjoleaque · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 12 Location: USA - RI

THANK YOU*THANK YOU*THANK YOU! I've been looking for tutorials like this for a long time! Very Happy

- Do you have anything on making things twinkle or sparkle? TY hun Smile

Faddism_disabled_13272964 · Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 412 Location: USA - TN

GURL U GUD MAKE M0RE PLLLZZZ
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Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

thanks for the feedback girls! i appreciate it Smile

SoubisSacrifice · Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Posts: 890 Location: USA - NE

I bet a lot of new sticker developers are loving you, Cal. Wink

_________________

Calibun · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Canada

Full Badge Tutorial:

This tutorial shows exaclly how i made the badge above. Everyone has their own way of making badges, so go ahead and change around whatever you want in the tutorial to suit you.

1 ) Take two screenshots of your avatar in different poses. im going to be using these two screenshots:

2 ) open the screenshot that you want to use for the inside of the badge and make its background transparent

i used the move tool to center the part of my avi that i want inside of the badge so i have more room to work with. if you do the same, go to layer > layer to image size after centering your avatar. just a precaution for later on

3 ) Making a circle selection
- Select the "Ellipse Select Tool"

.
- hold down ctrl and drag the ellipse select tool across your pic so that you get a decent sized circle for your badge.
- after making a circular selection, click on the inside of the circle selection and drag it to where you want it on the pic (surrounding your avatar's face)

4 ) go to your layers dialogue (dialogues > layers) and click on the new layer button (bottom left corner) to make a new, transparent layer. use the green arrow buttons at the bottom of the dialogue to move the new, transparent layer below your avatar layer.

5 ) Making the badge shape
- Change your foreground colour (in the main gimp window) to white.
- Make sure your new, transparent layer is active (highlighted in blue in the layers dialogue)
- go to edit > fill with foreground colour

this layer is going to become important because it represents your basic badge shape. its a template to use to select the shape whenever you need it. a less complicated alternative to selection to channel

6 ) Badge Background
- right click on your badge layer (the white circle) in the layers dialogue and select alpha to selection.
- create a new, transparent layer above the badge layer and make it your background.
- you can do whatever you want to this layer (fill with colours or patterns, us brush strokes, etc.), but be sure to only change what is inside of the circle selection.
- if you keep the circle selection active while youre editing the background, it wont let you "go outside the lines" ^_~

after i made the background, i merged all of its layers into a single background layer, as shown above in the layers dialogue

7 ) Adding an outer border
- right click on your badge shape layer in the layers dialogue and select "alpha to selection".
- create a new, transparent layer above your badge background layer.
- change your foreground colour (in the main gimp window) to the colour you want your border to be.
- go to edit > fill with foreground colour.
- go to select > shrink. in the shrink window, use a small pixel value (im using a value of 1).
- go to edit > cut

8 ) Adding an inner border
- right click on your badge shape layer in the layers dialogue and select "alpha to selection".
- create a new, transparent layer above your badge background layer
- change your foreground colour to the colour you want your inner border to be
- go to select > shrink. use a larger pixel value this time. im going to use 15
- go to edit > fill with foreground colour
- go to select > shrink. use a small shrink value. im going to use 1 again
- go to edit > cut
- merge the inner and outer border layers together. (right click on the top one in the layers dialogue and select "merge down")

9 ) Now get rid of the part of your avatar you dont want in the badge.
- right click on your badge shape layer in the layers dialogue and select "alpha to selection".
- go to select > invert
- click on your avatar layer in your layers dialogue so that it becomes active
- use the eraser tool to erase the part of your avatar that isnt inside of the badge. you can leave some parts of your avatar outside of the badge if you want to. it might look good if you do that with the arms or the head

in case you were wondering, the inverted selection was made so that you cant erase any part of the avatar inside of the badge by accident. so you can be sloppy with erasing and it wont matter

10 ) Now that the basic badge part is done, we can add your other avatar screenshot to the outside of it
- go to file > open as layers. choose your second screenshot and open it as a layer
- make the screenshot's background transparent if it isnt already
- use the move tool to move your second avatar into the right position in front of your badge

11 ) Enhance both of your avatars any way you want

12 ) Add text and extra brush strokes if you want. and youre done!

~Cali