What is an animated brush? An animated brush shows different views of the brush when you paint with it.
Press Ctrl + Shift + B to open the brush dialog window. Brushes that have a very small red triangle on the bottom right corner are animated brushes. To see one in action, find the Sparks brush. Put the mouse pointer over it and press and hold down the left mouse button. You can see the brush go through it's various views like an animation. If you do the same thing with a brush with a black + only you will not see any action. Close the Brushes dialog window by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner of the window.
All animated brush files have a .gih extension.
Start with a new image, 300 x 300 and fill the Background layer with white. You can make your new image any size, but it must be square: Width = Height. Make a new transparent layer and name it shape#1.
Choose a dingbat from a font if you wish or make any shape. I chose to make my own shape using the paths tool and made a kind of funky star. Press the B key to select the Paths Tool. Click the left mouse button around to make the shape. When you have all the control points you want, hold down the Ctrl key and click in the first control point to close the path. You can move the control points around to improve your shape.
Press the B key and your path control points will disappear.
Select > From Path. You will see your shape surrounded by marching ants. Fill the selection with the color of your choice.
Select > Unselect.
You need to center your shape exactly. Layer > Autocrop Layer. You will see the layer boundary around your shape.
Click the Alignment tool and click within the layer boundary of your shape. You will see little black solid squares in each corner. Click the Center and Middle buttons in the Alignment Tool options to center your shape.
- Layer > Layer to Image Size.
- Duplicate your shape#1 layer to make shape#2.
- Layer > Transform > Rotate 90° clockwise.
- Duplicate shape#2 layer to make shape#3.
- Layer > Transform > Rotate 90° clockwise.
- Duplicate shape #3 layer to make shape#4.
- Layer > Transform > Rotate 90° clockwise.
- You now have 4 layers.
- Delete the white Background layer.
Then:- Edit > Copy Visible
- Edit > Paste As > New Layer
- You will have a fifth layer named Clipboard.
- Make sure the Clipboard layer is selected.
- Image > Autocrop.
- Delete the Clipboard layer.
Now you are ready to save your layers as an animated brush.
File > Export. In the Name window, name your brush:
funkystar.gih (choose your own name for your brush but be sure to put the gih extension on it). Browse to your /.gimp-2.6 / brushes folder and click the Save button.
You will get the brush save dialog.
- Spacing (percent) 100
- Description: Name that will appear in the brushes dialog.
- Cell size: Size of the cropped image. Automatic.
- Number of cells: = Number of layers. Also automatic.
- Ranks: Number of layers. Not automatic, you need to enter that value. The dropdown says Random. You can choose that or click the dropdown arrow and choose Incremental. Random makes your shape paint in random rotations; incremental makes it paint in the order of the layers.
- Click the Save button.
- Close the brush image.
You are finished.
Ctrl + Shift + B to open the Brushes dialog. Press the Refresh icon at the bottom. Your brush is installed and visible in your brushes options in the toolbox. Find the shape you made in the Brushes dialog and click and hold the left mouse button and you can see it in motion.
Close the brushes dialog.
You are ready to paint with your new brush.
If you would like the brush I made with this tutorial you can download the attached file.
4/20/2015: File > Save As was changed to File > Export due to updates in GIMP.