Here is what will be created during the tutorial:







In Gimp, open a New 400x400 image by selecting from any Gimp Image window:

File | New



Save your new image as binder.xcf into a working folder of your choice.

From the new image add a New Layer either from the New Layer button at the bottom of the Layer Dialog window or by selecting

Layer | New Layer

In the New Layer Dialog window that opens, rename the New Layer to Binder Left:



In the Gimp Toolbox Window, click on the Color Dialog:



The Foreground Color Select Dialog window will open. Set the HTML Notation to a value of aa0000 (see below) then click the Enter key:



Click OK.

Make sure that the Binder Left layer is selected in your Layers Dialog window. Then fill the layer with color aa0000. I usually just place my mouse cursor on the Color Dialog in the main Gimp Toolbox window then Click+Drag to the image window and then release the mouse button to fill the layer. If that does not work for you, please use the Bucket Fill Tool:



Make sure the set your options for the Bucket Fill Tool as shown above in the Tool Options Dialog showing for that tool.

Then from your image window select:

Filters | Map | Map Object
In the Map Object dialog window that opens, there are several tabbed sections. In the Options tab, select Box for the Map To type. Also select Transparent background:



In the Orientation Tab, set the Y Rotation Value to -45.0 degrees (that's minus 45.0 degrees):



In the Box tab, make sure all of the six sides of the box are set to the Binder Left Layer. Set the Scale X value to 0.80 and the Z value to 0.05. The Y value remains unchanged:



If you click on the Preview button after changing the various settings indicated above, you should see a result like above.

Click OK

Add another New Layer (Layer | New Layer) and name it Binder Right.

Fill it with color aa0000, the same as was done for the Binder Left layer.

Then select Filters | Map | Map Object

This time, when the Map Object Dialog window opens, first go to the Box tab and make sure that the six values for the faces of the box are all set to Binder Right.
In the Orientation tab, change the Y Rotation value to 30.0 degrees.

Click OK.

Position your cursor over the vertical ruler at the left side of your image window. Then Click+Drag a Vertical Guide Line out to position 200:



If you look at the bottom of the image above, it tells you where your guide line is positioned. When it shows 200 as above, release your mouse button. You will now have a vertical guide line at position 200 in the image window.

By default, usually Gimp is set to Snap To Guides. To make sure the is set correctly for you, click on View in the Image Window and make sure Snap To Guides has a check mark beside it.

Select the Rectangle Select Tool.

With your mouse cursor placed towards the upper left of the image canvas (the actual image), Click+Drag your mouse down towards the lower left corner and then over to the vertical guide. You should detect it wanting to “stick” to the vertical guide. If all went well, you should have a selection something like this:



Note how the right side of the selection above is on the vertical guide.

Check your Layers Dialog window and make sure that Binder Right is the selected Layer.

Then select:

Edit | Cut

Your image window should look like this now:



Before proceeding you may wish to Save your work thus far. (File | Save)



Add a New Layer (Layer | New Layer) and name it Empty.

Add another New Layer (Layer | New Layer) and name it Ring.

Change your Foreground Color to bbbab5, which is a light Greyish color.

Fill your Ring layer with that color.

Run Map Object (Filters | Map | Map Object)

In the Options tab, change the Map to value to: Cylinder
In the Cylinder tab, set the Top and Bottom to be mapped to the Empty layer. Set the Radius value to 0.05 and the Length value to 0.04.
Click OK

You should now see a little binder ring in the center of your image:



What we are going to do now is create a total of four (4) copies of the Ring layer and then move them above and below the original ring to have five fairly evenly spaced rings in the binder.

Duplicate the Ring layer once either using the Duplicate Layer button at the bottom of the Layers Dialog window or by selecting Layer | Duplicate Layer.

Select the Move Tool from the main Gimp Toolbox window:



Set the Tool Options for the Move Tool as follows:
Set Move to affect the Layer
Set Tool Toggle to Move the active layer:



Move the ring in the Ring Copy layer towards the top of the binder. It should remain centered along the vertical guide as you move it. If it goes off center as you drag it, just move it towards the vertical guide line and it should eventually snap on to that line.

Go back and Duplicate the Ring Copy layer now.

Select the Move Tool and move the Ring Copy #1 ring evenly between the middle and upper ring.

Duplicate Ring Copy #1.

Use the Move Tool to move the ring in Ring Copy #2 toward the bottom of the binder.

Duplicate Ring Copy #2.

Use the Move Tool to move the ring in Ring Copy #3 between the bottom ring and the middle ring.

If all went well, you should see something like the following in your image window:



In your Layers Dialog window select the Ring layer then Shift+Click on the Eyeball icon on the Ring layer. This will make only the Ring layer visible. Now, click on the left side of each of the other Ring Copy layers to make them visible:



The rings may look off center above, but that is just because of how I cropped the image for this screenshot. They will be vertically centered in the image.

Now right-click on one of the Ring layers and select:

Merge Visible Layers

In the Dialog Window that opens, select:

Clipped To Image

This will create a single layer the size of the image. It should name the remaining layer Ring, but if it doesn't, please rename it to Ring. You can do this by either double-clicking on the layer name in the Layers Dialog window, or by selecting the Layer in the Layers Dialog window and right-clicking on it and selecting:

Edit Layer Attributes (a little Dialog box will open and you can change the Layer name)

For the time being turn off the visibility of the Ring layer.

Again, before proceeding forward, please save your work (File | Save)



Add a New Layer (Layer | New Layer) and name it Cutout

Fill it with color aa0000.

Run Map Object (Filters | Map | Map Object)

In the Map Object Dialog window, make sure that in the Box tab all of six sides of the square are set to be mapped to the Cutout layer.

In the Orientation tab, set the Y Rotation value to 0.0

Click OK.

Go to your Layers Dialog window and first make sure that Cutout is the selected layer, right-click on it and from the menu that opens select:

Alpha to Selection



You should see the reddish box of your Cutout layer completely selected now as shown above.

Add a New Layer (Layer | New Layer) and name it Page Left.

Select the Rectangle Select Tool.

Place your mouse cursor somewhere inside of the selection and Left-Click once. You should now see the Rectangle Select Tool envelope active about the selection:



If you move your cursor over and in between the two green squares on the right side of the selection, you will see your mouse cursor go from a four way arrow to a little triangle as below:



Inside the green square above is how your cursor will appear. At this point with your mouse Click+Drag to the left, moving the right side of the selection to the left until the right side of the selection is on the vertical guide:



You will end up with the selection as shown above.

Set your Foreground Color to White (HTML Notation value of ffffff).

Fill the Selection with white, either by dragging the Foreground Color from the Color Dialog on the main Gimp Toolbox window or by using the Bucket Fill Tool.

Add a New Layer (Layer | New Layer) and name it Page Right.

From the Gimp Toolbox window, select the Flip Tool:



The Flip Tool is highlighted above in Red.

For the Tool Options Dialog window set the tool to Affect the Selection and Fill Type set to Horizontal:



Place your mouse cursor inside the image and Left-Click once. The original selection should now be flipped on to the right side of the screen:



Now, check your Layers Dialog window and make sure that Page Right is the selected Layer.

Fill the selection with color White.

Then select Select | None

In the Layers Dialog window, select the Ring layer, make it visible, and then right-click on it and select:

Alpha To Selection

Then select

Select | Grow and set the value to 2 in the Dialog box that opens.

Click OK.

Select the Page Left layer and select:

Edit | Cut

Select the Page Right Layer and again select:

Edit | Cut

Then select:

Select | None

In the Layers Dialog window, move the Ring layer right below both of the Page Left and Page Right layers.

At this point, if you wish to add Text or Graphics inside the white portions of Page Left and Page Right, feel free. Please make sure that you Merge Down any graphics and text on to the appropriate Page Left or Page Right layers before proceeding.

Go to your Layers Dialog window and select the Page Left layer.

Select

Filters | Map | Map Object

In the Map Object Dialog window adjust the following:
In the Options tab, change the Map to value to: Plane.
In the Light tab, change the Lightsource type to: No Light
In the Orientation tab, change the Y Rotation value to 60.0 degrees.
Then click OK.

At this point, go into your Layers Dialog window and turn off visibility (click the eyeball icons) for the Cutout layer and turn on visibility for the Binder Left and Binder Right layers by activating the eyeball icons for those two layers. Once that is done, you should see the following in your image window if all went well with the Map Object function above:



Go to your Layers Dialog window and select the Page Right layer.

Then select

Filters | Map | Map Object

Go into the Orientation tab and change the Y Rotation value to -45.0 degrees (minus 45.0)

Click OK.

In the Layers Dialog window, select the Background layer, fill it with color Black. Then select:

Select | All

Then select Select | Shrink

Set the value to 20 and click OK.

Fill the selection with a light grey color bbbab5.

Then do:

Select | None

Save your binder.xcf file. Then you may wish to save it in another image format, perhaps PNG, or the format of your choice.

Included is a PDF file of the tutorial as well.

Finally, if you have any questions or problems following the tutorial, please feel free to comment so that I can address the issues both here and in the tutorial itself. Thank you.


Thank you for checking out this tutorial.

LOL, just as I was remarking about your images in Gimp Art, you submit the tutorial. Cool, thank you! And thanks for the pdf!

You're welcome O. I have now posted both the full tutorial and the PDF of the tutorial. I'm glad mahvin (thanks mahvin ) had mentioned before about the PDF file, since it's a great way to save tutorials including images, especially when an image server goes down or just plain stops operating, making many tutorials difficult or impossible to follow otherwise.

I have a lot of my tutorials saved locally in Open Document format, so some day, time permitting, I can export them into PDF files and then post them.

That's great. I like pdf files because they can be printed. It also preserves the images. I'm looking forward to your tutorials. You make them so easy to follow. Thank you!

Great tutorial. When I have the time I will follow it. I don't do much with map object so it will be good practice.

Here is my binder. Excellent tutorial. Everything is very clear about how to do it. Thank you for this tutorial, ccbarr.

@jolie Thanks for your comment.

@O Thanks for trying out the tutorial. Cool result. You always take my tutorials to the next level of creativity, which is nice to see.

This is my try at your expertly written tutorial ccbarr. I will fill the blank pages in later. I just wanted to see how it turned out.
Thank you so much..

That is very nice "O"