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 Post subject: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:35 am  (#1) 
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Christmas Candy Text Effect


When I think about Christmas, among my many wondrous childhood memories is that striped hard candy that inspired this effect. The Python based Layer Effects filter can be used in a very powerful way to achieve those eye popping effects that jump off the page.

I have incorporated some of the techniques found in the MSNBC Style Effect tutorial found here: http://gimp-tutorials.net/gimp_msnbc_effect with a few minor tweaks.

You will need to have Python installed with the Python based Layer Effects filter, and the Glossy Stroke 3D filter. Here are the links.

Python - http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.6/python-2.6.msi
Installing Python - viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2277
Layer Effects - http://gimpscripts.com/2011/10/gimp-layer-effects/
Glossy Stroke 3D - http://gimpscripts.com/2011/10/glossy-stroke-3d/

Once you have Python installed successfully, place the Layer Effects Filter and the Glossy Stroke 3D filter in your Gimp ‘user’ Plugins folder. If Gimp is already open, go to Filters>Script-fu>Refresh scripts and you are ready to go.

Step 1.
Open a new image 500 x 250 and 72 ppi. Go to View>Zoom In to change your view setting to 150%.

Step 2.
Place a Vertical guide in the center at 250 pixels and a horizontal guide at 125 pixels. Set your FG color to 8875FF and your BG color to black (000000). Select the Blend tool and in the tool dialog set the gradient to FG to BG and the Shape to Radial.

Place your cursor in the center of your image at the intersection of the two guides and stroke outward to one of the corners to apply the gradient.

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Step 3.
Go to View>Guides and uncheck the box next to Show Guides to turn them off. Create a new White layer and name it “Clouds”. Go to Filters>Render>Clouds>Difference Clouds and use the settings shown below. You can click on the ‘Seed’ button a few times if you like to get a more even distribution of light and dark areas. Or you can just enter the same number I used where it says Random Seed.

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Unless you used the exact same seed that I used, the results will vary, but you should still get something like this.

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Step 4.
Create a new transparent layer above this one and call it “Gradient”. Select the Blend tool and in the tool dialog select the “Full saturation spectrum CW” gradient and set the Shape back to Linear.

With the Gradient layer selected, make a horizontal stroke from left to right using the control key to get it perfectly straight and horizontal. Set the layer Mode to Overlay and your image should now look like this.

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Step 5.
We need to darken our image a bit for our purposes so select the Clouds layer and go to Colors>Levels and set the middle Output value to .50.

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Now our image is a little darker and the colors more intense.

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Step 6.
Go to Filters>Enhance>Unsharp Mask and use the settings shown below.

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Now our image is really sharp and bright!

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Step 7.
Right click on the Gradient layer and select Merge Down. Next, set your FG color to a medium gray like 919191. Select the text tool and in the tool dialog select a nice fat, rounded font. I’m using the Anja Eliaine font available at Dafont.com and other font sites.

Set the size to 180 pixels and type in some text. I’m using the word “GIMP” so if you use something with more characters you may have to reduce the size of the font to fit the image.

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Step 8.
Move the text layer directly below the Clouds layer in the layers dialog, then right click on your text layer and choose Alpha to Selection. Go to Select>Invert then reselect the Clouds layer and hit the Delete key on your keyboard to remove everything outside the selection.

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Go to Select>None to turn off the selection and now we can start to work some magic. It takes quite a while to really get to know all the filters included with Layer Effects but as you will see, the results are well worth the time and effort required.

Step 9.
First, let’s right click on the Clouds layer and select Merge Down. Now, go to Layer>Layer Effects>Inner Shadow and enter the settings shown below.

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There are several values to enter so make sure to check them all carefully before you click OK.

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Step 10.
Right click on the inner shadow layer and select Merge Down. Next, go to Layer>Layer Effects>Bevel and Emboss and enter the settings shown below.

Again, very carefully check to make sure you have everything exactly right before you click OK.

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The filter will create two new layers for highlight and shadow. Select the shadow layer and go to Layer>Merge Down, then select the highlight layer and go to Layer>Merge Down.

Step 11.
Right click on the text layer and choose Alpha to Selection. Go to Filters>Light and Shadow>Glossy Stroke 3D and in the filter dialog, click on the color at the top and it will bring up the Color Picker dialog. Set the color to white (FFFFFF) and the Selection to Fill. You have the option for selecting a stroking brush but we’ll just use the default circle brush for our purposes. There are several other settings you can adjust but the only other things we will change is the 3D amount and the Light height. Set the 3D amount to 9 and .2 for the Light height. The light color should already be white by default, if not make it so.

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When you have everything set, click OK and the filter will create five new layers for you.

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The first thing you will notice is that your text looks white and you can’t see all those beautiful layers we made. Not to worry. Turn off the visibility of the layer named “stroke-layer”, or just delete it altogether, and you’ll be able to see the results of the filter.

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You will notice there are some residual artifacts or little white ghosts at the top around some of the letters. Since our selection is still active, go to Select>Invert and select the “glossy-layer” and hit your Delete key to remove the artifacts.

Step 12.
Turn off the selection (Select>None) and all we have left to do is make a few minor adjustments to our image. Since our background is rather dark, select the Drop Shadow layer and raise the Opacity to 100%, then go to Layer>Layer to Image Size. Move this layer down directly underneath the text layer in the layer stack.

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There is one last thing you may want to consider. There are two volume layers which are both set to Overlay. These layers add the blurred white center area that adds some additional gloss and brightens up the center area of the letters to make it appear to be glowing from the inside.

This is entirely up to you and whatever you think looks best, but you can change the Mode, Opacity or maybe just turn off one of the layers to see the different effects.

Whenever you decide which combination looks best to you, save your image, and I always save the xcf file as well just in case you want to change something later like increasing the inner shadow opacity for instance.

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Now we can have a little fun. If you want see something cool, duplicate the text layer and lock the alpha channel. Fill it with your favorite color and watch what happens. Bingo! Plastic text.

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Did I mention you can also fill it with your favorite texture?

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Maybe you want it to look like some shiny Green clay?

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Oh and I almost forgot, has anyone ever hinted around to you that I like metal too……

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I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Explore the Layer Effects filter. You’ll be glad you did!


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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 10:25 am  (#2) 
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Cool tut Drac; now automate it. lol

Just kidding. ;)

Not a coder either. :)

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:07 am  (#3) 
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I had all kinds of fun trying different bgs, different layer modes, and finally I just saved one of them.
Thanks for the excellently written tutorial Drac.

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Font is Thickhead
http://www.dafont.com/thickhead.font

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:12 am  (#4) 
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Great tutorial, Draconian!

Gotta give it a try. The results look very impressive!


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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 12:48 pm  (#5) 
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Lyle - I'll leave that to script-meister Graechan. This is what prompted the plastic or Glass script. All ya gotta do is apply the script to a striped background and pretty much get the same thing.

O - That looks excellent. Love the multicolor and the soft gradient-glow effect. Care to share what you did?

Kit - It is fun, just look at what O did just playin' around with it!

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 1:14 pm  (#6) 
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Draconian wrote:
O - That looks excellent. Love the multicolor and the soft gradient-glow effect. Care to share what you did?
I didn't do a whole lot to it. I saved the alpha to selection of my text as a path in case I might need it farther down the line.

I made a new layer above the Background layer (blue-black), and did a radial gradient of my rainbow gradient. Activated the text path, inverted it and deleted on the rainbow radial gradient. That's pretty much it.

This one I did using a red and white radial gradient with the repeat set to Triangular wave.
Image

I've attached my rainbow gradient and the xcf file of my results in a zip file.


Attachments:
candy.zip [454.55 KiB]
Downloaded 398 times

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 1:21 pm  (#7) 
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nice tute Drac. thank you

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 1:28 pm  (#8) 
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Wow, Molly. Those are great. :hi5

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 1:32 pm  (#9) 
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Thanks I love your gradient one too. very pretty.

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:42 pm  (#10) 
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everyone: you all just rock! :jumpclap :clap i love all the results and the tutorial, i just spent a ridiculous amount of time playing with this effect and had so much fun in the process. a very versatile technique :).
for once i decided not to try it on paisleys. i made some candy canes which i will save up for possibly making christmas cards from, then one of the gradients i used looked sort of hippyish, so i came to think of the classic hippie flowers and in the end i came up with this:
Attachment:
no candy.png
no candy.png [ 455.36 KiB | Viewed 13598 times ]


p.s. molly: i really love your glittery and shiny ones! the purple one looks just like glitter glue.

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:49 pm  (#11) 
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Very good tutorial!
I love all the work you guys have done :paint

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 3:04 pm  (#12) 
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Thanks YAFU.

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 5:59 pm  (#13) 
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AnMal, I love your hippy flowers. Frodo lives!!!

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 6:10 pm  (#14) 
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Thanks for the tip O. I also snagged the gradient but I'll have to check it out tomorrow. I made some of my 7 layer crock pot lasagna and I can't wait to dig in!

Molly - I really love the glitter and sparks variations. Nice job!

AnMal - Told-ja it was fun. Flowers took me back.

Great job everyone! I love it when people don't just try the tutorial but get really creative with it too.

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 6:48 pm  (#15) 
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Draconian wrote:
I made some of my 7 layer crock pot lasagna and I can't wait to dig in!
Will you share your recipe over in Off Topic Chit-Chat? Sounds good.

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:31 pm  (#16) 
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hm, i pretty much failed with this tutorial

first i tried the word 'Fatty!' because thats what i associate with all the candy and gloss, but it didnt look good

next i did this version but the gloss does not look very good, i think
i used the Blue Drops pattern again, but it doesnt look greasy at all :hehe

sorry master, i failed you, i made pink metal instead of candy :(
Attachment:
Grease.png
Grease.png [ 103.92 KiB | Viewed 2269 times ]


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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:07 pm  (#17) 
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I haven't installed the layer effects scripts yet but have had a play in turning your Candy Stripe pattern into a gradient, here is the result...

Image

And here is the attached gradient


Attachments:
Candy-Stripe-00.ggr [26.68 KiB]
Downloaded 173 times

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:13 pm  (#18) 
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wow he4rty, how did you achieve that ??


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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:22 pm  (#19) 
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Theres this really neat script Sample a Gradient along Path, that help you to create gradients in seconds.

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 Post subject: Re: Christmas Candy Text Effect
PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 4:26 am  (#20) 
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Esper, I really like that look you achieved.

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