Ok, so I've been working through some of the tutorials posted here lately and I have to say I cringe when its mentioned about using the brush tool to add an effect, I just know I'll spend hours brushing and deleting because I just can't find that happy medium, so I try to create things with having to resort to the brush tool.

This is my version of creating text topped with snow, If you haven't already download it you'll need my felt 02 texture and place it into your pattern folder, I'll included it again at the end of this tutorial. Here is what we are trying to achieve



Step 1

Open a new Layer 512px * 512px and fill with Black

Step 2
select the text tool and enter some text, I'm using "Sans Bold" set at "150px" with the Colour set to "8b0000"

Step 3
Centre your text to Image and go Layer>Layer to Image Size.



Step 4

Make sure Text Layer is Selected and go Layer>Transparency>Alpha to Selection

Step 5

Create a new Transparent Layer called "Snow Template" and fill selection with White, Keep selection on.

Step 6

Go Layer>Transform>Offset and offset Y value by -10, click offset



Step 7

Go Edit>Clear then Select>None, your image should be the similar to this



Step 8

With your Snow Template Layer selected go Layer>Transparency>Alpha to Selection

Step 9

Go Selection>Distort and change Spread value to 2, click OK.



Step 10

Turn off Snow Template Layer and create a new Layer Called "Snow Topping", Select this layer and fill Selection with Colour f3f3ff, Go Select>None



Step 11

Still with "Snow Topping" Layer Selected Go Filter>Blur>Gaussians Blurr and set X & Y to 15



Step 12

Select the Colour select tool from toolbox and set threshold to 25, then click on Transparent part of layer to create a selection. Go Select>Invert then Fill the selection with our previous colour f3f3ff, Don't Remove Selection Just Yet.



Step 13

Create a New Layer and call it "Snow Topping Shadow", Choose this Layer and fill Selection with Colour c3c3cf. Go Layer>Transform>Offset and set Y value to 5, click O.K. Then Go Edit>Clear, Then Go Layer>Transform>Offset and set Y value to -5, Then Go Filter>Blur>Gaussians Blurr and set X & Y to 5, Finally go Select>None.



So you should have something similar to the above, a fairly reasonable snow covered text. Now to create a lazy snowy Background.

Step 14

Select the Layer Name "Background" then Create a new Layer Called "Snow Colour" Fill with our light blue Colour f3f3ff, this layer should be just above your Black Background But Below your Text Layers.
Create a New Transparent Layer just above the "Snow Colour" layer and call it "Snow Texture".

Step 15

Choose the Layer "Snow Texture" and go Filters>Render>Clouds>Solid Noise, Click Randomise if you want but crank the Y value all the way up to 16.



Step 16

Go Filters Edge-Detect>Edge and run the default settings



Then Go Colours>Invert, Set Layer Mode to Multiply and change Opacity to 25



Step 17

Create a new Transparent Layer Just above the layer Named "Snow Texture" and Call it "Snow Background Template", on this layer Create a Square selection covering the bottom two thirds of the layer and fill with Black.



Then Go Select>None.

Step 18

Still with this layer choosen go Filters>Distort>Iwarp, Tick the Move option and change the Deform Radius to 50, then Click and hold the left Mouse button and move from left to right in a diagonal saw tooth type motion. The White Line in the Image below is just to give an idea off the movement I made.



Click O.K.

Step 19

Using the Colour Select tool, select the transparent part of the layer "Snow Background Template", Turn off Layer. then Choose the layer "Snow Texture" and Go Edit>Clear, then Choose the Layer "Snow Colour" and Go Edit>Clear, then Go Select>None.



Step 20

Finally, the bit you've all been waiting for, how am I going to use my Felt texture.

Step 21

Create a New Transparent Layer on top of all the others and call it "Snow Fall", Choose this Layer and fill with the Felt 02 Texture.

Step 22

Go Colours Threshold and adjust the Black slider to about 75, click O.K



Step 23

Go Filters>Blur>Gaussians Blur set X & Y to 5 and click O.K

Step 24

Go Layer>Transparency>Colour to Alpha, set Colour to Black and click O.K, Finally Duplicate your "Snow Fall" Layer Just to enhance the Snow a bit more.

Not usually enthralled with the results on snow tutorials. It never seems to look real.

Gave this a shot though ... probably should have used a higher contrast color for the lettering.

Nice tutorial.

Mike - Nice results.

he4rty: yay! even more snow to try - thank you, thank you !
unlike mike i don't have a problem with snow effects looking unrealistic - just as long as they have give me a feeling of snow and winter i will love them. just a question, though: did the iwarp filter make those jagged edges in the snow contour?

awesome, how do you come up with such technical solutions ?

AnMal - Yes I think it did, maybe should of done a blur on the that layer after running the Iwarp filter and before doing the selection.

Esper - Its just a combination of techniques learnt from various tutorials and from sometimes just loading up gimp and playing.

I think the snow on the lettering would possibly benefit from a highlight colour fbfbff, similar to how the shadow was done but in the reverse direction, also maybe blurring the snow on top of the letters and maybe adding a drop shadow to it but cutting it so it only shows on the letters.

Here are the changes

he4rty: the snow line looks a lot better now! i think i preferred the snow topping without the highlights, though. well, i guess i'll have to experiment a bit when i finally get the time to try this myself .

Thanks, I think with anything it all comes down to personnel taste in the end and the purpose of a tutorial is just to try and nudge you in a direction of one way an effect can be obtained.

Nice results he4rty.

i don't have time for things like this, but i decided snow couldn't wait so i did this anyway:

i pretty much just did what the tutorial said, but i kept the solid noise down a little because that made softer snow drifts. then i added some more snow behind the text just because i couldn't get enough snow, and airbrushed in a few small changes in the shadow on the snow topping so it looked a little less perfect.

AnMal - Thats really nice, like how you've done the letters and the extra tweaks to the snow.

Anmal...about that shiny metallic looking text...is that a logo or a tutorial or a script?

he4rty: thank you! it was a fun tutorial to follow and lots of room for experiments, so i will probably experiment a lot more when i have the time for it.
2-ton: actually none of the above. i just experimented . i don't even remember how i did it - at some point erisian's glass text and one of draconian's chrome curves was involved, but i'd have to do some xcf archaeology to find out how.

I like this. I like the effect. I used it for a holiday graphic I made for a few friends. Added a snowman brush I found for GIMP some time back, and it was perfect.

Glad it was helpful, would love to see the pic if you don't mind posting it.

Here's what I did with this.