It all started with this thread viewtopic.php?f=11&t=18573
where there is some nice text effect, but the thread is not meant to "teach" how members did it, thus I was wondering how they did it and tried to do it as an exercise and as @sallyanne wrote when starting this thread (although the thread took a different direction)


What I will do here, is to tell you how I think the OP (Original Poster) did it, or at least it will be how I did it.
If you are the OP and did use a different method, please feel free to add it, it would be interesting to know how far or closed I was.

If someone has a faster, simpler, or just a different method, please share as well, it's always interesting to know that there is multiple ways.

Without any further do, let's get started

teapot's #207 was the very first text effects I wanted to try out, I told myself "wow, I need to know how to do it".

New Layer
Drag'n drop pattern "Warning!(20x20)"
Drag a guide down from the top
Unified Transform tool > Rotate to align to the guide horizontally > Once aligned stretch the layer on each side to cover most of the image with the same transform tool, then hit Enter
Filters > Color to Alpha > Select color black
EDIT: See ofnuts solution at post #2 > Filters > Render > Pattern > Grid (Line width = 0)

New Layer
Text tool > GIMP
Alpha to selection
Select > grow (as you wish)
Select > selection to path or Channel (in case we need that selection later, it's always a good practice to back up your selections)
Select/Click on the layer with the pattern "Warning!" that you have stretched out
EDIT: ofnuts' solution at post #2 goes here > Filters > Render > Pattern > Grid (Line width = 0)
Select > Invert > hit that Delete key
Select > none
Filters > Render > 3D extrusion... (my settings which are different from @teapot)


Filters > Blur > Selective Gaussian Blur / or Mean curvature blur (optional and very low setting like 1 or 2, but it helps to smooth out the extrusion)
Filters > Light and shadow > Long shadow > Select "Fading fixed length"

In this Background, I did put a gradient called "Greens" in case you're interested

Final result




To Be Continued...

IMHO much simpler to use "Filters > Render > Pattern > Grid" on the layer mask

Yeees! That's a very good one, thanks a lot ofnuts.
Using the Grid is way more clean as well(lines are sharper and smoother).

Actually it was quite awhile ago now and I don't know if I could repeat all the steps. But I did not use extrude in that one - but long shadow, fixed length, not too long. The pattern on it was just a 'brick' overlay and I used lava in the text pattern there somewhere. I may have also doubled the layer and used dissolve mode on it to get a noisy effect around the edges especially. (Works best when there is a layer part transparent)

Hi @sallyanne,
I'm speaking about teapot's post #207 text effect

Glad you like


You are very close

On the stripes I like ofnuts' use of the grid but another way that I happened to use for this text is a simple pattern that I'd made before, it's tiny but it's here:



I didn't do any blur to smooth out the extrusion.

The main point where we differ is I have some light shading on the tops of the stripes and you don't:



I think the reason is after running the 3D extrusion I just had the Extrusion layer visible and not the input layer too or maybe it just doesn't show up on your lighter text.

The extrusion settings were all default except:
Extrusion depth: 15
Extrusion direction: 45

"light shading on the tops of the stripes" I see now, it gives a better look
Thanks a lot teapot for your input and providing the pattern

I thought to do it in diagonal shape. Thanks to you all.
I added a bit od Gaussian blur to extrusion.

Nice text Issabella

Issabella, nice one
teapot, lovely variation (and now I'm wondering how you put the green in the middle )

Trying to decode oldmangrumpy post #205

What intrigues me there, was those red outlined "tubes" on a white surface.
Looking closely we can see that there are also some black stripes on it and even some "white glow" on some of them on the left side of each letters and a green "gutter" below on the right ones and the top ones.

For the dark stripes (and may be the white "glow"), it appears to be a conjunction between those 2 settings (see image below).


Yes, the red dots have some black around and inside on the OMG's image, but they are inconsistent from 1 dot to another, the green gutter as well. Adding to that, the thin black line between red tubes around the edges... All of this is leading me to a "Bump map" or some sort.

I feel that after extrusion there was quite some processing like contrast/levels/filters/and so... which I will not try to decipher as my primary interest is those "tubes" edging the letters and I think it's a script which made these holes in the letters something like "chisel or carve", also there is a "glitch" inside the letter "e" which tells me that OMG might have used a mask/selection or erase something inside that letter "e".

Anyway, there is a lot of thing going on, on this one, and let's face it, I'm not able to decipher everything on that one, so for the sake of simplicity, I will keep it as simple as possible and just try to find out how could those red "tubes" have been made.

Without any further do, let's start

New doc:
First Prepare the brush:
PaintBrush "2. Hardness 075" (it's the default one) > Size 13-15 / Spacing ~200 / Hardness 90 / Force 90 /
Set the active ForeGround (FG) to white, and the active BackGround (BG) to red
Once it's done

Text tool > Write GIMP size around 400 (font used in this exercise is: Chancery Uralic Italic)
Right click on layer > Alpha to selection

New Layer (name it "base")
Drag 'n Drop the white FG inside the selection
Select > Selection to Path (we will use it later on)
Hit the X key to switch FG <-> BG

From here 2 ways (or "paths" if you prefer ) depending what you will see later on..

Solution 1)
Edit > Stroke selection > use the Paintbrush
If you see too much of these (see screenshot below, red dot "glued" together) -> Ctrl+Z and Adjust the brush Spacing +/- and re-do it, or go to solution 2)
Select > None


Solution 2)
Select > None
Edit > Stroke Path > use the Paintbrush, then like in solution 1) adjust the brush spacing if too much dots are glued together, but if solution 1) does not work well, here it should be way better.
Once it's done (you have red dots all around letters)
Duplicate that layer, name it "white bump"
Filter / Render / 3D extrusion
You might want to lower "Bump Azimuth", anyway do as you wish


After extrusion the layer #extrusion is automatically selected -> Re-select "White bump" just above.
Filter > Map > Bump Map > aux input itself (white bump), type linear, Invert is ticked (compensate and tiled are un-ticked), azimuth 135, elevation 45, depth 15, waterlevel 0.424, ambient lighting factor 0.579

Once the bump map is done:
Click on the FG color and change it to an orange one.

Select the layer "base" (duplicate if you wish) and > put it on top of the layer stack.
Fuzzy Select tool (in add mode or stay on the Shift key), feather edge =1 > select the white, then drag 'n drop the orange FG in the selection.
Select > None
Play with the different Layer blending modes > the burn part works well ("Luma darken only", "Burn", "Linear burn") , Grain merge, divide, HSV color, LCh Color...
Try what fits best for you

Result


If you are the OP of this text effect and did use a different method, please feel free to add it, it would be interesting to know how far or closed I was.
If someone has a faster, simpler, or just a different method, please share as well, it's always interesting to know that there are multiple ways.

To be Continued...

Sorry Patrice. Mistook your 'OP'

I could have mistaken it as well, have no worries Sallyanne

Trying Decoding/reproducing Blitghty II #140

At first I thought it was a "rotative" brush stroke along a path, but the letters C, A, and N are not "similar", but exactly the same.
when you stroke a path you won't have the very-same start and ending colors placement like in this case, unless you duplicate them, but no... I don't think it was duplicated.

In the end I told myself, it might be a special font, script or plugin which I don't have, so I'll do it manually.
During my tests, I also discovered a bug certainly introduced in GIMP 2.10.<12 which add some black to the brush edge, but I did found a way to attenuate it. Not perfect but it seems to work.

Without any further do, let's get stated!

1) Create the brush (easy)

New Layer
Ellipse Select tool > Start to make a circle selection then hold the Shift key down for a perfect circle
Drag 'n Drop the white from the ForeGround(FG)/BackGround(BG) inside that selection
Then click on the FG and set it to red, Click on the BG and set it to green

New Layer
Click on the Free Select tool > Mode subtract and draw a selection like below


Then > New Layer
Drag 'n drop the red from the FG
Then > New Layer
Drag 'n drop the green from the BG
Select > none
Free select tool on that last top layer, put it back in "normal" mode (replace) and draw a selection like below


then Hit that delete button (Edit > Clear)
Select > None
Now you should see the future brush with 3 colors (white, red, and green)

Right click on layer and > New from Visible, or merge together those 3 layers (green > merge down > red merge down> white circle)

-a) Now right click on the finished draw "brush" Layer > Alpha to Selection (do not use any other type of selection tool like the ellipse > because of the bug)
-b) Select > Shrink (6 or more pixels, again to counter the bug)
-c) then Ctrl+C or Edit > Copy

When you Copy something in GIMP it goes to your clipboard > thus it's in your patterns and brushes
Select that brush (Clipboard Image) in your paintbrush tool option on top of the list

2) Create a new dynamic (very easy) to rotate the brush (4 clicks)

How to make a dynamic brush > viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7208&start=0 (it has 4 images easy to understand)

Click on the dynamic icon > A drop down menu opens
At the bottom right of this drop-down menu there is the same dynamic icon ("open the dynamic selection dialog") > Click on it
A new dialog opens (Paint Dynamics) > At the bottom there is 5 icons, click on the "+" (new), a new dialog opens
Name that dynamic "Rotative" and cross check the "Fade" with "Angle" like below

Done.

3) Paintbrush setting

First thing first: In the paintbrush option do not reduce the size more than 1/3 it's original (the bug... on a rotating brush it looks very bad)
If you want a smaller brush Reduce the layer size with the scale tool for example and re-do steps -a) to -c) and click on the "return arrow" in the brush "size" line to reset the size

Spacing is 1
Hardness 100 (if below... like 75 > it's very ugly > did I said there is a bug...)
Force 50 or below ( above 50-60 = getting worse with that bug)

Smooth stroke is checked, the 2 sliders are at full throttle (100)

Dynamic > "Rotative" brush is selected
Dynamic Options > Fade length ~90 (play with this one) / Repeat > "Sawtooth wave" is selected


It might be long to read, but it takes less than 30 seconds to set the brush up

4) Stroke the text

Text tool > Write "GIMP" or whatever you like Font size > 400 (font use for this exercise is "Noto Sans Symbols Thin")
Then right click on that layer > Text to Path
Click on the path tab (dialog), and activate the "eye" to see the path
You are seing that the path is all around each letter, which we don't want.
Click on the "Paths Tool"
Hold "Shift+Ctrl" (during all this operation) to remove the internal nodes and lines, we just keep the outside paths, Click on a node (control point) to remove it, click on a line to remove it
Result (I kept only the external paths)


Edit > Stroke path... (select the paintbrush)
Colors > Levels > move the slider (the one on the extrem right side) a bit to the left to remove those blackish dirty look stripes

Final Result


As always, If you are the OP of this text effect and did use a different method, please feel free to add it, it would be interesting to know how far or closed I was.
If someone has a faster, simpler, or just a different method, please share as well, it's always interesting to know that there are multiple ways.


To be Continued...

It was made into a Gimp Custom Font.

See here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sm3cxvh7mpu8 ... 0cNUa?dl=0

Yes
Thanks a lot Blighty II for your input and link

Gimp Custom Font can be found here:
https://gimplearn.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=1513#p1513
I use version 16. Later versions have additional features which slows it down substantially.

Gimp Custom Font on Path can be found here:
https://gimplearn.net/viewtopic.php/Cus ... ?f=3&t=449

Thank you Blighty II

Decoding/reproducing teapot's #204 "pool"

That's a nice one, I like the 3D that this effect gives as volume and container.
The extrusion is neat and I'm almost sure the water effect was 100% generated in GIMP without plugin.

If I think @teapot did the extrusion via the 3d-extrusion.scm plugin, I will not use it for this exercise.
Instead today, I'll show one method on how to do it without plugin, it's not the fastest method, but it's a very simple one and it has a lot of precision and more important > the result is very neat.
Plugins are nice, but let's not forget the basics

Whithout any further do, let's get started

1) Basement
New Layer (name it "bottom")
Text Tool > Write GIMP > Font size ~550 (font used for this exercise is "Averia Libre Bold")
Right click on that text layer > Alpha to Selection
Select > Grow (~17 pixels)
Select > Save to Channel
Un-tick the eye of the text layer (no need anymore)
Click on the layer named "bottom" (not the BackGround)
From your dialog dock pattern, drag n' drop the pattern named "Stone (156x156)" in that selection
Select > Border... (~13 pixels)
Select > Save to Channel
Un-tick the eye of the layer "bottom" (to not disturb us for the moment)
Create a Layer Group (name it "bathtub"), it should be on top of the layer stack
Create a new layer (name it "edge") inside the "bathtub" folder
Drag 'n drop the Stone (156x156) pattern from the patterns dialog/dock inside the selection (which has border)
Select > None
Layer > Crop to content (very important before doing anything else)


2) Upper Ground (extrusion)
Duplicate that layer "edge" ~25 times by clicking on the "duplicate layer" icon at the bottom of the layer dock/dialog stack (see below)
(Don't do more than 25 times or keep a copy of the layer "edge" - name it "edge.bak" - un-tick the eye, for the future water level with a low extrusion)


Alignment tool > with your mouse > Select (the same way as with the rectangle select tool) bigger than that layer but smaller than the whole image > You should see 4 squarred dots appearing
In the Alignment tool option > in that order:
Offset Y = 1
Relative to Active Layer
and only then you can click on that arrow down button in the "Distribute"

Hold the Shift key down and click once on the eye of the Layer Group "bathtub" (now only the layers in that group are visible)
Right click on the layer group > Merge Visible Layers...
Result is now a layer named "bathtub"
Duplicate that layer
Select the layer > it become "bathtub copy" > then Click on the image in the canvas, then use the arrow up key on your keyboard to adjust the height to your liking (arrow down key if you went to far)
Duplicate that layer > it become "bathtub copy #1" > then Click on the image in the canvas, then do like the above to align
Now you can activate the BackGround Layer and the layer named "bottom"

Yeaaah you got your pool/pond... but it's empty

3) Roof Top (swimming pool)
New Layer Group on top of the layer stack (name it "water")
New Layer inside this group, name it "blue" > fill with blue
Above the blue layer > New Layer name it "light" (still inside the "water" group)
Filters > Render > Noise > Solid noise...
Turbulent is checked
Detail is 0
Play with other sliders

Then
Colors > Invert
Then Ctrl+Shift+J (to have the full canvas view width)
Colors > Color to Alpha > click on that white (default color), a window opens (Color), Click in the middle of that big colored vertical rectangle and STAY clicked > drag to the left side and STAY clicked, then go up and down and look at your image at the same time > stop to your liking > then click ok/ok (below are my setting if you wish to use them)
later on, you can resize that layer to shrink it to have denser "reflective" lines.


Click/Select the Layer group "water"

4) The dive (masking water)

Select the layer "bathtub copy #1" > right click on it > Alpha to selection
Select > Save to Channel
Click on the layer group "water", then click on that "Add a mask" icon, a window opens > Select "Selection" > Invert Mask is checked > OK
Select > None
Ctrl+Alt+Click on that mask
Fuzzy Select Tool (addition mode) > Click outside of "GIMP" and inside the white in the letter P (of gimP)
Select > Grow (3 pixels)
Drag n' drop black color from the FG/BG
Ctrl+Alt+Click on that mask again (it's a toggle)

Click on the group "water" (to deselect the mask) and play with modes and opacity to your liking like > Normal/50-60% opacity, addition, overlay, screen, hard light, pin light, grain merge and so, > play opacity to your liking

If you want a higher water level, > New group > put that "edge.bak" layer inside > duplicate as needed like 10-15 > follow step 2) for extrusion and alignment > then for the mask use this one

Result


As always, If you are the OP of this text effect and did use a different method, please feel free to add it, it would be interesting to know how far or closed I was.
If someone has a faster, simpler, or just a different method, please share as well, it's always interesting to know that there are multiple ways.


To be Continued...

PixLab - ref your post #11 about my Gimp Text process. Well firstly, thanks for giving it your attention and I would love to give you some exact references on my method, however its a few months back now, I did not keep the XCF file and I'm an old guy whose memory is failing .

Basically it was stroking the path formed by the text and using increased spacing parameters for the standard brush Hardness 100. Then I used the 3D Extrusion filter to produce the tubes.

Good luck with your ongoing detective work.