GIMP Version: 2.6.11
Operating System: Windows
OS Version: XP - SP3
GIMP Experience: Beginner Level

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First post and this is a very cool site. I have been using the gimp for the better part of 10 years now. I wouldn't consider myself an expert just a novice. Anyway I am back to building up a new install of the gimp because my computer crashed and I lost all my scripts/brushes ect ect...

I have a question related to this text below. I am trying to get something close to the bottom text. The top text is someone else who has attempted the same thing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonliebi ... otostream/

I guess the proper way to pull this off is to make a picture with a gradient to get the colors correct. Which I have been having a hard time with. Once a background picture has been made I can fill the text with that background.

Gee I made that sound easy. Except i have been trying to pull this off for over a month here a there in my spare time.

So I wanted to ask you guys/gals in your opinion what would be the best way to get something close to the bottom text in that marquee.

Thanks for your time in advance
_Billy

I'm not sure which part you are struggling with. If you can make the background "Sign" section and have the three figure elements (man, snake and lion) to apply as layers, that leaves the text. My guess is the text cuz it looks to be the most difficult or at least requires the most number of steps.

There is one script involved which you can use but requires python to be installed. The script is called "selection bevel" used to get that hard bevel on the edges of the text. I usually have one copy of the original text layer that I keep intact that I use for making selections on other layers and duplicate it as many times as I need for each new operation like in this case.

I would make two duplicate text layers and apply a selection to limit the area affected by the gradients. Since there are two gradients involved, the two layers get the two different gradients. Since this is more of a cartoon effect, you can apply the highlights and the black shadowy areas in the center of the text by hand at high zoom for accuracy. I can dig up the script for you if you don't have it already or you can just search this site and find it.

If any of this is unclear, just let me know and I'll be glad to explain further.

Hey Draconian, Thanks for your reply. In answer to your question it is the text effect in the words "zoo keep" that I want to reproduce. I see where you say I need to use two gradients. I am not sure I follow you on that. I was thinking that one would work with all five colors in it.

orange
yellow
black
purple
white

Unless your speaking of the colors inside of the beveled edges. I haven't even made it that far yet. I will take a look around tonight after I get off work to see if I can find the python script your talking about.

The part where your talking about "apply a selection to limit the area affected by the gradients" I have no idea how to pull that off. Any direction on that part would be outstanding.

Side note... Can I just make a gradient out of the center of that text and use that to fill my own text?

Tia
_Billy

Well, the easiest way in my opinion is to turn the text into a path, and make a layer mask off of the path like so:
right-click on the text layer, and click "text to path"
hide the text layer
make a new layer
right-click on your newly created path, and click "path to selection"
right-click on your path in the paths dockable dialog and click "add layer mask" and initialize the mask to "selection."
click select>>>none to deselect all

Once you do that, you can easily create the gradients on your layer without having to worry about re-making your selections and such.

Oh I thought you were talking about the text. The background is the easiest part. I did a quickie in about 20 minutes to start on the text so you could see. You will have to make a new transparent layer and actually draw the corner edges of the bevel with the pencil tool. Zoom in on the pic and you'll see what I mean. I set the bevel script "mode" to soft light to lighten it up a bit then I did an "alpha to selection" on the bevel layer, made a new white layer and adjusted the opacity to what I liked. By doing the alpha to selection step you "limit" the affected area to within the confines of the selection for what ever operation you are using at the moment. You can delete areas outside of the selection by going to Select>Invert>Delete. When I was making the shadows and highlights, I always do stuff like that on separate layers so if I mess up I can either undo or delete the layer entirely without affecting the other work.

Here's the script for the selection bevel. Tell me exactly what you are trying to do with the background. I would suggest doing each section on a different layer to give you more control over each operation like I did with the two colored layers, then merge them together when you are sure you're finished working on them. You can also duplicate them both, turn off those duped layers and that way be able to go back and start over if you need to. (I guess you can tell I screw up a lot) LOL

Scroll down in your quote to see my responses. Here's my xcf file so you can see some of the layers after I merged some of them

Drac, you did a beautiful job of that text and painting in the black and white.

I got this far. I couldn't find a font like the one in the image so used a 3D font I found.

I used a path for the separation of the two gradients.

I'm watching this thread ..

Drac,

What I'm curious about is how did you get the section of the gradient between the purple and the yellow to look like mountains (black & white part)? It all appears fairly random. I'm taking mental notes!

I think a lot of the "reflective look" comes from how reflective the bevel looks. I'm not sure how the script makes the bevel, but perhaps if you add some sort of texture to the bevel? I would probably find some kind of texture, insert it into the image as it's own layer, and apply a layer mask to the texture that is the same size as your bevel. After that I'd add some kind of layer mode and adjust the opacity so it looks like a reflection.

this could be done by finding a texture online, downloading it, and clicking file>>>open as layers>>>browse and select the texture
right-click on the bevel layer and click "alpha to selection"
Move and scale the texture in position using the move and scale tools.
right-click on the texture layer and click "add layer mask" initialize it to "selection"
experiment with different layer modes and opacities until something works.

Just a thought.

I downloaded the sample text.xcf file he posted. In the layers it shows how he painted that in.

Thanks O. I just wanted more control over each area so I just used a series of dups, selections, shrink and cuts to separate them. Guess I could have done it like t said with paths but it seem easier, at least for me, to do it this way.

Mr. Biggz - O is right, I just painted them on two separate layers but I did alpha to selection on the colored text layer before I started so I wouldn't "paint outside the lines". that would be naughty. LOL

You can also lock the transparency on them and that works. The gradients I put in the text are on a separate layer and not part of the black stroke.

Now I just learned something. Never used or even knew about the lock transparency button! I had to go look. I guess this blind hog can find an acorn once in a while. LOL

This little program works excellent for changing image colors into Gimp gradient files.(GGR Files).
http://registry.gimp.org/node/25571 - download version 9 it's the latest.

Welcome to Gimp Chat by the way.

If you really want to get fancy, there is a PS tut for liquid filled text that is much better looking than a similar one I've seen done for gimp. Here's the url and a sample pic.

http://www.webresourcesfact.com/2011/03 ... oshop.html

I threw together something really fast. The only real difference is I used masks, and my bevel's color is driven by the underlaying text's color.

Another useful script would be my Sample Gradient Along a Path script

You can very quickly use the pen tool to mark where you want to extract a gradient from, i.e. in the middle of the source text, and then use this gradient elsewhere.

(It is also great for sampling sky gradients to paint out objects like powerlines.)

-Rob A>

Thanks for the warm welcome! This place is awesome but like I said in my first post I am but a padawan with the gimp. Sure I have used script-fu and tiny-fu to produce some cool logos over the years but this one is out of my reach.

I am in over my head... Drac I have 4 words that need that effect done to them. I have looked all over the place for the correct font to pull it off.

I found this one...
http://www.urbanfonts.com/fonts/DBXL_Nightfever.htm

I think it might work because the center of all the letters is pretty even. There seems to be enough room to put the mountains in the crossbars of some of the letters like the "A G & R".

Anyway and I am not sure if this is against the rules but how much would you charge me to make this logo?

Thanks guys for all of your posts.

@Billy FYI - The font looks like a modified version of Gill Sans Ultra Bold Condensed

-Rob A>

[offtopic] In many situations, locking the alpha is preferable. For example, when using Alpha To Selection on text, the resulting selection will be anti-aliased; in other words, the edges will only be partially selected and so when you paint over them, they are only partially painted.

The following screenshot shows a black letter being bucket filled with yellow. On the left, Alpha to Selection was used whereas on the right the layer's alpha was locked (no selection).