I was inspired by an animation that user barbie was trying to properly create at this forum url: http://www.gimpchat.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4390

Once one learns GAP and is familiar with Gimp (been using Gimp for ten years and still becoming familiar with new things), the creative potential for animation and film effects are endless.



The basic idea of the opening curtains came to me from a technique I learned long ago from fencepost over at gimptalk where you can stretch a layer. I bumpmapped a repeated Four Bars gradient design onto a dark reddish layer. Split the layer in half and was able to first do the left side of the curtain part:



One simply adds the fully expanded curtain image in Move Path and then adding points changes the Width value only of the layer resulting in the above simple animation.

The right curtain opening required a little more thought:



In Move Path, I had to use the Right Top Handle, set the X position slider to the far right, a value of 320, the width of the image.

Before that could all be sorted out, I ended up with a first animation that looked like this:



So even with my familiarity with GAP, I still had to use trial and error to figure that part out. Although, that particular animation itself still could be used for revealing some message or image or animation, etc. behind it.

The animation also includes letters that slide in and are Horizontal-only Gaussian Blurred as well as slanted using Map Objects Move Path's Perspective Tab. I did that because I see these effects being created by artists using pricey software. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with using the pricey software, just showing that little ol' Gimp and GAP can accomplish the same and more.

For the final effect, I started rotating the lettering and Wilbur in 3D space on the screen, but the curtain closes a little too quickly to notice the effect. However, it is another effect I see used in various videos made with pricey software. I made the rotation using Map Object.

If anyone would like to see the parts.xcf file that I used, I added it here as an attachment.

Thank you for checking this out.

Thank you for sharing. You introduced me to animation with your spinning pole tutorial. Well I did a spinning Tardis - not too well but I got the gist of how GAP works through this and went on to make some animated balls. Thank you once again.

Erisian:

Thank you for commenting. Glad that tutorial was helpful for you.

Excellent as usual ccbarr. I would like to try that one. I downloaded your zip.
thank you

ccbarr,
I downloaded the zip but when i try to play it on gimp,it just flashes the layers,it doesn't show the animation You show in Your post.
( i know i know,it must be me )

@molly:

Thank you for your interest and for the kind comment.





pirate541:

I apologize for any confusion about the parts.xcf file that I made available. The parts.xcf file is the parts that I used to build the animation with. The white Background layer in that file is what I took and converted into the background_000001.xcf file. I duplicated that 59 more times using Duplicate Frames for a total of 60 frames. I then built the rest of the set by adding each of the various layers from the parts.xcf file to the animation frames. The opening and closing of the curtains are done entirely with Map Object Move Path using a total of 4 keyframe points per side.

The letter animations are done with a combination of Map Object Move Path using the Perspective Tab and Frames Modify for applying the Gaussian Blur to the animated letters. That part of the animation is more challenging to complete.

Again, I apologize for any confusion over the parts.xcf file. Usually in the various tutorials that I have done, I always recommend people name the image file that contains the parts that will be animated parts.xcf and the image file that will become the basis of the animation frames gets named background_000001.xcf.

Thank you for checking out the animation.



Edit: I corrected two errors where I said I was using Map Object when in fact it was Move Path. Map Object was used in the animation, but not at those places.

ccbarr,
I am sorry i didn't answer earlier,but there is no need to apologize at all:)
i asked because it seemed odd to me,that's all.
the noobie strikes again
I appreciate your answer very much