Create Water (GIMP)

Water is one of the easies things to create in gimp.
All the settings in this tutorial are the ones I used feel free to experiment and adjust the settings (by droz928, GIMPtalk)

This is what you should have when you complete this little tutorial.


Step One: Setting up the base layer


First open a new image I used 400x300 it really doesn't matter what background you choose.

Fill the image with clouds Filter>Render>Clouds>Solid Noise
Settings
Random Seed: 4294966803
Detail 1
X Size 2.0
Y Size 2.0
Click Ok

A note about the clouds. You should try to get a cloud layer that is distributed unevenly. You want to achieve a good contrast between the black and white.

Now apply a radial motion blur Filters>Blur>Motion
Settings
Set it to Radial
Angle 45
Click Ok

Now apply a Gaussian blur Filters>Blur>Gaussian
Settings
Blur Method set to IIR
Horizontal and Vertical 35
Click Ok

Step 2: Adding waves and ripples


Add waves Filters>Distorts>Waves
Settings
Mode Smear
Amplitude 55
Phase 190
Wavelength 37
Click Ok

Duplicate the layer Layer>Duplicate
Flip the duplicate layer Tools>Transform Tools>Flip (Shift + F)
Click and drag the flip curser from left to right across the layer. Poof it is flipped.
Set the layer mode to difference.
Duplicate the layer. Layer>Duplicate (Shift + F)

Rotate the second duplicate layer. Tools>Transform Tools>Rotate (Shift + R)
Click the any where on the layer the rotation settings dialog should appear.
Set the angle to 180 than click ok

Merge all the layer together Image>Merge Visible Layers (Shift + M)

Add the ripple Filters>Distorts>Ripple
Settings
Orientation: Horizontal
Edges: Wrap
Wave Type: Sine
Period: 130
Amplitude: 10
Click ok

Step 3: Adding Color


The easiest way to add color is to add a new layer Layer>New Layer

Set your primary color to a nice aqua color try #239fa7.

Switch to the bucket fill tool Tools>Paint Tools>Bucket Fill (Shift + B) and click anywhere on the new layer.

Set the layer mode to color

Merge all the layer together Image>Merge Visible Layers (Shift + M)

Step 4: Final Step Cleaning and cutting


Select all Select>All
Shrink the selection Select>Shrink
Setting 6
Copy Edit>Copy (ctrl + C) or Cut Edit>Cut (ctrl + X) the selection.
Paste it as a new image Edit>Paste As New.
Poof you are done. Save the file as water texture or whatever your heart desires.

Neon Inscription (GIMP)

[ Sunday, 13 May 2007, michuk ]

In this tutorial we are going to show how to prepare a Neon inscription in GIMP (based on this example). The article is meant for beginners, but you should know at least the basics of using GIMP in order to succeed.

Author: noss

The effect we should get after going through this tutorial is show on picture 1:

Pic.1 This is what we want to achieve

1. First, create a new image, size 420×300px with black background.
2. Next, type your inscription, using a big font (for example Orange LET Ultra-Light) 135px-sized. This font can be downloaded from here.


Pic.2 Outcome after step 2

3. Now, duplicate the layer with the text, and change its color to #1757AE.
4. After that, duplicate the layer with #1757AE color, so you get 2 layers with the same color.
5. Create 2 new layers and put them between the layers with text.
6. Fill the lower one with color #888888, and the higher one with #CDCDCD.
7. For both these layers change Mode to Dodge.


Pic.3 Now you should get this set of layers

8. Right-click on every layer with text, and set “Layer to Image Size”.
9. Now, duplicate the lower layer with text, move to the top, and don’t touch it any more.
10. Next, use Gaussian Blur (Filters->Blur->Gaussian Blur): for the second layer from top, set Radius to 2, for the middle one set it to 5, and for the bottom one – 10.

Pic.4 Now you have your neon inscription.

Pic.5 The same, but with a bigger blur (top layer: 3, middle: 8, bottom: 15)

And here you are! If you would like to read more articles in the GIMP Tricks series on PolishLinux.org, please feel free to suggest new topics on our forum in subject: New series: GIMP tricks.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

Gold Plated Effect

Choose your preferred picture for converting it's colors into golden sun color shades.

Prepare the Photo

Prepare the image before applying this stylizing effect. Smooth, blur or remove photo details like tiny hair streaks, small shadows, skin spots and goose pimples to avoid unnecessary appearance of this details in the converted, stylized image.

Picture coloring

Dyeing the image can reduce pixel noise in the later editing. Use the Filters » Colors » Colorify -filter of Gimp for coloring the picture in Cyan tones, shades of Green or in the hue of Yellow.

Different coloring tones will result in different stylizing effect in the image. Gimps.de prefers the soft Cyan or tea Green pastels for color photo portraits and Yellow for graphics and cliparts.

Tip: Intelligent woman will try different colors for coloring the image and choose afterwards the best result for this photo stylizing effect of Gimps.de.

Convert colors into Gold

Choose the golden gradient to use this gradient for converting the colors of the picture. Use Filters » Colors » Map » Gradient Map -filter of the Gimp to convert all color in the image into shades of Gold.

Tip: Smart woman may also want to try other gradients like purples, greens or pastels to see colorful cool effects on their goldfish photos.

Tips for further editing

Converting the image into gold shaded colors may produce the famous pixel noise effect. Use the Filters » Blur » Selective Gaussian Blur -filter of the Gimp to polish the pixel noise in the picture.

After bluring the pixel noise, nifty expert woman may want to sharpen the image. Use the Filters » Enhance » Unsharp Mask -filter of the Gimp to enhance the sharpness of shapes and contours within the picture.

You may also want to use other Gimp tutorials of Gimps.de to improve colors, brightness, saturation and hue in the converted image.

A photo before and after editing with Gimp.