This tutorial is by request.

DOWNLOADS

Saulgoode's Calendar Script
GIMP Plugin Registry

Please Note: The calendar script has been updated to give 4 different layouts. If you downloaded the calendar before 11/28/09 you have an older version. Delete any previous versions you have in your Scripts folder. The new version is sg-calendar_1.scm.

Border Script
Get the Add_Border_Script_by_Insanity_Prevails.scm
Click here

Font
The Apple Garamond font made the week days the easiest size to read for me.
Apple Garamond font
I used AppleGaramond.ttf - that's the plain vanilla version in the zipped file.

Here is the calendar you will be making.



Information About the Measurements -This is not required reading to use the tutorial.

For making everything fit, here is the math that is used for the measurements.

Small calendar image: 150x130. It is changed to 150x150 when the month name is added.

Large calendar: To make the large calendar, 10 pixels are added to the width and height of the small calendar measurement to make 160x160. Multiply 160 x 4 for the large calendar width and 160 x 3 for the height = 640 x 480.

Grid is 160x160. That is for adding 10 pixels to the small calendar width and height. The small calendar is moved to the top left of the grid box, leaving 10 pixels of space on the right and 10 pixels on the bottom.

After all of the small calendars are in place in the large calendar, Image > Canvas: 10 pixels are added to the width of the large calendar canvas and 30 pixels are added to the height. In the Canvas dialog the calendar is moved to the right to make 10 more pixels on the left side and down to add the 30 pixels to the top.

A 3pt frame is added to the calendar, and the canvas size is increased by a total of 6 pixels to both width and height. Finished calendar is 656 x 516px.

Make a Year Calendar

Make a new image 150x130 and fill the background layer with white. Save it as an xcf file and name it smallcalendar.xcf.

Make another new image 640x480. Fill the background layer with white.

• Image > Configure Grid
• Line Style: Solid
• Foreground Color: 00ff00 (It's neon green, you can choose any color you prefer)
• Spacing: Width & Height = 160
• View > Show Grid
• View > Snap to grid

Save it as yearcalendar.xcf.

Make the Foreground color the color you want for the text in your calendar. I used 0462ba.

Select the smallcalendar file, then Filters > Render > Calendar.

• January
• Year = 2010
• Layout - See the choices for Layout below in the list and images.
• Font = Apple Garamond
• Border Width = 0
• Date Position = Bottom Right

Choose the Layout you want for the small calendar.

1. Allow 6 weeks (resizing text for optimal fit)
2. Force 6 weeks (use six rows of weeks in all cases, even for a 4-week February)
3. Wrap week 6 to week 1 (the approach proposed by wbool)
4. Wrap week 6 to week 5 (and if needed compressing two days into a single cell)

Here are plain examples of each type of layout. I put borders in just as examples.



Click OK. You have a small January 2010 calendar. Filters > Reshow "Calendar" and change the month to February. Repeat until you have all of the months in layers in smallcalendar.xcf. File > Save or Ctrl + S.

To make room for the name of the month, Image > Canvas. Break the chain and make the Height 150, press Enter, drag the image down to the bottom of the dialog box, click Resize. You may want to right-click the white Background layer, Layer to Image size and refill it with white to make seeing what you are doing easier.

Select the January, 2010 layer (the plain January layer is empty - it was for the borders).

Text Tool > Apple Garamond font > Size = 18. Type the month name.

Click the Alignment Tool then click in the text.
Click the middle icon in the Alignment tool dialog which aligns the text horizontally, then click the bottom left icon which moves the text to the top of the image.

Merge the January text layer down to the January, 2010 layer.

Do it for each month.

Drag the Layer Preview of January, 2010 into the year calendar image, use the Move tool to position it in the top left grid box and move it to the upper left corner of the grid. There will be 10 pixels of space left on the right and bottom in the grid box. Do the same for each completed month layer until you have the 12 months arranged in the large calendar layout.



After you have each month aligned in the year calendar, Image > Canvas. Unlink, make the Height 510, and the Width 650, press Enter and drag the calendar to the bottom and to the right in the dialog, click Resize. Right-click the background layer, Layer to Image size and fill with white.

Select the top layer in the calendar, select the Text Tool, Apple Garamond font, make the Font Size 30, type the year numbers. Align top and center with the alignment tool as you did in the small calendars.

If you want to fill the background with a pattern, gradient or image, select the Background layer, add a new, transparent layer and fill with what you want. You may need to lower the opacity for the numbers to show well.

It's up to you whether you want to keep the extra white Background layer. If you have lowered the opacity on a new layer filled with a pattern, etc., you may want it to back your color layer.

Select the Background layer and Filters > Decor > Apply Border. Border size 3. Make the border color the same color as your text by dragging the blue box of the Foreground color into the Border Color Dialog on the top color row in there. Be sure to check the box, Increase Canvas Size.

Look over your calendar to make sure everything looks OK. You may want to save it in layers as an xcf file to change later.

Right-click a layer and select Merge Visible Layers. Save as your finished year calendar.

Wow that was quick, thanks heaps

nice tutorial; I had no idea that script existed. is it possible to create (using that script) a calender with a square for each day?

edit: nevermind, I found the answer...

Simple and effective!! I followed your directions and it came out nicely. Tomorrow I will upload my calendar. Gotta run right now.

I don't have a result yet... I'll tell you why.
I was half way through up to August when I had to leave it. When I came back again several hours later, I got all the way to December before I realized that I forgot to change the year from 09 to 10 in the script. So it's all wrong. I know I'm an idjit. I'll re-do it and post my result.

Nice tut

Merge is not needed :
obviously would be not a good idea merge before saving as .xcf

...and when saving as jpg , png and alike merge is done automatically

PS

something confuse me here, i suppose the phrasing

PS i have to practice it before give more feedback, so what follow may be somehow incorrect

i will follow a slightly different method as

1 create the 640x480 as place holder

2 create the January calendar,
(a BG is not strictly needed here transparency as BG may be fine )
when done Copy Visible and Paste As layeron the place holder image

3 now back to January calendar , just toggle off layers visibility
then run again the script for February ,add mouth name and repeat the other steps as in 2 (=Copy Visible and Paste As layeron the place holder image )

repeat till December
and then the Frame and if wished a BG


save both images may seems overzealous,

anyway the big xcf will be the finished calendar, is just needed to export a jpg copy;
The little xcf will contain all layers with the letters, number and grids, ready for any other kind of modification

Excellent idea, PhotoComix. Saves a lot of bringing up new little calendar images.

When I made the little calendar I made the borders 0 in the script and there was an empty transparent layer in the little calendar that had nothing in it. There was a layer boundary around the text that was smaller than the image and that needed to be addressed either by merging to the transparent layer or Layer to Image size or they wouldn't line up right in the large calendar.

When I made a duplicate of the big xcf file the grid and snap to grid didn't show in the copy. I had to go back and re-select them. That's what I meant about the duplicate not "holding" onto them.

I love the tutorial. Here is my experimental one.

Very nice, PhotoMaster. It looks like you did not add the extra pixels to the left side.

is very well written and original, more it came in the right moment (new year is close time for new calendar )
and so i think fit well in the Official Tutorial Board

Anyway i will like even more with some minor changes

1) as i already wrote i believe some steps may be simplified:
having around several small images + a big one may be confusing i will think will be more handy just 1 big image as place holder to paste in, and 1 little where cumulate and preserve all the mouth's layers to be pasted

it will be also quicker
as example the step to increase canvas size to include the name of months will be needed only once ,for January and not 12 times

2) It is very specific you give a size a font to use and so on

That is very good for a practical example that is strictly needed , but a short introduction where you explain more in general (more or less how you did in what is actually the the last part ) will make it even better



I mean at start give a example of final result, then explain the general concept in few lines
And then clarify that general concept with the specific example as now


Nothing critical,also because i' m confident most of our readers know how customize the result or anyway are able to ask about, maybe i am just a bit pedantic

PS a quote on flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/gimpusers/ ... 814371330/

At last I have finished a year calendar. Here's the result:

Ohhhhhh, such a pretty one. That's beautiful, Silvertayl.

Here is a year calendar created using the date wrap script. Each month is the same size and the end dates wrap to the top row. I added a 6 pixel border outside the gold one to give it more definition.



Get the script here. In GIMP you will find it in Filters > Render > Calendar.
http://www.flashingtwelve.brickfilms.com/GIMP/Scripts/Temp/sg-calendar-wbool.scm

Uncheck "Allow 6-week span."

Oregonian, that last all year calender you did is beautiful. Is that a fractal b/g?
I have already sent my 12 month tear-off to my parents, but next year I will incorporate a yearly calender in a separate page behind the december tearoff.
Another idea would be to do a small rolling 3 month inset on each tearoff page.
Great Job
Wbool63

I did the background with a set of abstract brushes I got here.
http://megatron-fx.deviantart.com/art/Abstract-Brushes-24827519

I filled the bg with black and painted with white brushes. Then made my FG color black and BG color red that's just a bit darker than the brightest red and did a gradient map.

I like your rolling 3 month inset idea.

Thank you.

the last calendar look very nice ,but i would get crazy with a calendar with warping days


at a first look May has 29 days ,

. compensated by September October and November all with 30 days

It's all in the name of symmetry, PhotoComix.

I find the wrapping calendar confusing to look at, but I think your background on it is awesome! That's not to say there is anything wrong with the wrapping calendar, it's just personal preference. It's all good!!

Hi, I' new and stuff but i've been working with gimp for 2 years i think. But i was wondering how you download the script. my comp says to save as file or browse- with browse i pick gimp but then a pop up window [for gim] shows and says gimp does not reconized folder. and if i chose save file is will say windows cannot open and such, i rreally want to make this but not the really long and ard way if i have to i will but i was wondering on making the script work. please reply.

You need to save the file into C:\Documents and Settings\<your name>\.gimp-2.4 (or .6)\Scripts\

I don't have Windows anymore so I'm not sure if I've remembered the path correctly.

Here's one with a different coloured background for each month:



Thanks O for the tip on how to achieve this result.

I think it's best to save to the C-drive, then from there - computer - c-drive - the script you just downloaded should be in there, at the bottom - right click on it - copy - then double click on program files on the same window you're in (c-drive) - double click on gimp 2.0 - double click on share - double click on gimp - double click on 2.0 - double click on scripts - right click in the script folder, paste the calendar script and it should appear. Then open up Gimp, filters - script-fu - refresh scripts and then it should be there under filters-render.

PS: It's best to have Gimp closed when you're downloading brushes, scripts, gradients etc.

Wow! Very, very nice Silvertayl.

Very clever way you put in the year, under the text and over a row of lighter-colored months.

Hey Silvertayl, I love the colors!!! Awesome!!!