Ok,so this is my first tutorial, wish me luck.

Let me first show you what we are going to make.



What you are going to learn today is how to make a 3d looking thing in gimp, yes you hear me right only gimp and nothing else.

So the most basic thing you need to know is the basics of 3D. If you don't know about it then you are recommended to go through part 1 else feel free to skip it.

I recommend you read through the tutorial first before attempting to create the animation because it may get a little tricky. Just a suggestion though.

Part 1:

So in this part I am going to teach what is 3D. Well it's just any object showing it's length, breadth, height(in objects like cube, cuboid, etc.) or more technically it is any object in which you can determine between the x, y and z coordinate. For an example I'll tell you about a simple formula: V(olume) = l(ength) x b(readth) x h(eight)
This may seem similar because it is the formula to calculate the volume of a cube. So why is it's length, breadth and height multiplied?? Simple because it's a 3D object so it's unit also comes in a cube(cm3).

Still confused?? No Problem!! I'll give you another example. Think of a sphere(no circle a circle is a 2D object) to find out it's volume what you do is: 4/3 x pi(22/7) x r(adius)3. Notice the r(adius)3 why is it 3 again?? Simple because it's a 3D object but in this sphere's case you calculate the coordinates, X-Y-Z.

So what are these X-Y-Z which I have been talking about for so long??

It's called coordinates. In school you must have learnt something called X & Y(remember those graph papers). X resembles any horizontal surface similarly Y resembles a vertical surface whereas Z resembles the front and back faces of an object.

The point where the X Y and Z meet is usually named "O" or it's 0. The furthur you get to the right the zero increases (1,2,3 ...) and the furthur you go to the left the zero decreases(-1,-2,-3 ...)

Still confused?? Now I think I should show you a demo.

Ok open up Gimp and create a new document(256 x 256 would be more than enough) and navigate yourself to the Filters > Map > Map object.



A new window must have popped up.

In the newly opened window you must have a dropdown(default value "Plane" selected) click on that dropdown and select "Box".



Now check the "Show Preview Wireframe" box(That's below the "Preview" button).



You must have seen a wierd looking shape in the viewport it's seems quite useless now but you'll experience it.



Go to the "Orientation tab". You must have seen some things we have already discussed above(The X Y Z remember??) For the time forget about the Position and take a look on the Rotation.



Now comes the fun part and the most important throughout this tutorial. Move the X slider a little farther to the right increasing the X(Around 20-23). To see the effects hit Preview. Now again move the Y slider a bit forward too(Around 30-33). Voila!! You have a cube.Hit preview to see the effects. The Z slider is not much of importance but you can play around with it. I hope until now you have understood the basics of 3D(I hope I am right, if you find any mistakes then please inform me).

Part 2:

So let the (real)tutorial begin and let us come back to our point.

Step 1: The first thing you need to do is create a new document(I am using 256 x 256 because the computer is getting slow). And navigate to Filters > Map > Map object. Change the dropdown selection to "Box", check the box below the dropdown(Transparent Background), also check the box labeled "Show Preview Wireframe" and go to the "Orientation tab"(pictures above).

Step 2: So let's begin with a basic shape move the X(rotation fieldset) slider a bit to the front like so(you may be able to see the changes with the wireframe):



Step 3: And do the same with the Y(rotation fieldset) slider like so:



Step 4: And hit "Preview". Remember the values you inputted in the fields(the X, Y and optionally if Z).

Now hit "OK".

So how do you place all the frames in the same place??

Step 6: Well Gimp has a nifty tool for it on the Image > Transform > Autocrop menu, go ahead.

Step 7: Again go to the unboxed layer(the first image you created 256 x 256) and go through Step 1 several times until you get your needed animation.

Step 8: Copy the new image and paste it in the boxed(the new 3D box layer).

But remember to move the slider in the proportion of the second time you go through all the steps(if you want a smooth animation. Something like(first time: 39, second time: 2, third time: 2 ...)

Something like this:

First time:



Second time:



Third time:



and so on ...


So that ends my tutorial, if you have any questions, comments then please post them here.


Not very detailed but I hope this does it. Sorry for my english.
:l:

Nice. Im glad you made a tut. Im gonna try this.

Yea you can try it but this is not as good as a professional tutorial. :s:

ty for a tut :w:

You are welcome. :h:

No outcomes?? Did anyone try it??

Im going to be trying it tomorrow once i get back to my comp with gimp! i love making stuff that has to do with animation! and this looks very detailed.
I will post my results when i get back.


Thanks for the tut!

Ok, I wish you luck. :h:

You know...I think you could actually put individual pictures on each face by dividing up your original image before you do map object. Might take a bit to figure out where the breakpoints are...but might be interesting.

Yes sure you can but I was not able to do that because the gimp crashes in my computer if I try to do that. :a:

No one tried it yet?? Is it so bad?? :s: :s:

Nice tut, I might try this one out later.

Yeah you could. It's simpleish I think. If you go to the "box" tab on the options window then you can set each face to have a different layer mapped to it

Okay, here's mine...I screwed up on the background, it's got a "twitch" in it somewhere.

how did you add the video?

What video? The whole thing is all done in Gimp. You mean the little boxes on each face of the larger box?

ClayOgre: Awesome!!!:o: You made it better than mine. :w:

ShadowChild: That can be achieved easily, there is a option for textures.

I have a problem. On step six "Step 6: Well Gimp has a nifty tool for it on the Image > Transform > Autocrop menu, go ahead." there no autocrop menu. i was doing fine up to here (Since the tut was so great and explained everything!)

Any sugestions?

Which gimp version are you using?? I have the autocrop in gimp(2.0) by the way. :h:

Actually if you misunderstood me it's just 'Autocrop' not 'Autocrop menu'.

I dont have shit for animation features... someone should write some tuts on animating things

check the tutorials section......