I don’t know about you, but I never really found the emboss filter to be any good. In fact, the results it achieved weren’t even close to the quality I knew
GIMP could achieve. Relying solely on the “If you want something done, EXPERIMENT” attitude, I set about finding a way to get a smooth looking emboss.

I found that if you take your image - anything will do, but photographs work a lot better (I used part of a wallpaper of Charlize Theron for this tutorial) – duplicate it, guassian blur it by 3-5 pixels - anything else will modify the result quite conspicuously – and set the layer mode to grain extract, you’d get an almost perfect result. After this, the only thing you need to do is create a new white layer and set it to colour.

This is what I got using this simple tutorial:



Just as a reminder, this is what it looks like using the emboss filter:



Using 12 pixels, I achieved the following result, and it inspired me to go one step further:



After creating this version, I flattened the image and used the ‘Colour Range Mapping’ tool, which can be found at ‘Filters – Colours – Map – Colour Range Mapping’. I changed the top white box, by clicking on it, to 808080 and left everything else it was. This created what looked like a drawing, but didn’t have enough definition, so I duplicated the layer and used the ‘Colour to Alpha’ tool at default settings. I set this layer to overlay and achieved the following:



Repeating all of these steps, changing the blur to 27 pixels, this is what I got:



How’s that for an emboss, and how’s that for a drawing?

I really like the results, thanx for posting this!

Edit: Wait a minute, how do I set the layer mode to Gaussian Blur? It's not one of the options.

ok, the more i look at this the less sense it makes:


the pic thats posted is well...dull, is this what you meant?
and speaking of which, what tutorial? i seem to see two???


im confused why this is bad?
also none of the pics seem to indicate any other type of emboss???


using 12 pixels of what? cream cheese?


umm..which steps did you repeat? all? from the top down? Including the emboss filter you don't like?


echoing sydney here, huh?


in comparison to which pic?

i really like the affect (assuming the bottom pic is the one that is the result we want to achieve)but...
i even opened a picture to try out, i didn't get very far...

Im not sure but i think the layer should be set to Grain extraxt its the only 1 that seems to give the effect for me

the results look SWEET. but i don't clearly understand how you got em. :s:

Guassian blur? Grain extract. :w:

To get the emboss:

Take your image.

Duplicate it.

Blur the duplicate.

Set the duplicate to grain extract.

To get the drawing:

After the previous steps, flatten the image.

Use the 'Color Range Mapping' tool, with the top white box set to 808080.

Duplicate.

Colour to alpha on default settings.

Set to Overlay.

ah, much better.

sick results, dude! love this method!

LOL.

Thanx for explaining!

I learned a super quick and dirty way to get an emboss from Akkana Peck's book

grab a pic
desaturate
duplicate
move top duplicate two pixels down and two pixels right
set to grain merge

EDIT: its grain extract

Awesome stuff man.

exactly what i thought

nice idea, but what is it period?

I'm still lost. I get to the 12 pixel part and that's it. And if you only knew how many hours I've spent this past week trying to get this very effect....

I dunno whether to love you or hate you, LOL!

Man, I would love to apply this to a picture I have of my oldest daughter and new son in-law, but for the life of me can't find the grain extract. Now mind youo, I miss things all the time when the wife sends me out for something [u]she [/u]wants. :w:

never mind, stupid me.... :l:

Nice tutorial. A little hard to follow though......

Thanks for clearing it up, Trapezium! :l:

kewl tut,might have to try this when i have some free time