GIMP Talk - Community A premier community of gimp users sharing their knowledge	Buy your favorite VIDEO GAMES, Ebooks, Electronics and more...

Board is under heavy update, so be patient if few features do not work and/or have been disabled!

Posts of topic : Curly's Vector Sig Tutorial! Author Post details curly haired boy Moderator Profile Joined: Dec 29, 2005 Posts: 3483 posted on: Jun 26, 2006 at 04:45:09 Curly's Vector Sig Tutorial In this tutorial, you will learn how to create vector sigs. What are vector sigs? Vector sigs are sigs that have very little "depth", and make use of bold, dynamic colors and text. Many advertisments in print, online, and on TV use vectors to grab your attention. You've probably seen so many that you hardly notice them anymore. However, to make a good vector sig, you've got to think a bit differently about sigmaking. Here are some examples of vector sigs: Now, first we want to open a new project canvas. Pick whatever size you want, but just remember that you don't want to leave too much empty space in a vector sig. Choose accordingly. Start off with a white BG, or perhaps a close-to-white pastel. Whichever it is, make sure that it's very light in color. Now, Paste your render onto your canvas. When picking a render for a vector sig, you need to pick one with bold, solid colors. Preferably, you will have a vectored render to use in your vector sig! =P Making your own vectored renders to use is covered in another one of my tutorials. Another thing to consider when placing your render in your sig is Dynamicism. Vector sigs are all about implied motion and the tension of movement, so placement of your render is very important. Obviously, you do NOT paste your render straight up and down. That's too boring for a vector sig. Try angling your render, either to the left or to the right. You might even try pasting it in upside down, coming down from the top! The next step in making a vector sig is making an outline around the render. In GIMP, this means opening your Layers dialog. Select the new layer you pasted the render on (you didn't paste the render directly on the BG, i hope!), right-click on the layer, and choose Alpha to Selection. This will creat a moving dotted line around your render. Now, make a new layer. Select it and move it below the render layer. Now open your Paths dialog. (In the main GIMP window, File > Dialogs >Paths) This is a tool that you will be using quite often in this tutorial. You will learn to love the Paths tool once you see what it can do. =) In the Paths dialog window, you will see at the bottom a button that looks like this: Click it. This is your "Selection to Path" button, and it makes a path along the selection you made, in this case a path along the edge of your render. Now, get your color selection tool (the eyedropper) and make sure that it is set to "Set Foreground Color" in the tool options. In the Layers window, select the render layer and choose a bold color from the render that sharply contrasts with the BG color. Now select that transparent layer underneath the render layer, and then go back to your Paths dialog/ window. There's another button down there: That is your "Stroke Path" button, and when you click it, a window will pop up. Choose "Stroke line" at a width of about 2-6 pixels. Then click "Stroke". A line with be drawn on the transparent layer following the outline of the render. Now, you can continue in this technique as part of the BG, or you can skip to part two where we learn how to make pwnsome shapes behind your render. If you continue to make more paths, and stroke them with various colors from the render, you can get a very nice effect: If you chose to go on to the Pwnsome Shapes, then you should have your sig looking somewhat like this: Now we are going to Part TWO! BUT, before we do, make sure you are familiar with the Flame render Filter! It's found at Filters > Render > Nature > Flame. Open it up and take a look around. You've got Contrast and Brightness controls, and on the other tab, you've got Zoom and Pan sliders. At the top of the window is the all important EDIT button. Clicking it will bring you to another window, where marvelous shapes await your selection. Set the Variation to Random and then click Randomize. It will bring up a new set of shapes. Once you see one you like, click it, and click Okay. Adjust your Pan and Zoom and any other factors you want, then click Okay. It will take some time, but when is finished, you'll have something really cool-looking: Now that you have learned to use the Flame Filter, you can use it to make some awesome shapes with the help of the Paths tool.  First, make a new transparent layer. Then,  go to the Flame Filter and get yourself a nice spiky shape. Zoom it to about the size of your sig. Then click Okay. Once you have your Flame shape on your new layer, right click on the layer in the Layers window and choose  "Alpha to Selection". Then make another new layer. Once that is done, go to your Paths dialog/window and click the  "Make Path from Selection" button. Then, in the main project window, go to  Select > None. After that, go to the Layers window to make sure that the layer selected is the new transparent one with nothing on it. Then  select the Paths tool. It looks like this: After you've done that, go to the Paths dialog/window and  click to the far left of the current Path. (you should have two paths, the one around the render, and the flame one) Anyway,  clicking there will make that path visible. Go to the main project window and on your sig you will see a thin gray line that looks like a scribble. That is your Path. As you bring your pointer closer to the path, it will change to a pointing finger.  When the finger is directly over a portion of the line, click ONCE. You will see an immediate change in the path. It will develop strange bubbly-looking circles all along its length. Ignore them for now. Now, go back to your Paths dialog and click the  "Path to Selection button , which looks like this: A selection will be made from the path. Now, still in the Paths dialog/window,  click the little eye to the far left of the current path. Then  grab your Gradient tool. Go to your Layers dialog/window and make sure the new transparent layer is selected. Then go to your main sig window and  drag the gradient tool across the selection. After that, go to  Select > None. You should have something like this! Now, just repeat the steps again. I've highlighted them so you can find them easily. Keep doing this, each with a new Flame shape and a different gradient color. Eventually you'll get an awesome looking BG like this: Now, you can Stroke some of those paths that you still have from earlier.  REMEMBER to make a new layer for each stroke! Make your Foreground color black, stroke the paths, and then move them away from their original positions, about 5-15 pixels. Erase the parts that look bad. You should get something like this: Now it's time for the real test of your vector sig-making skills -- text! You must think of a text design. Don't think conventionally, like blending the text in. In a vector sig, the text provides balance and visual flair to the render. Be Bold! -Tips to remember: -Always use colors from the render that contrast with the BG. -Bolder is Better! -Combine two fonts. -Combine different text sizes. -Add a counter-balancing element to the sig. In the sig below, the counterbalance is the trio of vertical lines: -Think like an ad company; try to make designs that are iconic, and make your sig stand out. -Make your text follow the lines of the sig: -Don't be afraid to use the Double Cameo technique! It's okay to have the render visible in two places at once; in fact, it helps the balance and cohesion of your vector sig: That's it for this tutorial.... I hope to see your results as you learn more about GIMP and sig-making in general. absolute awesomeness from Greentunic :3 Gandalf2349 Member Profile Joined: Jul 25, 2006 Posts: 19 posted on: Aug 01, 2006 at 08:30:41 It was helpful and I learned how to make interesting vector sigs. I used this tut actually to make a wallpaper for my cellphone. Since the resolution and the color depth sucks, vector imaging was the way to go, because the boldness can be displayed on the small screen. Here's what I came up with: NOTES: I know there's no border, it's a wallpaper on a small resolution phone, doesn't need one. Also I realize the corners of the image are empty. This is where things are displayed on my phone on top of the wallpaper, i.e. time, date, battery etc. It looks very full on the phone and the text is all visible without being overwritten. What do you think? curly haired boy Moderator Profile Joined: Dec 29, 2005 Posts: 3483 posted on: Aug 02, 2006 at 01:53:37 great use of vectors! absolute awesomeness from Greentunic :3 Gus Member Profile Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 1159 posted on: Aug 02, 2006 at 01:57:29 Awesome tut, could you please post the link to the pics you used? <3 Infinity. curly haired boy Moderator Profile Joined: Dec 29, 2005 Posts: 3483 posted on: Aug 02, 2006 at 04:53:48 i have my tutorial on how to make your own vectors here: http://www.gimptalk.com/forum/topic/Vector-Your-Renders-A-Tutorial-By-Curly-6124-1.html absolute awesomeness from Greentunic :3 Classy_D Member Profile Joined: Aug 03, 2006 Posts: 12 posted on: Aug 05, 2006 at 09:32:48 Hey a supi tut !!!! With this tut u cant do anything wroooong ^^ Love it n learned alot ---> still a Noob ... not really but lalala Thank u so much :D I tried to make one .. but does it look like a vector sig too xD ?!?! hm my render choice is not really suitable ... but now i c u post a link how u can make ya own hehe eh 2 lazyyyy u kno ^^ Oh who cares ... anyway the result doesnt look so baaad i think n I kno u guyz love it to c some results ya ^^ so ... D! Timmy2 Member Profile Joined: Aug 06, 2006 Posts: 49 posted on: Aug 07, 2006 at 11:28:11 Sweet, i was wondering where he learned this, Yaknow Sk8brder40 on here? Well, He Made me a Stewie Sig a while ago said, he was trying out a new technique, here's how it came out: Sk8brder40's: I thought it was soo awesome, and now i find this! So i LOVE this tutorial!!! Here's how MINE came out: MINE: iI did it without the T2 aswell, so it looks less cluddered: (I know, purple really doesn't look that good, so i'm gonna make one using a good evil pic of zim, so i can make it black and red, so it'll look alot more.. well, evil.. like Classy D's (the red and black part, not the evil part)) >_> ______________________________________________ Blue Mar00n Member Profile Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 10 posted on: Aug 08, 2006 at 11:36:08 nice tutorial, I'll be sure to use it for my next signature/avatar curly haired boy Moderator Profile Joined: Dec 29, 2005 Posts: 3483 posted on: Aug 08, 2006 at 11:58:21 hey classy d, your result looks fabulous. absolute awesomeness from Greentunic :3 Blue Mar00n Member Profile Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 10 posted on: Aug 08, 2006 at 08:45:34 where do you find the "make path from selction" tool though... cause I can't seem to find it Classy_D Member Profile Joined: Aug 03, 2006 Posts: 12 posted on: Aug 09, 2006 at 06:40:10 @ Blue Mar00n Here ?! ^^ : Thankz Curly How did ya make ur Avatar?!!!!! xD Looks cewl ... roxz :D D! triLL Member Profile Joined: Aug 09, 2006 Posts: 2 posted on: Aug 09, 2006 at 10:04:07 for this sig how did you make the like colored wave thing. triLL Member Profile Joined: Aug 09, 2006 Posts: 2 posted on: Aug 09, 2006 at 10:19:04 ok im doing everything you say but i dont get the results i want for this style when i do the stroke thing nothing happens on the transparent layer at all but when i go to the render it just replaces the outline of the image with the color i selected and even draws a line on the bottom of the sig where the render cuts off. help? kristi Member Profile Joined: Apr 07, 2006 Posts: 2 posted on: Aug 10, 2006 at 06:41:19 I had alot of fun with this...I find alot of Curly's tutorials fun, useful and different. sk8brder40 Member Profile Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 129 posted on: Aug 10, 2006 at 06:55:43 QUOTE: Sweet, i was wondering where he learned this, Yaknow Sk8brder40 on here? Well, He Made me a Stewie Sig a while ago said, he was trying out a new technique, here's how it came out: Sk8brder40's: I thought it was soo awesome, and now i find this! So i LOVE this tutorial!!! Here's how MINE came out: MINE: iI did it without the T2 aswell, so it looks less cluddered: (I know, purple really doesn't look that good, so i'm gonna make one using a good evil pic of zim, so i can make it black and red, so it'll look alot more.. well, evil.. like Classy D's (the red and black part, not the evil part)) >_> Yup, this is the great tutorial I used for the sig . Welcome to the forums, btw. Visit my website at sk8brder40.com ADMIN: Please use single image in footer. Niel Member Profile Joined: Aug 10, 2006 Posts: 3 posted on: Aug 10, 2006 at 09:11:06 Amazing Tut !! I'll post my outcome when I'm done Animalese Member Profile Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 29 posted on: Aug 11, 2006 at 09:12:47 Ok, not really vector...ish, but I moved the steps around, making this: I skipped some steps and a lot of things were changed. Comments? Trapezium Member Profile Joined: Jun 24, 2006 Posts: 1066 posted on: Aug 11, 2006 at 09:55:29 Classy D and Kristi have gotten sweet results! Niel Member Profile Joined: Aug 10, 2006 Posts: 3 posted on: Aug 11, 2006 at 10:34:24 Here's what I got Got the right one now :P Animalese Member Profile Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 29 posted on: Aug 11, 2006 at 11:14:29 Good work Niel! ViEtStUhx Member Profile Joined: Aug 12, 2006 Posts: 11 posted on: Aug 12, 2006 at 12:22:20 nice tut ill be usin this one soon i kno it sucks but i just started lol Neil Member Profile Joined: Aug 11, 2006 Posts: 184 posted on: Aug 13, 2006 at 10:56:00 Thanks Animalese :) Rob 3.0 Member Profile Joined: Jul 15, 2006 Posts: 57 posted on: Aug 13, 2006 at 05:32:18 im finally done trying this here is my result and whenever i do a tut i make about 5 of them so i will make more. o and classy d love the result kristi also as a matter of fact i think every one did pretty well monkey_360 Member Profile Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 980 posted on: Aug 14, 2006 at 03:16:47 first sig in a long while and man i dont like it Newest Sub-Zero Tut|Gift From Vo1ture Pricklyporcupine Member Profile Joined: Jul 15, 2006 Posts: 63 posted on: Aug 14, 2006 at 03:19:03 my results: not really a vectored render, but meh, it worked imo. what d'you think? Latest Work: AKA: Calpalg.