In this tutorial, I will show you how to create text (or any other thing you might choose) that looks as if it's being written by hand. This way is so easy, I can't believe I didn't think of it before.



Let's start the tutorial!

Step 1:

A) Open GIMP and add a background. I just picked a blue color. Anything will. You can even use one of your unfinished sigs or avatars.
B) Add new image and add some text. I'm using the "Asenine" font, which you can get at dafont Click Me!
C) Right-click on the text layer and choose "Alpha to Selection"



Your image should now look something like this:



The red outline represents the selection area. Your selection area will look like it's surrounded by "marching ants."

D) Now, with the selection still there make the background image active.



You'll notice that my image only has one layer now. Yours probably has 2 (background and text). I've already deleted my text layer. You can either delete it now or keep it there and turn it off (Click "eye" button next to it). If you're afraid you might make a mistake, just leave it there. Ultimately, you'll need to delete the layer. If you delete your text layer now, you may want to save the selection as a channel (Select > Save to Channel) just in case you inadvertently delete the selection. That way you can go to the Channels tab and recall the selection.

Step 2:

A) Set your foreground color to any color you want. This will be what your final color will look like.
B) Grab a brush. I'm using a standard GIMP Circle 15 X15 brush. Font size will dictate your choice here. You may have to periodically adjust your brush size to accomodate width changes, bends, proximity to adjacent letters, etc.
C) With the selection still activated, add a dab of color with your brush by clicking in the first letter wherever you would normally begin writing.



D) Click on the Duplicate layer button at the bottom of the Layer Dialog Window to make a duplicate of the layer you just added your first bit of color to.
E) Repeat Step 2B - 2D until you have covered your entire bit of text.

If you make any mistakes (like overlapping areas you didn't mean to), use your eraser tool to fix those spots. You may need to adjust the brush sizes accordingly.

Here are two images showing mine partway and the final non-animated result:




Step 3:

A) Delete your text layer
B) Play your animation to see if you missed any spots (Filters > Animation > Playback)

If everything looks good, save it. You're finished!

Step 4:

A) File > Save or File > Save as....
B) Assign a name with the gif extension (ie....animation.gif)

The following windows will open. Change the setting as follows:





I've chosen the speed of 100ms (1/10th of a sec). You can adjust yours as you see fit. The higher the number, the slower the movement between frames.

If you get this error message, just click OK.



Here's the final product:



Later on, I'll present Method #2. Enjoy!

I'm sure you'll point out ways that it could be improved, so I won't even say that C & C are welcome.

Art

schweet!

this looks to be awesome. :l:

Cool, thanx!

Sweet! Cant wait to try it!

Great job fencepost!

Oh this is so cool! Very nice tut and easy to follow. Here is my attempt.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i216/ ... ffiti2.gif

(how do you just show the pic lol)

NOTE* thats not mine


There you go! next time you want to post a pic, just click the "Image" button, and put your URL in between the "<IMG> </IMG>"

Jethro

Fence! Woot!



:l:

And yes.. i know the A is messed up but for a first go, im chuffed!

Nimrod, in your photobucket account, copy the IMG code instead of the URL

Im guessing that it might be possible to use this for a flash?

I was wondering how to do something like this the other day.
That's awesome!
Great tut, fence. :h:

here is my result the s came out backward lol i didnt feel like starting again it was my first try too so i forgot to take off the letters i started from lol

very nice idea with this animation, simple and effective. *two thumbs up*

ty my outcome.. ( its my clan tag whit my game name.. :h: )

man. you are like the god of GIMP :w:

Thanks for the tut fencepost! this need to be in the official section!

great work!! thanks a ton!

Lovin' it! Thanks so much Fence! I hope no one stoops low enough to rip it.. that would be lame.

For mine I went with a symbol font and wrote the word "Faith" as you can see on the last frame of the animation.

first attempt at this sort of thing... it's not great and i really should have chosen a shorter name :h:

Art... Made this one last night with your Tut....

THat's really cool, I might give it a try in a second..

how u did that woman??

Well, I took Angelina Jolie into inkscape, then when I was done I saved the paths and used them in Gimp. From there, I followed the tutorial FencePost has here.

Also, if your text is coming out with jagged edges, this is the result of the limitations of gif transparency. A way around this is to type your text directly on your background versus a new layer. Then just save it as before. It will look much better this way. I'll modify the tutorial accordingly when I get the opportunity.

A

Tutorial updated

I'm pretty sure that this is why the text for "Jolie" looks nice and smooth.

Thanks again for the tutorial... Glad you liked the gifted Angelina animation!

Yeah, it was a great gift! Thanks a bunch!

Art

my outcome its a bit wierd

I messed with mine a little bit :h: