In this tutorial, you will learn how to vector a render
for use in sigs and wallpapers.

What is a vector? A vector is a type of recoloring
process that is characterized by solid colors and a
cartoonish, "cel-shaded" appearance.

There are several different types of vectors that you
can do. There's the "loose" style, and the "clean"
style. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to make both
types, and how to tell them apart.

Perhaps you've never seen a vector. In that case,
take a look at the examples below:
The original picture is on the top, and the vector is
on the bottom.




(All of the vectors seen in this tutorial were done by
me, curly haired boy)

Let's take a closer look at the examples. We see
that the lines on the first vector do not match up
very well. This is indicative of the "loose" style of
vectoring. It still looks quite good, but it promotes a
different feel than a "clean" vector.
The second vector is an example of the "clean"
style. All of the lines on it match up very well, and it
feels tighter and more polished.

How do you know which vectoring style to use on
your picture? It depends on the render, and the
feel you want the vector to have when it's done. In
the Master Chief vector, i decided to go with the
"loose" style because the render is in a relaxed
position, with his weapon pointed down. it's an
informal moment, and i wanted to capture that in
the vector.

In the Final Fantasy 3 vector, i saw the clenched
fists on the render, the steady gaze, and the
determined expression. All of this speaks about the
tension and energy the render is feeling. Therefore,
i chose the "clean" vector style, one that is visually
tight, and carefully constructed.

Another thing to notice about the examples is that
the Master Chief vector has many more colors than
the FF3 vector. This is because the Master Chief
vector was colored with gradients, not solid colors.
it's an advanced vectoring technique that allows
you to preserve the realistic lighting that the original
picture has. More on that later.

Okay! By now I'm sure you've had your fill of image
theory and want to get down to making your own
vectors!

Here we go!

First you will need to get familiar with the Paths tool
in GIMP. it's liek the bestest tool for vectoring evar!
Your Paths tool icon looks like this:
Click on it, and look at the tool options.
Make sure they look like this, and that
"Polygonal" is checked.



Now, in the main GIMP window, go to File >
Dialogs > Paths. That will bring up a window that
looks like this:



Once you have opened the paths dialog, open the
picture you want to vector.

*A word of Advice*
PHOTOGRAPHS OF PEOPLE DO NOT MAKE GOOD
VECTORS! ONLY IF YOU ARE UBER-LY 1337 @ VECTORING
SHOULD YOU ATTEMPT TO VECTOR A PHOTO OF A
PERSON!

ahem.

Now that you've put aside that hawt pic of your fav
celebrity crush, (>_>) we can choose something
more reasonable. Game art and illustrations make
good vectors, as well as comic and manga renders.
So open your picture.



Analyze your picture. Right from the beginning, i can
see that MY picture has THREE main colors: Red, White,
and Black. These main colors will be the brightest and
boldest in my vector. Now, Identify the main colors in
your picture. Which color has the most area? In my
picture, it's Red. That means i'll start my vector with
that color.

Vectoring isn't difficult to do, once you know the steps.
HOWEVER, it will take a lot of time to do it right. But since
you're using GIMP, you can save your work as an XCF
and continue later, with all your paths and layers
saved.

Let's begin.

Zoom in your render using the little zoom button at the
left bottom of the picture window. 200-400% should be
range you need to zoom in.



Now, begin begin your path around the main red part
of the render. Each click adds an anchor, and after
you've added one, it can be dragged to another
location. Thus, if you place an anchor in the wrong
place, you can just drag it to where it needs to be.
Try to follow the edge of the red part:



After you've encircled the red part with your path, add
one last anchor, and drag it so it overlaps with the first
one. You should have an unbroken path:



Now, go to the tool options in the main GIMP window.
The previously grayed-out "make selection from path"
is now available. Click it, then make a new transparent
layer. Now take your color select tool (eye dropper),
select the render layer, and click on the red color to
set it as your Foreground color. Select the transparent
layer again. You should still have a selection on your
picture, in the shape of the red part of your render.
Select the Fill tool (paint bucket), and in the tool
options, make sure that "fill with foreground color" is
checked.
Now, click once inside the selection. It will fill up with
the solid red color. Go to Edit > Select None.

After that last step, you should have this result:



"Wait!" you say. "You covered all of the other parts of
the render with red!" True, but we're going to repeat
the same technique with all the white parts of the
render. We'll temporarily hide the red layer so that the
original render shows us where to place our paths.
Then we'll surround the white with a path, convert the
path to a selection, and fill that selection on a new
layer with a solid color. It's really that simple. But it's not
quick. This is why vectoring takes so much time to do.

Let's skip ahead about an hour. You've been busy,
and we've got this so far:



If you have each filled selection on a separate layer,
then you've got a ton of layers right now. You can
group them by color, and move all the white layers
together. Then you select the top White layer and go
to Layer > Merge down. Select the new top White
layer, and keep merging until all of the White is on
ONE layer. Then do the same for the other colors,
such as the dark gray.
Now isn't that more manageable?

It's now time for Shadows. This is the easiest part of
the vectoring process.

Make a new layer, and hide all the ones below it.
(click the eye to the left of the layer to make that
layer visible and invisible) Unhide your original render
layer. Make sure your top tranparent layer is selected,
and then make a path around all the shadowed spots
on the render. You can do this in several steps:
1. Make a path.
2. Path to selection.
3. Fill selection with BLACK, yes, black!
You can repeat these steps using the same top
transparent layer. Here are some pictures to help out:

Render with darkened areas selected:



Render (Left) and Vector (Right) with Shadow selections
filled with black at 100% opacity:



Vector with Shadows at 50% opacity(L) and Shadows
layer(R):



Now, it's time to add some outlines to your vector.
Outlines add a professional feel to your vector, and
they make it look better. The procedure is as follows:

1. Go to your Paths Dialog, and select the bottom
path.
2. Go to your Layers Dialog, and make a new
transparent layer at the top of your layer stack.
3. Change your Foreground color to Black.
4. Go back to the Paths Dialog, and at the bottom
set of buttons, choose "Stroke Path". It's the second
one from the right. A width of about 2-4 pixels is good.
5. Use the Eraser at 100% opacity to erase the parts
that look bad or are covering up other parts of the
vector.
6. Repeat with the other Paths in the Paths Dialog,
working your way up. You should not do this to the
Shadows Layer.

Some more examples:

Vector with outlines (L), outlines by themselves (R)



Now it's time to arrange your layers to make the final
vector look as good as possible. You should:
Have the black outlines at the bottom
Have the main blocks of color above this, in order.
(glove layer needs to be above the coat
layer to be seen, etc.)
Have the Shadows layer above all the rest.

CONGRATULATIONS!
You've completed your first vector!

_________________________________________________


I haven't forgotten about what i said in the first part.
Now we're going to learn about Gradient Vectoring.

You saw gradient vectoring on my Master Chief
vector. The procedure is basically the same as
normal vectoring, except that instead of using the
Fill tool to color our selections, we will use the
Gradient tool.

Gradient Vectoring also requires that you break
blocks of color that seem to be the same into
smaller pieces that each have their own lighting.
Let's look at some examples:

Master Chief's original arm (L), and the same arm
vectored with gradients (R)



Notice that the lighting direction and source stays
the same in both.

To do a gradient vector properly, you must pick two
colors, once for the lighter parts of the vector, and
one for the darker parts of the vector. Shadow
layers are unnecessary when you do gradient
vectors, because the gradient process takes care
of light and dark parts.

Let's see some more examples:

Chest area on render (L), and the same area vectored (R)



See how the chest area, even though roughly the
same color, was divided up into multiple selections?
Each part was colored individually with gradients.

Those are the major differences between regular
and gradient vectors. You now know how to make
both.

That's all for this tutorial! Thanks for reading this
lengthy piece, and I hope it encourages you to
experiment further with your renders.

Happy Vectoring!

Friggen Sick!!!!!ive been waiting for this. good job and thanks alot :l:

EDIT:heres what i got, its not that good and i dont think i picked a very good render

or

About Blimmin Time - LOL

No seriously though you are a master Curly! I look up to you and the GIMPer you are, I can't wait to try out this and your other tut!

Thanks a bunch, You are the man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr T

EDIT: I have read it all and looks like I need to find alot of spare time to do this - lol

WOW :

Pure WOW

vectoring is easier than i thought, ill post my outcome when im done with it

Pretty neat, may try sometime, not sure.

ugh i hate picture tutorials

What's wrong with them? You can save them to your computer for easy access, they look nicer, and most are easier to read.

also, i've tried to make mine extra easy to read. no Visitor font, no weird drop shadows or glows, etc.

y would u hate them they are easy to follo and if there were no pics you would probably want pics...... :

Oh god, that looks really hard... :

You are some kind of Gimp Jedi.

cause i got like a 56k conection thats always half way asleep

Looks complicated, but i'm going to give it a try! Thanks for the tut!

Ahhhh this took forever! I like the effect but it took FOREVER.

I don't think it takes forever. I took atleast 2x the time to make my smudge sig.

NM sorry

here is one i made of Huey. LOVE THE TUTORIAL!!!!!

Looks good, they only thing I can find fault with this that the outline shouldn't be so thick. Most Vectors I see have outlines that are 1px max.

I have got to give this a go! Amazngly useful tut, Curly, this should be up at the official tuts!

ALL of his tuts should be official :w:

hey black guy, that's an awesome result!

it looks as though your were very careful in yout placement of the paths anchors, and it shows. very clean, very neat. excellent job! now make a sig with it! :w:

THANX!!! :l: it took me like a hour and a half to finish it : but i loved the outcome, once again GREAT tutorial

I really want to do this tut, but I can't find a decent render to apply the vectoring method to

Ditto.



NOT! Most of them are a pain to read. And you can save one that has pictures and real text to your computer just as well. And as for looking nicer...so what? It's about content, imparting information, which seems to me should be the priority. And on top of that there is at least one tute on here, dunno whose it is, since the minute I saw it, I hit the back button, had this big nasty "anti-rip logo down the middle of it. I am not gonna waste my time even looking at something like that.



Of course you want pics...In my case, I want my pics to be pics and my text to be text. That way, when ask my browser to enlarge the text so I can actually READ it...it works!

Furthermore...directly from the sticky post at the beginning of the forum, posted by Ali himself...



Many of us have complained about the search feature on this board. Why make it harder to use???? You can use Google...if the text is actually text!!