Help
- [*:261ukphj] Click Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Patterns and find the Stone pattern. Right-click the Stone pattern and Open Pattern as Image. Close the Patterns dialog.
About the Stone pattern: You do not have to use a pattern for this. I chose the Stone pattern because it is bundled with GIMP and everyone has it in their patterns. You can use any pattern or any image that isn't a pattern. This tutorial is just to show you how to make the text and you can choose any image or pattern to use as the environment map. Open whatever you want to use before creating a new image for the text.
[*:261ukphj] Open a new image, 500 x 400, and name the Background layer, bump.
Fill the bump layer with white.
[*:261ukphj] Select your Text tool. I used Sans Bold Italic at size 155 for this tutorial. Any font will do - a moderately heavy one works best.
[*:261ukphj] Click the image window and in the Text dialog type GIMP or whatever you want.
[*:261ukphj] Move the text with the Move tool to the center of the image.
Right-click the GIMP layer and select Layer to Image Size.
[*:261ukphj] Duplicate the GIMP layer. You will have GIMP#1 and GIMP layers.[*:261ukphj] Select the GIMP layer and merge it down to the bump layer.
[*:261ukphj] Select the bump layer if it's not already selected.
Go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur and blur the layer 15.
[*:261ukphj] Select the GIMP#1 layer at the top.
[*:261ukphj] Filters > Light and Shadow > Lighting Effects.
In the Options tab make the distance 0.554 Do not click Transparent background - it will dump your bump layer.
[*:261ukphj] Click the Environment Map tab.
Check Enable environment mapping.
In the drop down choose the Stone pattern image.
[*:261ukphj] Click the Bump Map tab.
Check Enable bump mapping.
In the drop down choose the bump layer.
Curve drop down: Spherical
Maximum height: 0.01.
Click OK.
[*:261ukphj] Select the bump layer and fill with white so that you can see your drop shadow.
[*:261ukphj] Select the GIMP#1 layer.
Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow.
X & Y offsets = 6
Blur radius = 8
Opacity = 50.
[*:261ukphj] Merge your text layer down to the Drop Shadow layer.
[*:261ukphj] Delete the bump layer.
[*:261ukphj] Close the Stone pattern. It probably won't ask but just in case it got changed somehow, if you are asked if you want to save changes to the Stone pattern, click Don't Save.
Note about the Lighting Effects plug-in. If you use it more than one time and try a different pattern in the current GIMP session you will very likely get an Error message. It doesn't understand what you did with the first pattern you used. Click the OK button to get rid of it.
