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In the second part of the tutorial, we will learn how to use transparency and add a unique background:
You will need GAP installed, but you will not be using the Move Path portion of GAP. The Move Path plugin section of GAP can be overwhelming for users new to using GAP, so we avoid it completely in our tutorial and focus on an easier approach.
From the main gimp toolbar window (the one with all the tool icons) open a 300x300 image by selecting:
File | New
As shown in the above image set your Width and Height to 300 pixels, then click OK.
Next select the Text Tool from the main Gimp toolbar window:
I have highlighted the Text Tool icon above in red. In the Tool Options window select your font and size. I am using URW Bookman L Not-Rotated font at a size of 60.0pt. If you do not have the Tool Options window as a tabbed window at the bottom of your main gimp toolbar window, please select:
Dialogs | Tool Options from your image window.
This will open a window for you to adjust the options for the tool you are using, which is the Text Tool in this case.
Once that is done, place your mouse cursor anywhere inside the image canvas and left-click with your mouse. This will open a window where you can type your text:
As you see above, I have typed the words My Text into the text box.
Watch the length of the word that you type in since you want it to fit inside of your image window. You can adjust your Font Size and Letter Spacing if you want to use a longer word.
When finished typing your word or phrase, click on the Close button.
Your text will now be on a separate layer in your image. Most likely it will not be centered in the image, and we need it to be centered to have the animation work as shown above.
After having clicked on Close in your text box, select:
Edit | Cut
This will remove the text layer, but place it into a memory buffer. Then select:
Layer | New Layer (or add a New Layer by clicking on the appropriate button at the bottom of the Layers dialog window. If you do not have a Layers dialog window as a tabbed window at the bottom of your main gimp toolbar window, just select
Dialogs | Layers from your image window and the Layers dialog window will open.)
In the window that opens after selecting Layer | New Layer in the previous paragraph, just accept the default of creating a new transparent layer and click OK.
Then select:
Edit | Paste
Magically your text reappears and it's centered, but it is a floating selection, not attached to any Layer. Now all that you have to do is attach or anchor the newly pasted text onto the New (Transparent) Layer just created by selecting:
Layer | Anchor Layer from your image window, or click on the little Anchor icon in your Layers dialog window:
We now have a centered text layer (it will be called New Layer in the Layers dialog window) and it is the same size as the image.
Then merge the New Layer with the white background layer below it by selecting:
Layer | Merge Down from your image window (or right-click on the New Layer in the Layers Dialog window and select Merge Down in the menu that opens.)
We now have our text merged onto the default white Background layer.
Next, you want to duplicate this layer 39 times (which will result in our image having 40 total layers) You can do this by repeatedly (39 times) clicking on the Duplicate icon at the bottom of your Layers dialog window:
Side Note: There is another indirect (but somewhat more complex) way to make multiple layers, but since this is only 39 clicks, it is easier to use this method. (There is nothing magical about the amount of layers. I chose 40, you may wish to try 20 or 50, or whatever suits you. More layers usually equals smoother animation, and less layers will produce less smooth animations generally. Remember too that more layers increases your file size, so the number of layers that you use will depend on your goals.)
After duplicating the layer 39 times, we now have a 40 layer image. All layers are exactly the same.
Now the magic begins.
From your image window select:
Filters | Filter All Layers
This opens a new window showing many filters that you can choose from. We will be using the Map Object filter:
I have selected the plug-in-map-object from the list and it is highlighted in blue as shown above. Once you have selected that plugin, click on the Apply Varying button.
Explanation: The reason that we select the Apply Varying button rather than Apply Constant, is because we are going to be having our layer rotate (spin) and so it will have different setting for each layer (frame) of the animation. We will only be setting the first and last frames. Then GAP will do the remainder of the work calculating all of the in between frames.
Once you click on the Apply Varying button, the Map Object plugin window opens.
We will be mapping our layers to the default Plane object, so no need to make any adjustments there. The only tabs to concern ourselves with are the Light and Orientation tabs:
Selecting the Light tab first, for our Lightsource type, select No Light from the drop down menu that opens when you click on that box. We do not want shadows in this animation since it will produce an unwanted effect. Those of you who like experimenting can come back and try it with a light source to see the results.
To achieve our spinning animation effect, we must rotate the Plane about the Y-axis. I'm not going to get into a discussion of Cartesian coordinates at this point, just consider the Y-axis to be the vertical axis. Those of you who wish to experiment after following this tutorial can try doing your rotations about the X or Z axes, or combinations of two or all three even.
Set the Y Rotation value to -180.0 (that is minus 180.0) This will correspond to the rotation orientation of our first frame of the animation. (You may notice that in my Preview window in the image above, the "My Text" is backwards, that is because I clicked on the Preview button after setting the Y Rotation value.) Then click OK.
Another window will open. Click Continue in that window. Again the Map Object plugin window will open:
This time make the value of Y in the Rotation section of the Orientation tab 180.0 This will be the value of the final frame (layer) of our animation. We want the image to spin one full rotation around the Y-axis, which is a 360 degree turn. So we have it rotate between the two extremes possible here, which are -180.0 and 180.0 (and the difference between those two values is 360). There is no need to adjust the settings under the Light tab again. They will remain as we set them the first time. Once you have set the Y Rotation value, click OK.
Yet another window opens, and click on Continue in that window:
GAP will now calculate and set all of the in between spin rotation values for all of the other layers. When the plugin is finished processing (it will take some time depending on your processor), you can then test out your animation by selecting:
Filters | Animation | Playback
Close out the playback window when you are done watching your newly created animation.
Did you notice the animation stops momentarily? That is because our first frame (layer) and last frame (layer) are the exact same orientation. Geometrically -180.0 and 180.0 are the same orientation. We can eliminate the pause by deleting either the top or the bottom layer. Make sure that it is selected in the Layers Dialog window and then click on the little Trash Can icon at the bottom of the window to delete that layer. Then if you play back your animation again there will be no pauses.
Now lets convert it into a GIF animation image file.
First select:
Filters | Animation | Optimize (for GIF) from the image window.
We do this to try to process the final animation into an optimum smallest file size.
After it processes another multilayered image window is created. From this new image window select:
File | Save As
And I saved my file as twisting_logo.gif and click on Save in the window that opens.
The Export File window then opens:
Make sure that you click on the Save as Animation selection as shown above and then click on the Export button.
Another window opens, just accept the default values there and click on OK. Your animated GIF file has now been saved.
This is the end of part 1 of this tutorial. In part 2 we add transparency to the mix. This allows for more flexibility and creativity in the final animation.
