Posted 5 years ago
·
Author
There are different ways to make good looking head signs, I am going to type down the fastest one, in my opinion at least.
1) Find a a cheap derivable head sign such as this and click on the "Derive From Product" option, just like you see in the picture below.
(IMAGE NO LONGER EXISTS)
2) Once the Previewer opens see what size the texture of the head sign you selected to derive from has. Do that by changing the texture to a random picture of large size like 800*800, if you derive from the product I'm using for this tutorial the previewer will give you the following message "This will be resized by the client to 512*256. Improve performance and visual quality by resizing it yourself!"
That's how you can see the actual size that a texture should be in the previewer.
(IMAGE NO LONGER EXISTS)
3) Now, open GIMP and go to File>New and select the same size as to what your previewer resized the random picture. 512*256 if you're using the head sign I linked this tutorial to.
4) Make sure your forground color is set to black and go to Edit>Fill With Foreground color. Go to Layer>New Layer, set to trasparency and make sure your layers' dialogue is on your screen, if not, then just push ctrl+L and it will pop up in a small window.
5) On the layer you just added, select your Text Tool and type whatever you want your head sign to say, I'll type "Random" using the Sans Bold font. You ,ay want to increase the size of your font for a better visual result. Make sure that your text is in white. You will understand why the text needs to be white and the background black as you progress through this tutorial.
(IMAGE NO LONGER EXISTS)
6) Merge your text layer with your second layer. [The one you added a while ago]
To merge a layer you can either go to Layer>Merge Down or you can left click on the text layer on the layers' dialogue and select Merge Down from there.
7) What you have made so far was the opacity, in an opacity, the black part of the texture never appears, only the white part. Leave your two layers as they are for now and go to File>Save As... and save the opacity as a .png format.
A window will pop, select "Merge Visible Layers" and click on the "Export" option.
Keep the window on which you worked the opacity on open.
8) You could make a white texted head sign by changing both the opacity and the texture of the product you are deriving with the opacity you made, keep reading the rest of the tutorial if you want to learn how to make colourful head signs.
The opacity located on the part of the previewer that I'm pointing at, in the picture below.
(IMAGE NO LONGER EXISTS)
9) Click on the opacity map on the previewer and click on "change texture", use the texture you made a while ago.
10) Now, back to GIMP and coloring. Select the layer in which you have text on and either go to Layer>Transparency>Alpha To Selection or left click on that specific layer on the layers' dialogue and select Alpha To Selection from there.
11) Now, you can color your text in whatever color you want, you can either select "Fill With Foreground/Background Color" to use a specific color or you can mess with the gradient tool, try how some text effects would look like etc.
12) After you're done coloring, save as .png.
Any comments are welcome and I will gladly answer any questions you may have.
1) Find a a cheap derivable head sign such as this and click on the "Derive From Product" option, just like you see in the picture below.
(IMAGE NO LONGER EXISTS)
2) Once the Previewer opens see what size the texture of the head sign you selected to derive from has. Do that by changing the texture to a random picture of large size like 800*800, if you derive from the product I'm using for this tutorial the previewer will give you the following message "This will be resized by the client to 512*256. Improve performance and visual quality by resizing it yourself!"
That's how you can see the actual size that a texture should be in the previewer.
(IMAGE NO LONGER EXISTS)
3) Now, open GIMP and go to File>New and select the same size as to what your previewer resized the random picture. 512*256 if you're using the head sign I linked this tutorial to.
4) Make sure your forground color is set to black and go to Edit>Fill With Foreground color. Go to Layer>New Layer, set to trasparency and make sure your layers' dialogue is on your screen, if not, then just push ctrl+L and it will pop up in a small window.
5) On the layer you just added, select your Text Tool and type whatever you want your head sign to say, I'll type "Random" using the Sans Bold font. You ,ay want to increase the size of your font for a better visual result. Make sure that your text is in white. You will understand why the text needs to be white and the background black as you progress through this tutorial.
(IMAGE NO LONGER EXISTS)
6) Merge your text layer with your second layer. [The one you added a while ago]
To merge a layer you can either go to Layer>Merge Down or you can left click on the text layer on the layers' dialogue and select Merge Down from there.
7) What you have made so far was the opacity, in an opacity, the black part of the texture never appears, only the white part. Leave your two layers as they are for now and go to File>Save As... and save the opacity as a .png format.
A window will pop, select "Merge Visible Layers" and click on the "Export" option.
Keep the window on which you worked the opacity on open.
8) You could make a white texted head sign by changing both the opacity and the texture of the product you are deriving with the opacity you made, keep reading the rest of the tutorial if you want to learn how to make colourful head signs.
The opacity located on the part of the previewer that I'm pointing at, in the picture below.
(IMAGE NO LONGER EXISTS)
9) Click on the opacity map on the previewer and click on "change texture", use the texture you made a while ago.
10) Now, back to GIMP and coloring. Select the layer in which you have text on and either go to Layer>Transparency>Alpha To Selection or left click on that specific layer on the layers' dialogue and select Alpha To Selection from there.
11) Now, you can color your text in whatever color you want, you can either select "Fill With Foreground/Background Color" to use a specific color or you can mess with the gradient tool, try how some text effects would look like etc.
12) After you're done coloring, save as .png.
Any comments are welcome and I will gladly answer any questions you may have.