Topic: Little GIMP tricks
Anybody have cool GIMP tips that they'd like to share that don't require RTFM?
After browsing through Daisuke_Aramki's blog, and finding this wallpaper---
---to be really cool (you need to click on it in order to see what I am talking about), I decided to learn how I could make my own wallpapers in a similar style, i.e. with some kind of noise, whether stripes or otherwise. In case anyone was wondering, this is how you do it.
You need GIMP, the image that will be your center piece, and a tileable pattern. High quality patterns can be found at http://subtlepatterns.com/ for free. (Thanks again to Daisuke's blog.) Any image with a transparent or easily cropped background will work, e.g. Threadless t-shirt art, but the example below (Saturn) comes from http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html because 1) NASA images are usually in the public domain, 2) astronomy images are usually easily to work with given their invariably dark backgrounds.
1) Start by creating an image that will fill your screen, white or black. My netbook is just 1024 x 768.
2) Next, File > Open as Layers > the pattern and figure you want to use.
3) Select the layer that contains the pattern. Go to Filters > Map > Tile. Fill in your screen resolution again.
4) Align the tiled pattern by using the alignment tool (a rectangle with arrows on four sides). Make sure you're still working on the pattern layer, by clicking or selecting it. In the "Align" tab use the two central buttons to move the pattern flush with the rest of the image.
5) Repeat this process with your central figure, which is on a different layer, and you will need to bring to the top with the green arrows in the "Layers" tab.
7) Move your original, background layer to the top and use the Bucket Fill Tool to make it match the color of your central figure's background.
8) Now move your 3 layers around (again with the green arrows) until the background layer is at the bottom, the central image is in the middle, and the pattern layer is at the top.
9) The last step involves adjusting the opacity slider bar in the "Layers" tab to your desired level. This is the most important part and will compliment your boring old picture of Saturn or of a car or of whatever with a visually interesting, slightly abstracting pattern.
Voila
