Etched Tree 1

Etched Tree 1
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

Oh this is fun!

I love GIMP. I know I said that before, but I really love GIMP. This was a little more experimenting, and I did this in about 6 steps, I think.

- Opened the original as layers:

- Duplicated the layer twice (to be on the safe side).
- In top layer, inverted color and did a Gaussian blur (5.0 horizontal and vertical).
- Set layer mode to "Grain Merge."
- Merged down. Set Color to Alpha Transparency in the Layers|Transparency menu - the transparent color is that grey. You will know "that grey" when you see it. :)
- Added a new layer for underneath, filled with color of my choice (brown).
- Duplicated the top (tree) layer, and set top layer mode to "screen", with opacity of ~50%.

Voila! Took about 20 minutes, and that's just because I was experimenting and didn't really know what I was doing.

I love GIMP. :)

Christmas Tree - Modified

Christmas Tree - Modified
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

Another GIMP experiment. If memory serves, this is what I did:

I opened the original photo as layers.


Duplicated the background layer twice. In top layer, inverted color, did gaussian blur, and set layer mode to "Grain Merge." Merged down one.

In top layer, set alpha transparency level and then did a Sobel edge detection. Set original image to invisible. Added new layer, filled with a dark green.

Opened an "Ice" texture I'd downloaded as layers, set above the green layer and below the Sobel layer. Set transparency to ~70%, I think.

Branches At Sunset

Branches At Sunset
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

This one was fairly straightforward.

Started with an almost identical photo. Duplicated the layer.

In the duplicate, set transparency alpha channel, then used the select by color tool with a fairly high threshold to get the branches. Inverted selection, hit delete.

Created new layer, bucket filled with light blue. Rendered fog (a GIMP render that seems to only be available on my ubuntu netbook, but not on my Windows computer. Odd.) White. On the new "cloud" layer, did some lighting effects with a high glow, low shininess, and a light orange light.

Did fog two more times, these times with low opacity (~40%) and a couple shades of orange and pink. Merged the three fog layers and the blue background layer. Put underneath the silhouette layer, but over the layer that contains the original picture.

Duplicated the silhouette layer, selected by contiguous color (fairly high threshold), inverted selection, and deleted. Repeat as necessary until I have layers that contained all of the branches, but little of the lower area. Merge the branches. Select by color so that all of the branches are selected, select the original silhouette layer, hit delete (this will separate the silhouettes into one layer that contains the branches, and one layer that contains everything else.

In the layer that contains the stuff other than the branches, do GIMPressionist, select the paintbrush04 brush with fairly high numbers for everything. Apply.

Still in the same layer, do a rectangle select, with feathered edges (high number) and rounded edges (high number), select most of the "sky" area, leaving a space around the corners. Hit delete, so that the impressionistic stuff is mostly on the bottom and the sides, and doesn't detract from the branches layer.

Add a border, since if I've learned anything while looking at Flickr, it's that a border makes all the difference. :) Just a regular border, black, X = ~18, Y = ~44. Add another border around that, light blue, X and Y are both 2. Add the text, and save.

Here is the original photo:

Portland Trip 5-22-2009 1-33-28 PM Modified 1

Portland Trip 5-22-2009 1-33-28 PM Modified 1
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

It's official... bump and environmental mapping in lighting are my new best friend. :)

Another experiment. The original photo is here:

Swan Ride

Swan Ride
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

This was manipulated in GIMP for the "Manipulate This" flickr group, which will hopefully let me in soon. :)

Original by monkeywing is here:
Click here to view the original image by monkeywing
(Just in case - this Flickr group is for submitting your photos to be manipulated by other people. Since monkeywing submitted this photo, permission to manipulate is a given).

Here is how it was done:

Added original as layers. Duplicated layer twice - called one copy "swan 1" and the other "swan 2." Through a process too complicated to go into and kind of self-explanatory, selected the big swan in the "swan 1" layer, inverted selection, and deleted to transparency. Did the same with the little swan in the "swan 2" layer. Merged the two layers and called them, "swans" (this layer now contained the swans, and nothing else).

Saved xcf file, deleted the "background" layer, added white layer underneath swans, merged down, saved as jpg. Undo, undo, undo, etc. until the background layer was back.

Opened the new jpg as layers, moved to bottom. Selected swans layer, did Lighting Effects. Environmental map set to the swans jpg, bump map set to the same (depth ~7ish, if memory serves). Played around with the material - low glow and brightness, higher shininess and polish, and metallic sheen. Applied.

Created a new duplicate of the background layer, called it, "water." In the swans jpg layer, selected the white background by color (0 threshold) to get everything but the swans. Inverted selection to select the swans. Selected the "water" layer, hit delete (this deleted the swans, leaving only the water, since selection areas carry over from one layer to another in GIMP).

Did basically the same thing with the water layer as I did with the swans.

Put the water layer under the swans layer, and voila. :)

Yahara River 11-17-2009 3-27-46 PM Modified 3

Yahara River 11-17-2009 3-27-46 PM Modified 3
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

Hm. Another attempt at not making these manipulations so dark. Played around with saturation of individual colors, and contrast. Perhaps played around with contrast too much. It does look better large than it does small, I think.

See two posts before for indications of how this was done.

Here's the original:

Yahara River 11-17-2009 3-27-46 PM Modified 1

Yahara River 11-17-2009 3-27-46 PM Modified 1
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

Another experiment. See the last post for a description of how this was done.

Here's the original:

Yahara River 11-17-2009 5-34-05 PM Modified 2

Yahara River 11-17-2009 5-34-05 PM Modified 2
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

This was interesting. This was an accident.

Here's what happened.

I opened the original in GIMP to fix the signs, which were far too conspicuous. So I did that (created a couple of duplicates, cut out everything but one sign in one duplicate, cut out everything but the other sign in the other, merged them, and lowered the saturation and brightness, then merged back down to one layer).

Then, I couldn't leave well enough alone. :)

Duplicated the layer again.

Created a new white layer underneath, filled with plasma. In duplicated layer, did bump map with the plasma, depth of 1. Deleted the plasma.

In duplicated layer, did lighting and effects. Did bump map with itself, and made it backlit (Z is negative) from afar (distance is high), with an intensity of 100%. Made the material slightly glowing, slightly bright, but not shiny or very polished.

Applied the map, and I got a black image with white highlights around all the edges. Looked very cool.

Reduced the opacity of the layer to see the layer underneath.

In layer underneath, went into Hue/Saturation, and increased the saturation and brightness of the layer a little.

Saved.

Very interesting. Think I might do it again sometime. :)

Here's the original:

Shiny Fall Colors 1

Shiny Fall Colors 1
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

An IFS fractal created in GIMP. Another experiment.

Just made a standard IFS fractal with 5 segments (each with a different fall color), and played around with rotation and stuff until it looked like I wanted.

Set the back to transparent. Created new layer, filled with a light yellow color, put it on bottom, merged layers.

Created a new layer, filled with plasma, moved to bottom. Selected top layer, bump mapped against the bottom layer.

In top layer, selected lighting effects. Created a distant bright light off the upper-right. Created a bump map against itself. Ran and saved.

Ducks 2 - Border 3

Ducks 2 - Border 3
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

Final version. I finally found a version I really like.

How I did it: see the post under "Ducks 2".

For the border:
New layer. Created gradient. Gradient is a custom gradient based on FG to BG - just move the end colors much closer to the edges. Shape is "Shaped (dimpled)". Create the gradient - white end on the outside.

Duplicate the layer, so we have two copies of the same to work with.

Create new layer. Do linear gradient based on default FG to BG - one color on top, the other color on bottom. Create another new layer and do the exact opposite.

Move the layers so they're in this order from top to bottom: "linear gradient, light on top," "one of the dimpled gradients," "linear gradient, dark on top," "the other dimpled gradient," "picture."

Select top layer, set transparency to ~50%. Merge down. Should now have a rectangle that's darker on the bottom. Make invisible.

Select the other linear layer, set transparency to ~50%. Merge down. Should now have a rectangle that's lighter on the bottom. Make all layers visible again.

In top layer, select rectangle that runs from 26 x 26 px, to 26 x 26 px from the lower right corner (helps to do expand from center and start at the midpoint). Hit delete.

In the lower gradient layer, do the same thing, but make the cleared area a little smaller, so we can see it through the top layer. Saved.

Opened in Windows photo gallery, and autofixed the color.

And that's it. :)

Ducks 2 - Border 2

Ducks 2 - Border 2
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

Finally happy with the border. Kind of silly, since the last border took so much longer.

Here's how:
Started with the photo created during Ducks 2.

Created a new layer, white background. Gradient fill tool. The gradient is just the normal FG - BG. Changed type to conical (sym). Beginning at midpoint of picture, created a gradient that would make it be dark on bottom.

Created another new layer, white background. In that layer, did exactly the same thing as above, but in the opposite direction (light on the bottom). Rearranged the layers as needed so that the one with the dark on the bottom was on top.

Selected the layer on top (the "dark on the bottom" layer). Rectangle select tool - made sure feathered edges and rounded edges was off, and expand from center was on. Began at the exact center, and select to the upper left edge of 26 x 26 pixels. Hit Delete.

Selected the layer underneath. Repeated the above, but this time went to the 34 x 34 px point. Hit Delete.

Here is the original (the online version, which was slightly modified in Picasa):

Ducks 2

Ducks 2
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

Another GIMP experiment. This one was insane.

If memory serves, it went something like this:

• Opened original as layer. Cropped. Duplicated the layer (total layers: 2).


• In top layer, selected the ducks. Made sure alpha channel was set to transparency. Inverted selection and deleted. Used Unsharp Mask with high settings. Set opacity of top level to something low.


• In bottom layer, despeckled. Merged top level down (total layers: 1). Duplicated layer (total layers: 2)


• In bottom layer, created Gaussian blur. Set transparency of top layer to 85%. Merged down (total layers: 1). Duplicate layer (total layers: 2).


• Created new image, same size as this one. Filled horizontally with gradient that has 5 levels to it and finishes where it left off. (Fill at a slight slant, and set the fill to repeat.) Whirl-pinch, with a slight whirl. Save as jpg.


• In original image, open the jpg as layers (it has to be created as a separate image and then loaded as layers for the environmental maps lighting later) (total layers: 3). Moved layer to bottom.


• In top layer, select Filter | Map | Displace. Displacement map is the new layer. X displacement=30, Y displacement=20, Smear.


• Filter | Light and Shadow | Lighting Effects. Environmental map is the gradient image. Experiment with metallic shine and lighting, until we get the effect we want. I think I might have also done a bump map, with itself.
  


• Remove the gradient layer (not needed anymore) (total layers: 2). If the top layer looks good, get rid of the bottom layer as well (total layers: 1).

Border

• Create a new image the same size as this one, filled white. Select rectangle covering exactly the top half of the image. Make a note of exactly how tall the selection is. Fill selection with a gradient that's a little "top heavy" - the top end of the gradient is white. The colored end should go on the outside of the image. Invert selection and do the same thing (so image looks like a symmetrical gradient with blue on the top and bottom).


• Create a new layer, filled with white (total layers: 2). Select a rectangle all along the left side, width of selection = 1/2 height of image (so that the border is even throughout the image). Fill selection with gradient. Do the same on the right side. Set layer type to "Multiply". Merge down. Save two copies of the image as jpg. With one of the copies, go into Brightness/Contrast and make much lighter.


• In original image, open the new jpg (the darker one) as layers, put new layer on top. In top layer, make sure alpha channel is transparency. Select the "picture" area (as opposed to the "frame" area - make sure it's symmetrical - and delete to view the ducks underneath.


• Open the lighter copy of the new jpg as layers, move the new layer to the bottom.


• In top layer, Filter | Light and Shadow | Lighting Effects. Set both the bump map (max height = 1.9) and the environmental map to the newly imported image. Experiment with the lighting (I wound up with two point lights, fairly intense but a long way away) and the material until it's both colorful and not terribly white, and apply.


• If it looks ok, get rid of the bottom (map) layer, and duplicate the border layer twice. Set top layer as multiply - ~30% opacity, next layer as soft glow - ~10% opacity, and bottom border layer as Normal - ~85% opacity. Play around until it looks right, merge them all together and save.

Here is the original (the online version, which was slightly modified in Picasa):

Ducks 1

Ducks 1
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

A GIMP experiment.

Notes to self: from memory, this is how I got this image:

Opened original as layers, straightened, and cropped.

Duplicated the layer (total layers: 2).

In the top layer, selected only the ducks, inverted the selection, and deleted (so the layer now consists of only the ducks). Sharpened the ducks layer using the standard sharpen mask. Set the opacity of the layer to ~50%.

In the bottom layer, despeckled.

Merged the two layers (total layers: 1).

Created new transparent layer (total layers: 2). Moved the new layer to the bottom. Covered the new layer with plasma noise.

Selected the top layer and created a bump map based on the plasma layer. Removed the plasma layer (total layers: 1).

Duplicated the main layer again (total layers: 2).

In the top layer, selected a square 50 px from each edge. Feathered the selection with a threshold of ~48. Rounded the corners of the selection. Deleted the selection (top layer now consists of just a border). Set transparency of top layer to 50%, then played around with the color and brightness of the top layer until it looked like this.

Here is the original (the online version, which was slightly modified in Picasa):

Been fuming about Google all day.

I ask you... if you're going to purposely remove all possible means of contacting you, is it really fair to have a help file that says:

If the calendar you're subscribing to using Google Calendar isn't refreshed
after 24 hours, please send us the calendar address and the detail of
the problem so that we can investigate.

Is it?

Six hours. Six hours, I spent, yesterday and today, looking for a way to send them the URL of the feed that was last updated on the first of April. Turns out, there is no way.

I am not happy. Neither are the clients that have to wait longer for their stuff because I spent all my work time trying to find a way to contact Google. :(

At least, after a couple of hours updating my list of Japanese verb conjugations, I'm not quite so furious. I've discovered that, if I'm angry enough, I... wind up eating a lot of chocolate.

Just started this account

Well, I should be cleaning right now. Oh well. :)

Anyway, this is yet another new blogging account (I keep changing them as my needs change). I discovered Twitter today, and needed a website to point Twitter to. My old web page went away when my funds did.

Anyway, my hope is that I will get used to writing again. It's far more likely that I'll just let this one languish just like the others, but who knows? :)