Tank top.... New Trim and Adjustments

Ok, ok!  I promised to tell you how to do the fancy trim and make the fabric's connection to the straps a little more realistic.... and I will!!

Let's to the adjustment of the fabrics to the straps first.  It's really easy.

• Open up your GIMP xcf file containing your tank top.  Then on the Layers window choose the Paths tab.  
• Make sure your front and back panels are showing, along with the trim and straps.  If they're not turn on the appropriate layers to fix that.
• Locate the path that defined the outline of the front and back of the fabric and MAKE A COPY of it, give it a new name... something including the word 'pointy'  *winks*
• Now click the 'eye on that to make it show up on the image.
• Back on GIMP's Tool Window click the "Path's Tool"
• Now switch to the Image Window, and look at the point where the straps and the front fabric intersect... you should see the line showing the path overlaying the trim.  If not zoom in using the Ctl-MouseWheel to make it bigger ..... and click the line with the mouse.
• We had 7 points on the upper part of our line... two of the points were just above each breast.  
• Using your mouse, move those points to so they are at the points where the trim and straps intersect.
• Now.... move those points up the strap a bit.... how much you move them is up to you.  Move them both about the same amount.  Precision is not important here.
• Once they're in position.... use the adjustment handles and make them both look like and upside down "V".  
• Check the other end of each line segment to see if you need to make an adjustment there, do so if you need to.

That's it for the front.  As usual, it takes much more effort to describe as it does to do it.  *shrugs*  C'est la vie!

Now we need to do the same thing on the back.  Every thing is the same until we get to the point where we click on the path and look for the 7 points.... and discover that we only have 5!!  ( Well, I only used 5 in my example, you might have had more. )   You just need one trick to fix this....  Using the Path Tool, press the Control key and hold it down, then click on the point of intersection of the strap and the back fabric.  As you press the control key, notice that the cursor get's a tiny tiny "+".  That tells you that you're going to ADD a point to the line.

Once you've added your points, move them up a little as we did above and make the adjustment handles go in an upside down "V".  Make any adjustments to the other ends of the line segments that you may need.  In the end, your Path will look something like this picture to the right.

If you'd like to take a look at the original posts where we created the path for the front and back of the fabric, look here:
http://robin-makingstuff.blogspot.com/2011/05/making-clothes-tank-top-part-2.html
If you want to look at the place where we practiced on making paths and adjusting them to make smooth curves, look here:
http://robin-makingstuff.blogspot.com/2011/04/making-clothes-tank-top-part-1.html

Now the fancy trim and straps.  Its really not that hard. 

When we made the straps the last time... recall that we used the "Paint along the path" tool at the bottom of the Layers window when we had the Path tab open.   The last time we accepted the default and adjusted the width of the painting that the tool used.  This time we'll use the Paint Tool, so check the "Stroke along the path with a Paint Tool" option after clicking "Paint along the Path".

BUT FIRST!  We need to set up the Paint Tool.

On the Tools window, click the Paint Tool and on the window that opens below, choose a size that you'd like the Paint Tool to use.  You'll see the choices on the lower part of the Layer Window.  You'll probably want to hover your mouse over the fabric to judge the size and pick one you want.  I used the one named "Circle (11) 13x13"  (the name of the one you've chosen is just above the collection).

Now notice that slider just below the collection of brushes in the Layers Window.  It's titled "Spacing".  The value you choose will determine the spacing between each 'instance' of the paint brush you've chosen.  Choose a small number with a largish brush and the line will appear to be continuous.  Choose a larger number with a smaller brush and you will get spaces between each 'brush stroke'.  We want each of the circles of the brush stroke to be just barely touching.  A value of 100 does this.  Go ahead and experiment with it, and with the brush size - see what you like.

If you've been following along with the making of a tank top from the start, you've probably guessed that I used Filter->Bump Map to give the 3D appearance to the trim and the straps.  And... you would be right!!   The difficult part is to create the mask for the bump map.  Here's what I did.

• Create a new transparent layer
• Change the color to white, and leave the paint tool selected with the same paint brush and spacing as before.
• On the Path Tab of the Layers Window, use the Paint Along The Path tool as you did before, but this time in the new transparent window you just made.
• On the Tools Window, switch to the Fuzzy Select Tool (it looks like a tiny magic wand)
• In the Image Window click the Fuzzy Select Tool on the white trim you have just made.  It will select all of them in as a group.
• Use Select->Shrink and reduce the size of the selections by several pixels.  I don't recall how many I used exactly... but you want a small blob in the middle of each circle.  The blob need not be a circle.
• Use Select->Invert. To invert the selection and press the delete key.  You will have deleted the outside of each of the circles leaving a little bit on the inside.
• Get rid of the selection by pressing Ctl-A
• Use Filter-Blur->Gaussian and spread out that small blob.... and you'll have your Bump Mask.

One more thing.  Remember we learned that the back of the fabric is actually smaller than the front of the fabric.  So when you make the straps and trim for the back, you'll need to make the circles slightly smaller.  The way to do this is pretty easy.  Once you have the Paint Tool selected on the Tools Window, look at the lower half of that window.... See the 'Scale' slider?  Make the scale 0.90, and you will have the right size circles for the trim and straps on the back of your top.

Let me know if you have any questions!

robin

PS: Here's a picture of the final result.  I've added the cmff layer behind it so you can get an idea of the size of the circles for the trim and the amount I moved things to make the top of the top more realistic.

Making a seamless tile - part two

Hi again!

We're going to make another pink flower tile this time, but much fancier. First, I'm sure you've noticed that flower petals are not really just one color, but instead they are delicate shades, merging from one color to another.  And flowers have that thing in the center, what is it called?  (Pistil and Stamen I think). Whatever it is, its often yellow and we'll make a yellow one for this flower.

We're going to go through the same steps as before with some additions.  I'm not going to repeat the detail from the previous post though.  Instead I'll try to focus on the new GIMP tricks in this post - hopefully you'll be able to put it together yourself.

Sooo.... First let's open GIMP, create a 64x64 canvas to work on like we did in the last post.  Here's what mine looks like... just 2 layers:

That's simple enough.

Now let's make the petals of the flower more interesting.   We're going to shrink the selection by 3 pixels and add a layer for the new size and fill it with a lighter shade of the pink we have above.  Then!  We'll do it again!  Shrink the selection by another 3 pixels, create a new transparent layer and put paint the lighter shade in that layer.  To shrink the selection use Select->Shrink and tell it you want it 3 pixels smaller.

Now if you look at that closely it looks a little ragged around the edges.  So we need to smooth it out.  We'll use something called Gaussian Blur on each layer to do that.  You'll find it in Filters->Blur->Gaussian.  I chose to blur by 2 pixels on the lower (biggest petals) layer and 3 pixels on the other two.  Choose what looks good to you though, your flower is likely different.  Here's my result:

That's much nicer!

Now we need the yellow center, the pistil/stamen.  This is pretty easy - just do what you did before to create the flower petals, but create a round area in the middle that you will paint yellow.  It doesn't have to be centered perfectly.  Heck it doesn't even have to be perfectly round.  Look at mine!

I went ahead did the blurring thing we did above.  Nice!  Isn't it?!

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention.  I also tinted the background layer pink and made it a little less bright.  You may want to do the same.

What we've been done so far is to create a fancier version of the rather cartoon-ish flower we had before.  Now I want to add some 'pop' to this.  Some 3-D effects.  We'll use something called Bump Map in a few minutes, but first we need to do a little preparation.   I'll detail the steps here so its easier to follow.

1. Click the eye icon on the background layer so that it is no longer visible.
2. Now make a copy of the large petal layer and click the eye icon to make it invisible.
3. And make a coy of the large pistil/stamen layer and click the eye icon to make it in visible
4. At this point you have the original layers visible, minus the background.....Now go to Image->Merge Visible Layers and all of the petal and pistil/stamen layers will be merged into one layer.  (If this makes you nervous, save the file before you do it).

Ok, now it should look something like this:

Note especially the Layers window.... four layers, one visible, our merged layer.  Now we're going to use the large petals layer and large pistil/stamen layer to create masks for the Bump Map.

First the petals layer.  Click on where the eye should be, making it visible.  Then select that layer, making it active and....

1. Make the layer black and white with: Colors->Desaturate
2. Then blur the layer rather severely.  Use Filters->Blur->Gaussian ..... I chose 8 pixels and that's probably a good number for you too.
3. Finally you will want to brighten this - its very grey at the moment.  So choose Colors->Brightness-Contrast and adjust the two controls you see to the right.  I think for mine I moved both up to somewhere between 50 and 60.
4. Click on the eye and make the layer invisible again.

Next make the pistil/stamen layer visible and active and repeat the above.

Now select the layer that is our merged flower.  Just check - it should be the only visible layer.  If it is not correct this now.  The Bump Map we're going to do next will actually make changes to the layer, so let's make a copy of this layer and work on the copy.   The new layer will now be selected and visible - that's good.

Now for the Bump Map.  We're going to do it twice, once for the petals and once for the pistil/stamen.

1. Choose Filters->Map->Bump Map.  You will get a dialog window with many choices... The only one we need to look at is the first one that chooses the Bump Map to use.
2. Click the pull down and select the large flower petal layer we had been working on above.
3. Notice in the preview window that some subtle shading has appeared - this is exactly what we want.  Press OK.

Take a moment and notice what the Bump Map filter did.  It created a rather nice 3D look on your petals.  So now repeat the process again, except in step 2 choose the pistil/stamen layer we had been working on before.

In the end, you should see something like this:

Pretty nifty!  Isn't it?

Now, you could at this point do the same thing we did before....  Duplicate this layer, divide the duplicate in half vertically and horizontally....  Combine the two with the background layer and create your test tiling.  And there is really nothing wrong with that but we'll do something just a little fancier.  This creates a result where the upper of the split image and the lower part of the split image, both overlay the original.  Since we've added a kind of 3D-ness here though, I'd like to carry that into the end result and make it so there is a kind of interleaving.

To do this we'll create the duplicate, divided layer as before, but then we'l add a layer mask.  (New GIMP trick!) and use it to hide one half of the duplicate divided layer.  Then we'll duplicate that and reverse the layer mask and with some simple positioning of the layers we'll achieve our result.

Ok let's list the steps:

1. Duplicate the layer and split is as we did in the previous post.
2. Now right click that new layer and choose Add Layer Mask.  Make it a white layer when you are asked to choose.
3. Now right click again and check 'Show Layer Mask"  (note that Edit Layer Mask is already checked). The image will become white, showing the layer mask you just created.
4. In the tools menu choose the Rectangle Select Tool.   Drag your mouse across the lower half of the layer mask.  Your first will not be perfectly accurate, but you will want this to be positioned at 32 on the vertical axis.  (recall that the image is 64x64).  You can use the 'position' on the lower part of the Tools window to see where your selection is.  Move it up or down as needed to make the second position value 32.
5. Make the foreground color in the Tools window black.  
6. Select the pain Bucket Fill Tool (the paint can) and click within the selection on the Image window.
7. Right click the Layer and uncheck 'Show Layer".

Now you will see that the portion of the layer with the white layer mask is visible.  And the part with the black layer mask is not.  Here's a snapshot of the result:

Now one more thing to do:

1. Duplicate the layer we've been working on.
2. The duplicated layer will be selected.... Choose Color->Invert.

You should see the layer mask reverse on the selected layer.  Black becomes white, white becomes black.    Now move the layer with the white/black layer mask above our original merged layer and look closely at the result.

Look at the upper corners first and how they interact with the middle.  The corner flowers are overlaying the middle flowers.  Now look at the middle flower and how it interacts with the lower corners.  The middle flower is overlaying the lower corner flowers.   Cool!!

Before we do anything else, let's save the file.  There's a lot of work here and it would be awful to loose it though a simple mistake.

Now, we need to make one layer for our tiling test.  So Image->Merge Visible Layers.  (notice that all three flower layers and the background layer are visible).  Then Filters->Map->Tile  and choose 640x640.   Here's the result:

Click on the image to get a close look at the tile testing window.  It looks pretty good to me!

robin