A Tutorial on How to Create 3D Text in GIMP (Graphics Image Manipulation Program)

by

Christopher Paulin
cpaulin_remove_this_part@us.inter.net
(Remove the "_remove_this_part". It's there to prevent Webbots from emailing me.)

updated 1/8/2001

I will be periodically revising this tutorial. When I am finished, I will leave a note here saying it is complete.

the goal The purpose of this tutorial is to create 3D text such as the image below.

Here are a couple more examples, which I am not going to use in this tutorial but which I made for my medical technology school project.
opening GIMP Open GIMP, and you will see the toolbox below.
creating a new image
  • On pull-down menu, click File -> New

  • For this demo, choose the options in image below.
  • Click OK.

the new window
  • This window has the background fill. I will call this the art window.
  • TIP: To undo a change, first highlight the window by clicking on its title bar and then press Cntl + Z on the keyboard. Use Cntl + R to redo something you undid. You lose these undos and redos after you close the image, even if you saved it.

    • making a new layer Click on the art window to bring it to the foreground. There are two ways to open the layers dialog box:
    • Click on the title bar of the art window to make sure it is in the foreground and then press Cntl + L.
    • Right-click on window -> Layers -> Layers & Channels...
    Now you should see the Layers dialog box:

    creating a new layer There are two ways to create a new layer.
    • Click on the new layer button in the lower left corner in the layers dialog box.
    • Click on the title bar of the layers dialog box to make sure it is in the foreground and then press Cntl + N.
    Now you should see the New Layer dialog box.
    adding text to new layer There are two ways to add text to the new layer.
    • Click on the "T" button in the toolbox.
    • Click on the title bar of the art window to make sure it is in the foreground and then press T.
    Now you should see the "T" button in the toolbox depressed and an I-beam shaped cursor when the cursor is over the art window.
    • Click on the art window where you want the upper left corner of the text art to go.
    • I placed the upper left corner of the text where the dot is in the image below.
    Now you should see the Text Tool dialog box.
    • Choose the options in the image below, which are New Times Roman, bold, and italicize.
    • Type "Linux" in the white text area of the Text Tool dialog box.
    • Press "OK".
    • Click on the title bar of art window to bring it to the foreground.
    • The cursor will turn into a four-headed arrow when it is over the text.
    • When it is over the text and is a four-headed arrow, you can drag and drop the text to the center of the art window. I did not move the text because I set its position when I opened the Text Tool dialog box.

    • Click on the layers dialog box.
    • Click on the anchor button.

    duplicating the layer Click on the title bar of the layers dialog box to bring it to the foreground. First make sure the layer is highlighted. If it is not, click on its title, "text orig", in the layers dialog box. There are two ways to duplicate the layer:
    • Click on the "Duplicate Layer" button.
    • Cntl + C

    • Double-click on the duplicated layer's title, "text orig copy", in the layers dialog box.
    • Rename the layer "blurred text".
    • Click "OK".
    creating blurred text
    • Make sure the "blurred text" layer is highlighted. If it is not, click on its title in the layers dialog box.
    • To see the blur better unclick the eye icon in front of "text orig". This way you will only see the blur on top of the background layer.
    • Click on the title bar of the art window to bring it to the foreground.
    • Right-click on the inside of the window to bring up the pull-down menu.
    • Go to Filters -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur (IIR).
    • Type 5 for the radius.
    • Click "OK".
    creating pattern layer that will cover the blurred text layer
    • Create new transparent layer called "pattern".
    • Double-click on bucket icon on the toolbox. This is the fill tool. This brings up the fill tool options.
    • Select pattern fill and then close.
    • On the toolbox, click the File pull-down menu -> Dialogs -> Patterns
    • Click on the grey pattern and click "Close".
    • Click on the title bar of the art window to bring it to the foreground
    • Press Cntl + A to select all.
    • Position the cursor over the art window's white. It should look like a large "+".
    • Click on the white area. The white area should look like the pattern you selected.
    • Right-click on the pattern area, previously the white area -> Filters -> Map -> Bump Map
    • Use the options in the image below. Make sure you select "blurred text" for "Bump Map". You can move the preview image by dragging it with the mouse. linear map=checked, azimuth=30.90, elevation=40.60 (40),
      depth=9 (23), x offset=0, y offset=0, waterlevel=255, ambient=0
    • Click"OK".
    • When you click on the art window's title bar, you will see the finished bump map.

      • BEWARE:

    • DO NOT click on the art area because that will fill it with the pattern and erase the bump map!
    • If you do, you can undo it with Cntl + Z while the art window is highlighted.
    • Because you can accidentally fill the art window with a pattern, click on the upper left button on the toolbox to inactivate the fill option and activate the harmless selection tool.
    creating the mask
    • Click on the title bar of the layers dialog box to bring it to the foreground.
    • Right-click on the pattern layer's label -> Add Layer Mask.
    • Select "White (Full Opacity)" and click "OK".
    • Click on the "blurred text" label of layers dialog box.
    • Click on the title bar of the art window to bring it to the foreground.
    • Make sure there are moving dotted lines around the art window. If they are not there, press Cntl + A to select all.
    • Press Cntl + C to copy the "blurred text" layer.
    • On the layers dialog box, click on the white mask of the "pattern" layer. Make sure the white mask is clicked and not the grey pattern icon on the layers dialog box. This is because we want to copy to the mask, not the unmasked part of the layer.
    • Highlight the art window by clicking on its title bar.
    • Press Cntl + V to paste. You should see a white copy of the word "Linux".
    • On the toolbox, click the move icon.
    • Click on the title bar of the art window to bring it to the foreground.
    • Move the word "Linux" above the pattern word "Linux" so that you can see its outline in the next step. Do this by putting the cursor over the white "Linux" making sure it is a four-headed arrow. Then drag and drop.
    • Now move the word "Linux" over the pattern word "Linux". Use the the bottom-left arm of the "x" in "Linux" to guide the placement
    • To anchor it, move the cursor away from the white letters to the grey pattern. The curor looks like a down arrow. Click when you see the down arrow.
    • Right-click on the art windows art area -> Image -> Colors -> Invert.
    • The word will have the grey pattern, and the rest will be white.
    • Right-click on the inside of the art window -> Image -> Colors -> Levels.
    • Use the option in the image and click "OK". Type 0, .22, 204 for the Input Levels. As you type the numbers in or move the slide bars, you can preview the changes in the art window.
    • Click "OK".
    • Click on the title bar of the art window and see the effect.
    creating the shadow
    • Click on the layers dialog box.
    • Make top layer invisible.
    • Highlight blur layer and keep transparent.
    • Move blur layer up and to right.
    • Right-click on the art window Filters -> Render -> Qbist.
    • As you click on each square, it creates a new pattern in the middle. The middle pattern is the one that will be selected if you click "OK"
    • You can save a pattern by clicking on "Save".
    • You can open a pattern by clicking on "Load".
    • I selected this pattern if you want to use it. Right-click on the link and choose Save Link As
    • After selecting or loading the pattern you want, click "OK".
    • Make the shadow lighter by highlighting the layers dialog box, highlighting the title of the "blurred text" layer, and moving the opacity slide bar to the middle to decrease the opacity to 50%.
    Saving changes
    • Make the bump map, blur, and background visible.
    • Delete the "text orig" layer.
    • You need to merge visible layers to one layer to be able to save it as a JPEG because JPEGs cannot have layers.
    • Click on the title bar of the art window to highlight it.
    • Right-click on the art area -> Layers -> Merge Visible Layers.
    • In the Merge Visible Layers dialog box choose, "Clipped to image".
    • Click "OK".
    • Click on the layers dialog box to see the result.
    • Save as a JPEG by highlighting the art window.
    • Right-click -> File -> Save as.
    • In the Save Image dialog box, type the name "linux_3d.png" in the white text box. When you type the ".png" extension of the file name and "By extension" is selected in the "Determine file type:" pull-down menu above the text box, it will save it as a JPEG. Otherwise, if you do not end your file name in ".png" or another extension such as ".tiff", you have to choose the file type in the "Determine file type:" pull-down menu.
    • XCF is the GIMP file type. Use that to preserve the layers. It is good if you want to stop and continue working on an image later. The only drawback to saving it rather than leaving it on the screen to work on it later is that it does not allow you to undo mistakes, so save it in stages where you are not going to have to go back to undo something.

    The Making of the Tutorial Images
    goal
    • to make a modified screen shot, for example:
    making the screen shot
    • Make sure the window or dialog box that you want the screen shot of is open, for example, the layers dialog box:
    • On the toolbox pull-down menu "Xtns", click on "Screen Shot".
    • The title bar is gray and will be gray in the screen shot if you click on "Grab" right away in the Screen Shot dialog box.
    • To make the title bar highlighted blue in the screen shot, first click on the title bar to highlight it.
    • Now click on the title bar of the "Screen Shot" dialog box, leaving the selected default options the same: "Grab a single window" and "Include decorations".
    • Click "Grab".
    • This is the result:
    making the circled selections
    • Highlight the toolbox and click on the elliptical selection tool:
    • Right-click on the art window -> Dialogs -> Brushes.
    • Select the brush you want to use.
    • Highlight the title bar of the art window. Select the area you want to circle.
    • Right-click on the art window -> Edit -> Stroke. This will make the circle look like what you selected in the "Brush Selection" dialog box.
    • Click on the art area of the art window to unselect it
    • Save as a JPEG by highlighting the art window.
    • Right-click -> File -> Save as.
    • In the Save Image dialog box, type the name "layers_dialog_new_layer_button".
    • Click "OK".