Tut :|| Scrolling UB :||: GIMP

Scrolling Userbar in GIMP tutorial by Play3r_93
Welcome to my first tutorial

The main reason I made this tut is because when i wanted to learn how to make a scrolling UB in GIMP i couldn't find any tuts. But I eventually learned how to when I found a GIMP GAP tut. Another reason is because I've seen many ppl posting topics tht they want a tut of how to make a scrolling UB in GIMP so here it is ppl.

Here’s what we will end up with after following this tutorial:



Before we start to make our UBs some requirements are listed below with download links:

Required
GIMP 2.6 Download here
GAP (GIMP Animation Package) 2.6 Download here
Basic knowledge of GIMP, its interface and basic knowledge of GFX terms.

Optional
Visitor font Download here
Sasuke render Download here

One last message before we begin, this tutorial is moderately easy and is not recommended for complete beginners of GIMP.

Step 1

Ok finally we can start this tutorial first of all we need to create a new image. Make the dimensions 350x19 (if you don’t know this is the normal size of a UB). Don’t need to worry about colour because the stock will cover the entire canvas.

Step 2

Now its time to add our stock as you can see in the requirements I’m using a Sasuke stock. I add stocks by going to File Open as Layers... You may need to use the scale tool to scale your stock to fit into the canvas. The scale tool is located in the toolbox image below. Remember to have Keep aspect selected before you scale any image.



The way my UB will scroll is going down then up to where it started. So to make it easier for myself I’m putting the lowest part of my UB on the canvas. If you follow my steps it should look like this:



Step 3

Now let’s make the UB look 3D. First make a new transparent layer and keep it on top of all layers. To give 3D look get out your ellipse select tool (the one that looks like an oval in the toolbox). Then make a selection from the top left, and then go down just below half way then to the right edge. Our selection needs to look like this:



Now make sure you have your new transparent layer selected. Fill the layer with white using bucket fill tool. Then turn down the opacity of the layer to 30. It should now look like this:



Step 4

Yeah now it’s looking more like a UB, but we’re not done yet. Time to add some text, the most commonly used font for UBs is Visitor font and the size is usually 10. If you don’t have the font it’s included at the start of the tutorial. Use the text tool to write some text on your UB and choose the colour text that you want. Mine looks like this:



Now let’s create a border around the text. People are always asking me how to do this so here it is. First right click on your text layer and go “Alpha to Selection”. Then create a new transparent layer and put it underneath your text layer. Go to Select Grow... and grow by 1 pixel. Make sure you have the new layer underneath text selected, and then go to Edit Fill with FG Colour and make sure black is selected. Now it should look like this:



Step 5

This is a simple step we’re just going to add a border to the entire UB. Oh I forgot to tell you that you can get rid of the Background layer. Make a new layer and put it on top of all other layers. To create a border, go to Select All. Then Edit Stroke Selection, and make the stroke 1 pixel. Save the UB as whatever you want to call it .Now it is a normal UB without scan lines here’s what it should look like:



Step 6

Finally it’s time to make our plain UB become a scrolling UB. Note: This is where the tutorial starts to get a bit tricky so try to stay with me. Ok make sure you have GAP installed before you continue. GAP is very stubborn and has a certain naming convention that needs to be followed. So you will need to open up a new image with the same size (350x19) and save as “whatever”_000001.xcf (you know that you can get rid of the quotation marks and whatever then put in your own name, right?). Make sure you save it in a special empty folder because there is going to be a hell of a lot o’ frames in there soon. Now go to Video Duplicate Frames..., if you want your animation to be pretty smooth add more frames. I’m choosing 60 frames because that’s pretty smooth. Here are my settings:



The reason I’ve only duplicated the frame 59 times instead of 60 is because we already have 1 and obviously 1+59=60 (but hopefully you knew that already, right?).

Step 7
Open up your UB that you saved a while ago at the end of Step 5 Before the one named “whatever”_000001. Ok make sure you got the UB called “whatever”_000001 selected. Now go to Video Move Path... and here is where it gets pretty tricky. Below is an image of the Move Path box with parts highlighted that we will use:



Ok I know that it may look pretty advanced but the way we’re going to use it will be pretty easy. Ok first of all always remember to keep “B” at none and “F” selected for every layer. Now make “A” have your stock layer selected. I realised that my UB was too low to start the animation from so at “C” I moved Y to 5. At “E” click “Add Point” once. If you made your stock at the lowest point showing on canvas (like I’ve done), then at “C” move, Y: in a positive direction. I moved my Y to 49 (which is just above Sasuke’s eyes), this is the highest point that my UB will reach. Then at “E” click “Add point” and at “C” put Y back to 0. Now (if you’ve done everything properly hopefully you have) go to “G” and click “Anim Preview”. A dialogue will pop up that looks like this:



Make sure that “Exact object on Frames” is selected; I want to view the preview in full size so I set “Scale Preview” to 100 and I found out that my UB works well at a “Framerate” of 22.00. Now click “Ok” and two other windows will (magically) pop up. Play the animation in the “Animation Playback” window and see if it scrolls up and down at a good speed if it doesn’t scroll properly then close it and cancel then start Step 7 again. But if it’s the speed that’s either too fast or too slow then close the animation and open up the “Move Path Animated Preview” window and mess around with the “Framerate”. Ok now after you’re done with that close both windows that opened up and don’t save them, and click “Ok” in the “Move Path” dialogue. That’s the end of the animation and the most difficult part of the tutorial, but don’t think it’s over yet, there are some steps that need to be done but it will be much easier from now on.

Step 8

Well now’s the time to add the rest of the layers to the animation. First of all go to Video Move Path... Remember that we’re still using the image of the Move Path window as a reference from Step 7. Make sure that “B” is at none and “F” is selected. Then at “A” have the 3D, ellipse tool filled in layer (hopefully you know what I mean) selected. Then at “D” turn the opacity down to 30 and simply just click “Ok”. Now then all you’ve got to do for all the rest of the layers is to follow Step 8 although you don’t need to mess around with the opacity. Oh also remember to keep the order of the layers in the correct order. This means that you’ve now done the stock layer and 3D layer so next is text border layer, then text layer and then entire UB border layer.

Step 9

Alright people do you realise what’s happened after step 8? (I’ll say it again, if you’ve done it properly) This means that we’ve just finished the scrolling UB YAY! But we have some last finishing touches to add (you probably thought we were done right?). Well now let’s go to Video VCR Navigator... and in the window that pops up just type in the frame rate that you found out in Step 7, and obviously put that number into the “Framerate” box in the VCR Navigator (It’s got to be obvious). Then close the VCR Navigator window. My setting is shown below:



Step 10

In this step we go to Video Frames to Image... and ignore everything in the window and click “Ok”. Now it will create a new image with every frame in it. Now we can save the new UB image as “whatever”.gif (you still remember that you can take out “whatever” and replace it, right?). On the window that pops up make sure you select “Save as Animation” then click “Export”, and on the second window just click “Save”. That’s it guys we’re done YAY! (Hopefully it worked out for you). Here’s what I ended up with and what you should end up with if you followed exactly:




If there are any comments about tha tut please post