GIMP Animation Tutorial: Sliding background effect
Requested by: aralana
This icon will take longer to make than your average icon, especially since GIMP is a little finicky with animations. But perhaps you'll still enjoy it :-)
x-posted to
icon_tutorial gimp_users and my own journal.
We'll be making this icon today:
1) As always, crop and resize your starting image down to 100x100. I didn't save the very first few steps of my icon (oops), but seeing exactly what I started with isn't the most important part.
2) For this icon, I erased the background (using the selection tool, then ctrl+k for larger areas, and the eraser tool for the detail work around Satine), then copied the layer.
3) On the bottom layer, I desaturated the image (Layer->Colors->Desaturate) and then went to Layer->Colors->Brightness-Contrast... and lowered the brightness and upped the contrast as low/high as they would go (respectively). Then I went to Filters->Blur->Gausian Blur and set the blur radius to 14 px on both axes (axises?). Finally, I flood filled the transparent background with a bright red (#c42627).
4) To the top layer, I applied this brush
by slaygalthessily from her Dawn of the Dead brush collection. I erased the parts of the brush that were covering Satine.
5) Finally, also to the top layer, I added the text. First Bookman Old Style Semi-Bold in black, size 19, then again in the same red as my background and moved slightly to the left so the black appeared as a shadow.
6) Now, copy the top and bottom layers separately into new images and save them each as gifs. Mine are SatineBackground.gif
and SatineForeground.gif 
7) This is the start of the tedious part. Go to your background image. Press ctrl+A to select it all then copy it (ctrl+c). Now go to your foreground image. Paste (ctrl+v) the background image to the foreground image. Go to the layers palette of the foreground image, create a new layer (so the background image is now a pasted layer) and move the pasted layer down. Go to File->Save as to save this as the first frame of your image. Mine is SatineFrame1.gif
Make sure to save this file as .gif and choose "Merge Visible Layers"!!!
8) Next step is to create the "box" you want to slide across your icon. Create a new image (mine is 15x100 pixels) and fill it with your chosen color. Mine is #f2d3da
9) Open up your foreground image again. Repeat the process from step 7 to have your foreground and background as two layers of the same image. Now select all of your box image, copy it, and paste it onto your foreground/background image. Make this a new layer on the layers palette, then move it down so it is between your background and foreground layers. Again, save this image as a .gif. I saved it as SatineFrame2.gif
10) Now, keep this image open. With the "box" layer selected on your layers palette, use your arrow key on your keyboard to move the box over 8 pixels (tap right 8 times). File->Save as this version of the images as SatineFrame3.gif
11) Repeat step 10 (renaming your image every 8 pixels - or however many pixels you choose to move your box) until your box reaches the end of the image. I end up with 13 total images: 1 without a box, and 12 with boxes, each one 8 pixels to the right of the last:
12) Now open your first frame of the animation (the one without any boxes). Go to File->Open as layer and select all of your frames (holding down "shift" or "ctrl" as you click) to be opened into your image.
13) Now you'll probably have to do some rearranging, but eventually you'll have your images in order, with Frame1 being the bottom-most layer and your last frame (Frame13 for me) being at the top.
14) Go to Filters->Animation->Optimize(for GIF). This eliminates the parts of your animation that repeat themselves and drastically reduces your file size. You can also preview your animation here.
15) Finally, once more go to File->Save as and save your file (again, as a .gif). Now choose to save the layers as an animation. Here you can choose to loop your image forever and the time between frames. I've set mine to 10 milliseconds.
And that should be it! You now have the "sliding box" background effect :-) If you have any questions, please comment and/or e-mail me and I'll be happy to help. Also, I'm still teaching myself GIMP and it's possible I've missed some neat tricks simply through ignorance: if you'd like to contribute anything I've missed, comment and I'll fix it in an update (or you can always try your hand at a tutorial. I promise it's not as scary as it looks :-)
Also, please comment at my journal's icon post to join my icon-lock and see my latest icons/tutorials.
This icon will take longer to make than your average icon, especially since GIMP is a little finicky with animations. But perhaps you'll still enjoy it :-)
x-posted to
icon_tutorial gimp_users and my own journal.We'll be making this icon today:
1) As always, crop and resize your starting image down to 100x100. I didn't save the very first few steps of my icon (oops), but seeing exactly what I started with isn't the most important part.
2) For this icon, I erased the background (using the selection tool, then ctrl+k for larger areas, and the eraser tool for the detail work around Satine), then copied the layer.
3) On the bottom layer, I desaturated the image (Layer->Colors->Desaturate) and then went to Layer->Colors->Brightness-Contrast... and lowered the brightness and upped the contrast as low/high as they would go (respectively). Then I went to Filters->Blur->Gausian Blur and set the blur radius to 14 px on both axes (axises?). Finally, I flood filled the transparent background with a bright red (#c42627).
4) To the top layer, I applied this brush
by slaygalthessily from her Dawn of the Dead brush collection. I erased the parts of the brush that were covering Satine.5) Finally, also to the top layer, I added the text. First Bookman Old Style Semi-Bold in black, size 19, then again in the same red as my background and moved slightly to the left so the black appeared as a shadow.
6) Now, copy the top and bottom layers separately into new images and save them each as gifs. Mine are SatineBackground.gif
and SatineForeground.gif 7) This is the start of the tedious part. Go to your background image. Press ctrl+A to select it all then copy it (ctrl+c). Now go to your foreground image. Paste (ctrl+v) the background image to the foreground image. Go to the layers palette of the foreground image, create a new layer (so the background image is now a pasted layer) and move the pasted layer down. Go to File->Save as to save this as the first frame of your image. Mine is SatineFrame1.gif
Make sure to save this file as .gif and choose "Merge Visible Layers"!!!
8) Next step is to create the "box" you want to slide across your icon. Create a new image (mine is 15x100 pixels) and fill it with your chosen color. Mine is #f2d3da
9) Open up your foreground image again. Repeat the process from step 7 to have your foreground and background as two layers of the same image. Now select all of your box image, copy it, and paste it onto your foreground/background image. Make this a new layer on the layers palette, then move it down so it is between your background and foreground layers. Again, save this image as a .gif. I saved it as SatineFrame2.gif
10) Now, keep this image open. With the "box" layer selected on your layers palette, use your arrow key on your keyboard to move the box over 8 pixels (tap right 8 times). File->Save as this version of the images as SatineFrame3.gif
11) Repeat step 10 (renaming your image every 8 pixels - or however many pixels you choose to move your box) until your box reaches the end of the image. I end up with 13 total images: 1 without a box, and 12 with boxes, each one 8 pixels to the right of the last:
12) Now open your first frame of the animation (the one without any boxes). Go to File->Open as layer and select all of your frames (holding down "shift" or "ctrl" as you click) to be opened into your image.
13) Now you'll probably have to do some rearranging, but eventually you'll have your images in order, with Frame1 being the bottom-most layer and your last frame (Frame13 for me) being at the top.
14) Go to Filters->Animation->Optimize(for GIF). This eliminates the parts of your animation that repeat themselves and drastically reduces your file size. You can also preview your animation here.
15) Finally, once more go to File->Save as and save your file (again, as a .gif). Now choose to save the layers as an animation. Here you can choose to loop your image forever and the time between frames. I've set mine to 10 milliseconds.
And that should be it! You now have the "sliding box" background effect :-) If you have any questions, please comment and/or e-mail me and I'll be happy to help. Also, I'm still teaching myself GIMP and it's possible I've missed some neat tricks simply through ignorance: if you'd like to contribute anything I've missed, comment and I'll fix it in an update (or you can always try your hand at a tutorial. I promise it's not as scary as it looks :-)
Also, please comment at my journal's icon post to join my icon-lock and see my latest icons/tutorials.