[Gimp] Make userbars in Gimp

Hello.
I'm now going to show you how to make userbars in Gimp. I prefer using Gimp, because I'm familiar whit it, it's free and it's really good.
I'm going to make a Sythe userbar, here's the result:



That was the interdiction, now let's head off!

Creating the scanlines and importing text
Almost every userbar has scanlines. Scanliens are small diagonal lines that goes over the whole userbar.
To create the scanlines, start by creating a new image (Ctrl+N). Have the settings like this.



The image will be too small for you to do anything whit it, so zoom in (Ctrl+Shift+E).
Select tool Pencil, and Brush 'Circle (01)'.
Draw diagonal lines like this.



Save it as Scanlines.pat in C:\Documents and Settings\your username\.gimp-2.6\patterns .

Close gimp.
Download the fonts HERE.
Unzip the file at C:\Documents and Settings\your username\.gimp-2.6\fonts .

Creating background
Open up Gimp again and make a new image. Use these settings:



Select your two background colours as foreground colour and background colour. I'm going to use dark blue and black, since that fits to the Sythe logo.



Select the tool 'Blend tool', and chose FG to BG as Gradient.
Then hold down Ctrl and drag your cursor from the one side of your Image to the other.



Now you have the background done!




Adding the scanlines
This is short, and easy. Open up your layers window (Ctrl+L). Create a new layer whit default settings. Name the layer Scanlines.

Select the tool Bucket Fill (Shift+B). Choose pattern fill as Fill type and select scanlines.



Then, make sure you have selected the layer 'Scanlines' in layers (Ctrl+L) and fill the image whit scanlines.

That was the scanlines.




Adding the render
This is also short and easy. You have to chose a render related to the subject your userbar is about. Since I'm making one about Sythe, I'm using THIS RENDER.

Start of by adding a new layer, like at last step. Call this layer 'render'.
Paste in the render over the 'render' layer. Move the render where you want it and anchor the layer by pressing the anchor.



That was the render. Here's as I have came so far.




Addng text
This is easy, and will go fast too.

Start off by selecting the colour you want for the text as foreground colour. I'm going to use white.
Select Visitor 'TT1 BRK' as font.
Use text size 10 and write the text you want in the opposite corner of the image as the render is.

That's the text, and your not far from done!




Adding 3D effect
This is the last required step.

At this, first create a new layer, call it '3D effect'. Make sure it's at the top of all the layers.
Select the 'Ellipse Select' tool and select the area as I do.



Then set the foreground colour to white and fill the selected area using the 'Bucket Fill' tool (Shift+B).
At the layers window (Ctrl+L), set the opacity of the '3D effect' frame to around 30.



Select none (Ctrl+Shift+A), and your done! If you don't want borders, you can save the image now. Save it as png with default settings.




Optimal Adding borders
This step goes very fast. Borders could be useful to mark the userbar abit more.

First, make a new layer name it 'Borders'.
Make sure your foreground colour is black.
Then, select all (Ctrl+A).
While having the layer 'border' selected go to Edit-Stroke Selection..
Line up with line whit 3px and solid colour. You won't see any change yet, but save it as png image with default settings.

That's it! Your done, here's the userbar. Feel free to use it.

 

not bad guide,gimp offersalot more customization but i still prefer using userbargenerator because of its simplicity

 

Thanks

Edited that the border is on it's own layer. And not at the background.

 

Nice guide, i still think userbars suck though. no offense lol

 

Thanks.
And, up to you what you think

 

nice tutorial , but i`m using photoshop , its easier for me

 

Nice tut. Userbars are easy and simple to make.

 

@ rockside
Thanks I'm used to Gimp, tried Photoshop, but it's kinda different.

@xTwisted14x
Thanks. Yea, and their cool

Edit: I posted this tutorial here too. Someone there wanted me to prove it was me.. so yea..

 

Nice tutorial, this helped me out!

 

No problem. Ask away if you need anything else.

 

nice thanks for guide

 

No problem! Yell if you're having questions.