Today we will be creating torn edges in GIMP. I will show you how I create the illusion of a torn edge.
Let’s
take this stock photo. We don’t need the full resolution for a simple
torn image so we’ll be pasting this image into a new image.
1. Create a new image of 600x600 resolution with a transparent background.
2. Paste the picture into the new image and scale it down using the scale tool.
While
dragging the corners of the image to scale it keep ctrl pressed in
order to keep the aspect ratio. Press ‘scale’ when you are done. I now have this image.
Since
I am showing you the torn edge effect this will do just fine, how you
choose to implement this is up to you. Now on with the good stuff.
3. We are going to make our initial rip through the picture. A
thing to keep in mind is that we will be working with a torn edge. In
this case we will be ripping away the right side of the picture; this
means that when we select our edge we have to afterwards select the
whole right section of the image to delete it along with the jagged
edge. I will show you what I mean. This is NOT the way to go with
the selection. I selected my edge and then let go of the mouse button,
as you can see only a tiny portion of the image is selected.
Instead do the following: Select the lasso tool or “free select tool”.
Select the area we want to delete and make the horizontal area where we want our edge to be jagged.
I
now have this. Notice that I have didn’t cut the image right where it
will appear to be torn just yet, remember this detail, you will see in
the next step why I did that. Press delete to delete the selected
area. Then press CTRL+Shift+A to deselect everything and look at what
you have now, not pleased? Undo the changes and retry. For the
realism keep in mind that the paper has to look torn, not cut by
scissors, so slightly bigger chunks in the edge are totally acceptable.
Here is what I have now.
4. Select the free select tool again.
Check the “feather edges” checkbox and set the radius to 5.
Now
you have to re-do what you did with the edge in the previous step. The
new edge lies just a bit to the left of the previous image, make sure
that the space between the two edges is not too big. Also keep in mind
to select the whole (visible) area to the right of the edge.
Here we are. As
you can see I have made sure that the new ‘edge’ is slightly inside the
image and is NOT the same as the previous edge, but does have the same
general shape.
5. Float the current selection by pressing Shift+CTRL+L or by going into the menu Select->Float.
Notice that a new floating selection was created in the list of layers.
6. Press the ‘create new layer’ button.
The floating selection should now be a floated layer.
7. With the new floated layer selected go into the colors menu and select Brightness- Contrast
Set both brightness and contrast to full and press ok.
It’s actually looking like a tear already, now for the finishing touches.
8. Go into the filters menu -> render -> clouds -> difference clouds
Now
the effect of this is a bit tricky to predict. What I go for is to make
the cloud in the preview area a bit compact, but not too much, it
shouldn’t be full of closely packed darker areas, but there should be
some of them. Play around with this to get a feel for it. Adding detail
adds noise, which is good for the final effect.
Press OK when done.
Now we have this, not done yet though.
9. Open up the levels dialog found in the colors menu.
The
settings for this depend on what it looks like in your case as well.
Try to get the middle arrow very close to the far left and move the
white one to the left slightly. Note that my computer crashed and I
hadn’t saved the image so it looks different now, I still used the same
techniques so the tutorial still applies.
Play with it to see what works for you. I have this result now.
There
we go, that looks like a torn edge. You can play with the settings for
each step endlessly however to get to different results.
