GIMP CC3+ Editing
Hello guys. As some of you may know, I'm trying to edit a BW CC3 map and colorize it with GIMP. Does anyone know how to change the color of a small SELECTION on GIMP. The only things I am able to do are change the color of the entire image. I want to make the trees green, the mountains brown/black, etc. Anyone? Thanks
Comments
I'm guessing wildly here, but from what you say I get the feeling that you are not a regular GIMP user?
The first thing to do is add a new layer above the base map so that you aren't working directly on your base map. That should remain unchanged as black and white as it started out. On the new layer I would suggest that you add a parchment fill with the bucket tool (or import a piece of parchment as a new layer to overlay the map), and change the mode of that layer to "Multiply" That will add the colour and tone of the parchment to the black and white map, and give you a more forgiving surface to colour in.
Next, add another layer on top of that, and also set the mode of that third layer to multiply. It is this layer that you need to add the colour to, which you will have to do by literally painting it on with a brush, and by picking the right colours from the colour mixer.
If all that sounds a bit frightening I can do screen shots for you.
Unfortunately they won't be appearing all that quickly because I'm extremely busy with a project for Profantasy, a course I didn't expect and didn't want, and a massive tidy up ready for the landlord's unofficial inspection on Monday.
I do hope that you are able to make at least a bit of head-way based on what I have already suggested.
And since it was my idea that got you here, I'll get you started at least. This comment will be edited over the next half hour to make it complete
(apologies to the admins here, since I am short of time and don't have the time to crop the following shots to recommended size for the forum)
Here is the OneDrive address of a few bits of parchment I have previously shared for people to use. Take as many as you want.
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AgJAv-rukPfHpWvcs0vTsUszDACZ
I would recommend that since you wish to paint colours on top of it, you use either 02, or 06, since anything darker will make the whole map look rather too dark with the added colour (it will darken the parchment quite significantly).
1. If you haven't already found it, when you open GIMP go to Windows --> Single Window Mode, so that you can see the same thing as I'm showing you in the shots.
[Image_12427]
2. When you have downloaded the one(s) you like, open your GMIP file and go to File --> Open as layers, and open the parchment as a new layer into the GIMP file, over the map. This will cause the map to vanish for a moment before you do the next couple of steps.
[Image_12428]
3. Right click the new parchment layer where it appears in the window to the right, and pick 'Layer to Image size'. This trims the parchment to the same size as the map and gets rid of any unnecessary burden caused by its size (these parchments are BIG)
4. Above those little pictures of the two layers in the file, there is something called the Mode. With the parchment layer still active click the Mode dropdown and pick 'Multiply'. Your map should now look like this
[Image_12429]
5. Now you are ready to add the third layer, which you do by clicking Layer --> New Layer, and making sure the new layer is set to Transparent in the dialog that opens. Ok the setup and the new layer will be created invisible on top of the parchment.
[Image_12430]
6. Set the Mode of the new layer to 'Overlay', make sure its the active layer, and pick the brush tool, a suitable colour, and just... start painting.
[Image_12431]
Useful tips: It's easier to paint if you use the very soft edged simple round brush. You don't need to use any fancy sponge brushes, since the parchment will give you the texture and stop the colour looking dead and flat. To zoom in and out like I have in the last shot, hold the CTRL key down and scroll the mouse wheel.
I will keep an eye on this thread over the next couple of days, and I will answer any questions you have when I can, but it might not happen immediately
Just thought - if your exported map is larger than 6000 px in either direction the parchments will be too small. They don't tile, but don't be discouraged. There's another folder with tiling parchments, and I'll teach you how to load them into GIMP as fills (providing you are using GIMP 2.8 - I can't handle 2.10, its gone a bit nuts compared to 2.8).
Thanks Sue...I will be testing this myself.
It didn't really take that long. About an hour, and most of that was diddling around getting confused as to which of the images I had open was which (the actual test map and the set of screen shots I had already taken from it) while writing the instructions down and putting them all in the right places.
The thing to remember is that you preserve the linework and the basic texture layer (the parchment) no matter what, and work on overlays above those two things. This is how most of the PS maps are made (only a PS mapper will usually draw all the lines). There are variations, of course, since PS is probably capable of a great many more things than GIMP 2.8 (I expect so anyway, since they would have to justify the price). There is only a very smudged line between a PS map and a CC3 map if you start to get involved with this method - what I call 'multimedia mapping', but which is probably more accurately described as a very heavy amount of post processing in GIMP. ALL the lines dividing the methods are pretty fuzzy when you get down to the real nitty gritty
Its very easy - don't worry. There's really only one instruction.
1. click on the parchment layer to make it active, and add a new transparent layer (which, having just been added, will automatically become the active layer). Turn the mode to Multiply, and the transparency on the slider bar just below the mode setting to about 50%, then start drawing your shadows in with black.
This is a quick mock up I made without the shadow sheet (I accidentally closed everything last night without saving any of it, so the colours are completely different today)
[Image_12437]
And this is with a few shadows drawn in on the new sheet
[Image_12438]
As for the colours - colour theory is really complicated. Its better just to judge by eye what you like and what you don't like. But if you have a colour that isn't quite right and don't know how to adjust it ask yourself three questions. 1 - is it actually the right hue (should it be more towards red/yellow/blue etc), 2 - is it too dark or too light, and 3 - is it too bright and 'glowy', or rather a lot too greyish and dull.
Then open the colour picker and adjust the position of the colour picker accordingly.
Second question - no, there isn't. This is a new GIMP file that doesn't contain any of the information you had in your CC3 file other than the visible effects of all the sheets seen together on export. There's no sea mask. I just painted mine in on the example. Its not so hard with this style - the lines are nice and bold and smooth.
It wasn't a problem - and really not that much effort on my part.
You might need to use the smudge tool to soften the edges of the shadows
Be careful how dark you go. Too much black in a colour image can make it very dingy - suitable for a dungeon map, maybe, but this is an overland map. Also darker colours often don't look very good when printed out. Try to stick to the top 75% of the total shade range (apart from the linework that is). It could be that you have your lightest colours too dark on the colour sheet which might be forcing you to go ever darker to get enough contrast between the lightest parts of the map and the darkest parts.
I can't really be much help until I see what you mean.
It's not a precise science. Play around with the mode and opacity on each of the colour and shading sheets a bit (remembering to experiment on a copy of the main file so you don't lose it by wandering too far away from the original settings.
Can't remember how many MB exactly, but I think the limit is somewhere around 1MB. The width is supposed to be no more than 1024 px, which is why I apologised for images that were larger than that above.
Try reducing the pixel size, and converting it to jpg. Most jpg files of 1024 px in width are ok unless they are very tall.
If you want to take it further I would suggest practicing with just one colour sheet set to overlay and play around with it so that you get used to what overlay does to the different colours you add to the map.