15 Jamadil Akhir 1431H
Official Polaroid dimensions
SX70 Polaroid
Frame dimension: 3 1/2" x 4 1/2"
Photo dimension: 3 1/8" x 3 1/8"
Spectra Polaroid
Frame dimension: 4" x 4 1/8"
Photo dimension: 3 5/8" x 2 7/8"
Source: http://www.escrappers.com/polaroid.html.
Results
The Old Malay text is written using the Arabic script as seen on the bottom right-hand side corner. The Old Malay script is referred to as Jawi.
The New Malay text is written using the Roman script, shown in the lower left-hand side corner. The New Malay script is referred to as Rumi.
Blogger isn't doing me any justice with PNG's. Blogger strips away the transparency and replaces it with an ugly white background :(.
To read a discussion about transparency and PNG's, see here: .png alpha-channel (transparency) stripped. To see the real Pic 2, go here: Does LiveJournal support PNG?.
Note
If this guide (tutorial sounds formal) looks long and tedious, you've been deceived. The steps are pretty simple and details are provided as much as possible. Give the guide a try. If this notice doesn't change your mind, go to the end of this post -- in the Goodies section -- to download files and straightaway get to editing.
Update 2011-8-7: Files in the Goodies section have been removed by RapidShare since i'm a free user and the files have been inactive over 30 days. So let me know if you want the files, *insya-Allah* i'll email them. For 3 *.zip files, the total file size is 19MB.
I learned some Polaroid-making basics here: Turn a digital photo into Polaroid with GIMP. After getting the idea, went on and did some experimenting using GIMP 2.6.8 to produce Pic 1.
How to create your own Polaroid template
Throughout the guide, dimensions are based on the Spectra Polaroid. Where i think important, note on the SX70 format is included.
1. Run GIMP Image Editor. In the upper panel, click Applications > Graphics > GIMP Image Editor. Refer Pic 5.
2. Once GIMP has loaded and is up and running, we start creating from scratch. Click File > New..., as shown in Pic 6.
3. In the Create a New Image pop-up window, input the measurements in inches as follow:
- Width: 4.000
- Height: 4.125
4. Save the work. Click File > Save As..., as shown in Pic 9. It's good to save early and often to avoid losing data if something like power outage happens.
5. In the Save Image pop-up window:
- Name: give your file a name. I named the file "Spectra Polaroid frame".
- Places: select a location to place the file. For the time being, i put it on the Desktop.
- File Type: select the format GIMP XCF Image.
Example of native format of other graphic editors
See here for comparison, Comparison of raster graphics editors.
6. By default, the current layer is named Background. We'll let the name be as it is, then change it later on. Click Layer > Transparency > Add Alpha Channel. See Pic 11.
7. To start making the Polaroid frame, click Layer > New Layer....
8. In the New Layer pop-up window:
- Layer Name: Polaroid frame
- Layer Fill Type: Transparency
9. Hide the Background layer by clicking the eye symbol (shown in Pic 14) in the Layers tab.
10. Now to give color to the Polaroid frame. For this step, make sure the Polaroid frame layer is active (selected); check the Layers tab.
In the Toolbox tab, click the Blend Tool icon, like in Pic 10.
11. Still in the Toolbox tab, further below the Blend Tool icon is the Foreground & Background colors icon, like in Pic 16. Click the Foreground square (in this case, the black square).
A Change Foreground Color pop-up window, like in Pic 12 will appear. I prefer a white frame, however, in sync with Nicu's Polaroid tutorial, we give it a light-grayish hue. Also, if you want a different color for the Polaroid frame, it is at this step here where to do it.
- HTML notation: e3e1e1 (see Pic 17)
Then click the OK button. The Toolbox tab will look something like in Pic 18.
12. Click+hold the mouse from the bottom right corner, then drag across the canvas to the upper left corner, as shown in Pic 19. Then release the mouse button. Pic 20 shows the blend result. The reason to apply this way is for the blend to compliment the Drop Shadow (coming up in Step 17).
13. Now to cut-out a hole in the Polaroid frame layer for the photo. In the Toolbox tab, click the Rectangle Select Tool icon, as shown in Pic 21.
Create a temporary rectangle on the Polaroid frame layer, then alter it to the following dimensions in inches (in):
- Position: 0.187 x 0.187
- Size: 3.625 x 2.875
14. Remove the selected area by clicking Edit > Clear, as done in Pic 24. Deselect by clicking anywhere outside the selected area. The canvas will look something like in Pic 25.
15. Now, to enlarge the canvas to make room for the Drop Shadow around the perimeter of the Polaroid frame. Click Image > Canvas Size.... See Pic 26.
16. In the Set Image Canvas Size pop-up window, set the measurement to inches, and see that the chain is linked. Set the Height to 5; the Width will change proportionally.
Click the Center button to center the previous canvas on the new canvas. Then click the Resize button. Refer to Pic 27 which captures this whole step. Dimensions for the SX70 Polaroid is shown in Pic 28.
17. Now to add the earlier mentioned Drop Shadow to the Polaroid frame; to give the frame some sort of levitating look. Click Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow.... Refer Pic 30.
In the Script-Fu: Drop Shadow pop-up window like in Pic 31, set the shadow properties as follows:
- Offset X: 8
- Offset Y: 8
- Blur radius: 15
- Color: Black (HTML notation: 000000)
- Opacity: 80
- Allow resizing: leave tick box empty.
i actually don't know what it does :D
Update 2011-8-7: Reinstated Step 15 and 16 after note from Shallot. Click following links to see screenshot of result:
- Skipping Step 15 & 16 + WITH tick in the Allow resizing: box in the Script-Fu: Drop Shadow pop-up window.
The frame isn't balanced. - Skipping Step 15&16 + WITHOUT tick in the Allow resizing: box in the Script-Fu: Drop Shadow pop-up window.
No frame at all
Then click the OK button. Notice changes in the Layers tab. There's a new layer below the Polaroid frame layer named Drop Shadow.
18. Now to create the lightened area you see on the outer-side of the Polaroid frame in Pic 3 and 4. Create a new layer; see how in Step 7 and 8. Name this new layer Outside frame, like in Pic 33.
In the Layers tab, arrange the Outside frame layer to be below the Drop Shadow layer.
19. This step is to give color to the Outside frame layer. Make sure the Outside frame layer is selected in the Layers tab, otherwise another layer will be colored.
Select the Bucket Fill Tool icon. For contrast, change the Foreground square (refer to Pic 11) color to white (HTML notation: ffffff), as shown in Pic 35. Then click the canvas to fill the Outside frame layer with the selected color. Pic 28 shows the result.
20. Now to clear-out the photo area, again, this time on the Outer border layer. Select to activate the Polaroid frame layer in the Layers tab. Select the Fuzzy Select Tool (see Pic 29) on the Toolbox tab. Then click inside the inner rectangle that represents the photo area.
Once the picture area is selected, click the Outside frame layer to go to it. Click Edit > Clear. The result is shown in Pic 37.
21. On the Layers tab, drop the Opacity of the Outside frame layer to 30. See Pic 38. The result is shown in Pic 39.
22. Now to prepare a place for captions on the frame. Click the Polaroid frame layer in the Layers tab to activate that layer. Click the Text Tool icon (Pic 40) on the Toolbox tab. Then click on the canvas to initiate text field. Type in your text. Adjust text field to fit in the lower part of the Polaroid frame. Adjust font type, font size, and text field to suite.
i prepared two rows for text with properties as such:
- Font: Century Schoolbook L Italic
- Size: 35 px
- Put a tick in the Hinting and Antialiasing box
- Color: blue, HTML notation: 044094 (see Pic 43)
- Justify: Centered
- Adjust line spacing: -10.0
The Place caption here fjkl (see Pic 41) is as such to predict where the heads of f j, k and l, and tails of f and j will fall.
23. In the Layers tab, rename the Background layer to Place pic here layer, so that some other time if you forget, you know where to place the picture. Make the eye symbol of this layer visible. See Pic 44. Somehow, i prefer to keep the Outside frame layer invisible, and the Place pic here layer empty. Result is show in Pic 45 for the Spectra Polaroid, and Pic 46 for the SX70 Polaroid.
Polaroid template, done!
How to use the Spectra/SX70 Polaroid frame
1. Open the Spectra Polaroid frame.xcf or SX70 Polaroid frame.xcf file.
2. Drag and drop a photo into the canvas area. Rearrange layer in the Layers tab if required.
3. Adjust photo size, placement, color, etc. Crop if necessary.
4. Type in caption. Modify text size, color, etc if necessary.
5. If somehow you want the area outside of the Polaroid frame to be clear of any pictures and graphic effects:
- crop or resize your photo to be smaller than the Polaroid frame
- hide the Outside frame layer (eye symbol in Layers tab)
6. Save your work in the PNG image format (*.png). As for Pic 47 and 48; I don't know much about formats, so usually i just accept the default settings. Note that Blogger does not fully support PNG'; see Pic 2.
Polaroid editing, done!
Goodies
Here are files to choose from for download.
Polaroid_frame_for_GIMP.zip (18.6 MB) contains:
- "Raw frames" folder
- contains two files ready for use
- Spectra Polaroid frame.xcf
- SX70 Polaroid frame.xcf
- "Sample" folder
- contains two folders
- Edited frames
- Finished frames
- "Edited frames" folder
- contains two files
- [Spectra] Corak wau bulan (with Outside frame).xcf
- [SX70] Corak wau bulan (with Outside frame).xcf
- "Finished frames" folder
- contains two files
- [Spectra] Corak wau bulan (with Outside frame).png
- [SX70] Corak wau bulan (with Outside frame).png
- DSC01604.JPG
- sample picture ready for use
- is a picture of a traditional kite called 'wau bulan'
- see here for more info about the kite, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wau_bulan
- ReadMe
Spectra_Polaroid_frame.xcf.zip (138.3 KB) contains:
- ReadMe
- Spectra Polaroid frame.xcf
SX70_Polaroid_frame.xcf.zip (130.8 KB) contains:
- ReadMe
- SX70 Polaroid frame.xcf
Have fun experimenting! :D
And spread the fun! :D
In step 17, if you check the resizing box, it will actually do what you're doing in step 15 and 16 for you. It enlarges the canvas size just large enough to contain your desired shadow. Hope that helps some. :D
ReplyDelete@ Katie
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for the helpful info. Hope you don't mind me putting your words up there *simpler than having to re-word* :D
Glad I could help. Thanks for the great tutorial!
ReplyDeleteI tried this and if you skip step 15 and 16 the new layer and background created in step 18 is not in the centre. You have the polaroid layer somewhere up in the left corner.
ReplyDelete@ Shalott
ReplyDeleteThanx for letting me know. Never tried out the tutorial after the last update, which is why i never knew that things didn't work out.
i tried out the tutorial after your comment and i see what you mean. Click links to see screenshots of the results:
Skipping Step 15 & 16 + WITH tick in the Allow resizing: box in the Script-Fu: Drop Shadow pop-up window.
The frame isn't balanced.
Skipping Step 15&16 + WITH tick in the Allow resizing: box in the Script-Fu: Drop Shadow pop-up window.
Definitely no frame at all.
So i'm reinstating Step 15 and 16.
Thanx again for your help :D
Corrections to the previous comment:
ReplyDelete* first link: "... WITH..."
* second link: "... WITHOUT..."
WOW! You are fast!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to let you know about it because I was able to find out what was wrong, but others may not. Anyway, thanks for the great tutorial!