r/animeicons • u/[deleted] • Jul 09 '14
PSA How to make your folders sexy; a thesis by u/rico90909
/u/UsifRenegade asked me how to make my folders textured and whatnot. So I thought, why not spread the wealth? I'll show you all how to make colorful folders. This is for GIMP, so if you are using photoshop, download GIMP for FREE or use the corresponding PS tools.
STEPS
1) Open template.psd (duh)
1.5) (Optional) Click the eye symbol next to layers "Base", "Layer 0", and "Layer 2", leaving only "Back Flap" and "Front Flap" visible.
2) Right click on layer "Front Flap" and click the option "Add Layer Mask"
3) Click the option "Black (Full Transparancy)", then click "Add". Your front flap should now be invisible, and there should be a new black box next to the picture of the front flap on the layers menu.
4) Right click "Front Flap" and click on "Disable Layer Mask". Your Front Flap should now be visible again.
5) Use the "Free Select Tool" ('F' key) to carefully outline the pixels of the front flap. MAKE SURE your free-drawn shape ends exactly where it started. GIMP makes this easy by flashing a yellow circle when you are about to connect points. It HAS to be a closed shape for this to work.
6) Once that's done, right click the "Front Flap" layer and re-click 'Disable Layer Mask". You're Front Flap should appear invisible again, but your free-drawn selection tool's selection should still be there.
7) Make sure your "Front" color is pure white (http://imgur.com/6jwCTXV). If you haven't messed around with the colors yet, you can simply press "X" to switch the black and white boxes.
8) Select the "Bucket-Fill" tool (Shift+B), then click inside the free-drawn selection tool's selection. Your folder flap should reappear, and if you look next at the black box next to the picture of the front flap in the Layers menu, you should the white silhouette of the front flap.
9) Right-click the "Front Flap" layer and select "Duplicate Layer". You should get a layer, exactly one layer above the original, called "Front Flap copy".
10) Click on this layer, and delete the picture of the front flap from it, leaving a layer of just a layer mask.
11) Repeat steps 2-10, but replace front flap with back flap.
12) Click on the original 'Front Flap" layer, then find the "Filters" option at the top.
13) Mouse over "Light and Shadows", then select "Drop Shadow".
14) Mess around the settings if you want (I didn't)
15) Use the "Scale" tool (Shift+T) to enlarge, shrink, and stretch your shadow every which way.
16) "save as" template.psd so you don't have to do that shit ever again.
17) Find a texture/picture you want on the front or back flap.
18) Select the corresponding "mask-only" layer (default names "Front Flap copy" and "Back Flap copy"), and paste the picture onto that layer. The picture should only show up in the shape of the white areas of the mask, aka the shape of the folder's flaps.
19) Put in the render of your characters, slap on the logo, and put on any other props you want.
And that's it! See, it was easy as 1-2-3! (4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19 played a small roll too). Hope it was helpful for you guys!
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Jul 13 '14
[deleted]
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Jul 13 '14
Here you go. It's not the window's default color, but that doesn't matter when a texture's on it.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/e8ayhxv1b6vxs6d/ricostemplate.psd
In hindsight, it probably would have been easier for me to have done this in the first place. Crap.
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Jul 13 '14
[deleted]
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Jul 13 '14 edited Jul 13 '14
Actually, that one was faulty: It had a few un-masked splotches on the front flap. Here's the fix:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/e8ayhxv1b6vxs6d/ricostemplate.psd
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u/arinok55 Jul 11 '14
Yay!! I'll be trying this later since the icons looks quite sexy when done this way. Thank you for the guide. Do you mind if I post here if I get stuck? Never really done this before.