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Geek Culture / How to create "tattered" text in GIMP?

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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 6th Apr 2015 02:16
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I have wondered how to do this for a while, and I am sure there are a few ways to. I need to be able to create some text with a sort of rough, tattered, dirty look, much like this text:



Perhaps I could place some sort of mask over regular text, select it by color or alpha, then clear the selection on the text layer? If so, then I would need that mask from somewhere. I probably could have tried a little harder to Google this, but a thread like this creates a little activity here. If anyone has any tips, that would be great. Thanks!

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Hockeykid
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Posted: 6th Apr 2015 03:56
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The easiest way is to download a new font. Check some of these out: http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=109



Sean

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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 6th Apr 2015 05:06
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Another way that I thought of is to use layer masks.

Use a regular font, and then merge that into a standard layer. Then create a separate layer on which you would create all kinds of crazy shapes. Once you had done that drop that layer into the text layer's mask and wah-la, holes would appear, things would look broken, etc.,.

The benefit of doing it that way is that you could then design it however the heck you saw fit!

The formatting keeps messing itself up thanks to the Apollo Forums poltergeist!
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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 6th Apr 2015 06:26
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Quote: "The easiest way is to download a new font."
Gotcha. Lots of those look pretty sweet.

Quote: "Another way that I thought of is to use layer masks. "
Gotcha. That sounds pretty similar to my original idea. That's what I would need to do if I wanted to use a specific font that hadn't been made into a fancy "destroy" looking font.

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Van B
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Posted: 6th Apr 2015 13:45
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I think you always have to weather the text yourself, never try and use a pre-weathered font, because as soon as you see 2 letters with the exact same weathering, the effect is lost.

Start with perfectly clean text, then weather it yourself - even if you just use a textured brush and erase areas. The main benefit in doing it yourself is you won't be using a vector font with vector weathering, you'll have proper alpha transparent weathering which always looks better. I think Yodaman's suggestion would give good results as well, probably in a more controlled fashion. Personally I'd tend to just use a tablet and an erase brush to give an organic feel to it... can take a while but it's time well spent.

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BatVink
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Posted: 6th Apr 2015 17:09 Edited at: 6th Apr 2015 17:11
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I have done this in the past.

Grab a grungy texture
Convert to black and white (because it's easier to visualise)
Adjust contrast until you can see the level of weathering you want to achieve starting to show through
Use the threshold filter and adjust until you get the right "quantity" of weathering.
Add a little gaussian blur
Use as a mask over your text. Scale and move until you get the desired effect

After a little experimentation you'll get what you are looking for.

By the way, your example displays exactly what Van B was talking about. The illusion is destroyed by the 2 'S's being identical.

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Wolf
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Posted: 6th Apr 2015 19:27
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We already covered a lot of ways to tackle this, but I'd like to add another one:

An easier approach on to BatVinks Method is to use a grunge brush and use it with the "eraser function". Click, click-> done



-Wolf

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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 7th Apr 2015 04:16
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Quote: "because as soon as you see 2 letters with the exact same weathering, the effect is lost."
True, that double S in the image I used is an excellent example, as pointed out by BatVink.

Quote: "proper alpha transparent weathering which always looks better."
Yes it does.

Quote: "Grab a grungy texture"
Ah, I have now learned another one of you Europeans' fancy English words. I bet it sounds even more fancy with the accent, too.

Quote: "After a little experimentation you'll get what you are looking for."
Excellent! I shall have to try this soon.

Quote: "An easier approach on to BatVinks Method is to use a grunge brush and use it with the "eraser function"."
Excellent idea! I will have to try that too.

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bitJericho
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Posted: 7th Apr 2015 12:45
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Quote: "grungy "
Grungy is not a European word. Unless you meant texture, that sounds European.

I think you might have really good luck taking like a picture of grass or other random but not too random picture and messing with the levels.

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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 7th Apr 2015 15:22
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Quote: "Grungy is not a European word."
Definitely never heard it used here in Colorado. Although doing some research, it looks like it does indeed have origins here. It sounds European to me.

The grass idea or similar is pretty good. I shall have to give that a try sometime as well.

Thanks for all the input folks!

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BatVink
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Posted: 7th Apr 2015 15:45
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Here's a quick demo of the technique...

Quote: "An easier approach on to BatVinks Method is to use a grunge brush and use it with the "eraser function". Click, click-> done"

This works really well too, especially if you are short on time. I prefer the long way, because I can get a result that is closest to what I want.



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Phaelax
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Posted: 7th Apr 2015 18:45 Edited at: 7th Apr 2015 18:48
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How's this?




Make your text on a separate layer, rasterize it. Make a new layer above that and fill it with the texture you want. I googled "grunge texture vector" and grabbed a random image. Since the image I grabbed was black on transparent background, it was easy to just select just the texture's markings. After selecting that, click on your text layer and hit delete. Done. (this was done with photoshop)


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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 7th Apr 2015 19:48
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Quote: "Make your text on a separate layer, rasterize it. Make a new layer above that and fill it with the texture you want. I googled "grunge texture vector" and grabbed a random image. Since the image I grabbed was black on transparent background, it was easy to just select just the texture's markings. After selecting that, click on your text layer and hit delete. Done. (this was done with photoshop)"


This is perhaps the easiest and best way to achieve the effect!

The formatting keeps messing itself up thanks to the Apollo Forums poltergeist!
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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 8th Apr 2015 06:17
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Wow! You guys have gone way above and beyond the calling of this thread. A video and an example picture! This forum is filled with excellent people.

The video demonstrated the effect rather well, and I do like the end result. I shall surely need to try that sometime soon. For the project I am currently working on (a website of sorts), I am not quite sure if tattered text will be needed. Whether the site itself needs it or not, quite a bit of content going on the site will need it.

Quote: "How's this?"
Looks great! That too seems like an interesting method, and I am curious to try that as well when I get the time.

I was expecting this thread to get like two responses that said "Google this yourself", but the results have been impressive.

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KeithC
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Posted: 8th Apr 2015 14:45
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It's a bit hard to see on the title image; but I've used the grunge brush as an eraser before, with some good success. You can also double up on it, and have one pass at 100% and another at around 50%-60% opacity...for variation.

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/211187

-Keith
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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 24th Apr 2015 01:48 Edited at: 24th Apr 2015 01:48
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Alright, I have followed BatVink's tutorial video to do this:



I also did a neat little by taking the middle section of the text and moving it to a separate layer, then rotating the original text layer slightly.

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KeithC
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Posted: 24th Apr 2015 05:06
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Looks nice!

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BatVink
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Posted: 24th Apr 2015 11:10
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Nice work, glad it worked for you. I think you've got just the right amount of decay on the lettering. It's clear to see from the E and L that you haven't used a standard font.

I like the extra cuts across the text.

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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 24th Apr 2015 21:30
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Quote: "Looks nice!"
Thanks, I appreciate it!

Quote: "Nice work, glad it worked for you."
Yes. Thank you again for creating that video to demonstrate!

Quote: "I like the extra cuts across the text."
Yeah, I like them too. It, like many neat little discoveries, was actually not intentional at first. I had taken that center strip and moved it to a separate layer so that I could offset it a bit horizontally, to create a bit of a tearing effect, but that didn't look very good. So just being random, I tried turning the main layer, and it looked quite nice!

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