surdanis
Sergeant
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2006
- Messages
- 223
Hi! I created this tutorial in order to consolidate the knowledge I acquired recently in my quest to make new unit buttons. While there exist tutorials out there, there are none which specifically have GIMP in mind with the notion of catering to those have never worked with a graphics program before (much less one lacking an intuitive interface like GIMP). Therefore, you will not need to really go anywhere else to learn just to make buttons (assuming you can cut and paste, erase, etc.) or get them into the game. This tutorial, however, covers buttons for units only. There are other constraints involved with other buttons apparently. Some of this may still apply, however, carrying over to their creation.
Follow these instructions with GIMP:
1. Download and install the DDS plugin for GIMP.
2. Download the Buttomaker 2.0 by AsioAsioAsio.*
3. Download the Buttonmaker 3.0 by Imperal[WrG] (look in the thread concerning Buttonmaker 2.0).
4. Extract all files from both Buttonmakers into its own folder for ease of use
5. Copy the image you want (for a unit, use Print Screen in the civilopedia once you get it in the game, for example). Make usre it doesn't have magenta anywhere!
6. Open GIMP.
7. Paste into new project.
8. Use your skills to make the image like you want (for a unit, for example, erase the background).
9. Copy the desired image.
10. Open the "buttonmaker3" XCF.
11. Click on the Dialogs tab in the top right of the main window
12. Select Layers. A new window should pop up.
13. Scroll down in the new window until you see "Paste Graphic Here"
14. Click Paste
15. Right-click on the "floating layer" and select Anchor Layer. Your image should now be paste into that layer.
16. Delete the "floating layer".
17. Delete unnecessary background layers by right-clicking them in the layers window. You should have the magenta border layer on top, the shadow layer, the, you image layer, and the bg layer--in that order.
18. Right-click on each layer and merge down individually until you have one layer.
19. Go to the tools window and select the button "Select color by tool...", represented by 3 RBG boxes.
20. In the main window, zoom in, and click on the magenta border only. It will highlight the area to be deleted.
21. Delete the border by clicking the Delete key. You should now see greyscale checkers where the magenta used to be. Don't worry, you're fine!
22. In the main window, click "Save As". A new box will appear.
23. Click on the "+" sign in the lower left of this box.
24. Select DDS and save. There are no special settings.
25. Copy the new DDS file to the desired location.
26. Make sure you edit the Civ4ArtDefinesUnit.xml properly: There should be only one line in the tag <Button> pointing to one file. (Be sure to remove the commas!)
Voila! You're done.
Hopefully, I made this tutorial dummy proof.
*May be ultimately unncessary
Follow these instructions with GIMP:
1. Download and install the DDS plugin for GIMP.
2. Download the Buttomaker 2.0 by AsioAsioAsio.*
3. Download the Buttonmaker 3.0 by Imperal[WrG] (look in the thread concerning Buttonmaker 2.0).
4. Extract all files from both Buttonmakers into its own folder for ease of use
5. Copy the image you want (for a unit, use Print Screen in the civilopedia once you get it in the game, for example). Make usre it doesn't have magenta anywhere!
6. Open GIMP.
7. Paste into new project.
8. Use your skills to make the image like you want (for a unit, for example, erase the background).
9. Copy the desired image.
10. Open the "buttonmaker3" XCF.
11. Click on the Dialogs tab in the top right of the main window
12. Select Layers. A new window should pop up.
13. Scroll down in the new window until you see "Paste Graphic Here"
14. Click Paste
15. Right-click on the "floating layer" and select Anchor Layer. Your image should now be paste into that layer.
16. Delete the "floating layer".
17. Delete unnecessary background layers by right-clicking them in the layers window. You should have the magenta border layer on top, the shadow layer, the, you image layer, and the bg layer--in that order.
18. Right-click on each layer and merge down individually until you have one layer.
19. Go to the tools window and select the button "Select color by tool...", represented by 3 RBG boxes.
20. In the main window, zoom in, and click on the magenta border only. It will highlight the area to be deleted.
21. Delete the border by clicking the Delete key. You should now see greyscale checkers where the magenta used to be. Don't worry, you're fine!
22. In the main window, click "Save As". A new box will appear.
23. Click on the "+" sign in the lower left of this box.
24. Select DDS and save. There are no special settings.
25. Copy the new DDS file to the desired location.
26. Make sure you edit the Civ4ArtDefinesUnit.xml properly: There should be only one line in the tag <Button> pointing to one file. (Be sure to remove the commas!)
Voila! You're done.
Hopefully, I made this tutorial dummy proof.
*May be ultimately unncessary
