Tutorial for J_mie6's "Firaxis like" button template

[j_mie6]

download thread: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=12978351#post12978351

Hello!

This is a short tutorial for my new Firaxis styled button template (inspired by Irkalla's tutorial).

The only thing you really need to do is design your icon and place it in the icon layer, then do some colourising of other layers, but I will go through it in more detail:

Step 1:

Firstly you will want to pick your background colour and ensure that you note down the hue of your colour (you will need it later) and then fill the background layer with that colour

Step 2:

Select the Shading layer. On the toolbar select Colors, then Colorize.

On the popup menu you want to set the hue to be the same as you noted down earlier and then then the saturation to 100 (although this can vary case to case, note white buttons need sat of 0). The lightness should be darker than the original colour (keep an eye on the preview), keep a note of this value as well!

Do the same process for the darker ring layer, using the same hue and lightness as before (but saturation should be 100, unless you have a white button, then 0)

Step 3:

Draw your icon on the icon layer. If you want to emulate firaxis shadows, you can also select Filters on the toolbar then Light and Shadow then Drop Shadow and make the settings 6 for offsets, radius 15 and opacity 60 (colour black) though you can change this.

merge all the layers down and flag complete!

Note that this template could be used for other things, just use the applicable layers (such as the outer rim!)

Good Luck!

Jamie

Examples:

Spoiler :

 

[j_mie6]

Feel free to post questions, comments and your own creations here!

 

[TPangolin]

Handy for users that use Gimp! I'll have to post my PSD one of these days, since I can pump out icons super quickly now with the same PSD.

 

[temprus]

Thank you for the tutorial, j_mie6, I will have to try it out in the next few days. TPangolin, I would love to have access to your PSD template also.

 

[j_mie6]

when you say psd one, do you mean you converted it from mine? if so, when you post it I will link it here as well if you want.

 

[j_mie6]

New version coming soon

Improved light at the top of image
Template resized to allow for easier deployment.
gold border instead of silver

Changes to tutorial to come

 

[TPangolin]

As in a PSD version that I adapted from Irkalla's tutorial.

 

[PrimoXanthous]

thanks to this tutorial my Icons look a lot better now..

Spoiler :

for my Philippine Civ

and Vietnam Civ

But i need to made some few adjustment on your 3 layers, the shading is too much dark when your colorize it and the light layer i make it more transparent, and the darker ring i grow it to 5-10 pixels i think. Overall good job! and thank you

 

[j_mie6]

Those are fantastic, nice work

Yeah in the next version I did make the light layer a little lighter, the nice thing about this is you can mess around how you like but still have the civ feel

 

[Carloso]

Wow, this is cool!

I made two icons for my Northumbrian Civ since I wasn't sure if the lighting should overlpa or not:

Spoiler :

 

[j_mie6]

it should overlap it looks nice , remember you can change the opacity of the light if you wanted, to make it a little fainter, if you feel it needs it

 

[Civitar]

Thank you j_mie6, I can now make good civilization icons (the only good icons I make, actually). I don't usually colorize the light or shadow layers, rather I adjust opacity. One question though, why does the template include a rim when the rim will be put on automatically in Civ5?

 

[j_mie6]

well, originally I didn't know that it did, but then in the end, I thought I'd leave it on so you can see what it looks like. I would suggest colorizing the shadow, because that helps to make it more colourful and less grey scale, but what ever works for you!

 

[Civitar]

It definitely works for me!
Could you make a similar tutorial and template for other icons, such as leaders, units, and buildings? My icons of those kinds are sooo amateurish-looking, basically really deep black shadows and fuzzy outlines.

 

[j_mie6]

well, I haven't really made much progress there myself. If I do then sure, I will write one up