The following tutorial shows you how to create a push button with brushed-metal effect that can be used in both web-page and application interface design.
The button.
1) Start the Gimp and open a new document with 377 x 233 pixels dimensions. Fill the background with medium gray.
2) Add a new layer and click the rectangle selection tool; in the tool options menu tick the Rounded corners check-box and set the Radius about 20; then create a selection and fill with white. Look at the image for reference. (If you work with an older version of the Gimp look at my previous tutorial about creating rounded rectangles)
3) Because you need this selection for later use, it is a good idea to save the selection into a channel. To do this go to Select>Save to Channel. Name it Base.
4) Back to the layer palette, duplicate the base layer and load its selection; then go to Select>Shrink; shrink the selection about 5 pixels. Invert the selection and clear; invert again and fill it with white; now, you should have a selection like the one in the following image.
5) Save the selection in a channel as you did with the base selection and name it Top; then Select>None. Now, your channel palette should look like the one in the image below.
6) Make the top layer active and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, blur the top layer about 5 pixels. Then go to Filters>Distorts>Emboss and emboss the top of the button using the following settings.
7) Now, click on the channel icon and load the top selection (right-click on the top channel and select the Channel to Selection option from the list), invert and clear. This trims the embossed button.
8) Make the base layer active and repeat steps 6 and 7, except use the following settings when embossing.
9) Now, you should have an image like the one below.
10) Create a new layer, load the top selection and fill the selection with noise.
While still selected go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur, in the Blur Parameters option set the Length to 5 and the Angle to 0, then click OK. Deselect and from the Layers Mode menu choose Overlay.
11) Finally, create a new layer and add some white text, blur it slightly (1-2 pixels) and emboss it just like you did with the base and the top button components.
The final image.
Gimp Interface Magic
11 Gimp projects: unique effects, easily adaptable solutions, time-saving techniques and practical applications. The projects are fully customizable presented in an easy to follow format that takes you on a step-by-step ride to rediscover your creativity. You can download a sample version of the book from here.
The full version of the book is available from Lulu.
