From: Straif Ash
Are there any secrets or techniques that would be helpful?
Always.
From: Straif Ash
I'm a GIMP user, so Photoshop-specific techniques won't be helpful to me (but might be to others). My main interest at the moment is rugs, but I need help with other fabrics as well.
I'm not much of a GIMP user, so I won't be able to give you the GIMP specifics. My answer will be in Photoshop terms, but you'll most likely be able to translate them to GIMP without too much difficulty.
From: Straif Ash
In one case, I created a pattern, but when I imported it, it looked like wrapping paper--the colors were too vivid, and the pattern was too crisp. I then tried blurring it, but then it just looked like blurry wrapping paper.
Well, of course. Think about what you did. You tried to address the problem of colors being too vivid by blurring. In RL, if you were painting, and you'd picked a color that was too intense, would you expect smearing it to change the color? No, obviously if you did that, you'd just end up with a smeared image whose colors are still too intense. What you'd do instead that would actually work would be either to thin out the paint, combine it with another color, or choose a different color entirely. If the paint were already on the canvas before you discovered the problem, you'd grab a sponge and soak up at as much of it as you could to desaturate it.
Well, your digital "paint" works the same way. If you want the color to be less intense, you don't go spreading it around by blurring it; you either replace the color itself, or you desaturate the image. In your case, since the image is already made, desaturating is probably the way to go.
If you were using Photoshop, you could desaturate in one of two ways, destructively or non-destructively. The destructive way would be to click Image -> Adjustments -> Hue/Saturation, and then in a the dialog that pops up, make your adjustments and hit OK. The non-destructive way would be to use an adjustment layer.
Another thing you might want to try is lowering the contrast. Again, in Photoshop you can do this either destructively with the Image menu, or non-destructively with an adjustment layer.
I don't know if GIMP has adjustment layers or not. If it doesn't, then you'll need to work destructively. That's OK. It just means you should save out copies more often as you work, because the changes you make within each version of the image will be permanent.
As for the pattern being "too crisp", without seeing your texture, I'm not sure precisely what you mean by that. You may find that once the color intensity has been dealt with, the pattern will look more natural. If not, then blurring certain things might be the way to go.
From: Straif Ash
for my next attempt, I set the blurred layer at something like 50% opaque, with the original, non-blurred layer below it. It ended up looking like flannel. So while I failed at a rug, I may have discovered a technique for flannel, at least.
It's cool when you stumble across stuff like that, isn't it? Often, that's the best way to learn.
Really, that's how pretty much all the established techniques were developed. People discover them as they go along, often accidentally. Then somebody writes about what they did, other people start doing it, and presto, it's a "technique".
Remember, these programs were developed with editing photos in mind. It's serendipitous at best that people have learned to use them so effectively creating textures.
From: Straif Ash
I've been looking at other rug textures that I have, and what I've noticed is the colors are actually more subdued than they seem--so I might try adding grey or white.
I'm not sure what you mean by that. How are you planning on incorporating gray or white to "subdue" the colors?
From: Straif Ash
Also what I've noticed is that the base color of the rug shows through in parts of the color pattern (for example, if I had a tan rug with multicolor stripes, there are parts of the stripes that show the tan), so I might try using a grunge brush to either erase parts of the pattern, or on the layer's alpha channel.
I wouldn't suggest erasing ANYTHING. Never work destructively if you can possibly avoid it. If something needs to be removed from view, mask it.
In any case, what method did you use to apply your stripes? Rather than thinking about removing parts of the base image, I'd suggest focusing on better ways to apply details than whatever you're doing now.
From: Straif Ash
However, I'm still at a loss as how to make it look "tufty".
Depending on your definition of "tufty", the answer is highly variable.
Here's one very effective way to make a simple carpet in about 10 seconds. The steps will be Photoshop-specific, but you should be able to translate them to GIMP pretty easily.
1. Start with clouds.In a new image, set your foreground color to a very dark gray, and your background color to a very light gray. Click Filter -> Render -> Clouds.
FYI: Clouds are often the starting point for all kinds of textures. They provide a random variance in color across the canvas, which gives other filters something to work with. When you're making anything like carpet, marble, stone, moss, skin, wool, wood, etc., clouds are the foundation.
PS vs. GIMP note: I believe GIMP's setup for cloud generation is a bit different from Photoshop's. What you're looking to do here is incorporate only the foreground and background colors into your clouds, not any others. I seem to recall GIMP has a tendency to want to randomize the coloring of clouds. Don't let it. All you want here are shades of gray.
2. Add noise.Click Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise. In the dialog that pops up, set the amount to around 12% or so, the distribution to Gaussian, and the coloring to monochromatic.
FYI: Noise gives the image a grain. That grain can then be stretched, curled, twisted, etc. to create the patterns you'll find in all kinds of materials.
PS vs. GIMP note: GIMP's noise generator works a little differently from Photoshop's. What you're looking to do is create a fairly dense pattern of monochromatic sprinkles across the canvas. Don't let it colorize them. The sprinkling should be thick enough that it dominates the image, but not so thick that you can't see the clouds anymore. I don't know the right command sequence to get GIMP to do that. I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out, though.
3. Add glowing edges.Click -> Filter -> Stylize -> Glowing Edges. In the preview window that pops up, you'll see that what had just been a random pattern of clouds and noise now looks like patch of squiggly fibers. Play with the slider settings until you feel the image looks fairly realistic as a swatch of carpet. You'll want to keep the edge width fairly low, maybe 2 or so. Increasing the edge brightness will make your fibers more pronunced. I'd recommend putting this at around 11 or 12, maybe as high as 14 or 15. Use your judgment. Smoothness usually best around 6 or 7 or so. If you make it too low, the texture will look granulated instead of fibrous. If you make it too high, you'll lose depth. The squiggles will become more like pencil lines than fibers.
FYI: Glowing Edges is intended to find the edges of solid objects in a layer by analyzing light and shadow, and then to trace those edges with neon glow kind of effect. Apply it to a photo of your mom, for example, and you'll see Mom's face drawn in glowing lines, as she would appear if she were illustrated on a neon sign. The reason this filter works well for turning noisy clouds into carpet fibers can best be described as the result of confusion. There are no defined edges for it to work with, just random light and dark pixels all over the place, so it does the best it can to guess at what's going on. It sort of plays "connect the dots" between the noise speckles. The combination of the speckles and the overall variance in light and shadow from the clouds causes the neon lines to squiggle.
PS vs. GIMP note: I think the GIMP equivalent of Glowing Edges is called Neon.
4. Colorize.At the bottom of the Layers Palette, click the button for Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer. It's the one that looks like a half-black/half-white circle. In the popup menu, choose Hue/Saturation. In the Hue/Saturation dialog that appears, turn on the Colorize checkbox, and then play with the sliders until you find a color you like. When you're done, click OK.
FYI: Adjustment layers don't have any appearance of their own. They simply add properties to whatever layers are beneath them in the layer stack. They're great because they're non-destructive. You can change them or remove them at any time.
Let's say, for example, that you make your carpet brown this time around. If in the future you need a blue carpet, all you need to do is change the hue on the adjustment layer from brown to blue, and you're all set.
The other way to go would have been to apply Hue/Saturation to the carpet layer itself via the image menu. In that case, if you want to change the color later, you'd likely have to start all over again from scratch. The original brown color would have been applied destructively, and later would not be easy to remove.
PS vs. GIMP note: As I said earlier, I'm not sure if GIMP supports adjustment layers or not. If it doesn't, then save out a copy of your image BEFORE you apply the color to it. That way you can start with the copy if you ever need to make the same carpet in a different color. It's not as elegant a solution, but it's better than starting from scratch every time.
From there, you can colorize your carpet in any number of ways. I believe the Hue/Saturation command is on the Layers menu, so you might want to start with that. Another way to go would be to put a colored layer above the carpet, and set its blending mode to Multiply.
There you go. If you followed that 10-second tutorial, then you've now got a good base carpet, to which you can apply whatever color scheme and patterning you want.
From: Straif Ash
Am I on the right track with fading the color and the grunge brushes, or is there a better way?
I probably wouldn't use a grunge brush for this purpose. They're intended to add grit and dirt to an image, not so much for what you're trying to do.
From: Straif Ash
I have a freebie woven white cotton fabric that works well if I tint it with a pure color (using the color part of the texture tab). However, I can't do that (in game) with another texture! So I'll try overlaying (with partial transparency) on top of the white fabric in GIMP. Again, is this a viable way to do this, or is there a better way?
Again, a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer would be the best way to go. But if that's not an option, then you can apply a hue directly to the cotton layer itself.
That said, if you'd prefer to work by putting a colored layer over the top, then instead of using transparency, change the layer blending mode. By default, the mode will be sent to Normal, which means the layer behaves independently from all the other layers in the image. All the other modes enable the layer to combine its properties with whatever is below it. Check out the other modes to see what they do.
The problem with just using transparency in Normal mode for this purpose is that in order to get a well saturated amount of color, you need to set the opacity so high that the color obscures the details of the layer below. What you want to do is not obscure, but combine. That's what blending is for. As I said, check out all the other modes, but pay particular attention to Multiply, Overlay, and the various lighting modes (hard light, soft light, etc.).
You'll find also, by the way, that this is often the best way to apply patterns and other color-based details to things like carpet and fabric. Let's say you want to put a bright yellow smiley face on your white cotton cloth. If you set the smiley face layer to normal mode with transparency, it can't quite work. It either has to be so opaque that it looks like a separate image sitting on top, or so transparent that it's barely visible. Either way, it doesn't look like it's actually part of the cloth. But set the layer mode to multiply, and all of a sudden it works. The smiley face becomes clearly embedded as part of the cloth, not just another image sitting on top of it.