HOME | DD

Description
I decided to upload a folder making tutorial on youtube, and hope people who want to do their movie folder have an easier guide

youtu.be/q5Xi7wb2OmM

you need to have:
A. PC or Mac computer,
B. GIMP (similar to adobe photoshop, but this one is free)
C. photo resizing and enhancing software (i use mac's default 'preview' software)

Layers:
photoshop or GIMP are using concept of [layers], each layer is independent, you can work with it, and shift layers up or down, and finally overlay each layer into 1 single layer to form a picture.

there are ready made movie folder icon templates, search ‘folder icon template’ you should get some, usually in .psd format (adobe photoshop)

the one i included is .xcf format, it is GIMP format, not really sure if it's compatible with adobe photoshop, if it does, it should work in similar fashion, let me know if it is!
this template has only 1 layer (yes ONE layer) to start!

=====================
1.
Prepare your photos:
the movie picture or poster you want to make icon must be in 512x512 pixels in size, well, at least width must be 512 pixels and height is 320 pixels, cut, trim and resize into something like that 512w by 320h+ (i usually go 512w x 400h so i can shift around and trim)

2.
Launch GIMP and open your downloaded template file, in this case it's called fresh.xcf
Mine has only one layer to start with, as you can see from footage, i import back layers from outside of this file, so you know every layers are stacking up. i found it’s easier to work that way, no need to flip through layers all the time, you may want to do it this way too.

3.
in your template use fuzzy select tool to select [front] layer, and then invert selection, open the movie photo (in PNG format only!) as layer, adjust so it will cover entire ‘front’, now [edit -> cut], it will trim nicely and make your ‘front’ with movie photo you desired (if you use jpg file, it will give you white background colour in the supposed to trim area, because jpg doesn’t support alpha color/channel), you can always convert jpg to png easily with your software or online conversion during preparation.

There is another way... while you are on this layer, on GIMP menu item called [layer], click it, then go down to [Transparency], and select [Add Alpha Channel], and then [edit -> cut], this will work most of the time.

4.
the this video i did select head section and put above to my 'front' layer, it is optional, you can continue with or without that step.
you can now "open as layer" to import folder tab file (i included few for you to try), and then shift it behind your "front" layer

5.
you can also "open as layer" to import shadow file (i included few for you to try), folder shadow-line file, again shift to front or behind depending on your situation

6.
save your work and export to png file (it will be a fixed standard 512x512 pixels file)

7.
once you have png file, you can either use it straight away or you can convert it to mac ICN file or windows ico file
iconverticons.com/online/

that’s basically it!!!

other thing you can do…

you can add movie title (if you can find on net with png extension, or you need to ‘freehand select’ and make your own), you can resize and overlay into your folder icon (see my footage), also cut and paste head of character or add any ‘layers’ you wish to enhance your icon.

(please see my deviant art gallery and also many folder icon creators out there for idea)

i hope this video can help you to start with folder icon making, two months ago i started to make folder icon, the difficult part is to understand about layer concept, once you get past concept of ‘layers’, everything is become simpler~

Good luck!

2016-oct-05

Description
I decided to upload a folder making tutorial on youtube, and hope people who want to do their movie folder have an easier guide

youtu.be/q5Xi7wb2OmM

you need to have:
A. PC or Mac computer,
B. GIMP (similar to adobe photoshop, but this one is free)
C. photo resizing and enhancing software (i use mac's default 'preview' software)

Layers:
photoshop or GIMP are using concept of [layers], each layer is independent, you can work with it, and shift layers up or down, and finally overlay each layer into 1 single layer to form a picture.

there are ready made movie folder icon templates, search ‘folder icon template’ you should get some, usually in .psd format (adobe photoshop)

the one i included is .xcf format, it is GIMP format, not really sure if it's compatible with adobe photoshop, if it does, it should work in similar fashion, let me know if it is!
this template has only 1 layer (yes ONE layer) to start!

=====================
1.
Prepare your photos:
the movie picture or poster you want to make icon must be in 512x512 pixels in size, well, at least width must be 512 pixels and height is 320 pixels, cut, trim and resize into something like that 512w by 320h+ (i usually go 512w x 400h so i can shift around and trim)

2.
Launch GIMP and open your downloaded template file, in this case it's called fresh.xcf
Mine has only one layer to start with, as you can see from footage, i import back layers from outside of this file, so you know every layers are stacking up. i found it’s easier to work that way, no need to flip through layers all the time, you may want to do it this way too.

3.
in your template use fuzzy select tool to select [front] layer, and then invert selection, open the movie photo (in PNG format only!) as layer, adjust so it will cover entire ‘front’, now [edit -> cut], it will trim nicely and make your ‘front’ with movie photo you desired (if you use jpg file, it will give you white background colour in the supposed to trim area, because jpg doesn’t support alpha color/channel), you can always convert jpg to png easily with your software or online conversion during preparation.

There is another way... while you are on this layer, on GIMP menu item called [layer], click it, then go down to [Transparency], and select [Add Alpha Channel], and then [edit -> cut], this will work most of the time.

4.
the this video i did select head section and put above to my 'front' layer, it is optional, you can continue with or without that step.
you can now "open as layer" to import folder tab file (i included few for you to try), and then shift it behind your "front" layer

5.
you can also "open as layer" to import shadow file (i included few for you to try), folder shadow-line file, again shift to front or behind depending on your situation

6.
save your work and export to png file (it will be a fixed standard 512x512 pixels file)

7.
once you have png file, you can either use it straight away or you can convert it to mac ICN file or windows ico file
iconverticons.com/online/

that’s basically it!!!

other thing you can do…

you can add movie title (if you can find on net with png extension, or you need to ‘freehand select’ and make your own), you can resize and overlay into your folder icon (see my footage), also cut and paste head of character or add any ‘layers’ you wish to enhance your icon.

(please see my deviant art gallery and also many folder icon creators out there for idea)

i hope this video can help you to start with folder icon making, two months ago i started to make folder icon, the difficult part is to understand about layer concept, once you get past concept of ‘layers’, everything is become simpler~

Good luck!

2016-oct-05