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How To: Make A Custom Badge

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1How To: Make A Custom Badge Empty How To: Make A Custom Badge October 23rd 2010, 4:41 pm

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How To Create A Forum Rank Badge Without A Template:
Note: This tutorial is for Gimp however the Photoshop process is probably similar.
You can download Gimp at gimp.org

First you will need to select new from the file menu.
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Next you need to decide what shape you want your badge to be either more of a square or more of a rectangle. If you want it more like a square make the width a little bit bigger than the height. If you want more of a rectangle make the width a lot larger then the length. (You can try out different settings until you find one you like.) Once you find a size you want for your badge make a new image with Gimp that is at least 3 times larger than that size. This allows for you to add finer details. For this tutorial I will be using 350x100 as my size.
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Now you will need to decide what kind of design you want for your badge. You can have one solid color or a gradient. If you are going to use a gradient pick your two colors and then click the blend tool. Then play around with the gradient decide if you want the pattern diagonal horizontal vertical or something else. (I will show a few different one bellow.) Remember to undo your gradient before making a new one. For this tutorial i will be using red and black. To make the gradient simply click the area where you want the main color to begin and drag until you want the gradient to turn completely to the secondary color. (It will probably look best to drag all the way from one side to the other unless you are going horizontally or using a non-linear gradient.)
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You can also try non-linear gradients by changing the shape options.
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For the rest of this tutorial I will be using a vertical gradient. Next if you want to make the badge have a more 3D-look you will need to click rectangular select tool.
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Once you have selected that make a selection on the very top of your badge if you want the light to be pointing down or on the bottom if you want the light pointing up. (Make the rectangle have about half of it hanging off the top of the image.)
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Now check off the box that says rounded corners and mess around with the radius however you like for this tutorial I will use a 20.0 radius.
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After you have found a radius you like select white or a very light gray as your main color. I will be using white. Then go back to the blend tool and under gradient select FG to Transparent.
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Now start a gradient from about halfway up the part of the selected rectangle that is outside of the badge and drag it down about halfway into the part of the rectangle that is on the badge. You can vary from this to add more or less light. (Its okay if it is only showing the bottom half of the rectangle just start a little above it.)
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Once you have that all set to how you want it to look. (It shouldn't be too dramatic.) You can do the same thing with black instead of white on to the bottom (or top if you just did bottom) of the badge if you want. Since I'm using black on the bottom of my badge already and to save time I won't do that.

Now that your badge looks all 3D you probably want to round the corners and add a shadow. (You cannot add a shadow this way if you made the light coming up from the bottom.) To do this go to the filters menu then go to decor and select round corners.
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Once you have opened that you can mess around with the settings until you find a setting you like. (I usually just use default settings.) Make sure that add background is unchecked and you don't need to have work on copy selected. Also un-check add drop-shadow if you don't want to add a shadow under your badge.
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Now that you've done that you should probably save the picture you have so far as template.png if you are going to make any other badges with the same color.

Then you will need to start customizing the badge. First add your text in whatever color/font/size you want. If your text isn't showing you will need to select stack from the layer menu and then select layer to top.
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Now you can edit the text like in any other image to make it 3D or any other effects.

If you want to add a mini icon next to the text then you will need to click open as layers from the file menu and select your picture.
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Then resize and move the picture until you like it and then you will need to save the badge. (Make sure to always use save as rather than save so you don't accidentally replace an image you still needed.) Pick to save it wherever you want and click save then click export and save on the next two pop-ups.
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Now close the window that your image is in. It should leave a blank window. Now either by dragging and dropping or selecting open from the file menu open the image you just saved.
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Then click the scale tool and click the badge. Set the height and width to the original size you decided when we first started making the image. (You should add 30x0.5 or whatever the same percent smaller the finished image is going to be than the final badge if you added a drop shadow.) Once you typed in the numbers click scale.
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Now click the rectangular select tool. (Make sure rounded corners is no longer checked.) Then you want to make a rectangle that follows the yellow and black line around your badge.
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Then select crop to selection from the image menu.
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And you have your finished badge all ready to be uploaded and shared to the world.

Please vote for this tutorial to be stickied thank and +rep if this helped you it took me several hours time to make. Smile

Note: It is against TTG rules to have badges as a signature.

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