This tutorial will show you how to make a nice rounded button like this:
Open GIMP and create a new image (I chose 420×300), create a new layer (Layer > New Layer) called ‘color’, with fill type of transparency.
We’ll begin by making a selection for the button shape. Press R for the rectangular select tool and make a selection by clicking and dragging, then release when your happy with the size and shape of the selection, mine is 200×50 (the size of the selection is displayed in the bottom of the image window when making a selection):
Now we want to round off the corners, go Select > Rounded Rectangle and set radius to 40%. Choose a color of your choice (I chose #007BFF) and fill the selection on the new layer using the fill tool (SHIFT+B) or using the CTRL+, shortcut.
Now we want to add some highlights to give the button some depth. Create another new layer called ‘topHighlight’ with fill type of transparency, then go Select > Shrink and shrink by 2px. Now press R (rectangular select tool) and change the mode to subtract in the tool options:
Then make a selection from the bottom left corner of the button to just over half way up; press L (Gradient tool) and change the gradient type to ‘FG to Transparent’:
Press D then X to reset and swap the colors so that white is now the foreground color, now click and drag (whilst holding the CTRL button to get a nice straight gradient) from top to bottom of the selection and let go to make the highlight.
Now right click on the ‘color’ layer in the layers window, and choose ‘Alpha to Selection’. Create a new layer called ‘bottomHighlight’ with fill type of transparency, then go Select > Shrink and shrink by 4px. Press R (rectangular select tool) and make a selection from the top left corner of the button to just over half way down.
Press L (Gradient tool) and click and drag (whilst holding the CTRL button) from bottom to top of the selection, then set the opacity of the layer to 30%.
Press CTRL+SHIFT+A to deselect, then go Filters > Blur > Blur to soften the bottom highlight.
Time to add some text, press T for the text tool and enter your text (mine is ‘URW Gothic L Semi-Bold’ at 26px). The text looks a bit flat, so we’ll make a few tweaks; right-click the text layer and choose ‘Alpha to Selection’ then go Select > Grow and grow by 1px. Create a new layer called ‘textBorder’ and fill the selection with #4B4B4B, move the layer below the text layer in the layer stack (Layer > Stack > Lower Layer) then deselect (CTRL+SHIFT+A).
With the ‘textBorder’ layer still active, go Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow (GIMP 2.2 users go Script-Fu > Shadow > Drop Shadow) set x and y offsets to 0, blur radius to 8 and opacity to 20%.
To finish off we’ll add a soft drop shadow to the button; select the ‘color’ layer in the layer stack, then go Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow (GIMP 2.2 users go Script-Fu > Shadow > Drop Shadow) set x and y offsets to 0, blur radius to 4 and opacity to 30%.
Saving the image for use: right-click the ‘color’ layer and choose ‘Alpha to Selection‘ then go Select > Grow and grow by 5px, then go Image > Crop Image. Hide the background layer by clicking on the little eye icon to the left of the layer.
Now save it as ‘myButton.png’ (File > Save As).
NOTE: make sure that you change the select mode to normal for the rectangular select tool when finished (first button).
You can download the xcf file for this tutorial Here
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Mil gracias! Thks yOU!
dEBIANuSER.
is this for actionscript 2.0 or 3.0?
@cody
This is a gimp tutorial, not an actionscript tutorial.
Are you sure your commenting on the right post?
Great tutorial. I tried a number of tutorials but found this one was the best to follow.
Good tutorial. It took me a while to get it right but in the end it worked. I’m gonna use it to make buttons for our speedskatingclub.
If you are interested here is the link: http://www.hch-heerenveen.nl
Website is in dutch.
cheers.
Fantastic tutorial - it would be great if you could submit a basic button to a website and it generates a shiny button back..
Thanks.
Thank you very much! I didn’t know that making buttons such an easy task with gimp!
Impressive! I always do it right when I read tutorials from you. Thanks!
Thanks for this excellent tutorial - I’ve used it to make a cool glass effect background for my gnome panels as well as buttons - Jon
Very nice work!
I was torturing myself trying to make a button in Gimp without any support but I couldn’t find some basic tools! You were very helpful…
Now I can go a step ahead!
thnx…
I like this tut
Great work!
Woah, thanks. I suck…. well, sucked… at the GIMP, thanks.
Great tutorial. I actually used it to make a text area with some depth for a project I am working on. I used a slightly smaller rounded rectangle radius (20%) and I actually put a small gradient about 5-10% of the height at both the top and the bottom. It looks great. I couldn’t have done it without this tutorial.
I do have one question tho. Why do you use the subtraction rectangle select to select the region for the gradient? I was able to do it just using the regular rectangle select tool. I am a total noob at this stuff so maybe I am missing something.
Chris
@Chris
I used the subtraction method so I could have rounded corners and square corners in a single selection.
thank you very much !!!
tadeu filippini
Thanks alot! Excellent tutorial!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good tutorial, but I keep getting the sharp corners (in either black or white) around the finished product. Backgrounds are set to transparent, what could I be doing wrong?
@GhostTown
At what point in the tutorial do you get sharp corners?
In the finished .png file. Everything looks good up to then.
@GhostTown
It sounds like when your saving, your setting the ‘Flatten Image’ option, if this is so then choose the ‘Merge Visible Layers’ option instead.
I have provided a link to my work file for you to compare, to see if there are any differences.
For future tutorials I’ll provide the xcf file for you to reference/use.