Glowing Ring

[OddLlama]

This tutorial is available as a PDF. Click here to view or download it

Alright, I guess it's about time I make a tutorial.

 

Here's our goal:

Another one I made:

Of course you could add background or things inside of the ring.

 

Plugins needed:

Align Object (optional): http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/4193-align-object-plugin-updated-06172007/

Flip: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/1983-flip-plugin-horizontal-or-vertical-flip-of-selection/

Polar Transformation: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/9364-polar-transformations-plugin-ymd100718/

 

The following plugins are in pyrochild's pack (link here: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/7291-pyrochild-plugins-2012-9-16/ ). If you haven't downloaded the entire pack yet, I recommend you do. They're awesome plugins! Or, you could just download these ones:

Gradient Bars: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=4371

Outline Object (pyrochild's): http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=4923

Trail: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=18653

 

Let's get started.

 

1. First create an image with whatever size you want; the ring will end up filling the entire canvas. For this tutorial, I will be using an 800 by 600 image.

2. Set your primary color to black and your secondary color to white.

3. Create a new layer, then Effects->Render->Gradient Bars with the scale down to something that fills about an eighth of your image. For an 800 x 600 image, this will be around 0.15.

 

At this point you will have something like this:

 

4. Select the magic wand tool and set the tolerance to 0. Click outside of your gradient bars and delete.

5. Select the gradient tool. Then in the top left menu, change the gradient mode to the second option like this:

6. Make a new layer. Then click in the middle of your image and drag all the way to the right edge of the canvas.

7. Double click on the layer and set the blending mode to Color Dodge.

8. Click on the layer with the gradient bars and merge it with the white background. Then click on the gradient layer and merge that too.

 

It should look like this now:

 

9. Repeat step 4.

10. If you have the align object plugin, do step 10a. Otherwise, do step 10b.

10a. Align object, and click the dot under "both."

10b. Drag your gradient bars down into the middle of the image. Make sure you don't move them off the canvas; you can use the arrow keys to move 1 pixel if you're a couple pixels off.

11. Duplicate layer.

12. Follow step 10b, but move the new bars right above the old bars.

13. Press S and select your new bars. Then do Effects->Flip Vertical.

14. Zoom in really close and press M. Move the new bars until they are touching the old bars and it looks like a reflection.

15. Press CTRL+D and zoom back out.

16. Merge the two layers.

 

It should look like this now:

 

17. Make a new layer and fill it with a color of your choice. This is the color your ring will be. I chose blue, but you can choose whatever you want.

18. Make another layer and fill it with white. Move it below all the other layers.

19. Double click your color-filled layer and set the blend mode to Additive.

20. CTRL+SHIFT+F.

21. Repeat step 4.

22. Go to Effects->Object->Outline Object. (If you have two of them, choose the one with the icon that looks like a little eye.)

23. Set the strength to 2 and radius to 10. Now choose a color that you like. I chose purple, but you can choose whatever you want.

 

It should now look something like this (but maybe with different colors):

 

23.5. Press CTRL+H. Now run Jitter with a max of about 8 and minimum of 2 or so. You can play around with the maximum and minimum for this one. Then press CTRL+G. (I forgot this step when I made the tut, but it still turned out ok.)

24. Effects->Distort->Polar Transformation. Choose "Transform Rectangular to Polar." Then move the second slider a little down or change as needed until it is centered to your image. Change the scale until it almost fills your whole canvas.

25. Press M and move your ring to the top right corner.

26. Effects->Object->Trail. Change the angle to 255. (Don't click OK yet!)

27. Set the spacing to 0 and play around with the distance until you like it. I used 50, but you can choose whatever you want.

28. Make sure Fade Out and High Quality are selected and click OK.

Done!

 

You can play around with this one a ton: on my other ring I added some random saturation and at one point duplicated it and played around with the blend mode. Looking forward to seeing what you can make!

[Jasmineteax]

Great tut, but I think it should have a bit more... realism? Or is it just me?

[OddLlama]

Realism? It's not really supposed to... look like anything

[Jasmineteax]

Oh ,that's right... this is the creations thread   Anyways, great for those who want to make a little bit of a chunky and flashy ring

Edited December 20, 2012 by Jasmineteax

[OddLlama]

If you set the radius lower in step 23, it will look less chunky and more compact-ish. I just like this type of ring

[sashwilko]

Good tutorial, Here's my take on it

[OddLlama]

That reflection looks awesome, sashwiko! (Sorry that took so long to respond, I didn't have access to a computer )