the edge of logic and intuition

In this post and a couple of subsequent ones I’m looking at how to create frames using Inkscape and GIMP in order to produce vintage / retro and other effects on photos.

Below: creating a frame in Inkscape. This deals with deciding on dimensions, creating the frame and saving it in a suitable format for transparency.

Dimensions

The original instant photos (and those around now such as Instax) had specific dimensions and proportions so if you are aiming to replicate that look then find out the dimensions for the specific photo you want to make and create the digital one accordingly. Otherwise come up with your own dimensions based on what looks good to you and/or what you specifically want to use the picture for.

I am using Inkscape 0.47 though any reasonably recent version should work the same way.

As with any of these things, there’s a number of different ways you can do something with the same effect. I use this method as it’s conceptually straightforward and also allows easy modification of the image if I change my mind (which is highly likely) as to what I want halfway through!

In this example I’ve used an aspect ratio of 4:3 for the “outside” dimensions of the frame (ie the size that the overall picture will be) as this is a common digital image and desktop format (I’ll use 1024 * 768 for the example but all the instructions apply for any dimensions), and 16:10 for the actual photo. Often instant photos do not have a uniform border size but rather will have a bottom border that is larger, for example:

Image credit: “Yay! Polaroid camera” by clspeace on Flickr, used under Creative Commons attribution licence.

Creating the frame in Inkscape

Create a new drawing in Inkscape. The size of the drawing isn’t really important as we are going to save the image from the actual shape we create rather than the whole drawing, so I just used the default.

Create a rectangle object with the required dimensions for the outside of the frame. As we are dealing with vector graphics, it can be resized afterwards with no loss of quality if you want (this is because in simple terms vector images are stored as “a set of instructions for drawing an image from shapes” rather than as an actual image).

In this case I created the rectangle 1024 * 768 pixels (an aspect ratio of 4:3). The colour isn’t important as it can be changed afterwards, so I just used some colours in the green palette as an example.

Now create a rectangle object to represent the area of the inside of the frame… ie the area that isn’t “frame” as such but is where the photo will appear. You may want to calculate this in terms of number of pixels (e.g. use 1/8 of the width so 64px each side) or just go by what looks good.

I used a size of 896 * 560 px to allow 128 px (1/8 of the width) to be used on the left and right border (64px each) and 560 to make the aspect ratio of the visible image = 16:10 (896 / 16 * 10)

Having created these (move the “photo” rectangle around to get a rough idea of what it looks like if necessary) we now need to align them so that the “photo” is in the right place. The specific steps will depend on what layout you want, e.g. if the photo should be centred within the frame or should have a larger border on one side etc.

This can be done using various methods including ‘Snap to Grid’, or the ‘Align and Distribute’ tool which I find is easiest.

In this case I used ‘Align and Distribute’ to line up the rectangles: centre the “photo” horizontally, and align it to the top of the vertical height. Select the frame and ‘photo’ then align to ‘First selected’:

I want to use the 64px border at the top as well so in this case I select just the “photo” rectangle and Object menu > Transform…

In the Move tab we have the option for horizontal and/or vertical move. I want to move it vertically by 64px (to offset it from the frame). The number of px entered here relates to upward (vertical) or rightward (horizontal) movement. I want to move it down, so I enter -64px ie a “negative” movement.

Ensure ‘Relative move’ is selected (‘absolute’ allows choosing the actual position, rather than a movement) then ‘Apply’.

You may wish to save the image as an Inkscape SVG at this stage, so that in future if you wish to create different sizes of frame, it will just be a case of changing the dimensions of the rectangles and probably re-aligning as necessary. (I’ve also noticed some general instability with Inkscape with a couple of sudden crashes resulting in losing work so is probably a good idea in any case to save as you go along.)

Making it into a frame with a transparent area

Now we have created the frame – ensure you are happy with the dimensions before continuing with this part. To keep it simple, in terms of this example I think it looks OK as is.

Select the frame and the photo area (Shift + click) then choose Path menu > Exclusion. This will have the effect of “excluding” any of the area from the first object that is contained within the second object. Notice that we now have a transparent area in the middle of the frame.

Now we can decorate the frame however we wish. (Otherwise we could save a ‘plain’ frame such as black, and do any further editing on it when it’s used in the GIMP for example.)

Inkscape offers some patterns we can use for ‘Fill’ such as spots, stripes and checkerboard, as well as being able to fill it with a solid colour. If using a pattern, most of the patterns have a transparent area so to use them with a colour (e.g. white polka dots on ‘X’ background where ‘X’ is a colour) we can duplicate (Edit > Duplicate) the object, and colour the bottom one with the required colour, aligning if necessary. No need to duplicate it if doing something simple such as a plain colour.

In the example above I chose a polka dot image – the default dots aren’t very big even on ‘Large’ so I used node editor (in the toolbox on the left) to edit the pattern once applied to make the dots bigger.

Many other options are possible such as keeping the transparent areas of a pattern (so if used as a frame, your photos would show through that part), using another image as the pattern, adding text or other images to the photo area, etc.

Once happy with the frame it can now be exported in order to use it with a photo. In this case I want to export the selection (i.e. the objects we created) rather than the “drawing area” (the blank canvas you can see in the screenshots).

Once the image is exported, you can’t get back the Inkscape SVG file from a bitmap, so save it as Inkscape SVG as well if you will want to work with it again later.

Exporting as an image to use as a frame layer

To do this, select the frame (if you duplicated the object, ensure all objects are selected e.g. Edit > Select All) then choose File > Export Bitmap.

Make the selections as below, ensuring the information Inkscape is showing corresponds with what you expect. In particular, choose ‘Selection’ rather than Page or Drawing (unless it was specifically created to fill the page) and make sure the right width and height are shown. In this case I intended to create a frame with an outside size of 1024 * 768 px which Inkscape is also showing me, so this appears OK.

In the ‘Filename’ section choose a suitable location (Inkscape will suggest something like rect1234 by default). In this case I didn’t tick ‘batch export’ as I want to export them as one image rather than the objects separately. Then ‘Export’.

You should now have a PNG image in the specified location – open the image and check  it is as expected. In particular, ensure that the photo area is transparent (rather than a solid colour, for example).

This is an example of my polka dot image in ‘Eye of Gnome’ image viewer. The “checked” bit in the middle shows that it is transparent. Obviously you should have something similar depending on what you created.

Using the image

It can now be imported to programs such as GIMP to use as a frame on photos etc (upcoming blog post on this – I had intended to make it part of this one but this had more steps than expected when I sat down and thought about it!)

The frames as they are may appear quite “two-dimensional” without a texture etc but processing like this is better done in GIMP so I will also look at this next time.

Examples

Here are some examples of frames that can be created using this method. I haven’t provided step by step of how these are created as they are done using the same principle as above, but with different details.

To keep it simple with licensing, the example photo I’ve used is one I’ve taken myself from the same trip as the grunge photo used in this post.

Margate by the edge of logic and intuition is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

The examples below may be downloaded and used in your own graphics if required. (Note that the thumbnail images may display the ‘transparent’ areas as black, as it is really showing the styling of the link through the PNG image. The full size version does have genuine transparency though!)

vector photo frames and example images by the edge of logic and intuition is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

Polka dot image as used as example above:

Slanted checkerboard:

White “Instant Photo” vintage:

Transparency on the image:

Overlaying text or images on the photo area e.g. in the below I have added the text ‘September 2009′ as this is when this batch of photos was taken.

There are really a lot of other things that could be overlaid so I won’t try to list them all but e.g. small stylised flowers, text such as a quotation, etc.

The zip file below contains a version of the Inkscape SVG file that could be used as a base for this.

Inkscape file