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06 Apr 2009 03:18 PM, by devvv (Bernhard Stockmann)

Create sparkle on any object!

You all know these exaggerated advertisments where objects glitter very clearly. I.e. think about a dishwasher commercial where the glasses sparkle in an extreme way after the washing. It is pretty easy in GIMP to accomplish this effect - you only have to know how you do it ;)

This article has been written using GIMP 2.6. It's divided into 5 steps and takes about 10 min to complete for an average user. 21831 times read so far. Category: Techniques, required skill: 1 of 5

22 comments have been posted so far.

Available in other languages:

  1. 1
    Open up any image that you want sparkle on. That could be text, a photo or something else.

    I'm using a cocktail glass photo in this tutorial.
    Screenshot of step 1
    Click to enlarge
  2. 2
    To create the sparke we'll need a special brush that has to be created by ourselfes.

    Open the brush dialog: Window / Dockable Dialogs / Brushes or simply press SHIFT+CTRL+B.
    Screenshot of step 2
    Click to enlarge
  3. 3
    Click "New Brush" at the bottom of the dialog - name it "Glitter".

    As FORM use the third option.

    The radius depends on the size of object you want the glitter to be on.

    I use ~75 - thats a good value for most objects.
    Use the values of the screenshot below:

    SPACING is not important for us in this case because we only apply a single sparkle at a time.
    Screenshot of step 3
    Click to enlarge
  4. 4
    Now choose the paintbrush tool. The "Glitter" brush should be active automatically. If not please choose it from the dropdown where you can assign the brush.

    - Create a new transparent layer. Press at different places in the picture preferably at bright/highlighted areas.

    Tip: While applying the glitter also change the size of the brush using the brush scale option in the tool prerferences. You'll get a more appealing look if the sparkle is not always the same size.

    You can apply that sparkle to almost everything. Please don't use too much of it or you'll lose the effect!
    Screenshot of step 4
    Click to enlarge
  5. 5
    Tip #2: If you want to refine the sparkle effect:

    - Duplicate the layer with the sparkle
    - Set layers mode of the duplicate to "soft edges"
    - Move the duplicate below the original sparkle layer. After that the sparkle is shining a bit more.
    Create a sparkle and glitter effect with GIMP
    Click to enlarge

This article is licensed under the following license: Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Austria

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Comments are chronologically arranged.

2 rating(s) with 5.0 of 5 stars in average

  1. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Mon Apr 6 16:46:32 2009 Kitusha, 06 Apr 2009 04:46 PM

    koolness xD

  2. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Mon Apr 6 16:52:48 2009 Pat, 06 Apr 2009 04:52 PM

    neat !

    Step 4 you should indicate to use Paintbrush tool, caus won't work with pencil tool (

  3. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Mon Apr 6 17:23:21 2009 devvv, 06 Apr 2009 05:23 PM

    thanks pat! updated the tutorial ;)

  4. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Mon Apr 6 17:45:57 2009 tulcod, 06 Apr 2009 05:45 PM

    But be careful not to overuse sparkles!

  5. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Mon Apr 6 20:36:14 2009 Snowy, 06 Apr 2009 08:36 PM

    Noting too new or intresting. Mediocre tutorial.

  6. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Mon Apr 6 22:23:18 2009 Gimpster, 06 Apr 2009 10:23 PM

    A useful technique, nice to be able to generate flare effects on highlights. Tutorial is well written and easy to follow. I am going to try other shapes; I want more of a soft-focus-filter effect in the highlights, without blurring the image. Curious how one user finds it old/boring/mediocre and another user finds it a creative inspiration! Thanks Bernhard!

  7. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Tue Apr 7 00:04:02 2009 devvv, 07 Apr 2009 12:04 AM

    Thanks gimpster!

    Maybe you could try to use the curves on the sparkle. set the channel in the curves to Alpha and move the points togethter into the center. that would remove the blurry thing on the glare effect and make it sharper.

    Hope that helps ;)

    @ snowy: it is a skill-1-tutorial - thats usually a tutorial that is very easy to accomplish by anyone. I'm very sure this tutorial is not too boring for most users.

  8. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Wed Apr 8 01:25:06 2009 content_writer, 08 Apr 2009 01:25 AM

    Thanks devv,

    I'm going to try this right now. Please keep making new tutorials. You're consistantly one of the best GIMP tutors in both content and style

  9. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Thu Apr 9 01:52:49 2009 devvv, 09 Apr 2009 01:52 AM

    thanks for the nice words content_writer ;) more tutorials are coming for sure - it's a bit hard since I write them in german first and have to translate them afterwards (lot of work =))

  10. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Sat Apr 18 12:01:01 2009 Carusoswi, 18 Apr 2009 12:01 PM

    Snowy, as one who users Gimp and CS4 on a lot of photos, my interest in this sort of manipulation has just been piqued by this tut that I have ignored for weeks, now. Just ran through it and was amazed that Gimp could do such a thing in so few steps. It's part of the program I have never explored previously. Is anyone, anywhere helped by your negative commment served up because you already knew how to do this? I just discovered a whole new dimension of GIMP (probably photo manipulation in general) of which I was not aware. Pretty exciting to me. Devvv, thanks for posting.

    caruso

  11. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Sun Apr 19 20:54:04 2009 alejandro, 19 Apr 2009 08:54 PM

    thanks, cool tutorial!!!

  12. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Thu Apr 23 11:20:31 2009 Hinachan, 23 Apr 2009 11:20 AM

    Thanks for this tutorial! I have a separate program that can apply sparkle effects, but it's nice to see how it can be done within the GIMP. Sure beats having to save a picture, and open it in another program to add this effect!

  13. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Fri Apr 24 21:36:49 2009 mbrown, 24 Apr 2009 09:36 PM

    Nice tutorial. As a new user to GIMP, I'm really appreciative. Please continue to provide tutorials.

  14. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Sun May 10 12:13:49 2009 learner, 10 May 2009 12:13 PM

    Hi Devvv. I'm a newbie in graphical area. How do I reduce glaring or sparkling objects that's already in a photo ?

  15. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Sun May 10 13:46:46 2009 devvv, 10 May 2009 01:46 PM

    learner: i guess this is very hard task and depends heavily on the photo itself. sometimes you can use tha clone-tool, sometimes you can manipulate using fine color corrections using the levels/curves.

  16. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Tue May 26 01:09:58 2009 mamboze, 26 May 2009 01:09 AM

    Very good tut. It showed me an effect I had not thought of. Thanks

  17. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Wed Jun 3 18:13:28 2009 gimp_newbie, 03 Jun 2009 06:13 PM

    g8 tut. Simple step & easy to understand. Thx.

  18. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Sun Jul 19 13:36:38 2009 127markaz, 19 Jul 2009 01:36 PM

    For those criticizing the simplicity of this and finding no value to the tutorial, fine. We cannot all be experts who know everything and cannot learn any more. This is very valuable and from those of us who appreciate a tip on making our crude graphics better, thank you!!!!!!

  19. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Fri Jul 24 21:09:06 2009 KiaC, 24 Jul 2009 09:09 PM

    ok, I am a complete idiot when it comes to this program but I'm trying to teach myself. When I tried this tutorial, I was able to make the sparkle marks but only in black. How do I change it to the clear/white sparkle color? Thanks.

  20. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Sat Aug 22 20:55:56 2009 Rada, 22 Aug 2009 08:55 PM

    This works very well, thank you. I find a small 5-point star can go well on teeth. I'm new to GIMP, so I'd like to know the purpose of the new transparent layer because I made mine without it. I couldn't find a 'soft edges' layer mode, so I used 'soft light' instead.

  21. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Mon Jul 5 11:15:11 2010 Muhammad Anas, 05 Jul 2010 11:15 AM

    Hi devvv,
    Thankyou very much for such a nice tutorial ... I found it very helpful for me.

    @ KiaC:
    friend, you probably need to change the foreground color of your gimp to get white sparkels!!!!

  22. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/sparkle-on-objects.html Thu Jul 22 02:49:15 2010 Mark, 22 Jul 2010 02:49 AM

    Thanks for putting out a great little tutorial. It's a great help to those like me who would otherwise spend hours trying to get the same results. Your post is a real time save.

    Nice one

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