HOME | DD
Terreflare β Gimp Windows Cursor Guide
Published: 2010-10-11 21:11:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 12328; Favourites: 8; Downloads: 345
Redirect to original
Description
*Edit* The plugin download page does not seem to exist last I checked and ever since I updated to gimp 2.8 the plugin has created an error message and failed to work. This may be an issue with my gimp program only, but it is possible it may no longer work. If you know anything about gimp code and would like to update or fix the plugin or use gimp 2.6 still and would like a copy of the plugin I will upload the files upon request so you can use them. It included information on the .ani save format, so perhaps someone may be able to get it working for gimp 2.8 fairly easily. For now, I have found a useful free program called AniTuner that can take many file types gimp can create and assemble the images into a .ani file with many more options and better save formats. I suggest using gimp to make cursors and assembling the animation with that freeware if you experiance issues with this plugin as well. *end of edit*Before yelling at me about the catagory I posted in read the bottom of the guide! I had no choice!!
I hope people can still find it.... Please help if you can!I have been asked by some to make pointers, and I thought some of you may wish to make your own so here is a cusor guide for anyone interested in making their own windows mouse cursors in Gimp.
The above picture is a basic template you can use as a reference to color for a basic pointer.
Now for the guide!
1.Installation
You will need to download the plugin for gimp that allows you to save in the .ani format of pointers.
Use this [link] and download both of the files. You may need to use 7zip, winrar, or some other file decompressor to extract the files after downloading them.
The next step in installation is to place them in your plugin folder. Make sure you have all of the files from the
ani(Win32bin).zip and the winani(src).zip and then move them to your gimp plugin folder. For me this was C:\Users\your name\.gimp-2.6\plug-ins once correctly installed you should now be able to open and save as .ani files.
2. Creating the pointer.
I believe a pointer should always be a 32 by 32 pixel image. When saving you can choose where the spot for the tip of your pointer will be, but the default is the top left corner at 0,0. Use my template above (create a layer below it and color it in) or create any other shape you want and you will have to save as a .ani before you can use it. Animated cursors should be set up like a gif animation and saved as the .ani format as well. (.ani is an animated format that will work for nonanimated cursors as well, but you may look for a .cur format plugin if you want to save in the standard format (I don't know why you would need to unless you want to be more professional or something))
3. Hints for making it look better.
I have found many ways to create better looking pointers.
The first hint is to make sure the file takes up the entire 32:32 pixle area. My computer would expand and warp my pointers so that the small pointer takes up the entire area. I found that by placing an extreemly close to invisable pixel in the far corner solves this problem and is not visable when using the pointers. In the template this far corner would be the bottom right since it has no colored pixel in the same collumn or row. I believe I have done this already for the template, but you may need to do this if you start from scratch or if you erase that pixel.
My next hint is to avoid transparent pixles whenever possible to reduce the unsightly fuzz that often borders a pointer only when it is set on your computer. I do not know why, but even after doing this and erasing any stray marks there is still often that fuzz. Just keep trying to get rid of it by completely redrawing the effected area if necessary.
4. If you have a question or need more explanation then ask me! Don't give up because it sounds hard, it really is easy to get used to.
I hope this helps and tell me if that link does not work!(that site often goes down)
Have fun and be sure to tell others if they are interested!
I did not make the plugin and am not 100% sure this guide is in the right category sice it is being picky about what file types can be where and it will not let me post this under tutorials. The template would be useless without transparency!!!! Please spare me the highly technical questions and correct me if there is a better place for this guide that allows gif images.(Waves fish at DA regulations!!!) Thanks!
If the link does not work please tell me. The site has often gone down and that is why I have not posted this tutorial untill now.
Related content
Comments: 39
I not sure what you mean, are you having troubles with the cursor plugin or making cursors? I made this guide years ago and I am not sure if the plugin works in newer versions of gimp or still exists on the host site, but I think I updated the guide at some point to say stuff like that and recommend new programs that people can use since the plugin is now a rather poor option unless it got an update or a new plugin has released. It has been a long time since I have made cursors, but if you are trying to learn I can see if anything needs updated again on this guide. The old plugin likely works on old versions of gimp if you can still find it, but I would get one of the free dedicated cursor programs if you want to make higher quality cursors.
π: 0 β©: 1
no, I tried to move my alcohol curser and I didn't see it move. but it turns out it was just this XD
π: 0 β©: 1
Oh, that is funny! XD
Now I kind of want to make a desktop background with cursors scattered about on it so no one can find their pointer until they move it and see which one moves!
Or I could be cruel and set their cursor to be invisible so none of them move. I set my cursor to be invisible once and it was horrible >.<
π: 0 β©: 0
a lot of this stuff is really old. I just wanted to ask if you'd ever gotten the plug in to work? I've never downloaded plug-ins for gimp before, so if you did get it to work, can you please let me know and how i can find it and install it? Thanks. Appreciate it.
π: 0 β©: 1
Well I know that particular plug in never worked with newer versions of Gimp so I can't really recommend you try it out since it most likely will not work still. I would try putting the plug in in the most recent Gimp and mess with it more just because you brought it up and I am curious if I could fix it or if it works now, but I don't seem to even have any trace of the plugin on my new computer and would need to hunt for it in old backups if it still exists because the original forum post link is working again but it takes me to some dropbox site that refuses to give me the files so perhaps the servers threw them out after so much time being inactive. 
You can still make your cursors in Gimp though, just choose a 32x32 pixel canvas size and make sure the file has a clear background and is exported in a file type that can save that transparent layer such as a .PNG file. You can also export an animated cursor from Gimp as a .GIF animation file and just open it in that AniTuner app and preview it and save it as an animated cursor, so it can pretty much do what the Gimp plugin did with more options and less bugs. The gimp plugin struggled to save semi-transparent parts of a cursor so you could not add light effects or make something like a stained glass window for example, so even if it was convenient I think I would recommend you use AniTuner anyway even if the old gimp plugin was working. If you need any help understanding the little app or how to use it just ask and I can try to make more detailed instructions, but this should be enough to point you in the right direction. Hopefully this helps you get started, it really is fun to make custom cursors!Β Β
π: 0 β©: 1
I actually tried AniTuner on a gif that i created, but really really didn't like the result. I think I will actually try it again on your recommendation. It is definitely safe to say I wasn't sure what I was doing. I think with some more understanding of this software, I may find it a valuable tool. Thanks for the tips.
Β I have never used tutorials until recently. I'm a grab a tool and start pounding till it fits kinda gal, but i'm finally learning that instructions are a lot easier, lol. That being said, if you do make a tutorial for AniTuner, I will be checking it out!
Thanks again, you rocketh my socketh!
π: 0 β©: 1
Hmm, I can't imagine many ways to have a bad result with that program, it does not really do much more than convert gif's to a cursor and I thought it could save with good quality. My guess would be that you accidentally did not use a 32x32 pixel canvas since Windows seems to naturally force that even if the app allows custom sizes and the conversion can mess with your shape or add ugly artifacts to the edges >.< Β If that was the case try to crop or expand your gif animation to that canvas size before you export it from Gimp and see if it does a tad better. I can not recall if I ever needed this trick with that app or not, but if it has a hard time placing the cursor in the right spot when you import it you can try adding a tiny pixel that is almost 100% invisible and far too transparent to see in all four corners of your gif just so that it will properly maintain the scale and position of your cursor when you import it. (You really only need 1 pixel touching every side for this trick meaning one in each opposite corner would do so if you already have a pixel in the top left like a default pointer does than an almost invisible pixel in the bottom right would be enough to keep anything from scaling your pointer) I would give that a try too if you find it moving the location or enlarging your cursor when it should not be. I guess other troubles might be if you chose to start a new cursor and then post frame by frame and forgot to delete the default white frame and get a flash of white because of it, but the result should look the same as your gif file if you used the "open an existing animation file" from the start to import it.
There is not much to really explain about that app in a tutorial since most things are fairly straight forward and it seems to have a help button and animated tutorials built into it that could probably do that better than I would, but I could try to help a bit if you try making a cursor and it still does not turn out right. Just describe what is wrong with the result if you try again and have any troubles and I could probably tell you what might fix it.Β
π: 0 β©: 1
I thought that was what i did wrong. I 'prepared the image for .gif' in gimp, and forgot to eliminate the white areas, so i got the flashing. Going to have to redo the image and make background transparent. Will try this either tonight or over the next few days, and let you know if that worked. Β I'm pretty sure that's what i did wrong. And the size. I did not resize the image correctly. Appreciate all the help. I'll submit or resubmit once it's done, and tag you so you can see it. 
π: 0 β©: 1
I actually tried making a new animated cursor the other day while visiting family and I discovered that the AniTuner program was having a hard time actually handling partially transparent pixels just like the old gimp plugin. I'll keep working on it and see if I can find out why it is not working or if there is a file type or setting that will fix it, but it has me thinking I might have used another program with a free trial to actually save my cursors with semi-transparent pixels in the cursor. If the icon you are trying to make has pixels that are semi-transparent then you might have issues with that unless I can find why it is not working, but it should still work fine if you are making a cursor with fully opaque pixels other than the background of course. You can post stuff in the DA Stash and send a link if you can't get it quite right and don't want to post it until it is ready, but hopefully you can get it working if it does not have semi-transparent pixels.
You are not having troubles getting the gif file set up in GIMP are you? Just in case you need help with any of that I'll go over a couple things just in case you don't already know it all. You can resize the animation to 32x32 pixels by using the "Canvas Size" tool under the "Image" tab in Gimp. For the background transparency if you accidentally forgot to remove the backgrounds in Gimp just use the "select by color" tool in the toolbox to select the background and erase it or control+x it to cut out the frame. If it does not let you remove the background completely it means you need to add a transparency layer to that frame, so right click the frame in the "layers" box and choose "Add Alpha Channel". Anyways, I'll tell you if I figure out how to get partial transparency working with Anituner, but hopefully you have enough to get the frames set up and finished if it does not need all that.
π: 0 β©: 1
Thank you. I uploaded a basic list of arrow icons and tagged you in them. There is at least one animated one, but I didn't like how it turned out to begin with so i'll have to do something a bit more in depth to really see what the issue i'm having is. I started with a 13 X 13 canvas, created a basic arrow shape, leaving every other square transparent, then resized to 32 X32 to get the more complex look. It did well, but i agree, the simi transparent pixels are not easy to detect. I'll try again later with a more complex image to see if I can notice any differences. Thanks for your looking into all this. It's been an interesting experience for me. Learning something new and all. If you did use something else, I'd like to know. There was a program i used years ago that did everything for you kind of thing. Haven't been able to find it, as I can't recall the name. I'll look through my list and see if I can recover it. If I do, I'll shoot the info your way.
π: 0 β©: 1
Well, if I recall correctly the program I used to save translucent pixels might have been a free trial of some program called Axialis found here:Β www.axialis.com/cursorworkshopβ¦
If it is the right one I am thinking of it lets you color them in the program and add layer effects and all sorts of interesting library features and such, but after 30 days of the trial it might lock you out of the trial and ask you to buy the program. I am not sure if you could keep reinstalling the trial for more time or not, but the full version is near $50 even on sale >.< I just about had a heart attack seeing Zbrush 3D modeling licenses for $800 earlier, so I guess software programs charge an arm and leg so that big companies and design firms will pay up, but it leaves us poor hobbyists who post simple stuff for free without affordable ways to use the good programs :/ I kind of wish some companies would give free licenses to people who don't plan to make any money off their creations or just want to learn. I would not mind paying $5-$15 for a good cursor program just to goof around with and make occasional stuff, but $50 is just silly for something that just lets me save in a file type Gimp can not. :/ Anyway, you can try the free trial for that program if you want to see what options it has.
The good news is that I think I may have figured out the translucent pixel problem I was having in AniTuner! 
Anyway, it seems my error was forgetting that the .GIF file format can not save any translucent pixels so to save an animated cursor with translucent frames you must export each frame as a .PNG image file first and load them one at a time into AniTuner. So to make a cursor with semi-transparency similar to my test open Gimp and start with a 32x32 pixel canvas and then add a layer with alpha channel or add one to the first layer and erase/delete the background. Then draw your animation frames on these layers and when done click each frame and export them as a .PNG file with the frame number in the file names so you don't get confused later. Next open AniTuner and chose the "create new animated cursor" button. Choose "Edit Cursor Frames" from the menu on the left, and then from the bottom options choose "import image(s)" and choose the PNG file with your first cursor frame. That should bring up a menu where you can mess with the frame options and the only thing you may need to check here is that at the bottom of the popup there should be a checked box next to "Use alpha channel for transparency" and if it is checked the size and position should be fine so just choose "OK" If the box is not checked Gimp might not have used the 32bit PNG file type or something is not working right and I'll need to look into why since I felt sure it was not working a couple days ago when I tried and is fine now. Anyway, if it worked your frame should be added next to the default white frame in Anituner so select, right click, and delete that white frame to leave just your semi-transparent cursor and remove any flashing from the animation. Use the test cursor button to test and make sure the cursor transparency is working too because the first frame I added one it did not work but just adding that frame again fixed it.
I noticed your cursors have lots of holes in them so they can be seen through without worrying about the limits of GIF files or semi-transparency so you would not really need to go through all this for them, but hopefully this will help if you choose to make some with tinted glass types of effects or if you want semi-transparent pixels along curves or slopes to add some anti-aliasing. Aww, I just figured out my glitched negative mouse pointer is not working right on my new computer, Windows 10 must have added something that is messing with it >.< Oh well, I hope this helps a little more, my brain has pretty much melted by now trying to mess with the little pointers for too long
π: 0 β©: 1
I tried to reply earlier, but my net is having some issues. I'm still not sure about anti-aliasing and semi-transparent, but the example you have in your stock images helps me a lot. My brain hurts a little too, lol. Sorry you melted! Β
I found this a long time ago and forgot about it. Try it, and see what you think? It's completely free, and the user agreement is very unique. Β
www.rw-designer.com/cursor-makβ¦
I think i'm going to play around with it... maybe today. I had a hard time reading the AniTuner, and understanding the process.Β Β
I saved your message so i can walk through all those steps at a later time. I was looking through my folders today and realized.... I need to actually finish ... SOMETHING!Β Β Β
Right now, i'm playing a bit of catch up, and i'm also supposed to do dishes today.... Β oops!Β Β Β Β
π: 0 β©: 0
You mean setting it after it is made? To set a custom cursor you need to go to the mouse properties under the pointers tab and select the one you want. The quickest way for me to get there is right click the desktop, go to personalize, and on the left side of that screen is a small list with "change mouse pointer". If you use an older version of Microsoft you may need to open control panel, hardware and sound, and choose mouse under devices and printers section and again go to the pointers tab. Then it is as simple as choosing the pointer to replace (normal select is usually the one you change unless you made more for loading animations, links, etc) and click browse to find the pointer you made or downloaded. Just be sure to remember where you saved the newer pointers since it will not likely be in the folder with the default ones.
If you use Mac or Linux then I really am not sure how you would change pointers. I know Mac is more difficult for me to figure out and may not use many custom pointer types. Try searching online for instructions on how those work if you do not use Microsoft.
If you are asking more about the process of creating a cursor then I will need to know more precisely what you asking, the question is worded a tad bit vaguely.
π: 0 β©: 1
Well, I use Windows XP. Is that an old one?
π: 0 β©: 1
It is older then my OS, but at least one of those methods should work to get to mouse properties and set the pointer. It is hard to say since I do not use XP.
π: 0 β©: 1
XP must be old. Thanks, then!
π: 0 β©: 1
It is not super old and I am sure you can still use custom pointers, it just may not be the exact same in how to get to the mouse properties screen. (or it could be the same
π: 0 β©: 0
I use gimp for most all of my art. I believe this tutorial is about how to make both regular and animated cursors with a plugin someone made. Gimp is also a very popular free art program that I use in most all of my drawings. The cursor plugins is not what Gimp was made for though, it is just a neat way you can use the program to personalize your computer. There are many programs made just for mouse and icon design but this guide shows how gimp can make fairly good ones using free plugins. If you don't have an art program Gimp is a great choice to start learning and can make really good art and animations just like photoshop for free. Only bad things is that gimp tends to freeze or crash a little and has some features that are less advanced then programs you pay for. Some people actually prefer Gimp over other programs and I use it more then photoshop because I am more familiar with the interface on it now.
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks for the info. I just got gimp yesterday and I love it. I really like making cursors in it.
I'm still trying to get used to it though
π: 0 β©: 0
I LOVE YOU FOR THIS
thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou 
π: 0 β©: 1
Ummmm, Your welcome!
π: 0 β©: 0
Unless of course if you need to click on the title itself, which is clickable, and yet gave me this when I DID click eet Xd
Sorry! the page you are looking for, is not available.
Click the logo below to visit homepage.
I guess it must be down again
π: 0 β©: 1
The link just worked for me. Did you get to the forum page at all?
π: 0 β©: 1
yh I did get the forum thing Xd
π: 0 β©: 0
...
π: 0 β©: 1
Did you scroll down? the first topic has a link to both halfs of the file and the other messages below the first on are people talking about it or asking questions. If you need me to I could email the files to you, I just do not want to post them for everyone without the creators permission unless the website permenantly crashed or something.
π: 0 β©: 1
Well, I DID Scroll down. usually thel in kt odownload much be in the first post ,but ut wasn't there >w>; thne they kept on talking aobut stuff and mentioned updates and that we should download that updated this ror wut, but yh, I found obsalutely NO links >w>
π: 0 β©: 1
Odd, the very first post should say:
"this plug-in is base on winicon
i read this
and add some code
now it can read and write .ani file
binary file
ani(Win32bin).zip<--link to download
source code
winani(src).zip<--link to download
maybe some one want to make it better"
If this post did not exist then your internet must be doing something very odd because it still works fine for me and if the site was down nothing at all would appear.
π: 0 β©: 1
*Headpalm* I hate eet when links are rly rly rly short and as dark as normal text...>w>;;; Thanks!!
π: 0 β©: 0
o_o I read all. AND ALL I NEED NOW IS TO GET A GIMP!!! ..>w>
but yh, THANKZ a tons for this all! 
π: 0 β©: 1
You don't have Gimp? Then do you use photoshop or something? You might want to check if the program you have can save as .cur or .ani already. Well my photoshop can't. Oh well, Gimp is fun too and best of all free. Just save often as it can sometimes freeze and crash.
π: 0 β©: 1
Xd PS is my way of digita lart, so perhaps I sohuld just find a plugin for eet myself as to save as .ani Xd
π: 0 β©: 1
Hmm, I've been searching for you, but all I have found so far is a .cur plugin that lets you create non-animated limited transparancy pointers. It seems to work, but you would not be able to save any fancy animated things.
π: 0 β©: 1
o.o I seee... well, mb then I could dust make the image,s sen to use, and you'll ust save the gif file as a .ani file and then send to me via Email? Xd I won't be doing TOO much cursors ,so yh
π: 0 β©: 1
To bad cursors can't interact with the screen. I want to make stars that turn into a black hole that slowly sucks all the screen's colored pixels into it, and then explodes sending them back again.
π: 0 β©: 1
I think there IS one, just harder to get or something xD and that's a pretty good idea o-o I think you would really need to progra ma seperate progra mfor that ,tho Xd; and THANKZ!
π: 0 β©: 0