I wanted to buy new QSL cards, but couldn't find an online service that I was happy with. I wanted to make my own from the ground up, so I made a template and decided to share it. The template was made in GIMP, because I don't own Photoshop. If you just want the Gimp project, and don't care about the video, or how it's done, you can just grab the project files here: https://github.com/modernham/QSL-Card-Template
Brother, you have no idea how helpful this video was to me! TL;DR - your drop shadow demo provides the text outlining I needed for my HF SSTV images. Below is the long version… I started doing HF SSTV a few years ago, but it was initially difficult because it took a lot of practice with Yoniq (probably the most widely used SSTV program today, but it is old and simple) to quickly make the pictures and text and conduct QSOs. You can have a bunch of images and text templates at the ready of course, but I really wanted to make something interesting that stood out from the typical SSTV images and text. (Check out https://www.worldsstv.com to get an idea of what today’s typical SSTV images are. My page is https://www.qsl.net/kf5kwo, where I FTP images I receive when my radio is on and parked on a freq or if I’m actively sending/receiving.) In the last few months I finally decided to buckle down and nail it. I have always wanted to use unique pictures to send, and since I like to make memes and participate in a number of FB groups that traffic in hilarious memes, I figured I use them in SSTV. I also like to add things to stock photos and images from old movies/movie posters. I’ve also started using Microsoft’s Designer to make AI images with some crazy prompts; think, “Texan robots defending the Alamo.” Back in the day (like 20 years ago) I actually made QSL cards in Word and printed them on photo paper when I got started in HF. So I do have some experience, but Photoshop and GIMP were way too involved for these simple things and my limited time. So, back to why your video was so helpful. I wanted to add my call and a signal report to my SSTV images using non-standard, interesting styles; and to add a small picture-in-picture (PIP) of the image that the other ham sent so he could see how it was received on my end. This is pretty standard stuff for SSTV exchanges, and Yoniq does both of those, but I wanted to make mine really stand out. In Yoniq, you can use all the fonts that are out there, and you can do the PIP, but what Yoniq does *NOT* have is the ability to add perspective. So I was having a helluva time with different tools, going back and forth from Yoniq to Word and/or Publisher. One of my google searches led me either directly to GIMP or made me remember that GIMP exists and that it’s free. So I dl’d it last night and spent a few hours playing with it. The perpective part turned out to be fairly straightforward. I’m able to copy the other ham’s image, paste it into GIMP where I already have a copy of my image I plan to send, then shift-P to add perspective to his image to make it overlay onto mine properly, like on top of a TV screen, movie screen, something in my image that makes it look like his image is part of the original and not just a flat PIP that just sits there. I then copy/paste that back into Yoniq and send it. The more difficult part is outlined text. Yoniq allows you to add outline to your text so your call and signal report and any other text you want to add is more easily seen on top of the image, but GIMP doesn’t have this. I spent a few hours trying to make this work between Yoniq, GIMP, Word, and Publisher, but GIMP just doesn’t like outlined text; whatever outlined text I made in Yoniq or Word or Publisher and copy/pasted into GIMP, the outlines didn’t make the trip. I finally found web forum posts that described two techniques: one involved making a separate layer of larger and different colored text and putting it behind the text I wanted (ugh!), and the other was the drop shadow technique that you demonstrate here. I was kind of able to make the drop shadow technique to work. Your demonstration, however, makes it much easier than what I was able to do. I wasn’t able to see the changes in the text as I was making them in the tool the way you can. But now that I have your video, I hope to have an easier time of it. I should have just searched “GIMP” in the QRZ forums last night! So, many thanks for making and posting this video. I’ve got all the QSL cards I need, but this really helped with using GIMP for what I need it to do. Thanks and 73 de Jeff, KF5KWO Helotes, TX
