Free Design Software!
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Need to design a button? Don't have photoshop or illustrator or corel draw? No problem! Just download OpenOffice for free and get started using Draw!! If you find Draw to be useful for you (especially if you're in business using it), please consider making a donation to OpenOffice.org. Thanks!!
Take a look at this video tutorial for help.
Click here to download the video in it's full resolution and view it full screen.
The video is based on a 2-1/4 inch button design, but you can use Draw for any size. Below is a list of button sizes cut line diameters and face line diameters:
7/8 inch -
Cut Line: 1.2" Face Line: 0.875"
1 inch -
Cut Line: 1.31" Face Line: 1"
1-1/4 inch -
Cut Line: 1.63" Face Line: 1.25"
1-1/2 inch -
Cut Line: 1.84" Face Line: 1.5"
1-3/4 inch -
Cut Line: 2.01" Face Line: 1.75"
2 inch -
Cut Line: 2.42" Face Line: 2"
2-1/4 inch -
Cut Line: 2.63" Face Line: 2.25"
2-1/2 inch -
Cut Line: 2.92" Face Line: 2.5"
3 inch -
Cut Line: 3.45" Face Line: 3"
3-1/2 inch -
Cut Line: 4" Face Line: 3.5"
6 inch -
Cut Line: 6.66" Face Line: 6"
Oval -
Cut Line: 2.33" x 3.25" Face Line: 1.75" x 2.75"
1-1/2 Square -
Cut Line: 2.2" x 2.2" Face Line: 1.5" x 1.5"
2x3 Rectangle -
Cut Line: 2.77" x 3.77" Face Line: 2"x3"
17 comments:
I have GIMP!
how do I design the buttons with GIMP?
Hi Anonymous,
The GIMP tutorial is located here:
http://buttonmakers.blogspot.com/2008/05/button-gimp.html
Thanks!
Rebecca
Thanks, Rebecca! You rock! xo Jenny Love
Great information. I am going to attempt to make some buttons for our marching band competition where all we have to do is put them together. Thank you for the tutorial. I will let you know how it turns out - lol - E :)
I should have marked it to get followup comments - lol - E :)
Thank you. This has been sooooo helpful!!
thank you so much for this. i have been wondering how to make buttons!
What is a faceline? I see it on the tutorial for different size buttons, but I don't see a place to enter it in the Drawing resize option.
My goal is to make 1" graphics for bottle caps & scrapbooking.
Can I use this same tutorial and still get the right sizes? I'm pretty new at this, but want to learn.
Hi Emily,
When making buttons with a button machine, you have an area of your graphic that shows up on the face or the front of the button. However, you need some excess graphic area to wrap around the sides and back of the button.
The face line indicates the area of the face graphic on the button.
If you are just making graphics for scrapbooking, you probably don't need a bleed area on your graphics.
You would just need to make a circle and set the size to 1".
Make sense?
I am an art teacher and have acquired a very old and industrial looking button maker. No instructions, no markings or identifying labels... There are 4 circular pieces that rotate on a stationary plate. Two of the pieces are stamped back, two stamped shell. I've tried a few configurations without any luck. I'd like to figure out how to use this, anyone?
Hi Anonymous,
Do you see a photo of your machine at the URL below?
http://buttonmakers.net/button_compatibility_gallery.htm
If so, that will help. If it's not pictured, I would really appreciate it if you could send a photo to info@buttonmakers.net.
It's hard to say what could be going on with your machine from your description.
Thanks!
Rebecca
hey, this was a great tutorial! The only problem I had was that any images I put in have a white box around them, and so I can't put them on the button.
Hi Lucas,
Yes, that's correct. All computer graphics are square or rectangular. So if you have a round area of color, you'll invariably have white around the edges to make it rectangular.
Only certain file types support transparent backgrounds. Those file types are GIF, TIF, and PNG and you have to save them in a specific way to make them transparent. This process probably warrants a whole new tutorial.
Most people just deal with the white edges in their button designs. For example, you could enlarge the image so it goes outside of your cut line circle. That way when you cut out your graphic the image will fill the circular button area.
Let me know if you have additional questions!!
Rebecca
I have watched the video four times. I am having trouble putting the fontwork text on the smaller face line circle. The text and the graphic slide under the smaller circle and I cannot bring them forward! Also, how is the face line circle removed when the design is finished?
What a great tutorial! Thanks! The only thing I struggled with is being able to select-all to copy/paste, but I suspect that's a problem with my open office version (I use open office regularly and probably need to update my version). So glad to see you guys using open source stuff too!
Great job, clear instructions, and thanks for making the video downloadable, that is way more convenient and clearer than watching some YouTube video.
I surveyed all the internet button machine companies on the web, and you-all provide the best support and go the extra mile in communicating with your customers. When I finally got my machine (from Button Makers), I took one look at the 1960s-style industrial instructions, blew that off and watched an instructional video on your site!
Thanks,
Felix
that was a great help!
Thanks!
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