its easier than you think. just start gimp and select File -> New. An option menu should pop up. Put 957 for the Width, and 218 for the Height. Towards the bottom of the menu you should see a section called Advanced Options with a (+) symbol to the left of it. Click the (+) symbol to expand the menu. Go down to Fill with: and select Transparency, then click OK.
Now you should just have a transparent layer with the dimensions of a standard profile header. From here select the Blend Tool, or just press L which is the Blend Tool's shortcut hotkey.
Now look at Tool Options in your Toolbox. Find where it says Gradient [under this it will probably say FG to BG (RGB)]. Now click the image to the left of Gradient, find FG to Transparent and select it. Then change your foreground color to white.
Next, click on the image a little bit to the right of center and drag your cursor a little bit to the left of center. You will notice small line is traced between where you first clicked and where you are dragging your cursor. Once you release your left mouse button, the blend will be automatically rendered. You will need to experiment with use of this tool until you get a blend that you like. Notice that if the line you draw with the tool is level, you will end up with a vertical blend, and if the line you draw with the tool is angled, you will end up with an angled blend in respect to which way you drew the line. Also, if the blend shows up on the wrong side of the frame, click the blue, double-sided arrow in the tool options section of the toolbox.
After you're done experimenting with the tool and you get a blend that you like, use the smudge tool (shortcut hotkey S) to adjust/smooth the gradient to your liking. The smudge tool may take a little experimenting as well by adjusting brush size, opacity, and rate, but it is a very useful tool.
good luck. let me know if you have any questions.
oh ok i didnt know you were saying the password was templates, i thought you were telling me that the files were templates. but they do not need to be converted. Gimp should open .psd files just fine. Just right click on the file and select Open with.. ; Choose default program..., then direct it to Gimp.
If you do not see an Open with.. option, just click Open and you should get a window that says something like Windows cannot open file... with two options. choose the options that says Select a program from a list of installed programs... and then direct it to Gimp.
Honestly though, even though they are the official CHU templates, the profile header template is kind of stupid and over complicated. Instead of using a simple blend on a single transparent layer, It is set up using channels (red, green, blue, alpha, shade) which is completely unnecessary for a simple blend. I only use channels when making textures for game models and meshes.
[Edited by moderator dstates, 3/18/2013 4:46:05 PM]
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