Welcome to My Animation Tutorial,MS Gif Animator and PSP8. Trial Links for Download to Paint shop pro 8 and a free annimator are included.
The starred where to find links section is a seperate link to show you visualy in each program where to find the down load button, the name of the product will take you to the download
PSP8 Download (*Where to find download)
Ms Gif Animator Download(*Where to find download)How to glitter images:
First, OPEN the Image you want to glitter in PaintShop Pro 8. We will use this image of an gonk. Let's glitter his legs.
Then, go under the IMAGE menu, go down to INCREASE COLOR DEPTH. Increase the color depth to 16 million colors.
If the option to increase is greyed out, it means the image is already displayed in 16 mil. colors, and doesn't need to be changed.
At this time you can also add a signature on your image if you like. Just use the font tool to put your text in.
COPY the image, and then use PASTE to make 3 identical copies of your image.
STEP 4:
In the section tool menu, choose the MAGIC WAND.
The Magic Wand is found in the selection tools. Click on the small arrow next to the tool that looks like a dashed box, and it is the third selection.
Change the MODE to ADD. this will make it so you can select more than one area in the image to glitter at a time. You can also change the TOLERANCE of the selection. This will change how sensitive the selection tool is. A low tolerance setting and the tool will only select small areas of color, the higher the setting, the more area it will select. Left click to select the area you want to glitter. It will now be highlighted with a blinking dashed line around it.
STEP 5:
Under the ADJUST menu go to ADD/REMOVE NOISE and choose ADD NOISE.
STEP 6:
In the Add Noise menu select GAUSSIAN. Select MONOCHROME to have your glitter stay the same shades as the image, or leave it unchecked to have colorful glitter. Set the NOISE PERCENTAGE to the level you want. The larger the percentage, the bigger and bolder the glitter. Play with these setting to find what you like best for your image, the click on OKAY.
Repeat Steps 4 through 6 for each copy of your image, making sure you select all of the same areas in each picture you selected in the first one.
STEP 7:
Now the fun part, adding the sparkles! Choose the PICTURE TUBE tool and choose a sparkle tube from the drop-down menu.
Sparkles, twinkles and star tubes come in many colors and shapes. Picture tubes and sparkle tubes can be downloaded from many places on the web. Try doing a search for PSP8 sparkle flare tube. Go to my Tubes page to downlaod some or see the right sidebar for sparkle links.
Set the SCALE of the sparkle till it's the size you want it.
This may take a bit of experimenting until you find just the right size. Just place a sparkle, then use UNDO to erase it if it's to large or too small.
STEP 8:
Place a sparkle or two inside the glittered area. Don't place too many sparkles, because you still have 2 frames of sparkles to add yet, and if you place to many in each frame, it won't glitter right when you animate it.
STEP 9:
Add sparkles to each of your pictures, staggering the placement and sizes of the sparkles within the glittered areas.
Putting them in differnt areas of each picture will make the sparkle dance when animated.
Now it's time to make the backgrounds of each of your glitter animation frames transparent.
STEP 10:
In the MATERIALS SWATCHES palette, choose a color that is not found in the image you are using. Make that color both your forground and background color.
(That's the two rectangualr boxes to the right of the color swatches. so right and left click a color to make sure both are the same)
Then, use the FLOOD FILL tool to color in the background of the image. Do this with each picture.
STEP 11:
Under the IMAGE menu, go down to PALETTE, and select SET PALETTE TRANSPARENCY. This will set which color we want to have NOT show up in the image, in this case, the background.
STEP 12:
In the Set Palette Transparency pop-up menu, select Set transparency value to current background color. This should be the same color you flood-filled with earlier. Click PROOF to check and see if the background becomes transparent, then click OK. Do this for each picture.
STEP 13:
Under the FILE menu, go to SAVE AS. Save your pic, and MAKE SURE TO SAVE THE IMAGES AS A .GIF FILE!! Otherwise the transparency and animation will not work. Do this for each pic, naming them in order pic1, pic2, pic3. This will help you keep them straight when it comes time to animate them.
Whew! There, now that you have your 3 frames done, you are now ready to annimate, MS gif Animator is a perfect free annimation too, the link for the down load will be included.
Using MS Gif Annimator
Open Microsoft GIF Animator.
Then go to the OPEN menu (open folder icon) and select the first of your glitter animation frames. Then, click open.
STEP 2:
Now click on the INSERT icon (the little page with a + sign on it) and select the second glitter frame. Click open, then repeat this to insert the 3rd glitter frame. You should have all 3 of your animation frames lines up under each other now.
Why are the backgrounds colored? I thought we made them transparent?
We did, and the finished animation will have a transparent background.
STEP 3:
Click on the ANIMATION tab and select LOOPING and REPEAT FOREVER. Looping will run the animation frames again in a continuous cycle, and Repeat Forever will keep the images repeating in order without stopping.
STEP 4:
Now, click on the IMAGE tab. Next to where it says DURATION, put in how long you want each frame to be shown. This is measured in 1/100 of a second.
(so putting in 100 would be showing that frame of animation for 1 second
I usually use a setting between 10 and 15.
You can use the preview button to check the timing, and then adjust it faster or slower to get the right speed of sparkle if needed, but more on that function later.
STEP 5:
Click on the PREVIEW button (the rightward facing triangle icon, next to the ? button) to see what your finished animated glitter will look like. If you feel the glitter dances to fast, go back and enter a higher number in the Duration. If it moves to slow, enter a smaller number. Then click the preview button again until you get it set just right.
You can also change the order of your animation frames around using the up and down arrow buttons located next to the preview button. Moving frames into a different order changes how the sparkles move. Play with these setting until it glitters they way you like.
STEP 6:
Now it's time to save out glitter image. Click on the SAVE AS button (looks like a stack of diskettes) and name your glitter image. Make sure it says save as type = *.gif. This should happen automatically. Then, click SAVE.
CONGRAULATIONS!
If everything went right, you should now have a completed glitter image sparkling away like the one below. If so, Congradulations! You now know how to make a glitter.
TROUBLESHOOTING: If your animation seems to skip or flashes a black frame when you view the finished animation, one of your animation images may have been corrupted. Open GIF Animator again, and the start the animation over. This error often happens if you use the copy and paste tools on a frame to many times.
TROUBLESHOOTING 2:
If you preview your animation and you get a blur effect, like one of the frames shows up and then stays in the background instead of changing like it should, you will need to change the UNDRAW METHOD.
This tells the animation how it wants the background to react. Change the Undraw Method of EACH of your animation frames to RESTORE BACKGROUND. This will force the animation the display the background of each animation separately, instead of letting the layers show through.
