Sprite Tutorials ~ 56K Warning!

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Eyes of Stalks - ShuckleGuy

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HGSS Badge Tutorial - KingTapir

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HGSS Badge Tutorial - KingTapir

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HG/SS style Map Creation - Pastel

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Cleanup Tutorial - KingTapir

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Pokemoticon - Zozo1999

[Sweet May]

Animated Splice Tutorial by DarkForce

In my art shop, the Dark Arts, I have allowed the possibility of what (I think) no one has ever come up with before. We have seen amazingly complex splices, intricately designed trainer cards, and even the animation of pop-out 3D userbars. But now, I introduce you to...

ANIMATED SPLICES!!!
Incinerow

How do I create such an art? Well, this is what the tutorial is about! But there are a few things you must note:

-Animated splicing requires a large amount of time, and the results will likely not be what you expect, so patience is of the essence.
-I animate the splice through PROGRAMMING, and the program I use is Game Maker 8, which can be found on the YoYo Games website (Google). If any of you does not know how to program or how to use Game Maker I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you start learning at least simple functions and variables before you attempt the tutorial. If someone can think of an easier way to animate than me, then hopefully we can follow that procedure instead.
-Remember, I am trying my BEST to make this tutorial simple and easy to follow, so if anyone has any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!

You will need programs that can:
-splice regularly (Paint)
-animate the splice (Game Maker 8)
-record the screen (HyperCam)
-convert the recorded video into a GIF (there are many ways, but I use VirtualDubMod to save the image sequence, Easy Graphic Converter to convert the images into GIF, and UnFreez to compile all the images into one GIF. Google again)
-edit the final GIF to improve the animation more (again, this is up to you, but I use Game Maker 7 because it allows more flexibility with the sprite, and that it saves the image as a GIF instead of a PNG from Game Maker 8)

If you think you're up for the challenge, proceed.

THE TUTORIAL:

I am going to be using one of my requests from the shop as the example for this tutorial. Here is the final product:

Exoskade

This is PokemonTrainers' request and I hope you will like it!

STEP 1: COLLECT THE PARTS FOR SPLICING
Now, this might seem obvious enough by now, but I literally mean collect the PARTS of the Pokemon you are going to splice, as shown in this picture:

The parts were not ripped off of the actual sprite of the Pokemon by me, they are the ACTUAL parts of the Pokemon used for animating. You can find it in the Spriters Resource, where all of the parts can be found.

STEP 2: SPLICE

Now, as you can see I collected the parts I needed for the splice on the left side and did the actual splice on the right. The parts on the left are for animating and the part on the right is to design what the splice is going to be.

STEP 3: RECOLOR

Pretty self-explanatory. Recoloring is essential to splice in regular, because who would want to see a bunch of cropped up Pokemon parts all compiled into one piece?

STEP 4: CREATE THE SPRITES AND OBJECTS IN GAME MAKER
Time to animate! Now open up Game Maker 8 and create an amount of sprites equal to the number of parts you have for your splice. To create a sprite, click located on the top bar. It should look a little something like this:

Now, make the corresponding objects similarly to match the sprites you just made. Also, add another object for a reason you'll soon find out. To create an object, click located similarly like the sprite icon. It should look a little something like this:


STEP 5: INITIALIZE THE START
Okay, I didn't know what to call this step, but I guess you should...initialize the start. Lol okay what I would do next is setup the extra object you created before to restart the game every time you hit a button, like this:

With this, whenever I hit the Enter button the game will restart, causing the animation to restart as well. Useful for looking at individual parts that may go wrong for the animation.
Now, you want to assemble the parts together in a room. Don't worry about what it means now, just click located right next to the object icon. A window showing like this should show up:

Don't get confused by all the numbers and icons and bars and whatnot; just find the text that says Snap X and Snap Y. Change both their values to 1 like this:

Now the grids should disappear. Add the object with the Enter button function in the room anywhere by clicking anywhere in the gray box. There should be a blue ball with a ? inside. Now you want to assemble the object parts in the room for animating. To add parts, click on the box on the left under the Objects tab and a popup list of objects should appear. Click on any part to select it, and click anywhere in the room to add it. Assemble your parts together this way, like this:


STEP 6: ANIMATE
By now, you should have already assembled the parts together like the splice you did earlier. Now, you must be able to program the parts to move, rotate, scale, etc. At this point, there is no help I can give you other than to use all the functions of Game Maker to its extent. Animate your splice accordingly and remember, it won't always turn out great. Practice makes perfect.

STEP 7: RECORD, EDIT AND UPLOAD
By now, I assume you have already formed your animated splice and is now ready to showcase it to the world. Well, by the title of this step you should be able to figure out that you are to record your animation with a recorder like HyperCam, edit it into the desirable GIF file, and upload it to an image-hosting site where you can edit it further for a looped version. I won't explain it here, as I'm pretty sure by now the tutorial is getting pretty complex, but you should be able to figure out how to do this.

And you are done! If you have followed all the steps accordingly, you should come up with a fantastic animation of a splice. And you made it!
For those who can program, and know all about the variables and functions of Game Maker, here are a few useful tips:
-Pokemon animations consist of an image sequence where they would loop something over and over again, e.g. bopping the body up and down. Use alarms and the Step event to take advantage of this looping sequence.
-A counter is useful for looping sequences. It will allow you to set up a rare animation for the splice like the real Pokemon animations.
-Try to make different parts do different things, instead of just simple bobs up and down. Make the arms rotate or the head nod or shake. Be creative with your splice.

Whew! I think I'll stop writing now, as this tutorial has explained enough about animated splices. As I said before, never expect your final animation to be perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. And animating takes a considerable amount of time for those who are new and may be quite confusing at first. Remember, practice makes perfect, so keep on trying!

[Sweet May]

Licking Sprite Tutorial by Plusle+Minun

Resources
Of course this is a very simple method, backgrounds not included.
SketchMichi
BakaMichi
Animation Base
Iaza
Imageshack, TinyPic, Photobucket

[Skiyomi]

Animated Custom Sprites Tutorial by PopPrincess_Lyra

~*~*~*~ Animated Custom Sprites Lecture ~*~*~*~



Ye guys like what ye saw in my Sprite Thread of the animated custom aprites and wanna make yer own?
Ye've come to the right thread!!

The're only four steps and ye'll be finished within an hour!
Well, it depends on how many details yer project has.



Thingies yer gonna need!:
Computer (Obviously xD)
Mouse, keyboard or tablet (But I never used one)
Internet (Maybe, but I didn't use it when I made this lecture)
Images of the character
Gimp (Paint if you want, but it'll take long and this is a transperent-related lecture)
Photoshop (If you rather use this than Gimp)



~Step One:~

    Spoiler:- one:

Show Spoiler

 

First of all, you HAVE to HAVE an idea on what to do.
Don't just sit there, hoping a miracle will happen...

For this lecture, I'll show how I done the Filia-dragon sprite.. the dragon-girl from Slayers Try.
Dat Xellos... dodging her Iron Tail attack xD


Now, go to Google or anywhere you know where to get ANIMATED sprites.

In this case, I have my own folder of all PKMN in a folder and I picked Dragonite.
Right click the sprite and click EDIT IN GIMP.


Once its opened up in Gimp, right click to Filters > Animation > Playback and...


...this window pops up.
You play the sprite and spot which frame is similar to the first frame, so you can cut it off instead of doing the whole .GIF
For example, Sigyliph got a whopping 271 frames o_O;
Make the animation short or else you'll be in this step for a century xD
Some sprites only have a few, like Swablu only got less than 10.

If you're having probs and can't tell which frame is similar to the first,
Go to Spriters resource site and they'll show the sprites on sheets.
Easy to see.


when you spot the similar frame, you poke the eye out of the layers below that layer.


Then, you right click on the layer window and clisk MERGE VISIBLE LAYERS and...


...merge the remaining frames together when this window pops out.


Then drag that merged layers to the bin. (There should only be ONE merged layer)


Save what you have as .XCF not .GIF, just incase your Gimp f up
Save it every minute or so.


Now, Filia here doesn't have those stripy things in her tummy or those green things on her wings.

Hm. She seems pale...


Before you edit ANYTHING, you MUST go to Image > Mode > RGB coz if you don't, the only colours Gimp would let you use the ones you have on your image.
For example, I can't use purple coz there's no purple on Dragonite.
Putting it on RBG makes you colour it to many different colours.


So, the way I do it is, you go to the first frame, which is the bottom one.


Using the eye dropper, copy the colour of the place where you want to remove the detail.
Like Dragonite's dark orange and light orange tummy.


Now, using the pencil, you draw over the place where you want to replace it.


See? That's what I done here.
Dragonite's dark stripy places are replaced with dark orange.


Keep going on your stuff...
And this time, use the Paint Bucket tool to make things easier.
Just make sure the light and dark places match or else it'll look flat, not 3D.


MY ARCEUS! A NEKID DRAGONITE USIN' FLASH xD
Now, the wings..


Do the editing in all of your layers.
This may take a while, so don't fret.


Once you done all the editing properly in all your layers, all you hafta do it Save As > Name your project then type .GIF after it.
Its REALLY important to put .GIF after your name project or it WONT be a ANIMATED.

lol, it took me about 20-30 mins so I played some music


Then, just Save as ANIMATION (DONT Merge all layers or it WONT be ANIMATED)> export it > Set the Delay on 100 MS > click the Use Delay box > save it


Then, you'll end up with this...if you did things right.


 

~Step Two:~

    Spoiler:- two:

Show Spoiler

 

More details ahead!

Now, Filia's tail got a weird heart shaped thing on the rear.


Before you do any edits, go to Image > Canvas Size...


..this window pops out and you click that weird chain next to the Width and Height boxes.
You place a number in height to make the whole project tall and width to make it wide.
In this case, I just see more space on Filia's right side, so I replaced 90 width with 120 for room.
Then click resize, it'll make new room on the right side.


So it's like this.


 

~Step Three:~

    Spoiler:- three:

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Halfway there, guyz c:

Make a new layer and duplicate it on how many frames your sprite has.


Then, merge each sprite frame to the new layer.
Make sure the eyes of the layers are poked off on the layers you don't want it to merge with.
Do it to all your layers.


Make a new layer and name it.
I SWEAR, THE LAYER NAME IS HEARTAIL, NOT HENTAI. lol


Then, using the pencil tool, draw out the shape and colour it.


Okeh. Now that's done, Filia here got a pink bow.

From what ye see, looks like Xellos is holding his staff like it's a mic
Esp it looks like he's singing...


Lovely Lyra's sprite got a bow on it, so I used to selection tool to copy it.


Pasted it on my project and click the New Layer button.
Using the eraser tool's hard edge, I remove the parts I don't need.


Then, rotate it if it needs to rotate.
Go to Layer > Transform > Rotate it to whichever direction you need it to be.


Huzzah! Now, pick out the light and dark colours for it.
Mine hass light and dark pink.


Now, colour it with the Pencil tool c:


Just copy and paste layers of where they should be.


Now merge them and make sure you keep a copy before you merge them, except the main sprite frames.
Do it to all your layers.


Now, once your done, you poke the eyes open on all your layers.
Then, you go to the square selection tool and select your project of where the sprites are, don't select the part of where the sprite isn't showing.
Afterward, go to Image > Crop to Selection.


If you done everything correct, you'll end up something like this.


 

~Step Four:~

    Spoiler:- four:

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Now, Filia still got her hair-do in her dragon form xD

Damn. She ended up Mega Punchin' the ground instead of Xellos.


Make a new layer and name it.


Draw out the hair with 3 diff colours: Highlight, normal and shade.
Move around your project and erase the parts that you don't want.
In this case, I erased the noodle things and the horn off Dragonite's head.


Once you done, remember the part when I was putting the heart shape and the bow on her tail?
It's the exact same here c: Copy, Paste, Merge... Copy, Paste, Merge...


Okay, that's all done ^^
Just go and save it and make sure all layers got (REPLACE) on their names.

And you'll end up with something this FILIAWESOME X3

Yikes. Dragonite had a massive makeover xD


I would do more edits, like changing the eyes from bron to blue or more hair in the back, but edit is enough for me
You guys can run around and do creative stuff as much as your imagination desires xD

Just remember: MAKE SURE ALL YOUR LAYERS GOT (REPLACE) ON THEIR NAMES!!

 

If ye don't understand something, Please VM me c:


Yer welcome to VM me what ye've learned from the lecture coz I'm happy to see what ye learnt from it~
Also, if ye spot a mistake or a image/link not working, please do tell me ASAP!


I'll me making another lecture for animated re-coloured sprites, so yeah, look out for that ^^D


    Spoiler:- Complicated Keyboard Shortcuts:

Show Spoiler

 

CTL + A (Select All)
CTL + C (Copy)
CTL + V (Paste)
CTL + Z (Undo)
CTL + Y (Redo)
CTL + S (Save)
CTL + X (Cut)

On Gimp:
N (Pencil Tool)
M (Drag Tool)
F (Selection Tool)
Shift + E (Eraser)
Shift + B (Paint Bucket Tool)

 

~PPL, nya~