Making a character from imported images means that you can use almost any image you have. It is important to note that many images you will find on the internet are copyrighted. You can use almost any file format including *.bmp, *.pcx, *.tif, and you can even import V-Chat (Virtual Chat program for Windows) avatars. If you are artistically inclined, you can draw images and scan them. Secondly, this window describes the head positioning tool and why each pose needs to be marked with this tool. According to the Character Wizard, "the head positioning tool is used to tell Microsoft Chat where the center of the head is so that it can place the speech balloon correctly."
Importing Your Images
You are now ready to import your first image. Save your work frequently. The first pose is a neutral one. Select 'file/import', and browse to your images directory. Click on 'open'. In the image above, I want to use Dagwood for this character so I have dragged the box to the middle of the image and adjusted the scale of the image from 100% to 80%, as shown in the image below. Click on 'OK'.
I want to erase everything in this image except for Dagwood, the chair he is sitting in and the dog that is sitting in the chair with him. So I will select the erase tool and right click on the colour palette on green, the colour I have selected for the background. When I click on 'zoom', the image below-left pops up. The dotted image in the zoom box shows which part of the image I am working on in the Editor, shown on the right. As you can see, I am working on erasing the background around Dagwood's shoes. You can also use the 'draw' tool as long as the colour you have selected for it matches your background colour. The image below shows the finished pose. You are now ready to import your next image.As you can see here, I have renamed this pose from "New Pose" to "Neutral 1". To do this right click where it says 'new pose' and enter your new name.
If you want to import all your poses before you start 'cleaning' the backgrounds, each pose must be anchored by clicking on any tool before you import the next image. Otherwise your poses will disappear.
Adding More Poses
To add a new pose, go to 'character/add pose'. Below you can see I am adding a 'shout' pose. A good character will have many neutral poses and several poses of different intensities for each emotion. You may only chose one intensity level for each pose. For example, the shout pose could have 3 different intensities of 2, 4 and 6 but you cannot have two shout poses with the number 2 intensity. A warning will pop up if you try to give the same intensity to a pose, advising you to select another intensity level. The number will affect their placement on the emotion wheel in comic chat.
Creating a Character Icon
Once all your images have been cleaned and are ready to go, you will need an icon. This is the icon that shows in the member list box in Comic Chat. Click on 'character icon'. Your image will be in the small box and can be moved around to get the best position. Once you are satisfied, anchor your icon by clicking on the 'paste' tool. Character Icons are 50X50 pixels.
The Importance of Image Selection
One final note about the images you will be using. To have your character interact with others in chat the way the developers of Comic Chat intended, it is important that the images reflect the pose. For example, the pose below is the 'point to other' pose and, as you can see, Dagwood is pointing away from himself. The image should match the emotion. Making Your Character File
Go to 'file/properties' to verify your character name, author information and most importantly the url that you embed here. This needs to be very precise as it will allow your character to auto download in Comic Chat.
As I mentioned before, The editor will give you the prompt seen below if you forget to use the 'center position of head' tool. Click on 'ok' and go back and check each pose.
Now select 'file/create character' and you will see the image shown below. Select your download location. If you want a copy of this ABV file in your Comicart folder make sure you tick the box. Border settings should be left alone. Select your colour mode. Click on 'Create Character'.
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Comic Characters
To get started you will need some images. It is helpful to save all the images you want to use in the same directory so you can access them easily.
Open the Microsoft Character Editor and select 'file/new'. The New Character Wizard will walk you through the steps to starting your new character.
Select a name for your character and enter author information. Enter a description for your character if you want. For example, "alien" or "humanoid".
Choose your colour palette. Remember that 256 colours make a larger file but gives you many colour choices. If you or the others in chat don't use a high colour resolution, then using 256 colours is a waste and you should select 16 bit colour.
Select your background transparency colour. It should not be a colour that you will use in the making of the character as that area will show up as transparent.
Choose the size of your work area. Standard size is good although if you want a larger work area, it can be defined here. Once the character is made, it will be a standard character size no matter what size work area you have selected here.
The last window shows two very important things. The first is a reminder that your character poses should all be facing the right. See the image below. If it is not facing right, use the 'cut/copy' tool to select the whole image (or go to 'edit/select all') and then use the 'flip picture horizontally' tool to flip it. Having your pose face forward is fine.
Good
Bad
Images should be no higher than 224 pixels. If they are larger, a resizing window (shown below) will pop up that asks you to resize your image. Please note the red/yellow dotted box (coloured to highlight......It is normally a black dotted box) in the image below. This can be dragged into any position and should be used as a guide.
Erasing the background can be tedious work but is very important to the finished product. To erase larger areas choose the largest line (the bottom one) from the line box. This is 4X4 pixels. The smallest line is useful for very small areas and is 1X1 pixels.
Once the background is all erased, I selected the 'draw' tool and erased the blue dog and Blondie's hand from the image. Using the 'get pixel colour' tool, I was able to match the colour of the couch to replace the dog and the hand.
For the Dagwood character I selected his head from the first neutral pose to act as an icon. Select the 'cut/copy' tool and select Dagwood's head as shown below.
The reason for this is that the poses in Comic Chat reflect what the chatter is actually saying. For example, if you type "lol", your character will display the laugh pose. If you type "hello", your character will display the wave pose. For more information about character gestures, look in the help file.
