Blinkie Questions!

[Serena]

This is for the lovely Miss Helen and Sherah who asked me about blinkies. (I hadn't forgotten, promise! Was trying to best word this!)

Sherah, as for photoshop, I apologize, I'm a PSP user and don't really know much about the other program to best guide you. But! I DID find a tutorial for you that I hope will help. :)

(Sorry about the offsite link guys, but I REALLY didn't want to leave a question unanswered when I could help in any way!)

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com...inkie_as.shtml

As for how I do it (cause I'm not sure which program you use, Miss Helen!) I had gotten Jasc Animation Shop with my PSP6. (I'm not thrilled to say that it hasn't come with any of the other versions of my PSP's.. ) I hadn't played with it until after I got PSPX though, much to my amusement and now I use it a lot.

Basically you need two things (or many not with whatever animation shops are out there, or whatever Photoshop can do!) a graphics program and an animation ability.

I open my windows (usually 150 by 50) and then arrange my pieces in the different "panels" (anywhere from 2 to 8ish panels, each the same size as the whole blinkie. So 8 panels of 150 by 50 pixels)

Once they're saved (I'm complicated, I save them both in PSPImage (or psd files if I remember correctly) and then in png or jpg files. Personally I'm an avid lover of png, but that makes your file size larger and most websites have a file size limit that you'll want to keep your blinkie under or it renders it useless.

So just to explain even better (hopefully) I'll have a folder called "Blinkies for Helen" then in that folder I have usually 3 folders. "PSP's" "PNGS (or JPGS!)" and "Done".

Each file type is saved in the correct folder so that I can find it easy (cause animation shop can only read pngs or jpgs, they can't do PSP files.) Then I open up the different panels in the AS (Animation Shop) and link them together. (if you have AS, it's in effects, add frames from file and I usually title each panel "First, Second, Third" for easy reference)

Then you just view your animation, and then save as, optimizing depending on the file size and what your limit you're trying to stay under is.

(You might have noticed some of my blinkies weren't as good quality as others cause I had to squish them to stay under the file size cap. :( I cried.)

After that, save as, it'll make it a gif file and then plop it on your photo host and share! And viola! There you have it!

If you guys have ANY questions, feel free to ask and I will do my darndest to answer, promise!!

Hope this has been even a little help to those that want to know. :) Ask anything!

Hugs!

[sherahk]

great explanation!
copying and saving now...
thanks so much! i love the blinkie you made me!
i am using it at the store i am signing with! :-)
it was really kind of you to take the time to make them for all of us!!
you rock!

[Helen]

Hugs and thanks for the explanation! I'm also copying these instructions down and will try them out. I use PSCS2 - and I know you can make blinkies in it - just haven't figured that out yet.

And Sherakh - you said you were signing up with a store in your response above - CONGRATULATIONS! That's great! I love your designs - and I wish you the very best!

[sherahk]

I am really excited about it! a dream come true for me! :-) I love seeing the stuff you come up with too! can't wait to see this round's submission! :-) Good Luck!! :-)

[bbhartley]

Serena, I know your post was not directed toward me; however, I found the info you provided very helpful. I've been wanting to learn how to make blinkies and am going to be working on that in the near future. I think I'm keeping my 2 y/o grandson this week and first part of next, so it will have to be after that. lol

[Serena]

Sherah! That's Awesome!! Congratulations sweetie!! I wish you the best and they're lucky to have you!

Miss Helen, I can't wait to hear the same from you! You guys did such a great job, I'm so excited!!

Bb! I'm SO glad that you found this helpful, that was my full intent with this post, and you made my day! I only put those two in this post cause they inspired it, having asked me in my blinkie thread on how to do it and I wanted them to know that even though I hadn't answered them -there- that I had every intent of helping them out best I could. :)

So this post IS directed towards everyone, just with those gals having inspired me to write it. :)

If you have any questions whatsoever, let me know and I'll do my best to help you! I'm better at PSP like I said, but I will help out in any way at any time! Don't be afraid to ask here or PM me! I love to help!

Thank you guys for the responses!

[scraptigz]

Thank you soooo much for this link! I have been wanting to know how those are made for quite some time and had yet to find a tutorial that detailed as to make sense.

[Serena]

Yay! Really does make me feel good to have done something needed! :)

Now to sit back and watch the blinkies come in!

[Debra]

Serena....thanks so much for helping us!! Can't wait to see what everyone makes!!

[petitflocondeneige]

I'm surprised to see that your tut is so long! It seems easier with gimp: I just create different layers, save the file as .gif and choose the animated option (not put all the layers together).
I looove to create blinkies! I can't resist to show you my favorite, made for a french company building seats for the new Boeing 787.