Guide to Making Avatars with Adobe Illustrator

[Leewong]

Whee! This is me showing off my first avatar attempt. Hooray!

You (legally) get Illustrator by buying it. My company is encouraging me to learn it. This is the result. Hee-hee.

[Kylenpc]

Huh yu do but what about the fr5ee trial.

[Annon]

I've been giving Sodipodi a try, and have been having fun drwing random stuff and playing with it. I really enjoy the nodes (if I knew how to get them in Photoshop seven I would probably be entertained for hours). I just can't get enough of them!

And by "can't get enough of them," I mean I can't seem to figure out how to make a new node in an already exising object. Also, are there supposed to be nodes on things like recangle or circles as well. I think I got them on a circle once by accident, but have been unable to duplicate my steps.

So what I mean is...uh...help? :-/



EDIT: Also, can someone point me to a good beginner's program for making animated gifs? Also, what are the restrictions on using said animations as avatars?

[Adghar]

Nodes? What do you mean?

[WampaX]

EDIT: Also, can someone point me to a good beginner's program for making animated gifs? Also, what are the restrictions on using said animations as avatars?

Adobe Image Ready can do the animated Gifs.

General Policy is nothing too fancy as other people have to download your ani.gif and then not be distracted by it when they are posting. If it is too much of an eyesore, one of us (the mods) will inform you.

[RawBearNYC]

I've been giving Sodipodi a try, and have been having fun drwing random stuff and playing with it. I really enjoy the nodes (if I knew how to get them in Photoshop seven I would probably be entertained for hours). I just can't get enough of them!

And by "can't get enough of them," I mean I can't seem to figure out how to make a new node in an already exising object. Also, are there supposed to be nodes on things like recangle or circles as well. I think I got them on a circle once by accident, but have been unable to duplicate my steps.

So what I mean is...uh...help? :-/

EDIT: Also, can someone point me to a good beginner's program for making animated gifs? Also, what are the restrictions on using said animations as avatars?

There are no restrictions on using animated gifs as an avatar, but have some respect for our dialup users and keep the filesize small.

I'm on my laptop which doesn't have a working installation of Sodipodi, so I'm doing this from memory.

Nodes are the fundamental piece of vector graphics. They determin angles and curves when applied right.

A rectangle will have four nodes one at each corner. Actually, an oval also has four nodes at the cardinal points.

When you draw a shape in SodiPodi, tho, you don't get the editable nodes right away. But, if you click on the node editing tool, a new toolbar should come along the top. One of the last few buttons on that toolbar should look like a warped figure 8. When you click on that with a shape selected, it will change to contain editable nodes that you can play with.

AFAIK, Photoshop only allows node editing with respect to paths. Aside from paths, Photoshop doesn't do any vector graphic editing. That's why Adobe makes Illustrator.

Edit: Grrr....Ok, I got sodipodi working and realized that I was remembering Inkscape (I like Inkscape better, fwiw, and it installs easier in Windows), not SodiPodi. The warped figure 8 button I was talking about is in the "Object" tool box. It's the last one.

[Annon]

Thank you. Currently, I am not at my computer, and don't have VNC up and running yet, so I can't try it out. I'll post when I do (I think I already tried your suggestion though--I'll just have to see how it goes.)

[bananna]

I have a problem with my attempt at a Sodipodi av - the drawing went fine, but when I went to IrfanView and exported as .gif , the transparent colour was totally wrecked by the colour reduction and became riddled with horrible little lighter-coloured dots :( Since Adobe Photoshop 5 is awful at transparency, I was wondering if there's an easier and cleaner way to reduce colours.

ETA : Nevermind. The key is to reduce colours BEFORE saving as a gif - you need to de-select the Fred-Jacobs thing.

[Annon]

I have a new problem. I have an object that is acting odd. I can't move it from the spot it is on. If I try, it copies itself and stays in the same sopt. Even If I try to delete it, I get a seemingly infinite number of copies that ome up and replace it.

What the heck did I do to deserve this?

EDIT: Scratch that figured it out myself. Don't know what was wrong to begin with, but who cares! ;D

EIDT2: <----- Woohoo! Got My first one done!! Got shrank all to heck, but not bad for a first time...

[Annon]

Sorry for the double post, But I already edited my previous one three times.

I can get my avatar to be any bigger than the one I am using. I would be satisfied, except it seems Like everyone else's are bigger, by the looks of them. I even did a side-by-side comparison and, sure enough, they are bigger (in height, at least).

Why are all of mine midgets?

[Amalthea]

Okay, so not strictly an avatar question, but an Adobe Illustrator question:

I'm trying to draw a line that gradually expands as it moves away from its origin, like a slightly diverging beam of light. I could do this by drawing a really thin triangle, but I was wondering if there was an effect I could add to the line tool line that would accomplish this, maybe by defining the angle of divergence and the the line and fill colours as usual. Anyone know if this is possible? It'd be a big help.

Cheers in advance,

Ikki.

Really, the only way I know to do this is in Photoshop, using a pressure sensitive tablet. You set the pen to pressure/thickness, draw the line with the tablet pen and increase the pressure of the pen on the tablet to thicken the line. It takes a little practice.

[GreenWarden]

Hey, I recently got Sodipodi, and I am pshyched to use it, to forward my OOTS art.

But, when I try to open the file, it says Iam missing the component, 'zlib-1' could not be found.

I tried to repair the program by reinstalling it, but it was to no avail. Anyone have any knowledge on this subject.

[RawBearNYC]

see step 8 from "Getting Sodipodi" from this post: http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb...6717;start=0#4

[GreenWarden]

Oooie, thanks on my way, and creating avatars, but againg I'm having a slight problem.

When I export them to Irfanview, everything goes swell, but when I open them, there is nothing there.

[Gogo525]

I cannot make avatar since I do not have adobe illustrator :'(. so I was wondering if someone could make me one of seigfreid of soul calibur 3. I would be ever thankful if someone were able to do this for me but a noon I wont be able to get back on this computer until next monday. I might be able to get on to check on like thursday so Ill try to check in then. but please someone help me with my predicament.(if that is how you spell that)
thanx,
Assassins shadow

[Pensive Pine]

This topic was really helpful ^_^
I had a big problem with my wings, though. I had to trade transparency for them, it seems.

[nuttynathaniel]

Seeing as i didn't want to fork out $500 for the adobe illustrator, i decided to go for the GTK/Sodipodi combo. The installation went smoothly, but i am unable to download the blank square canvas linked to in the sodipodi tutorial. All I get when click the link is an .xml text document, any suggestions?

[RawBearNYC]

Seeing as i didn't want to fork out $500 for the adobe illustrator, i decided to go for the GTK/Sodipodi combo. The installation went smoothly, but i am unable to download the blank square canvas linked to in the sodipodi tutorial. All I get when click the link is an .xml text document, any suggestions?

Don't bother with the template, just do this instead.

[nuttynathaniel]

thanks :)

On to character making!

[SacredStorm]

Hmm I surprisingly just found this topic and didn't have alot of time to read the whole thing ::), but I do have one question for anyone who uses Adobe Illustrator.

I have used my Illustrator, but I am not very skillful in it. (Give me MS Paint and I can do wonders ;)) I have come up with a small number of stick figures with the program. Found here.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...dStorm/MEL.gif
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...orm/ASHLEY.gif
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...orm/LAURIE.gif
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...k-practice.gif

Sorry for all the hyperlinks haha... Anyways as you can see I like to make these pictures of my friends and have them keep them, but when I want to make an avatar *See mine* it doesn't have as nice of quality as my larger ones do.

So my question is, "Are there anyways in Illustrator to shrink the picture and not distort the quality?"

Or

"How can I help my smaller avatars in the future? Such as, is there a certain line size that I should use for my avatars?"

Hope all that made sense ;)
Thank you in advance!

-Sam

[Samiam303]

SacredStorm, what version of Illustrator are you using?

[SacredStorm]

I use Adobe Illustrator CS2

Oh and to note on the large stick figures you may have to enlarge the picture. My internet explorer makes it small at first making it blurred but i expand the picture to get the full size ::). If that may be the case for some of you.

[Tariskat]

Okay, I am having me a very large problem. Any and all help would be appreciated. I downloaded Sodipodi and the extra GTK thing. I copied and renamed all the necessary files, glib to glib-1 and all that, but now when I try to open Sodipodi I get this message:

The procedure entry point g_module_open_uft8 could not be located in the dynamic link library libgmodule-2.0-0.dll.

And all I can do is hit okay, and I'm stuck with a program that doesn't open.
Advice, please!!!

[RawBearNYC]

Okay, I am having me a very large problem. Any and all help would be appreciated. I downloaded Sodipodi and the extra GTK thing. I copied and renamed all the necessary files, glib to glib-1 and all that, but now when I try to open Sodipodi I get this message:

The procedure entry point g_module_open_uft8 could not be located in the dynamic link library libgmodule-2.0-0.dll.

And all I can do is hit okay, and I'm stuck with a program that doesn't open.
Advice, please!!!

I'm doing this from memory, but I remember that problem. The problem is that it can't find that dll file. Do a search for the filename on your drive, it should be somewhere in the GTK file space. Copy that file to the directory where you installed Sodipodi, then the program should start. Don't move the file, or other things based on GTK (that you may have loaded) will break.

[Tariskat]

RawBearNYC- I searched for the g_module file bit and could not find it in my computer. Then I searched for the libgmodule-2.0-0.dll and I found two files by that name, one in the gtk and one in the sodipodi. I copied the gtk into the file with sodipodi files and program but it still baffles me. It gives me the same message. Any other ideas? Or should I just keep looking for the g_module? And even though it didn't quite work, thanks for your help anyway.

[RawBearNYC]

g_module isn't a file, it's a part of the libgmodule, you won't find it. I'm thought that was the fix, it might be that there's another fix out there, but I can't remember it, maybe, later today, I'll hit google with the error message and see what I get.

[Tariskat]

nevermind, RawBearNYC. Finally got it! I completely erased both files/programs and redownloaded it. Then I went back to the direction here, on page 1, Pergrine's step

7. Go to where you installed Sodipodi. Paste the file. (You might want to rename the existing libgmodule-2.0-0.dll first, just in case. It shouldn't be necessary though.)

So I renamed the orignal, then pasted my new copy, and BAM it's open. Thanks for your time and help though!!

[Raistlin1040]

Is there a guide to making avatars with GIMP? Thanks

[amorelli]

Is there a way to convert .svg to .gif on a mac? I looked at irfanview but it's only for PC. I have a nice avi for darklight140 sitting here in .svg on my machine, but I can't make it usable. :'( (In case it it matters, I made it in Inkscape.)

[edit] I exported it as a .png and it looks nice, but I figured out how to use the GIMP to save it as a .gif, and it loses a lot of quality and becomes pixelated. Any other suggestions?

[edit2]here it is as a .png


and here it is as a .gif (i converted it with preview this time)

[RawBearNYC]

Is there a way to convert .svg to .gif on a mac? I looked at irfanview but it's only for PC. I have a nice avi for darklight140 sitting here in .svg on my machine, but I can't make it usable. :'( (In case it it matters, I made it in Inkscape.)

[edit] I exported it as a .png and it looks nice, but I figured out how to use the GIMP to save it as a .gif, and it loses a lot of quality and becomes pixelated. Any other suggestions?

[edit2]here it is as a .png


and here it is as a .gif (i converted it with preview this time)

You're problem is antialiasing (and the transparency in the GIF image), or the lack of antialiasing.

Pixels are square. There's no help for that. to make smooth lines that aren't perfectly vertical or horizontal, a graphic program needs to use extra pixels of various shades between the two colors next to each other, for example, the brown in his shirt and the black of the border of his shirt. If you zoom in real close, you'll see various pixels between the brown and black.

when creating gifs with transparency, there are a couple things you have to be careful of. Only one of the possible 256 colors in a gif can be considered "transparent". Any pixel colored that color will be transparent. But when you get to the borders and those colors start changing due to the anti-aliasing, those stay what they are. If the antialiasing was to white white originally, for example but the gif is shown on a dark background, you'll see a halo of white-ish pixels surrounding the image.

The other thing that can happen is what happened to you. the antialiasing didn't happen at all. So, none of those shaded pixels are there, and the lines don't look smooth.

The fix would be to follow these steps in gimp. Open the original png image in GIMP (not the gif, it's too late to anti-alias that). then, fill a lower layer with white. use the magic wand (fuzzy select tool) with "Sample Merged" clicked in tool options. Then click the white areas and use Clear to get rid of what's there. Then save it as a gif. That should preserve the antialiasing. The antialiasing will be to white in this case (because that's the color you used as the background). These messages boards have 2 backgrounds, white or tan. The good news is that they're close enough in value that you won't see the halo when it's on the tan.

Hope that helps.