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Old 04-10-2004, 02:39 AM
ZER0_H0UR ZER0_H0UR is offline
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Exclamation Tutorial on converting BMPs to transparent GIFS, and more!

Ok, since I've worked on a few major servers people have been saying to me "Zero Hour! I have these images, and heads I want uploaded, will you?" and, naturally I say "Certainley!" and when I get the files I realize they're BMPs, and they're not transparent, so like the kind fellow I am I convert them to PNG's for them (or GIF) and upload them.

Well, from today forth I will no more. From today forth I will link them to this, and if they're too lazy to read, and understand such a simple concept, then they do not deserve their heads, in real life!

I figured this could help New people to the art of Computer Graphics, aswell! So here you are folks, enjoy this.

----------------------------------------------------------------

First you will need a program to convert your BMPs to GIF, and to add your transparencies; so here it is! If this doesn't work, just take a short stroll to goolge and search for Animagic.

Once you have the program, either by the means I provided, or others on your own will, then you will need to learn how to do the basics! And I'm nice enough to show you how to do that aswell!



Opening your file!

Woa, hold 'er up there Sparky, you're going to need to OPEN a file before you can make a GIF! Ok, go to "File>open" and a open dialogue should appear; after it does select the file top you're opening from the bottom of the dialogue, then find the file you want to open in the directory of your choice.

Selecting your transparency!

Well, you may want to make a transparency in your file, so I'll cover that here

go to "Animation>Transparent Color" then use the dropper to select the color you want to be transparent either from the image itself, or the color box on the side, the right side.

Unfortunatley it looks like you can only select ONE color, that's your program, not mine.

Saving your file!

After you have completed the above steps you can save your file. go to "File>save as" (I suggest "save as" because "save" can make some confusion, trust me.) then select the directory in which you choose to save it, then create a clear, understandable, and easilty recognizable file name, and click "save"... well bucko, you're done, and so am I, so get lost!
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Old 04-10-2004, 10:07 AM
LordZen LordZen is offline
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Animagic is my preference as well.

One note though:
It is NOT good practice to upload ".GIF" images into a PW's ftp. GraalOnline prefers you convert those to ".PNG" instead.

This is why there is a program included in Graal's dev pack called "gif2mng.exe", which easily converts GIF images to .png or .mng in a Graal compatible format (.mng is used if the gif was animated).
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Old 04-10-2004, 11:24 AM
ZER0_H0UR ZER0_H0UR is offline
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Thankyou Zen, that's an excellent note. I was going to tell them that PNG wasn't a good format to use in Graal, but I figured questions would ensue
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Old 04-10-2004, 03:23 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by LordZen
One note though:
It is NOT good practice to upload ".GIF" images into a PW's ftp. GraalOnline prefers you convert those to ".PNG" instead.

This is why there is a program included in Graal's dev pack called "gif2mng.exe", which easily converts GIF images to .png or .mng in a Graal compatible format (.mng is used if the gif was animated).
Wasn't this only due to the possible patent rights of the .GIF, which was not allowed and no longer exists?
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Old 04-10-2004, 05:29 PM
ZER0_H0UR ZER0_H0UR is offline
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I believe so.
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Old 04-10-2004, 08:03 PM
LordZen LordZen is offline
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Yes that was the reason, but it is still good practice to use PNG. And Graal offers a useful tool to allow you to easily do that.

Even though that patent expired in the USA, its enforced in many other countries where Graal is used (Germany, France, Canada, Britain). Those are supposed to expire this summer.

Couple of things:

GIF format is limited to 8-bit, which is only 256 colors. The format was developed in the 80's back when most monitors could support only that many colors. PNG was developed in the mid 90's and has support for up to 64-bit. That usually isnt a big deal for gfx in this game but some people like to use tons of unessisary colors when using effects and stuff with psp or whatever.

PNG can be about 1/5 smaller in filesize compared to a similiar image saved in GIF format.

PNG also has the ability to adjust gamma depending on how its being viewed on the monitor, so it can be viewed as it was originally intended as long as the program reading it knows to check the gamma value. Otherwise it might look brighter or darker on other monitors if settings are not similar.
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Old 04-10-2004, 09:43 PM
ZER0_H0UR ZER0_H0UR is offline
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I was aware of the bit depth, and size, but I wasn't aware the patent is still inforced in other countries... (eek!)

I wasn't aware that PNG has this "gamma adjustment" which is interesting.
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Old 04-10-2004, 10:08 PM
WanDaMan WanDaMan is offline
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what about adobe, i'm on a networked computer.. I can't install nothing, x.x!
So I have adobe.. how would I set transparency there? i've tried the saving way, but it just dosn't do it.. any suggestions?
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Old 04-10-2004, 11:45 PM
ZER0_H0UR ZER0_H0UR is offline
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Who wants me to make an adobe tutorial?

I figured since many players don't have software such as Adobe on their computer this would be an ideal solution.
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Old 04-11-2004, 04:08 PM
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Basicly, when you make a new image you have to make sure that you choose a Transparent backround when the little window pops up... ;P

And if you're working on an already made image with a backround... well, I usually just cut-paste into a new image with a transparent backround... That's just a quick run through. I'm sure ZH could do a much better job explaining than I could.
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Old 04-11-2004, 05:13 PM
WanDaMan WanDaMan is offline
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Ah, please do ZH.
It'll come in handy whilst doing sprites..
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Old 04-11-2004, 05:58 PM
ZER0_H0UR ZER0_H0UR is offline
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Ok, I won't provide a link to Adobe Photoshop 7 for obvious reasons. But I will tell you how to make a transparent PNG! So here we go, open up photoshop.

Opening your file!
Go to "File>open"

Now a pretty little dialogue should pop up and since it's a window's standard you should be able to navigate easily.

Creating your transparencies!
Ok, so you got your file, you're a bigshot.

Go to "file>save for web"

Now there's a few things you're going to have to do before you can actually save in the PNG format, and of the most confusing things, this will probably be it. So... I'll explain it and add a screen shot, which will be provided for at the bottom of this page since there arn't any people online who can host for me

See up in the top right hand corner it says "save" then below save it says "cancel" anbd below that it says "done" ignore all of that for now, and look below it to "settings" This is where it gets hard, so pay attention.

The first drop down menu should have this selected:
PNG-8

The one below it should be:
Selective

The one beside it will say "colors" this should be set at 256

Check "Transparency" and leave the one beside it (matte) empty

Beneath Transparency it will say "No transparency" ignore that, aswell as the box to the right of it.

Web Snap should be at 0%


----------End configuration, and probably presets.---------

An eye dropper, Now what's that doing here? Good lord son, quickly now, quickly! Use the eye dropper to select the color you want to be trasparent, and then go down below, there should be 5 icons, and before them a number which tells you how many unique colors you have, go to the first one, yes the one with a checkered pattern and click it... dear god, my color disapared! Yea, it's transparent, funky, eh? Now with Photoshop you can set as many transparent colors as you wish, and unset them by selecting the color in the eye dropper box, and then un-clicking the checkered icon.

Here's your screen shot!


(after word: I'm feeling incredabley stupid, so I feel I've made a few mistakes on the technical side, if you notice them please feel free to enlighten me, since I may not have noticed, thanks.)
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Old 04-11-2004, 06:16 PM
WanDaMan WanDaMan is offline
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Omg, that rocks and it's so easy thanks man <3!!
God you're the best now I don't have to rely on anyone to do it for me !!
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Old 04-12-2004, 01:43 PM
Loriel Loriel is offline
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gif files are clearly not appreciated; gif is a nonfree format and technically inferior to png anyway, last I checked.

.PNG is not appreciated either: please use lowercase filenames

I do not think 256 colours is a neccessity. Fewer should be fine, and can drastically reduce image size.
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