You now know how to register a new decal. But how do you make a picture?
What dimensions should it have? The easiest way to find out is to
download a character's sources.
You can go back to
http://www.webcartoonmaker.com/?art=help/lib_characters
and download the sources
Once you download and unzip them you'll find several images and a header
(.h) file in the archive. You'll need to find a decal picture. For
example the default decal picture of a
Boy
character's head is in file "head.svg". Just edit this file any way you
like, or even substitute a completely new picture, and save somewhere
on your hard drive (
"c:\\myimage.svg"
in the above example).
Note: This would be a good
time to look at the “Simple Character Modification” tutorial.
Do you know how to edit
SVG files – or even what a .SVG file represents? Answering the second
question first, “SVG” stands for Scalable Vector Graphics and is an
open standard for pictures in vector (points and lines) format. Vector
formats are much more scalable than raster (pixel) based formats such
as .JPG, .PNG, .BMP and .GIF. The disadvantage of the vector format is
that nearly all cameras and displays are pixel based, so ultimately the
vector drawing must be converted back to raster format for display.
You may already have some vector graphics editing tools installed on
your computer. The commercial standard tool is Adobe’s Illustrator.
While an excellent tool, it is also both expensive and “expert
friendly.” Fortunately, there is a great free and open source SVG
editor called Inkscape which you may want to install (download from
http://inkscape.org
). Inkscape also has a good online user manual, which is referenced on
their web site. Finally, you can also edit files online at
http://www.webcartoonmaker.com/?art=svg
. Please keep in mind that online editor will work in IE only with
Chrome Frame plugin. But it works just fine in Firefox without any
addons:
Notes/Cautions: While the online editor is quite convenient, the
available user documentation (at
http://code.google.com/p/svg-edit
) is aimed more at the code developer than the first time user. Also the
.SVG format can occasionally be a bit unstable, although the situation
gets better every day. If you are using Illustrator, stay with the .AI
format (a very stable but Adobe proprietary vector format) as long as
possible.
Alan Sturgess shared an excellent video he made using Tales Animator! You can still download Tales Animator here. Unfortunately it is only available for Wi
There is a prototype of simple online character designer available
HERE. It is only a prototype,
it does not contain many pieces yet but it can already generat
Web Cartoon Maker 1.5 is finally here! You can download it
HERE!
Here is what was updated in version 1.5:
Web Cartoon Maker Desktop Edition is now fully standal