Waterfalls Series

Rocks

Whisper

Desert 1

Fairies

Desert 2 

Ching Swee

Quiet Time

Cottage View

Angel Series ...

My Angel Series  ...

Garden Angel

My Pink

White Angel

Angels in Waiting

Angel Prince


Enjoy !!! Have a fantastic weekend!!!

Framework: Multiple Frames Part 2 - Digital Cropping of Graphics/Images

Framework: Multiple Frames Part 2 - Digital Cropping of Graphics/Images

Cropping your image/graphics inside the game is extremely difficult if you want the “cut” to perfectly fit each frame and the image to perfectly align the adjacent one. That is a given …

We can make things easier if we crop the image outside of the game. There are two ways of doing this: digitally and manually.  Let’s deal with the digital way of doing it first, not advisable for beginners but read on!!!

Image splitting is a technique usually used to cut or split a large image into smaller parts so the image can be downloaded or uploaded faster. Web developers use a lot of these to download HTML tags and paste them back together. I have tried both online image splitters and downloadable programs --- some worked, some didn’t. What I only know is that these image splitters are not specifically designed to crop an image that will exactly fit the yoville frames I am working on. But let’s go on …

ONLINE IMAGE SPLITTERS

 



There are online image splitters where you don’t need to download a software or a program to use it. You can search the internet and find the free service that will suit you. I find Chami.com a very valuable help not just for cropping but also for fun embellishment of graphics. FavIcon, another tool source, is also under the Chami umbrella.

If you want to try Chami’s splitter, try this link http://www.chami.com/html-kit/services/is/

For FavIcon try this  http://www.htmlkit.com/services/favicon/

DOWNLOADABLE IMAGE SPLITTERS

 

There are free downloads and “buy” downloads for image splitters. Again, these software or programs are specifically designed for web developers. You may want to try the free downloads first if you really want one. I am partial to using Picasa and Splitz … and I use them for my websites, not for cropping images for my framework. Here are some links I recommend for downloadable programs:

http://www.soft3k.com/Image-Cut-%28Image-splitter%29-p8387.htm

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/splitz.html


THE PROBLEM IS …

As mentioned above, the digital image splitters are designed for web developers’ use and not for cropping images for framework. I found out that they can be used for framework if the image will be split into say 8 to 12 pieces at the most. When I do more splits, the configuration somehow changes and I still have to figure out how and why. I tried splitting images digitally and manually configuring their sizes and it turned out to be more work than expected. Simply put, I still have to figure out the best way to use digital image splitters for framework.

My other problem is the fact that freeware may or may not come with hidden wares such as spy ware, Trojans or whatever. I am not a real “techy” on this matter. When the last motherboard in another lappy bid its adieu, the service technician told me to be wary of freewares with unknown wares attached. From then on, I have become freeware-phobic. Better safe than sorry always work for me.

When RL Gets in the Way ...

I know ... I know ... I have not posted since October 5 and I am sorry. I am up to my unwaxed eyebrows in real time work. Still writing two books and about to get another deal .... oops that's real life and this is my yoville life, remember?

Sorry sorry ... this is the only blog I have left (for now) LOL so I hope to regularly post, promise!!!

Framework: Multiple Frames Part 1 - Choosing Your Image

Whether it is simply a 4-frame accent to sit on a hallway or a fabulous 48-frame Fantasy Room, framework on multiple frames has always been the “main event”  in room decor. I believe choosing the right image (that will make a difference) is already 30% of  framework success. The rest being 10% cutting/cropping and 60 %  integrating your framework to the room decor. 

With the above parameters in mind, I also want to say that whatever image you want to put in your frame also works. You can put an image of your big toe in your frames and that is fine --- so long as you are having fun!! I am having so much fun doing my frames and that is the primary reason why I am sharing a “how-to-do-it”  with you --- I WANT YOU TO HAVE THE SAME FUN AS I AM HAVING!!!


DECIDE ON A DESIGN USE

Start the fun by deciding on a design use for the frames. Some players use the frames exclusively for fantasy rooms. Other players, find use on them for anything e.g. wall divider, windows and bigger windows. There is no limit to one’s imagination. My friend Bonny (from down under) just framed some tulips and used the frames as fence, a real lovely idea. Keep a mental idea of what you want to play with : fantasy, scenery, graphics or whatever your heart decides. Having decided on the use, search for your image on the internet. If you have a particular material on real life paper file, then scan it and convert it to jpeg file. 

WHERE TO GET IMAGES

Nothing is better than the worldwide web for this purpose.  A lot of sites offers freebie images from fairies to dark arts to gorgeous photography. Freebies are obviously FREE so people who think downloading images from freebie sites is STEALING are just GRUMPY!!! I am so partial to google and bing because I can always narrow my search using their sidebar tool. Image hosting sites like photobucket, picasa and flickr are also good sources of images. I also buy images (usually watermarked) that I really want to have. Whatever suits you … 


SOME MORE TIPS ....

Resolution --- An image with good resolution (clear, distinct colors, contrast etc) works best. Avoid getting small sized pics and blowing it up for use in 20 frames - the result will be grainy. If you want images with “human facial features”, good resolution image is a must.

Color ---  in room design is so important! Remember your color wheel. Take a mental note of the color of available items you can use to integrate the image in your room decor. 

Type of brass frames --- Tall and narrow images do best with portrait brass frames while short and wide images are most appropriate for landscape frames. Surely you are resizing the image and cutting it to size but remember that a good scale for the image is the best. Know your inventory - you don’t want to get a tall and narrow image of a fairy if all you have are landscape frames. 

“Human Facial Features” --- as much as possible, get an image with bigger facial features. It is frustrating to cut a “face” across and miss the “expression”  on that face. Look at the above picture ... It is disappointing to cover the little face with the frame border. We shall deal with this item more when we get to the cutting tutorial. 

All told for now ... let's go get those images!!!

Halloween Time: Get Your Pumpkins Ready

The introduction we had in Paintable Eggs and Whiteboard Art for Beginners and the initial drawing exercises we discussed in Some Drawing Exercises To Get You Started will come in handy in getting your pumpkins ready for Halloween.

LET US START CARVING

Just like in real life pumpkin carving. be sure you already have an image in mind before carving your virtual pumpkin. You can check out real life pumpkin carving stencils on the net to gather some ideas. If you just want to experiment carving with your pumpkin, then that is also fine. Remember, KNOW YOUR MEDIUM ... familiarize yourself with the virtual pumpkin, make some doodles, etched a line ... see what happens.

Ok, let's start ...  place your pumpkin in the room and double click on it. Your pumpkin working board will be up the screen. Now, you can use the profiler if you wish (in the same manner you can use the profiler on eggs or whiteboards).

To use, right click on the screen, click "show profiler". There will be a shaded area on top of the screen,, Right click on the shaded area, a menu will come up, click zoom in and a super sized pumpkin will come to view.

Remember, profiler works best on Internet Explorer. I really don't advise the use of profiler on pumpkin carving. Unlike the eggs and the whiteboard media, you can not drag the pumpkin board anywhere on the screen. It just stays put on where it popped out. Zooming it in through the profiler may give you an unmanageable working view. Some serious artists use the profiler for more intricate strokes like scraping or making little fine lines or "shadows" on the pumpkin.

Use the cursor to carve your pumpkin. Make a continuous line tracing a letter or a shape then closing the figure by ending at the point where you started your line. You can also make small little figures till you make a bigger one.

The virtual pumpkin has a certain "thckness" pretty much the same as in real life. So know your medium, Observe how some strokes will result into certain shapes. Click the "Reset" button to start all over and click "Save" when you are done. Click "close" to go back to room view. If using the profiler, click zoom out on the shaded area, right click on the screen and click hide profiler to go back to room view.

While I love Halloween and real life pumpkin carving --- virtual pumpkin is not just my medium. I can turn up some pretty decent designs though (if I really try). Well, I will try and show them to you before Halloween. So in the meantime --- let us start carving !!! Happy Halloween !!! Boo

Framework: Four Seasons

ONE ROOM ... Changing seasons ... changing colors ... 

I have just been cutting and cutting images all the time? Not really, real life got in the way! Don't you just hate it when real life gets in the way of your other life (in my case, this blog and the game I play ... and oh yeah, let's include facebook!)

Anyway, I started telling you about doing multiple frames but that's not really it! I still have to show you how i do my PERFECT CUT. It is so perfect that it will take you more time aligning those brass frames than cutting and framing the images. I have done the photo-illustrations so expect it in the very near future. Let me just show you some of my latest framework ... 

Tried to experiment on leaving the frames in the room and just changing decor and images. It was convenient especially if you just want to play around your creativity. What better theme to do it but the four seasons theme ... though I must warn you I am not so feeling the winter scene. I guess it is too warm in LA to even imagine a winter scene ... 

FOUR SEASONS

WINTER

SPRING

SUMMER

FALL 

Did you like them? Well, I'm drafting my set of instructions on how to do them so check me back ... in the meanwhile, play a fun game and say something nice to someone today :)