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.
