Making Who Avatars
There is a large collection of Who images available on the internet for fan use. The quality runs from fair to exceptionally grainy screen captures. Fortunately the small size of avatars can make even the worst image practical. When processing photos try these tools in your graphics program (Ulead PhotoImpact, Adobe Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, etc.).
1) Start with a jpeg image at 16 million colors (if your image is a GIF increase the color count to 16 million RGB).
2) In your filters, use despeckle to eliminate random spots If the image quality is still poor, try using the medium range filter to smooth distortion in pixel colors. If the image seems too blurred, sharpen or focus the picture one level.
3) Decrease your colors to 256 (GIF compliant)
4) Then erase the background away with a color not in the image you want displayed. You may begin by cutting out a figure from a photograph, but if you attempt to erase all the backround with the pixel erase tool at 16 million colors your image will have light outlines when you convert it to 256 color GIF format. You're better off designing an avatar that looks good on dark and light backgrounds as the worlds may be both.
5) Set the transparent color to the background.
6) Crop any excess space away.
7) Last, resize the image to 120 on whatever is the biggest measurement (length or width). Make sure your resize proportionally option is checked.
8) Hand correct any pixel problems such as funky outlines or blotches on the transparent background.
3D rendered images are somewhat easier to convert because the colors are not as pixelated as photographs. But due to the small avatar size much of the detail in 3D rendering will be lost. A few reminders:
1) Avoid the use of detailed textures like marble, wood, stone.
2) Prefer using gradient fills
3) Design for the basic outline and features
OnChat default character Avatars are available for revising. These images use a cartoon style that is very friendly to virtual chat. If you good at drawing and have a scanner or drawing pad do this:
1) Draw a pencil outline of your figure as a small thumbnail on paper or regular image in a vector drawing program. If you use a vector drawing program like CorelDraw make certain your lines are resizable to the proportion of the image. If they aren't when you convert to a bitmap image (GIF or JPEG) your outline will be 2 to 3 times bigger than you expect.
2) For handdrawn images, scan the drawing as a lineart picture. This creates a black and white bitmap image file.
3) Open the bitmap image in a paint program and color in your picture.
4) Reduce the colors from 16 millions (default for Windows and Mac 24 bit bitmaps) to 256 colors
5) Make the background transparent, reduce the size to 120 pixels at its longest dimension (height or width) and save your image as a GIF.
If you have any questions or comments about the group, e-mail brogan@timetrap.virtualave.net
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