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Building A Micro With Mspaint And Giffy; Focuses on Template work for newbies
Topic Started: Oct 10 2008, 04:15 PM (323 Views)
Rachel
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Veritas et Sapienter
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ME
 
Posted on Superbuddies a LONG while back, and transferred here for those who don't know where to start, but would like to.

I do have other tutorials in the work for more advanced techniques which I can post here if anybody wants them ;)


As with all things, there is no right or wrong way to make a Micro. This tutorial will be aimed primarily at new creators, but it will also serve to prove that you don’t need to have Photoshop or one of the other more fancy art programs to make good work.

As with the other tutorials. This should be adaptable to other Art Programs, but due to my personal preference, All of the steps shown throughout will be done using MSPaint.

So where do we start.

FIRST – We need to decide what we’re going to do and then open the file.

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The very next thing I advise to do is right click on the color you wish to use as a background (The reason for this will become obvious later) and then use the fill tool to color the entire background in that color.

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With that done. You’re next step is to collect the Body template you wish to use for your character. For the purpose of this tutorial I will be using the Standard Emissary Template which most people start with.

Using the Cut tool, Select the area you wish to transfer.

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Then using the Right click button select Copy and the area you selected is now stored on your clipboard.

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And then you can paste it back into the window where you selected your background color using the same method.

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Now we have our body template in our picture, repeat the 3rd step to make the background area around your micro the same as your previous background.

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Now we have our Micro Template ready. Repeat Steps 4 – 7 until you have collected all of the pieces you wish to use. (Sometimes you won’t have a clear image and you’ll need to experiment, but for the purposes of this Tutorial I shall be using set pieces).

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So now we have everything we need to start building our micro. The next thing we have to do is ensure we have transparency working. (MSPaint doesn’t allow you to save transparent, but it does provide a function to make use of it while you’re working).
If it is set incorrectly you’ll have this happen to your work.

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But set correctly like so Posted Image Will create a Transparency effect which will allow you to slide your template clothing over the Micro base without the covering effect.

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Following that same Technique for the other pieces you will have managed to create an almost complete micro.

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Now obviously, this doesn’t look like a very nice micro. The real Micro look comes during the recoloring. Now I know a lot (Even myself a long time ago) will select their colors and then use the fill tool to change colors pixel by pixel. That’s time consuming, and the effort usually scares people away. If you prefer you can transfer the picture into one of the more advanced programs and use their recolor methods. But you don’t have to. Paint actually has a secret method of allowing Bulk recoloring itself.

For this, Left click your mouse on the color you want to change

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And repeat the Right click method to select the color you want to make it.


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Now we’re ready to go.. Select your Eraser tool. And HOLDING DOWN the right mouse button, pull the eraser over the areas you wish to change the colors of.

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And then, as quick as that you’ve changed the color. Just repeat that process for every color you wish to change on the whole micro and you’ll end up with a passable micro.

And in true Blue Peter fashion “Here’s one I prepared earlier”. :P

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Now there’s only one more thing we need to do to this micro in order to turn it from a collection of templates into a complete micro, and that is shadow. All solid 3-dimensional objects create shadow, and you have to accommodate them on the micro to get the completed effect.

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As you can see, I’ve completed half of the shading on both the large and Micro versions so that you can see the technique and the difference it can make to the overall look of your micro.

Then you can add whatever final accessories you wish, and Voila.. You’ve completed a Micro.

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Now you’ve got just one hurdle left before you can upload your finished micro and share it for everyone to see.

Saving
There are a lot of different techniques for Micros. I build mine in PNG to minimise the folder size while I work. A lot of others work in BMP’s. But when it comes to posting Micros online, only PNG’s and GIF’s are advisable methods. MSPaint won’t allow you to save transparent backgrounds, and in some file settings they will destroy your micro effect. As shown below.

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Jpegs. 256 color Bitmaps. And Gif.

But wait.. I know I said Gif was good. And it is. But you can’t save it as a Gif through paint. You will have to use another program. There are some like Photoshop who will give you the option of creating Transparent Gifs as you save them. Those work But as a Cheaper option there is a link on This Site to download a program called Giffy which allows you to save your micros as Gif’s provided you have saved them as 24 color Bitmap files.

Then Upload your file using the Load BMP button and search through your files until you find the micro you wish to convert. And then you’ll see this.

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Click on the Transparency option and it should automatically select your background color, but if it doesn’t, simply click on the background and it will change it. Then click Save Gif and your micro is done.

Upload it to your image hosting site and post wherever applicable.

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