"Moving Dots" Tutorial -

[Sassy]

“Moving Dots” Tutorial

Neo had seen my “Charmed Sig” and asked me to write a tutorial on how to create these “Moving Dots”.

Charmed Sig -




Well, the process is quite simple if you’re advanced in PSP – but it does take some time. This tutorial will show you how to set up a template. This template can be used over and over – and once you get the hang of it, you will be able to create some of your own.

Let’s get started…

This is what we will be making:



Supplies:

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8
Animation Shop 3

(You can use other versions of PSP. The directions will be similar, you just have to find where your settings are in other versions)

Difficulty Level: Advanced

This tutorial assumes you know how to use Paint Shop Pro and Animation Shop.

Be sure to SAVE OFTEN!!!

Getting started: Step #1

Go to “Grid, Guide, & Snap Properties” and change the settings on your grid and Guides tab.

Grid Tab:

Set all Horizontal and Vertical grids to 2.
Set all units to pixels.
Color: Black
Snap Influence: 12

Guides Tab

Color: Black
Snap Influence: 12

If anything is checked, uncheck it.

Step #2:

- Open a new 400x100 white image and turn your grid on. Name your image whatever you wish to name it.

Your image should look like this:



- Set your paint brush to +Square 05 (the middle square ), Size: 2, Color: bright green.
(This will make the other “dots” easier to see later on in the tutorial.)

- Zoom into your image 500%
- Create a new raster layer, make sure it’s active!
- With your bright green brush, start at the top left corner and paint in every third grid box going across.
Once you have painted about five boxes, use Ctr+C, and Ctr+E to move the process along. Once you are finished with the first row, use Ctr+C and Ctr+E again to paint every third row in the image.

Your image should look like this:



Step #3:

Go to Selections>Select All
Go to Selections again and select “Float”

Now, all your boxes should be selected.
With your boxes selected, go back to “Selections” and click on “Load/Save Selection”, “Save Selection to Alpha Channel” Name it #1, or keep it as Selection 1.
Once you’ve saved to the Alpha Channel, go to Selections>Select None.

Step #4:

Create a new raster layer. Make sure it’s active!
Choose a new color, I chose pink. Make about five boxes directly after each green box.

Using Step #3 as a guide, you will do the same thing for raster 2 and 3.

Remember to use a different color for your boxes so you can distinguish where they go.

After I am finished with Raster 2 and 3 this is what my image looked like.



Now, you’re finished making your template.

You can save this and use it over and over if you wish. To do so, open up the template, hit Shift+D. This duplicates the template.

Now, let’s animate this bad boy – shall we?

Step#5: Animation:

Just for practice: Close your template and reopen it. Press Shift+D to duplicate it. Close the original template. Now, you can begin working.

Once again, zoom in 500% so you can see what you’re working with.
Make raster 1 your active layer. It should look like this:



Choose which color/gradient you want for your “moving dots”

On your first raster, click on Selections>Select All>Float. Click on your flood fill tool, or press F. Make sure your “match mode” is set to none, this way – with one click, all selected boxes will be filled. Flood fill a box.

Go to Selections>Select None.

Animation:

This is the only way to do this in PSP while keeping your background:

Open up Animation Shop.
Go back to PSP, merge all layers.
Copy image from PSP and paste image as new animation in Animation Shop.

Go back to PSP, undo the merge all layers by using Ctr+Z. You will now see your raster layers again.

Make raster 2 your active layer.



Repeat what you did for raster 1.
Do the same for raster 3.

Be sure to:
Work in your active layers in PSP
Place your new layers after current frame in Animation Shop.

Once it’s all said and done, this is what your animation should look like:

(I added a border, so if yours doesn’t look like this – don’t freak)



Some things you may want to know:

If you start a sig without the template – don’t worry!! All you have to do is open up the template, duplicate it, and minimize it. This way, your alpha channels are there.

In your sig without the template, merge all layers, duplicate the background three times (renaming them for easy upkeep) and when you’re ready to add your moving dots – make sure you’re in the active layer and go to Selections>Load/Save Selection>Load Selection from Alpha Channel>And choose your selection. #1 for Raster 1, #2 for Raster 3, and so on.

If you don't want to merge all layers and want your moving dots behind an image or behind an advanced border like I have in my Charmed Sig, you don't have to merge all layers. You can simply create a layer under the image or border and put your alpha channels in there.

Now, if you want to get more advanced with Alpha Channels, you can use the above method to add moving dots to any image, but you may have to adjust your sizes.

Note before we move on: The more advanced you get on this, the different sizes of dots you can make by changing your Grid, Guide, & Snap Properties and paint brush size.

For this tutorial, our original size was 400x100. Both numbers are divisible by 2, so our fill image was 2x2.

If you were making a 200x60 sized image, and you want bigger dots, they both are divisible by 10, so your fill size is 10, brush size 5. The more you practice, the better you will become at it.

If you have any questions - please feel free to ICQ or PM me.
Enjoy!!!

[Stinger]

Cool effect on that sig I must agree. The tut is great, even I understand this one.

[Avnprd]

Sweet leapen jebas that was detailed

[Sassy]

LMAO - I wrote it for advanced users too!

This tutorial assumes you know how to use Paint Shop Pro and Animation Shop.

Could you imagine what it would look like if I wrote it for beginners?

[Scotty]

if i had to type that much i would go insane. i can't even type that much for essays or projects that i have to type up for school.

[SorrySonOfA]

I got tried and didn't finish it. I'll try to follow along with PSP sometime soon. I really like that effect and the tut seems detailed enough I should be able to do it.

[Neo]

Well this work with imageready?

[Sassy]

Originally posted by Neo
Well this work with imageready?

I haven't worked with ImageReady, so I'm not sure. If I had to guess, if you're comfortable with ImageReady you could proabably translate it into "ImageReady" language...lol

[Avnprd]

Originally posted by Neo
Well this work with imageready?

After reading through the tut I can tell you it would be easier to do in image ready.

[Sassy]

[Avnprd]

Originally posted by Sassy

Are you winking at me?

[guncrazy]

wat program are ytou using