Guide to Making VMK Character Flats :) Added more tips & sample pics post 22
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AmberDaze
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I just thought I would add a few tips on how to get your flat to print out at about 4" tall, without looking too pixelated. 
I'll use Illusionistic's character as an example.
1. The best room to take a screen shot is in an Everest room (the white background is the easiest to remove in this room, and it's also one of the rooms where you'll get a bigger screen shot of your character). Let's just pretend that you're seeing the entire Everest room below (cropped to save space):
2. Once you have a screen shot of yourself in the Everest room, crop out the background, just around the top and bottom of your character. You want to resize this image to 4" in height, so try not to have a lot of background space at the top or bottom. See below for example:
3. Once you have your image cropped, you want to resize this. Since I have Paint Shop Pro X, I'll describe what to do in there...although you should be able to do the same in any other photo program. Click on the image you want to resize. Then click on image --> resize --> where it says "print size" change the height to 4 inches (make sure that the box is clicked where it says "lock aspect ratio," so the width stays in proportion to the height). After you change the height to 4 inches, change the resolution to 300 pixels. Click "ok" and your image should be ready to print. Make sure your printer properties are at least normal or better.
If you have Windows Paint, and click on image --> stretch & skew to approximately 235% horizontally and vertically, it should yield similar results. OR you can click on image --> attributes and put in 4" for height...only problem here is that it does not automatically set the width for you. The problem in both Windows Paint options, is that there is no way that I can see to increase the number of pixels to sharpen your image as you enlarge it. See example below of enlarged image (your image will look taller than 4" on your monitor):
4. OPTIONAL STEP: Next step is to get rid of some background -- easy to do in a photo or graphics program. In Paint Shop Pro X, there is a background eraser button on the left (it's ok if you don't get rid of all the background white space, since you're going to be cutting much of it away anyway). See below for example:
Save your image as a .PNG (makes a sharper image than .JPG). Now you can print your image (from your paint program), and it'll be a cute 4" tall, not-too-pixelated little person.
I'll use Illusionistic's character as an example.
1. The best room to take a screen shot is in an Everest room (the white background is the easiest to remove in this room, and it's also one of the rooms where you'll get a bigger screen shot of your character). Let's just pretend that you're seeing the entire Everest room below (cropped to save space):
2. Once you have a screen shot of yourself in the Everest room, crop out the background, just around the top and bottom of your character. You want to resize this image to 4" in height, so try not to have a lot of background space at the top or bottom. See below for example:
3. Once you have your image cropped, you want to resize this. Since I have Paint Shop Pro X, I'll describe what to do in there...although you should be able to do the same in any other photo program. Click on the image you want to resize. Then click on image --> resize --> where it says "print size" change the height to 4 inches (make sure that the box is clicked where it says "lock aspect ratio," so the width stays in proportion to the height). After you change the height to 4 inches, change the resolution to 300 pixels. Click "ok" and your image should be ready to print. Make sure your printer properties are at least normal or better.
If you have Windows Paint, and click on image --> stretch & skew to approximately 235% horizontally and vertically, it should yield similar results. OR you can click on image --> attributes and put in 4" for height...only problem here is that it does not automatically set the width for you. The problem in both Windows Paint options, is that there is no way that I can see to increase the number of pixels to sharpen your image as you enlarge it. See example below of enlarged image (your image will look taller than 4" on your monitor):
4. OPTIONAL STEP: Next step is to get rid of some background -- easy to do in a photo or graphics program. In Paint Shop Pro X, there is a background eraser button on the left (it's ok if you don't get rid of all the background white space, since you're going to be cutting much of it away anyway). See below for example:
Save your image as a .PNG (makes a sharper image than .JPG). Now you can print your image (from your paint program), and it'll be a cute 4" tall, not-too-pixelated little person.
AmberDaze
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Evoulie
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AmberDaze
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What photo program do you have...anything besides Paint?
Evoulie
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AmberDaze
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OK, after you take a screen shot, open Paint and click edit --> paste. Your image should appear in the window.
To crop your image: click on the select tool and click and drag across your image (leave very little background space around your character). Once you've done that, click "cut" and then "File" --> "New." You don't have to save your original when it asks (but you can), then click "Paste."
Then to make your image larger, just follow the info below:
If you have Windows Paint, and click on image --> stretch & skew to approximately 200-235% horizontally and vertically, it should yield similar results (you can try printing them to see which size works for you). OR you can click on image --> attributes and put in 4" for height...only problem here is that it does not automatically set the width for you. The problem in both Windows Paint options, is that there is no way that I can see to increase the number of pixels to sharpen your image as you enlarge it. See example below of enlarged image (your image will look taller than 4" on your monitor):
To crop your image: click on the select tool and click and drag across your image (leave very little background space around your character). Once you've done that, click "cut" and then "File" --> "New." You don't have to save your original when it asks (but you can), then click "Paste."
Then to make your image larger, just follow the info below:
If you have Windows Paint, and click on image --> stretch & skew to approximately 200-235% horizontally and vertically, it should yield similar results (you can try printing them to see which size works for you). OR you can click on image --> attributes and put in 4" for height...only problem here is that it does not automatically set the width for you. The problem in both Windows Paint options, is that there is no way that I can see to increase the number of pixels to sharpen your image as you enlarge it. See example below of enlarged image (your image will look taller than 4" on your monitor):
Evoulie
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AmberDaze
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FunkyMonkey
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Bumpity Bump Bump.
Pirate-Emery
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Ten More Days Bump.
Fun way to keep your favorite outfits forever!
Fun way to keep your favorite outfits forever!
ihavewaycutecats
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Sent you a pm too, let me know if you can do that!
btw this is an awesome idea, I will have to take a ton of pictures of all of my favorite outfits.
btw this is an awesome idea, I will have to take a ton of pictures of all of my favorite outfits.
AmberDaze
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Just a bump, and an apology to everyone. I have received many requests to help with making flats (taking out background and resizing for printing), and have finally come to the point where I can no longer help. I have so many of my own to do, and I have yet to make those for family and friends. So, with a sad heart I must say that at this time I just cannot handle resizing the more than 10 flat pics that a few of you have asked for. It's just so overwhelming at this time...
But to not leave you hanging, I am listing a few tips and websites where you can resize your flats on your own. I hope these help you:
So sorry I cannot help more at this time.
Big hugs,
Days~
But to not leave you hanging, I am listing a few tips and websites where you can resize your flats on your own. I hope these help you:
- If you took screen shots in an Everest or similar-sized room, your characters should be about 118 pixels high. In order to make them 4" (you can make them smaller or larger, this is just my favorite size), you would need to resize them to about 3048 pixels (2580%). This size is from top of your peep to the bottom, no background.
- Once you crop your peep in a paint program, you can use one of the following sites to resize (not sure of maximum increase on some of them, but others I have seen have a maximum of 1000 pixels). I have not tested any of the following sites...
http://gui.picresize.com/picresize2/ - http://picresize.com/legacy/
- http://www.resizeyourimage.com/
- http://www.shrinkpictures.com
So sorry I cannot help more at this time.
Big hugs,
Days~
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