Google images, resize and and paste them in the empty spots. When you're
done, upload the image and post it here. See below the image for more info.
Sorry about the size. If we shrink the image to fit the forum it would be hard
to read.
If you already know how to download, edit and upload images then skip all this.
Otherwise, consider it a quick tutorial on how to manipulate photos.
To download the image...
- Right-click on it and choose 'Save Image As...' or 'Save picture as...'
depending on your browser. - You may want to give the image a better name, just make sure it ends
with .jpg - Remember where you saved the image, you'll need to open it in your
image editor. The Desktop is a good place if you're going to delete it
after you upload the final product. - If you prefer to be more organized, make a folder in your 'My Documents'
folder, name it 'Zombiez' or whatever you want. Inside that folder create
another folder named 'Source'. Place any images you download in there.
In the 'Zombiez' folder you can create more folders to better organize
your project.
Image editor...
- Windows' Paint program is too weak for this kind of thing, and Adobe
Photoshop is way too expensive. You want to find a decent image editing
program that's free. You also want to make sure it supports layers. Layers
let you stack up images in the program so you can move them around
easier. - Both Gimp and Paint.net support layers. Gimp has a really steep learning
curve but it's as close to Photoshop as you can get for free. I've never
used Paint.net but from what I've read it's fairly easy to use. These are
the two best known free programs but there are others. Google is your
friend when it comes to finding a program you like and learning how to
use it. - Most image editors work the same, you just have to find the commands
that do what you want to do. They all have a set of tools that allow you to
do different things with the image. If the program supports layers you will
be able to open a window that shows how the layers are stacked. - Generally I would place the image above as the background, or lower
most layer. Then I go to Google and find an image that I want to place on
it. I right-click on the image in Google and copy it. I go to the image editor,
create a new layer then paste the image into it. From there you make
sure that layer is selected and resize the image, then move it into place.
Repeat those steps for each image, and the text that you want to place
on the image above. - Don't forget to save the image you are working on periodically, in case
of a crash or something. Save it in it's native format so that the layers are
preserved. For example, .psd is Photoshop's format and extension. The
native format for the program you're working in is usually selected the
first time you save the file. This becomes the source file for your project.
If you decide you want to tweak your image later you come back to this
source file, make your changes, then export that as a new file. - When you are done editing your image, and are ready to upload it, you
need to save the file as something that people's browsers can show. In
this case it will be a .jpg file. Depending on the program you will use the
'Save As' or export command, look in the 'File' menu. Use whichever lets
you change the file extension to .jpg. This will flatten the image to one
layer and allow you to compress it so it's not such a big upload. - Usually if I'm making multiple versions of the same image, just a small
tweak here and there, I tack on a version number to the filename. I may
end up with files named 'ZombieSheet_v1,jpg', 'ZombieSheet_v2,jpg',
ect, ect.
Uploading the image...
- Sometimes I attach the images to my message here but other times I
don't feel like taking up space on the forum's servers. Especially for
something as frivolous as this. I prefer to upload them to an image
hosting site and embed them here. - A couple sites I know of that don't limit how much you can upload and
aren't stingy on bandwidth are Flickr, ImageShack, and TinyPic. These
sites all allow you to direct link to the images. They also give you the
embed code for posting images on sites like this. - Flickr gives you the option to link to different sizes of your images without
having to manually resize them yourself. Handy with a site like this where
you have to scroll side to side if the image is too big. Like with this post. - TinyPic allows you to upload images without creating an account. Just
make sure you don't loose the address to the image because you may never
find it again. Don't use this service if you think you may need access to your
uploaded picture at a later date. If you create an account and upload the
picture from there you'll have access to it though. - Most of these services work about the same. As with the image editors you
just have to look for the commands. Sign into your account, click on upload,
browse to the location the images are stored on your computer, then select
the ones you want to upload. When they are done uploading click on the
picture you want to post and look for the address or embed code.
Posting the image...
- Go find the picture you uploaded, try to find the size that you want to post.
Sometimes you have to keep clicking on the image or some links to get to
the full size image. In the case of Flickr you'll see a bunch of sizes you can
choose from. When you get the size image you want, if you do, try right-
clicking on it and see if they let you copy the image location. Sometimes
these services block that. Otherwise look for a link near the image that
says direct link or embed codes. Direct link is preferable. Should end in the
.jpg extension. The embed code you want for this site starts with [img]. - Highlight and copy the direct link or embed code and come back here and start
your message. If you got the embed code you just need to paste it into the
message. It should look something like this...
- [IMG]http://i50.tinypic.com/2gxjuhf.jpg[/IMG ]
If you got the direct link then just click on the Img button above and paste
the link between the [IMG] tags that show up in the message. - It's generally considered good netiquette to link back to the page you got
the image from. You can copy the page address from the address bar and paste
it between the [URL] tags you get when you click the button above or, if you
want to get fancy, you can enclose the [IMG] tags in [URL] tags. In the front URL
tag place an = after the L and paste the address in. Should look something like
this...
- [url=http://www.adress.com][img]Picture goes here[/img ][/url ]
When people click on the picture they'll be sent to the address.
That's it. Hopefully this gives people who don't know a place to begin. Also have some
fun with this game while you're learning how to 'shop' photos.
