JWG PSP7 Tutorials:
Combining Animations
This method shows you how to combine two or more separate animations into one new one.
It can also be used for adding a name to an existing animation.
OK, Let's say you have made or downloaded an animation,
and you want to add your name to it to create a sigtag.
How do you do it?
First of all, create a name image in PSP on a transparent background.
It is a good idea to save it as a psp image file at this point, so that you can use it again.
Then copy it into Animation Shop.
Ctrl+C in PSP and Ctrl+V in Animation Shop
(or right click on the image and copy in PSP, and right click in the workspace,
in Ani Shop and paste as new image).
Making the new animation
Now you are in Ani Shop, open the animation you want to use.
Check to see if you have enough space left to add your name to it first.
(We will assume that you don't for the moment, as in my example).
How many frames does your animation have?
My example has 11 frames.
You can find this out by looking at the bottom right corner of your workspace and you will see something like this:
This gives you the total number of frames, pixel size of animation and time delay.
Duplicate the number of frames in your name image to the same number as your animation.
Right click on your name image and Duplicate Selected:
or use the "Duplicate Frames" icon on the toolbar.
You now need to make a new transparent animation that is big enough to fit both your original animation and your name. Give yourself plenty of space to work in, as you will be cropping the final image to size anyway. Duplicate the number of frames in your new image to the same number as your name and animation. Right click on your new image and Duplicate Selected: or use the "Duplicate Frames" icon on the toolbar. (you will see the number of frames multiplying in the bottom right corner) In our case, 11 frames are required.
Now you need to set the time delay for your new animation. This must be the same as your original animation or it wont run properly. On the bottom of each frame you will see something like: F:11 D:11 (F is the frame number, and D is the time delay). On many animations the time delay will be the same for all frames, so the F number will change for each frame, (1,2,3 etc) but the D number will remain the same for every frame (11, 10, 20 etc). This makes life easy for you, as you only have to set the time delay once for all the frames in your new animation. It is more complicated when the frames all have different time delays, but we will come to that in a moment! In the case of an animation where all frames have the same delay, click on your new animation to make it the active image, and select all the frames (Ctrl+A) then either right click on the image and go to:
Frame Properties: (right click context menu) aniscreenshot5
or Animation: Frame Properties on the menu bar aniscreenshot6
Change the number in the Display time box to the same number as your animation:
Sometimes however, your animation will have frames set at different time delays, as with my rose example: In that case you will have to set the delay on each frame individually. But my rose only has a different delay on the first and last frames; So to begin with, I select all frames and set them to delay 10 as described above. Then: I left click on Frame 1 to select it, and then right click to bring up the context menu.
I click on Frame Properties and put the number of my first frame in the box. For my rose, this is 30, so I change the number from 10 to 30 here. Frames 2-10 do not need to be altered from 10, so I leave them alone, and then scroll along the animation until I get to the last Frame (Frame 11). I repeat the procedure I used for Frame 1, except that this time I change the number from 10 to 100. The numbers will obviously vary depending on your original graphic, but the above principles will apply to all animations although you may have many more different frames to alter than my rose, of course! When all frame delays have been set as required, Using Ctrl+A (or Edit:Select All), Select all the frames in your new animation. Then go back to your original animation and use Ctrl+A (or Edit:Select All) to select all the frames, and then use Ctrl+C (or right click and copy from the context menu) to copy all frames onto the clipboard. Click on your new animation to make it the active image again, then use Ctrl+E or go to Edit: Paste into Selected Frame, and your original animation will be copied into your new animation. Do NOT click your left mouse button until you have positioned your name where you want it, as it will drop wherever it is, as soon as you do so!
Click on your name to make this the active image, and use Crtl+A to select and Ctrl+C to copy again, then back to your new animation, and use Ctrl+A and Ctrl+E to select and paste again. Position your name next to or on your graphic to suit you, and then click your left mouse button.
*Important: Make sure you have used Ctrl+A to select all frames in all images, otherwise your name will not go into all the animation frames, and will bounce around*
Click on View Animation on the tool bar to make sure it runs as it should:
You will now need to crop your image to size before saving it.
All that remains now is to go to the optimization wizard and save your new animation.
Adding a name to an existing animation
If your original animation is large enough to add your name,
Shift+D to duplicate it, and close your original for future use.
You do not need to create a new animation in that case, but must still follow the first steps
as shown above, for duplicating your name to the same number of frames as your animation.
Then use Ctrl+A to select your name, and Ctrl+C to copy it.
Click on your animation to make it the active image, use Ctrl+A to select all frames
then use Ctrl+E to paste your name frames into the animation frames.
Do NOT click your left mouse button until you have positioned your name where you want it,
as it will drop wherever it is, as soon as you do so!
Crop your animation if it needs it,
and proceed to the optimization wizard to save it as above.
The above method works the same way of course, if you want to add a tube to an existing
animation like a glittername or similar, as in the example below.
If you would like to learn how to make a sig like this: try my glittername tutorial
I made the rose used in the examples from cathy's corner blooming rose tutorial
Combining two or more existing animations
You can use this method to combine two or more animations,
but they must all have the same number of frames to start with,
and the same time delay for it to be successful.
Create a new transparent animation large enough to hold your existing animations;
duplicate the frames and set the time delay to match your other animations.
Then go back to each of your existing animations in turn,
and use Ctrl+A to select all frames, and Crtl+C to copy them.
Then go to your new animation each time, and use Ctrl+A to select, and Ctrl+E to paste.
Dont rush this as you may get confused as to which image you are working on.
Golden Rules: Ctrl+A and Ctrl+C on image 1 to select and copy.
Ctrl+A and Ctrl+E on image 2 to select and paste into.
If it goes wrong and something bounces, or doesnt paste into all the frames,
you havent followed the golden rules, so undo and start again.
If you are putting several images into a new animation,
it is a very good idea to View Animation after you have added each graphic,
so that you only have one image to redo, and not them all!
Animated Names
You can also use this method to make an animated name for yourself like this:
or this:
You will need to resize your final animation to at least 75% of the original,
otherwise the file size will be enormous.
Make sure you optimize your name as far as it will go before breaking up, too.
Animated Alphabets can be found here and here
Just save to a folder on your computer, all the letters you need for your name:
Open them up in Ani Shop, and follow the tutorial above.
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