emoticons

[Selena]

I was asked the question how to make emoticons. Since I haven't a clue in the process I was wondering if someone else on the board might be able to share some tips.

Selena

[nalioth]

Can you be more specific?

These are emoticons:
:) smile
;) wink
:/ meh
:( sad
*| beat up
8) wears glasses


Or were you wanting to know how to make their graphical cousins (these are known as "smilies")?

[Selena]

I would have to guess the smilies.

[nalioth]

Open your favorite image editor (I use Gimp) and start drawing. Most smilies are just one picture.
When you get a picture you like, scale it down to 16 pixels wide or 16 pixels tall (don't worry about changing both sides, or you might end up with a twisted image)


If you want to make an animated smilie, you can use Gimp as well, and you'll end up drawing multiple images - each a little different - just like they used to do at Walt Disney's studios.
When you're done, you can add them all to one image in Gimp and save it as an animation (you must save it as a gif file for it to animate).

Some can be as simple as two frames: and can grow into quite a few frames:

[ArfinGreebly]

You could start with a graphic like this:


Crop it to remove what doesn't belong, use a "clone" tool to cover the center area with a uniform purple field, find a suitable dove graphic, superimpose the dove over the middle area.

Then reduce the whole image to icon size (16x16 is common, some places will go for 24x24), and save as either .gif or .png file.

Or you could just tinker with a 16x16 graphic until you get the shape you want.

I used to make icons for an old DOS graphical menu system using the "shrink big graphic to 16x16 and clean up" technique. Gotta choose the "big" with care, 'cuz some of them lose too much when shrunk.

Any animation will require multiple frames and saving as .gif file.

[nalioth]

If you want to "learn by reverse engineering", you can always open an animated smiley in Gimp and seeing all the different parts (they'll all show up in one of the windows).

[hogcowboy]

Once you create the little bugger, how do you use it like at the end of this sentence? Don't you have to have some kind of library or something? Or is that something only programmers can do? I mean I see folks using them that are not part of the selectable smileys. How's that done? I know, too many secrets

[nalioth]

Once you create the little bugger, how do you use it like at the end of this sentence? Don't you have to have some kind of library or something? Or is that something only programmers can do? I mean I see folks using them that are not part of the selectable smileys. How's that done?

You visit a picture hosting site and upload it.

The site will give you various options for use in different places, but I prefer using the "direct link", and it's used with the IMG tags like so:

[img]http://picpaste.novarata.net/pics/a31bc8d7201168fb5a8e451e2a0a0d20.gif[/img]

You can use it at the end of your sentences, or wherever

[Carl N. Brown]

I am more antique than that. I made dozens of personalized icons for DOS, Windows 3, 98SE, etc. by using PCXPaint and setting image size to 16x16 pixels (strike that: 32x32 pixels), 16 colors, and zoom close up the image to draw free hand. I will still use the old antique PCXPaint in Windows because it gives me one pixel pointer control through the arrow keys.

Back in the prehistory of Windows, I also wrote a program in C to convert .ico files to .bmp and back, but newer MSPaint lets you save as .ico

For a shortcut on the screen, you can usually change the icon by right clicking and getting the properties window up and choosing an icon.

[nalioth]

I am more antique than that. I made dozens of personalized icons for DOS, Windows 3, 98SE, etc. by using PCXPaint and setting image size to 16x16 pixels, 16 colors, and zoom close up the image. I will still use the old antique PCXPaint in Windows because it gives me one pixel pointer control through the arrow keys.

Back in the prehistory of Windows, I also wrote a program in C to convert .ico files to .bmp and back, but newer MSPaint lets you save as .ico

For a shortcut on the screen, you can usually change the icon by right clicking and getting the properties window up and choosing an icon.

To reduce possible confusion, Mr. Brown is talking about Windows desktop icons, not web smilies.

[Carl N. Brown]

It's still creating a small image. .ico is specialised for desktop images, but converted to .gif, techniques used to make .ico or .bmp can be used to make smilies.

[230RN]

I use the GRM smileys over at APS all the time since they're kinda crappy over there. Is that a ba-a-aad boy thing, since they're "sister sites?"

I've got a little library of them on my desktop. Only problem is to remember to use lower case {/img} rather than the upper case {/IMG} this site uses.

Included in that "library" is a bunch of special symbols I just copy and paste to my posts when needed, rather than go through the HTML rigamarole. Bery simble, bery easy.

Tee-hee, I just copied the URL of that cigar-chewing smiley (^) to my library. I shall henceforth deliberately and with malice aforethought steal it and use it without compunction or credit. Tee-hee.

I looked up how to build animated gifs, but my version of Windows/MS-Paint can't seem to handle it.

Terry, 230RN

[hogcowboy]

Okay it works but what a pain. Not sure it's worth all the trouble but it was a fun excersise. Thanks for the information though.

[230RN]

I guess I need a microscope fot that one. What is it when blown up?

I reckon that illustrates ArfinGreebly's caution about:

...'cuz some of them lose too much when shrunk.

[hogcowboy]

Well it's supposed to be kokopelli the trickster.

koko.jpg

I had the most trouble using Gimp. Never used it before.

[Carl N. Brown]

Ack-tually, its 32x32 pixels for an icon, not 16x16, my brain fart. 16 color typical (4 bits red green blue and intesity for 16 color combos) save as .gif, upload, stick file url between bracket IMG /IMG tags.

Friday Morning:

Y'all just gave a retired computer assisted photocomposition nerd with too much time on his hands something to puzzle over. Bear with me.

There are no fixed sizes for smilies. The regular smilie and most others here are a 16 x 16 pixel .gif with just one image. The :cussing: smilie (¿cussing smilie?) is named cussing2.gif which is 33 pixels wide by 36 tall with multiple images that play as an animation.

The smilie devil emoticon can be inserted in a posting as a short cut by typing

:evil:

to get
It is actually a 19 x 26 pixel .gif image stored at the website at
http://www.gunrightsmedia.com/images/smilies/evil.gif
To get technical about it you could insert

 [ img]http://www.gunrightsmedia.com/images/smilies/evil.gif[/img]

to get

You can crop and shrink images to a size to use as a smilie but photos can get distorted and fuzzy. My wife has a rug and matching pillows decorated with Kokopelli and shinking digital photos to 16x16 or even 32x32 did not work well for me either. So I gave up and tried my hand looking at the rug and sketching over the fuzzy reduced image in the paint program in the icon image size of 32x32 pixels using primary 16 colors, saved as .gif, and uploaded it as an attachment:

 [ img]http://www.gunrightsmedia.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=91186&stc=1&d=1307359217[ /img]

(could use some work)

To make smilies or icons, you have draw cartoony in bright colors. Or trace a reduced photo with bright colors and cartoonize it. Years past, I found it useful to make icons for use on my own desktop: for a graphics workshop app for Acrobat (PDF) Distiller and Lil Ms Dos for a DOS command line window.

Obviously 32x32 icon size is a bit much for most text lines.

This morning I have nothing better to do. Tomorrow morning I have a black powder cartridge match, so you will be spared the old timer's ramblings for awhile.

<--- That was saturday. Edited Mon 6 jun 11: see if these uploads take

[230RN]

^ Re:

http://www.gunrightsmedia.com/attach...1&d=1307105161

and

http://www.gunrightsmedia.com/attach...1&d=1307105223

:

"Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator."

Did not try the others.

Terry, 230RN

[Carl N. Brown]

My attachments disappeared!

[herohog]

[JohnBT]

"What is it when blown up?"

A mess?