Silly Eyes Sig Tag Animation by Carla Polston

Silly Eyes Sig Tag
~Part 2~

BY...doing this tutorial you are agreeing to the Terms of Use

You may use the graphic as you like, since this is just a learning tutorial showing you some techniques. I did not supply any selections or fills. The tutorial itself still follows my terms.
Please make sure you have read them.

You need to complete Part 1 of this tutorial before you start this. Part 1

PRESET GLASSES

Now that you have the Preset Shape for the glasses, you can make many modifications. You can change size, color and shape (node edit).
Determine how large you want your sig tag to be.
I'm going to start with 300 x 150. You can alway increase canvas size if you need larger or crop if you want smaller.
I like to Flood Fill the bottom layer to help me see better.
Preset Shapes - Select the eye glasses you made.

Foreground: Color of your choice for glasses if you do not select Retain style.
NOTE: You can even change the color of each piece by clicking on the +'s, double click in the layer you want to change the color, click on the Stroke color on the pop-up, and select the color you want from the Material Palette pop-up.
Background: Null
Retain style can be checked or not. You can always follow the step NOTED above to make changes.
Anti-alias checked (I prefer this smoother look, but you need to know the color of the background it will be used on. There are two ways I used to animate with anti-alias images.)
or
unchecked (transparent - pixel like image. I find this a little harder to work with and usually make adjustments by editing the nodes.)
Line width and style: You can select the width size depending on the size of the graphic you are creating if you did not select retain style. Again, you can change size by following the NOTED above. Keep the Default line style.
Do not worry about any other settings

Wow, that seems to be a lot to think about. I hope you will experiment with different techniques. Discover what you like best and what works for you.
When you are satisfied with the size, shape, and color of the graphic, right click on the Vector layer and Convert to Raster Layer.
SAVE

CREATING THE EYES

Preset Shape - Circle
If you have Create on Vector checked this will automatically create a New Vector Layer. If you do not or do not have this option, you need to make sure you are working on a New Layer.
Choose the color you want for the Foreground and Background. I used Foreground: #986538 and Background: #fbefe3
You can use anti-alias or not. Again if you want a totally transparent image, you do not want to check anti-alias.
I used a line width of 1 with the default line style.
Drag out a circle inside the lens frame.

Right click on this layer on the Layer Palette - Convert to Raster layer.
Drag this layer below the glasses frame layer on the Layer Palette
Right click again on this layer on the Layer Palette - Duplicate.
Use the Mover Tool to Place.

I decided to adjust my image before I continue. It is toward the top left of my canvas. I want to move it to the bottom left since I decided to have my eyes looking up. I love this feature! Even if you do not want to move your image, you may want to try this.
On the Layer Palette - Left click on the link button for all the layers you want to keep together to move.
Use the Mover Tool to drag where you want.
Right click on the link button to unlink (separate) layers again.
This is very handy! You may have noticed the all showed a 1. You can click on any layer even if they are not in order on the Layer Palette to move together like this. You can also group other layers to move separately. Just left click twice and you will get a number 2 by the link. All those layers will move together. You can continue grouping in this manner. I do not want to write a novel here, but I hope you play with this feature some so you can discover how handy it can be.

New Layer above the Copy of the eye layer.
One will be for the right eyeball and the other for the left eyeball. You may name the layers if you wish but it is not necessary.
Select a Foreground color to use for the eyeball. I used black.
Paint Brush - You may have to adjust settings depending on the size of your image.

Round
Size: 8
Hardness: 85
Step: Does not matter
Density and Opacity: 100
Thickness and Rotation (PSP 9) You could play with these settings and really have some fun with crazy eyes!

Paint a dot on one eye
New Layer
Paint a dot on the other eye

ADD TEXT
Add any text here. If you have Create as Vector selected, you do not have to create a new layer. I prefer this method. If you want to float, make sure you create a New Layer. Use any color and font you prefer. If you selected Create as Vector, right click on the layer on the Layer Palette - Convert to Raster.

PREPARING FOR ANIMATION
I alway duplicate (Shift+D) and close the original. That way you always have it to go back to if you need to.
If you are happy with your image, use the Crop Tool to size in as close as you can get to the graphic. This will help reduce file size.
Duplicate (Shift+D) the image 3 to 5 times. You may want to experiment here to see how you like it after animating. I used 4 for the silly eyes and 3 for the cross-eyed.
Think about how you want the eyeballs to move. I am creating one with random movement and one to go cross-eyed.
Use the Mover Tool to move the eyeballs. You could make the circle, move randomally or go cross-eyed.
This is how I placed mine for the random movement

This is how I placed mine for crossing

Transparent or Not If you pixeled and want a transparent background, delete the bottom layer if you Flood Filled
You can also do this with the anti-alias and customize to blend animation for patterned, light or dark backgrounds, but that will have to be another lesson. You may want to experiment with it. During the Save process of the animation, on the first pop-up, click on the Customize button in the lower left corner. Experiment with the settings.
If you worked with anti-alais and know the color of the background you are going to use this on, make sure you Flood Fill the background that color.
I added a sligh Drop Shadow on the text and glasses for this method. You may add one or leave as it is. Right click on any layer on the Layer Palette - Merge Visible.

Save in PSP format(I create a new folder to keep the images in for the animation - name as you wish. Remember where you place it. I use numbers in the order I will use them for the File Name. So I used #1 for the first image.)

TIME TO ANIMATE

File – Jasc Software Products – Launch Animation Shop

In Animations Shop
File – Animation Wizard (Shift+A)

On Popup – Check the following

1st Screen –Same size as the first image frame - Next
2nd Screen – Transparent (This will work for both since we merged the background color.)
3rd Screen – Upper left corner of the frame With the canvas color Scale frames to fit – Next
4th Screen – Yes, repeat the animation indefinitely 15 for random or 20 for crossed– Next (A lower number will create a faster animation. A higher number will create a slower animation.)
5th Screen – Add Image Browse to the folder where you saved the images Repeat clicking on the Add Image button (or just tap the A key on the keyboard) until you have selected all the images you created for the animation– Next
NOTE: If you are doing the crossed eyes, you need to select the middle image twice: eyes centered, eyes moving inward, eyes inward, eyes moving inward.
Finish

You may View - Animation
File - Save
Name as you wish.
I usually save with the slider all the way up to Better Image Quality
Keep hitting the Next button until it is finished.

Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.

Contact Carla