Scratch

What are sprites?
Sprites are images or graphics drawn using the Scratch paint editor, taken of the internet or made using graphics programs. These are used to move around the stage, and can vary from different things like, a football to a dragon! in this guide you will learn how to make sprites and the best programs to make them with!

Scratch paint editor
The Scratch paint editor is fairly basic but efficient! Some of the best sprites and drawings can be made from the simplest of programs. To use this, open Scratch and just under the stage, you will see the white text - 'New Sprite'. Click the first icon to Paint a new sprite using the editor, the secon to open one from a file or the last to get a totally random sprite!

GIMP - Graphics, image, manipulation program
GIMP is a relatively small but useful program to use when making all sorts of sprites. You can zoom in on the drawing area and use the paint tools to draw pixel by pixel. You can also download different 'brush sets' of the internet such as, flowers, cars, guns, houses etc;

Photoshop CS5
When it comes to overall top quality graphics, PS5 is the application you want. Yes, it costs a fair amount of money but it's worth it. You can also get a free trial - 40 days - It is easily the best to use and has some stunning brush's an presets already there for you. Yes its also a big program, but it is definatley worth it in the long run.

Scratch Forums info
When you are making a sig or logo etc; for you forum profile, you may need to know some things. A good size for a sig is 500 by 100 (pixels) and the background colour for the forums is #dedfdf. This is how I created my signature in GIMP.

Evalution!
In GIMP you can do the following interesting features to your text. You can make it blurred (like my Sig), emboss, engrave, ripple, rotate etc; These are all featured in PS5 and more! So between the two, PS5 wins but there is alot of money to be paid when you run out of your trial.

Helpful links!
www.gimp.org - Where to get GIMP!
www.adobe.com - Where to get PS5!
www.scratch.mit.edu - Where to download the latest version of Scratch!
Evaluation Guide! - Tells you everything about everything!
www.flexistudio.webs.com

Footnote
I would like to make a formal apology to the Forums for my failed Guide realised early today. I will be develping more from now and I hope this has made up for it for now! More will be out soon, and post some ideas on what guides I should write!

Last edited by FlexiStudio (2010-09-07 15:23:52)