Learned to make a blinkie!

Judyy · 05-30-2005, 04:05 PM

I'm not sure I can call myself a newbie any longer, but in some respects I'm still just a beginner. (As a guy at my gym says, everything's a beginning--hmmm.) Like blinkies. I just learned today how to do one, and I'm so excited I just had to share it with y'all. It's only two frames, but hey, it's blinking! I uploaded it as my avatar for Janet's Casual Friday, Memorial Day version.

I'm so thrilled when I learn a new skill like this, I can hardly stand it!

Diginellie · 05-30-2005, 04:08 PM

Woo Hoo !! Well done, I know what you mean about learning new stuff

WyoGal · 05-30-2005, 05:26 PM

I just learned how to do this last month so I know how excited you are! LOL Way to go!!

valeri · 05-30-2005, 05:46 PM

yeah!!! thats awesome!

andyapc · 05-30-2005, 05:47 PM

I felt exactly the same way when I first did mine! Isn't it exciting? Awesome avatar - did you actually fly that thing??

emdonovan · 06-02-2005, 11:16 AM

You go, girl. I haven't figured out how to do it yet, so you are officially my idol!

jfricker · 06-02-2005, 11:39 AM

Tell us how to do it!!!! Or where to find out how to do it!!!

Good job!!!!

Judyy · 06-02-2005, 01:49 PM

Joan--I checked out the DSP tutorial, but I think that's written for Photoshop, not for PSE, so it wasn't any help to me. However, I found a useful book at the local Barnes & Noble: The Digital Photographer's Guide to Photoshop Elements by Barry Beckham. (I'd already started reading Scott Kelby's Photoshop Elements 3 Book for Digital Photographers, which I love, but Kelby doesn't cover animation.)

Anyway, Beckham's book has an excellent, easy-to-follow section on creating web animations (pages 204-5). He's mainly talking about actual animation, where each screen has a tiny change from the previous screen, so the whole display simulates action. But the technique he explains works just as well for blinkies.

On the other hand, you might be able to use the help files and figure it out yourself, if you want to avoid buying the book. It's very much like saving a file for the web, except that you'll start off with two or more flattened files--that is, make a file that includes two or more flattened layouts, each on its own layer. Go to the File menu and choose Save for Web. Then, instead of saving as a JPG, you save as a GIF file, and reduce the size of the files to something like 100X100 pixels--animation won't work if the files are too big. Next, check the Animate box, then go to the Animation block (toward the bottom right of the whole Save for Web box), and choose the time delay between frames--I think I used 1 second for mine. After it's saved, review your animation file to make sure it blinks the way you want it to--you may have to fool with the frame delay to get the blinking just right.

So, give it a try. It's way easier than I thought it would be. Good luck!

And no, Andy, I didn't fly the plane (looks like it, though, right?) I was a naval parachutist, so I generally took off in airplanes but didn't land in them.

andyapc · 06-02-2005, 01:58 PM

NO WAY!!!! You parachuted out of the plane?? You make it sound so normal, like it's an everyday kind of thing!!! I have always wanted to do that.

davmeljj · 06-24-2005, 03:46 AM

Thanks for the mini tutorial on making your blinkie in PSE3. I managed to get 2 of my layouts blinking but can't seem to add any more. It keeps telling me to reduce the number of layers as it is too large - Any suggestions?

I also need a tip on how to insert it into posts such as this one. Someone posted in another thread that you use the "insert image" button (looks like a mountain) but I don't understand the information that the pop-up requires.

Thanks in advance,
Melia

My Gallery

*MaureenH* · 06-24-2005, 05:57 AM

I posted this in the other thread too.

There are probably better and easier ways, but here's what I did.

I copied the little thumbnails from my DSP gallery to use as the photos as they're already sized very small (pasted into Photoshop to create the blinkie). I was able to put quite a few of them in with that small low resolution and they were already sized.

I don't think you can use it from your hard drive, it has to be uploaded to an Internet site somewhere. I uploaded my GIF blinkie file to my gallery here at DSP and then linked to that gallery image URL. (right click on the thumbnail image to get the url).

Judyy · 06-24-2005, 08:37 AM

Great idea, bentrdr--using the little thumbnails from DSP for making blinkies! I never thought of that.

Melia, when you click on the little mountain picture to put an image into your post, what the Prompt is asking for is a URL address where it can find the image you're trying to insert. To get that, go to the thumbnail in the DSP gallery and right click, then select Properties. You'll get a Properties window, which, among other things, will give the URL address for the thumbnail. Select and copy that. Then when you're doing your forum post and you click on the mountain, paste that URL into the Prompt window where it asks for the text to be formatted.

Thanks to Janet, who posted these directions a few weeks ago in the Casual Fridays thread! I've learned so much here--it's incredible. Fun, too!