Contest The Great Triathlon Challenge #3: Build a World!

This is an awesome challenge, I wish I would have been able to get in in the Triathlon, but am truly enjoying watching this all unfold. The mods have done a great job with this stuff. Thank You! It's been very entertaining!

 

If this is allowed, would anyone like me to post a quick tutorial on how to create .gifs using photoshop? (I'll leave this up to the mods, but I'm willing if there is interest ^^)

 

This is going to look awesome I cannot wait to see everyone's work!!
I want to try it too... See if I have the time..

 

Thanks St. James... I have posted a quick tutorial on "Making gifs in Photoshop" if anyone is interested!! I hope this helps someone and good luck everyone!!

 

Wonderful ellipses I thought I'd check for some new posts before I went to bed, now I can sleep easier knowing I can hopefully learn how to do this in the morning. Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial. It's kind of exciting to learn new skills, wheeee!

 

Hehe!! You are very welcome Shulamite!! Feel free to pm me if you have any questions too ^^

 

Edit: I'm a derp and realized I already asked question #1 and got a yes to my answer! So, onto question #2!

Also as far as interaction goes, could interaction for this contest count as the doll reacting/having something happen/moving because of something that that the Prop did? Or does it have to a be a psychical touch?

 

Great tutorial. Thanks for making it. I only have one problem. What if we don't have photoshop?

 

Yes, I just couldn't get either program to do anything other than a rectangular gif. :/ Any chance that in light of not being able to do a square gif, we could maaaaaaybe go a little bigger on the longest size? Our pretty settings would be so much clearer at a bigger size. :3 (St. James, feel free to smack me if I'm being a brat. ;P)

 

Did you mean physical touch? ^u^ Interactions can cover reactions/movement due to/the usage of etc...Storytelling though usually includes a cause and effect

 

Oh, cool thanks! Didn't realize you can do them online. Better check them out.

 

Thank you! If they can't be bigger, that's okay, too. ^__^

 

I had totally forgot about those links. Real life kicked in and I forgot about them. LOL

 

Oops I did! Lol I wasn't paying to much attention when I was typing last night in my half asleep daze. ^^'

 

I'm still lurking about and cheering you on. As one who got tangled up in simple technical difficulty during the FIRST round, >__< I have one question while it is still early. I've tried to upload and share a gif before. It didn't work right when trying to host it somewhere. Someone with lower computer literacy [like I was] might run into a snag there.

Could someone post a link to a dependable place to post a gif for private hosting, to get a proper URL? Maybe mods could test it out to be sure it will all work smoothly. {maybe everyone else knows exactly how to do this and won't need my question answered? But just in case...}

 

Hey DaughterofEden... I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I've never had an issue uploading gifs onto Photobucket, but it's always best to see if you gif will work in a browser before you upload it by dragging it onto your browser of choice (like ie, firefox, etc...), if it doesn't play, chances are it's the gif that's broken and not your hosting site ^^

 

I was asuming you could just put it up on flickr/photobucket/imgur? Or doesnt that work? i'm a noob at this too....

 

Done and done and done! I used gifmaker, found it to be the simplest. I tried loading it onto flickr but it wouldn't take it as a gif, just as a single image. Then I loaded it onto Photobucket which did take it as a gif, but then I couldn't figure out how to extract the url. I finally set my husband on the problem and he did manage to get the url but I still don't know how.
I'd still like to know how others are coping with this in case I ever have to do it again.

 

Gosh Phanuel Congrats!! *so envious* I'm still working on my background >_<

 

Haha - I am so, so envious of people who have finished or are working on theirs! This weekend is the 48, it's a big party/event for one of the uni clubs I'm in and I've been looking forward to it for months, and so I'm busy all weekend. I'm just glad it's not uni term, because it means I've got all of Monday and Tuesday here to work on my project. It will be an...interesting two days though!

 

Woo-hoo Phanuel!

I'm still going strong on mine....holed up in the attic. Cleared a space for myself up there, as it's the only toddler-free zone big enough to hold the project!

Want to say a big thank you to whoever dreamed this thing up--it's *exactly* the sort of thing I've been wanting to play with for over 2 years, but I've let the "I can't draw" fear stymie me. Thanks for the kick in the pants to get going. I am so excited!

 

Miss Emily: After your earlier reluctance because of your drawing abilities, it's good to see you're excited about this project! Drawing isn't my strong suit either. I've been working on my background for 2 days and finally gave up on my first idea for a simpler idea. I want to start doing the gifs but at the same time dreading that part of the project.
As you wrote, I also needed a "kick in the pants" to learn something new.

 

I was rather dispirited myself when I first read the challenge, but I made a practice gif, just to see if I could do it, and found it wasn't that difficult--just very tediously time-consuming.
I'm glad now that I know how to make one.

 

phanuel: It's the unknown of the steps involved to make a gif that's scaring me; so it's good to hear gif-making is possible for newbies. Tedious and time-consuming is the least of my worries. lol!

 

Ohohohohoho, maybe you guys need a booster? Just think of this beautiful girl!


Also, there's comfort in knowing that everyone is going through this together XD Don't give up now ~ You're in the final leg!​

Ps. The Round 1 Tallies will be up soon...

 

Are physical lighting effects allowed? Eg: can I put a colored filter over a physical lamp to give me a spot colored light in a particular location?

 

Such a beautiful girl!

For those having trouble with the gif link, I made a really simple practice gif using gifpal and here's how I handled it "post-production" lol:

1. Once your gif is finished, download it from gifpal.

2. Upload the gif file to photobucket.

3. Use the "direct link" option.

And that's it! Took me literally 2 minutes start to finish for my little sample and it really put my mind at ease, so I suggest doing this for those of you who are uncomfortable with the process. It was really straightforward...I was surprised how simple it was.

Hoping to start my backdrop tonight...this is so exciting!

 

That Yena is gorgeous but to be totally honest I'm gunning for third place; you don't even know how bad I want that Vezeto head, haha. I'm going to need to have a spectacular entry for the final round to manage that! I feel pretty good about what I have planned and the work I've done so far, though. And I'm really excited to see everyone else's gifs, this is gonna be so cool. =D

 

I have convention things this weekend but can marathon it Monday-Tuesday so I WILL finish this, by hook or crook. I don't suppose the deadline extension fever might be contagious and hop over here for an extra day though...?
(Never hurts to ask!)

 

Doll meet at my house today and mandatory teacher training all day tomorrow. Gonna be close, but it'll get done.

 

Politely adding my hope for an extension too. Pretty please?

 

My very first gif. It is so-o-o laughably crude. But at least I know it can be done. Back to it!

 

I am thinking mine will be really crude as well as it's my first time making one too.

 

It's really nice to see the spirit of cooperation exemplified in this thread!

You guys are all so creative, so even if this seems a daunting task, don't give up! I can't wait to see what you've come up with when I get back from vacation.

 

got the gif thing working now... thanks so much to everyone in this thread!!

HOWEVER.... I AM HATING MY PROP!!! I loved it when I submitted it.... now I hate it.... no really.... in fact its on my hit-list for Guy Fawkes Day.... it will have its very own rocket!! Aaaaargh!!!!
LMAO - the drawing bit is kind of fun... after like 15 sheets of white card stock I think I have settled on my concept but trying to execute it is going to take supports on the scale of Cirque Du Soleil : *dies*

 

Oh my whitewings!! I can't wait to see what you've achieved ^^

 

Holy cow...I just finished up my basic construction. I still have some add-ons to do tomorrow, and then hopefully I can get my gif photographed and animated either tomorrow or Monday. Who knew white paper and black marker could be so exhausting!

Congrats to everyone who's already finished (as well as those who are nearing the finish line), and I wish lots of strength and minimal paper cuts to the rest of us still plowing forward!

 

I gotta say I have lost both the will and energy (simply missed out on my only free days to get this done to sickness). I really had a lot of fun participating! And the things I've made for my lovely won't go to waste. I cheer on those who are still are or in the process of making their gifs. Good luck guys and have tons of fun! You're on the home stretch I wish you all luck!

 

Can't wait till I've been a member long enough to enter these contests, the challenges are really creative! It will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with, good luck to all.

 

*raises hand politely* Are we allowed to let the black marker get wet so that colors run?

 

Please pardon me, but...aaarrrggghhh to uncooperative kicky dolls and ever changing lighting...


P.S. If an action requires 5 frames to complete, and if it is repeated using the same images, would that be counted as 5 or 10 frames? Thank you.

 

Oh my...I just finished and submitted because I thought it was due today! XD

 

I have no idea what that means. I thought I knew what "24 frames" meant. "Inserting slightly altered frames IN BETWEEN your five frames and speeding it up a little" does not compute. I guess I will stay with sewing, sculpting, and physical creating. Very confused and frustrated now.

 

Came home bleary-eyed from all day theater/teacher training. Somehow managed to put together the last bits of my ridiculously complicated set (someone mentioned Cirque de Soleil? I'm right there with you). Got my camera settings figured out. Tomorrow (fingers crossed) hope to shoot the whole thing. Tuesday should be making the .gif & uploading--trying to schedule lots of time for that process, as I'm totally new at this, and a little unsteady.

I will say, that after seeing those amazing props, I am SO EXCITED to watch everyone's .gifs! They are going to be fantabulous, and our dollies shall all be famous!
EDIT: shulamite
I think St. James means that yes, inserting extra frames to slow things down would increase your frame count. So if you had 5 frames and 5 "pacing frames", then yes, that would be 10 frames. If you wanted instead, you could actually use those extra 5 frames to make the action more smooth...by taking shots in between each of your original 5, to make the motion more fluid. This of course, only works if you haven't done your shoot yet.
My brain is shot from too much thinking work. I don't know if that helps or not. Do not give up! Someone will have the answer.

 

Thanks St. James. I understand(!) your description about adding more pictures in between to smooth out the action.
Let me try to explain myself another way...including the 5 frames of X action, I already have a total of 24 frames (the max). If I were to repeat the same action, using the same 5 frames, is that still 24, or would that be considered a total of 29 frames? Thanks again.

 

We are back from con and rrrrready to rrrrumble to the finish on this, haha!
I'm very excited to see everyone's movie...

To those who are complete newcomers to making gifs: some of the most charming and original things I've seen have either been made by first time students or purposely made to look that way to achieve a rougher charm.

Much more than just the single aspect of technical skill will show and be conveyed in a beginner's gif so think of it that way!!

 

I'm so glad to know this thread is a haven of positive energy, cooperation, and stellar spirit!

mimimontoya is correct; sometimes it isn't the flawless advanced animations which capture our hearts. It's the one with character, fun, and charm

 

I was wondering the exact same thing as what snowleopard just asked so I'm glad that was made clear.
I have yet to start though I should be able to get one made in time.
I'm not expecting to win any prizes but I am determined to at least complete a DoA triathlon competition just once.

 

*headdesk*

That is all..........