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basics
#1
making skins (basics)
runSPOTrun 

**
for those of you out there looking to make skins for your own personal use (rules for this server may vary) there are some basics to follow:

1. skin dimensions need to be a Minimum of 512x512 pixels in order to completely fill the cell. while many people want your skin to be exactly 512x512, it's not necessary, and in fact looks better if its larger format as a pic will scale down, but pixelates when scaled up. when using a custom skin, the game automatically scales your img down to fit in the cell, so a 1000x1000 pixel image will obviously be more HD at a larger size than a 512, but will scale into the skin just as well.

2. remember that your image will be a circle when applied to the skin format! when making a skin from a polygonal (square,rectangular, etc...) image, be cautious of the details you try to add on the outside edges  as they may be cropped when the image gets cut into a circle. the game will reduce the size of your image to fit in the circle, but it Wont warp the image to be a circle. the best way to check your image is to (at a minimum) use the circle tool in your paint program and make a circle centered on your image that touches the edges. Ideally you would crop your image into a circle before using it to avoid surprises.

3. avoid really dark/light or really complex images. you may fall in love with a picture that looks great in a 1200x1600 format, but scaled down or moving, it just looks like a blur! we've all seen the spy skin flicker as it moves, and thats a basic grid pattern, try using a fabric textured image...ugh not so nice. really dark or light images tend to wash out and loose their dramatic appeal on a skin too.

4. remember your cell has a name! it's a common mistake (that I've made too) to write your flashy font name with a drop shadow and the works, right smack dab in the middle of the cell. while this looks great in agarplus or somewhere the name doesn't show, it quickly gets ruined when you have to type an overlay name in to use the skin...not so flashy when all your art gets covered by...well...this, regular old typed letters.

5. choose your host well! in order to use a skin, you must first upload the image and have it hosted somewhere, because you cant paste in an image, you can only paste in an image address. some sites will change the img address over time or over compress the image (sometimes even changing it's size!) if your file is to large for the site you want to use, find an online lossless image compressor that you like Before uploading the image. some sites (like imgur) wont recognize clear areas in .png files (high quality image files), so if you plan on having transparent zones or "reveals" in your skin, find a site that allows it like http://www.deviantart.com/ or if you dont want to sign up for anything, http://postimage.org/ (imgur does recognize clear .png now)

6. be creative! with all of the options available to us for free these days, there's really no excuse to not do something really custom. you can make an instant skin with built in writing tools and adjustable screenshot right on your browser with prnt.sc or if you want the power of photoshop but dont wanna give adobe all of your hard earned pay theres a free open sorce option called GIMP that will put you in the game. http://www.gimp.org

so now your ready to take over the agar world with your sweet new skins! wait...double check before you go rushing in! here's a handy little tool by Voakie to check what your skin will look like in the game https://skincheck.voakie.com/  so now you really are ready! good luck, and have fun.
[Image: giphy.gif]
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#2
Thank you for the well thought out, detailed, and informative thread.

Love reading your quality posts @runSPOTrun 

Regards,

✨101✨
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[-] The following 2 users Like ✨101✨ 's post:
  • run SPOT run , Sora
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#3
Great thread & well explained.

Good job, sir. Angel
            "Experience has taught me that wishful thinking 
                                 only leads to disappointment."
                                                         
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#4
Well done tutorial/guide!

I have one thing to say though.... No need to codepen Big Grin -> http://skincheck.voakie.com/
[Image: Voakie.png]
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#5
(05-07-2016, 08:35 AM)Voakie Wrote: Well done tutorial/guide!

I have one thing to say though.... No need to codepen Big Grin -> http://voakie.tk/projects/skincheck/

cant use this one or the old codepen one anymore...link broken?
[Image: giphy.gif]
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#6
(09-08-2016, 10:49 PM)run SPOT run Wrote:
(05-07-2016, 08:35 AM)Voakie Wrote: Well done tutorial/guide!

I have one thing to say though.... No need to codepen Big Grin -> http://voakie.tk/projects/skincheck/

cant use this one or the old codepen one anymore...link broken?

You can head to voakie.com, open the projects, and navigate to the skinchecker. http://skincheck.voakie.com/
[Image: Voakie.png]
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#7
(05-07-2016, 04:00 AM)run SPOT run Wrote: making skins (basics)
runSPOTrun 

**
for those of you out there looking to make skins for your own personal use (rules for this server may vary) there are some basics to follow:

1. skin dimensions need to be a Minimum of 512x512 pixels in order to completely fill the cell. while many people want your skin to be exactly 512x512, it's not necessary, and in fact looks better if its larger format as a pic will scale down, but pixelates when scaled up. when using a custom skin, the game automatically scales your img down to fit in the cell, so a 1000x1000 pixel image will obviously be more HD at a larger size than a 512, but will scale into the skin just as well.

2. remember that your image will be a circle when applied to the skin format! when making a skin from a polygonal (square,rectangular, etc...) image, be cautious of the details you try to add on the outside edges  as they may be cropped when the image gets cut into a circle. the game will reduce the size of your image to fit in the circle, but it Wont warp the image to be a circle. the best way to check your image is to (at a minimum) use the circle tool in your paint program and make a circle centered on your image that touches the edges. Ideally you would crop your image into a circle before using it to avoid surprises.

3. avoid really dark/light or really complex images. you may fall in love with a picture that looks great in a 1200x1600 format, but scaled down or moving, it just looks like a blur! we've all seen the spy skin flicker as it moves, and thats a basic grid pattern, try using a fabric textured image...ugh not so nice. really dark or light images tend to wash out and loose their dramatic appeal on a skin too.

4. remember your cell has a name! it's a common mistake (that I've made too) to write your flashy font name with a drop shadow and the works, right smack dab in the middle of the cell. while this looks great in agarplus or somewhere the name doesn't show, it quickly gets ruined when you have to type an overlay name in to use the skin...not so flashy when all your art gets covered by...well...this, regular old typed letters.

5. choose your host well! in order to use a skin, you must first upload the image and have it hosted somewhere, because you cant paste in an image, you can only paste in an image address. some sites will change the img address over time or over compress the image (sometimes even changing it's size!) if your file is to large for the site you want to use, find an online lossless image compressor that you like Before uploading the image. some sites (like imgur) wont recognize clear areas in .png files (high quality image files), so if you plan on having transparent zones or "reveals" in your skin, find a site that allows it like http://www.deviantart.com/ or if you dont want to sign up for anything, http://postimage.org/

6. be creative! with all of the options available to us for free these days, there's really no excuse to not do something really custom. you can make an instant skin with built in writing tools and adjustable screenshot right on your browser with prnt.sc or if you want the power of photoshop but dont wanna give adobe all of your hard earned pay theres a free open sorce option called GIMP that will put you in the game. http://www.gimp.org

so now your ready to take over the agar world with your sweet new skins! wait...double check before you go rushing in! here's a handy little tool by Voakie to check what your skin will look like in the game   http://codepen.io/Voakie/full/JXJvwq/   so now you really are ready! good luck, and have fun.

yeah! I found it. Right under Basics. It was right in front of me. Thanks for this page @runSPOTrun 

Thank a lot. The post makes it sound like you can use your own skin if you have a place to park your image. Is that true? I know. I ask a lot of questions. my bad!
Bullies have personal issues.
[-] The following 1 user Likes ™ Chronic 's post:
  • run SPOT run
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#8
Nice job dood

Very detailed and helpful...as always Wink Big Grin
[Image: Robin.png]
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#9
Great tutorial! Definitely helpful for people like me who are strongly considering making or requesting for a skin to be made. 

And just curious, are u a graphic designer? 


Why do I ask? Well, I've been looking through your skins and I must say, they're quite nice! (:
[Image: giphy.gif]
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#10
(04-25-2017, 09:22 PM)iAcid Wrote: Great tutorial! Definitely helpful for people like me who are strongly considering making or requesting for a skin to be made. 

And just curious, are u a graphic designer? 


Why do I ask? Well, I've been looking through your skins and I must say, they're quite nice! (:

haha thanx! sadly no, I'm a crusty old carpenter that used to dream of being an artist. Making skins is just a fun way to pass the time and get better at using tools like GIMP, Inkscape, and photoshop.
[Image: giphy.gif]
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