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Botchan-MLP β Desktop Ponies Tutorial
Published: 2013-11-04 13:55:24 +0000 UTC; Views: 35365; Favourites: 797; Downloads: 601
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Description
Since I get repeatedly asked about how I make pony sprites, I created this simple step-by-step tutorial for making a basic trotting sprite.
This is the first time I made a tutorial and I may not be very good at explaining things, but I still hope that you will find this useful.
Edit: The forum which contains the templates (as mentioned in this tutorial) is currently down. Please try this link instead:Β www.mediafire.com/file/le2j2igβ¦
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Comments: 257
Just double both the height and width of the original sprite.
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If the original sprite is 55x50, then yes. AndΒ there are things called calculators, you know?
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Uhm, congratulations?Β Β Although I honestly thought that this horribly outdated template had been updated years ago...
Oh well, I guess that's another thing I have to take care of eventually.
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Yeah, the old trotting mare template had a mistake: for some reason, the first and the last frame were switched which makes the animation look choppy. The sheet I used for my tutorial is the updated one.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other templates were a bit outdated, too. I'll have to check that some time later.
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Well, the switched frames are pretty noticeable, hence my earlier comment. Also, the tail is both very stiff and jerks around quite a bit (same with the cutie mark), but most people seem to have problems making the tails work at first, so yeah, I guess it's pretty okay for a first try.
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Wow!! I'm actually doing something here with this tutorial, Thank you for sharing this with us!!
But I gotta, ask... do you have a tutorial or something to do a simple idling animation using these models/templates? ^^'
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Well, I'm glad it is useful
I'm afraid I don't have a tutorial specifically for an idle animation though. For one, people seem to be more interested in trotting ponies anyway. Another reason is that idle sprites can be done in pretty much the same way as the trotting ones, so if you know how to do the former, I don't think the later should give you any trouble.
When in doubt, having the pony blink their eyes every once in a while is usually a good starting point. Afterwards, it's up to you if you want to add movement to the tail, the head or whatever else you can think of.
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Ahhh got it! I was looking for a simple one without movement at all (just blinking at the moment), but yeah, I'll see if I can do something about ><
Once again, Thank you for this tutorial!! (the only thing I'm missing is the Cutie Mark and then I'm done!!)
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That largely depends on what the tail looks like. I should have probably explain it better, I'm just not sure how.
Basically, you should curve the tail just a little bit more, often bringing the end of the tail a bit closer to the body (at least for longer tails). I wouldn't call it a "ball" exactly, but it helps to make the tail not look completely rigid when the rest of the body bounces up and down. Just look at some of the trotting sprites for examples.
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I'll just assume you mean the background color, since you usually don't want to remove the white with it being part of the eyes and everything.
It really depends on the program you are using. Some programs let you choose a canvas color and make it transparent. For others (like Gimp) you'd have to select the background in every frame and simply delete it. I'd suggest you look up a tutorial for whatever program it is you are using.
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Hey ummmm... I downloaded MS GIF animator and I don't know how to use it.. What speed do you use and how do you get it to animate? (Sorry I'm new to this)
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Very helpful! I am going to try now! I have looked for this and now I found it and the base! Thanks for making this!
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Thank you
I certainly hope it's helpful
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It was very! Have you used any other programs? I tried with MS paint and it didn't work. I have other programs but I don't have the right brush size. (You don't have to answer)
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Well, MS Paint doesn't support layers, so while spriting is still possible, it's a bit more difficult.
I don't know why an image editor wouldn't have a basic 1 pixel brush, but if you're looking for a free program that has that and layer support (among other things), you can always try Gimp.
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Ok thanks! I use ms paint for the hair, and then I animate on ezimba. I have paint.net and GIMP so I'll try gimp ^ ^ Thank you so much for all your help!!! This tutorial is very helpful, telling people detailed instructions!!!
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Okay, good to know that.
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I finished and now i'm failing at finding the right speedΒ
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Most ponies use 4/100 sec per frame for the trot.
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umm... the chat bubbles always have brown around them... fix?
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I don't know what you mean by that, but assuming you have a problem with the program, you should probably post about it in ourΒ ponychan thread Β so our programmer RoosterDragon can take a look at it.
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ok! thank u :3
P.S.Β can u make download for all eg characters? plaz
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So much crap in a single hour. You're now blocked for spamming.
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Are there any free Pixel art program thingies (BESIDES MS paint!!)
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Well, there's always Gimp.
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THANK YOUUU! I'll check 'er out
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How would you animate the cutie mark? 
rebecca-47.deviantart.com/art/β¦
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Well, for most cutie marks, just moving the lower half of the cutie mark one pixel to the left in all of the frames where the back leg is stretched out looks pretty good.
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Oh, but as far as placement goes, is there a certain part you anchor the mark to?
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Not really, as it should move just a little bit (mostly just a pixel) with the leg. Taking your sprite as an example, you already seem to have a pretty good grasp of moving the CM to the left or right. The up and down movement could need a little work though. Basically, in the frames were the leg is both stretched and touching the ground, the CM should be just a little bit lower than in in the frames where the leg is raised high. But that's mostly a guideline and what looks great with one CM may look a bit off with another, so you may have to fiddle around with the placement a bit to make it look nice and smooth.
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I've fixed it up--but I haven't uploaded it yet.
Thanks.
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Alright, seems simple enough. 
*Gif, take 3*
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Do you do commissions for these?
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Which file is the mare trot cycle I edit?! DX My computer won't even show me the files!
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... I THINK I got it?
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