How to make the cow moo

Ah well, looks like I peeked everyones interest in how I made that animation on the cow 2 posts down! Well, as I mentioned about a month and a half ago, I've been struggling with the Mac switch over thing, but there is one good thing about the switch, and since I'm learning new stuff, I've dived right in and really learned new stuff. Especially in photoshop. And all my pc user friends out there, you can do this on the PC too. But you have to have Adobe Photoshop.

I started out with 2 photos:



Then I cropped them so they were exactly the same size.

Ok, now when you're cropping these images, it's important to pay attention to the details. You should be somewhat familiar with photoshop, too. That'll help. So this is where it can get a little complicated. If the mere mention of photoshop turns you to mush, you can fast forward to the end of this post for a link to Adobe's video tutorial. Visuals always help me and I wouldn't have been able to do this without the tutorial.

Now back to cropping your photos. In Photoshop (I used CS3), create a new document that's the same size as your original photos and add both of them in as 2 layers. I had the silent cow as my bottom layer and the mooing cow as the top layer. I made the mooing cow about 20% transparent and moved her around till she was exactly over the silent cow. Once I was happy with how it lined up, I cropped both of them then saved each layer in it's own document. Are you still with me?

So now I have 2 separate images but they match perfectly.

And here is where I consulted the tutorial on
Working with Image Sequences

follow those directions.
I had the silent cow play for .5 sec and the mooing cow play for 1 sec and had it loop forever.

Now when you're ready to save, make sure to resize the image and "Save for Web and Devices" in Photoshop and (this is important) save as a GIF rather than a jpg. jpgs do not animate. I used the GIF 128 Dithered option for the best image quality. In that save for web window, you'll notice there are play options on the bottom right and after you've selected to save as a GIF. Click on play so you'll have a preview of what it will look like.



So hurray! You've created your animated GIF!! Bravo!
(It took me nearly an hour so try to remain calm and have a lot of patience).

Think you're finished and can just pop it onto your blog? Ah, well, blogger wouldn't let it be so simple now would they? Here's the dealio with MY blogger. I download all my images to an FTP sight, that's why my blog is: www.willowgrace.com/blog rather than www.willowgrace.blogspot.com. I use a blogger template but some things are just a little different. So in regular blogspot, I think you will need to post the image so it doesn't resize on your front page: ie it stays the original size that you saved it as. That might mean that you have to save it smaller, like your maximum side should be no bigger than 600 pixels - but don't quote me on that.

So, there you go! A complete rambling and probably nonsensical How To Animate. I totally apologize for how i give instructions. I'm certain i made it sound more complicated than it really is, so those of you who know photoshop really should just click on the tutorial. It's fun and the effect is worth it!
_

updating

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Mine will be full of activities. Tomorrow morning, heading to the favorite scrapbook store for a chance at a 30 second shopping spree then going to Paper Source for their grand opening event. Sunday going to the parentals for dinner.

Wanted to give you an update on my attempt-to-better-health journey. I haven't blogged about it much but I'm almost down 2 sizes. My weight is evenly distributed - I'm not a pear, apple or cone shape. I fall more into the hourglass category. So even though I can't wear any of my 'big' pants anymore, I don't look like I've lost as much as the numbers indicate. This happened to me the last time, too. (7 years ago already). It wasn't noticeable for a long time till suddenly it was dramatic. Strangely enough, I'm really not telling anyone I know in the real world, except those few who read my blog. I think it's because the last time I was on this journey, it made some people uncomfortable. Like they couldn't eat in front of me or they had to change their way of eating or cooking when they were with me. It also made me uncomfortable whenever I would eat something that they deemed bad for me. I know how many points/calories I've eaten and how many I can afford for this meal or that snack. Trust me, I calculate everything to the 1/2 point. So if I'm eating a cookie, I know the caloric/point value of it and it's accounted for. I still eat ice cream (the low-cal kind) , chocolate and potato chips (always portioned out), Mexican and Hawaiian food. But I admit that I miss pizza.

On another note, since I admitted that I'm an aggressive driver, I've been driving a lot calmer lately. I really just like to get to wherever I'm going Now. So maybe I'm really more of a speed demon rather than aggressive. Because I always signal, I'll let people in if they signal and will move out of the way if someone wants to go even faster than I'm going. And I don't talk on my cell phone while I'm driving because I know that I can't possibly concentrate on driving fast, watching all the other cars around and hold a cell phone to my ear all at the same time. But what weighs on my conscience more is the gas issue. Since I drive an SUV, my gas mileage isn't ideal to start with. I try to get around 22mpg, but if I'm feeling a little lead footed, I'll only get around 19mpg. Yup, I need to slow down.

Those of you with blog readers have noticed that I've been updating my blog a bit. Just adding labels to past posts. That organizing thing I like to do. My apologies for any confusions. It'll probably happen a few more times till all of my old posts are properly labeled. Just as a little warning. :)

Pop Art Madeline

Having fun with photoshop today.

Stumbled upon an artist's flickr site and she gave details on how to do it yourself so I had to try it myself.

Here's the original pic, next to the finished project:

A Good Friday that Happens to be the 13th

Knock on wood (LOL), this superstitious day as gone without a hitch, so far. I did have one frustrating phone conversation with the bank, but otherwise, it was a good day. I went to my weight watchers meeting and surprisingly yet happily was successful at the scales. I admit that I was concerned about my frivolous weekend in Seattle, but I also bumped up my activities and didn't give in to every single indulgence. (Note to self: don't wait to eat till your starving then go to Jack-in-the-Box). Continued the afternoon with my weekly walk at Stanford with my girlfriend Eve, the warm sun behind our backs. Now enjoying the evening, planning on quality tv time and crafting.
Tulips for sale at Pikes Market.

Reminiscing

It's hard to believe that it's already Thursday and I've been home for 3 days. My visit was waay too short and I wish I was able to spend more time with my cousin. I had a great time with her, every moment was cherished!The above view of Seattle was taken from Beacon Hill.

Moi, enjoying the tulips.

Me and Jimmy at Tulip Town. Windblown but happy. :)

This is Pacific Medical Center, which sits atop Beacon Hill. Amazon.com's global headquarters is here.

Cherry Blossoms on Beacon Hill.

In 8 hours

Jimmy and I will be leaving for Washington for a much anticipated weekend with my dearest cousin. I haven't seen her in 8 months and it's going to be so much fun!

I should start packing. Laundry still needs to be done. Gifts still need to be wrapped. Cards need to be made. Emails need to be sent. Dishes need to be done and miscellaneous putting stuff away must happen. But instead I'm playing around in photoshop with some new brushes I downloaded from Designfruit and blogging. Have I mentioned already that I'm the queen of procrastination?

Wisteria

Thanks for all the comments on the wisteria tree! I decided to take the opportunity to post another photo of it and answer some of your questions, too. Hee! Unfortunately, I'm extremely allergic to it, but it's worth the watery, swollen eyes and sneezing and coughing. It's so purdy.

I'm Going To Graceland

Im going to Graceland
Graceland
In Memphis, Tennessee
Im going to Graceland
Poorboys and pilgrims with families
And we are going to Graceland

In Graceland, in Graceland
Im going to Graceland
For reasons I cannot explain
-condensed from Paul Simon's Graceland

It's true, I'm going to Graceland. Sometime next week, I'll be traveling through Graceland en route to the eastern coast.

Graceland...Graceland...Graceland. I've never put any thought on Elvis' home but there's that word that always speaks to me: GRACE. Elvis was an icon of flamboyance, grandosity and splendor in the general public eye and it's hard to conceptualize GRACE with rhinestones, blue suede shoes and peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Maybe I've missed something. I was only 9 when he died and music to me meant Shaun Cassidy and Andy Gibb, not the King of Rock and Roll. So while I'm there, I'll see if I can find the gracious Elvis. At the very least, I should get some awesome photos of Graceland at Christmastime! :-)

Image from Doctor Macro embellished with Photoshop brushes.

Sunset in San Francisco

Not from this past weekend. The sun is in this photo. This weekend, there was no sun.
But I was playing around with some brushes in photoshop again.

Merci, mes amis!

Everyone has been so encouraging and thoughtful and I just wanted to let you all know how grateful I am that I've met all of you through this medium. I love how much we share with each other and how positive this environment has been for me.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart! Bouquets of flowers for all of you!

Kauai Chickens

We're planning a trip to Kauai in September.
I'm sooo psyched!!

Feral chickens are everywhere on the island. In 1991 a major hurricane hit Kauai and many chicken coops were damaged, freeing all the chickens.

Car Woes and Global Warming

Hello, my name is Madretz and I'm an SUV driver.
It's not really something I yell out to the world. But in my defense, it doesn't get "that" bad of gas mileage considering typical SUV mileage. And we actually use it's 4wd capabilities. Since we have a cabin that is up a mountainous road with an average snowfall of 40 inches per year, we need a car that has a high clearance and won't (hopefully) get stuck in the snow or mud. We try to be responsible SUV drivers. If/when this car dies, we've talked about getting the hybrid version or Toyota Highlander's hybrid version.

However, with gas prices the way they are and evidence that we really need to pay more attention to how we're affecting our environment, I'm tempted to park my car and not drive it at all.

Jimmy's car is still at the mechanics (day 11). My "check engine" light came on a couple of days ago. Luckily we can function with only one vehicle, but I can't help but be concerned about that check engine light. Coincidentally, it came on the day after we watched "An Inconvenient Truth."

After watching that movie, I can't help but pay attention to these coincidences. The flooding back east, the droughts in the southwest, and the record temperatures we've had in the west. At the very least, you have to scratch your chin.

Jimmy photoshopped the racing advertisement onto my car a couple of years ago just for the halibut. I particularily like the purple rims. :-) The original photo was taken about a mile from where I grew up.