Chris Pirillo » animation

How to Create Stick Figure Animations

Chris — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:43:44 +0000

How to Create Stick Figure Animations is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I am definitely not an artist. I have trouble even drawing a simple stick figure! Thank goodness there’s software out there that will help me. It’s a lot of fun, too! Stykz is cross-platform, and won’t cost you anything.

Stykz is frame-based, letting you to work on individual frames of your animation. Figures can be rotated, scaled, flipped, duplicated, colorized, and relayered. Figures can be created and edited directly in place; no separate “editor” window is required. Stykz’s PolyFill tool lets you fill shapes with just a few clicks! You can individually adjust the line segments in a figure, setting their length, width, color, and angle.

As you can see, it’s not just some boring old software that lets you make simple designs. Oh no! Stykz is full-featured, allowing you to create very complex little stick men and women!

Windows and Mac versions can be downloaded now, but sadly, the Linux version is still in beta form, so it’s not available just yet. The Linux public beta is coming soon – so stay tuned! The program is awesome, and a lot of fun!

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How to Visualize Twitter Tweets

Chris — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:42:45 +0000

How to Visualize Twitter Tweets is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Yes, that really was a tweet you saw on my screen. Each of the tweets had one thing in common – my last name. I had fun watching them assemble themselves on my screen.

Using Visible Tweets, you can choose a keyword to follow on Twitter. The service then locates tweets that have that keyword in them somewhere, and assembles them on your screen.

Visible Tweets is a visualization of Twitter messages designed to be shown in public places. You can choose to follow them on Twitter to keep up with the latest developments. You can also send them an @tweet, letting them know of ideas of feedback that you may have for them.

This would make a great screensaver, by the way. Sadly, it’s not one. Hint, hint!! It’s interesting watching the letters pop in, and see the animations ebb and flow.

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How to Create an Animated GIF: Webcam2GIF

Chris — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 10:09:02 +0000

How to Create an Animated GIF: Webcam2GIF is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I was moving my lips, but I wasn’t saying anything. It’s not a movie, it’s an animated .GIF. It’s a single file with a series of frames spliced together – set to loop forever. I made this in less than a minute! This was done with nothing more than my webcam, and an Adobe Air app called WebCam to GIF.

WebCam to GIF is a tool that lets you to create animated GIF images using your webcam. You can use this to create an animated avatar for forums, social sites and more. If you don’t already have the Air platform installed, you’ll want to do it. There are a ton of great apps available for it. The best thing is that it is cross-platform, and works on even Linux!!

This isn’t the first animated GIF I’ve ever made. I’ve been doing them for years – starting way back when all hyperlinks on the Web were blue. Yeah, I know, I’m getting “old”. GIFs are a lot of fun to play with, and are just another way you can enhance your photos and make them fun.

When looking at the program, you have the live preview on the webcam showing on the left side. On the right side, you have the way to browse the images you’ve taken in the series. You can choose how many times it will loop, and decide the quality and size of your creation. When you start snapping captures, you can move around and change the frames (or even delete frames from the series).

It’s easy to do, and it’s fun. Remember that it’s not a video… it’s a GIF! Take your series of photos, mash them together, and loop them forever! Have a GIF of yourself doing almost anything! Download and play with it, make your own GIFs, and come share them with the rest of us.

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Have You Ever Wanted to Animate Your own Cartoon?

Chris — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:46:03 +0000

Have You Ever Wanted to Animate Your own Cartoon? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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My friend Duncan Riley posted a link on his FriendFeed yesterday, and I had to check it out. The link said that you could build your own cartoon. I love cartoons, and I love trying to create new things, so this works perfectly! You can simply drag and drop… edit… and go! With GoAnimate, there’s nothing to install. It’s all done online. Create and share your animation in just minutes.

GoAnimate can do loads of stuff! While we do our best to make it easy to use, it is always hard to pack so many features onto a computer screen and make it easy for say a chiwawa with its legs attached behind its back to use. Whether you have trouble creating animations or you want to learn about the more advanced features of the application, this page is the place to be!

You can use any of their hundreds of pre-installed images, or upload your own. There are cool backgrounds, sounds, and of course animations you can edit and change. Create your comics, share them with your friends, and build a fan base for your work. At this point, you can even embed your cartoons.

I’ve never seen something quite like this before. It’s pretty powerful stuff, and tons of fun. Be sure and share with all of us whatever you create!

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.