Adding Changing Text to a Doll:
1.  The Basics!  To start with - I went to Magentasky's Doll Generator and found a wonderful Doll for us to use. Please right click on her and save her to your own hard drive OR hit your print screen and paste it into PSP and "clip" to use today.  You can find a link to this incredible site on my "links" page. 

She originally had a gray background - however - for this instructional I changed it to GREEN for better editing.

2. Now we will edit her.  Since I chose her to have long sleeves, let's fill in her sleeve on the hand holding the shopping bag.  To match the color Used on the other sleeve use the "eye dropper"  and click on the existing sleeve. Preferably the main color (lighter blue).

Then paint a line on her wrist (almost like a bracelet) to show were the sleeve will end. Then using your "magic wand" click on the arm where you are going to add color to - You will see little "ants" dancing around it.  That shows the area affected by the wand, AND only that area will be changed. Now you will use "fill" and fill in that area with color you got from the eye dropper. When you have filled the sleeve with the denim color, click on your magic wand again and this time Right Click any where on the doll and it will remove the Ants.

Now take your eye dropper again, and this time click on the white portion and "paint" The White portions in to match the other arm, Also do that with the darker blue for good shading.  Don't forget to use your Magnifier for details.  Remember, you can always Undo anything your not happy with. Don't forget to save!

3. Let's give her a wonderful clear back ground. If you used "clip" what you currently have is considered a PSP file and you can move on past this next paragraph. 

However - if you copied from my screen then it is a .gif file we are going to have to copy her and paste as a new image.  Otherwise - when you attempt to delete the color it will show the "secondary" color on your paints and won't show as transparent.  So create a new box of the size of 113 x 145 and then right click on your doll and select copy and then past her on this new box. When you do this she will now be a .psp file instead of a .gif allowing us to use the transparency option.

Click on your magic wand again and this time click on any of the green.  You will see ants dancing around all the green portions.

and hit "delete" and it will not be a clear back ground.  Make sure you use your Magnifier to check details close use.  Like the crook of her arm and her hair - It will make a world of difference. Don't forget to save!

There are *2* ways to work with Text.  You can just type the text on the doll and be done.. OR you can use a "fill" way so you can add text to ANY doll you have - including larger animations and existing dolls... It's Very simple.

Let's choose the second method - because you'll find it useful to add to existing dolls you may have in your collection now. Click on your doll and then click on Image it will show many options.  We are looking for the "canvas size".  Click on Canvas Size.  We don't want to change - but want to see what it currently is.  I'm showing my doll to be Canvas Size 113 by 145.  Click cancel because we don't want to change it.

Now let's open up a new box and put it to be "transparent background" and the canvas size that you were showing which should be 113 by 145.  It will make a new blank box the exact same size of your doll.

Now in that new blank box let's type some letters in it.  Choose a color you like for both boxes and then Use your text option . I used the Move tool to move the letters to be in a spot I think will work nicely. I'm only eyeballing it.  But with this "fill" way you CAN eyeball it!

Let's test it out!!!

Click on the triangle below "styles" near your paint and it will show options to paint with.  We are looking for "pattern"

If you Click pattern it will pop up a default patter.  Now click that pattern and it will give a "list" of current patterns to choose from.  On that list you will find ALL the windows you currently have up in PSP.  Choose your letters as a "pattern"

Now we can "fill" this pattern on ANY picture we have.  Including our DOLL! Let's try it!!

We are going to make a 3 Frame Animation ... So we will need to copy her 2 more times. But because we want the box to match we are going to just click on the same doll and use "save as" and add a number to it..

"save as" Shoppingdoll2  - "save as" Shoppingdoll3 (or whatever name you have.  When that is done... let's change the colors of the words.

Go back to your box with your words in it and using your Magic Wand click on one of the letters.  Again you will ants dancing around it.

We are going to fill the letters with another color.. but only some of them... How about a blue from her outfit.  Use your "eye dropper" to collect a blue - or you can pick any blue you wish. And now fill and paint in half of the letters with this "blue" color.  We will now make this New Letter Box as a new texture.  Follow the previous steps and let's fill in your second Save As Doll 

Now let's repeat the steps by filling in the rest of the Letters with Blue and "fill" that onto your 3rd doll. 

When you are finished - she will look like she does on the Right.

So now that you have 3 Dolls of the same size with little differences for each one - time to put them together to *see* the magic!

Click on Launch Animation Shop. Once it's open it will be blank.  So let's go find your dolls.  Go to File, Animation Wizard and click on that!

It will open up some very simple questions...

You want it to be same size, centered, transparent back ground, repeat indefinitely, and I would choose a speed of 50 for this animation. 

Once that is done - we will need to add your images.

You will want to add it in order... So Click Add Image...and it will pop up to your own file director.  Go find your 3 dolls and add them in order.  You will also notice that they are ALL .psp files. This is what it should look like:

When it looks like this - hit next...and then finish

It should look like this:

Now let's run the animation and see how she is! It should be very clean when and the letters not jumping at all.

If it is.. you can ALWAYS clean it up a bit in PSP.  To do that you click on one of the dolls and "Export Frames to PSP" Once cleaned you click the "x" on the doll in  PSP and it will ask if you want to save it.  Chose yes. It will automatically save it and send your changes to the animation program.  Keep in mind I do that ALL the time.

At this point - you should be able to save her.. So go to save as.. and pick a name for her.  It will have a little wizard to walk through.. just keep clicking yes and you'll be fine.

Congrats!!!! You just finished Our Animation Lesson!

Remember - mistakes will happen.. and happen often.

Have patience and your work will be beautiful!

I hope this helped you with your animations...Look for more lessons soon!

Robin