Preserved Topic: Avatar creator

I thought I'd start a new thread as it was wandering away from the main topic in the Year Book thread.

Anyway the basic idea was that it should be possible (well Mr Max said it was which is good enough for most people here) to create a JavaScript/server side (PHP's GD library?) application similar to the StorTroopers:
http://www.stor.co.uk/troopers.php

but by allowing people to contribute ideas, graphics, etc. it should be possible to produce a significantly better product (one of the main problems seems to be the small number of graphics - it makes getting the hair right awfully diffcult and one of my friends decided that none of the trousers quite suited him so he made his without - which is such a worrying development it has to be pinched in the bud right now).

Questions to be resolved include he legality of the whole venture, questions about graphics (some kind of template would need to be thrashed out), coding problems, etc.

Anyway so here's the thread it was just an idle thought really but some people seemed to think it was an interesting idea.

Thoughts anyone?

Emps

hey i am really interested in creating the killer app. but i think i´m not a real coding pro. so we will need help. i know a someone who can help us with the gfx.

i hope other asylum members are interested in this and will help us.

Just create *all* the graphics. Coding would not be very hard after that...

... gfx are in process.

Maybe a process for people to submit their own graphics as well? Just a thought. Make it a colaborative effort.

OK with optimism like that (who says we Europeans are a dour lot?) we can do anything. Right the consensus seems to be that we create the graphics and the rest will flow from there. OK first step is to answer these question:

1. What dimensions do we need for the 'avatar'? The storTroopers are about the right size but do we need mutant large heads? We will need the width and height of:
a) head
b) torso
c) upper limbs
d) pelvis
e) lower
f) feet

as well as some vital landmarks (although once the above is sorted out these should be fairly easy to work out):
g) neck
h) eyes
i) ears
j) mouth
k) chin
l) elbows
m) wrists
n) knees
o) ankles
p) belly button

Using these dimensions we could then work up an androgynous 'blank' which would then be the template people could work to with bodies and clothes.

2. What pose they should be in (I'd just go for arms by the side, legs slightly akimbo).

3. Do we need a wire frame/skeleton to hang the bodies from (we could just go for a silhouette to give people an idea of where to start building the body)?

4. Any other critical initial questions that I've overlooked?

Emps

Quite right Pugzly as well as making it an open project in these initials stages there shouldn't be any reason why people couldn't submit designs based on the templates worked out (different communities would probably want to create custom wardrobes to reflect their activities). This would be the real strength of the whole thing - there would be no more complaints about there not being the right hair, trousers, pets, etc. as people can just make there own. Any other good ideas? Would it be worth, for example, letting people work on a giant version and then exporting as a much smaller image as well as a giant one?

Dan

first of all we need a project name! *g*

hahahaha

Damn. OK. Renumber the priorities and insert this at the top:

1. Think of a name for the project. Extra points are awarded for cool, funky, pop-culture reference, clever-play-on-words, etc. names.

Any offers?

Emps

OK. I haven't yet given it much thought but someone had to kick off the name game. My first suggestion would be something like 'Inmate Maker' which led me to 'The Marvellous Mechanical Inmate Making Machine' (bit of a nod to UK children's TV). It doesn't trip off the tongue but it does lead to a theme - rather than a slick technological front to it 'The MMIMM' conjures up some kind of Heath Robinson-like machine or some kind of sideshow display/snake oil sales stand (or something). Anyway I'm sure people can do better than that.

Emps

what about avatator?

Avatator? As in Avatar Creator? Its a good suggestion - my only problem is that (at least for me - it could be a UK thing) it could come across as a colloquial version of 'Have a potato' (the 9th Concise Oxford English Dictionary spells it tater [see also tatie]). Just a thought.

On the graphics front would it not be a good idea to define a template first? I sketched this one out with all the landmarks which is basically the proprotions of the StroTroopers but with straighter arms and legs:



I'd, personally, prefer it if it had a larger body so we could do more interesting things with the clothes but in general, given the contraints of format, display, etc., there probably isn't a large amount of room for manvouevre on the dimensions.

Any thoughts?

Emps