User blog:BlankyXP/Schwinn High Plains

Hi there. So this is a "sequel", if you wanna call it that, of my blog "Tenacious Waffle Stealers", which was a tutorial for a program called BannedStory.

BannedStory is a character simulator which allows you to create and dress up characters using clothes and sprites from a very popular MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) called MapleStory. Google's your best friend if you wanna learn more about that.

Many people on this Wiki use this program to create appearances for their characters in RPs. However, I've found that there are still some people who are confused as to how to actually use it to create stuff. Aforementioned blog and this blog were thus created to address this. At first, BannedStory may seem extremely confusing and complicated to use, but once you figure it out, it's very, very easy to make your own characters in this very "squee-filled" (© Midnightwoman) program.

This is a guide for the most recent version of BannedStory, BannedStory 4. My old blog was for the last version, BannedStory 3. So um...without further ado, here's how to use BannedStory.

NOTE: You need Flash Player 10 or above to use BannedStory. If your flash player is outdated, update it for free here.

Go here to go to BannedStory. There will be an icon with a constipated werewolf behind a red cross sign. Click on it and stuff. Then, the page will automatically scroll down (or at least, that's what it does for me. The following menu will show up:



This allows you to select which international versions of MapleStory you want items to show up from in the program (you can select multiple). As far as I know, pretty much all of them have exactly the same stuff, but some versions may have items that other versions don't. I'd recommend you just leave it as Japan, which is selected by default, especially if you wanna save loading time and all you need is to create a simple character.

You'll also notice there's a tab labeled "Categories". Clicking it will bring you to a page where you can select whether you want to add stuff into the program like pets, NPC sprites, and monsters from the game. By default, the only item that should be checked is "Characters and Equipment". If you just wanna create a character, the other stuff is completely unnecessary and adds a lot to the loading time. You can check this stuff out on your own time if you're bored, but I'm not going to talk about that stuff in this guide. I'm only gonna talk about creating regular characters.

Anyhow, once that's over with, just click Start on the bottom right of the window to initiate the program, and it will start loading. It usually takes from 30 seconds to a minute for me, but it might take a little longer if you've got a slower computer.

Once it's done loading, you're given a fresh, blank white page to start creating characters in.



So...let's start creating some characters, shall we?

Your first step is to create a layer. Hover over the "Layers" panel on the top left menu, and select "Create Layer". It'll seem as if nothing has happened, but trust me when I say you need to do this.



Once you've created that layer, go over to the "Window" panel and select "Thumbnail Gallery".



Now, this is where teh real fun begins!

This is where you'll select clothes and all that other funky stuff for your character. I think you should be able to figure the rest out yourself, but in case there are some...confused people out there, click "Japan MapleStory 1.87" (may be somewhat different for you), "Character Items", and well, if you can't figure out the rest, I dunno what to tell you. Look around to your heart's content. Here's me creating a character.



And well...yeah, that's pretty much it, really.

OH, WAIT WAIT WAIT! Um, you'll notice there's this thingy in the bottom. Here, you can adjust your character's pose and facial expressions. Yeah. Also, you can choose to animate your character, and their face (which makes them blink and stuff, but it depends on the facial expression).



Also, if one character isn't enough, you can add more to your canvas. Just repeat what you did before: Create new layer, thumbnail gallery, put stuff on 'em. Oh yeah, and I'll have to introduce you to the Layer/Inventory panels.



To switch between editing certain characters/layers, just click on them on the layer panel. If you wish to delete one of them at anytime, just click the Garbage can icon on the bottom right of the window. The Inventory panel displays the clothes and stuff that the currently selected character is wearing. And same thing here; if you wanna take off something your character's wearing, just select it on the Inventory window and click the Garbage can icon.



Once you're done creating characters, it's time to save them to your computer. Click File on the top left menu, and either select to save it as PNG or JPG, and whether you want to save the whole scene or a selected layer. I strongly recommend you save it as PNG for best quality.

There's also the option to save a layer as an animation, but I wouldn't recommend it, as the animations usually turn out in very bad quality.

Save the image to somewhere you'll remember o your computer, then upload it and show off your creations to everybody else on the Wiki.

So I guess that concludes this tutorial. I tried to make it as easy to understand as possible. If you still have any questions about this, feel free to ask me on this blog. You can also share your creations and stuff here.

There's all sorts of funky stuff you can edit your characters with in BannedStory 4, but this is just a basic character creation guide, so I'm not gonna get into that.

So...here's some of the ugly stuff I've created:

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100926183225/warriorrp/images/0/01/Blankeh.png

The most current version of BannedStory me.



Me in various outfits.



Some of my ugly Warrior RP characters.



Arcane Weald RP characters.



Lastly, some of my characters in my ugly Fire Emblem RP.

And...that's it.