SP-Studio News

Huge Anniversary Update: New items for every category!

nospam@example.com (Zwerg-im-Bikini) — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:34:18 +0200

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of this website I prepared a huge update for you: New items in every category! 22 new clothes, hair-styles, fashion accessories and body parts are waiting for you. And because it is the release date of Diablo 3 today some objects are inspired by the Lord of Terror himself. I hope you enjoy the update! :)

And please remember: If you want to support the SP-Studio and help it stay alive for another decade every little donation is welcome. Thanks a lot to everybody who helps me keep this project going.

Anniversary Special: Making Of

nospam@example.com (Zwerg-im-Bikini) — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:00:00 +0200

If you are waiting for the big birthday update you have to wait a bit longer, because in a month like this it's the perfect time for a look behind the scenes. And that's what this text is about - I hope some of you like it and the others are not too bored about it. :) I will answer question about how the SP-Studio is made. But let's first have a look at what this website looked like 10 years ago. Do you remember this time? It was before the age of YouTube, Facebook and World of Warcraft... a really long time ago. Click on the image on the right to play with the first SP-Studio:

When I started to work on it I was still at school and had no experience with coding. I used Macromedia Flash to draw small animations for my South Park fanpage, but creating an interactive tool was something new for me. So I did it as simple as possible. I created a layer for every category (like in Photoshop or Gimp). When you click on a button the item was loaded into this layer. So it was not complicated in the beginning, I just had to learn a few things about Actionscript (that's how you code in Flash). Here is a screenshot of what working on the SP-Studio looked like back then. You can see the timeline on top of the actual working area. This timeline contains the layers and every layer contains frames. When you jump from one category to anther a different frame shows up. I still use the same software, Flash. But the SP-Studio has become WAY more complex over the years.

The most important things about a character creator like the SP-Studio is the fact, that the items have to appear in the right order. In the SP-Studio every category of items has its own level (levels work like layers). The number of the level tells Flash if it is shown on top or under another item. Items within the same level replace each other. That is why it is more work to include objects for the "stuff" category - usually every "stuff" item needs its own level, because you should be able to include more than one of them. To keep track of which numbers I have already used and which item appears in front of the others I use a very long list ;).
Another important thing is that you take care of the position of the items. If a hat is only 1 pixel aside from where it should be it might not fit some of the hair-styles.

A question I read a lot is: Do you draw everything yourself? Yes, I draw everything in Flash, using only my mouse. I added a picture I created some time ago about how I draw a hair-style. Nothing special, but you can see my favorites drawing tools. It is basicaly the same like drawing in Paint or Photoshop, but Flash is a software for vector graphics. Vector Graphics look cleaner than pixel graphics and by using them I can keep the loading time short for my visitors. It is a comfortable way to work because I can do everything with this single software: I draw, create buttons, code and publish in Flash. Some of my visitors asked me to do a HTML5 version of the SP-Studio, but even if I knew how to do this it would be way too much work. Right now I have no plans to give up on Flash.

This was my little post about the SP-Studio. See you in a couple of days with a big update!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SP-STUDIO!

nospam@example.com (Zwerg-im-Bikini) — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:12:22 +0200

10 YEARS!

Thanks to all my visitors!

Wow... when I first got the idea for this website in the year 2001 I did not expect it to become so famous and a big part of my life for over 10 years. The first version was released in May 2002 on my South Park fanpage planearium.de. Unfortunately I do not remember the exact date. So let's celebrate the whole month! I plan to release some special updates.

First a contest: Submit a SP-Studio picture for the birthday contest until May 15th. The winner gets a free wish for an item. Good luck!

Contest results: RELIGION

nospam@example.com (Zwerg-im-Bikini) — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:08:50 +0200

Every SP-Studio contest has its own topic and last month it was RELIGION. Of course it did not matter if you believe in something or not, anything related to the topic was allowed. Congratulations to the winners!

Happy easter!

nospam@example.com (Zwerg-im-Bikini) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:35:39 +0200

It comes a day late because I got sick over the holidays (it was really colr here in Germany). But now I uploaded new items for you:

• a crawling baby with customizable skin color (wish by contest winner Deboh)
• custom color sash (wish by contest winner Caribou)
• custom color belt
• DJ turntables

More clothes

nospam@example.com (Zwerg-im-Bikini) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:37:11 +0200

Yes, I started to draw new SP-Studio items again :). The first update are seven new shirts with "unique designs". Most are supposed to be kinda casual, because I got some complaints there are too many special outfits.

I am working on another update as well, because there are still some wishes of contest winners I have to include. Sorry, setting up the new community took more time than expected. I will try to include a 2nd update within this week.

New SP-Studio contest: RELIGION

nospam@example.com (Zwerg-im-Bikini) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:37:43 +0200

Join the new SP-Studio contest!
Our 20st contest! This time I picked the topic RELIGION because it has many possible directions it can take. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, natural religion, old Greek and Roman religion, Satanism, sects and cults... there are many different believes out there. You can show biblical stories, religious leaders, traditions, festivities, historical events like the crusades or inquisition, architecture like temples, mosques and cathedrals. And of course critical comments about religion are allowed too, for example about creationists.
[read all details about the rules in the Forum]

Join the new SP-Studio community to join this contest!
If you already are a member of the old community please register again and write me a message so I can assign your old pictures to your account. They will not get lost.

The last contest AMERICA was won by Caribou. Congratulations! The Top5:

New SP-Studio contest: AMERICA

nospam@example.com (Zwerg-im-Bikini) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:26:50 +0100

Join the new SP-Studio contest! This time the topic is AMERICA.
We already had contests about Asia and Europe before, so now it's time for the American continent. Create a SP-Studio picture which shows something typical for an American country or the whole continent. Remember there are more countries than the U.S.A. ;). You can make pictures about celebrities, historical events, the landscape and animals, traditions,...
[read all details about the rules in the Forum]

Help the new SP-Studio community grow!
This is the first contest started in the new SP-Studio community. If you were a member of old community please register in the new one now. Everything works like you are used to it: Members can submit pictures for the contest until March 15th. Then everybody can rate and comment them. The winners get their own user gallery or even a free wish for a SP-Studio item of their choice. But the new community offers many new cool things. And the contests will be fairer, because cheating is more difficult now.

The last contest ANIMALS was won by Deboh. Congratulations! The Top5:

The NEW SP-Studio community! Gallery + Forum

nospam@example.com (Zwerg-im-Bikini) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:34:33 +0100

After a whole week of work it's done: The new SP-Studio.de community is finally online.
I hope you like it and many will join! :)

FORUM | GALLERY

There's a new gallery, but it works like the old one: Everybody can comment pictures, but you have to register to upload pictures. The monthly contests will continue and you will be able to suggest new SP-Studio items in the wish voting area. If you score high in contests you might even earn your own user gallery. Have a look at the existing ones, there are some real artists.

But the most important change is the new forum which is connected to the gallery. Here you can ask for help if you have a question regarding SP-Studio. You can show your SP-Studio pictures in the "SP-Studio art" forums, no matter if you use the gallery as well. And you can just talk to other SP-Studio fans in the "Off Topic" forums.

For a long time I did not want to have a forum, because I do not have the time to watch after it. I am glad several community members decided to help me! The moderators (= green names) will always be there for you when I am not around.

Some things aren't finished yet, especially in the gallery. For example I need to assign user groups for the old contest winners and upload the finished contests and wish voting pictures from the old gallery. But this will happen soon, thank you for your patience.

Enjoy the new forum and gallery!

SP-Studio community offline

nospam@example.com (Zwerg-im-Bikini) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:50:43 +0100

The SP-Studio community is offline for a couple of days. Some big changes are made, but it will come back of course! Here you can see what I am working on right now. This is for the members who don't know how to spend their time without the community ;). Everybody who is bored by this can just ignore the long text.

I will keep you up-to-date here, on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.

"SP-Studio community offline" vollständig lesen