Although this is far off the beaten path as far as the usual requests for help are concerned, I didn't know of a better qualified group of experts to ask. My local Eagles group in Portland, Maine is constructing a website. If possible, we would like to animate the Eagles logo so that when someone enters the site, the logo "flies" them to the next page (after that, they're on their own). Any suggestions as to animation software (or even if this is possible)? If anyone would like to see it, I have attached a picture of the logo.

You didn't mention if you are using Photoshop 7 (maybe 6?) or above. If so, I'm pretty sure this can be done in ImageReady. There are others here who can guide you through it better than I, since I've only played around with it very little. I'm thinking you would probably have to copy the wings to a new layer(s), then orient them in the proper position to mimic a bird flying. Hang in there. Help is on the way. Cool idea, by the way!

Ed

Ed ~ Thanks for the timely response. I am an officer of the Portland (ME) Eagles and have just "inherited" the webmaster's duties (along with being Treasurer of a 2500-member club). For years, Ive viewed myself as natures' cruellest creation...good ideas and not a clue of how to carry them out. Thanks to you guys, I may be on the way to a new life at 60+! Thanks again.

Wayne

Wayne, wasn't it Einstein who said that he didn't need to know everything, he just needed to knew who to ask? If it wasn't Einstein, whoever said it was smart IMHO and I've followed that philosophy for many years :classic:

I did a quick search for animated eagles using google and found these two pages. You may want to write to them and ask for permission - I didn't check the copyright, but maybe all you need is the idea.

http://us.bestgraph.com/gifs/aigles-1.html

http://www.uselessgraphics.com/eagles.htm

On the second page there is a brownish eagle in flight - I right clicked on it and saved it to a file and then opened it in Photoshop and it opened with all the layers that make up the animation. If you just copy it to the clipboard and then paste it into photoshop, you only get the currently displaying layer of the animation.

Most of the eagles are flying right to left, if you want them to go left to right you can just flip the whole thing horizontal once in Photoshop.

Making animations with Photoshop is pretty simple. I actually use Photoshop Elements so I don't have ImageReady that Ed spoke of, but I've used PSE and had decent results considering I have absolutely no artistic talent.

Course I'm assuming you have Photoshop and want to learn how to use it, but I could be wrong,

HTH, Margaret

I don't really get the eagle on the opening page guiding them into the site... would they click it ?

anyhow I found there are some nice eagle photos around... here's an idea I had for a button.... 3 stages .. normal ... then when clicked on.. and finally when you release the mouse button.

Portland Maine eh ? I lived there in the later 50's early 60's.. nice this time of year for sure.

This may be a fitting eagle for that area... I know it's summer... early summer .... but come winter. :)

if I had known I was going to play with this more I would have posted them all together... sorry

Wayne, wasn't it Einstein who said that he didn't need to know everything, he just needed to knew who to ask? If it wasn't Einstein, whoever said it was smart IMHO and I've followed that philosophy for many years :classic:


See what I mean??

Way to go Ron, That last one is nice!!

Margaret

Once again, you folks just overwhelm me with your responses. The logo, the animations and the links were marvelous. Ron, how did you do those great animation? I was so impressed that I had the Aerie President come to my house at 6:30 this morning to look at them....all he said was, "WOW!" Did you do these from scratch? How about the graphics? I do have PS7 and Image Ready (and PS Elements). Where do I start? A tutorial? I haven't been this excited since the 4-number hit on a lottery ticket! Again, thank you one and all!

Wayne

Did you do these from scratch? How about the graphics? I do have PS7 and Image Ready (and PS Elements). Where do I start?

Well all that info is here at RTP.... and I used PS7 and image ready to animated them.
The place for you to start might be with "layers" lots of info here on that subject in the tutorials.

I've just visited your site.... looks good...

have just "inherited" the webmaster's duties (along with being Treasurer of a 2500-member club).

I have some time if you'd like a hand.. on the graphics end. No problem If you really want to do it yourself.. I know the feeling.

I animated the top Logo... just shadows that moved... but the file is too large for use on a webpage. anyhow here is what it looked like flattened.

this file is the same size as your current logo.

but when I tried to reply this popped up
Sorry! That user has specified that they do not wish to receive emails. If you still wish to send an email to this user, please contact the administrator and they may be able to help.
my guess is that you elected not to receive messages when you sign up here... if so and you wish to change that ... you begin by clicking "user CP" located towards the top left of this page.

regarding the animation you'd like it's possible to make alright... the problem may be that it will load oddly... as a .gif animation.
At least for members with a phone connection.

the good news is that after the first visit to the site it would probably load alright ... as well as on other pages if it appeared on those also.

because the eagle would fly over and perch as the lettering appears and all becomes still it would not "loop" thats why it may look odd 1st time.. on a slow connection each frame will hang for a bit. 1st time.

I'll give it a shot here after I've finished this note.

a drawback may be file size.. prehaps not.. as you may know large graphics load slower.

ok ... well check back later and maybe I'll have something... or you can e:mail me at sidetrek@bellsouth.net
RonDon

This isn't the actual animation for the page.
it's differs in 2 ways..
this one is smaller to meet RTP size requirements.
This one loops after 5 seconds.. the one for the page shouldn't.

I felt you wanted the eagle to glide in slower but this would have required many more frames which would result in much too large a file slowing page loading even more. The full sized one weighs in at 160kb already large.. but as I said after the 1st visit it should snap right open.

what you may have had in mind was another type of animation... "flash" I don't do those.

I just selected the correct option from the "User CP" menu (allowing e-mail from other members). Thank you I'n not too concerned about the file size as most of our members who are on line use Roadrunner (thanks to a sweet deal from the company). Thanks for the response.

Wayne

I see a problem... I have been working on the international site's logo.....
don't suppose You'd like this one with.... Casco Aerie #565 in gold for the bottom line ?

That is phenomenal! Can the lettering on the second line be changed to read:
Casco Aerie 565
Portland, Maine

After that, do you have a bare bones tutorial that you would share? I've been reading about how these animations are ported but then realized I don't even know the format OR how to save them (if it's different from the usual File > Save routine). Maybe next year I'll volunteer to match the Aerie quota for the blood drive......370 pints. It's a less ambitious project. You get to lie down. Thank you again.

Wayne

I am looking for a matching font for doing just that now...

yes saving can be done the same way... just right click on it... it should try to save as a .GIF file.... which it is.

I thought I had a way to make it gold... but in the meantime I ended up with this.

good news is the file size is about half... these are full sized... one loops the other is as it would be on a webpage.

maybe tommorrow I'll find gold :)

I really couldn't write a tut on this as I really don't have the knowledge necessary.
A reason to animate doesn't come along very often so little is learnt..

there is a simple way to make one that I am trying to move beyond. The thing is it's probably the wrong way to learn if you intend to become skilled at it.
Just select whatever is to be animated and start a new folder for it.. name that "A" .. then make changes to it and save it again as "B" and so on.
start with just a few..
then go to image ready.. then file/import/folder as frames

the altered photos appear as frames and if you click the play button on the animation pallet you'll see a rapid animation of your work... so then you learn to fine tune.

Another thing to try with image ready is to open one of my animations...
this will appear like the above mentioned animation.

It was actually made with layers (eagles etc.) but I don't think you have conquered those yet have you ? LAYERS... once the concept gets thru allows many more possibilties in various aspects of photo editing.

I have yet to find a decent tutourial for making gold lettering..

Tutorials that might help:

Antique Gold Lettering (http://www.myjanee.com/tuts/antgold/antgold.htm) - This probably isn't the gold color you're looking for, but hopefully you can use the process and apply a different color.

Creating Animations in Image Ready (http://www.myjanee.com/tuts/animation/animation.htm)

Jeanie

I did find that tut on antique gold yesterday in my travels it didn't look like it led where I wanted to go although I think a big part of the solution lays with the layer style options.

that other easy to miss link you've just posted may be of interest to Wayne..

http://www.myjanee.com/tuts/animation/animation.htm

thanks though on the gold... I keep thinking I had a quick little program or plugin that spewed out gold font.. maybe today.

As I explained earlier, I'm no artist, but my grandson wanted to know how they made things happen in films like Shrek so I made this little animation:

http://www.mopdah.com/grow/

to show him roughly how it's done.

Go to that page, right click on the image and save it to your hard drive and then open it with Photoshop. You'll see the layers - I think there's about 18-20 layers (I got tired about then LOL) If you turn all the layers off and then start at the bottom and turn them on one by one, you can see how I made it appear "animated"

To make your eagle fly across the screen, you would start with a canvas the width of the screen and then draw the eagle a bit to the right in each layer. One of the examples I posted before appears to be flying in place, but by making the canvas wider and moving the image on each layer, the eagle could be made to look like it was flying across the screen.

Remember that I'm working in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Once you have the layers set up, go to File>Save for Web on the right hand side of the dialog box that comes up there are some settings, look for a checkbox that says "Animation" click on that, click on "Gif" and you should be good to go.

Practice with making a ball bounce, or an arrow before you tackle an eagle just so you understand how to make the layers.

It's the same principle as when you used to draw naughty pictures on the edges of your text book pages and flipped them at the cute girl that sat behind you in biology class in high school - don't try to tell me that wasn't you..... :happy:

Margaret

You mentioned file size on the animation didn't matter much because most members had Road runner for an ISP... ok well the full sized of this is 180kb too large to post here.

I had posted it on yahoo/geocities but it must have been too wide.... 800pixels ... it was corrupted there. oh well! ... if you want it I'll send it.

the one I posted here is 60% and is 98kb.

now don't feel I expect you to use my work... as I said before few chances come along to play with animations ...
I hope you like it though.
RonDon

I am truly amazed. I just had a meeting with 6 of my fellow officers from 565 and it's the first time that I have ever seen them speechless. I hadn't downloaded the file...just went to the post and , as I said, they were awe-stuck. You're right about any proficiency with layers (yet...but I'm working on it). The links and info provided by Jeanie and Margaret are awesome and I am enjoying "playing" with the whole thing. Thank you, ladies.

On July 4th (this year) I will be running a 50/50 raffle at the Eagles for my favorite group, RetouchPRO. I can do this because the event is my Wedding! I will send the proceeds on the 12th (as soon as we are back from Montreal).

Thank you ALL, each and every one of you for the time that you have given and the knowledge which you have shared. I sincerely hope that I am able to do the same in the not too distant future.

Wayne

I think everyone here likes to have a hand in donations to this site.... raffle sounds great..

Now I've been busy with some other site ideas.. these are just things you might use to brighten up the ole web page..

I will soon have them on a web page for you to view... and chances are I will continue playing with it if you don't mind... sort of a ghost site.

so come back soon and I should have a link to it.
RonDon

Would I mind?! Sure, like I mind winning the Powerball Lottery. Thanks for your time and trouble. One last question (for the 4PM Friday session, that is). How can I save this as a .gif file? I want to stick it on a CD so other members can check it out. Thanks again.

Wayne

well I save most photos I want out here just by right clicking on them... while open... the save dialog box should be trying to save it as a .gif file if you take a close look to be sure

It's up now but I am finishing up the buttons ... you can see the full sized ani as well as a background thought ... glad you are enjoying it..
RonDon

here is the correct address http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/i/sidetrek/cascoeagles.htm

sorry bout that

I know that "WOW!" is hardly the word for this site but I can't believe you put that together so fast. Can the buttons be labeled (i.e., Officers, Contacts, Directions, Menu, Coming Events, Newsletter, etc.)? I have (I believe 25 or so pages available. I also have photos of the clubs exterior and the 9200 sq.ft interior to post. And, of course, how much woud the site, as you have it, cost to import? Please let me know. Have to run for an appointment but will return later. Thank you again (and again and again)

Wayne

actually it wasn't all that fast a throw together..... but that's my problem I like to do it but seldom a reason. so I'm not fast... maybe half fast... :)

That raffle sounds good for RTP...that'll be pay enough

now I Might have an idea about something I would like .. maybe a link to my site... http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/i/sidetrek/

maybe something better could come of it ... the resulting members photos being posted on the Eagles Website.. with a share for a cause.. that sort of thing. just a thought though.
I was just getting ready to colorize a photo of Union Station. I also have a poor one of it coming down... I remember that alright.. sad day... sea gull rode it down... well part way ... I'll post that on a page for now as well.
I'll give all this a try... sounds interesting enough..nice to have a project send some of those photos if you like and I'll look them over. sidetrek@bellsouth.net

Rondon,
You are amazing, what you did with the eagles is great work.
W. Rose

I don't know that I'm really good at it. Awhile back I discovered that I lacked artistic talent but could get enjoyment from the mechanical side of graphics.

You guys will have Ron all blushing with your praise :o:

Good work Ron.

I just have one question though. Do the Fraternal order of Eagles have "flag" rules that govern what you can and can't do with their logos?

I know where I used to work, the logo had to be in the upper left, 17 pixels from the top and 22 pixels from the left and blah, blah, blah.

Don't know where to check that out. They may even already have an animated version - sorry I didn't think to mention it before all that work.

Margaret

raining just as the parade begins :(

But I hadn't thought of that... I checked out a few and it looks optional... many used the same background.. some the same template.. but others are homegrown. here's one... http://www.foe.com/4476/ ... and here's the national registry .. http://www.foe.com/aeries/index.html
I can use buttons for all the nat'l links... etc.

On the praise though... i'm really a person who is uncomfortable with it... uncommon as it may be ;)

Didn't want to rain, but better to check before you go further - it would be a shame for you to do all that work and then see it go to waste because of some uptight rule.

I wish I had time to get into this but this weekend, I'm hosting grandkids and you can imagine what that's like :D

Take care, Margaret

As a chartered Aerie, we use the Eagle Logo. I would like to have a link to the Grand Aerie so people could find merchandise, officers of the Grand, etc. Other than that, the links should direct viewers to pages specific to Aerie 565. The officers page is woefully out of date but if you tell me how to get in, I can re-post the new officers. We have a full service restaurant at the Aerie (open 5 to 9, Wed-Sat) and I would like to be able to post our menu. Entertainment is Wed thru Sat and we also have many upcoming special events. The section on Charities (at our level) would list whatever charity is the recipient of the Auxilliary 50/50 tickets for that month. The background tiling is fine with the Grand Aerie. As far as the Eagle Magazine is concerned, I will talk with the webmaster and Secretary at the Grand and find out if there is any objection to this inclusion or if they would prefer just a link. I'll talk with you later this weekend. I have to shoot a wedding on a beautiful summer day in a little seacoast town in Maine. Who says life ain't good?

Thank you,
Wayne