Ai's Official Tech Support Thread

[ThirdMarioBro]

Okay, my Mom's PC went to hell in a handbasket (Motherboard death), so I've decided to build her a new one from scratch. New case, new boards, new Hard Drive, new everything.

I have the techinal know how to do it, but I need some recomendations. What kind of motherboard on the market today should I use? There's so many to choose from. My mom and sister will be using this thing and they both want the top of the line, so basically what I'm asking is, what's the best damn motherboard on the market? I can steal the PCI cards and Ram from the carcass of the old PC since they're fine.

[愛]

I would definitely suggest ASUS motherboards. They are top quality, and I have one in my current computer.

[Sewer Bull]

How to convert .avi or .mpeg file to a .gif animation?
<don't worry folks, I'm not going to change my signature here to the animated one >

[愛]

I'm just gonna copy this tutorial from the Jpop boards, because I'm too lazy to explain it myself. Don't worry about the "user posted images" because the tutorial explains itself.

_________________________________________

FAQ: How can I make a Flash avatar?

Here is a tutorial to show you how, there are several ways, this is one method. The tutorial also aims to give a brief idea of how ImageReady and Flash works at beginners level.
Hope the guide is helpful.
Any questions or comments are welcome.


Applications required:

* Adobe Image Ready
* Macromedia Flash MX
* QuickTime

1. Opening a video in Image Ready
A typical .mpg video will be used in this demonstration, though it also applies for most video formats [.avi .mov etc...] providing that you have the apppropriate video codecs.

Once ‘ImageReady’ is opened, go to: File > Open and select the video of your choice.

The following window appears, choose the option ‘Selected Range Only’ and follow the instructions: ‘Hold down the Shift key while moving the slider or clicking the arrows’.
This allows you to choose the section of the video you want to use, once you’ve done that click ‘OK’.

user posted image
__________________________________________________ __________________
However if you see the following message when attempting to open a video, it is most likely that you are missing the required video codecs.
user posted image
Try downloading the following to solve the problem:
K-lite Mega Codec Pack
Quicktime Alternative 1.32
[Credits to Hyde ^^]
__________________________________________________ __________________

2. Editing your chosen video
There may be parts of the video that you’d like to take out from your selection, you can do this by deleting the frames displayed in the ‘Animation’ window which should already be opened, if not go to: Window > Animation:

user posted image

Select the frames you’d like to delete by clicking on it once and hitting the delete button. [As highlighted in red above]
[tip: to select more than one frame hold down the ‘Shift’ key whilst making your selections.]

You can preview your movie if you wish, Go to: File > Preview In, and select the browser of your choice.

Important: Check the total number of frames by scrolling to the end in the ‘Animation’ window, do not exceed 115, better still try to aim for less than 100, simply so that your finished avatar would not end up too big in file size, it would also load quicker for all internet connection speeds.
Remember that this is an avatar you are making, not an excuse to show off minute long movie clips xD

3. Modifying the image/canvas size
After any un-wanted frames are removed you can now reduce the image size of your animation. Go to: Image > Image Size…

As you can see I’ve input ‘150 pixels’ as the new width, this is the maximum allowed at Jpop.com, you can choose a smaller width which would help to cut down the file size of the avatar too, 125 pixels usually does the job.

user posted image

You can also reduce the canvas size if you wish, for instance you may want to cut some of the top and bottom off the video so that the black borders are ‘removed’. Go to: Image > Canvas size…

4. Exporting the animation for Flash
Now that all the editing is complete you are ready to export the animation for Flash.

Depending on which version of Image Ready you have the next step could be the final one, that’s if you are using the latest ‘Adobe Image Ready CS’ version, if so you can do the following: [OR you can skip to the next part below for an alternative method, *recommended for better video compression and optimization* see->☆]

Go to: File > Export > Macromedia Flash SWF…
A window with a list of option appears, under ‘Bitmap Options’ enter the following:

* Format: JPEG
* JPEG Quality: 30 [30 is sufficient for good image quality.]

Click ‘OK’ and ‘Save’.
CS users, you have now finished your Flash movie avatar, please check the file size and make sure that its less than 300KB, if not then go back and do some more editing to make sure that it is xD We don’t want huge avatars that take forever to load on the internet now do we ^__^

☆ All versions of Image Ready users please continue with the following:
[CS version users may continue here if your preference was to skip the above method.]
Go to: File > Export > Original Document… [ImageReady 7: File > Export Original...]

A window appears with the ‘Save As’ options.
Give your animation a name and under Format select ‘QuickTime Movie’ and hit ‘Save’.
You are then asked to modify the ‘Compression Settings:

user posted image

* Select ‘Animation’
* Depth: Millions of Colors [Or ‘Thousands of Colors’, NOT Millions of Colors+]
* Quality: Medium

A brief preview image is shown on the right.


Now its time to move onto Flash!

This post has been edited by yuki melodies on Jul 11 2004, 07:12 PM

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yuki melodies
Posted: Jul 7 2004, 08:34 AM
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5. Importing the animation to Flash
Open ‘Flash’. Go to: File > Import
Select the .mov file of the animation you’ve just saved.

The following dialogue box appears, click ‘OK’.
user posted image

Followed by the ‘Import Video Settings’
user posted image
You won’t need to change anything here since we’ve already done it all in ‘ImageReady’ unless you want to decrease the scale of the image then do so by moving the slider down as you desire.
Click ‘OK’ and the following warning message appears:
user posted image
Select ‘Yes’.

6. Changing the background size
Your animation should appear in the center on the page, you now need to reduce the background size to fit your animation.

Here’s a tip to make sure the image fits the background exactly.
Click on your animation [the image on the page] and go to the ‘Properties’ window [If the ‘Properties’ window is not visible go to: Windows > Properties]

In the Y and X axes box input ‘0’ for both, your image should now be on the top corner of the page.
user posted image
Memorize the [W] Width and [H] Height of your image, then click on the background, the following appears in the ‘Properties’ window:

user posted image
Click on the button that’s next to the word ‘Size:’ [as highlighted in grey]

Now change the dimensions to those of your image and hit ‘OK’.
user posted image

You can hit the ‘Return’ key to can see your animation in action.

7. Saving the animation as a Flash Move
Go to: File > Export Movie…
In the Save As options make sure ‘Flash Movie’ is selected for ‘Format’. Click ‘Save’, the following appears:

user posted image

Click ‘OK’ and you’re done! - Finished!

Your flash movie avatar is the one with the .swf extension.
Do check it’s file size, if its larger than 300KB you could reduce the image size by going back to step 5, import your QuickTime movie [.mov file] and decrease the scale by moving the slider down in ‘Import Video Settings’. [As illustrated in step 5]


Want to personalize your avatar with text?
Here’s an extra step for those that want to add text to their avatar.

Make a new layer by clicking on the button as highlighted in red:
user posted image
Your new layer should be above ‘Layer 1’ that contains your animation.

Now select the ‘Text tool’ from the tools panel.
user posted image

The following options in the properties box appears:
user posted image
Choose the desired font, size, colour, bold/Italic text.

Click on your image and type the text.
Then in the ‘Tools’ panel select the ‘Arrow Tool’ [black arrow] and position your text to where you want it. You can hit the ‘Return’ key to see how the text looks with the animation and position it again if necessary.
When complete follow step 7 to export and save as a Flash Movie, not forgetting to make sure the file size is suitable of course! ^^

[Sewer Bull]

Thanks for such a descriptive explanation.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Does anyone know of a good converter that can rip videos into the PSP's MP4 formet? I have this sh*tty little conerter, but it's not much. I need something that can do some batch conversion and stuff at a good quality so I can get Hello! Morning and my PV's on the memory stick and watch them in bed

[愛]

Take a look at this tutorial.

I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for, because I just gazed over it, but it says you can convert .avi to .mp4 fairly easily.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Cool, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you

[愛]

I'm on a roll here. I was getting a little rocky for a second there, but I'm back in the saddle.

[R-iZZy]

Okay Ai, let's see if you can handle this one... if you can and actually do handle this, I will become the newest fan of J-Pop! *pauses* Okay, maybe not... but I'll still show my gratitude in great proportions!


Anyway: So I ripped the TMNT Vol. 1 DVD, and I have the VOB files of the turtle episodes on my hard drive, but it seems every time that when I try to convert these files to AVI files, the output file comes out TERRIBLE! The framerate is slow, the motion is choppy, the video is interlaced..... it's HORRIBLE!

I read this one guide, but the guide doesn't address how to handle NTSC-type videos well, the guide works well with PAL-type videos.

Does anyone know any fail-proof methods of converting these files to the AVI format?

[愛]

Check out this thread here . It'll help you out tons.

[R-iZZy]

Yeah, the nickyguide's digital digest was what I used, step-by-step, to try and convert these VOB files to AVI. I didn't know doom9 had a DVD2AVI guide, but it isn't telling me anything to solve the problem I've had.

When I used the Digital Digest guide, it said something about if the video is terrible, use the FILM Force option, and that didn't help the video at all. I dunno, I'm sorta stuck now.

Edit: Hold on, doom9 said something about performing IVTC... I'll have to find out where they mention performing this process.

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

How do you enter Kana and Kanji into your computer?

[愛]

Well, there's a few things you have to do. First off, you should have the Japanese language pack installed. If you've done that, then you have to go into your Regional settings, and click on the Languages tab and click on the Details button. Now you have to add the Japanese language. Click Add and find Japanese. After that, you should have the language bar show up on your desktop or in your task bar. After that, it should be self-explanatory. If you want it to automatically convert the necessary words to kanji, there's an option in the properties of your Japanese language keyboard settings. Just look around and you should find it.

Then you can do stuff like this .

[Spitfire]

My Firefox still doesn't work right...I uninstalled it and then re-installed sometimes it lets me use ' and / and other times if I press either of those it brings up the search bar. It's totally random and really annoying. Is there anyway to go into the Firefox settings and change the keys I press to bring up search? If so where do I go to change those? I looked myself but I couldn't find it ><
And when I try to do what it says in your sig it asks me to put in XP disks...but I don't have any of those. My Dad put XP on my computer o_O What should I do?

Thank you ^^

[Jester]

Hey Ai....would i have to be say....an administrator to load an language like kanji?

[愛]

Originally Posted by Spitfire666xXxXx

My Firefox still doesn't work right...I uninstalled it and then re-installed sometimes it lets me use ' and / and other times if I press either of those it brings up the search bar. It's totally random and really annoying. Is there anyway to go into the Firefox settings and change the keys I press to bring up search? If so where do I go to change those? I looked myself but I couldn't find it ><
And when I try to do what it says in your sig it asks me to put in XP disks...but I don't have any of those. My Dad put XP on my computer o_O What should I do?

Thank you ^^

In response to your Firefox stuff...that's some wild stuff there. Didn't you have this problem before? I suggested to reinstall the sucker. I also suggest to delete the folder before you try to reinstall it so the settings are gone, too. That's the only thing I can think of.

About the kanji stuff...you have to have the XP CD. There's no other way. If you can get it from your dad, or anyone for that matter, it'll work. Just make sure it's the same version that you have.

Originally Posted by Jester

Hey Ai....would i have to be say....an administrator to load an language like kanji?

You mean the administrator for your Windows? Probably. You may not have enough privileges to do that.

[Jester]

BLAST...ok...for now you will be known as Tripple ?

[Mecha Cow]

Got another weird problem....With the registry this time.

I tried to log in this morning (I use Windows XP), but instead I got a message saying Windows could not load my user profile because of something in the registry (Everything worked fine last night) and loads a blank Temp profile. I can still access all my data via My Computer, but this is still really, really annoying.

This happened to me before on my old Hard Drive...Which ended up crashing several times, because of the messed up registry I was told. So I really want this thing fixed.

My mother mentioned something about resetting the system to the way it was 24 hours earlier, but I'm not sure how to do this and I don't want to mess anything up. Would this method be a solution?

Anyway, if you have any ideas on how to fix this, I'd really appreciate it.

[愛]

Yeah, you must've done something to your registry sometime within that time period. I don't know what it is you did, but either way, what your mother suggested is a possible solution. It's called System Restore. What your computer does every so often is make restore checkpoints that you can utilize in case you "f*cked up." It's under Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and System Restore. You want to pick "Restore my computer to an earlier time." Hopefully you have a checkpoint that's before what happened to your registry.

I don't normally use this function because I take care of my computer. Even if I do have a real problem, I end up formatting, because everything I have is backed up on DVD's. It's just a matter of reinstalling everything. Give that a shot and let me know how it went.