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Welcome to the HeroMachine! This Flash-based application allows you to create characters or fantasy sports logos you've always imagined, but couldn't draw for yourself. Please drop us a line and let us know what you think of the project so far. And check back at http://www.heromachine.com regularly for updated information about the program.
Navigation Help: Main View sample images. Save the current character. Load a previously saved character. Print the current character. Call up this help document. E-mail your feedback to AFD Studios. Find out how to contribute to the HeroMachine project. Clear the current character and choose a new dimension. Components Go back one item within the currently selected component. Clear the currently selected component. The name of the currently selected component. Clicking here sets the current component without advancing it. Once the component is selected, use the arrow keys to navigate within it, or change your color selection. The name turns red when it is the current component. Have the program select a random item from within the current component. Advance forward one item within the currently selected component.
FAQ: How can I be informed about updates to the HeroMachine? When the application comes up, I don't see any text, and nothing happens when I click on what look to be the buttons. I mailed my character to a friend, but when they try to load it, the application times out and I get an error message asking if I want to cancel the script. I can't copy the Save Character text. I loaded a character I'd saved some time ago, and it's not the same. What's up with that? Are bald men, in fact, better men than the more common hairy variety? My character is too small, and I can't see it very well. Is there a way to zoom in? What do I do? What do I do with my character when it's done? Why doesn't anything happen when I click on a color? Can I export my character as a graphic like a .GIF, .JPG, or .BMP? What happened to the Female Super-Hero Brick? Can I have the HeroMachine software sent to me on disc or CD? Who owns the copyright for the character(s) I create? What does the HeroMachine cost? How can I be informed about updates to the HeroMachine? You can join the HeroMachine Updates mailing list by sending a message to heromachine-updates-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. You can also join the e-group yourself at http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/heromachine-updates. When the application comes up, I don't see any text, and nothing happens when I click on what look to be the buttons. You probably need to upgrade your Flash plug-in version. Go to Macromedia.com and get the latest version (5.0) of the Flash Player. This solves most functionality problems with the HeroMachine. I mailed my character to a friend, but when they try to load it, the application times out and I get an error message asking if I want to cancel the script. Some e-mail applications insert line breaks into text blocks. When trying to load such text blocks, the HeroMachine's behavior can be unpredictable. If this happens to you, paste your character's parameters into a word processing program, and turn on all hidden characters. Remove any paragraph breaks, then copy and paste the result into the HeroMachine's load box. For best results, paste your character into a text-only editor (like Notepad) and send that to your friend as an attachment to your e-mail message. I can't copy the Save Character text. First, left-click in the text box so the flashing cursor is in the text. Then, right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac) and choose Copy from the fly-out menu. Then paste the text into your favorite editor and save it however you wish. If you cannot copy the text at all, you may have a problem with your clipboard (especially under Windows NT). In this case, open your Clipboard Viewer (under Accessories in Windows NT) and clear the clipboard. It should work then. I loaded a character I'd saved some time ago, and it's not the same. What's up with that? As I am still in a beta version of the software, the different dimensions will change somewhat while I adjust specific images. In that case, it's possible a component you'd selected no longer exists. Unfortunately, there is no remedy in this event -- just choose a different component item. Are bald men, in fact, better than the more common hairy variety? Yes, bald men are definitey superior to "normal" males in almost every way. All of the time others spend primping their hair can instead be spent on the bald man's significant other. They are generally smarter, more robust, and have a quiet confidence that makes them wonderful companions. My character is too small, and I can't see it very well. Is there a way to zoom in? Yes, Flash allows you to zoom in on any area of the drawing by right-clicking (Windows) or ctrl-clicking (Macintosh) on the area you want to see and choosing Zoom. To return to the full view, repeat your click and choose Show All. What do I do? Check the navigation section below. The HeroMachine is an online character creator. You cycle through different items to outfit and design your character. For instance, you can change hair styles and colors, eyes, noses, coats of armor, boots, weapons, and more! Or if you like sports, you could design the uniform for your own fantasy team! What do I do with my character when it's done? You can save your character's parameters by clicking on the Save icon (the picture of the diskette) on the left hand side of the application. Copy and paste the results into a text editor, or e-mail them to a friend so they can see your creation. You can also print your character (click on the Print button within the HeroMachine -- using the Print command from the File menu of your browser will not work). Why doesn't anything happen when I click on a color? Not all components have color choices available. Some have no colors, some have one, and some have two. There is no way at this time to tell which is which without trying it out, so warm up that mouse and get ready to click! You might also have cleared the current component, in which case there's nothing to color. Try advancing one item using the arrow key for that component, then try your color. Can I export my character as a graphic like a .GIF, .JPG, or .BMP? There is no way within Flash itself to export images at run-time to a local drive. There are two workarounds. One is to use a screen-capture utility (for instance, alt-printscreen in Windows) to capture the entire screen image (including your character) to the clipboard. You can then open a paint program (like the aptly-named Paint in Windows), paste the image there, crop it, and save it as whatever you like. The second is a bit more involved. You have to install a local PostScript printer driver (i.e. the Canon LBP-8III PS-1) and choose to PRINT TO FILE when you print to it. Save the file with a .ps extension, then open it with Photoshop. You will get a high-resolution, color image in Photoshop that you can then manipulate however you like. What happened to the Female Super-Hero Brick? The Female Brick is in the works, but is not yet ready for release. Can I have the HeroMachine software sent to me on disc or CD? At this time the HeroMachine is available ONLY as a downloadable product -- it is not possible to have it sent on any removable media. Who owns the copyright for the character(s) I create? You own the copyright for the idea and concept of your character, though the actual image you create with the HeroMachine belongs to AFD Studios. Use of that image for non-commercial purposes is granted automatically. If you would like to use the image on a commercial site, please contact AFD Studios. What does the HeroMachine cost? The HeroMachine is free for your use. If you find the application useful and entertaining, then we encourage you to send in a donation to help defray Internet Hosting costs, which, due to the popularity of the program, have skyrocketed. Known Issues: Saving character parameters into an e-mail can sometimes cause improper line breaks to occur in the text block. One workaround is outlined in the FAQ, above. Copying text into the clipboard from Flash is flaky. Minimum resolution is 800x600. Due to the nature of the Flash Player, the higher your resolution the better the application will look. At 1280x1024 it looks fantastic. You must have the latest version of the Flash Plugin to print your character. The higher resolution your printer is capable of, the better the result will be. I printed out a test on a color laser printer at Kinko's, and let me just say it was unbe-freaking-lievable. The Super-Hero | Brick | Female genre is in the works but is not yet ready for release. Versions & Updates: 1.0.1 release -- 4/7/01 post date. Updated main wrapper site with new information and e-mail links. Introduced the Fantasy | Humanoid | Male genre. Posted the two winning Male Brick entries to the Previews Page: Bulldog by Marcus Wagner and Megaton by Scott Schofield. Nice job! 1.0 full version release -- 3/1/01 post date. Introduced an entire new site around the application, built entirely in Flash. Changed the name of the Martial Artist genres to M-Artist for Macintosh file name compatibility. Added code to automatically change the name in a saved Martial Artist character to the new M-Artist name so old characters can still be successfully loaded. Introduced the Super-Hero | Brick | Male genre. Posted the two winning Female Blaster entries to the Previews page: Aleena Stormwind by BTP and Wanda by Shawna Adams. Thanks for the great entries! Slightly modified the Preview page for clarity, space, and to help discourage the submission of non-contets entries. Masked the character layer, so that items previously extending outside the borders of the character screen do not overwrite the navigation buttons. Updated copyright dates to reflect the actual year of release. Sports | Basketball template added to .ZIP file. 0.7.3 -- 1/31/01 post date. Initial release of Super-Hero | Blaster | Female. For a complete list of items found in this dimension, please see the Item List. 0.8 -- 2/3/01 post date. Fixed a bug in the Load script that would crash the application if carriage returns, spaces, or line returns were found in the load character text box. You can now cut and paste character parameters into the load box directly from HTLM pages, text files, or e-mails without having to manually edit out those erroneous characters. Removed all genres that were not complete from the selection boxes to reduce confusion. There are no more NA genres appearing in the genre selection boxes. Posted the winners of the Super-Hero | Male | Blaster character design contest to the Preview page. Many thanks and congratulations to Jennifer Povey (Dart) and Joe Charneskie (Wild Tiger). Also, credit is given in the character name for Lord Atmos (Edwin Woody). 0.7.3 -- 1/31/01 post date. Initial release of Super-Hero | Blaster | Female. For a complete list of items found in this dimension, please see the Item List. 0.7.2 -- 1/16/01 post date. Initial release of Super-Hero | Blaster | Male. For a complete list of items found in this dimension, please see the Item List. Main Application Additional component slots added to main application Functionality added to check Flash version when printing -- if the incorrect version is found, the user will get a dialog box directing them to download the most current version in order to print. Previously, the application would just hang. Added Bee Sting (thanks to Darrin Wiltshire) and StreeAngel (Marc Perry) to the Previews Page under Super-Hero | Martial-Artist | Females. Thanks, guys! 0.7.1 -- 1/2/01 post date. Addtions made to Super-Hero | Martial-Artist | Male & Female: "Golden Age" non-finned helmet Camo pants Plain blue-jean pants added to "Leggings" component Shoulder pads added to "Coats" component Energy glows added to "Weapons" component Quivers added to "Back" component Addtions made to Fantasy | Human | Male & Female: Quivers added to "Back" component Backpack added to Female's "Back" component 0.7 -- 12/20/00 post date. New dimension Super-Hero | Martial-Artist | Female added. ToolTips functionality added. When mousing over pertinent buttons, information about that button now appears in the information window. Addtions made to Super-Hero | Martial-Artist | Male: "Big" Hair "Golden Age" helmet Skull helmet Fedora helmet enlarged to cover more hair Blank circle and blank triangle insignia added to allow the user to manually draw in their own logos using a paint program (or Crayons!) Round metal belt Half-coat with fur collar (think the main character of Final Fantasy VIII) Fingerless gloves Backless gloves Spiked Fighting Knives Dual Katanas Dual Escrima Sticks Resized Sai weapons to be smaller on the recommendation of a user more experienced with martial arts than me (like THAT's hard!) Shields Addtions made to Fantasy | Human | Male: "Big" hair Half-armor in the Gladiator style "Golden-Age" type helmet "Robin Hood" type helmet Spiked fighting knife Flared gloves Longbow added to the "Back" section (it wouldn't fit anywhere else...) I can't believe you're still reading this. 0.6.1 -- 12/14/00 post date Modification to the way colors on the color bars are represented, so they exactly match the colors appearing on the character. Major additions to Fantasy Human Female. Minor additions to Fantasy Human Male. Minor additions to Super Hero Martial Artist Male. Addition of more colors (including more caucasian skin tones and a non-pinkish red) to the color bars. Modification of text logo in the application and on help screens. 0.6 -- Addition of save and load functionality. Addition of sample characters screen. 0.5 -- post date 11/27/00 Backend color code changed to allow for randomization and addressing of colors. Logos removed from screen shot of character to avoid confusion, but still present on printed version. Added copyright notices. Additions to Martial Artist Male and Fantasy Human Male dimensions. 0.1 -- First official version number. This is the help file for the HeroMachine on-line Character Creator by Jeff Hebert. If you're a beta tester and I don't know it, please drop me a line and let me know what you think of the project so far.
FAQ | Updates | Known Issues | Navigation | Feedback | Top All images on this and all subsequent pages is copyright © 2001 Jeff Hebert. Permission to reproduce these images for personal use is granted; all other rights are reserved.