Contents

1. What is a gesture? 
2. Software needed 
3. Putting it together

What is a gesture?
 

A gesture is a special file used in the Virtual Places chat software. The gesture file consists of 4 parts:
 

1. Animation file - a standard gif graphic consisting of 1 or more frames laid end to end like a film strip. All frames must be the same size! Note! An Animated gif graphic will NOT work!
2. Sound file - a standard Windows wav file. The sound file is optional.
3. Button file - a standard gif graphic that is 20 pixels high X 20 pixels wide.
4. Tag Line - text shown in chat software when sending or selecting the gesture from the send pallete.

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 Software needed

1. Graphics editor that can save files in gif format. I use Paint Shop Pro by JASC.
2. Sound editor that can save files in wav format. If you have a Creative Labs soundcard, Wave Studio will work. If not, try Cool Edit.
3. A gesture maker/compiler to assemble the parts. VPABuild, Gesture Genie or Big Dawg's Gesture Compiler (Out of these three, I'd recommend Gesture Genie).
   Note: when using VPABuild, sound files must be less than 30,000 bytes! Other makers/compilers allow for larger sound files, but gestures larger than 60,000 bytes (newer VP builds have overcome the 60,000 byte limit) cannot be sent to others (which is not fun, because others cannot see your new creation unless they have a copy on their computer!) across the chat software. You will need to e-mail them or send them across ICQ.

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Putting it together

At this point you should have 2 graphics and a .wav ready to compile with the VPABuild program. 

1. Select from the menu - File, New. 
2. Enter the animation (GIF) file path and name, using the Browse button if necessary to locate the graphic you just created. 
3. Enter the audio (WAV) file path and name you created, using the Browse button if necessary to locate the file. 
4. Enter the Button (GIF) file path and name you created, using the Browse button if necessary to locate the file. 
5. Enter the name to be displayed in the tool tips and in the text to be displayed when the gesture is played. 
6. Enter the width (in pixels) of each single frame of the image. 
7. Transparent Color option. (This is optional) 
8. Select the Image Loop option.  If selected, enter the frame number to which the animation should loop. The animation will loop back to the defined frame when the last frame is displayed. 
9. Select the Image Reverse option. (This is optional) If selected, the animation sequence will reverse itself once it reaches the end. 
10. If you have defined an .wav file to use, select the frame from which the sound should begin. 
11. Play Audio only once? If not selected, the audio will play every time the audio frame is reached. If selected, audio will play through once, starting from the frame at which sounds begins. 
12. Select the Test button to test your gesture. 
13. View the gesture icon in the Gesture Palette. 
14. View the gesture 
15. Save the gesture by selecting File, Save and entering a file name.
16. Move or copy the saved gesture file to your Virtual Places gestures directory.

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