Started: 05/08/2002 *~*~* Updated on: --/--/----
You might wonder what my web dolls in my Web Dolls Room are for. They do have a purpose besides decoration.
The dolls are used in a chat program called The Palace. In most chat programs, like ICQ, mIRC, and Yahoo! Instant Messenger Chat, there is a screen for you to type in, and a screen that shows you what everyone is saying and who's talking. You may even have a small screen that tells you who's in the chat room. But that's pretty much it.
In Virtual Places Chat, the big screen has some kind of background, usually revalent to the room that you are in. You use little pictures as your avatars, and when you send what you type, the message appears in a speech ballon, like the comics.
The Palace is like VPChat, but your avatars are dolls. Sometimes they're pictures, and sometimes their signs or objects. But mostly they're dolls. Unlike VPChat, you can even edit your dolls --also called "Props"-- and give them transparent backgrounds --showing only the doll, itself--, flip image, and even make a "ghost" image. Guest avatars are 3-D-looking smiley faces --like the emiticon images that you see in forums, guestbooks, VP Chat, YIM, and places like that.
You can even make dolls for use in Palace. You need a paint program that allows you to save pictures as gifs. Only gifs work in the Palace. Paint Shop Pro is a good paint program. I use a very old version that allows gifs, but does not make pictures transparent. But it works out, since they can be made transparent in Palace.
Also, there is a limit to size. The dolls are made up of "Props", from 1, up to 9 (Max) pieces. Each prop is 44 pixels wide by 44 pixels tall. The maximum is 132 pixels X 132 pixels. Dolls can be smaller, but not larger than this. See All About Dolls, Jade's Links, and PalaceTools.com for more information. (Links below).
You'll also need the Palace Palette, available at Jade's Links or PalaceTools.com. It's a special set of colors for use in Paint Shop Pro, or other paint program, and contains the colors usable in Palace. Without it, your doll may look wrong.
Many sites have Dollmakers where you can create dolls for use in Palace. Follow the instructions on the page when making your doll.
Don't know how I can keep updating this page, but I can try.
On-Site Links
VP Chat
Web Dolls Room
Yahoo! Instant Messenger Page
Links
All About Dolls: Free doll bases, tuturals, dollmaker, and links.
Cartoon Doll Maker: Free doll maker: Preps, Boys, Goth and more!
Chillin' Central: Dollmakers, including a pre-teen dollmaker.
Jade's Links: Palace links and a wonderful illustrated Palace tutural.
PalaceTools.com: Get the Palace program --a mere 1.91 megabytes-- and other tools for the chat program. Tuturals too.