Trouble importing sprites to use for items

[NoHopeForSome]

I have been trying to create my own itmes so i followed the guide.

I created them in MS Paint
I imported the sprite but it was too big!!

So, I shrunk it down in paint to 11x17 and that was near enough the correct size.

so i selected it as an object, but when i put it on the room floor it turned the same colour as the floor and only a few lines were visable.

The object was meant to be a white business card with a few lines on it to reselmble writing. I basically made a black rectangle outline and drew 3 lines in it to look like writing, just to play about with it.

any ideas or advice on how to make better sprites using paint? I'm only on dial up internet so have problems downloading new software s it takes forever.

Thanks
Ben

[Ashen]

This is NOT THE FORUMS to ask for graphics help. If you've got something to show, and can't improve it any more yurself, post it in Critics Lounge for advice. You should also look through the Tutorials thread (also in CL) for general art help.

However, there might be a (sort-of) technical answer to your problem.
It sounds like, when you resized the sprite you lost the transparent colour. When you imported it, AGS took white for transparency, meaning the mostly-white business card became mostly-transparent. Load it up in Paint, add a line of some other colour (one that isn't used in the image) down the right side, and try again.

[NoHopeForSome]

So, if I use white on a design and import it, ASG will see the white as transparent?

I will try and use a cream sort of colour and see what happens.

Any hints on sizing as things are always too big. I tried highliting the pre made sprites and checking out there size (I think the pink poster is 11x11) but I can't tell because it wont load properly.

Is there a trick I have missed because I can't find anything in the guide?

[jasonjkay]

When importing a sprite ags takes the top left pixel and makes that the transparent colour. You can change this by adding a extra line down the side of your picture that is coloured a differant colour to everything else, this will become the transparent colour.

[strazer]

I think you can also set the dropdown box to "No transparency" in the sprite import dialog.

[Khris]

And you can choose any of the four corners.

The safest method is like this:
-draw your item, then drag a rectangle selection around it. Don't worry about the border yet, it's no problem if the selection is twice as big as the actual sprite.
-Press Ctrl-C
-Switch to AGS, select the Sprite manager (select/create a folder, if you want)
-right click into the white area to the right and choose "Import new sprite"
-make sure that the transparent colour is set to one of the corners
-click on "Paste from Clipboard", then on "Grab entire image"
-right click the new sprite, then choose "Crop sprite edges", select "yes"