Category Archives: Tips & Tricks

Advice and hints on how to create the perfect character illustration.

How to Use HeroMachine Locally

Hi all, with big thanks to HeroMachiner Eric Bowling, here's how you can use HeroMachine outside of your browser. Adobe has said they're going to be force uninstalling the Flash Player (the standalone player basically) but I don't know that applies to this particular version.

Basically you download a local Flash Player application, then put in the URL for a .swf file (a compiled Flash object, which is what HeroMachine uses) and it plays. I've tried it on my Mac with HM3 and HM2 and it seems to work like a champ. You'll still need an Internet connection but if this goes well I may bundle up the files and make them available online so you could truly run it all locally. We'll just have to see, I don't want to sell people something and then BAM Adobe force uninstalls the Flash Players and it no longer works.

Anyway, the article explaining how to get the Standalone Flash Player Debugger is at https://www.howtogeek.com/438141/how-to-play-adobe-flash-swf-files-outside-your-web-browser/ – install the one relevant to your Operating System.

Once the Flash Player Debugger is installed per the instructions in that article, launch the Flash Player Debugger and go to "File -> Open Location". This is where you type in the URL to a .swf file. Do not download the .swf file to run from your hard drive, that will not work, you must use "Open Location" and put in one of the URLs below! Here are the ones for HeroMachine so you can just copy and paste:

For fun, here are the URLs for some of the hardly-ever-used versions:

CAVEATS: The "Export as an image" function in HM3 will NOT work. Saving as a text file will. 

I think that's pretty much it. Let me know if you run into issues with this, though honestly, there's not a lot I can do since I can't edit the source files any more and I can't control what Adobe does with their players.

Frankenstein your items….

Hey 'machiners!

Did you know you have the means to create your own items out of others?

There is a whole bunch of possibilities when using the masking tool and "frankenstein" them together.  Here is an example....

I took 2 Croc heads from HEADS/ANIMAL section and did this....

Took a 3/4 turn item and made it head on.  Pretty cool, eh?

Here is how I did it...

There are treasures to be found in all item categories.  Happy hunting!

***For a more in depth step by step post, please visit this page created by SULEMAN.

http://www.heromachine.com/2016/05/06/submission-box-suleman-tutorial-frankensteining/

Stay Safe and Cheers!

NEW BLOGGER!!!

Hello!

What a crazy world we live in!  COVID-19 has touched everyone (I suspect) and our lives have been changed.  People are out of work, students have been sent home for their safety and we are all trying to "self isolate" to get a handle on this thing to stop the spread.  My family and I have been home for almost 2 weeks from work/school not knowing what is to happen next, but will do our best to contribute to help combat this disease by following the new standards put forth by our respected governments.  Which means we have some time on our hands...

So I have decided to test my hand at the "blog" thing and start posting some Tips & Tricks.  I will do what I can to help with any questions/suggestions for posing or highlighting to help bring your creations to where you want them.  If I cannot help you, there is a vast collection of artistic minds that may have a tip or two that could be shared.

Please let me know what you would want to see from me in the comments below and let's support each other with the creation of some new awesome character designs.

Cheers!

Heromachine Tutorials with Suleman

Heromachine 3: Design choices, starring Apatite

This is a little piece on how I personally make choices in character design, using my latest Heromachine thing, Apatite, as an example. I’m not a professional and these are only my uneducated opinions, but maybe they can help you as well?

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Submission Box: Suleman Tutorial – Clothing from an angle

Here is the second post in the new "Submission Box" feature of the blog. Once again it is a Tutorial from Suleman. I hope you enjoy .........

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Suleman’s Tutorials #2: Shading in Heromachine 3, part 2

Here is the second tutorial from community member Suleman which will appear after the jump.

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Suleman’s Tutorials #1: How to get started with basic shading in HM3

One of our own community members Suleman has put together a series of tutorials for HeroMachine 3.0 and has graciously allowed me to post them here on the blog for your use and enjoyment. I will be posting one a week for the next several weeks on Saturday morning, and here is our first one below after the Jump!

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Character Building with JR19759

Remember guys this is the last Character Building tutorial video I am planning to do, so if you have any ideas for replacement posts for the Tuesday blog slot in the new year, leave them in the comments below. Hope this series was helpful for some of you.

Character Building with JR19759

Sorry that the audio and video aren't synched properly on this one guys. I think I might have cropped the audio clip a bit much, but it doesn't make a huge difference, I'm still talking about all the right things in all the right places.

As I say in the video, next week is shading and it will also be the last video of the series. If you have any suggestions for future projects, if you want to see other video tutorials on stuff I haven't covered in these videos, or if you want to see something different, leave you ideas down in the comments below.

Character Building With JR19759

Hey guys, sorry this is late. As I explained in the last post, I just haven't had much time this week. At least I got it done. As requested, this week I'm tackling anime style faces and hair, along with Japanese honourifics and the custom colours. I apologise for the horrible loud sound right at the beginning, I got carried away and clapped during the intro, completely forgetting I wasn't on camera.

Also, if you want a step-by-step guide for how to do anime style faces amongst other stuff, you can find one here- http://www.heromachine.com/forums/topic/manga-style-tutorial/