Step 1
Load the product you wish to create an icon for into your IMVU Previewer.
Press the Print Screen button on your keyboard.
Open your Paint Program.
Go to Edit at the upper left corner of the screen and left-click on "Paste".
Once this image has been pasted into Paint, you can close your IMVU Previewer since it won't be needed anymore until you are ready to submit your item to the catalog. (And it slows down my computer and probably yours as well.)
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Step 2
Using the Bucket Fill Tool in your Paint program, fill all the "white" areas surrounding the avatar with a contrasting color. I chose lime green because I rarely use that color and it stands out for the purpose needed in this tutorial.
Using the Bucket Fill Tool again, paint all of the areas that you JUST painted lime green (or whatever color you've chosen to use) back to the default white in your Paint color palette.
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Step 3
Go to your Paint tool box and left-click on your select tool (the dotted lines rectangle). Select the area of the image that you would like to use for your catalog icon. Be careful not to click back on the image but keep this area selected for Step 4.
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Step 4
Go to Edit in the upper left corner of the screen and left-click on Copy in the dropdown menu.
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Step 5
Open thumbnailtemplate.bmp (which can be found by clicking here) in a new Paint window.
Go to Image at the top of the Paint window. Make sure that the "Draw Opaque" option is UNchecked.
Using the Bucket Fill tool, paint the white area of thumbnailtemplate.bmp a contrasting color. Once again, I chose lime green.
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Step 6
Go to Edit in Paint. Left-click on Paste in the dropdown menu. This will paste in the image you copied from the other Paint window. Do NOT click outside of the dotted line surrounding this image yet!
Go to Image and click on Stretch/Skew. Resize your image until your image is approximately the size you want it to be and then move the image until it's situated on the thumbnail template in the proper position. (35% usually works best for me, but it's a matter of trial and error. Undo works!). You can move or resize the image until you click outside of the dotted lines. If you choose to do so, you can also resize the image using the arrow function at the lower right corner of the pasted image, but I have found that this may easily distort the image while resizing by percentages keeps the image the same proportion as the image it was pasted from. Use your own judgement.
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Step 7
Move your mouse pointer over the lower right corner of the image until the mouse pointer turns into a diagonal arrow. Holding down the left mouse button, resize the image until only the area within the red template lines are showing. You may need to zoom in to a larger view to do this. Make sure that you do not go too far inside the red lines as this is the exact size you will need for item submission. (The red lines mark the outer edge of the image...get rid of the red lines, but that's as far as you need to go).
Save your icon as a 24-bit bitmap to avoid color distortion. Your icon should look something like the image on the right at this point.
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Step 8
Close all Paint windows.
Open Ulead Photo Express 2.0 SE
Go to File and Open in the dropdown menu in the upper left corner of the screen and Open the thumbnail you just saved in Paint.
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Step 9
Once the image is loaded, click on Selection (To the left of the image) and By Color (at the top). Click on the lime green area of the image. This will highlight the area you wish to change.
(If you want a shadow, Click on the Square with the white circle in it on the Selections menu area to invert the selection. This will select your icon image itself rather than the background. click Edit, Copy, & Paste, then go to the Shadow button (top row) and add a shadow to your image...for this option, you will need to click outside of your selection for step 10. You will need to do this to add an image to the background of your thumbnail rather than just paint. The shadow is optional, but to add an image to the background of the thumbnail, copy and paste your icon image, then open the image you want to use by going to File, Open (Do not close the thumbnail image). Once the image is loaded, click on Edit and Copy, then go back to the thumbnail, click on paste and then at the bottom of the screen, click on the downward pointing arrow to change the layer level and put this new image behind your product for the thumbnail. If using an image for your background, skip Step 10.)
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Step 10
With this area still selected, click on the Paint button to the left of the image and Fill at the top. Choose either a color, gradient, or texture and then click Apply. This will fill the background of your icon. (Another effect that I like to use occasionally can be found by clicking the Effects button to the left of the image, then on Special. There are LOADS of textures and ideas that can be created with this option!).
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Step 11
To add Text to your image, click on Text to the left of the catalog icon. Add/Edit should be highlighted at the top. Type the text you wish to use in the white text box provided. You can change the color and font face of your text with this option. Click Apply. The text is resizable and you can move it to whatever position you like just by clicking on the new text. If you wish to change the text, simply change the features in the work area to the right and click update.
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Step 12
You can add special effects to the text by clicking on any of the buttons along the top of the window. (Effects, 3D, Transform, etc.)
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Step 13
You can also add a shadow to your text by clicking on Shadow in the row of buttons at the top of the screen.
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Step 14
Save your finished image as a jpeg. Voila! You did it! Congratulations!!!
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