Create avatars

Whirled avatars are animated characters that represent the personality, mood or style of the owner to the Whirled at large. Custom avatars are easy to make with the right tools, and let you create a truly unique appearance for yourself or sell your creations to the eager masses. Follow the tutorials below for both step-by-step guides to the basics of avatar creation and helpful techniques for more advanced creators. Some avatars have "actions" and "states" that make chatting more fun!

Getting Started
The simplest way to make your own unique avatar is to buy a remixable avatar. If you want to try your hand at some programming, you can make avatars either in Adobe Flash CS3 or in standalone ActionScript 3.0.

[[Image:Icon-Flash.png]] Adobe Flash CS3/CS4/CS5
Adobe Flash CS3 is the tool that Three Rings' Whirled art department uses to make avatars. You can work from our pre-coded templates or create entire avatars from scratch. Adobe Flash CS4/CS5 is a newer version of the software, and can also be used. (Adobe's Flash page)

[[Image:Icon-Programming.png]] ActionScript 3.0
Standalone ActionScript 3.0 is targeted more at programmers. But don't be scared, just follow our tutorial! (A major plus of AS3 is that it's FREE!)


 * Notes on AS3 Avatars

Code Examples
Learning by example is the easiest way, so make sure to check out our many avatar examples in our SVN server. Some of these are created in Adobe Flash CS3 and some of these are created with standalone ActionScript 3.0.

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Documentation
Whirled APIs
 * Whirled ASdocs which contains the all important AvatarControl
 * Avatar creation FAQ

AS3 References
 * http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash/9.0/ActionScriptLangRefV3/
 * http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/ActionScript_3

There are also numerous paper books available on the subject.

Tutorials

 * Using Adobe Flash CS3 to build games
 * Setting up your programming environment
 * Hello Whirled: making your first program in AS3
 * Avatar tutorials

Other Useful Information

 * List of bases‎ - use various base files as resources
 * List of AVRG Avatar States - create avatars compatible with your favorite AVR games!
 * Whirled Avatar Tutorial on deviantART.com, by Obaba
 * MovieClipBody.as
 * Content_copying_and_derivation - Explains what materials by others you can and cannot use.
 * }
 * Content_copying_and_derivation - Explains what materials by others you can and cannot use.
 * }

Upload!
Once you are done creating an Avatar, you should upload it to Whirled!