Wheezy's Graffiti Wall Basics
Wheezy Bee is a talented and highly-respected SmallWorlds artist. Here she shares some basic tips and tricks to keep in mind when using the Graffiti Boards.Graffiti Wall Widget Basics
First things first, let's get to know the board itself. Here you can see a picture of it as you'd see once you put it on a wall and click on it in-world.
See the little wrench in the upper right corner? ( circled in the image ) That's an important thing. Clicking on that wrench will bring up the panel you see in the next image.
This is where the magic starts. There are three very important links on this panel that you should get to know and use well. The first is settings. ( circled in red ), the second one is security ( circled in black ) and the third is interactions ( circled in green ).
Let's click on the first one, settings and check out the panel that pops up. See that black box in the corner and the slider underneath it?
This is how you alter the default color of the background on your board. Go ahead click on the black box and you'll see a palette full of optional colors just like the one in the picture here.
Hovering your mouse over any of them and then clicking will change the background color of your board. The slider controls the opacity of the background you choose, if you slide it back and forth and check the color you'll see it gets darker or lighter depending on the percentage on the slider.
Let's go back to that first panel and look at security. In the picture you'll see I've set this board so no one can edit it but myself. It's possible to allow anyone to view it (as I've chosen) but that's up to you. The two critical settings are the lower ones ( circled in black ) these should always be set as they are in the picture. Preferably before you even begin to paint.
Again going back to the panel, let's click on interactions. The panel that pops up holds the default options for the widget. If the default setting is checked the "orange draw button" will appear when someone clicks it ( depending on the security settings above of course ). If it is unchecked the default draw button will not appear for anyone including whoever owns it.
Great that's the basics. Now let's go inside it using the big orange draw button.
NOTE: if for any reason you do not see the orange draw button on a board you own go into the interactions ( as shown above ) and make sure the default interaction option is checked, save and it should reappear.
The inside of the board is pretty straightforward, all you need is an input device - a mouse, a pen, or even your finger on a laptop ( as many do ) to create something on the canvas, so rather than focus on the inside of it as it is let's look at a few tips that can help you.
The Hexadecimal Trick
Without getting too complicated, let's say that all colors you see on a computer are hexadecimal based. Keeping that in mind you can also think of the ones in the default palette as HTML color names or Web colors.
(See this external page on Web Colors for for greater depth and more color codes )
In the image above you can see a bunch of funny looking codes with a # ( hash mark ) beside them. To use them, you place the numbers into the space where you see them on the palette. NEVER the hash mark.
You can copy them from your source and paste them in or you can type them in manually. To get the palette to TAKE/ACCEPT the color make sure:
1. You don't move your mouse as that will make whatever code is in the box reset to one of the default colors.
2. use the ENTER tab on your keyboard to "click/select" it which will enter the numbers into the palette.
These steps are important and MUST be done exactly as stated. If you try to set them there with your mouse the color will revert to the standard palette, and if you add the # before the numbers there isn't enough space to enter the code.
The default palette for the board is a bit limited, not that it can't produce amazing things, however sometimes you might want more options and it's possible to extend it using the hexadecimal trick either as a replacement or to enhance it. It can also be used to set the background color of the board in the palette under settings.
You can find HTML colors from images using photo editing software, on the net under Web colors, or if you're running Firefox by installing a handy little add-on called ColorZilla. How you find them and use them is up to you.
Here's a couple of links you can check out:
Hex Color Code Chart & Generator
The Straight and Curved Line Tricks
The straight line tip originally shared by Pandoras Box can take a bit of getting used to but is well worth taking the time to master. Here's how you do it:
Place your mouse where you want your line to begin, left click and hold the click down as you right click. Let go of the buttons and move your mouse to the place you want the line to end and left click. This will create a straight line from the first point to the second.
Note: Because a print options box pops up to the right of the mouse pointer when you use this trick I'd recommend always working your lines from right to left.
Again it goes like this:
LEFT CLICK - HOLD, RIGHT CLICK, MOVE MOUSE, LEFT CLICK
The curved line trick originally shared by Bleu Muse is an adaptation of the straight line trick. The steps and procedure are the same but repeated like this:
LEFT CLICK - HOLD, RIGHT CLICK, MOVE MOUSE, LEFT CLICK - HOLD, RIGHT CLICK, MOVE MOUSE AGAIN, LEFT CLICK.
The additional "left click hold, right click and move" creates a V shape that corrects to a curve when you let go of it. It might take a bit of practice getting this one to work but like the straight line trick it's well worth mastering.
Note: These two tricks are said to work best in Firefox, and can be done with a pen, however I wouldn't recommend using one as they take a lot of dexterity to master with that tool.
The No Hold Painting Trick
Originally shared by Bleu Muse this trick is a must for anyone who suffers wrist strain from long periods on the board.
Clicking both the left and right buttons on the mouse at the same time will bring up the print screen box seen when using the straight line trick. This might seem useless at first, however if you then hit the ALT key on your keyboard you will be able to paint to your hearts content without keeping any button down on the mouse. To make it stop - left click.
WOOT! for that one.
Preventing Your Work From Being Altered and Securing Your Signature
There is no way to guarantee someone will not attempt to sell your work as their own, but there are ways to make them look foolish when they do. The first is to use ABSOLUTELY ALL OF YOUR PAINT. This can be time consuming, yes, however it is the only way to make it impossible for anyone who buys your work to alter the content of the board unless they fully erase it. The reason this works is because of things called "sessions -- the time you spend working on the board without refreshing or leaving your space". Once you leave for any reason you cannot undo any stroke that was done before you left.
Another great way to make it even more difficult for anyone to claim your work is to sign well before you've finished it. Ideally in an area of your painting that has detail as this makes any changes to the signature obvious to those who look and impossible for a person to obscure it if the person attempts to match it with the background color of the board.
I never sign my work at the very end because I like the security of knowing it's there and that I'll never run out of paint before being able to add it.
Various Tips for Conserving Paint
The exact ratio of paint per stroke is unknown, however the more you can paint with one line DOES affect how much you will be able to put on a board. Generally it's best to break it as little as possible. What that means is try to draw large areas in one stroke rather than dozens of little ones. Over time you'll get better at knowing what those areas are.
Another thing to keep in mind is that shading really eats up the paint on the boards, and using dozens of layers of transparency will use much more than one layer at 100% opacity. This is where the hexidecimal trick comes in very handy. Instead of using layer after layer to build a color as you must do with the default palette, you can begin with a shade much closer to your desired result. This saves an incredible amount of paint allowing you to produce much more complex images.
Using full opacity to block out large areas and subsequent layers of varying transparencies for the finer details of something really makes a difference.
These tips take time to master, but with patience if you use them, and get used to how they can work for you, you'll be able to do much more with the graffiti widget.
If you're completely new to drawing I recommend searching for some good tutorials on how to as there are plenty of them out there on the net. Here's one I've used myself from time to time.
Like all things, learning to use the Graffiti Wall Widget takes time, perseverance, patience and dedication. Hopefully the few things I've written here will help you do that.
Good luck! and happy painting.
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