So, ya wanna make your own Battle Bits comic using Flash, eh? Well... that means you must have your own legitimate, licensed copy, right? And you've registered it with Macromedia, correct? Good. Because if you were using a bootleg copy of Flash that you downloaded from some P2P program like KazaaLite for instance, then you'd really be in trouble. Because we have ways of telling if the program you're using has a false serial number that you got from somewhere like http://www.crackspider.net. So... I guess I'm just saying that its a good thing that you're not one of those types with a free bootleg copy that you acquired just so you could make Battle Bits comics, because then I'd really have to put the hurt on.

To make you're comic, you'll want to download the most recent image libraries HERE. This file is a flash file that should be compatible with any version of flash from Flash 5 on up. Now, open the .fla with your copy of flash. Once it loads, hit Ctrl+L a couple of times until it opens the library.

The first thing you need to do is drop in the comic borders. In the library, select ~Backgrounds/BORDER and drag it onto the stage. This is the appropriate borders for a 4 panel comic. If you want to do a single panel comic, you can draw a white square covering up the middle lines. If you want to do a larger comic, copy the bottom two panels and use them to lengthen your comic. Important note: THE COMIC CAN BE TALLER, BUT NOT WIDER.

The library is organized into various body parts. For instance, if you wanted a comic which included Necrobile's head, go to Head Bits/Necrobile, and drag it onto the stage. For convenience sake, there are generic pre-assembled templates of whole characters under ~TEMPLATES. This includes the body, hair, and one hand of each character. Then you can drop on facial expressions, possibly a second gesturing hand and WALLA! Exmoure is drooling and pointing at OMG Girl.

If you have Battle Bits that are hanging out of a frame and you want to crop them up, select the Bits and use Ctrl+B a few times until it breaks down into lines and fills. Then you can use a marquee to select what you want to chop off and delete it. If you want to reform your Bits, select the parts you want to group and use Ctrl+G to regroup them.

If you are having trouble making your comic funny, you should check THIS out.

Once you have a comic that you want to submit, go to File/Export Image. Save your comic as a .png, and when it pops the next screen, input the following settings:
Width: Ignore this
Height: Ignore this too
Resolution: 72
Include: Minimum Image Area
Colors: 24 bit (no alpha)
Filter: None
Interlaced: Off
Smooth: On
Dither solid colors: Off

If you want to fiddle around with these settings, or if you want to save your image as another format, feel free to do so. As long as the image is an appropriate file size, not wider than 500 pixels, and doesn't look like ass, we'll accept it.

Now all you have to do is send your comic as an email attachment to xykojest@battle-forum.com, subject: "Battle Bits Comic" and put the following information in the body of the email:
Author
Comic Title

And... there ya go! Your comic will appear in the Battle Bits archives whenever I get around to it! ^_^

If you're having trouble making your comic, bother someone else. This tutorial is not here to teach you to use Flash. It's not here to teach you to be funny. Its here to show you how to use the image library we've created to make your own comic. However, if there is something that you feel should be included in this little tutorial, send an email to xykojest@battle-forum.com, subject: "Battle Bits Tutorial". I will NOT reply to your email personally to help you. My writing this tutorial does not mean I have to personally help each and every one of you with each of your problems: quite the opposite in fact. But if enough people feel like something should be in the tutorial it will probably be included in a future version.

That being said, go make me some funnah!