Basic Fade

In this tutorial, you will be learning how to animate anything with the basic fade. I am using a 50 by 50 pixels icon as an example. You will need Jasc Animation Shop 3, which you can download here. You can also create an account at Iconator and upload your outcome. Before we begin, you should download the "04b24" font, which you can find here and install it. Though it is not mandatory, I strongly recommend it.

Step One: Create a new image by clicking on the icon of a blank white piece of paper (). You can also go to "File" and click on "New," like so:


Something should pop up, and when it does, make sure the width and height are both set to "50" or "48." Those are the standard sizes for a normal icon. I chose 50 for both. This is what the screen that pops up should look like:

Click "Okay." Something like the following should pop up:

Step Two: On the color palette at the right side of the screen (If there is no color palette on the right side of the screen, click on the rainbow colored icon () or go to "View" and select "Color Palette."), click on the foreground color block.


Something like the following should pop up.

Now choose any color. I chose black.

Step Three: Now click on the text tool, or the big black "A" icon (). Click anywhere on the blank image. Something like this should pop up:


Enter any text you want on the icon where it says "Enter text here." I am using my name (Alice). Next, select the "04b24" font I recommended above, or "Small Fonts." Make sure the "Antialias" is unchecked, and that the font size is set to "6." Make sure your settings match mine, except for the text, which you could set as anything you want. Click "OK." Now the pop up will disappear, and the text you entered will be "attatched" to the mouse. It should automatically take the text to the middle of the image. That is where I will click and leave the text, but you can put your text anywhere you want.

Step Four: Click on the "Duplicate" button a few times (3-5 times should be enough), which looks like this:


I clicked it four times. This is how it looks like now:

(Click to enlarge. It will open in a new window.)

Step Five: Choose what color you want your fade to be. I chose purple and clicked the foreground block on beneath the color palette on the right side of your screen (shown in step two). On the big color palette that pops up, go to the color you want. Then move it so that it's almost black. I chose purple, so if you chose purple too, click here to see how it should look. (See how it's practically black, but it still has that purple-y tint? If the background of my icon was black, I would have chosen a purple that was almost white first.)

Step Six: I zoomed in by using the scroll in my mouse. You can also click the Zoom icon. Then I clicked the Flood Fill, or bucket, icon. I used the bucket to fill in the "A" in the first frame. Then I clicked the "L" in the second frame, the "I" in the third frame, and so on. Click here to see it. To make the dark purple easier to see, I changed my text color to green.

Step Seven: Now you're going to repeat steps Five and Six, but with a different shade of purple. Click the foreground block, then change the color so it's slightly lighter. Don't make a huge leap, though, or else it's not as smooth. Next, you click on the bucket tool again and start with the SECOND FRAME this time. You fill in the "A" in the second frame, the "L" in the third frame, and so on. Then you repeat this several times, each with a lighter shade and starting on the next frame. If you run out of frames, you can just duplicate more. When you finish and you have extra frames, just delete them. These are the shades I used (including the first shade):
ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE.
I usually use around 7 to 10 different shades. Seven might be cutting it too close, though. The minimum you should use for a decent fade is 8 shades. The more shades you use, the more the fade flows.

Step Eight: This is my final product:


Optional Step: This is an optional step. This is for if you don't want to see the original text color. (In my case, it's the green text). Go to "Animation," then click "Replace Color," like so:


This should pop up:

Where it says "Replace color in:" select "All frames". Where it says "Replace," click on the block of color and click on the color of the original text that you want to remove. For me, it's the green color. Where it says "With," click on the block of color and select your background color. My background color is white, so I chose white. My new product looks like this: