Lou's Almost-Complete Guide to Presets ~ Downloading, Creating & Exporting

[Flarefur]

Lou's Almost-Complete Guide to Presets

In this guide, I'll teach you how to download presets, how to create decent to amazing presets, and finally how to export them properly. I've divided them into several posts so that, as added insurence, I will not run out of space (However unlikely.) I also happen to like to organized way Tearless managed her Mod thread. (Here) I am here to answer any questions you have, so don't be afraid to ask!

Yes, there are two pages. Exporting a preset is the first post in page 2. I'm sorry for the inconvienience; my need to be thorough caused it.

**The thread is currently under construction, please be patient

Rules

~ Regular FeralHeart rules apply
~ Respect all or any users on this thread. There are no stupid questions when it comes to presets.
~ Any examples of my presets or other people's presets here ARE NOT to be used by you, under any circumstances. They belong to their rightful owners, which may include myself.
~ Read ALL POSTS Thoroughly before asking questions; chances are the answer is somewhere there. If you ask a question that has been answered in the posts, I'll direct you to the post containing the answer.

Table of Contents

Welcome

Frequently Asked Questions

Downloading

Creation:
Introduction to Creation
Chapter 1 ~ Basic Presets
Chapter 2 ~ Advanced Presets
Chapter 3 ~ Markings
Chapter 4 ~ Fur Textures
Chapter 5 ~ Manes
Chapter 6 ~ Special Effects

Exporting

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FAQ

What are presets?

Presets are specially-created textures for your character. They can either use the main FeralHeart markings and textures, or you can create your very own! They are great for long-term role-plays, or fursonas, and bring the whole game to a new level.[/colour]

How do I make a preset?

Read below, hun.

What fur textures do you reccomend?

I use the badass textures, and I highly recommend them. It makes your presets look more professional. I'd also suggest Tearless' texture mods.

How do you make an asymmetrical preset?

Again, read below, please.

My preset isn't working. How can I fix this?

Does the preset name match your username? Did you export it? Did you put it up for download and share the link? Make sure you've done these. If not, you may have to match your username to the preset file--FeralHeart sometimes adds in unneeded capitals.

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Downloading Presets

Downloading presets is easier than most people think. In this chapter I will explain how to download and place presets so that you can see you're friends in-game.

1. The first step is to download the actual preset; usually you can find them on Mediafire or Dropbox, or sometimes even DeviantART.

2. Once you've downloaded the preset, it should be stored in your 'downloads' file. Find it, and copy it. It should be a .fhp file.



You can also move the preset, but if something happens and you loose your FeralHeart data, it's wise to have a backup. Copying automatically insures that you won't have to re-download the preset if anything should go wrong.

3. The next step is to find the main FeralHeart folder. (Windows 8 users like myself can find it in the OS: database)



Make sure you are opening the main file, not the shortcut. Otherwise you'll just start up FeralHeart.

4. Once you've accessed the main file, paste the file into 'presets'. Mind that you don't paste it into my_presets, because .fhp files don't belong there.



5. Once you've pasted the .fhp into 'presets', restart FeralHeart. To do this, simply close FeralHeart if it's open, then open it again, and voila! You can see your friend's smexy preset.

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Introduction to Creating

Creating presets is not only rewarding, but also tonnes of fun! It's neat to see your completely-customizable characters come to life with their sexy presets. From uber-detailed to one-colour presets, it's amazing to see what people can come up with.

Examples:

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[spoiler]

Here we have a preset for my fursona and main character, Louis. He started out as a wolf-version of Louis Tomlinson from One Direction, but I ended up becoming so fond of him that he (unbeknownst to me) became my fursona.

Louis has more of a detailed preset; the tattoos took a lot of work, from tracing to scanning to re-tracing to multiplying, over and over until I had most of Lou's tatts.

You can see from the picture that the tattoos are only on his right fore-leg and his two hind legs. This is an example of asymmetry.



And here, we have Damon. He has a more simple preset, and a simple design. His eyes always stun anyone who downloads his preset, and I have also become quite fond of him myself.

I made him with Damon from The Vampire Diaries in mind, and you can often find him wandering Flourite or the public maps, looking for a good, short roleplay that suits him.



And this is Thrushfeather, deputy of ThunderClan in ANR~Reborn. See the assymetry? And I recycled a modified version of the Aug 22 mackeral tabby markings to use on his pelt; sexy, no?



And my last example, Adonis. His preset is simple, yet beautiful; the darker markings defining his face make for a wondrous design.

[/spoiler]

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How to Start

Remember; presets don't always have to be complicated to be amazing. Most complicated presets look messy if you don't know how to make them correctly.

When creating presets, it's always wise to have a colour pallette picked out; this way you'll know what colours to use. You can work from there.

Always start with the base colour(s) when creating! These are the main colours on your character, and are essential in making good presets. Then you can go off picking out the colours for your various markings and eyes. The most important thing to have in mind is that the colours shouldn't clash.



All the colours on the palette above are neutral, except for the green eyes. Eyes are the only exception for the no-clash rule; Eyes that clash generally stand out and look big and beautiful, like light-blue on black or green on brown.

Once you've finished doing that, take a simple lineart and colour it in with your character's design. For example:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

You don't have to do this, but it's easier to create a preset off of a design you can clearly see.

Now you decide if the character can be made via character creator, or via advanced preset making.

The character above would have to be made with an advanced preset system.

Scroll down to learn how to make both basic and advanced presets.

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RESERVED - Basic Presets

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RESERVED - Advanced Presets

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RESERVED - Markings

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RESERVED - Fur Textures

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RESERVED - Manes

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RESERVED - Special Effects