[help] Danimator's Ichat Skin

Hey everybody I hate to post this but after searching for a couple days now I haven't come up with any solution.

Im trying to get the avatars to show up in the instant message window but Im not having very much luck I followed Danimators directions. Here is the code from my main.xml file for the emoticon pack I am using.





Edit:ok got them to show up but they only show up after I close and reopen a message window meaning the messages in history only have them but anything that I am currently typing and sending gets the plain text no image.

#213634

Ok I figured it out the emoticon plugin, script or whatever doesn't read the ":" that gets displayed in the message window until the window has been closed and it reads it through the history file. So the work around is I just had to add a ":" to each of my buddies names.

I did this so the avatar wouldn't pop up in the middle of a convorsation when I used one of my buddies names.

for anybody else needing help getting the avatars displayed make sure the marker and the other part is below the .

ps: I made this a seperate post so people could see the problem and then the solution.

#213665

i really wish there was a nice tutorial on how to do this. with images of the script and everything. i gave it a go a couple of times. but kept having problems...

#213671

Creating User Avatars in the Trillian Chat Window

By Everycredit

everycredit@gmail.com

Methodology

Creating avatars in the chat window is not difficult if you think of it not as an avatar, but as an emoticon. When my username "Everycredit" is typed, the word is replaced by a .gif icon, as if I typed or to get a happy or sad face, respectively. However, if my friend's MSN screen name is "James", it gets annoying when I say "Hi James" and get "Hi (buddy icon)". Or better yet, when they call your name, you'll see your icon in the middle of the chat window.

So the methodology behind this is to give people unique usernames that look okay in the Trillian window, but won't be used in your conversation with a buddy. I use hyphens before and after their name, so I change everyone's screen name to -James- or -Christian-. This is done by clicking on their name in the Trillian buddy window and then clicking their name again to change it.

Now the hard part.

Editing the Main.xml file

Go to your emoticon folder in Trillian. It should be in X:\Program Files\Trillian\stixe\plugins\(emoticon pack). For instance, mine is in C:\Program Files\Trillian\stixe\plugins\TP16Emoticons-16x16. Back the file up, then open the main.xml file with an xml editor or with notepad.

After creating some buddy icons, which is best at 32 x 32 pixels in a gif or bmp format (have not tried jpeg) with a one or two pixel border, look at the beginning of the main.xml file for something that looks like the following:

Enter the following code above the first bitmap tag:

(NB: The slashes in the code above are correct.)

The preceding code assumes you will keep your buddy icons in the C:\Program Files\Trillian\Buddy Pictures directory. Change it to wherever you wish to keep your buddy icons.

The "default.gif" file will be a buddy icon you will give most people, since most of us are too lazy to create a buddy icon for everyone of our buddies. It gets tedious and I hate playing with photoshop, so it's a silhouette of a person. "Me.gif" is obvious--it's the icon for yourself. Finally, "x.gif" are all the icons you want to personally make for your friends. Replace "Buddy" in the bitmap name tag in the third line to your friend's name. Make sure the "Buddy" tags are unique.

Having completed this, scroll down to where you see these lines:

Above that, enter the following code as the new first line of that section:

The "-username-" field is what you should set your MSN alias. As far as I know, you can change your MSN, ICQ, and Yahoo aliases, but not AIM. If your MSN, ICQ, and Yahoo aliases are the same, that's all you need to do for those. For AIM, open up a chat window with any AIM buddy and see what Trillian prints out as your screen name. Copy it down for and replace "-username-" with it (IT IS CASE SENSITIVE!!). Because Trillian will capitalize the first letter, it makes it less likely that a user icon will pop up in mid-conversation.

Here's an example of what my code looks like:

For your friends' icons, you will have to input all of their names into the xml document, as they appear in your chat screen. If you followed the first step of giving them unique names, use that. When you set their name in Trillian, you won't need to worry about your friends changing their names (I have a friend who changes their MSN screen name everyday--would not work if I couldn't lock their name). So use the following code:

The "-goodfriend-" would be someone I talk to often and want to create a unique source name for them and give them an individual icon. The source name points back to the unique name you gave the "bitmap name". The "-justafriend-" would get a default icon.

Remember to save the file and restart Trillian. If done correctly, it will work!

Finally, you must add a new buddy to the main.xml file every time you add a new buddy to your list. Otherwise, as you would suspect, a buddy avatar won't come up!

mfc71u.zip

Examples

Let's make the following assumptions:

(NB: Quotes are not part of the names.)

Your name = "James"

James' MSN user name = "james@hotmail.com"

James' MSN screen name (set in Trillian) = "-James-"

James' ICQ UID = "123456"

James' ICQ screen name (set in Trillian or on ICQ.com) = "-James-"

James' AIM user name = "jamesistheman"

James' AIM as displayed by Trillian = "JamesIsTheMan"

James has two friends, Ed and Timothy.

Ed's MSN user name = "ed@hotmail.com"

Ed's MSN screen name (which you set in Trillian) = "-Ed-"

Timothy's AIM user name = "timdalton"

Timothy's AIM screen name (which you set in Trillian) = "-Timothy-"

Ed will have a custom screen icon called "ed.gif". Timothy will use the default icon.

Buddy icons are kept in "C:\Program Files\Trillian\Buddy Avatars\".

(Using Danimator's skin, find "avatars.bmp" and copy them to the above directory or any directory you want, but make sure you link it to the right directory. For me, "avatars.bmp" was found in the "\\iChat2.0\images\" directory.

The coding:

Back up main.xml in your emoticons direcotry and open it with notepad.

Enter the following in the

Enter the following in the

Save the main.xml file and restart Trillian.

Checklist

O Give your buddies unique names on the Trillian buddy list. It's usually best to make it not too annoying, such as give James, whose ID is "jamesistheman", the new screen name of "-James-" or "*James*". For people who change their MSN screen name often, when you change it in Trillian, it will stay that way (therefore, when they change their MSN screen name, it does not effect how your avatars work).

O Locate your emoticon package. Usually in the "\\Trillian\stixe\plugins\" directory.

O Back-up the "main.xml" file.

O Either use Danimator's "avatars.bmp" or create your own avatars. The best, in my opinion is 32 x 32 pixels with a one or two pixel border. Save them as a .bmp or .gif.

O Save the buddy avatars in a folder and note their location (makes it easier to organize and amend later when you want to create more personalized avatars or get more friends).

O Edit the "main.xml" file and edit the "bitmap" section first, as per the instructions above.

O Edit the "main.xml" file and edit the "emoticon" section, as per the instructions above.

O Save the "main.xml" file and restart Trillian.

#216162

Part 2 - Screen Shots and Files/

Here is my main.xml file, so you can see how I did it:

<!-- Trillian Professional

=====================

Emoticon Set for skins for Cerulean-Studios Trillian Pro

Set Version: 1.7

Height of Each Emoticon: 16 px

Designed at: Design Hazard http://www.designhazard.com

Special Thanks to: Kevin and Scott

-->

Etc, etc, etc...

And a copy of my buddy icons folder:

#216173

damn, you're a frigin genius. Do you think its possible to get a square to encompass whatever you type? like a round one like adium? lke this one? there are different types on adiumx.com

http://adiumx.com/images/actionshots/tier3GregChant.jpg

#216245

Originally posted by Flarex@Sep 24 2004, 10:29 AM
damn, you're a frigin genius. Do you think its possible to get a square to encompass whatever you type? like a round one like adium? lke this one? there are different types on adiumx.com
http://adiumx.com/images/actionshots/tier3GregChant.jpg
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is it possible? Yes.

Can I do that? Probably not. I don't know if that's even Trillian. I'm not a computer programmer by trade, but it was simple if you toyed around with it and used the "trial and error and error and error" method. My tutorial saved people some of the errors I encountered. But as for boxes, I don't think I have the capability to do that. But good luck and share if you manage to do it!

#216432