Housepets!

Since many people said, that there's whole range of various and fabulous facial expressions in the Housepets comic, I thought, why not create emoticons/smilies package from it. So I created this tiny project and in version which I call 1.0, I cut 32 faces (btw, that smoking Max was on Alex's request, I wouldn't make it normally) from various strips and modified them for use as emoticons.

Pure packages

Pure packages contain only pictures alone and are suitable for further processing or adding into various applications manually. But before you decide to add them to your favorite application, read further.

You can downloaded them as PNG images with alpha channel using following links, I prepared three dimensions (all emoticons have same size in one package):

64x64 pixels
Largest available version, most suitable if you want to process them further (you can always make smaller picture from larger one, but opposite direction isn't usually possible (except for vector and other images defined by some mathematical/geometrical algorithm, pixel art graphics enlarged by hq4x algorithm for example and I'm currently working on something, involving enlarging bitmap pictures, but about this... later...)). However, these are the biggest ones and they will often look too big in most uses.



48x48 pixels
IMHO the best compromise between size and amount of details. I recommend this one for most uses.



32x32 pixels
The smallest ones I made. I don't recommend these much, because they're usually too small and thus, even smaller ones do not make much sense. They would've to be redrawn directly into small sizes, which is unfortunately out of my abilities.



If you want different size, just use some batch conversion (be sure that it preserves the alpha channel) or ask me.

Microsoft Windows Live Messenger one-click installer

I also created one-click installer for Windows Live Messenger instant messaging application. Because it supports addition of your own emoticons, these new ones are simply added to the library, without affecting existing ones. Also when you use them when communicating with somebody, they don't need to have this package installed. Messenger automatically sends image file to the recipient and shows it, unless you use more than 5 custom emoticons in one message, which won't work, probably because of data transfer limit.



Download installer (~216KB, EXE)

How to install (important!)
1)Download and save the installer somewhere in your computer (desktop for example)
2)Run the Windows Live Messenger and log in. This is important, if you're not logged in, installer will issue an error!
3)Execute the installer. You must have administrator privileges for that, in case UAC (User Account Control) shows a prompt, asking you whether to allow mcoinstaller.exe to make changes, click Yes. (No viruses, promise )
4)When the installer window disappears, new emoticons should be in your emoticon library, ready for use with anybody (again, they don't have to have this package installed)

Alternate installation method
If the main installer doesn't work, which happens usually on Windows Vista (however, on Windows 7 and Windows XP it should work normally), then you should try this installation method. I tried modifying original installer, to work under Windows Vista, where it seems to have trouble to register ActiveX compoment because of aggressive UAC and protected mode (under Windows 7, it should work ok even with UAC enabled) and when I finally forced it to work with Messenger guess what... Messenger simply refuses these emoticons, even when the same version under Windows XP or Windows 7 accepts it with no problem.

However, I found a tool which allows to install it easily and seems to work even under Windows Vista, although it's not that much automatic, but still very easy.

1)Download this archive with alternate installer.
2)Extract both files somewhere, on the desktop for example.
3)Run the PackCreator.exe
4)Click Install A Pack
5)Select file Housepets.cab (the second file that was in the archive)
6)Emoticons should be installed now.

In case of any problems with installation, contact me.


PHPbb forum package

I also created simple PHPbb forum package, with easy install using .PAK file (you don't have to add them manually, one by one).

How to install
1)Download one of the following package (I recommend 48x48 - best compromise between size and details)
2)Extract all its contents into images/smilies on your server, where PHPbb forum is installed.
3)In administration control panel, page Posting, option Smilies, click Install smilies package
4)Select HPEmoticonPack.pak in the menu and click Install Smilies Package
5)Done! They should work now. They're predefined to display only in the View More Smilies page, not on the posting page, due to their larger size.

64x64 pixels PHPbb forum package
48x48 pixels PHPbb forum package (recommended!)
32x32 pixels PHPbb forum package

Icon pack

This allows you to set any of these Housepets emoticons as an icon for a file (usually shortcut) or folder in the Windows (and other systems compatible with the format) operating systems, as you can see on the following screenshot.



How to use

1) Download file HPiconpack.icl and store it somewhere permanently (so it will stay there as long as you're going to use these icons, moving or renaming the file will brake all HP icons).
2) Click on a folder/file with Right Mouse button and select Properties | Customize | Change Icon
3) Click on the Browse button and open the HPiconpack.icl file. All 32 icons should show up now.
4) Select desired icon and confirm everything.

Other applications

You can add these emoticons to various applications manually, using pure packages, or ask me, to create another one click installer/package, assuming there's suitable documentation describing how to add them and it doesn't take much time to create such installer/package (I'm quite busy, so I might make such package, but sometime, it could take even month or more, before I get to it, depending on the priority and type of various work I have to do).

Also, I hope I can create version 2.0 somewhere in the future, with more emoticons. There's surely plenty of glorious faces in the Housepets comic which I omitted in this package. Also, I might named some emotions/expressions wrongly, since I'm not native speaker. I will be grateful if you alert me about wrong names, as well as other mistakes or things I forgot.

Changelog
---- 1.0 ----
[*] Initial release, 32 emoticons created, raw package, MSN package, PHPbb package

---- 1.0.1 ----
[*] Minor update
[+] Icon pack for Windows operating systems added.

---- 2.0 ----
[!] New major version
[+] 32 new emoticons added, 64 in total now
[*] All packages updated, download from original links, you can install over the old version if you have it

EDIT: Just a small game for people who have nothing to do and are obviously boring: Can you find where are all emoticons taken from (particular strip)?

woot! these are awesome!
...
so how do i use them? :3

Ebly wrote:He explains how to 'install' them in his post.

He means, where he should write =) and where =(
p.s. tails, it's awesome...

so there is something i am not getting...

Jack, you still can't use them on the forums, the package is for Windows Live Messenger. Ignore the PHPbb packages if you're not an administrator of any forum. If you want to use them on Housepets, you'll have to wait and see if Rick will actually add them to the forum.

Also, thanks for doing this, Tails, my WLM emoticons look much better now !

Wow they look great! I can't wait to use them when i get home!

Of course, they look great, they're drawn by Rick! I just cut them from the comic and put into several packages.

Well, you can add them to your posts using IMG tag and address copied from emoticons in the first post, but I do not recommend doing that too much, because I might move/delete them on my sever in the future (although, I have gigabytes of free space there and they're tiny) and if you use them a lot this way, it may increase traffic on my server. Plus, using that IMG tag and whole address gets quite tedious after a while.

In case anyone uses that Windows Live Messenger one-click installer, can you report me if it works flawlessly? I didn't test it much, so I'm not sure if will work on various configurations.

Tails++ wrote:Of course, they look great, they're drawn by Rick! I just cut them from the comic and put into several packages.

Well, you can add them to your posts using IMG tag and address copied from emoticons in the first post, but I do not recommend doing that too much, because I might move/delete them on my sever in the future (although, I have gigabytes of free space there and they're tiny) and if you use them a lot this way, it may increase traffic on my server. Plus, using that IMG tag and whole address gets quite tedious after a while.

In case anyone uses that Windows Live Messenger one-click installer, can you report me if it works flawlessly? I didn't test it much, so I'm not sure if will work on various configurations.

...Anything Rick draws looks great, lets not point out the obvious!



P.S Your post kinda stretches out the page.

this pack is Awsome!

Dylan wrote:P.S Your post kinda stretches out the page.

I don't actually get that, since all his images are either small or thumbnailed?

The forum will automatically stretch to accommodate the width of any images in a given post.

It's not that he's using large pictures, it's that he has two dozen of them lined up in a row.

Sinder wrote:The forum will automatically stretch to accommodate the width of any images in a given post.

It's not that he's using large pictures, it's that he has two dozen of them lined up in a row.

I don't know what horrible web browsers you guys are using that don't let them wrap around, but I'd advise fixing that, since over here the post is fine. If I change the width of the window, the images just wrap...

But because these emoticons are plenty of small pictures, which are basically treated like letters (words), all normal browsers should wrap them automatically (I tried several of them and all of them wrapped the content like they should).
So, either you have resolution lower than 720 pixels (640x480? ) or some weird, not very standard-rendering browser. I tried to add whitespaces between pictures, but first, that caused unnecessary spaces to appear between pictures (surprisingly) and it's completely unnecessary, because every normal browser should wrap the content even without them... Click for proof.

Dylan: It wasn't me who was pointing the obvious

Tails++ wrote:But because these emoticons are plenty of small pictures, which are basically treated like letters (words), all normal browsers should wrap them automatically (I tried several of them and all of them wrapped the content like they should).
So, either you have resolution lower than 720 pixels (640x480? ) or some weird, not very standard-rendering browser. I tried to add whitespaces between pictures, but first, that caused unnecessary spaces to appear between pictures (surprisingly) and it's completely unnecessary, because every normal browser should wrap the content even without them... Click for proof.

Dylan: It wasn't me who was pointing the obvious

That's what I thought; they should be wrapping unless there's something really really weird going on with you guys.


Edit: I am a wrapper rapper

Thanks, Tails ++, you are the best! How do I use them?

There's a tutorial in the OP, as well as the link to the installer.

I tried doing everything you said, however the installer gives me a cmd that says it is installing it, but nothing happens.

What's your operating system? Does your account have administrator privileges? What's the exact version of Windows Live Messenger you're using? Do you have any nonstandard addons installed? When you tried to install the package, was Windows Live Messenger running and you were signed in? You must be Online, or the pack will not install. Do you use any antivirus and/or firewall software or other security software which may interfere? Did you try to install it more than once (after rebooting computer for example)?

Vista home premium

Yes.

Don't know.

I was signed in.

None

And yes I tried to reinstall.

Problem solved (trough Windows Live Messenger). It seems to be related to Windows Vista only. If anyone is having similar problems, see first post. I added alternate installation method, which should work also under Windows Vista. Windows XP and Windows 7 should work normally with the original installer.

I just love these Tails! I'm so glad you helped me with my problem!

Ok, I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, since it's just matter for 30 seconds to make, but I created also an icon pack from these emoticons, so you can use them as icons for folders and files if you want.

First Post wrote:---- 1.0.1 ----
[*] Minor update
[+] Icon pack for Windows operating systems added.

Icon pack

This allows you to set any of these Housepets emoticons as an icon for a file (usually shortcut) or folder in the Windows (and other systems compatible with the format) operating systems, as you can see on the following screenshot.



How to use

1) Download the file HPiconpack.icl and store it somewhere permanently (so it will stay there as long as you're going to use these icons, moving or renaming the file will brake all HP icons).
2) Click on a folder/file with Right Mouse button and select Properties | Customize | Change Icon
3) Click on the Browse button and open the HPiconpack.icl file. All 32 icons should show up now.
4) Select desired icon and confirm everything.

Ebly wrote:I saw these in a PM and would like to vouch very highly for their utter awesomeness

All the links are down now! D:

After the wallpapers, it was a bit predictable, no?

I was not using the pack (I'm not on Windows) but it's still sad.

ReCreate wrote:

Ebly wrote:I saw these in a PM and would like to vouch very highly for their utter awesomeness

All the links are down now! D:

What, you had to quote me to say that?

Yeah, I don't have the details because I wasn't there, but apparently Tails quit in some kind of dramatic rage (taking his signature as a case in point) and I guess that means he stopped hosting everything too. I dunno, saying "I hate you all" is a bit less than nice, n'est-ce pas? Leaves me, similarly, a bit less than sympathetic to him.

Ebly wrote: What, you had to quote me to say that?

Yeah, I don't have the details because I wasn't there, but apparently Tails quit in some kind of dramatic rage (taking his signature as a case in point) and I guess that means he stopped hosting everything too. I dunno, saying "I hate you all" is a bit less than nice, n'est-ce pas? Leaves me, similarly, a bit less than sympathetic to him.

Agreed on the last part.
But that's okay, my Siggy can compromise for his, so it will even out.

Also, I am working on a new wallpaper for housepets based of a comic, (and planning to take requests if it will turn out well)
Should I make a new threat for this? (and is this allowed)
, or just leave this how it is.

Kyderra wrote:

Ebly wrote: What, you had to quote me to say that?

Yeah, I don't have the details because I wasn't there, but apparently Tails quit in some kind of dramatic rage (taking his signature as a case in point) and I guess that means he stopped hosting everything too. I dunno, saying "I hate you all" is a bit less than nice, n'est-ce pas? Leaves me, similarly, a bit less than sympathetic to him.

Agreed on the last part.
But that's okay, my Siggy can compromise for his, so it will even out.

Also, I am working on a new wallpaper for housepets based of a comic, (and planning to take requests if it will turn out well)
Should I make a new threat for this? (and is this allowed)
, or just leave this how it is.

if you did a 16:9 of Grape kissing Peanut, that would be real cool!

valerio wrote:

Kyderra wrote:

Ebly wrote: What, you had to quote me to say that?

Yeah, I don't have the details because I wasn't there, but apparently Tails quit in some kind of dramatic rage (taking his signature as a case in point) and I guess that means he stopped hosting everything too. I dunno, saying "I hate you all" is a bit less than nice, n'est-ce pas? Leaves me, similarly, a bit less than sympathetic to him.

Agreed on the last part.
But that's okay, my Siggy can compromise for his, so it will even out.

Also, I am working on a new wallpaper for housepets based of a comic, (and planning to take requests if it will turn out well)
Should I make a new threat for this? (and is this allowed)
, or just leave this how it is.

if you did a 16:9 of Grape kissing Peanut, that would be real cool!

no, no kissing, nononon
well perhaps , but not at the moment.
(currently doing "grape wave @ peanut")

sorry, I meant from the strip

https://www.housepetscomic.com/2010/04/30/just-friends/

panel 7, you know

valerio wrote:sorry, I meant from the strip

https://www.housepetscomic.com/2010/04/30/just-friends/

panel 7, you know

yep, I do
but there are two things.
one, I am doing a similar one of 2 comics back,
Secondly, it's only there head, witch will be a bit.. er big for a desktop wallpaper I think.
And I also think that in the current arc, there will be some great Sasha picture i would love to do.

we will see what the time brings us.

I heartily agree with you on the Sasha picture. This arc is veeerrry promising, and I hope you'll do something for it.

Kyderra wrote:Also, I am working on a new wallpaper for housepets based of a comic, (and planning to take requests if it will turn out well)
Should I make a new threat for this? (and is this allowed)
, or just leave this how it is.

There is an thread about that here.

Ebly wrote:

ReCreate wrote:

Ebly wrote:I saw these in a PM and would like to vouch very highly for their utter awesomeness

All the links are down now! D:

What, you had to quote me to say that?

Oops... I had posted that from my PSP, didn't realize that the quote was there. Odd...

Okay, I had a total of 21 smileys in 50x50 res. If anyone's interested here they are. Ripped it out of the custom_smileys folder in my .purple folder(I use pidgin) and renamed.

Thanks ReCreate!

Your links, they lead us to dangerous places atm :< Mind refreshing them ?:3

Sorry, All the links are now broken. I doubt the will ever be fixed. Some smileys are still available in the post above yours. But just the raw images without transparency.

What's wrong with Tails anyway? If it's private, ignore me...but he seems a little...annoyed at something at the moment. Judging by his signature, it feels like something we've done...