The first thing you will learn is how to use ImageMagick to resize a graphic. Very often, graphics found on the web are either too large or too small to use as a base graphic for a graphic set. The size you want will be determined by the size of the banner or button on which the image will be placed, and also by the location of the image on the banner or button. For example, an image that will be on the left side of a banner that is 300 pixels wide by 100 pixels high should be no more than 100 pixels wide by 100 pixels high. Let's practice resizing! First, select a graphic to practice with. Any graphic will do. If you know how to copy and paste then copy the URL of the graphic, or else write it down. Next, go to http://magick.net4tv.com and click on "Use Magick Studio". You will get a screen where you can either paste the graphic URL you copied, or type it in if you wrote it down. Then click on view. The graphic you chose will be loaded onto a page where you can view it. At the top of this page you will see a selection of buttons. Click on resize and this takes you to the resizing page. To make my graphic sets, I only use three of the resizing methods provided...half size, double size and zoom. Here's how: On the resizing page you will see a bar filled with numbers. I think these may be a glitch on the page, but in any case you need to erase them. Now, in your status bar you will see some numbers (for example, 75x50). These are the measurements of the graphic in pixels...the left number is the width and the right number is the height. 1.) To double the size of the graphic, toggle the double size button, then click on resize. 2.) To half size the graphic toggle the half size button and then click on resize. 3.) To resize the graphic to a size of your own choosing you need to type in the measurements you want, followed by an exclamation mark. (for example, 300x150! or 75x220!) Then toggle the zoom button, and click on resize. Sometimes when you resize a graphic, the new graphic comes out a little blurry, especially when you make it smaller. On the resize page there is a box labeled blur. Parameters greater than one (1) cause the new image to be more blurry, less than one cause it to be sharper. I usually set the blur factor to .5 when I resize a graphic. Try resizing your graphic using several different new sizes...if you make a mistake ImageMagick will let you know! Practice this until you are comfortable with resizing a graphic before going on to the next tutorial page. And have fun! One final thing to note...animated graphics do not resize well so it is best to use graphics that don't move! Later on there will be a tutorial on how to un-animate a graphic so that you can use part of it as a base graphic.    This background set provided courtesy of This page hosted by Free HomePages