Introduction

Power Comics is a small application that allows you to create comics easily. Right now it's still in an early stage - but it is already useable.

Starting the application

Power Comics! uses Qt-Jambi, so you need to tell the VM where to find Qt-Jambi:
  java -cp /path_to_qtjambi/qtjambi.jar;powercomics.jar net.steinke.comic.PowerComics

First Steps

After starting the application, you'll see something like this:
Image 1: Application after start-up (Click for larger view)

Application elements

The application has three main areas:

  1. The Element areas on the left. Here you'll find backgrounds, comic figures, speech ballons and special effects you can use in your comic
  2. The page area in the middle. This is your actual comic page. You can drag elements from the left onto the page
  3. The options area on the right. If you have selected an element on the page, you will be able to change it's properties here. If no element is selected, Captain Power wil give you his introduction speech there.

Adding background elements

After starting the application will show you the "backgrounds" available in the element window. Please drag the background with the sky to the page. The background will now be visible on the page. Now drag the background with the red and yellow swirl to the 1st Panel:
Image 2: Setting page and panel background (Click for larger view)

Adding actors

Actors are yozr typical comic figures. Power Comics provides you with two penguins named Penny and Perry you can use in your stories.

Click on the Field named Actors & Items to have a look at them. Working with actors is easy. Just drag them on the page - done. You will notice, that the options panel on the right changes to provide you with the Options for the actor:
Image 3: Option for clipart (actors and items)
Please check the "clipping" checkbox and make sure that the "Clip against" drop-down is set to "Panel 1". The result should look like this:
Image 4: Adding actors to the page (Click for larger view)

Adding speech bubbles

Now it's time to give Perry a voice. Click the Wordballons Field in the Elements area. You'll see a selection of available word ballons. Grab the shout box (the one with the many spikes) and drag close to the penguin. As you can see, you have now a text entry field on the right. Choose a color and font of your liking and enter a text of your choice. I used "Oh no!" in red. Below the textbox you'll find a small control pad. You can use it to fine tune the position of the text inside the word bubble.
Image 5: Adding wordbubbles to the page (Click for larger view)

Special effects

Power Comics! comes with a set of predefined special effects - just click on the Special Effects field to view them. As with all the other elements, you simply drag a special effect on the scene.
Image 6: Special effects (Click for larger view)

Adding a new page

Ok, now you know all you need to create a comic page - but what if one page isn't enough? No problem: Directly above your page you'll see a bar containg a button labeled: "Add page". Click it. You can also choose File/Add Page.. from the menu if you like. The result will be a dialog box with a list of possible page layouts:
Image 7: Add page (Click for larger view)
You can choose whether you want to add the page at the end of the comic or at the current position.

Exporting the comic

You can export your comic (say to use it on a webpage) by choosing File/Export as images. Choose where you comic should be exported to and withing seconds you'll have a set of nice PNG images on your hardrive. Just upload them to your webpage and voila - you have your own webcomic.

Features for the next version

* Already in implemented in current version, but not in the Qt-Jambi Contest version