+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Animal Crossing: Wild World Mural Making Guide +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ *||=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=||* *******|||| TABLE – OF – CONTENTS ||||******* *||=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=||* 1: Introduction ;intr; 2: Version Information ;vers; /*-+-*/ 3: Basic Patterns ;patt; -A: Designing {des} -B: Advanced Designing {A.des} /*-+-*/ 4: Murals ;mura; -A: Set up your Mural {setup} -B: Mural Design {Mdes} -C: Freehand Murals {free} -D: AnicroDesparo {anic} /*-+-*/ 5: Resources ;Reso; 6: About the author ;auth; 7: Contact Information ;cont; 8: Legal Blah/Thanks to ;lega; To find the section you're looking for, open up the find option (usually ctrl+F), paste ;[blank]; (replace blank with section), and hit find next. If you see something isn't covered, let me know! =======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/======= |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| {}Introduction {} [][][][][][][][][][][][] {} ;intr; {} |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| Some are saying "Yay! I'll be able to make murals now!" while others might be saying, "This game has been out forever, we all know how to make murals", but either way, I wrote this Murals are quite decorative, impressive, and can get quite big. The annoying thing is they require spaces in your patterns, and each person can only hold eight. They pay off, whether in pride or in bells, in the end, though. Well, you must be interested in making murals, or even just patterns. Why else would you come here? Well, I'm going to tell you, this requires serious patience and time. Making murals can be easy, but it can be difficult if you let it. The limited colors can hinder some pictures, so some murals can never look truly perfect. Designing is fairly cheap, at only 350 bells, which is nearly a shake of your native fruit tree, so there's nothing holding you back! One disclaimer I will throw in is that I can't tell you exactly how to make YOUR mural. I don't telepathically know what you're going to design, so you must take the steps and advice that I offer and apply them to your own mural. I can provide examples and practices, but it's up to you to design your mural. I assure you, no matter how general these steps are, this guide will surely help you in designing your favorite picture into a mural on your ACWW game to show your friends! =======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/======= |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| {}Version {} [][][][][][][][][][][][] {} ;vers; {} |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| Version 2.2 6/27/2007 Added a section on how to use Anicro Desparo. Thanks to this section goes to gamegurucale. Sorry for taking so long, cale! Version 2.0 3/13/2007 Highly revised. Went through and put in some ASCII titles, made it better looking and more enjoyable for the eye. Put in several new paragraphs, added many sentences to some existing paragraphs. Added "About the Author" section to the guide. Added disclaimer to introduction for various purposes. Added proper spacing so guide is easier to read between steps and sections. Guide is much better than before. Version 1.0 3/2/2007 The version with many completed parts. Most of the extras will come soon with contributions, research, and mistakes I come up with on my own in my mural- making experiences. Please, contribute at my e-mail, theoceanlink@hotmail.com. Unfortunately, GameFAQs, due to 'Lack_Of_Content', rejected this version, so I did a major update for the next version. =======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/======= |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| {}Basic Patterns {} [][][][][][][][][][][][] {} ;patt; {} |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| Basic patterns are just simple patterns, taking up one space, a 1x1. Easiest, and quite amazing what you can get with just one pattern. ------------- * * * ---------- A. Designing /////////// {des}|| ------------- * * * ---------- Well, there isn't much to say. Simple patterns are straightforward: Think up a neat idea, find a color palette and draw it out! Recommended you use the D- pad and single cursor, and R and L buttons to scroll the colors. Use the Y- button to change interface, from tools, to color, and to drawing space. Use the X-button to enable/disable the grid. This is where I suggest you start, get used to how the pixels work, what they will look like, and what kinds of things you can draw. To start out, try small geometric shapes, and then them 3-D (or at least 3-D enough, not everything is perfect). Try shading them. Get the feel for your colors, and how to make shades. To make more integrated patterns, try trying things on the side that would make the patterns tile when placed next to each other, or in any direction. Try making face or designs that take more time, like for example, you could draw a fancy peach, or maybe a hand holding it. Play with shading, definitely, you never know what you can really do until you try. Maybe you could incorporate lighting, and have shadows and reflected/white spots on your image. That would really touch it up, along with shading. I would suggest if this is your first time ever making patterns, to start with these. They're simple, they're easy, and most of all, very satisfying without doing as much work as it takes for an actual mural. Restating the disclaimer, I can't tell you exactly what to make, it's up to you, your imagination, and the steps and tips I advise you with to make patterns. Practice makes perfect! ---------------------- * * * ------------ B. Advanced Designing /////////// {A.des}|| ---------------------- * * * ------------ If you see a picture on the Internet, or use the search feature on http://www.animalcrossingcommunity.com/patterns.asp, and form it to a 1x1, this is where it gets a little more complicated. The website instructs which palette to use, but sometimes close-together colors can't be told apart. The easiest way to distinguish this is to use the Print Screen key on your keyboard, open MS paint (or like picture editor, simple though), paste the image, and use the eye-dropper feature on the color you're trying to figure it out, and drag it over to the palette, and see which one it matches up with. If you're having trouble with big gaps of pixels, try tracing from places you've counted from, and try to chop it up into sections. If you need to, use your paint program and zoom in on the mini tile they display for you on the site, use a grid feature, and use your stylus to carefully count the pixels. If you aren't using the site, paste the picture still, and zoom in. When using that website, the pattern is pretty straightforward, just copy it pixel by pixel. Somewhat easier than basic patterns, since you're just copying stuff this time. Do whatever you'd like for these kinds of patterns; they can be pretty neat for displays and such. If you want to transform one of your favorite small images into a 1x1, use this base I set up: http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/1701/acwwmuralbaseza5.png Save that to your computer, and paste your image on it. Zoom in if necessary to line it up in the corner so it matches the 1x1 size. Once it fits, you're ready to design! Just decide a good color palette, and if nothing seems to fit, use the gray scale feature on your image program (for this simple, preferably MS paint), and use palette #15. It might be missing a few exact grays, but it works great for highly multi-colored, or oddly colored patterns. Once you have your image just the way you want, use a zoom-in feature so you can see the separate features, and perhaps a grid (which is ctrl + G in MS Paint). Pixel by pixel, you'll soon have a satisfying image. Easy as that. =======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/======= |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| {}Murals{} [][][][][][][][][][][][] {} ;mura; {} |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| This is the fun part. This is where we get into connecting tiles in the dimensions of 1x2, 2x1, 2x2, 3x2, 2x3, or even a 2x4 or 4x2 if you have an entire character's worth of space to use up. The lining up is much easier than you think if you just follow my instructions. The harder part is counting how many pixels a large space is (my worst subject, anyway). What you want to start is the image you're copying in full size for comparison in what you're going to make (or for what you already made), and a separate picture program open to zoom in and complete the mural with. Anything else you would find necessary for completing this task is handy also, but you don't need much, as I only use MS paint. --------------------- * * * ------------ A. Set up your Mural /////////// {setup}|| --------------------- * * * ------------ If you are unfamiliar with MS paint, learn where it is, because it will become one of your best friends for mural designing. What you basically want to know for this section is: 1: the icon in the top right that's a dotted box. Basically, you will use this to select everything, move it, copy it, paste it, WHATEVER, my favorite feature in MS paint. 2: How to stretch/skew. What this is mainly for when designing mural, and taking big steps on large images. Usually, images are quite big and the pattern sizes are a little smaller, as you see in my template. If the image is considerably big, instead of using the corner drags, use stretch/skew, and size it down. Right click what's highlighted, go to about the second to last option, and it will bring up a box. Ignore skew at the bottom, we want stretch. Enter a reasonable % to shrink it by, like 50% (or half size). Once it's small enough to work with, you can use the corner drags and maybe zoom in to get it exactly into position. Once you have those down, every sizing problem will be a snap! Now, how to set up these dastardly things. Oh yeah! Use the functions listen above to size the mural into my template (or your own), found in the resources section. Once it's in place, turn on your AC: WW game and go to Able's. Scroll through the palettes and find one that fits. If NONE of them fit (which may happen a lot, each palette has few colors), then use palette 15, or the grayscale method. Unfortunately, MS paint doesn't have a grayscale feature, so either open up Microsoft Word, paste it there, grayscale it, and paste it back, or use a higher scale paint program. I still like MS paint for how easy it is to set up everything. Once you have your colors picked out, your mural lined up to the size you want, it's time to go onto the next step! Designing! If you dislike MS paint and would never use it in a million years, use a paint program alternative. Set it up just like I told you. You can also use a specific program designed to help you make AC: WW murals, called Anicro Desparo, which can be downloaded at http://joshuajamesslone.name/anicrodesapro/. This link is also recorded in the resource section. A section on how to use this program is here! ------------------- * * * ----------- B. Mural Designing /////////// {Mdes}|| ------------------- * * * ----------- Whew, mural is all setup! You're ready to go! But wait; isn't there a way to still make this easier? Why yes, there is! Several ways! 1: Zoom in. This almost required, it helps you see the individual pixels better. On MS paint, zoom goes into 8x, which highly recommended. The bigger the pixels, the easier to see, and the easier it is to design your mural. To make it even easier, use that grid! Any pixel that is separated is much easier to count. When doing shading, sometimes if you're not zoomed in enough, the grid can make the colors next to it look alike, even though they are 2 different shades. 2: Use that box feature to highlight a single Leaf pattern from my template. Make sure that black outer-ring is only 1 pixel wide! Paste it on your picture, blocking out the sections you aren't working on, centering and creating a focus on just what that specific tile looks like, and so you don't accidentally go into the other sections while zoomed in. Also, make sure that the tiles you put out are lined up, so that you don't cover up a line of the section or have an extra line sticking out. The leaf bases on the side have a black outer-ring 1 pixel wide, so leaf bases that are touching each other DO NOT share that 1 pixel black outer ring, and therefore that block ends at the first black pixel, and the next one BEGINS at the second black pixel. 3: If your mural is generally dark, and you can't clearly see the black outer-ring of the template pattern, change the outer-ring to orange, or perhaps a darker yellow, something that contrasts the black or darker colors, so you can easily see the boundary. Never get the outer-ring of the leaf base mixed up in the mural; otherwise it can end up really messed up. 4: Take it easy. Slow it down. If you rush, you may be off by a pixel, which could throw off the entire pattern. If something doesn't look right from the picture to the mural, change it, if you are able to. The end product will almost NEVER look exactly like the picture. Don't be discouraged if it looks pixely, ignore that, you most likely had to shrink the image, and when it's zoomed up, of course it will look pixely. If it's TOO pixely, to the point where you can't clearly see the image, try resizing it. If the image you chose was large, it may have been too large, and therefore would be very pixely. Try to find a smaller image that can be converted to a small (or large, depending on what you're doing) mural. Don't find a small image and then size it up, that will never work out. Always resort to sizing down if you don't find an exact image (which you almost never will). 5: Don't be lazy. You may think, "Oh what does laziness have to do with this?" but trust me. I have quit a lot of murals due to being too lazy to finish. These things go pixel by pixel, and in more detailed pictures, this may take a while due to mass color shifting. Give yourself some time to do this, and be excited enough that you wont get lazy and quit. These aren't really that hard, jut time consuming 6: If a color doesn't really match, just find the nearest one that does. The palettes are poor in colors, and even the grayscale is missing a few grays, so nothing can be exact. You will most likely have to guess a good deal of colors, but usually it doesn't throw it off too much. Colors that have almost no match and stick out definitely hinder the mural. If you're personally making this, and not for someone else, it's quite easy to get away with just scrapping that color, and see what else there is. That's pretty much all there is to making a mural. Now, it is up to YOU to continue working on it, pixel by pixel, using the steps and tips I have told you, to form a masterpiece. Like I disclaimed, I can't tell you exactly how to do YOUR mural. Just use these steps to set it up, use the tips to help you complete. Just follow my advice, use the tips, and perhaps make your own tricks. Just paint it out, pixel by pixel, and before you know it, you'll have a great mural, screaming "I'm a masterpiece!". It's all you need to know – once you have your image, set it up in the base, determine the colors, and everything else (so I don't sound like a broken record), and just fill in the blanks – just like copying an image. Once you're done, Show it friends, and show it to AC: WW owners, impress people, you made a work of art, so be proud. Anything I missed? Let me know! E-mail is in the contact section. ------------------- * * * ----------- C. Freehand Murals /////////// {free}|| ------------------- * * * ----------- Whoa, daring person, you want to try and take on a freehand mural? Well, not much I can do to help you, but I can offer what I know. Freehand is when you use no direct and set-up image to base your mural off of. You do this by either being too lazy to set up a mural and just copy a picture you see off the internet, or you think of a cool design, and want to put it in AC: WW pattern form! The only other kind of freehand mural is see a picture first hand, and just trying to copy it without setting it up (You'd rather freehand for the easy reasons, though). Here are some steps and tips. 1: Before you begin, unless you're already so skilled at murals, try practicing! Make a large 3-D geometric shape (like a cube or pyramid, simple), or a big stuck figure doing or holding something. These are usually incredibly easy, and get you the feel of designing murals with nothing but thoughts, courage, and free time. After, try doing some shading or discoloration and play around. Really get the hang of pixel-by-pixel, and what it's like to do with multiple patterns on your own. You might think "Practice? Pfft. That will only waste my time! I wanna make a mural!" but seriously it never hurts. I was never good at murals until I practiced some simple ones and really got what it was like. How you make this stick figure or shape is up to you, you can IM me on AIM or send me an e-mail, but that is pretty simple, just use your vivid imagination (or simple one, which ever applies)! 2: Get that image lodged in your head pretty good. Think of what colors you'll use, and what size it will be. Never forget this information. If none of the colors work, think of it in grayscale. When copying an image without setting it up, find a color scheme you're happy with. Use my gray-scaling methods if none of them fits, or your own. 3: When you're done with one panel, count how many blank spaces there to the nearest color on the edge (or if you're doing a displaced image, where something is separate, just go to the next step), write it down, and right as you start the next panel, count in, and fill it what's going to be connected to it. If you're doing a body-like picture, and it's extended on the next pattern, figure out on the one before it what a good extension would look like. 4: When two panels are done, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS make sure you're satisfied how they look connected before moving on. Once you fix the mistakes, you're ready and open to do the next panel! If something never seems to work out, try to form it into something else, or just scrap the idea and see what else looks good. Never be done with something you're unsatisfied with, cause then you're never really done. If the mural doesn't work at all, there's not much I can tell you. See what looks wrong, draw it on a piece of paper (with pencil) and revise until you can get it right and by happy with it on your ACWW game. If it still doesn't work, it probably will never work, and you're mural (no offense) might be a failure. No biggy, just change/remove things that never work and see if you can add one that really does. 5: No matter how hard this may be (or easy, depending on you're image), if you started it, try to finish it! Visualize the final product. If something doesn't look right, fix it; use your instinct, because that's almost all you have on freehand murals. If you happen to finish one of these (especially in a 2x2 or bigger), give yourself a big pat on the back, freehand murals are just as amazing as the next, and actually requires decent thinking, placing, and most of the time guessing. Be happy with what you made – or fix it! Don't let unsatisfying productions bring you down. Let satisfying ones bring you UP! :D ------------------- * * * ----------- C. AnicroDesparo /////////// {anic}|| ------------------- * * * ----------- Anicro Desapro - By gamegurucale Anicro Desapro is a program which allows you to upload a picture from your computer, and use it as a pattern on Animal Crossing: Wild World. As soon as you open Anicro, the only thing you will have to do is click the box, located in the top right-hand corner. My Anicro has a picture of a dog, but it may vary on which version you download. When you click the box, your files will appear. From there, choose your picture. Keep in mind that to achieve optimal results, a picture with equal dimensions, for example one that is 150x150, would be the best option. If you have a long picture, use MS Paint or another editing program to cut it to size, or to cut into even sections to create a mural. After selecting your picture, click 'Semi-Random (Speckly)'. This will bring up 16 different pictures, according to different palettes. You may wish to click 'Closest Colour' to make a multi-coloured purple background (By using a different shade of purple) into a one-colour background, but in most pictures it doesn't make a difference. Although, try out both versions, and see which ones you like. A guide beneath the two buttons will recommend two palette pictures, giving two numbers. For example: "I think the most accurate palette would be 14 or 15." This means that palette 14 would be the most accurate; with 15 being the second-most accurate to the original picture, but look at all the pictures, and see which one you like. It is HIGHLY recommended that you keep to one palette when doing a mural; otherwise it would not turn out as well as you expected. Check out all the mural pieces before you start to see if they work well. After finding a suitable palette picture, click the picture, and a box with 1024 squares appears. Each square has a number, which follows to each colour. Having a box with the number 1 or 15 would be the first or last colours respectably. Fill each square out on the pattern in the Able Sister's store, making sure you get each square right. This one: http://www.animalcrossingcommunity.com/pattern_view.asp?PatternID=23596 4 …was produced by Anicro, by me using Palette 16 on a Hylian Crest picture. When you have finished your pattern, and is satisfied that it looks good, and you believe that other users would use it, and you have a Animal Crossing Community account, you can send it straight there. This makes it much easier than other sites, requiring you to fill the picture manually. --=--=--=-- Notes: Use my portion on 'Setup' for further instructions on how to use paint to resize/revamp pictures to assist Anicro Desparo. This section for Anicro Desparo of the guide is completely written by Gamegurucale, as indicated at the start of the section. We appreciate him greatly for explaining this program I have never touched in my mural making career. --=--=--=-- =======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/======= |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| {}Resources{} [][][][][][][][][][][][] {} ;Reso; {} |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| 1: http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/1701/acwwmuralbaseza5.png My template to set up your murals. Right click and hit "Save target as" to get the copy, and open it up and smack your image in there to begin using it. No permission required – use it at will. 2: http://www.animalcrossingcommunity.com/patterns.asp For all your basic pattern needs, just hit the link, put what you want in search, and hopefully you'll get a neat result page. I love this site for basic patterns and such, it even provides the palette used for the pattern, and you can submit your own if you want. 3: http://joshuajamesslone.name/anicrodesapro/ This site contains the program made for AC: WW murals. I have never used it, and I make perfectly good murals. I heard it's nice and easy, and will provide a section for it soon, once I download it and play around with it for a while. Just hit downloads, and click the latest one. 4: MS paint On most computers with a windows operating system. My favorite of all programs to sort out murals and design them off of. If you don't have MS paint, I really do hope you have another like imaging program, or know how to use Anicro. Have anything that might make murals easy? Anything that is useful for making murals? Send it to me! Of course, in links, I will not open e-mails containing .exe files. =======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/======= |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| {}About the Author{} [][][][][][][][][][][][] {} ;auth; {} |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| Well, I got Animal Crossing: Wild World last summer in 2006. I never really became interested in murals until I first got WiFi – also a little while ago, I don't remember when. I went to someone's town for the first time and they had a beautiful final fantasy mural. I asked them how they got it, and she said, "I made it!" I was responded, "Wow, you can actually make those? How!" She said "you just do." And I wondered how to make them ever since. I always knew you could make patterns, but I never knew it like this. So I practiced myself with small patterns at first, and then I made a master sword mural, a 1x2. I was pretty impressed. I went on to finding images on the Internet, putting them in my basic paint program, zooming them in myself, and covering up the unwanted parts. My first 'mural' done like this was a simple skeleton. I soon erased it, starting a mural business seeing as people paid great money – and I finally got my mansion paid off! Woohoo! Then, mural requests became too much, and my schoolwork was in the way, so I shut down and never went on the ACWW online board for GameFAQs for a while. Murals are still how I make most of my money besides turnips, and I became good at them through many sales and practice. Most murals I make now a days are personal or for a real life friend. I really only make murals online when I need some bells. Since I kind of 'quit', I'd figure I'd pass on my knowledge of mural making to the busy mural economy of the GameFAQs online board for ACWW. I really hope this guide is of use to you, and I hope everyone will be making great murals soon, because then I wouldn't be asked to make so many :P Well, enjoy this guide, and don't let murals drag you down! If it's too hard, it's too hard! Start simple! If you want a mural done or do a visit to my town or yours, just contact me, although don't expect me to say yes, as I don't do many murals anymore for other people. But seeing as you are reading a mural making guide, try it yourself first. You might find it a talent, and may be able to make millions like I did. You never know until you try. =======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/======= |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| {}Contact Information{} [][][][][][][][][][][][] {} ;cont; {} |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| Your #1 way to reach me is with AIM. My screen name is g0d0fwat3r426. I am online 24/7, if an away message is up just send a message and we can talk later. If you don't use an instant messenger, just e-mail me at theoceanlink@hotmail.com. I don't check it often, but after this guide gets posted I'll try to make a trip there nearly every day. Some other ways to contact me include: MSN: jasonlamendola6@hotmail.com I'm not on this very often, it would be faster to just e-mail me at the e- mail ABOVE (not this one). Yahoo: theoceanlink Probably even less reliable than MSN, but I do sign on this from time to time. =======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/=======/*-+-*/======= |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| {}Legal Blah/Thanks to{} [][][][][][][][][][][][] {} ;lega; {} |===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===| This guide was entirely written by me and those credited, and this guide is copyright myself, Jason LaMendola, 2007. Any links are not bound by my copyright, and can be used as necessary, on anywhere (including the template, as long as I'm credited) When using any of my original information, you MUST contact me and receive permission, and I must be given full credit for any portion of my guide displayed on any sites, besides the links, excluding the template, which has also been designed by me. You may save a copy of this guide and the template for your own personal use, not to be displayed anywhere else without my permission. Any place my guide is displayed without permission or with no or false credit, you are violating my copyright. +//+//-+//+//-+//+//-+//+//-+//+//-//+ THIS GUIDE MAY ONLY BE DISPLAYED ON: 0--=-GameFaqs.com +//+//-+//+//-+//+//-+//+//-+//+//-//+ +//+//-+//+//-+//+//-+//+//-+//+//-//+ Many thanks to: Me- for existing to write this guide. You- for reading (and hopefully appreciating) this guide. Nintendo– for making AC: WW such an awesome game. GameFAQS- the reason I wrote this guide, and for displaying my guide. Also, thanks for being the best place for me and many others to get information for nearly every game. I love you, GameFAQs. My friend Myst (o0Zero0o)- for reviewing my copyright. MS paint- the source of all my murals AC: WW community- a great place for many patterns I have copied. Anicro- for existing for some of our lazier Mural Makers Gamegurucale- For writing the section on how to use Anicro. +//+//-+//+//-+//+//-+//+//-+//+//-//+ Anyone I missed? Let me know, I want to thank everybody that's a part of my guide Good luck with all your murals, hope my guide helps (helped).