Want to flex your animation skills and produce moving Daria-based avatars and mini-cartoons? Here's one way to do it.
The computer game Daria's Inferno uses a large number of special compressed video files called SMK files (for Smacker, the trade name). Each SMK file contains one or more short animated scenes or background images used in the game. These files are suitable for use in a variety of ways limited only by your imagination.
Every SMK file from Daria's Inferno has been uploaded to a special index page at:
The files have not been sorted in any particular manner, and you will have to explore them to discover their contents. (I hope to come back later and rename some of the files to better reflect what they are.) To open a SMK file, you must first download a special program called RAD Game Tools, from the company that created SMK compression. The download is at:
or simply click on the link below to start the download.
I've done this and the program is free of bugs and spyware, as best as I can tell. It works great, too. Simply clicking on a SMK file will cause it to run at a quick speed, revealing each image it contains in sequential order. The RAD Game Tools program can be used to put out each individual image as a GIF file. Be warned that some SMK files are quite large and may contain many GIF images within.
If you have access to a good GIF animator, you can then reassemble the GIF images into your work of fan art. For example, a sequence of images can be assembled showing Daria Morgendorffer walking in any one of eight directions, or simply walking in a circle.
One possible GIF animator you can try is available for free at Downloads.com:
That's basically all the tools and resources you need to start a new hobby. The individual SMK files are quite amusing and offer marvelous screen captures, plus detailed scenes like rooms in the Morgendorffers' home. You'll find all four Mystik Spiral band members playing instruments in the SMK files. (Add a soundtrack for extra fun.) A big handful of Sick, Sad World clips are also included, as well as Shaggy chained to a wall. And Artie walking. And Jane popping out of famous artworks. And flying eyeballs. And Mr. DeMartino as Jar-Jar Binks (at least I think that's what that is). It's weirdness on the level of Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and Invaders from Mars, all at once. Awesome!
Hope you enjoy this. Please send any suggestions, corrections, commentary, and questions to: theangstguy@yahoo.com. If you create some especially interesting toons, send me a note, and I will post a link to your creation here. Party on!