Animated avatars

[happyrobyn]

So I JUST realized we could use animated avatars!! COOL! Thanks for making me check MG! Anyway, as long as they are under 80x80 pixels and 19.5kb - you're golden! Let's see what you got quirks!!

[mishou]

Thanks for the flippin' awesome Napoleon avatar Robyn! It's SWEET!

Honestly I don't even know what program you would use to make an animated .gif. My knowledge of such things does not extend past .jpgs LOL!

[happyrobyn]

I use Adobe ImageReady. All I do is create my graphics in layers in Photoshop ... hop over to ImageReady and "play" them. It's fun, actually. However, I can't take credit for Napoleon. I found him on the Net and just re-sized him for you. Sorry he is so pixelated but I had to get him under the avatar file size limit.

[AmyK]

I have a face! Whaddaya think? This was too fun.

[happyrobyn]

I love it Amy ... so creative and quirky!

[Fiddlette]

I wanna play...it just takes me so long to do it, :( I'm animation challenged, lol! but I still will do one...gotta get the time, now!! Thanks for the info, Robyn! Your avatar is super!! :)

[happyrobyn]

You're not challenged in any way, silly girl...

[Fiddlette]

Very very odd....my old avatar has been removed, and replaced with the new one you see here, in my post...but in the gallery, my old avatar is what shows up!!

Spooky...what the heck is goin on??

Any ideas, anybody??

[Kazadoodle]

In the galleries I see your new avator coz I was going to say - cool new avatar

[happyrobyn]

Christine - It does it to me as well. It's because your old avatar is cached in your computer. If you are using Internet Explorer, here is what you do. On the top toolbar, choose Tools>Internet Options. Then under Temporary Internet Files choose Delete Files. Then press OK. It will take a minute or two to delete the temp files depending on how long it has been since you did so. Then once the hourglass is gone, press OK. Then reload your page and your new avatar should show up.

[webchyck]

I don't think I've mentioned how cool I think the animated avatars are! Very clever everyone!

[Ursula]

Challenged does not begin to describe my abilities with such things. I'm feeling pretty lucky that I know how to get an avatar at all. But I must say that Mishou's Napolean avatar rocks. Cracks me up every time I see it!

[SteinwaysMom]

I've never done one but found a tutorial for those of us who are challenged in this area: Blinkie Tutorial (http://www.computerscrapbookdesigns.com/tutorials/PS_Blinkie_angie/ps_blinkie_AngieSvoboda.html)

Wow! It worked! Photopost complained about the URL and the file I tried to upload but somehow it got up there!

[happyrobyn]

Thanks for posting the link to the tutorial! Those of you with later versions of Photoshop also have ImageReady which is needed to make animation. It's very, very similar to Photoshop and once you figure out the animation thing, it's a breeze! NOTHING like trying to learn Flash or anything. I gave up on that for the time being!!

[AmyK]

Yeah, I did mine in ImageReady (with Photoshop 7). It's not too hard at all once you figure out how it works.

[jessica b]

You can also create animations with Paint Shop Pro - I think it is called Animation Wizard. I no longer use the program, but it was fairly simple to create an an animation. It took me a while to figure out ImageReady, but like Amy said... once you figure it out for the first time.. it is a breeze!

[Vania16]

That's the tutorial I learned from too :) It really is easier than you think - or at least easier than I thought. But, I need to jazz up my siggy and avatar here - Just gotta find a little extra time . . .

[Kazadoodle]

I've got an animinated avatar somewhere - it's an eye - I found it! Here it is - and yes, I painted the eye

[AmyK]

Love your new avatar, Kaza. Very cool!

[jessica b]

Kaza - I love your eye! Gorgeous painting!

[happyrobyn]

Too cool Kaza! I have been staring at it for a few minutes now and I think I may be hypnotized!

[CathyRose]

Waaa.. I want one too! The animation is too cool! I have no ideas how to do this but I will find a tutorial if it kills me!:)

[Vania16]

What a cool avatar Kaza! Love it :)

[Kazadoodle]

Thanks - it is kind of hypnotizing, isn't it? LOL

[Cre8tvlyYrs]

Okay...my problem is the tutorial reading. That's probably why I've got PS CS2 and don't use it!!!

[Kazadoodle]

You don't like tuts generally or is it because most of the online ones are convoluted and long winded?

I find that most tuts can be cut down to a few steps - I found this one that had something like 30 steps, I cut it down to 5 and it still made sense and was perfectly workable

[Cre8tvlyYrs]

You don't like tuts generally or is it because most of the online ones are convoluted and long winded?

I find that most tuts can be cut down to a few steps - I found this one that had something like 30 steps, I cut it down to 5 and it still made sense and was perfectly workable

If it's too techy my brain goes off to lala land! Makes it hard to understand! I guess I could try the cutting it down tech.

[Kazadoodle]

I hear you - I try making tuts and instructions as easy as possible.

[The Dabbler]

I used PS CS Image Ready to make mine. I was having so much fun I got a little carried away though and had to trim it down...LOL as I couldn't get it small enough to upload :cool:

[happyrobyn]

Love the picture and the stars. Great avatar!

[scrapdz]

Robyn, I just made my first avatar, thanks to you! How fun! I am a yoga teaher, so I thought I'd start with a little yogini "magic" LOL! Is there a way to make it bigger? I sized it to the pixel requirements...:rolleyes:

[happyrobyn]

Oh I LOVE it! Looks like you are magical! This site will not allow you to have an avatar over 80 pixels so yours is perfect!!

[SteinwaysMom]

These are pretty funny. Welcome Dabbler! - Denise all I can think of is this turban in Maya's Hatrack element set - you would look like levitating swami!

[happyrobyn]

Ah yes ... 'twould be a wonderful addition!

[scrapdz]

Thanks for the guidance, guys! I'll look for it...any hints where I might find it...?

[happyrobyn]

I believe it is in Maya's Hat Rack at Scrapbook Graphics.

[scrapdz]

Oh! By the time I checked back in I had already grabbed a google turban! How's that look? I really am a novice...I teach myself as I go along, so I really appreciate your help! Your awesome artwork is inspiring me on! Thanks again....and why are we still up at this hour? For a turban, of course!:D

[CathyRose]

These animated avatars are totally cool!:)

[happyrobyn]

I love the turban!

[Kazadoodle]

That swami with turban is totally cool!

[CathyRose]

I did it! I made myself an animated avatar! No laughing, oh well, go ahead! It is pretty funny! My DH said "what the heck is that thing on your head?" I said "Excuse me, that is not a thing, that is a crown" He left shaking his head!! :D

[happyrobyn]

I think it is adorable! Congrats on making it. You are too cute in that crown.

[CathyRose]

I just followed the directions right in the PSE Help files. Only took me about 2 hours! (Lol, we had sandwiches for dinner)

[happyrobyn]

But next time around you will be able to do it in less than half that. Once you know how, it's easy!

[CathyRose]

I think the process is not so hard but I couldn't think of particular images to use. Some of the quirks here have such cool images.

[Nightwolf]

Changed mine to an animated badger lol

For those of you who haven't seen it... check out the Badger dance (http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/badgers/)... it guaranteed to get annoying ;) But I like quirky flash animations

[Kazadoodle]

CathyRose I was going to say how much I love your new avie and Nightwolf - the dancing badger is cute

[happyrobyn]

Wow - I could only watch the badger dance for about a minute. It was freaking me out! Must be too early. Love the avatar.

[CathyRose]

One badger is cute, a crowd is threatening! :D

[AmyK]

I love your cute new avie, Cathy! Very playful and fun. :)

[shebaduhkitty]

Hmmm... last thing I need is a place to spend more online time ;)

http://static.flickr.com/53/176782152_aff3b22c1b_o.gif

but if this works...here is my eye winking hello at you all

[webchyck]

Can I help you get that troublesome whatever out of your eye? LOL! Too cool!

[Pixeldigger]

I just made mine - I love the quirky way that the hinge seems to stamp on the stamps hehehe. A little Monty Pythonesque

[happyrobyn]

Too cool! I love it!

[lisadozknit]

After making one for SA party- I had to make a new quirk one.I used my son's pic and went crazy animating- too fun! Lisa;)

[happyrobyn]

Too cool! I love it!!!

[CathyRose]

Love the new avatar, it is so cute!

[lisadozknit]

thanks gals!!! You both inspired me! Lisa

[coffeequeen]

Yay! Thanks for the inspiration to do this! Toooo much fun! Okay, so a wee bit of aggravation too. I kept getting the message: You 19.5 KB exceeds our limit of 19.5KB. Go Figure, and that was at 78 pixels! Finally took it down to 77, and 18.2, not sure you can read the writing, but it says:
Come on in! The froth is fine!:D

[happyrobyn]

so cool! I love it!

[webchyck]

I am SO going to try this one of these days. Just need to quit reading forums and actually DO it! Yours is great, Laurie! Clever!

[happyrobyn]

DO IT BECKY!!!! You know you want to!

[kelliefsimpson]

I am sooo jealous! I don't know how to do animation! And everybody's avatars and blinkies look sooo cool! And here is mine, a frog girl and Twin Peaks, just sitting there, no flash, no action, all alone! LOL
My dh just told me that we have ImageReady in our PS. Maybe I should switch over to it once in awhile, instead of using my PSE, and maybe I can try to learn how to do it.

I dunno-change scares me sometimes.

[happyrobyn]

Kellie - I create all of my animated stuff (the layers) in Photoshop and then I switch to ImageReady to do the animation. Took me a while to figure it out but once you get it, it's really simple.

[Jeannie]

Kellie try this Tutorial (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/13716795/)

[webchyck]

Great tut here for PSE animation
http://www.clikchicdesigns.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&id=10

[webchyck]

I finally made one...want to see it a little bigger?

http://www.digitalartquirks.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1582&cat=500&ppuser=8

[happyrobyn]

Becky - it is AWESOME!! Love it!

[artwerx]

OK - I made an animated GIF (wonders never cease, and don't even ask me how long I've spent on this).... my problem is that the file size is too large... is there a way to make it smaller? I changed it from 80x80 to 75x75, but the file size is still too big and if it gets any smaller (dimension wise) you won't see it.
What do I now, animation gurus?

[happyrobyn]

Try adjusting your color settings. If it is set at 256 colors, try 32 or even 16. That should help.

[artwerx]

Oh Thank You!
It looks a little funky now, but it's a start!! Woo hoo I'm excited. Now I can create blinkies for my site and blog. Oh I think we've opened a can of worms here!

[happyrobyn]

Yeah - when you take out some of the colors, it gives a funky look ... but that just makes it quirky! You can also try adjusting some of the other levels and see what you come up with.