how can i get a fancy gif moving image for my avater?

[andyandy]

half the forum have them. I want one too!

what do i need to do? :)

[MWare]

I had to offer my first born to Jeff Wagg (boy is he gonna be sorry).

[Pipirr]

Good question.

On the same subject, does anyone know how to unstitch a gif image, so that one can edit the indiviual frames?

[Smike]

The GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) is highly suitable for editing and creating animated GIFs.

[PogoPedant]

I second the GIMP. Even if it was a lousy app (and it's not), it still has the best name around :D

[Pipirr]

Cheers, I'll give the GIMP a go today.

[logical muse]

I lovingly hand-coded mine. :)

[alfaniner]

I got the initial one from a gif page. You just have to check the size and dimensions. I have added to/edited it from time to time in the home version of Photoshop.

[EHLO]

I second Adobe Photoshop, although in the version I have it's "Image Ready" that generates gif animations using the image layers. Very easy.

If you want to get fancy, Macromedia/Adobe Flash can export more complex animations to gif format.

Either way they are both excellent products to have at hand if you don't mind spending the money.

[EHLO]

I lovingly hand-coded mine. :)

?? You hand-coded the GIF data stream ??

[quixotecoyote]

You could hope pauhoff's in a good mood and just randomly animates your avatar. Worked for me!

[logical muse]

?? You hand-coded the GIF data stream ??

Pretty close, actually, but not GIF, BMP... I wrote a GameOfLife program years ago, and then recently modified it to write each generation out as a BMP file. I did write the BMP code myself (a simple task).

I used ImageMagick to convert the BMP files to an animated GIF.

[EHLO]

Pretty close, actually, but not GIF, BMP... I wrote a GameOfLife program years ago, and then recently modified it to write each generation out as a BMP file. I did write the BMP code myself (a simple task).

I used ImageMagick to convert the BMP files to an animated GIF.


Groovy. I'll add you to the list of people I know with demonstrable nerdish tendancies (in case of emergency)

[logical muse]

Groovy. I'll add you to the list of people I know with demonstrable nerdish tendancies (in case of emergency)

Cool. I'll add you to my list of nerd fetishists.

;)

[MortFurd]

half the forum have them. I want one too!

what do i need to do? :)
You could do what I just did.
1. Find a video clip you like. For mine, I took a clip that Shrinker made showing how a CT'er made a faked video.
2. Shorten the clip to just a few seconds.
3. Use Mplayer to export the video into an animated .gif.
4. Use a graphic editor (GIMP) to resize (100x100 pixels) the gif and set the frame rate.
5. Upload just like any other avatar file.


Be considerate of others who may not have a real zippy internet connection. Conserve bandwidth.
1. Use fewer frames and a lower frame rate. 5 seconds at 30 frames per second isn't going to make many friends.
2. Reduce the number of colors if possible.

[andyandy]

thanks for the suggestions....i might give the GIMP a go :D

[catbasket]

I've used PaintShopPro/AnimationShop3 for my few amateur attempts at animated gifs, though it sounds like i may have to have a play with the Gimp.

(Yuck, visions of Pulp Fiction)