Question about avatars

[Tom Stathes]

How do i get a moving avatar similar toJon's previous daffy duck one? It would be cool to have one :)

[Bugsmer]

Firstly, Cartoonsonfilm, in order to submit an avatar, you must be a member (which you are), then go to the FAQ at the top of the toonzone screen, click on "How can I change the information in my profile?" , click on the here of "Edit your profile here ". Then log in, click on "Edit Options", and click on avatar.

This much you may have already known, but I see that you want to have a moving picture, and for that you need a GIF, as opposed to a JPG. Many GIFs are still pictures, but there are also many moving gifs.

In order to make a moving gif, you need some program like Microsoft GIF Animator, or some similar program. This program will only be able to make an animated movie with GIFs you've already made, so...

Make the GIFs in Correl Draw or Adobe Illustrator or whichever picture making software you've got. Create a new picture by going to File-->New and before anything, change the pixel size of the picture to 75 pixels by 75 pixels, the maximum size allowable for avatars in this forum.

Next, import a screen cap from a cartoon, and then export it into a GIF. Then take that GIF into your animation program and import it. Save the animated GIF with one frame.

Then go back into Correl, Adobe, etc., and import another screen cap (unless you're drawing the frames yourself). Export this as a GIF and then bring it into your animating software and add it as the second frame. You can add as many frames as you want, but be careful not to make the file too big, or Toonzone won't allow you to use it. The animated avatars I've seen here are no more than three or four frames long. If you don't have any of this software, you can probably get similar freeware at www.download.com.

I made a cartoon for a class project and I spent days and weeks on it, and made it over 1000 frames long, some of them repeated, and all of it was an animated GIF. The thing was over 20MB when I was finished, had no sound, employed stick figures and other hurried drawings (I was really busy at the time) and I could not fit it on a free Internet page (which was my intention in the first place). If you ever decide to make any lengthy cartoons, use some program like Macromedia's Flash 5, or other software.

Good luck, Cartoonsonfilm. I'm interested to see what avatar you'll make.

[Tom Stathes]

Sounds a little complicated, but i'll try it. First i'll have to get some software like that. Once i have the software andthe frames, can you help me as i go via email or instant messenger? Thanx so much for the response! :)

[Bugsmer]

No problem, Cartoonsonfilm. I'm happy to oblige.

[Davesnothere]

Bugsmer covered it pretty thoroughly. However, you can also swipe one if you're so inclined! I don't recommend it though!