Syl's Avatar Creation Workshop

[[Syl]]

I've figured out how to make my own animated avatars from video clips, and I thought I'd share the process with you guys in case anybody's interested.

1) Download the desired video clip. Music videos, movies, cartoons, etc. I've found pretty much everything I wanted on Kazaa. Just make sure you have the proper codecs to play the file you download (the free DivX player should have most of 'em).

2) Your going to need a video player that tells you the frame number. If you don't have one, you can downlaod and install VirtualDub (it's free). With this program, open the file you want to use. Find the second or so that you think would look good in an avatar. Using the single frame, find the very first frame you want to use. Write the frame number down (it's on the bottom right-ish of VDub). Do the same for the last frame you want to use.

3) Now for the tricky part. You're going to need a program that allows you to edit animation. I downloaded Jasc Animation Shop. It's free for thirty days.

a. First, load the clip. ('File'-'Open'-'Clip File'). Now here's why you needed the frame numbers. If you decided to load the whole clip, even half an hour takes an ungodly amount of memory to process, even on a pretty good computer. After you choose the file, a small menu is going to come up with a "range of frames to import." select the bubble that allows you to import specific frame numbers. (Don't use any of the sampling options below the frames to import unless you have an idea what you're doing) Type those frame numbers in and hit 'OK.' That small clip will load.

b. Using the crop tool (fourth icon over on bottom toolbar), make a box over as specific area as you can. Anything you want, in all the frames, has to be within this box (you're basically cutting out unnecessary background stuff). Then hit the "Crop" button on the second to bottom toolbar.

c. Now go to "animation" at the top of the window. Choose the "resize animation" option. On the menu that pops up you're going to want to choose the "pixel size" adjustment. Make sure the box at the bottom that says to maintain aspect ratio is checked. Change the horizontal or vertical size, only whichever is bigger, to 100 (though if it's for another board, keep in mind their avatar requirements might be smaller). Hit "Ok."

d. At this point, your avatar will work at the watch if the filesize is small enough (10kb for the Watch). If this is the case, skip to e. If not, you are going to have to start cutting your file size down. The most effective way is to delete frames. You can do it one by one, or an easier way to do this is to use the "cull animation" option under "animation" at the top. If your file is only slightly too large, you can choose to throw out only 1 in 4 or 5 of your frames. If your file is twice as big as it should be, you'll have to throw out 1 in 2. The more frames you throw out, of course, the choppier the animation's going to look. The second way to reduce your file size is to use the "optimization wizard" under "file" at the top. The wizard is basically going to give you four levels of optimization, the lower the level the worse the animation's going to look. Anyhow, toy around back and forth with culling and optimizing until you get to a file that's the right size that you can live with (the hardest part for me).

e. Under "file" select "save as." Select a name for your avatar, the folder you want to save it in (you're going to need to know where to find it later), and the file type you want to save it as. I always save the files as .gif , which works on the Watch. If you've uploaded your own avatar, then you know what to do now.

f. Go to your "Profile" (just under the banner). At the bottom on the "Avatar Control Panel" hit the "browse" button. Find the file you just saved and select it. Then hit "submit." That should work.

Any questions, feel free to ask me, and if you have anything to add/suggest, by all means...

[Worm of Despite]

I have "video-avatars", though I wouldn't deem them suitable for, um, mass-consumption. Those interested can contact me privately, heh.

[Lord Mhoram]

[Infelice]

Its a very cool av Syl, but the process seems a little too complicated for me.

[[Syl]]

It is, a little bit, though not as complicated as it might sound (unless you're trying to figure it out for yourself, and then...). You just gotta play with it a little bit and it starts to get easy (then it just becomes a challenge to get it down to the right file size and still have it be visible). It's fun, though.

If anybody wants, I can make one for them. Just need to know the source material.

[Landwaster]

Too much hard work for me, Syl ... can we just send you links to the ones we want and get you to do 'em?

[[Syl]]

Sure, I can try.

[Landwaster]

Sorry, was just being a smart alec ... would be too much work for you, and I would be being lazy

[[Syl]]

It wouldn't be too much work, and there's nothing wrong with being lazy.

[Landwaster]

Ok well I can't think of anything at the moment ... but some day I might get into doing it ... but I would try out your instructions before asking you to do one for me.

Very gracious of you, though!