Animated .GIF Avatars

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Well, I've finally taken the time to find out how to make custom avatars. While I'm aware that animated .gifs annoy some, I think they're pretty cool, as I have a relatively fast computer and cable modem, so they don't really affect my load times too much. I think I'm done tweaking it for now. I did have Varsuvius from OOTS with a flip screen of "Your Arcane Power Pales in Comparison!!", but I wanted something a little more active, and the file was too large to do more than 2 progressions.

Anyway, I was originally posting this thread to get some feedback on my new avatar, which bears the hypnotic suggestion "I am the master of reality. All mere mortals shall bow before me." (In case you couldn't read it.) But I decided to attach a poll about .gif files in general (if the boards will let me- I've never done it before). I'm sure it's been done before, but I haven't seen it, and I'm curious as to the general concensus regarding animated avatars.

Also, I'd be willing to hook some people up with some simple animated avatars (I'm having a blast making them) if anyone's interested. Just pm me.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

I'm generally in favor of them, but yours is really hard to read. I didn't know it said "reality" until you said so.

 

[Testament]

Love 'em. But I may be biased .

And yours is really hard to read Faerl. Might wanna slow it down.

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

And yours is really hard to read Faerl. Might wanna slow it down.

Well, that's kind of the point, though. It's supposed to be "subliminal"... Hence the "world domination-esque" message... I'm just using MS Paint & UnFREEz (a freeware program), but I plan on buying PhotoShop in the near future.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Yeah, but subliminal only works if your subconscious can read it. My subconscious seems to think you're the master of pestity, whatever that means.

Maybe if the text was in a different color than the circular lines?

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Yeah, but subliminal only works if your subconscious can read it. My subconscious seems to think you're the master of pestity, whatever that means.

Maybe if the text was in a different color than the circular lines?

Hey, good idea- thanks.

 

[haiiro]

Animated avatars are hit or miss for me, but more often "miss."

Hand of Evil and Piratecat both have very subtly animated ones, and I think they're great. In both cases, it took me awhile to actually catch them moving.

The really fast ones -- like yours, Faerl'Elghinn -- I find irritating after awhile. When I'm scrolling through a thread, I find myself scrolling faster (sometimes skipping posts entirely) to avoid leaving them onscreen for any length of time.

Overall, I prefer slow and subtle animation, as I find it less distracting. Nothing personal, though.

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Maybe if the text was in a different color than the circular lines?

All right- that should be better. Also slowed it down to 35 cs/frame. The text is a real pain in the butt, because I have to copy and paste it from Wordpad to get a small enough font for more than a couple of short words in 64x64 with Paint...

My subconscious seems to think you're the master of pestity, whatever that means.

Yeah, I'm the master of that, too...

 

[Xath]

It really depends on the avatar. For example, the flashing neon colors are too early 90's for my psyche to handle. But I'm not against them in general.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

The really fast ones -- like yours, Faerl'Elghinn -- I find irritating after awhile. When I'm scrolling through a thread, I find myself scrolling faster (sometimes skipping posts entirely) to avoid leaving them onscreen for any length of time.

I'm going to second this. I find fast flashing animation very irritating, and makes reading threads with the flashing on the screen really annoying. Sorry, but yours is one of the worst I can think of right now. Nothing personal Faerl, but I really dislike it.