Art Trekking into Animation!

[AzureWolf]

Well, the fruits of my rather sad labor are here:

[IMG]http://www.otakuboards.com/avatar.php?userid=5284&dateline=1067802225[/IMG]
From a Naruto opening. I really liked how this one turned out, even though I had to make so many sacrifices because of the size limitation (60024 bytes). Yeah, I wanted some more hair waving time, or at least a chance to make it look seemless without a break in it, but that would have required a slightly bigger size.

[IMG]http://home.earthlink.net/~azurwolf/images/Chibi-Naruto-Banner.gif[/IMG]
From one of the Naruto endings. Now this one, I'm not too pleased with. I didn't know what the size limitation for banners was (bytes-wise), so I just used the attachment limit as a reference. I had to make too many sacrifices with this one: Naruto's not even in it!

Yes, I know, this stuff is hardly my best work, but I think it's my best work in animated stuff. All comments and questions welcomed.

[OtakuSennen]

[color=midnightblue]Wow, that is some pretty awesome work, even if it isn't you're best. Still, though, this is really up there in comparison to any great computer work, I think.

The avatar looks a little big, but that isn't a problem at all. This is very impressive; did you actually take a second or two from the Naruto opening and just crop it, or what? The little transition between the end of the movie and the beginning is small but noticeable, yet it still is an amazing piece of work.

The banner is also very nice. It looked like you put a lot of time into this one.. It's very well done framerate-wise. Again, the only problem with it is the transition, which is more noticeable in this. But still, you cannot do anything about that due to size limitations, and the overall quality of the banner is enough to make up for it.

[b]9.8/10[/b]

See, Kazuko? I'm not the only person who uses a one or two pixel-wide border![/color]

[terra]

I was going to comment on the avatar. There's a black bit in the upper left hand corner that slowly moves out of the picture, then reappears when the animation restarts. I think if you got rid of that (... somehow) it'd be nearly perfect. It's a very, very cool idea -- I like those avatars where you're like "OMG ... is it MOVING?"

Anyway ... the banner is a really cute idea. Again, the transition and natural looping-ability (... you know what I mean) is very important to me, so I wish it didn't skip back when the animation restarted. But I understand about the attachment limit size ... Just go ahead and finish it and see if you can attach it! ;)

I wouldn't have expected you to make something so ... chibified ... o.O

[AzureWolf]

[quote]The avatar looks a little big, but that isn't a problem at all. This is very impressive; did you actually take a second or two from the Naruto opening and just crop it, or what? The little transition between the end of the movie and the beginning is small but noticeable, yet it still is an amazing piece of work.[/quote] Looks big? Haha, I was worried that it looked too small and everyone would think I like little boys. Anyway...

Oh sure, make my efforts seem so simple that a monkey can do them, but yeah, that's exactly what I did. I prepared the target area via VirtualDub (free program :D) - you know, cropping, clipping into short vid, and the whole enchalada. From there, if I wanted to add any effects, I would have put them in before converting the movie clip to a GIF. A completed GIF is far harder to work with than one from scratch, so when you are making a GIF out of something already made, you should prepare as much as possible before converting to a GIF.

From there, I converted the clip into GIF using a custom 256-color set so it doesn't look all weird when losing its True Color luster. This was done with GIF Construction Set (also free, but very annoying "register me!" advertisement). Then I transfer it over to Adobe ImageReady, make any adjustments, send it back to GIFCS for supercompression (removes redundant data), and finally optimize the size using ImageReady once more. It's simpler than it sounds, though. [quote]The banner is also very nice. It looked like you put a lot of time into this one.. It's very well done framerate-wise. Again, the only problem with it is the transition, which is more noticeable in this. But still, you cannot do anything about that due to size limitations, and the overall quality of the banner is enough to make up for it.

See, Kazuko? I'm not the only person who uses a one or two pixel-wide border![/quote] Yeah, I wanted a blue border, but that wasn't available in the custom 256-color set. :-/ Anyway, it did take more time because of the relative size, but not much more effort. Yes, the framerate did take some attempts to get just right. [quote]I was going to comment on the avatar. There's a black bit in the upper left hand corner that slowly moves out of the picture, then reappears when the animation restarts. I think if you got rid of that (... somehow) it'd be nearly perfect. It's a very, very cool idea -- I like those avatars where you're like "OMG ... is it MOVING?"[/quote] Ah yes, the full moon behind Gaara, and the clouds behind him... Hahahahahaha! Umm... Inside joke. That's a feasible fix that I will definately be on my "to do" list. [quote]Anyway ... the banner is a really cute idea. Again, the transition and natural looping-ability (... you know what I mean) is very important to me, so I wish it didn't skip back when the animation restarted. But I understand about the attachment limit size ... Just go ahead and finish it and see if you can attach it![/quote] Yeah, I guess I should try to finish it. Boy, that's going to be a hard one to finish, since there's really no end... Sounds like a challenge. I'll give it a shot. [quote]I wouldn't have expected you to make something so ... chibified ... o.O[/quote] Neither did, to tell you the truth. Well, just to defend myself, it was the weekend, I had some free time, and I couldn't think of anything that was "banner-worthy" off the top of my head except for this little snippet. Ever since they surprised you with this new ending, it just stuck in my head as one of the funniest parts of Naruto. It kind of blocked out my other movie-GIF plans. So there. :p

Thanks for all the compliments and comments. I'll try to address the problems when I can get around to it (probably this weekend :D)

[Baron Samedi]

Nice work. I don't like the little black bit in the avatar, so annoying [>.<], but yeh. maybe clone the normal area with a clone tool, and overlay it onto the frames at the beginning? I don't know. Looks cool though.. 8/10

The banner? Well, It is pretty good, but I twitch every time that flashes back to the beginning. Maybe orchestrate a fade-to-black before re-looping it. fade in, fade out. That would be easier,a nd looks better. Aside from that it is pretty good. Also, are there...[locations] for obtaining those programs you used? Heh....

Banner-7.5/10

[AzureWolf]

[quote]Nice work. I don't like the little black bit in the avatar, so annoying [>.<], but yeh. maybe clone the normal area with a clone tool, and overlay it onto the frames at the beginning? I don't know. Looks cool though.. 8/10[/quote] Ack, ok ok! I will remove the cloud (eventually) - you have my word. Haha, I guess it really is that annoying. [quote]The banner? Well, It is pretty good, but I twitch every time that flashes back to the beginning. Maybe orchestrate a fade-to-black before re-looping it. fade in, fade out. That would be easier,a nd looks better. Aside from that it is pretty good.[/quote] Yeah, fades are easy. I can do that much. Good idea. [quote]Also, are there...[locations] for obtaining those programs you used? Heh....[/quote] O_o Wasn't the word "free" enough to jump on Google? [url=http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtualdub/]Here's[/url] the version of VirtualDub I use. I mean, there are variations and what-not, but this version is the one you want if you are running a Pentium 4. As for the GIF Construction Set, it was given to me, but I bet a google search will work. It's free, but it'll annoy you to register everytime you exit.