What's Your Method Of Making Avatars?

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What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 8/3/2006 4:23:29 PM

i007_Bond_007i

Posts: 8026
Joined: 5/10/2005

What's your method of making avatars?

Personally, I use:

DVD Shrink (to extract the clip)
Virtual-Dub MPEG2 (to ermm do something with the frames)
then edit the frames using Microsoft Office Picture Manager
and finally use Animation Shop 3 to animate them!

I thought this would be a good idea for a thread, so that those of us who do not know how to make avatars can have a go at making their own!

_____________________________

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Jack Bauer refused the Godfather's offer.

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Post #: 1

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 8/3/2006 4:51:56 PM

Mycroft

Posts: 2586
Joined: 30/9/2005

1. DVD Decrypter for DVDs (obviously). Extract just the one vob file you need
2. Virtualdub-MPEG2 for vobs and avis and whatever else it can open. Cut to section you want.
3. Avisynth for stuff it can't open. To open wmv files in Virtualdub, create a .avs script file in notepad containing:

DirectShowSource("Path to file\video.wmv", audio=false)

then open it in Virtualdub. Add a resize filter to decrease the size of the frames, then it doesnt take an eternity to load them. Output as JPEGs

4. Imageready. Open folder containing frames, crop, resize, reduce frames, colors, save. Possibly open frames in Photoshop for editing.

We need a thread like this stickied, I get alot of PMs from people asking how to make em, the info keeps getting buried in other threads

(in reply to i007_Bond_007i)

Post #: 2

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 8/3/2006 5:00:16 PM

i007_Bond_007i

Posts: 8026
Joined: 5/10/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mycroft
We need a thread like this stickied, I get alot of PMs from people asking how to make em, the info keeps getting buried in other threads

That's a good idea. Perhaps a mod will come across this thread and agree. If not, we can always PM 'em

.

_____________________________

'An actor is at most a poet, and at least an entertainer.'

Jack Bauer refused the Godfather's offer.

'Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas - whatever.'

(in reply to Mycroft)

Post #: 3

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 8/3/2006 11:51:00 PM

Gimli The Dwarf

Posts: 73466
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Central Park Zoo

Cyberlink Power DVD for scenes from a DVD. Save frame by frame for the scene needed into one folder. I'm sure other software might be quicker, especially ones that allow you to take one section in one go.

Imageready to mess about with the images to make the avatar. When making avatars from Quicktime trailers, I just open then straight into Imagready and select the section I want to use.

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Post #: 4

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 9/3/2006 1:53:14 PM

MuckyMuckMan

Posts: 2320
Joined: 1/10/2005

Is there any free avatar making software available, I'd love to make my own but I'm not desperate enough to pay for it!

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Post #: 5

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 9/3/2006 2:27:56 PM

Satine

Posts: 621
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Somwhere they won't find me

Something I didn't tell you: if you download Adobe Photoshop ImageReady comes with that, when the Photoshop trial runs out ImageReady still works...

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Post #: 6

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 9/3/2006 4:37:03 PM

i007_Bond_007i

Posts: 8026
Joined: 5/10/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: MuckyMuckMan

Is there any free avatar making software available, I'd love to make my own but I'm not desperate enough to pay for it!

You can download pretty much all the programs needed. I have anyway.

You can find a download for VirtualDub here .

_____________________________

'An actor is at most a poet, and at least an entertainer.'

Jack Bauer refused the Godfather's offer.

'Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas - whatever.'

(in reply to MuckyMuckMan)

Post #: 7

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 9/3/2006 6:43:10 PM

Gimli The Dwarf

Posts: 73466
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Central Park Zoo

quote:

ORIGINAL: Satine

Something I didn't tell you: if you download Adobe Photoshop ImageReady comes with that, when the Photoshop trial runs out ImageReady still works...

Best day of my life that was. Photoshop died on me but Imageready still worked. I was so excited I nearly passed out.

I think I'll make some more LOTR av's soon

_____________________________

So, sir, we let him have it right up! And I have to report, sir, he did not like it, sir.

Fellow scientists, poindexters, geeks.

Yeah, Mr. White! Yeah, science!

Much more better!

(in reply to Satine)

Post #: 8

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 9/3/2006 7:26:15 PM

i007_Bond_007i

Posts: 8026
Joined: 5/10/2005

My imageready doesn't work

. I'll have to go and download it again.

I can't find the download for it. Anyone have any suggestions?

< Message edited by i007_Bond_007i -- 9/3/2006 7:31:07 PM >

_____________________________

'An actor is at most a poet, and at least an entertainer.'

Jack Bauer refused the Godfather's offer.

'Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas - whatever.'

(in reply to Gimli The Dwarf)

Post #: 9

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 10/3/2006 11:36:39 AM

RuffKut

Posts: 1360
Joined: 28/9/2005
From: The Jundland Wastes...

For movie clip avs, I rip the footage from the DVD...convert to a QT .mov...open in Image Ready...and export out as a .gif.

For everything else (my 'Red X' avs etc) I create the layers in Photoshop and either hand animate or tween them in Image Ready, and then export out as a .gif.

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Post #: 10

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 10/3/2006 1:22:40 PM

xinfinitymedia

Posts: 23
Joined: 10/3/2006

Could somebody tell me what the limits are for avatars?

Or do we just hotlink to photobucket or similar?

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Post #: 11

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 10/3/2006 2:40:43 PM

RuffKut

Posts: 1360
Joined: 28/9/2005
From: The Jundland Wastes...

quote:

ORIGINAL: xinfinitymedia

Could somebody tell me what the limits are for avatars?

Or do we just hotlink to photobucket or similar?

Even when hotlinking, avatars should be 'around' 200k - any larger and you may get asked to remove/optimize it. Oh, and they're 100x100 as well...

_____________________________

Diane, I'm holding in my hand a small box of chocolate bunnies...

(in reply to xinfinitymedia)

Post #: 12

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 10/3/2006 10:38:37 PM

Mr.Tea

Posts: 124
Joined: 30/9/2005

For DVD's;
DVD Shrink to get the clip, then 'RAD Video tools' to convert it into jpegs, then "open folder as frames" in Imageshack to get into frames.
But if a DVD has a scratch on it then DVD Shrink doesn't work (at least I can't make it) so I take frame by frame screengrabs on whatever DVD program I'm using (Nero at the mo).

For Just about everything else I use Virtualdub-MPEG2 and and Imageready. I got hold of Photoshop CS2 when it was first released and it's an unbelieveably versatile and useful couple of programs, well worth finding a download for.

These were the methods I used before my computer went kabluey, but I'll be back! And soon too.

(in reply to i007_Bond_007i)

Post #: 13

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 11/3/2006 5:29:02 PM

*Jack of all Trades*

Posts: 5224
Joined: 15/10/2005

Do you have to have some special software to make avatars or can you do it somehow with just PowerDVD?

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Post #: 14

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 11/3/2006 5:35:19 PM

jenzie

Posts: 525
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cook for thirty minutes until burnt

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Post #: 15

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 5:26:41 AM

imaginator

Posts: 105
Joined: 17/3/2006

Photoshop with 80 or so layers and random filters for about an hour then shrink down and export for web, not terribly exciting.

(in reply to jenzie)

Post #: 16

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 9:58:23 AM

Twizzle

Posts: 1684
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: London

Does anyone else have a problem with getting screen caps from DVDs? I don't know if it's my PC (it's a (newish) Dell Dimension with Power DVD) but when I select 'print screen' and transfer the DVD image to Paint Shop, all I end up with is a black frame. It happens every time and I can't seem to find a way around it. I've also tried to import screen caps directly into Paint Shop but still no go.

Any suggestions?

(in reply to imaginator)

Post #: 17

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 12:25:33 PM

Mononoke

Posts: 1572
Joined: 30/9/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: i007_Bond_007i

What's your method of making avatars?

Personally, I use:

DVD Shrink (to extract the clip)

I just downloaded this but i have no idea how to extract a clip using it. A little help please.

Twizzle, I have that same problem aswell. i have cyberLink DVD, it came with the media Centre on my Dell, but i can't take screenshots with it. I can'y take screenshots of any DVDs that I watch even if I use a different player.

(in reply to i007_Bond_007i)

Post #: 18

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 12:30:32 PM

Mononoke

Posts: 1572
Joined: 30/9/2005

I found how to do it

quote:

a) Click on Open Disk.
b) Select your DVD Drive.
c) Click on Re-author.
d) In DVD Browser select the main movie and double click on it to add it to DVD Structure to the left (you could also select any Extra scenes, just select it under Extra and check in the preview window so you know what it is).
e) Select the first Title.
f) Click on "Set Start/End Frames" (Icon on Re-authored DVD panel).
g) Set the Start, where the clip should start.
h) Set the End, where the clip should end.
i) Press OK.
j) Click on Compression Settings (be sure that the first Title is selected under the DVD Structure).
k) Keep all audio tracks and subtitles.
l) Click on Backup.
m) Select Hard Disk Folder.
n) Make a new folder.
o) Hit OK to rip, it will only take a few minutes or seconds.

(in reply to Mononoke)

Post #: 19

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 12:48:47 PM

Twizzle

Posts: 1684
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: London

Mononoke, are those the instructions for getting frames using DVD Shrink or for Power DVD? *is a bit of a gimp whe n it comes to these sort of things*

(in reply to Mononoke)

Post #: 20

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 1:32:30 PM

Mononoke

Posts: 1572
Joined: 30/9/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: Twizzle

Mononoke, are those the instructions for getting frames using DVD Shrink or for Power DVD? *is a bit of a gimp whe n it comes to these sort of things*

You're not the only one.

They're for DVD Shrink. I had enough of trying to figure out PowerDVD.

(in reply to Twizzle)

Post #: 21

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 1:47:50 PM

Twizzle

Posts: 1684
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: London

Ta.

Did you just make your 'Thumper' av using DVD Shrink cos it's really good.

OK, I've d/l'd DVD Shrink, ripped some frames to make an av but I can't get any futher b/c they're in unreadable formats, i.e .BUP, .IFP and .VOB. I'd love some help re how to convert them.

I've got PSP7 with Animation Shop but I'm still floundering...

< Message edited by Twizzle -- 22/3/2006 2:34:15 PM >

(in reply to Mononoke)

Post #: 22

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 2:40:16 PM

Mononoke

Posts: 1572
Joined: 30/9/2005

I've been using:

DVD Shrink to get the clips off the DVD.
Virtual-dub to get the frames. This will let you open the VOB format that DVD Shrink saves in.
Easy Gif Animator to get a gif image.

Download Virtual Dub and eveything will fall into place. Hopefully.

(in reply to Twizzle)

Post #: 23

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 2:59:43 PM

Twizzle

Posts: 1684
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: London

I've d/l'd Virtualdub but it won't let me open the VOB file that DVD Shrink saved the clip in. I'm getting the error message MPEG Import Filter: invalid pack at postion 3: marker bit not set. possibly MPEG-2 stream whatever the hell that means!

I think that I might have to de-install DVD Shrink and Videodub and start again b/c this is doing my head in now.

< Message edited by Twizzle -- 22/3/2006 3:03:37 PM >

(in reply to Mononoke)

Post #: 24

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 3:04:55 PM

Mononoke

Posts: 1572
Joined: 30/9/2005

I did find that when I went to open the VOB file a message came up about the sound but it let me open it. Hmm. Let me know what happens when you reinstall them.

EDit. Just thought of something...

Can you open the VOB file and watch it. I have a VOB player thingy that lets me watch them installed on my computer. It might be becasue you don't have that.

< Message edited by Mononoke -- 22/3/2006 3:07:32 PM >

(in reply to Twizzle)

Post #: 25

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 3:25:50 PM

Twizzle

Posts: 1684
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: London

Hmmm, I reckon that might be what the problem is. I've never seen anything with VOB on it before now so I doubt that my comps got the facility to read it. It's about 4/5 years old so it probably doesn't support it. Bugger!

Thanks for all your help though and I'll keep trying. My kids PC's are brand new so I might have to sneak onto one of theirs and see what occurs.

(in reply to Mononoke)

Post #: 26

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 3:35:56 PM

Mononoke

Posts: 1572
Joined: 30/9/2005

You can download the media player from here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/.

Good luck

(in reply to Twizzle)

Post #: 27

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 3:46:55 PM

Twizzle

Posts: 1684
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: London

Well don't I feel like a right twerp! It would seem that I'd d/l'd the wrong version of Virtualdub (not the MPEG2 format one) so I've rectified that and am now in the process of making an av, albeit a very rough one.

(in reply to Mononoke)

Post #: 28

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 4:13:11 PM

i007_Bond_007i

Posts: 8026
Joined: 5/10/2005

Good luck with the avs guys/gals

. If you need any help with DVD Shrink just gimme a shout.

_____________________________

'An actor is at most a poet, and at least an entertainer.'

Jack Bauer refused the Godfather's offer.

'Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas - whatever.'

(in reply to Twizzle)

Post #: 29

RE: What's Your Method Of Making Avatars? - 22/3/2006 6:25:40 PM

imaginator

Posts: 105
Joined: 17/3/2006

Did all that capture stuff then bastardised all the frames after avi import into photoshop to obfuscate it completely while pissed so now I have no idea what the gubbins the clip actually was

(in reply to i007_Bond_007i)

Post #: 30