Can someone help me with my avatar?

[run4joy]

Yet another silly user having trouble uploading a custom avatar. I looked at some of the other threads, and re-sized the avatar I like, and it should be fine. I can't upload it from the web, because that one is 60X60 (too big), so I have it saved on my computer. Could someone help me get it to stick in my profile? Thanks!

[funnybone]

If you go to www.gifworks.com you can size any avatar you want to 50 x 50. You just need a place on the web to store it as you can't upload avatars from your computer. I use www.imagestation.com and store mine there.

[run4joy]

Hi FunnyBone, thanks for the help. I edited the file to be 50X50, and saved it at imagestation, but when I save it in my profile it still puts a red X in there instead of the animation. I don't know what it doesn't like, but it's such a cute animation I wish I could use it!

[funnybone]

With Image station I find that sometimes you have to go out of the photo album and then reenter it again and then try again. If you still need help, you can PM me with the info or the graphic and I will try to get it to work for you.

[run4joy]

Hi again,
OK, now I finally get the message saying the file is too big, even though I reduced the pixels from 60X60 to 50X50. Is there a way to reduce the size, or is this where I give up? Thanks for the help! I did go out of the album, and back in before trying again.

[funnybone]

Originally posted by run4joy
Hi again,
OK, now I finally get the message saying the file is too big, even though I reduced the pixels from 60X60 to 50X50. Is there a way to reduce the size, or is this where I give up? Thanks for the help! I did go out of the album, and back in before trying again.

I go to www.gifworks.com to reduce the size. I have never had a problem of it not working. How are you copying the link to the CL avatar section? Are you clicking on it and highlighting the url or are you copying the address on the to of the page?

Perhaps Jennifer from CL chime in and help you out.

[run4joy]

Here is the url to the animation. http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid61/p2a6bc02ba0f3235096c9f1dd40c914eb/fc319c93.gif
I was right clicking the image, scrolling down to properties, highlighting the address to the animation (as above), and pasting it into the web address field in the CL avatar section. But I think the problem is the file size is too large, even though the pixels are within limits.

[funnybone]

What a cute avatar. I won't steal it, but I will try using it for a minute just to see what it says when I try to copy it. I will change back to my old one asap.

[run4joy]

Thanks! I emailed it to you too!

[funnybone]

It's too many bytes - I think the maximum is 20,000 - yours is 186897. Hmm, not sure why it's so big. Email Jennifer and see if she can help. In the meantime I will see what I can do. Sorry.

[PamE]

You can use a program like Paint Shop Pro to compress the image size. I would recommend you try that.

If you attach the image to a post here, I will do it for you.

[run4joy]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid61/p2a6bc02ba0f3235096c9f1dd40c914eb/fc319c93.gif

I don't know if this will work! Here's a try. Thanks everybody!

[funnybone]

Why is it so many bites though??

[funnybone]

Do you have the link to where you found the original graphic. I think you need scale down the bytes somehow. IT's way too big in bytes.

[run4joy]

http://www.nutrocker.co.uk/animatedgifs.html

Here is the original site.

[PamE]

Wendy,

The file you are trying to use is way too big. It is 182.70 KBytes in file size. You need to pick a different picture to use instead. You need to find one that is 20 KBytes (20000 bytes) or smaller in size.

No one is going to be able to resize the image for you since it is an animation. You see, the image you have chosen is actually a file that is 101 frames in size. (I found this out by checking out the file with Jasc Animation Shop.) Basically an animated GIF is an image that cycles through a bunch of frames to create the animation -- much like a movie.

Technically you can use a program like Jasc Animation Shop and delete a bunch of the frames from the animated GIF until you have a reduce file size; however, that would leave you with an image that wouldn't look as well since it will be missing a bunch of frames. (Think of a movie and deleting a bunch of frames from it to reduce the size. Yes, it will be smaller in size, but it also will no longer play so well.) :(

You are better off just picking a different image. When you find an image you like on a web page, right click on it and check the PROPERTIES for the file. That will tell you the pixel/dimension size (i.e. 200 x 100 pixels) and file size (i.e. 3000 bytes or 3 KBytes).

The non-animated GIFs you can reduce in file size and pixel size without losing much clarity or ruining the picture. With animated GIFs there isn't much you can do to reduce them in file or pixel size.

[PamE]

And, just for comparison.... my avatar is only 15 frames. It is only 0.67 KBytes or 670 bytes in size (well within the limits of 20000 bytes for this board).

The more frames an animated GIF has, the larger the file size will be.