What the heck is it with my avatar?

[umop ap!sdn]

Earlier today, I noticed that the text was only flashing the word "cutie" twice. Huh, that's strange - I coulda sworn I had set the animation to show it 3 times. So I go and check the original, and yeah it's set to 3 times. So I figure that since the output file is 28,409 bytes, maybe the extra frames needed to be removed to reduce it in size. So I click save image as... and it saves 28,409 bytes.

Okay, so at this point I'm guessing something must have gone screwy with uploading it. (It happens; the smileys on my board once got mangled by a mistake in the upload.) So I upload it again, and I check to make sure that it is indeed blinking "cutie" 3 times, not 2.

I come back now and it's back to flashing 2 times.

Checking it now in Firefox and IE, I find that the last frame or 2 looks really scrambled in both.

[Dragon Star]

I've noticed this for the last two days, actually.

[hippietrekx]

I've noticed this for the last two days, actually.

I thought she was being clever or alluding to something I just didn't get.

[Lance]

Well, I noticed the weird last frame the first time I saw the avatar but didn't give it much thought.

Okay, I just tried opening it in ImageReady and got the error:

"Could not complete this operation because the end of the file was reached unexpectedly."

I don't know why that would be. The avatar size limit is 50,000 bytes and your not even close. But even if you were, uploading would just fail. The file wouldn't be truncated.

Can you attach the gif to a PM to me? I'll just put it in the directory manually. Or, better yet, a PhotoShop file...

[Lance]

Okay, never mind...

I managed to extract your frames and rebuild it. I also recaptured the face at a bit of a higher resolution so it's clearer, but the colors are a little cooler if that's okay.

[Dragon Star]

Wow, that looks good!

[Lance]

Thanks. Hopefully umop will think so too.

[umop ap!sdn]

Thank ya Lance! Okay I just compared them side by side in Animation Shop...

Wow, I can actually read the orange thing at the top! :D I captured the original full screen so was limited only by the quality of the video. I dunno how you did it but this is way better.

I was going for realistic skin tones in my original but that ends up looking pretty bad once GIF compressed. So the colors are definitely better too.

The frame rate is different: I originally had 500ms off (no text), 300 "ZOMG", 500 off, 300 "what", etc, and then 300 off, 300 "cutie". But I'm not complaining. This looks great. Excellent work! I'll use it at pjeoq a6essaw after the holiday is over.

[Dragon Star]

I must ask...how were you able to increase the resolution? I mean, did you really increase the resolution or did you use the softening tool?

[Lance]

Thanks!

Okay, I adjusted the frame rate. See if that's more to your liking.

I'll use it at pjeoq a6essaw after the holiday is over.

Holiday? Do you mean [strike]Samhain[/strike] [strike]New Years[/strike] Halowe'en?

[umop ap!sdn]

Okay, I adjusted the frame rate. See if that's more to your liking.

Perfect! :D

Holiday? Do you mean [strike]Samhain[/strike] [strike]New Years[/strike] Halowe'en?

Yup, All Souls' Night AKA All Hallows' Eve. Have you been there lately? The default skin is all spooky like. Make sure to turn your speakers up when you view the index page.

[Lance]

Heh, that's good. It makes me want some pumpkin pie.

[umop ap!sdn]

Heh, thanks! :D Did you hear the scream at the end too? I made it real faint so as not to be obvious that...

[spoiler]...it's actually me whistling. [/spoiler]

But it produces the desired effect.

[Lance]

I'm not sure if I noticed it the first time, but I can definately hear it when listening for it. I'd have never guessed that was "^what you said up there^".

[Dragon Star]

I must ask...how were you able to increase the resolution? I mean, did you really increase the resolution or did you use the softening tool?

*taps Lance's shoulder*

:wink:

[Lance]

I must ask...how were you able to increase the resolution? I mean, did you really increase the resolution or did you use the softening tool?

*taps Lance's shoulder*

:wink:

Oh, sorry, missed that.

I just opened the video on YouTube and was lucky enough to be able to stop on the right frame. I did a screen cap of that at normal size and shrunk it down in PhotoShop. So really, I didn't increase the resolution. The real question is, how did umop decrease it?

Oh, and umop... GIF compression doesn't loose information. It's JPG that does that. That's why JPGs are smaller. GIF works more like ZIP, it's all still in there, just smaller.

[Dragon Star]

Oh, okay, thanks.

Thought you perhaps got some sort of military version of PhotoShop that can actually increase resolution.

[Lance]

Shhhh... That's a secret.

[Dragon Star]

Oh, right...

Nothing to see here people, just move along...

[umop ap!sdn]

So really, I didn't increase the resolution. The real question is, how did umop decrease it?

Well it certainly wan't intentional... I compared them side by side and it looks like my color adjustment interfered with the quality.

Oh, and umop... GIF compression doesn't loose information. It's JPG that does that. That's why JPGs are smaller. GIF works more like ZIP, it's all still in there, just smaller.

I was referring to color depth. Here is my previous color enhanced version, in PNG format; it has 8020 different colors of pixel according to PSP. GIFs just can't store more than 256.

[Lance]

Ah, yes. GIF is 256 colors at best.

I think you said you had the image full screen when you captured it and then reduced it. I captured it at the regular YouTube size so my reduction was far less. Less lost (crunched) pixels that way. Maybe that was why.