Many people want to know how to create their own moving avatars. The moving avatar is called an animated gif. It's a series of pictures that have been grouped together in one file with a certain amount of time allotted to each picture.
Some graphic programs come with animation programs, but for those of you who don't have such a program, Photoscape offers a free program that's easy to use.
Photoscape : Free Photo Editing Software Download. Just download the program, and go to the AniGif part. Set the size for you avatar where it says, "Set Canvas Size", most people use a square the size of 125x125 pixels. If you make a rectangle, the largest size can't be over 125 pixels. This is the size for a donating member; non-donating members have to use a smaller file size, which can be no bigger than 75x75 pixels.
You also have to set the frame time. Most people set this at around "200" per picture, this is measured in tenths of a second. More time will make the pictures change slower; less time they will change faster. The overall file size can't be over 48.8 KB and this means probably no more than 5-6 pictures, but this varies, but the amount of time spent on each picture does not change the file size. For non-donating member overall size can not exceed 20 KB this usually translates to about 4 pictures.
You then just drag a picture into the program, and it will group them together and make the animated gif. If you want to add frames or other special effects you must first go to the "Editor" part of the program and put frames, add lettering, and/ or crop the pictures. After this is done you would save the pictures and drag these new pics to the AniGif part. It's really fun, once you get use to it.
Once you are finished, just upload the animated gif to YorkieTalk. Go to the user "CP" located on the top left of the page. Go to "Edit Avatar," and instructions will tell you the maximum file size for you avatar. For donating members the maximum size of your custom image is 125 by 125 pixels or 53.7 KB (whichever is smaller). For non-donating members the size limits are 75x75 pixels and 20 KB (whichever is smaller).
For those of you who already have custom made avatars and wish to update them by adding a picture or holiday theme, just use the same program and open your animated gif with that. It will show your gif as a series of pictures and you can add or subtract pictures as needed. Save the gif and upload it to YorkieTalk.
I did want to mention to those of you who are interested, you can also create those cute animated gifs that people post on the profile pages with this program. Just take photo you like and you can add lettering, sparkles, and other special effects. To create sparkles for example, go to the "Editor" part of the program. Go to "Object" than point to the little mountain scene and select "Effect" you can there choose from several different sparkles. Add these to the picture and save. Then go to AniGif part of the program and choose both the original and sparkle picture, set the frame time for 10, and choose a size. Some of these sparkles gifs have a series of three pictures, each slightly different.