custom avatars and signatures

[larryb123456]

Thanks, jaclaz, for that very nice acknowledgement at reboot.pro.

The MSFN link you Posted there opens with my invitation to make avatars and signatures for others.

I really wouldn't want to do that for reboot.pro members -- (as explained in the next paragraph) -- and I wouldn't want them to get the wrong idea from the link.

As you've noticed, my recent (i.e., since the distant past) efforts have primarily been geared toward making animated userbars, where I, myself, can determine the subject matter and try different things (as I did in my last Post) to suit myself. If you think your reboot.pro link won't take me away from those efforts, please leave your Post as you made it. Otherwise, say, "The creator of this animated GIF is an international man of mystery who prefers to remain anonymous". Or, more to the point, "The creator of this animated GIF prefers to remain anonymous".

Edited December 7, 2012 by larryb123456

[jaclaz]

The MSFN link you Posted there opens with my invitation to make avatars and signatures for others.

Fixed.

Though if you would be not so shy (or even if you are BUT I can talk you into it ) there is the whole world of animated GFXboot, example in the mentioned Christmas theme:

http://reboot.pro/topic/15689-ripper-gfx-with-gui-gfxboot-editor/

that could well make use of your capabilities and creativity...

jaclaz

[larryb123456]

@ jaclaz:

At reboot.pro, may I suggest your having:

with many, many thanks to the animated GIF creator, who is an international man of mystery that prefers to remain anonymous. Or, more to the point, that prefers to remain anonymous".

But it's your Post. So what you have is fine by me, if you like it.

Can you explain, in Forrest Gump lingo, what the animated GFXboot is all about ?

(In the meantime, I'll research a little online.)

Your screenshot seems to be *highly computer technical*, and I don't know anything about computers.

Personally, if I put my energies into additional "learning", I think I'd prefer to know how to make video userbars.

Edited December 8, 2012 by larryb123456

[jaclaz]

At reboot.pro, may I suggest your having:

Done.

Can you explain, in Forrest Gump lingo, what the animated GFXboot is all about ?

(In the meantime, I'll research a little online.)

Your screenshot seems to be *highly computer technical*, and I don't know anything about computers.

Well, still you have a computer, when you boot it you have (I presume) no choice about which Operating System you are going to load.

A lot of people like to use more than one operating system on their PC and they use a "bootmanager" i.e. a small program that allows at boot time to choose which OS to boot.

Even "plain" Windows NT based systems have it, either NTLDR + BOOT.INI or BOOTMGR + \boot\BCD, but their look is pretty much "dull":

grub, grub2 and grub4dos are bootmanagers that besides a "plain" text can also add static images (spash images) or even animated ones (GFXboot) making the "booting phase choice" a "graphical experience", like the "Christmas theme" I posted earlier).

jaclaz

[larryb123456]

@ jaclaz:

Thanks for taking time to write your Post.

Well, still you have a computer, when you boot it you have (I presume) no choice about which Operating System you are going to load.

That's correct. I have no choice since I have *only* Windows XP installed.

A lot of people like to use more than one operating system on their PC and they use a "bootmanager" i.e. a small program that allows at boot time to choose which OS to boot.

Clearly written.

Even "plain" Windows NT based systems have it, either NTLDR + BOOT.INI or BOOTMGR + \boot\BCD, but their look is pretty much "dull".

grub, grub2 and grub4dos are bootmanagers that besides a "plain" text can also add static images (spash images) or even animated ones (GFXboot) making the "booting phase choice" a "graphical experience", like the "Christmas theme" I posted earlier).

Really, I'm kind of surprised that people would put such effort into a "graphical experience" that would be in effect only during booting (if I understand you correctly). And, also, this graphical experience would be much, much less an experience than what would be available once booting was over (as in fooling with Photoshop, making animations, or simply "surfing" the internet, etc., etc., etc.). With me the "plain text" booting I have is just something that I want to be finished ASAP. Even if some graphical experience booting was there, I'd still want it to be finished ASAP.

[jaclaz]

Really, I'm kind of surprised that people would put such effort into a "graphical experience" that would be in effect only during booting (if I understand you correctly). And, also, this graphical experience would be much, much less an experience than what would be available once booting was over (as in fooling with Photoshop, making animations, or simply "surfing" the internet, etc., etc., etc.). With me the "plain text" booting I have is just something that I want to be finished ASAP. Even if some graphical experience booting was there, I'd still want it to be finished ASAP.

Sure, it also surprises me, but nonetheless lots of people spend time in doing these kind of things and in making their boot menu "pretty".

Personally I use "plain text", the only exception being (on some sticks) the use of a splash image (that a friend made for me some time ago for a project that was never actually released) that you can see here (first image green text on black background):

jaclaz

[larryb123456]

@ jaclaz:

BTW, on reboot.pro, I liked your Location: The Outside of the Asylum.

On another forum I'm on, I give my location as: 10 kilometres beyond infinity.

(I thought that one up myself. Note the European spelling of "kilometers".)

[larryb123456]

@ jaclaz (and other interested compatriots):

On the other forum I mentioned in my last Post, this is my avatar:

To make it, I downloaded the chimp-with-a-gun image (i.e., "Picasso"-stole it), cropped it, re-sized it, and made the simple 8-frame GIF by adding the LBBL.

L and B are for larryb123456

B and L are the letters LB sees when he looks in a mirror. And when you put it all together, you get LBBL.

I really like the simplicity of this image. (And that chimp is one bad mamma jamma !!!)

Edited December 8, 2012 by larryb123456

[jaclaz]

@ jaclaz (and other interested compatriots):

On the other forum I mentioned in my last Post, this is my avatar:

I guess this should be posted under "News"

You see how useful is your smiley?

jaclaz

[larryb123456]

@ jaclaz:

"I am the REAL duck smiley, not your silly jaclaz duck emoticon/smiley !!!"

"Quack, quack !!!"

"And don't you forget it !!!"

"Good-bye !!!"

[larryb123456]

Everyone loves a real-life Cinderella rags-to-riches story, where someone comes out of obscurity to achieve great fame. Such is the case with professional United States NBA (National Basketball Association) player Jeremy Lin, who now is a point guard for the Houston Rockets, raking in a sweet $8 million (or so) per year.

Lin received no college athletic scholarship offers out of high school and was undrafted into the NBA out of Harvard University, which is not exactly a "hotbed" of basketball talent. To make a long story short, in February 2012, Lin unexpectedly led a winning streak by the New York Knicks while being promoted to the starting lineup. This generated a *global following* known as "Linsanity". There were tons and tons of puns and jokes concerning "Linsane" (i.e., insane, but in a good way, as in a compliment) and Lin's Asian-American heritage, referring to his playing in a League dominated by African-Americans. Lin is one of the few Asian-Americans in NBA history, and the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the League. In the summer of 2012, Lin signed a three-year contract with the Rockets. The Associated Press called Lin "The most surprising story in the NBA."

So, to celebrate Linsanity, I made the following animated GIF userbar, http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa403/larryb123456/AniMSUB010sec76uniqueframes255colors350x19pxOOED169KB.gif

This is a frame-by-frame animation: 76 unique frames, 0.10 sec display time per frame, 255 colors, 350x19px, 169 KB. The Jeremy Lin JPEG and the Houston Rockets logo waving banner (a 4-frame animated GIF) are each scrolled vertically at the rate of 1px per frame. I made the banner by simply cropping a Houston rockets waving flag at the top and bottom. "LIN", "SAN", "ITY", and "!" move up and down at the rate of 2px per frame, as "bouncy text", a form I have used before in a few Posts. (The construction of bouncy text is covered completely in my Post # 344.) The background with the moving scanlines is a 2-frame animated GIF, whose form I have used in many previous Posts.

I feel that the bouncy text used here fits in well with the concept of "insane". I also like the red letter pulsations.

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"Yes! I have a raging case of Linsanity. I have been declared legally Linsane. My symptoms... linsomnia, restless linsyndrome and lintestinal blockage!"

Spike Lee

"Chink in the armor"

Anthony Federico, an ESPN writer who was fired for using this headline, an offensive racist pun

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Edited December 10, 2012 by larryb123456

[larryb123456]

I think most of you know of Kobe Bryant, even if you don't follow NBA basketball, because he has "transcended" sports to become a true celebrity, in the same way Tiger Woods, the golfer, has. But I'll give a little info on Kobe anyway. He is an American professional basketball player who plays shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His statistics are phenomenal. Just as an example, as of June 2012, Bryant ranked third and fifth on the NBA's all-time post-season scoring and all-time regular season scoring lists, respectively. He is also the all-time leading scorer in the Lakers franchise history. He'll be a definite inductee into the NBA Hall of Fame once his playing days are over.

I made the animated GIF userbar in this Post because I like both the colors and design of the Lakers flag as well as the wide-smiling Kobe image, http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa403/larryb123456/AniMSUB007sec76uniqueframes255colors350x20pxOOED200KB.gif

This is a frame-by-frame animation: 76 unique frames, 0.07 sec display time per frame, 255 colors, 350x20px, 200 KB. The Los Angeles Lakers flag (a 4-frame animated GIF) and the Kobe Bryant JPEG are scrolled vertically at the rates of 2px per frame and 1px per frame, respectively. The background with the moving scanlines is a 2-frame animated GIF.

I like the "energy" of this userbar.

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Some Kobe Bryant quotes:

"Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise."

"These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess."

“What I'm doing right now, I'm chasing perfection.”

And since a (pretty) picture is worth a thousand words (i.e., quotes),

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[larryb123456]

@ jaclaz:

Left to my own devices, and not having to jump through someone else's hoops, I came up with this variation of the jaclaz duck emoticon. But in my version, which I call BRICK THROWER, the red-faced angry emoticon triumphs, since he is inflicting great psychic harm to the whistler -- (i.e., witness the look of shock on the whistler's face when he first sees the brick and as he ducks down) -- over and over again as he repeatedly throws the brick.The brick does not have to hit the whistler to injure him, since oftentimes being scared senseless is much worse than actual physical pain.

BRICK.THROWER, http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa403/larryb123456/BRICKTHROWER.gif

I also tried to make the brick thrower look like he's mouthing the *expression*, "...and that's all I have to say about that." The red, angry emoticon is only a 6-frame animated GIF, but I did the best I could: I have the emoticon tight-lipped (i.e., mouth in a horizontal line) for 2 seconds, and as soon as the left period in the *expression* shows up, the emoticon starts mouthing, and he keeps it up until the right period in the *expression* appears, and then he immediately stops mouthing and is tight-lipped again. Please watch the animation with all this in mind, and you'll see what I mean.

Of course, there will be no other variations on this animation, unless I choose to make them myself.

Please feel free to use this animation as you see fit, if you want to, of course.

[larryb123456]

One of my favorite bands is Linkin Park -- (an American rock band formed in 1996) -- and I saw a cartoon image of the group that I liked, so I made an animated GIF userbar from it, http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa403/larryb123456/AniMS011sec108uniqueframes255colors350x19pxOOED310KB.gif

This is a frame-by-frame animation: 108 unique frames, 0.11 sec display time per frame, 255 colors, 350x19px, 310 KB. The image JPEG is scrolled vertically at the rate of 3px per frame. The background on the right side of the userbar is a 4-frame animated GIF.

This background was made from the following resource 4-frame 100x100px GIF by simply re-sizing, http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa403/larryb123456/ResourceGIF_grayverticalstripes.gif

I really like the way this right side gray vertically striped GIF blends in seamlessly with the black background around the band members in this userbar.

Edited December 16, 2012 by larryb123456

[larryb123456]

In this Post, I'm presenting another Linkin Park animated GIF userbar, but this time I'm using an actual photographic image of the band members and not a cartoon version as I used in my last Post.

http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa403/larryb123456/AniMSUB013sec68uniqueframes255colors350x19pxOOED179KB.gif

This is a frame-by-frame animation: 68 unique frames, 0.13 sec display time per frame, 255 colors, 350x19px, 179 KB. The band members JPEG is scrolled vertically at the rate of 3px per frame. The background on the right side of the userbar -- (with the moving scanlines) -- is a 2-frame animated GIF.

I much prefer the cartoon version because of the higher quality of the image. It is incredible to me that a band with very great popularity such as Linkin Park has such terrible photographic images online for artists to "appropriate" (i.e., steal). The image shown is the best that I saw, and I worked with it to sharpen it to the best quality that I could.

Well, "c'est la vie", as Forrest Gump would (try to) say !!!