[Conor]

Hi guys. I was wondering if someone could tell me how to merge banners and animated avatars like the way Damon, Nath and Nicky do it. Any help will be realllllllly appreciated and +K will be awarded

Also, is it possible to easily change the shape of the avatars?

Oh yeah, I have Photoshop CS3 extented witch I think is pretty important to mention, because I don't get ImageReady with it.

[Hugo]

I was about to mention ImageReady, maybe this tutorial will help, it shows how to use video layers and the timeline maybe you'kk understand it more than I did;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ7m9BY1cq8

With the avatar question I guess you just work on a transparent canvas? Unless you mean animated ones? I thing you'll need to put underneath another layer and then erase or select and cut the shape you want to be visible.

[Conor]

Thanks alot TP! When I get the hang of it I'll try to explain it to you if you still don't get it

[Hugo]

Its okay and thanks. I hate those american accents on tutorials lol.

[Nicky.]

It took me ages to figure it out, but basically I get each frame of the avatar, and shape them all in one go, then I merge each frame with a copy of the banner, then go to Save for web > GIF > Animate > Save.

But sometimes it dosn't let me do it that way, so I then save each frame one by one and put it onto Beneton Movie GIF and save it that way.

The way I do it you need quite a bit of spare time and some patience

Ask if your trying and you get stuck x

--

Changing the shape of animated avatars, hmm - not one Ive mastered yet I don't know about anyone else x I can get them like thinner and stuff like my one now, but I cant get them in like a star shape or a heart or something x

I'd need a shaped cropper to be able to do that lol x

[Conor]

Thanks for the help Nicky!