I like the green witch!

[robcat2075]

I like Rodney's v18L banner. We needed some color up there.

[Rodney]

Thanks. A:M ain't no text editor.

 

(and a special thanks to the creator of a certain doll appropriated to create the witch!)

 

 

I should add that while occasionally I'll add some post effects or text with another program I try to keep all forum banners created in A:M exclusively.

In this case all content (including all text) was created in A:M.

The exceptions:

- I decided to test/perfect a workflow of rendering every other frame in A:M and then use Fusion to automatically duplicate the missing frames. Rendering Step 2 in A:M (or other skipped framerate) significantly cuts down rendertime in A:M and fits in more with my classical animation sensibilities (I get more of a sense of animating on 1s and 2s for working with slow/fast sequences).

- I used (and often use) Camtasia to render the finished video out to gif format (I haven't found another program I like as well for this conversion to gif although I have tested a command line converter to automatically convert to gif upon rendering from A:M... nothing to report there). I'm not using the video capture from Camtasia as the content is already there as a video rendered out by A:M.

 

If these were feature requests they might be 1) Ability to render to gif animation 2) Ability to duplicate frames upon ingest of image sequence with missing frames. These are two parts of the process I can't currently complete with A:M. As these other two programs have the capability (and one is free) that makes short work of creating the banners.

[Rodney]

I should have said...

 

I'm always looking for creative content (especially customized to the A:M Forum) to add to these banners.

 

For those interested in creating really short (and small) animation these banners are a great way to exercise those skills and feel the thrill of success.

Avoid the failed project syndrome today with new and improved banner ads; 'You don't have to create the next Star Wars... just create a banner.™'

[detbear]

Dimensions? optimal frame size?

[Rodney]

Dimensions? optimal frame size?

 

You would ask the tough questions.

In order to preserve sanity and keep folks graphics looking as they intend them to be having a standard is an excellent idea.

 

At present there isn't an optimal size nor optimal dimensions but I've attached what might be considered standard sizes for banners so that the banners might be repurposed for usage outside the A:M Forum. As there isn't a set standard at present, you (or anyone for that matter) is in a position to set the standard. And if what is submitted doesn't fit it can be scale appropriately.

 

Barring better information I will propose the following:

 

1. Full Banner (486x60) This is very small and not ideal for detail. It may be best for animated graphics (gif animation)

I understand this to be the standard banner size for the internet.

The downside, the numbers are not easy to remember

 

2. Double Full Banner (962x120) This is non standard size but similar to Full Banner. Will work well for still images with greater detail.

This size is not optimal for animation. Also not easy to remember

 

3. Basic Banner (1000x150) Easy math. Any resizing will be done via html to put it into proper dimension.

 

4. Small Banner (500x75) Smaller version of basic banner. Also non standard.

 

I've attached a sheet containing the standard web banner sizes as approved by Interactive_Advertising_Bureau (IAB) not so much for this forum but for those who might find themselves creating banners commercially. When working for a client the standard sizes will be good to know.

 

Viewing for mobile shouldn't be an issue because the mobile theme appears to remove all the graphics.in the headers of forum by default.

 

In the olden days of limited memory the small banners made more sense. With modern memory higher quality with good performance can be achieved.

 

I am open to other options!

 

Edit: I'll have to check to see what size the forum automatically resizes image thumbnails to. This won't effect the original image but I've been known to link to thumbnails. A 1000x150 banner appears to get resized to 600 x 90 Pixels (6.67).

[detbear]

That's awesome Rodney. Thanks. There's a bunch of good stuff in there.