a tag being 'animated' oesn't means it's any good.

let's have a discussion, first, here my opinion out.

i was going to keep to to myself tbh and not get involve ( with no good intention trust me i secretly look at these mess of animated tags and those who goes crazy for them in a very condescending manner, now you know, sorry). but it's honestly grating on my nerve how much of an epidemic it actually is and how these things are getting closer and closer to me as i try to back away from it, i seriously look at every contest and see if there is already a animated tag there already before i enter because honest to god let's be real here, one of the many things wrong with an animated sig is the size limit, it can only be so many pixel and bytes before it looks like crap when converted t web colors.

and idk abt you but loosing to a tag that has blinking eye and hideous brown background is not as fun as it sounds.

(before you accuse me of being jealous for i lack PS skills to make a gif or animated tag i would like to point out that i tarted doing animated stuffs the first wave that it hit aarin, blinking eyes, falling rain/snow, moving air, petals etc i can do it all. and keep a non brown bg.)

ah lol I kinda agree, though animated sigs have been around for a very long time.

I remember when I first got into sets, synnesai and shini had the coolest animated sigs. but the sig limit size was much smaller then, and they knew the was a limit to how many colors could be used. (I still can't figure out how shini got her sig to be over 1.5 mb but not look so grainy!)

for that time it was the video clips that are really popular right now

then it was changing text

then there was the snow/rain/petal animations that were all over the place LOL

my favorite time was during the "crack" craze and the animations helped deliver the punch line

then there was the shining craze and blinking eye.

now we have the clips again. I think some are done really well and look awesome, but a lot do rely on just the animation part.

I personally have only made 2 sigs that are animated that I think stand up really well and are not just carried by the animation ( one was made sooooooooooo long ago and its only in black and white, the other is my thread of fate sig on my profile LOL) the others I have made are really just carried by the animation...well the crack ones need the animation to help deliver the punch line, but I don't consider crack sigs to be all that inspiring...just for good laughs

but if people realized that there are only 256 colors when you use a gif, (and most sigs have well over that amount). being aware of the color limits would help a lot with the degeneration of the sig as a whole once converted to a gif.

but seriously, if hte sig can stand up on its own without animation, but is enhanced by animation then that is totally fabulous. (or if there is something very unique about the animation, like hei's text only sig...that is so awesome!)

however, i do think its awesome people are trying new things for themselves

(hey! what's wrong with brown!?!? XD I think brown can look awesome...if you dun take it too far towards mud)

I only own one animated sig (made by BF2525 from the last SAC) because generally I find animated sigs annoying. The best use for it, in general is for funny/crack sigs. I am technically capable of making an animated sig, but it is too time consuming and I'm not crazy about the results so I don't bother with them.

I think it is fine for everyone to have their own personal tastes, so if a person loves animated sigs I really don't care.

i can partly agree with that animated stuff, i mean you can put more afford into making sth even though it´s animated
and i tend to regret that i tried the blinking even though i love it on my ava, but always getting asked to animate stuff can get tiring
i think it´s only good if it adds sth to a sig, but if it only wins because: OMG it´s animated..... -.-
some pictures just don´t look good if you animate parts of it..or simply put a scene in the bg
as for the animation, i don´t think it´s that difficult, just takes time and good ones take even more time :/
and if a set-maker is bored or if the picture just screams: animate me, trying sth new is not that bad XD

*runs away with her blinking ava* XD

are you implying i only won last month contest, cause zoro was animated ???

i get what you guys mean.
when i started making gifs, the outcome was plain, but after some looking around, i realised my gifs are no good (glad to have some good setmakers friends xDD). and now i only do gifs, when i have a great idea for a gif, that is no blinking,petals,snow or stuff. cutted scenes were never my thing before.
but really, there are some people (i don't wanna mention names) who really do crappy gifs, where the bg is just one color, some kinda border and totally out of order font and that person get special prizes cause it's animated!! wth?? and you with your hours of rendering, searching for right brushes and font, combining the chara with the background, patterns, blending, etc. gets the same, less or nothing, that's just ridiculous, but that's life, i guess
well, i'm glad there are still people around who value the overall sig, and not cause it's animated or not ^-^

Well, the thing is people who judge set contests are often not set makers, so they don't realize the work that goes into non-animated sigs. They often choose winners that did almost nothing to a picture--you know the infamous crop-sig winners. That is NOT the case with our monthly contest in this group though. The judge is a fellow set-maker, so their judging should be more "fair."

*nods* dun like animated graphics at all. I have none in my sig shrine coz animated sigs grate on my nerves, dun like them since they're distracting Though there are one or two impressive animated sigs that I like. But honestly speaking, these days the forum's literally overrun with poorly-made animated sigs > hideous designs and annoying jumpy animation are like eyesores. Makes me sad when people give more credit for poorly made animated sigs compared to decent non-animated ones.

As Halite said, the decision made for last month's winner for this group's contest was made fairly. It fits the theme given the best, in my opinion. It may not have been the most impressively made in terms of technical skills but the potential and the feeling the sig evokes are things that have been looked at and I feel it deserves to win. The sig gives off restive feeling, which fits the theme given and at the same time it is fun and amusing. The fact that I rarely ever approve of animated sig, and how much I like the sig even though it's animated should prove it's a decision that has been made fairly, with A LOT of deliberations.

thanks!! =3

damn, we should kinda made this thread more openly, so others can read we setmakers actually don't approve of poorly animated sigs xD!!! and people should stop to give them so high regards >_<!! i mean with this thread i will think thrice if i make a gif now
as long there are people who are so into animated sigs even if it's crappy, there will always be people who makes them.

oh, also about auctions these days.... oh, well, maybe i should put that in another thread some time....

I agree, and I'm partly guilty of that though.
Sometimes when I make animated sigs(whether it's just blinking or/plus text) I tend to wonder whether the customers ever considered other factors other than the animation itself. Or just want an animated sig just like Nouche mentioned. I understand that it takes hard work to animate but to focus only on the animation doesn't mean you'll make half-hearted bgs and the such. It's usually the case of important details being overshadowed by animation. ><
This is why when I make animated sigs I try to make sure the animation stays close to the theme. But it's never easy. ~_~

Also, I'm not fond of sigs that have a jumpy animation(the sudden change from the last frame to 1st). I feel that it spoils the whole sig. :/
Personally I find blinking sigs nice but only if it suits with the sig or its theme.(I find them much fitting with bright themes) -cough-

Likewise, not eveyone is a set-maker so it can't helped. I hope this thread will bring more awareness that it isn't just the animation that counts. ^^

lol sorry for the confusion. i didn't intend for the thread to be an attack on the winner of the last contest at all believe me ^^ as i have no intention of dissing anyone really it is simply a critical view on people who desires/values animated sigs blindly. I mean, i have been here for a while, i know all the incarnation of this movie. maybe before i lacked in PS experience too so it seemed better but overall the quality of those past times HAS been superior as with Shanni's humor and ahgreg creative and innovative thinking in animation.

no offense but some of us who have dabbled in the art of photoshop can ALL create animation i just wish people who are judging all these contest or the general public (and even some gfx 'maker') realizes that refraining from using animation is a choice