AvatarPhoto: Create Your Own Animated Avatar Online

MakeUseOf has a post on AvatarPhoto which lets you Create Your Own Animated Avatar Online.

“Avatar Photo is a site with which you can create your own animated avatars for your social networking profiles, blog and forums. You just need to upload a picture from your computer or the web and choose a desired effect for the avatar. You could choose from a large number of special effects such as emotions, collages and many more. When all set generate your new avatar and download it to your computer.”

AvatarsDB: Free Avatar Directory

MakeUseOf has a post on AvatarsDB, the Free Avatar Directory.

Features:

• Large free avatar database.
• Over 34,000 avatars in 545 categories.
• Download an avatar or use the provided code to embed it on any website.
• Sign up to upload your own avatar and leave comments.

Avatar Creation

MakeUseOf has a post on creating Avatars.

This is a list of links to sites where you can create your own avatar.

CoolWebcamAvatars are animated

MakeUseOf has a post about CoolWebcamAvatars.

“Simply click “create avatar” button on the front page and record your avatar. You can then take this newly created avatar and use it on any website you want.”

DAZ Studio for 3D figures

DAZ Studio is a “free, feature rich 3D figure posing and animation tool that enables users of any skill level to easily create stunning digital imagery.”

This is an older version of a pay program that is given away to interest you in the newer version, so it seems to be fully functional.

Characters, animals, props, vehicles, backgrounds, more.  Examples are on the web site.

Might be a way to do a really original avatar, too!

Sp-Studio creates your own South Park-style avatar

Any “South Park” fans out there?

Create your own South Park avatar in the classic style of Stan, Kenny, and all the gang, using Sp-Studio.  Customize it, and save it for your own use.  Mr. Mackey would, m’kay?

Recommended by MakeUseOf.

beFunky animates your photos, videos

Anybody see the movie “A Scanner Darkly”? Where everybody was turned into a realistic animated version of themselves (well, except during the hallucinations…)?

Try it yourself with beFunky and ‘cartoonize’ your photo or video.

• Turn your photos into digital paintings and comic style animated cartoons.
• Convert videos into cartoons.
• Create and enhance cartoonized avatars: Choose between different background scenes, clothes and accessories, hairstyles, etc.
• Warp tool: push and pull any area of an image (enlarge lips, reduce nose size, etc.).
• Get a black and white pencil drawing of any photo.
• Embed your beFunky stuff on your blog or profile pages.

Recommended by MakeUseOf.

WARNING: read the user agreement.  Using this site gives them the right to use your image and information for their own purposes (promotion of their service, for example).  If you are not comfortable with that, don’t use it.

GIF animations to go at GIFup

MakeUseOf has a review of GIFup for creating graphics in GIF format.

Make the picture, make it move, create an avatar, or whatever you need.

GIFup Features

• Upload images from PC (up to 1024 Kb), webcam, from Flickr or grab directly from a webpage.
• Compose your animation from as many images (frames) as your want.
• Edit individual frames: crop, rorate right/left, flip horizontal/vertical, add effect, add text etc.
• Drag’n drop images to arrange them in desired order.
• Animation speed settings: fast, normal, slow or super slow.
• Individual frame size: Choose between avatar size (50-150 px), medium (200px) or large (400 px).
• Embed ready GIF animations on your website (see below) or profile page.
• Download and save animations to your computer.
• Store and share animations with others by keeping them on GIFup servers.

FavIcon Generator for little reminders

FavIcon Generator allows you to generate a 16×16 pixel image for toolbars and other places, which represents your website.

Avatar, my avatar, wherefore shall I create thee?

Some people use their own photo for an avatar, for realism’s sake, which is fine.

And the rest of us look for something else.

Some charges and limitations may apply for some of these sources. Also, many sources may have some copyrighted material which is not really legal to offer, so be careful of what you select.

AllAvatars has a selection of avatars and icons. These cover everything from imaginative art, personal photos and portraits, clips from manga and many other sources, and lots of other images. Some of these may be copyrighted, even if other people are using them, so be cautious in selecting one.

Meez allows you to create a 3-D full-body avatar, and even have it move in some applications.  For example, here’s a very serene librarian, who “floats” in some applications:

Portrait Illustration Maker lets you create a cartoon portrait.  Here’s an example of a librarian being optimistic:

Voki lets you create your own avatar and even add a voice.  While it looks a bit juvenile on first impression (from the big-eyed kids pictures), check the examples to see how versatile it really is.