Avatars and cursors

Your avatar is the picture other people recognise beside your identity. Your Pixl cursor replaces the pointer over eligible parts of the canvas. Both can use artwork made in Pixl Studio.

Set an avatar#

Right-click one of your eligible Pixls and choose Set as avatar. The confirmation says the Pixl will be shared publicly so anyone can see it. Choose Share and set as avatar to continue, or Cancel to leave it as it is.

Avatars may use any Pixl grid size: 16, 32, 64 or 128 pixels square. The display is round, so keep essential details inside the circle. The Avatar / profile starting choice and the template guide help you judge that crop.

Direct avatar selection uses your own eligible artwork. A released free asset cannot be your profile picture, and a Pixl currently used as a profile picture cannot be released or saved for reuse by other people. Its public visibility and its reuse status are separate.

Settings → Account has Choose avatar and Remove avatar. Choose avatar can take you to Freemarket choices; your own artwork’s context menu is the direct way to select a Pixl you drew.

Your Colli account picture#

Setting a Pixl avatar also attempts to update your Colli account picture with a still of the artwork. For an animated Pixl, that account picture uses the first frame.

If the separate update fails, Glob Social keeps its selected avatar and says Your Colli account picture could not be updated. The note is about the account picture, so do not assume the Glob Social selection failed too. Try the selection again when the connection is working.

Remove avatar returns Glob Social to the generated identity mark and attempts to remove the account picture as well.

Make a cursor#

Choose Cursor in New Pixl, or use eligible existing artwork. A cursor must be 16 or 32 pixels square and have no more than eight frames. Artwork outside those limits does not offer the same cursor action.

Use Pick cursor hotspot in the editor to select the exact pixel that points at things. This pixel is the cursor’s hotspot. A new cursor starts a quarter of the way in: pixel 4,4 on a 16-pixel grid, or 8,8 on a 32-pixel grid. Choose another pixel if your arrow tip is elsewhere.

Save the artwork and choose Set as cursor. Wearing your own unreleased artwork asks how others may use it because the cursor is a public use. A released free Pixl from another artist can also offer Set as cursor while keeping that artist’s credit.

In Settings → Account, Choose cursor opens the selection route through Freemarket. Your Pixl’s context menu provides the direct Set as cursor action.

Where the cursor appears#

The Pixl pointer applies to ordinary canvas pointing with a mouse or pen. It yields to controls with their own pointer behaviour, including buttons, links and text fields, and it does not replace a touch pointer. Holding a mouse button down can also use the interaction’s normal pointer.

Cursor display is 32 screen pixels across, so a 16-pixel drawing is enlarged. The hotspot scales with it. An animated cursor is drawn by the page, while reduced-motion display uses its still image.

If you see the ordinary pointer over a button, that is expected. If the cursor is unavailable or cannot be shown, the ordinary pointer is the fallback.

Remove a cursor#

Use Restore default cursor on the selected cursor’s artwork, or Use default cursor in its identity controls. This removes the cursor selection without deleting the Pixl.

Removing an avatar or cursor does not undo a prior free-asset release. To change reuse permissions before a release, read sharing and artist credit.