Tip on creating avatar

cdcda · 05-11-2004, 11:50 PM

The other day I added an avatar and was dismayed to learn that I could not produce an image of high quality at 100 x 100 pixels that was small enough to meet the 200000 bytes guideline. No matter how much I tried, the image file was just too large. So, I added a smaller image and moved on.

Tonight I revisited the issue and created a smaller image file, realizing the problem I was having...

I use Adobe Photoshop to edit my images. By default, Adobe Photoshop embeds a preview of the image in the file. This preview adds a substantial amount of overhead to the image. Once I set the preferences of Photoshop so that it always asked me if I wanted to include the preview, I was able to get around the problem by writing a file without one.

So, I took an image I already had and brought it into Adobe Photoshop (you could do the same in Adobe Photoshop Elements or another image editing program). I immediately checked to make sure the image was in RGB format (instead of say CMYK, which is used for print) and then converted the image to 72 DPI for screen display. Once it was converted to 72 DPI I reduced the size of the image to 100 x 100 pixels and saved the image as a medium quality JPEG file.

Adding the image to the user account is easy, I clicked on "User CP" at the top of the screen, then on the "Avatar" option, and then clicked the button to upload an avatar from my computer.

Thought some of you may be interested in the tip.

National dealer · 05-12-2004, 05:25 PM

Do me a favor members. Go into your usercp and let me know what dimensions are listed for your custom avatar.

Does it say 50x50 or 20000 whichever is smaller

or

does it say 100x100 or 100000 whichever is smaller

cdcda · 05-12-2004, 05:29 PM

Note: the maximum size of your custom image is 100 by 100 pixels or 20000 bytes (whichever is smaller)

pog · 05-12-2004, 05:34 PM

there we go. nd where do i look?

cdcda · 05-12-2004, 05:35 PM

Click on the "user cp" button on the top of the screen. Then click on Avatar.

National dealer · 05-12-2004, 05:37 PM

I only get 50x50

No idea why

cdcda · 05-12-2004, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by National dealer

I only get 50x50

No idea why

I am going to hazard a guess... each user's settings may be stored in a separate file, or in a database of some sort. If the vBulletin software was ever ugpraded, or the admin settings changed, possibly those users that have been "online" for quite some time are only able to get an older 50 x 50 setting???