Avatar

[aam1234]

In the "old" forum/software there were avatars we could choose from, but that option is no longer available now. Tried to load my own pic but it came out so small that the subject (a butterfly) was barely identifiable. So was wondering if there are some kind of avatars in the net we could use.

Thanks

[tommykjensen]

Can't You create Your own from Your photos? Mine is one of my photos I cropped and resized.

[aam1234]

Tried to load my own pic but it came out so small that the subject (a butterfly) was barely identifiable.
Thanks

Hi Tommy, I've already tried that w/o much luck.

[tommykjensen]

At what stage does it fail? Remember the size must not exceed 80x80 or max 8 kb. Works best if You use a gif.

[aam1234]

I guess the pic I choose is not suitable for an avatar. I'm cropping it more right now to see if it will work. Could you check back in few minutes to see if the avatar/pic is clear enough. Thanks

[aam1234]

I must be doing something wrong. The pic is down to 60 x 52 and it's still 17 kb. Am I missing something or this is normal.

EDIT: Win XP says it's 17 kb while ACDsee says it's 2.2 kb.

[CyberDyneSystems]

If you want a pre-made one,.. have you tried a Google of avatar images?

I haven't done it for some time but I seem to recall there are pages of them free to download.

[aam1234]

Thanks CDS. Thought about that, but call me stupid or paranoid, but these kind of downloads kind of scare me (viruses, spyware...etc) that's why I didn't try. was hoping somebody here would recommend a trusty site.

Thanks again

[tommykjensen]

I must be doing something wrong. The pic is down to 60 x 52 and it's still 17 kb. Am I missing something or this is normal.

EDIT: Win XP says it's 17 kb while ACDsee says it's 2.2 kb.

Are You saving as .gif or jpg?

[aam1234]

Well it says "ACDsee 7.0 jpeg image" so it must be jpeg :D

[tommykjensen]

Then it could be the exif information that is still in the jpg. try converting it to a gif.

[aam1234]

Just a thought, would stripping the exif data saves some space. How much space does exif usually take.

[tommykjensen]

Just a thought, would stripping the exif data saves some space. How much space does exif usually take.

Don't remember how much but yes it will save a few kb so it might get under 8 kb.

[aam1234]

We typed at the same time Tommy :D . Let me try your/my suggestion and see what happens. Will report back soon.

[Moppie]

If your saving as a JPEG don't forget to lower the quailty as well, often to get the file size small enough you will have to use the lowest quality setting.

[aam1234]

Thanks Moopie. Put it to 3 quality, maybe that's not low enough.

Loaded the pic, but notice how small it is compared to your avatar guys.

[LisaMarie]

Your avatar is 57x48 while Moppie is sized 80X80 and Tommy is 72X80 - they appear bigger because they are. Try taking your original image and resize it to 80X80 and save it as a gif at low resolution/quality. That will work for you. :)

[aam1234]

Thanks LM (if I can call you that). I'll try your suggestion.

[Scottes]

I think this is the 4th time I've cut & pasted this into a thread...

Photoshop...
Get your image to 80x80 pixels. Then File... Save For Web.

Near the top rght corner you'll have a box with choices of GIF, JPG, PNG, etc. Set it to JPG.
Below that uncheck both Progressive and ICC Profile.
To the right of that check Optimized

Now look at the right image, and look all the way at the bottom. It should say something like:
JPEG
9.562K
10 sec @ 56Kbps

As long as that number is below 6.000K you're fine. (That's a decimal point, so 6K, not 6 thousand K.) But if not, look back up near the top right corner, to the right of where you set JPG, you'll see a box called Quality and it will probably say "100" in it but will say something between 1 and 100.

Click the arrow to the right of the number and a slider will pop up.
Grab the triangle and slide it towards the middle until it is set at 50 or somewhere around that.

Now once again look at the numbers below the right image - the number should be much smaller. Move the slider around until it's slightly less than 6.000K.

Now check out the image on the right. Does it look OK? If it looks like crap compared to the picture on the left then it's over-compressed. If you don't like how it looks then hit the cancel button and resize it to 70x70 or 60x60 and start again at the top of this message.

If it does look OK then click the Save button and give it a name. You're done.


Paint Shop Pro...
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=54729
Not exactly for an avatar but shows how to resize an image down to a particular width & file size, so just use the avatar size (80x80 & 8KB)


http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/aam1234_av.jpg
Tough image for an avatar, actually. I sharpened it, too.

[aam1234]

Well thank you Scottes, yours look much better than mine. Let me sharpen it a bit to see if it could be as good as yours.

EDIT: did you do anything other than "sharpen". Thanks.

[tommykjensen]

Scottes, what do You think about my new one ;-)

[aam1234]

I like your new avatar Tommy. Glad you left some space in front of "kid's" face.

[Moppie]

I have to sharpen my Avatars quite a lot, but then reducing a 4MP file down to only 80x80 will result in just a little quality loss :D

[Scottes]

Aam1234, I just resized and sharpened. A lot. Like Radius .3 Amount 180%

Tommy, I don't think you could possibly improve on your last Avatar. That is a GREAT image.

[aam1234]

Guys, my avatar you see on the left has been edited and enhanced by our resident PP guru, Mr. Scottes. Thank you Scottes.

[aam1234]

Btw, there is a little silly story behind that pic. Won't bore people with it unless somebody asks.

[Moppie]

So whats the silly stoty?

[aam1234]

Well, I was setting up things to take photos of this flower. You know, the cam, the tripod, the chair. While doing that, this butterfly landed on the flower...me: woow...and fumbling with everything fast (a la B&W comedy movies). The lens was already on MF, so took pics randomly in the general direction of the butterfly. That one was the best of the bunch.

[Moppie]

Thats pretty cool, must have been a very vain butterflly :)

[aam1234]

Ha ha, you are so right. While messing around with things, that BF was just minding its own business, then took its sweet time to fly away.

[Citizensmith]

I like cartoons for avatars, its always clearer what the subject is as less is going on. My current one is borrowed from the artistic genius Mike Krahulik from Penny Arcade.

irfanview (great bit of freeware) is a good way to resize and shrink your avatars if you can't afford photoshop.

[kawter2]

my new one is AWESOME!!!



Good ol'e Michael Bolton

[aam1234]

kawter2, if your kid doesn't stop jumping up & down I'm going to pull my hair off :lol:

[aam1234]

OOPS, I miss your kid jumping up&down now.

[CyberDyneSystems]

er,. yeah. :rolleyes:

Is that David Hasslehoff?? :lol:

aam,
Nice job :)

[aam1234]

aam,
Nice job :)

Actually, all credit should go to Scottes, he did an excellent job with it.

[kawter2]

my new one is AWESOME!!!



Good ol'e Michael Bolton


NO WAAYYY MAN!!! It is Michael Bolton from "Office Space" THE BEST MOVIE EVAAAR


p.s. it isn't voilent, he is beating up a fax machine

[Moppie]

.... It is Michael Bolton from "Office Space"....



Iv seen that used before as an Avatar, infact Iv seen it several times on the same forum :)


Given the nature of this forum I like useing my own photos, or at least photos that have come of my own camera :)

[kawter2]

Given the nature of this forum I like useing my own photos, or at least photos that have come of my own camera :)


I'm glad you feel those convictions!!! ............................

[tommykjensen]

Given the nature of this forum I like useing my own photos, or at least photos that have come of my own camera :)

Me too, well from MY camera that is :lol:

On other sites I use a little Yoda character as my avatar :D

[Littlenose]

I tend to use the same name and avatar for forums... and although I agree with you CitizenSmith, that the cartoons look a lot clearer... Sometimes people [seen it a lot iin other forums] flaunt the copyright of the original artist... touchy subject here I know... and so I'm gonna go hide under a rock for a while.

Oh and i like your new avatar... nice work Scottes on making it better for use :)