Avatar Help Thread

[Yuri2356]

In PSP9's help file it lists tga as a supported type (for read and write)
However, I have found that PSP doesn't like layered tga images, while it will open the image, the layers are not preserved. I have heard Corel Draw does support these layers so that may be your best bet if you're dealing with layered files.

Any idea where I could get these?

Layers shouldn't be a problem for these, since it's just making a 64X64 pixel 'logo' that gets placed on a player's ships.

 

[Gelion]

Dease?... please

 

[Dease]

Any idea where I could get these?

Layers shouldn't be a problem for these, since it's just making a 64X64 pixel 'logo' that gets placed on a player's ships.

PSP - www.jasc.com there should be a 60 day trial available EDIT: hmm, testing my link it seems jasc has been taken over by corel and now the trial is only 30 days....
Corel Draw - www.corel.com 30 day trial

@ gelion - Sure, but could you post links to a few sites with good pictures? I've done some searches but haven't been able to find much at all.

 

[Gelion]

Oh I would love to. I am a B5 fan:
http://www.scifinuts.com/b5char.html
http://www.frostjedi.com/vex/html/narn.html
http://hyperspace.isnnews.net/narn/

If you need more I got more. Much more

 

[Dease]

Thanks, most of the pics were broken but the names were enough for me to find them

 

[Dease]

 

[Gelion]

Wow Which one to choose? Great work

 

[MeteorPunch]

I'm back again.

could someone reduce the file size of these shiny new future avatars? Pleeeease?

EDIT: I finally figured out how to do it myself! so nevermind, pics removed.

 

[Dease]

I'm back again.

could someone reduce the file size of these shiny new future avatars? Pleeeease?

EDIT: I finally figured out how to do it myself! so nevermind, pics removed.

Incase others don't know

File size Reduction in Paint Shop Pro 9
(these methods may work in other versions of PSP)

CFC accepts 3 file types - png, gif, and jpeg
All three have their own characteristics and all are useful in different situations

I will explain how to 'fine tune' the file size of each type and expalin thier advantages and disadvantages.

To modify any file size you must first enter the 'file optimization' this can be acessesed through the save file dialoge by clicking options

and then 'run optimizer'

1. jpeg - jpeg's are my least favorite type of file because thier compression distorts the image, however it is not usually too noticeable. This compresssion makes jpeg's ideal for images with lots of different colours since they are 24bit. So, to modify jpeg's file size once in the optimizer, just increase the compression until the file is under(or equal to) 4096bytes.

2. gif - best used with avatars with transparent areas as it is the one that supports transparency best. When saving such an avatar, make
sure 'existing image or layer transparency' is selected, to preserve the transparency. in the partial transperency tab, have 217,217,217 as the blend colour as that is the forum default background and will blend your image with it, provided your image is anti-aliased/feathered.
the colours tab is where you can modify the size, decrease the amount of colours until it's under 4096bytes.

3. png - best used for images with no transparency,and where you want the integrity of the image to be kept (no compression distortion). In the optimizer, have 'Palette based' selected, 24bit is also possible (and opens up partial transparency options) but without compression, it's extremely difficult to get under 4kb. Again modify the amount of colours reduce the size below 4096 bytes. png is prefereable to gif for this because png is gereally smaller than gif. transparency is still possible with palette based png's but it does not offer the blending options of gif.

Many images will be already under the size limit so no modification is needed, generally, the more variation in colour (and amount) will determine the file size.

 

[Lyonesse]

Thanks Dease! When I can get to update LAHP I will be sure to add that! Thank you!!!!

 

[polyphemus]

not only can you make still avatars, but motion ones too. If your using Animation shop, save you animation as a gif and when optimizing it scroll the scroll bar down a knotch to decrease file size.

Moderator Action: No animated avatars, please. col
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Animated avatars aren't allowed...

 

[stormbind]

I added shadow and border to CH's
I ran into some trouble with file sizes so I had to use jpg

Oh, sorry for not noticing this sooner

The JPEG artifacts show so I'll stick with CH's version but I do appreciate the effort. Did you see that the original icon has a shadow?

Yay, Dease used my avatar for his tutorial. I am famous!

 

[Mistfit]

Yay, Dease used my avatar for his tutorial. I am famous!

Or is that infamous?

 

[stormbind]

Since this is the avatar help thread:

Like it's predecessor, Serif PhotoPlus 6 is now freeware and you can download it online from their website. It is not the latest version but has everything required for graphics editing. The strength of the PhotoPlus series is that it has a proper layer manager exactly like PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro.

There is also an a free oldie animated GIF companion from Adobe (I think) which you can grab via Chieftess' signature.

Weaknesses of PhotoPlus 6 are exporting image formats. It supports JPEG, GIF, PNG and compression (etc.) but lacks pallet optimising which is exceedingly annoying.

 

[stormbind]

Or is that infamous?

Are the two mutually exclusive?

 

[Dease]

Yay, Dease used my avatar for his tutorial. I am famous!

heh, your avatar was the first I've done in a looong time where I absolutely had to use jpeg.

I rember before some people have mentioned something about partial transparency. Can anyone explain how to do it in photoshop?

I don't use photoshop very often but I'll explain what partial tranparency is and see what I can get my trial of photoshop to do.

Parital Transparency
First off, partial transparency will be of next to no use to you with the current avatar size limit (4kb) aswell, I've heard that internet explorer does not support partial transparency though I'm not sure what it displays instead (I use Firefox)
The benefit of partial transparency is that it allows an avatar to blend with any background colour, think of the partially tranparent pixels as translucent coloured glass, the acutal colour you see through the glass depends on the colour beneath it; useful for forums with different skins. The image must be 24bit(16.7million colours) and must be save with an 'alpha channel' (transparency), in PSP in the optimizer choose 'alpha channel transparency'.
Here is my working image -

not too bad transparency wise but this post is supposed to teach you partial tranparency so...
Select the image, go to select->feather and for this, just to show the effect I'll go with 8, usually ~2 would be good.

Right-click your selection and select 'layer via cut'

this deletes your current layer and pastes the feathered selection on a new layer. Delete the original layer (in my case, layer 0)

File->save for web - choose png 24 and make sure transparency is checked

Here's the result, first is the .png w/ partial transparency second is a gif that is blended with the default background, on the normal skin, both should be similar (gif has restricted amount of colours) but change the skin(pale white shows the difference best) and you should see a difference.

even a simple image such as this is still a 10k image, well over the limit where as the gif is just under 4k.
This is just my opinion but I beleive that getting rid of the 10k profile pics and raising the file size limit to 14-16kb would allow for better avatars.

It's pretty similar in PSP but if you want specific instructions, just ask

 

[Reno]

Thanks Dease! When I can get to update LAHP I will be sure to add that! Thank you!!!!

Any estimate on when the update might be?

 

[stormbind]

Any idea where I could get these?

Layers shouldn't be a problem for these, since it's just making a 64X64 pixel 'logo' that gets placed on a player's ships.

Most editors (which have a layer editor) support the Adobe native format, and preserve layers that way. The trouble with exporting each layer as a seperate image are issues with preserving transparency & colour depth.

 

[Lyonesse]

Any estimate on when the update might be?

I wish I knew for sure! I thought this move of mine was going to go a LOT smoother than it did As soon as I can get it done I will, but as it stands right now I am only at my computer about 20 minutes a day, which doesn't allow for a lot of time to update websites I'm hoping it will be within the next couple weeks, as I FINALLY found a house for the family....keep your fingers crossed for me! Sorry once again for the delay!