How to make a pimp-daddy pic (avatar) by your name
 

So you've cruised the forums and developed avatar envy...

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif" width=70 height=70 hspace=10> <img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/scary.gif" width=70 height=70 hspace=10> <img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/toad.gif" width=70 height=70 hspace=10><img src="http://www.pbase.com/image/608397.jpg" width=70 height=70 hspace=10>:lol2


You want to flatter yourself as they have. Here's what to do:

1. Find an image. A lot of people (like me :pimp ) use Google's image search:

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/googlestud.jpg" width=513 height=360>

Let's suppose you finally find it, the one that's you. It's relatively sharp, the colors look decent...

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/fishsalute600.jpg" height=450 width=600>

2. Get software to reduce its size. Photoshop is the gold standard, but you can download the free and fast Irfanviewer at www.irfanview.com .

3. Lose any unnecessary part of the image (crop it). Your software will tell you this image is 600 pixels wide by 450 high. An avatar is 70 x 70. You can't preserve all the pretty clumps of grass, people in the background, clouds, etc. Lose them. Doesn't this one look better? :D

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/tree.jpg" height=99 width=110>

I like to continue cropping until it's square, like this: (229x229):

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/fishsalute260.jpg" height=229 width=229>

Note that we've cropped out a lot of sky and other extraneous stuff.

4. Get it down to 70 pixels (resize it): Use the resize function of your software to get it to 70x70:

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/fishsalute70.jpg" height=70 width=70>

5. Sharpen it, if you please. Photoshop has an <i>unsharp mask</i> function for use after rescaling an image. On this particular image, it only made a subtle difference, but sometimes it can be dramatic.

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/sharpsalute70.jpg" height=70 width=70>

As you can see, 70 pixels are very few... The more you crop away before you resize, the more detail you have left for the main thing, so to speak:

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/fishclose.jpg" height=70 width=70>

(Maybe I should set the max avatar size at 100?):

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/fishclose100.jpg" height=100 width=100>

6. Upload it: Once you've saved your new avatar on your disk, scroll to the bottom of the forums page:

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/bottom.gif" height=146 width=600>

Click on the Control panel link. Here's what you'll see:

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/controlpanel.gif" height=91 width=600>

Click on the Edit Options link. Scroll down on the page you come to. At the bottom, you'll find a subtle reference to uploading or changing your avatar:

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/changeavatar.gif" height=207 width=600>

Click on the button to make it happen. You'll get a bunch of default avatars, which you can choose, but be warned that someone else may already be using the one you choose. More likely, scroll down to the part that says:

<img src="http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/finalstep.gif" height=266 width=600>

This is the step that causes 90% of the problems: you miss the fact that you have to check that dialog box that says yes (use custom avatar), so you get a default alien head instead. Sorry about that. It's fish's fault.

Anyway, hit the browse button, browse to the location of the stylin' new avatar you made, and...voila!

Q: "But I don't have a good idea for an avatar..."
A: Post a message in Jo Momma about it and you'll get more creative ideas than you want...

Q: "Download software to resize images? You talkin' to me? Motorcycles, yes. Computers, no."
A: No worries. Just post whatever pic you wanna resize in Jo Momma and somebody will resize it for you.

Okay? Okay!!

Well done, Baldy! :thumb

Wow, didn't know my avatar caused avatar envy. Cool!!

http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif

Excelent job Baldy! :thumb

http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gifhttp://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif http://www.advrider.com/Photos/askbaldy/guzzler.gif

By the way, I just wanted to take a moment to tell Baldy how much I enjoy this site, and how much it's helped me. Thanks for taking the time and putting in the work to create it.

Plus, what a well designed site. It's a real pleasure to use (fun too!)

Thanks Baldy! http://www.theunholytrinity.org/crac.../corkysm60.gif http://www.theunholytrinity.org/crac.../corkysm60.gif http://www.theunholytrinity.org/crac...lie_switch.gif

If it can be shrunk a little, this might make someone a nice avatar.


http://rooth.org/check/dragons/draggo2sm.gif

try this
 

see if this is OK
oops lets see if i can get it to move agian:evil sorry not talented enough:(:

Yeah, I have no idea how to edit an animation. Looks nice, though, doesn't it?

Done!

Hope someone likes it!

BTW, I use PaintShop Pro 7, with Jasc Animation Shop to modify animated GIF's.

Ok Guzzuler,... spreed the info what programe did ya use?:duuno

Rod,

Sorry for the edit. But I messed up on the resize. I kept the aspect ratio the first time. This time I set the image to 70x70.

I keep telling everyone that PaintShop Pro is a nice program. Not as nice as PhotoShop, but it does the job.

But I do have to admitt, with the new version of PSP, I get lost quite a bit now days.

Very cool avatar, Guzzler. Is it hard to do that for the mostly tech savvy?

don't be sorry I only have that infaview shareware on my work pc at home I have paint shop and will try again when I get home
nice job:thumb
Im' all for learning and sharing skills :):

Creating these are a pain. I am not creative or skilled enough to create something like this from scratch.

BUT... changing them. That is easy. Especially resizing.

Get an animation editor (I use Animation Shop that came with PaintShop Pro, but there are other out there). Open it up, find the tool for "resize", enter the proper information (pixel size), hit OK a couple of times. BAM! resized! Save and upload.

The thing you have to remember about animated images, they are a series of stills. With the attribute of a GIF image, it makes it animated.

Thanks for the great site, Baldy. Im trying to see if i created my avatar correctly. Here it goes!