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GTA Intro and Help => GTA Forum Help Desk => Topic started by: mrbulk on November 22, 2020, 03:14:54 PM

Title: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 22, 2020, 03:14:54 PM
Hi Liz, I have a question about our avatar photos.

When I put in a square shaped photo, when posted to the forum my avatar picture only shows the left side of it, much taller than it is wide, with the rest of the photo’s right side totally cropped off.

How should we format (and/or size) our photo so that it will fit completely within the allotted avatar space so that it exhibits the entire photo?

Thanks in advance to anyone with a solution.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Privateer on November 22, 2020, 03:36:34 PM
Mine is 225 pixels wide by 305 tall.
Now if I save the image here at GTA it comes out to 221 X 300
So try 300 x 300
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 22, 2020, 03:41:12 PM
Mine is 225 pixels wide by 305 tall.

Thanks Jeff! I have a square photo that’s the same length as its width, wondering how do I get that to fit inside the allowed space here?
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Privateer on November 22, 2020, 03:47:13 PM
You can use Paint to resize. That's what I do.
I seem to recall something that said avatar size should be 300x300 max but can't find it.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 22, 2020, 04:21:29 PM
You can use Paint to resize. That's what I do.
I seem to recall something that said avatar size should be 300x300 max but can't find it.

YES! I recall that 300x300 detail too, thanks Jeff. Now how to go about it is what I am wondering. No worries I will experiment around a bit, if I get good results I’ll report back here. 👍
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Privateer on November 22, 2020, 04:24:11 PM
Paint is in Windows 7 which I use. Will NOT EVER use Windows 10 again!
If you want and can send me the image I can resize it no problem.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 22, 2020, 04:43:27 PM
Paint is in Windows 7 which I use. Will NOT EVER use Windows 10 again!
If you want and can send me the image I can resize it no problem.

Thanks kindly Jeff! I have an older Mac so Paint is out of the picture for me, may just take you up on your offer if’n I can settle on which picture I should use. I will certainly let you know if so.  8)
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Privateer on November 22, 2020, 05:28:10 PM
You should have PaintBrush then.
IF I recall right? There's a preview in it that will resize?

(QUE  Bicycleman and his question to me!)
"Jeff, is there anything you know of that you DON'T know of? "
 ;D
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Roadworthy on November 22, 2020, 05:44:16 PM
For those who care, there is a fee download of a program called Irfanview which will permit you to REALLY manipulate the pixels.  You have to play with it a bit to figure it out.  https://www.irfanview.com/ (https://www.irfanview.com/)
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Privateer on November 22, 2020, 05:49:33 PM
That's fine for Windows.
OP needs a Mac program.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 22, 2020, 06:42:45 PM
I do have Preview, I think it allows me to manipulate size, color, etc., but by dragging not pixel count, not as accurate but will give it a try maybe later on today. Still deciding on new picture.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Bicycleman on November 22, 2020, 08:34:40 PM
Charlie, here is what I do:
In the picture below, let's say that I want the blue truck to be the main part of the picture.  I will crop the photo at the vertical line.  I know from past experience that most of the vehicle on the right side of the photo will go unseen.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 22, 2020, 08:40:12 PM
Charlie, here is what I do:
In the picture below, let's say that I want the blue truck to be the main part of the picture.  I will crop the photo at the vertical line.  I know from past experience that most of the vehicle on the right side of the photo will go unseen.

Thanks Mike!

Hmm, I wish the space that is allowed were more square somehow...for example like what if someone has a landscape scenery thing they wanted to use? ???
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Bicycleman on November 22, 2020, 08:40:24 PM
Charlie, see my Avatar now.  This was a quick job and I did crop a little too much.  I would keep playing with it until it was like I wanted.
Good luck and be persistent.
Stay well.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Wayne52 on November 23, 2020, 12:10:27 AM
Just changed my Avatar just for this thread to see what happens.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Wayne52 on November 23, 2020, 12:13:49 AM
I'm going to try it again.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Wayne52 on November 23, 2020, 12:14:39 AM
That was a 300x300 pic and it still gets cropped
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: triggertreat on November 23, 2020, 12:30:40 AM
That was a 300x300 pic and it still gets cropped
:'(
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Wayne52 on November 23, 2020, 12:39:59 AM
It's now at perfection with a resolution 150x87 pixels
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Hoosier Daddy on November 23, 2020, 07:17:20 AM
Charlie, I don't speak Mac but if you want to send it to me I can resize it and send it back.
I see you have a new avatar now, is that what you want horizontally?
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: lizzie on November 23, 2020, 01:42:11 PM
Mine is 225 pixels wide by 305 tall.

Thanks Jeff! I have a square photo that’s the same length as its width, wondering how do I get that to fit inside the allowed space here?

Resize......I have found that to have the entire photo show on the home page, it must be a very small photo.
(as an example....the photo I use on this site is only 21.4 kb)
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Privateer on November 23, 2020, 04:11:28 PM
Uploaded a test pattern that was 300x300
It shows up as 200 wide x 300 tall.
Each square in the test pattern is 25 pixels square.
So i'd say max size is 200 X 300

I checked the source files for the forum and I see there is an automatic scale setting.
Didn't find if it's set to default nor any reference to what default would be.
I did see that should you upload a larger then 200X300 image then the server eats resources to resize.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 23, 2020, 04:17:17 PM
Mine is 225 pixels wide by 305 tall.

Thanks Jeff! I have a square photo that’s the same length as its width, wondering how do I get that to fit inside the allowed space here?

Resize......I have found that to have the entire photo show on the home page, it must be a very small photo.
(as an example....the photo I use on this site is only 21.4 kb)

Thank you kindly Liz! But to tell the truth my (new) avatar that I just changed to, is smaller at only 18 kb, yet it kept cutting off most of it on the right so I finally just turned it sideways so it is now tall and skinny and .. it woiked!  8)
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Privateer on November 23, 2020, 04:23:53 PM
What you can see with this test pattern is a very slight border around the image.
Part of the CSS coding from examining the source.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 23, 2020, 04:33:04 PM
What you can see with this test pattern is a very slight border around the image.
Part of the CSS coding from examining the source.

Hey Jeff so how much further to the right do those numbers run? All the way down to zero? Just trying to figure out how much the picture cuts off on the right.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Wayne52 on November 23, 2020, 04:47:40 PM
The size of my avatar is 11.2kB. 
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Privateer on November 23, 2020, 05:37:43 PM
What you can see with this test pattern is a very slight border around the image.
Part of the CSS coding from examining the source.

Hey Jeff so how much further to the right do those numbers run? All the way down to zero? Just trying to figure out how much the picture cuts off on the right.

If you right click on that image and select save image?
It will down load as a 300X300 image.
the software cuts off the right side of the image.
So 9, 1, 2, 3 is cut off.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Chris USA on November 23, 2020, 05:46:57 PM
I tried it yesterday and it did not work me. I am pretty computer dumb, but I finally did resize some pics to post here (hot peppers/eating thread)

At any rate,.... is it impossible for a web site to have the ability to re-size (whatever) size pics coming into the site (so that it works for that site),... automatically?

Seems like that would save a whole lot of people,.. a whole lot of hassle.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Stinger177 on November 23, 2020, 05:53:40 PM
As Mike (Bicycleman) showed, the Avatar will automatically crop (or chop off) some of the right hand side of the pic, so when you crop the pic, cheat the main image to the left. I had to mess for a while to get my squirrel centered.

This really is rather a pain to do in this forum, but I've just learned to deal with it. I know of no other forum that does this.

 :D
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: lizzie on November 23, 2020, 06:41:25 PM
Mine is 225 pixels wide by 305 tall.

Thanks Jeff! I have a square photo that’s the same length as its width, wondering how do I get that to fit inside the allowed space here?

Resize......I have found that to have the entire photo show on the home page, it must be a very small photo.
(as an example....the photo I use on this site is only 21.4 kb)

Thank you kindly Liz! But to tell the truth my (new) avatar that I just changed to, is smaller at only 18 kb, yet it kept cutting off most of it on the right so I finally just turned it sideways so it is now tall and skinny and .. it woiked!  8)

Interesting!
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Privateer on November 23, 2020, 06:45:19 PM
Well as to automatically fixing an image to fit?
It can be done but at a cost.
Just like my example 300x300 the fastest way is to just drop the pixels to the right beyond settings.
Say you want the forum to resize to fit and NOT lose anything.
Now your eating server power and things would slow down just to show everyone's avatar.
One could code to shrink uploaded images and only display those smaller images but again.
You waste server resources and it hardly ever ends up right.
Best way is to know the max size the forum will show and then size before upload.
I belong to many forums that if your avatar is not properly sized?
You can't upload.

So I'd say optimum size from testing is 200X300


Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Privateer on November 23, 2020, 07:02:49 PM
The GT image is 350 pixels wide and you can see it's cut off.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Mackado on November 23, 2020, 07:48:44 PM
After years, only about a couple months ago or so finally added an avatar, previously I had tried but was never able to figure out how to make it work, apparently the forum software edits/crops the image based on a combination of image dimensions (PX) and file size (KB) so you need to manipulate the image , loaded here, and compare with your original to see what needs editing and re-load again, and so on,  it could take a lot of  work and time to display exactly what you want.

I found you can load a square image (pixels), but the file size has to be small around 40k.

My avatar dimensions are 175PX by 175PX, size is 40.7 KB, if I increase the file size (for quality) just a few more Kbs the forum software will chop off the right side.
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Hoosier Daddy on November 23, 2020, 07:53:47 PM
I see Opels
 ;)
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 23, 2020, 07:54:53 PM
The GT image is 350 pixels wide and you can see it's cut off.

Crazy...so I guess the trick is to have a 300x300 pixel image and make the right 2/3rds of it just blank so that your entire intended image shows up on the left...although it'd have to be tall and skinny like most avatars seen on GTA...? ??? ??? ???

Or maybe I'll try uploading a 100x300 image (with the 100 pixels being the height) so that when the other 200 pixels to the right are cropped, you end up with a perfectly nice square image...or not. :D
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 23, 2020, 07:56:45 PM
After years, only about a couple months ago or so finally added an avatar, previously I had tried but was never able to figure out how to make it work, apparently the forum software edits/crops the image based on a combination of image dimensions (PX) and file size (KB) so you need to manipulate the image , loaded here, and compare with your original to see what needs editing and re-load again, and so on,  it could take a lot of  work and time to display exactly what you want.

I found you can load a square image (pixels), but the file size has to be small around 40k.

My avatar dimensions are 175PX by 175PX, size is 40.7 KB, if I increase the file size (for quality) just a few more Kbs the forum software will chop off the right side.

Interesting results and certainly worth a try.

If not I'm just gonna go join a car forum (for Opels)... ;D
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Stinger177 on November 23, 2020, 08:14:54 PM
The GT image is 350 pixels wide and you can see it's cut off.

Crazy...so I guess the trick is to have a 300x300 pixel image and make the right 2/3rds of it just blank so that your entire intended image shows up on the left...although it'd have to be tall and skinny like most avatars seen on GTA...? ??? ??? ???

Or maybe I'll try uploading a 100x300 image (with the 100 pixels being the height) so that when the other 200 pixels to the right are cropped, you end up with a perfectly nice square image...or not. :D

Probably more like the right 1/3 or less will get cut off. I guess it depends on how wide the original is.

Below is my original submitted image for my Combat Squirrel. You can compare that with my avatar, which I have changed back to it's original form and sized to 350pixels wide. I'll change it back to the more centered one when this thread dies out.

(https://i.postimg.cc/4N6whpb3/squirrel-army-enlist-today-cropped.jpg)

 :D
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Hoosier Daddy on November 23, 2020, 08:21:38 PM
Don't forget resolution.
a .bmp takes up less data that a .jpg... and that takes less than a .png... file type may help with the avatar size.  ;)
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 23, 2020, 09:22:30 PM
Hey! :D  I just fiddled with it back and forth several times by trial-and-error on the width until, for This pic at least, it came out that I had to "extend" the right side (just added on blank space) almost exactly 7/8ths of the original pic's width.

So let that be yore guide.

Or not.

@becauseYMMV... ::)
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Stinger177 on November 23, 2020, 09:50:34 PM
Nice tip. I never thought about doing that!

 :D
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: mrbulk on November 23, 2020, 10:54:49 PM
Nice tip. I never thought about doing that!

 :D

Centered!!! 8)

Even gots da Army mention on btm right!
*mad applause*  ;D
Title: Re: Avatar Photo Formatting?
Post by: Stinger177 on November 23, 2020, 11:50:16 PM
Nice tip. I never thought about doing that!

 :D

Centered!!! 8)

Even gots da Army mention on btm right!
*mad applause*  ;D


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