Forum avatar size & dimensions?

[b!z]

I am trying to change my avatar and sometimes the avatar will not change. Are there file size, image dimension requirements? Also, is it possible to upload an animated avatar?

[Foxpup]

Maximum height is 80px, maximum width is 120px. Not sure about file size. Animation is allowed, provided the height and width limits are adhered to - if not, the image will be automatically resized, and lose any animation in the process.

[b!z]

Not sure about file size, dimension requirements, etc, but to refresh image maybe try this:

For all, you need to delete your image cashe. On firefox, it is SHIFT+REFRESH.

200x200 was not working, but 80x80 was working.
Still 80x0 is working but animated 80x80 is not. I think there is a limit for filesize which is why the animated avatar did not work.

[Foxpup]

Yes, there is definitely a limit on file size but I don't know what it is. I think the SMF default is 128 kB, but I've seen larger avatars here. How large is your image?

[b!z]

Yes, there is definitely a limit on file size but I don't know what it is. I think the SMF default is 128 kB, but I've seen larger avatars here. How large is your image?

700kB I think. .gif animation with only 2 frames.
I tried with around 500kB, it still did not work.

[Foxpup]

700kB I think. .gif animation with only 2 frames.

WTF? A 2-frame 80x80 GIF is only 14 kB uncompressed. How on Earth did you blow it up to 700 kB??

[b!z]

700kB I think. .gif animation with only 2 frames.

WTF? A 2-frame 80x80 GIF is only 14 kB uncompressed. How on Earth did you blow it up to 700 kB??

Sorry, I think it was 700B. 700kB is almost a megabyte :-)

I tried to reduce the gif quality, I could get it to 300-500 before the font edges get too blurry.

[HeroC]

They need to be the correct dimensions. The forum resizes them, and with GIFs they do not resize correctly, and show the non-animated first frame. I believe that the dimensions are 80 x 80, but I am probably wrong.My avatar is 77 x 49. If you find the right one, than it will animate because it does not need to be resided. This is a good online resizer, it does not put watermarks on it either.  The following may not be true, but if you upload it from a link, there is a chance it will not work. Try just doing local.

Hope I helped!

[Foxpup]

I tried to reduce the gif quality, I could get it to 300-500 before the font edges get too blurry.

Huh? GIF doesn't have quality. GIF compression is lossless. Blurred edges will increase the file size quite a lot, as it requires more colours. I can't even guess what you're doing wrong; can you upload your file somewhere or base64/uuencode it and post it here?

[b!z]

I tried to reduce the gif quality, I could get it to 300-500 before the font edges get too blurry.

Huh? GIF doesn't have quality. GIF compression is lossless. Blurred edges will increase the file size quite a lot, as it requires more colours. I can't even guess what you're doing wrong; can you upload your file somewhere or base64/uuencode it and post it here?

Sure.
I used save for web and devices in PS and used the slider (lossy or something), it did reduce the size apparently.

[Foxpup]

I used save for web and devices in PS and used the slider (lossy or something), it did reduce the size apparently.

Ah. GIF doesn't actually support lossy compression; what PS actually does when you use this option is replace detailed areas of the image with repeated chunks of pixels which can be compressed more easily, turning your image into crap for not much of an improvement in file size. It's not even remotely necessary anyway; 700 bytes is plenty small enough, especially since your current avatar is more than double that. Are you trying to break my record, or what?

[b!z]

I used save for web and devices in PS and used the slider (lossy or something), it did reduce the size apparently.

Ah. GIF doesn't actually support lossy compression; what PS actually does when you use this option is replace detailed areas of the image with repeated chunks of pixels which can be compressed more easily, turning your image into crap for not much of an improvement in file size. It's not even remotely necessary anyway; 700 bytes is plenty small enough, especially since your current avatar is more than double that. Are you trying to break my record, or what?

The gif I'm trying to use is 2 frames of my current avatar with slight color change, I don't know how that would reduce the file size. And yeah, that's what I meant by the font edges getting blurry.