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custom avatars and signatures


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@Larry

Use .jpg for me and be done with it, this thread is turning into Mike's avatar, please someone else get an avatar or sig :blink:

See if this snippet from a 1999 O'Reilly book, PNG: The Definitive Guide helps with PS 5 and .png.

Hi, Mike:

Many thanks for the reference.

Believe it or not the info allowed me to solve the PNG problem !

So far, I've just checked it out for the image I posted yesterday -- and I felt like I was seeing a miracle unfold before my very eyes !

Basically, the PS 5.0 workaround involves 3 steps:

# 1) Just before saving the .psd file to PNG, change the PS gamma from 2.2 to 1.1.

# 2) Save the .psd file to PNG using the options Adam7 and Adaptive.

# 3) Change the gamma back to 2.2.

I did this, and uploaded the file to my hosting site.

This PNG link is http://postimage.org/image/jfyngf44/

I looked at this link in my browser and it looked great.

But, to be sure, I opened *another browser* and looked at the link for the jpeg (posted yesterday): http://postimage.org/image/6e34ok4k/

I could not tell any difference between the 2 images.

The neat thing about opening 2 browsers is that you can get a *direct comparison* between the 2 images. When you click back and forth between the two browsers, the images are directly on top of each other, so you can see the most minutest differences. Try it if you want -- it's cool. (I see that one can do this at MSFN just by back-and-forth clicking on the two pages that open up when the links are clicked.)

I will do this comparison between all the images I'm making for you (it doesn't take any time at all) and if there is something out of sorts, I'll let you know. But I think everything will be fine, because the image I posted yesterday is pretty *severe* with all the "competing" gradient fades and the range of color values going from dark to light.

So, Mike -- thanks to you -- it looks like you will have the *correct* PNGs that you wanted. If you want, download some copies of this correct PNG and play with it to see if it does everything you wanted it to do.

Well, Mike, IMO, the thread isn't turning into Mike's avatar as much as it's turning into "can we straighten out the problems with my antiquated system". My hope is that once others see your images, they will want me to do work for them. I think that the images that involve pictures (guitars and amps, etc.) look better than the one you saw, because the name doesn't take up as much horizontal space. That is, by keeping the name the exact same height, but *condensing* it a small amount in length, we get a better "look", IMO.

Again, many Thanks -- you problem solver.

Sincerly, Larry

P.S.

I'm now going to concentrate on finishing up these images for you, Mike -- (really, the first phase, not necessarily the finishing phase). I feel now that there's no need to make anymore Posts until that work is done -- since the PNG problem has been solved.

Edited by larryb123456
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Neither of those PNGs are truely PNGs anymore, except perhaps if they had any alpha transparency in them. These are already flattened and not longer maintain their vector properties!

Photoshop makes them basically act like JPGs.

My PS 5.0 will not let you save to *any other format* until the layers are first flattened. So true -- the images are then in the bitmap category (like JPGs) and not vector.

I rarely will keep a PNG around unless I feel the need to work on something again in the future. In that case, I can re-open an old PNG and make changes easily, but only if the PNG wasn't exported or flattened.

gUiTaR_mIkE, as I understand it, wants the PNGs as "master files".

I don't know the full extent of what he wants to do, but he did indicate that "resizing" might be a priority.

It is my (and Mike's) understanding that PNG is a lossless format (i.e., no compression on saving). So, if he makes a copy of the PNG that he wants to resize and then reduces it say by 30% and saves it, there will be no degradation due to *compression* in the resizing process. Correct ?

I made the signatures for Mike at the maximum MSFN size -- 380x100 px -- so he'd be resizing *down* and not up. I don't think he'd get much loss of *image quality* due to this downsizing, since I've found -- in making his images in PS 5.0 -- that I can reduce his gUiTaR_mIkE (which has a letter stroke and an outer glow) an *incredible* amount, via Transform > Scale, and it still looks good. (BTW, the lettering and stroke have been merged, so gUiTaR_mIkE is rasterized here.)

Can you give some commentary on this ? I'd like to know, and I'm sure Mike would too.

Thanks, Tripredacus, for your input.

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The only vector objects are shapes and paths. Fonts do not count! Let me try to explain.

PNG will do one of the three anti-aliasing types (strong, feather, crisp) applied to a group of characters. So say you have a 14 point font object with Crisp AA. It will only AA at 14point, so doing a normal resize on the image will cause the pixels to appear. Because the resize is stretching a 14point font and not making it like 18 point or something in order to make it bigger. I believe Photoshop works in the same way as far as font scaling. Now Illustrator will actually scale up the font point size if you try to enlarge the image, as will using an SVG format, since "fonts" or letters do not specifically rely on the client to render them but are actually stored in a coordinate system.

And of course, since you flatten the image in order to save you end up making any paths or shapes (which you don't have in the guitar_mike example) raster objects. Or technically they cease to become objects since the entire image becomes the one raster object and can't actually keep any metadata in it in order for the JPG or BMP to do something else... except keep a RAR file in it, but that's another story. :lol:

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Can you elaborate some on what a screwed up gamma setting does to a PNG file -- if you want to, of course.

It tells the browser "how bright" it is. If it writes a bad value, then the result looks too dark or bright. Most likely Photoshop is aware of that particular problem (bad values) and ignores incorrect settings (replaces it with a sane default value)

in most of my signatures for gUiTaR_mIkE, I incorporate actual photographs -- guitars, amps, and more.

That would be photographic alright!

since the images will be very small (i.e., 50KB).

If what you say is such a concern for MSFN

It's not a MSFN-specific thing (and yes, it's perfectly ok by the forum rules) but rather a overall "think of those on slow links" rule that mostly everybody on the web obeys. I'm not on dialup myself but my DSL is pretty darn slow sometimes... 10-ish KB is definitely better than 40-ish KB if that's possible.

this thread is turning into Mike's avatar, please someone else get an avatar or sig :blink:

Don't give us ideas, we just might change the thread's title to that! :lol:

Neither of those PNGs are truely PNGs anymore, except perhaps if they had any alpha transparency in them. These are already flattened and not longer maintain their vector properties!

You got it completely reversed. "Standard" PNGs don't contain vector data, and an alpha channel is entirely optional. It's an indexed-color, raster image format (again, pixels, no vectors). It's only Fireworks who tacks on its own Fireworks-only data chunks at the end in a proprietary format to pull some of its tricks aka a special "Fireworks PNG" and not a "standard PNG" (which is what you'd probably call a "flattened PNG"). Those Fireworks-only data chunks are in no way part of the PNG standard. You can think standard PNGs as an enhanced GIF basically. Either ways, I knew there had to be someone out there who still uses Fireworks

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Those Fireworks-only data chunks are in no way part of the PNG standard.

:}

@Larry

I haven't said anything yet but your work looks good :) I do have a few things though, maybe using PM is better to help keep the thread down to say between 900 and a 1000 posts by days end. Not now, down the road.

The PMing is for discussion about personal changes to an avy or sig, I'm not referring to the open discussion or getting other users in here.

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Neither of those PNGs are truely PNGs anymore, except perhaps if they had any alpha transparency in them. These are already flattened and not longer maintain their vector properties!

You got it completely reversed. "Standard" PNGs don't contain vector data, and an alpha channel is entirely optional. It's an indexed-color, raster image format (again, pixels, no vectors). It's only Fireworks who tacks on its own Fireworks-only data chunks at the end in a proprietary format to pull some of its tricks aka a special "Fireworks PNG" and not a "standard PNG" (which is what you'd probably call a "flattened PNG"). Those Fireworks-only data chunks are in no way part of the PNG standard. You can think standard PNGs as an enhanced GIF basically. Either ways, I knew there had to be someone out there who still uses Fireworks

Well that is interesting then. I wasn't aware of any other programs to support PNG (even natively) until my first experience with Fireworks 2 back in college. I had presumed that it started there. Either way, it would seem that Fireworks PNGs are actually more superior to "real" PNG files. :rolleyes:

Of course I used Fireworks 2 for a few years but now I am at MX 2004, which was the latest version I got from college. I'd tried CS4 but it was only really UI changes so didn't care for it. :whistle:

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that Fireworks PNGs are actually more superior to "real" PNG files. :rolleyes:

More superior in the incompatibility department, yes. Very much like taking a standard file format then tacking on DRM or such, while parading with the same extension as a standard file to confuse everyone. That sure was a great idea!

I'd tried CS4 but it was only really UI changes so didn't care for it. :whistle:

That's 3 versions newer, and if you can write off:

-plenty of new handy panels

-new symbol libraries

-more default styles, patterns and textures

-tons of new blend modes

-working with more formats

-improved slicing

-improved image compression

-improvements to many tools, including the vector tools

-a new lorem ipsum generator

-9-slice scaling

-slideshow creation

-hierarchical layers

-smart guides

-exporting as interactive PDFs

-importing from photoshop and illustrator

-much improved compatibility/interoperability with Flash and the rest of the suite

-working far more with CSS at every level

and more stuff as "just minor cosmetic changes" then I'm not sure how familiar you really are with it ;) Not that I ever cared for Fireworks in any way. I'd happily opt out of having it if that shaved off a single dollar from the suite's price.

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That's 3 versions newer, and if you can write off: //

and more stuff as "just minor cosmetic changes" then I'm not sure how familiar you really are with it ;) Not that I ever cared for Fireworks in any way. I'd happily opt out of having it if that shaved off a single dollar from the suite's price.

I only got to use it for a limited time when my old company was in business so I didn't get into it too much. Then again, art programs are for what you use them for. I rarely would use a lot of those features you speak of (like slicing) that it wouldn't occur to me that they would have been improved.

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@ gUiTaR_mIkE and anyone else who is interested:

I made quite a few pictures for you to look at. The pictures are of three types: signatures which contain images and the gUiTaR_mIkE name; signatures which contain only the gUiTaR_mIkE name; and avatars (and MSFN Photo-size images).

There are quite a few image links, so I put a brief description for each link to keep things straight. For each image I include a JPEG version and a PNG version. The JPEGs were made entirely in Photoshop (and not from the PNGs). The PNGs were made using the method discussed in my Post # 61. So, we can assess how "good" the PNGs are by comparing them to the independently-made JPEGs. I JPEG-PNG compared each picture, and I visually could not tell any difference whatsoever. The PNGs are great -- so please use them !

For each image link, you can get the BBCode for the image by clicking "show codes" on the PostImage.org page that pops up when you click the image link. Use Forum BBCode (1), since Forum BBCode (2) will not work on MSFN. Of course, you can center the signature below your Post by using the standard

...etc. BBCode notation. These BBCodes will be very handy in that you can use them to "scope out" how each signature will look on the MSFN page (at the 380x100 px size). That is, you will not have to have these images "hosted" first, since I have already had them hosted. Of course, if you want to use signatures smaller than 380x100 px, you will have to have them hosted yourself. This "scoping out" will allow you to get an idea of how much -- if any -- you want to reduce the images to suit your tastes.

I will next give a brief description of my working procedure in creating the signatures which contain images and the gUiTaR_mIkE name.

First, the "structure" of the gUiTaR_mIkE name is *fixed* -- i.e., the arrangement of the letters to give "flow", the white-to-blue gradient fade inside the letters, and the black outline ("stroke") around the letters. I can easily vary the color of the outermost outline ("outer glow") around the letters, and the gUiTaR_mIkE size (I can easily change the width and/or height). For the present work, I kept the gUiTaR_mIkE the same height and varied just the length.

For each picture, I have 4 layers in Photoshop stacked in descending order as: the black 1px border "framing" the 380x100 px picture; the "photo" image with a black 1 px border at 100 px tall; the gUiTaR_mIkE name in the appropriate length; and the 380x100 px background layer. Each layer is totally independent of the other layers, so, for example, I can change the background color and nothing else will be affected. In making different pictures, I would put the "photo" image to the extreme left of the picture, adjust the length of the gUiTaR_mIkE, make changes to the outer glow (if needed), and change the background, by using a different gradient fade, for example.

Well, gUiTaR_mIkE, I hope you can find something that you can use in these pictures.

If you want to discuss a particular picture, just refer to it by the # designation -- i.e., # 3Q, for example.

(Some of the # designations below are "out of order". This is not a mistake on my part. The #s correspond to the names of my computer files, and I just changed the order of the #s to make the picture presentation in this Post flow a little better.)

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SIGNATURES CONTAINING IMAGES AND THE gUiTaR_mIkE NAME

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# 3A: black guitarist on a blue gradient fade, name on a white background with border

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/2oz0cln44/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/18ryd7yw4/

I removed the background around the image I had, and put the blue gradient fade in the background.

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# 3Aa: black guitarist on a blue gradient fade, name on a white background with no border

(for use on forums having a white background)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/18sjv7hb8/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/18sottisk/

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# 3Ab: black guitarist on a blue gradient fade, name on the MSFN-background color with no border

(for use on MSFN)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/18syr1lr8/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/18t224aqs/

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# 3B: black guitarist on a blue gradient fade, name on a light-blue background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/18t5d6zqc/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/18t70qc84/

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# 3C: 2 black guitars, name on a light-gray, gradient-fade background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/18u923bl0/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/18uhbs21w/

The photo I had only had one guitar, so I duplicated the image and simply placed the guitars side by side for a little more "dynamic" look.

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# 3D: 2 black guitars, name on a light-gray background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/18unxxg10/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/18uplgsis/

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# 3E: red guitar and amp, name on a gray gradient-fade background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/18uziovhg/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/18v4hawys/

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# 3F : red guitar and amp, name on a gray background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/18vb3gaxw/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/18vg22cf8/

I made the gray background for the name a little lighter than the wall in the photo. Since lighter colors optically advance in space, it appears that the plane on which the name is placed is closer to the viewer than the "room" in which the guitar and amp are (i.e., we are "looking" back into the room in which the guitar and amp are).

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# 3G: guitar and black amp, name on a light steel-blue background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/18vuxwgv8/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/18w4v4jtw/

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# 3H: 2 aqua guitars, name (with an aqua outer glow) on a white background with no border

(for use on forums having a white background)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/11kup8pdw/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/11ky0bedg/

The photo I had only had 1 guitar, so I duplicated it and manipulated the 2 guitars into the arrangement shown for a little more "dynamic" look.

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# 3I: 2 aqua guitars, name (with an aqua outer glow) on the MSFN-background color with no border

(for use on MSFN)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/11l7xjhc4/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/11ljiawsk/

The background color in the rectangle with the guitars is white, so this rectangle will "pop out" a little (compared to the somewhat darker MSFN background) for a very nice, subtle effect.

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# 3J: 2 aqua guitars, name (with an aqua outer glow) on a dark blue background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/q2suhqis/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/q2zgn4hw/

I like the way the white guitars panel seems to balance out -- in "strength" -- the dark blue background panel on which the name is placed. The aqua outer glow at the bottom "appears" brighter, but that's an optical illusion. The aqua outer glow is constant in color throughout. It just appears brighter because it is next to the bottom of the letters, which are dark. (This is just the principle that a medium gray color on a white background will appear dark, but on a black background it will appear bright.)

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# 3K: 2 aqua guitars, name (with an aqua outer glow) on a blue gradient-fade background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/q3zugrd0/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/q4845htw/

The blue gradient-fade background goes from dark blue at the top to white at the bottom, the opposite of the fade in the letters, which goes from white at the top to dark blue at the bottom. Such "competing" fades provide visual interest, and they insure that everything is clearly seen.

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# 3L: 2 aqua guitars, name (with an aqua outer glow) on an aqua gradient-fade background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/q4bf86tg/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/q4i1dksk/

Of course, the aqua outer glow can't be seen in the aqua background region at the top half of the picture -- since the colors are the same. My first impulse was to darken the outer glow so that it would be seen at the top of the letters, too. But, I immediately saw that this was very distracting, so I left the image as it is -- for a nice effect.. One can easily see the aqua outer glow at the bottom of the letters and that tends to accentuate the "flow" of gUiTaR_mIkE's name.

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# 3Q: 1 guitarist, name (with a dark-brown outer glow) on a tan background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/q6it0uis/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/2pdm9i05g/

I sampled the color at the upper left of the photo to get a basis for the outer glow around the name. This brown color has a lot of red component, so it tends to work well with the blue in the name (i.e., warm vs. cool optical effect). The tan color in the panel has a lot of orange component, and since blue and orange are complimentary colors, everything works well together. The outer glow around the name might appear rather dark, but I found that it needed to be dark to "hold its own" compared to the rich darks in the photo.

The same dark brown and tan worked well for images # 3N and # 3 M, immediately below.

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# 3N: 2 guitarists, name (with a dark-brown outer glow) on a tan background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/q58hz4p0/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/q5f44io4/

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# 3M: guitar and 2 amps, name (with a dark-brown outer glow) on a tan background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/q4oniyro/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/q4ykr1qc/

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# 3O: 2 guitarists, name (with a dark-brown outer glow) on a white background with no border

(for use on forums having a white background)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/q5tzyn44/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/q5xb1c3o/

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# 3P: 2 guitarists, name (with a dark-brown outer glow) on the MSFN-background color with no border

(for use on MSFN)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/q60m4138/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/q6fhy5j8/

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SIGNATURES CONTAINING ONLY THE gUiTaR_mIkE NAME

I already had the gUiTaR_mIkE names and backgrounds for Set # 3 above. It was easy to remove the picture and use a name which filled up the 380x100 px signature rectangle.

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# 2A: name on a white background with border

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/1hq9jqvl0/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/zygp6lqc/

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# 2B: name on a white background with no border

(for use on forums having a white background)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/zyk09apw/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/zynbbzpg/

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# 2C: name on the MSFN-background color with no border

(for use on MSFN)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/zyqmeop0/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/140g91azo/

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# 2D: name on a light-blue background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/zyyw3f5w/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/zz3upgn8/

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# 2E: name on a light-gray, gradient-fade background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/zzaguumc/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/zzh308lg/

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# 2F: name on a light-gray background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/zzpcoz2c/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/1000xgeis/

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# 2G: name on a gray gradient-fade background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/1009754zo/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/100ftaiys/

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# 2H: name on a gray background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/100t1lax0/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/1011ba1dw/

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# 2I: name on a light steel-blue background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/1i5qvuu04/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/101cw1guc/

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# 2J: name (with an aqua outer glow) on a dark blue background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/101l5q7b8/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/101v2ya9w/

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# 2K: name (with an aqua outer glow) on a white background with no border

(for use on forums having a white background)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/102506d8k/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/1028b9284/

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# 2L: name (with an aqua outer glow) on the MSFN-background color with no border

(for use on MSFN)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/102d9v3pg/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/102gkxsp0/

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# 2M: name (with an aqua outer glow) on a blue gradient-fade background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/102i8h56s/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/102s5p85g/

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# 2N: name (with an aqua outer glow) on an aqua gradient-fade background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/102tt8kn8/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/13xp0shd0/

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# 2O: name (with a dark-brown outer glow) on a tan background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/13xtzeiuc/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/13y0ljwtg/

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# 2P: name (with a dark-brown outer glow) on a white background with no border

(for use on forums having a white background)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/13y77pask/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/13ydtuoro/

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# 2Q: name (with a dark-brown outer glow) on the MSFN-background color with no border

(for use on MSFN)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/13yisgq90/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/13yud85pg/

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AVATARS (AND MSFN PHOTO-SIZE IMAGES)

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For some reason, the PostImage.org hosting site did not correctly host the PNG versions of all the files listed below. Instead of returning them as PNGs, the site returned them as JPEGs, even though I saved them from Photoshop as PNGs and Windows showed them with the PNG icon and not the JPEG icon. So, I was forced to use another image hosting site, FreeImageHosting.net. As far as I can tell, on this site one has to *record* the BBCode for each image -- you can't click "show codes" as with PostImage.org. So, I have included the BBCode along with the direct link for all the PNGs.

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# 1H: 100x100 px MSFN avatar on the MSFN-background color

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/21mk7bes/

PNG http://www.freeimagehosting.net/c2ca1

[url=http://www.freeimagehosting.net][img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/c2ca1.png][/url]

This is the avatar image which gUiTaR_mIkE is currently using, at 80x80 px. I enlarged the image to 100x100 px, the maximum size that can be used for a MSFN avatar.

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# 1G:150x150 px MSFN Photo on the MSFN-background color

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/1axy4r4ys/

PNG http://www.freeimagehosting.net/d1979

[url=http://www.freeimagehosting.net][img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/d1979.png][/url]

This is the maximum size that can be used for a MSFN Photo.

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# 1A: black guitarist avatar (76x100 px)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/1ay9pikf8/

PNG http://www.freeimagehosting.net/4cbcb

[url=http://www.freeimagehosting.net][img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/4cbcb.png][/url]

I had this image for the signatures, so I thought I'd make it in avatar form, in case gUiTaR_mIkE wanted to use it. 100 px is the maximum height that can be used for a MSFN avatar.

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# 1B: black guitarist Photo (116x150 px)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/1ayv7i2uc/

PNG http://www.freeimagehosting.net/c6d1a

[url=http://www.freeimagehosting.net][img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/c6d1a.png][/url]

150 px is the maximum height that can be used for a MSFN Photo.

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# 1C: 100x100 px music avatar on a white background

(for use on forums having a white background)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/1azdeew9w/

PNG http://www.freeimagehosting.net/be103

[url=http://www.freeimagehosting.net][img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/be103.png][/url]

This is an image I made based on the structure of gUiTaR_mIkE's current avatar. I added the clef to make it music related.

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# 1D: 100x100 px music avatar on the MSFN-background color

(for use on MSFN)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/1b03v0g6c/

PNG http://www.freeimagehosting.net/aa67c

[url=http://www.freeimagehosting.net][img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/aa67c.png][/url]

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# 1E: 150x150 px music Photo on a white background

(for use on forums having a white background)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/1b10xre1w/

PNG http://www.freeimagehosting.net/90d0d

[url=http://www.freeimagehosting.net][img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/90d0d.png][/url]

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# 1F: 150x150 px music Photo on the MSFN-background color

(for use on MSFN)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/1b22z4des/

PNG http://www.freeimagehosting.net/4eda5

[url=http://www.freeimagehosting.net][img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/4eda5.png][/url]

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"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Leonardo da Vinci

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Edited by larryb123456
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This Post is based *entirely* on the discussion I gave in Post # 38, and that discussion will not be repeated in full in this Post.

To summarize:

In Post # 38, I pointed out that with my browser (Firefox 2.0.0.20) and OS (Windows 98), my screen shots of gUiTaR_mIkE's member name (shown at the top left of his Posts) were very highly aliased -- with all the diagonals being very "stair-steppy". I thought the look was very cool, and I wanted to *exactly duplicate it* and make some more signatures for gUiTaR_mIkE.

At the time, I thought "everyone's" screen shots would look just like mine. In the discussions in Posts # 40, 42, 43, and 45, it was established that more modern browsers and operating systems showed the member name in the screen shots in a very anti-aliased form. So, I was somewhat alone, back in the Dark Ages -- but my obsolete system did "render", by mistake, a cool-looking "font" (IMO), as I'll demonstrate in this Post.

The purpose of this Post:

My main objective was to go through the rather "labor-intensive", manual enlargement of gUiTaR_mIkE's member name to 380x100 px -- just to see how it would work out. (FYI, as discussed in Post # 38, each pixel in Mike's name -- as shown on MSFN -- had to be replaced by a 4x7 px *rectangle* in the new Photoshop "enlargement" file). The secondary objective was to actually make the signatures for Mike. In these signatures, I used the aqua/blue color scheme employed in my last Post.

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SIGNATURES WITH THE gUiTaR_mIkE MEMBER NAME AS SHOWN AT THE TOP LEFT OF HIS POSTS. THIS VERSION OF THE NAME WAS IDENTICAL TO THAT SHOWN IN A SCREEN SHOT USING FIREFOX 2.0.0.20 AND WINDOWS 98.

More-modern browsers and operating systems show the name as anti-aliased, and not as shown in these images.

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# 4A: member name (with an aqua outer glow) on a blue-fade background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/1pqo2pric/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/23sp0bfc4/

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# 4B: member name (with an aqua outer glow) on an aqua-fade background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/23sxa05t0/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/23t28m7ac/

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# 4C: member name (with an aqua outer glow) on a dark-blue background

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/23t8url9g/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/23tkfj0pw/

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# 4D: member name (with an aqua outer glow) on a white background with no border

(for use on forums having a white background)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/23tzbd55w/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/23uaw4kmc/

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# 4E: member name (with an aqua outer glow) on the MSFN-background color

(for use on MSFN)

JPEG http://postimage.org/image/23uhi9ylg/

PNG http://postimage.org/image/23uktcnl0/

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"Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing? Can one really explain this? No."

Pablo Picasso

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Edited by larryb123456
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@Larry, you have obviously put a lot of work into this. It is apparent that you enjoy working on it and learning new tricks as you go. I hope you find people who wish to use you work.

Cheers and Regards

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Hello everyone:

I am putting this Post -- isolated, by itself -- for those of you who might like a signature, but have absolutely no idea where to begin.

I liked the look of the gUiTaR_mIkE lettering based on his *member name* (as shown at the upper left of his Posts) -- i.e., the look shown in the images in my last Post (Post # 71).

I can generate *your unique version* of the MSFN member-name lettering, just like I did for Mike. But the look won't be *exactly* the same as his, since you won't have the same *number* of letters as Mike had, and, of course, your letters will be *different*. I think it would be interesting to see what "looks" could be generated from the different names. I can also use different colors for you, too, to give you a more custom look.

If you are interested:

As a starting point, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors and look at the first picture -- the one with the "vertically-stacked" 16 colors. Pick out a couple of your favorite colors and just tell me their *names*. I can take it from there, in terms of outlines, inner bevels, outer glows, drop shadows, etc. I can also put an interesting colorful abstract background behind your name -- not like the simple gradient fades I used in gUiTaR_mIkE's images.

It would be very helpful if you knew the approximate final size (i.e., pixel dimensions) of the signature that you wanted on MSFN. That way, I could make it this size from the outset, since, if I make it large, and you later wanted to shrink it down a lot, it would become somewhat "blurry".

Many Thanks,

Larry

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"Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons."

Al Hirschfeld

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Edited by larryb123456
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@Larry, you have obviously put a lot of work into this. It is apparent that you enjoy working on it and learning new tricks as you go. I hope you find people who wish to use you work.

Cheers and Regards

Thanks for the response, bphlpt. Yes, I sure do enjoy fiddling with Photoshop -- and "art concepts" in general. If I weren't doing this for Mike -- and, hopefully, others -- I'd just be defining *specific* projects for myself, completing them, putting them in my personal "archives", and moving on to the next personal projects. Learning new tricks is 90% of the enjoyment -- because they provide the "ah-ha" moments.

Cheers and Regards to you, bphlpt.

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Well, I'd be interested in seeing what you might come up with for me. I like my current avatar OK and my sig a lot, but they might could both use some polishing up. I don't necessarily want to change their general themes too much, but the avatar especially is a little rough around the edges. Any ideas?

Cheers and Regards

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