In light of the number of requests for custom avatars here at the BB, I thought it might be helpful to have some sort of walkthrough for members in the future in order to create and host their own avatars.

So, without further ado...

Step 1: Get Yourself a Decent Image Editing Program
You should have one anyways, but the best of the bunch are Adobe Photoshop , Paint Shop Pro , and Gimp (which is free) . You can also use Microsoft paint, but it is very basic, and the free Gimp program is actually quite powerful.

Step 2: Pick Your Image, Not Your Nose
Be it Google, Yahoo, or some other giant search engine, there are bajillions of images out there ripe for the avatar picking. Once you've selected one (or multiple), save it to your computer (right click --> save image as). Now you're ready to customize.

NOTE: The best images are square images, or images you can crop to a square later. You're also better off using smaller images (but at least 72x72), as when you resize them they will retain more of the image detail. --JG

Step 3: Image Editing
Now that you've got your picture, open up your image editor (which you should install, btw). Feel free to change colors, add text, or use cool effects. The bottom line is using the resize option in the editor to change the image to 72x72 pixels, the limit here at the BB.

You might notice your picture loses a bit of quality, or really doesn't look very good when shrunk down. You've got a couple of choices - use the 'crop' feature to try and narrow down the image to a specific portion you want, which will look better when resized. Or, you could try and find a new image.

NOTE: If you are working with a GIF image, and need to shrink it down, first convert it to RGB Mode so it doesn't get distorted. GIFs don't resize very well, but RGB (JPG) images do. After you resize the GIF in RGB mode, you may convert it back to a GIF (Index Mode) if the final file size is smaller. --JG

NOTE: GIF images are best for lineart/cartoons/graphics/clipart/animations, etc. The JPG format should be used for photographs, or very complex graphics. --JG

Step 4: Photobucket - Not Just For Rainy Days
An excellent free hosting service is Photobucket , which is one of many free sites that lets you upload the images you've created on your computer. Once you've edited your image, create a photobucket account, and upload the image. When that is all done, right click on the picture, and copy the URL of the image. This is vital for the next step.

NOTE: Or, simply click once in the URL box (NOT Tag or Img) and copy the address... --JG

NOTE: You can host any images on Photobucket, not just avatars. In fact, you really should, rather than leeching bandwidth from other sites. Upload the image as usual, but this time you can either: Copy the code in the IMG box, and simply paste it into a post; or, Copy the URL as above, and use the IMAGE button when posting, and paste the URL into it. The first way is just a bit faster. --JG

Step 5 - Copying and Pasting the URL
Go into your user profile here at the BB, and click the avatar select screen. Paste the URL of your image into the box at the bottom, and then hit 'set URL'. Finally, click the button on the top left that says 'use this avatar,' and you now have your own custom image, hosted off the BB, and made whenever and however you want it!

NOTE: Custom Avatars (and Custom Titles) are reserved for those with 50+ posts ("Buttons" or higher). --JG

NOTE: It's recommended that you test your avatar here before posting on the main forums, to be sure it came out as expected. --JG

Happy Imaging!

-DJ

Last edited by J Geoff; 02/06/11 12:58 PM.