# Forum Avatars - a quick guide to fix or add yours!



## TUGBrian (Nov 19, 2016)

so one of the bigger things that appears to have been messed up during the migration is folks avatars (the picture above your name when you post).

for some that had the default avatars, these didnt come over.  for others who had uploaded their own...they may appear grainy or out of focus.

since the USER CP that everyone was used to in the old forums is gone, here is a quick tip on how to reset or re-upload your forum avatar:

1. first you must be logged in to the forums

2. you must have a photo available on your local computer that you want to use.  (feel free to go get one off the internet and save it locally)

2. at the top right hand corner of the page click your USERNAME (this will make a drop down box appear)

3. select "AVATAR"  (a new box will appear on your screen allowing you to browse your local PC for a picture to use).

4. click browse and navigate to the photo you want to upload as your avatar and click OKAY


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## PDXGolfer (Nov 19, 2016)

Hi, Brian.  I tried the steps above, got all the way to number 4, but the photo (from my desktop) is not loading.  Is there a size limitation?  The one I'm trying to upload is over 1.9 megabytes - do I need to resize downward first?

Thanks.


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## PDXGolfer (Nov 19, 2016)

Okay.  Strangely, it appears that number 4 does work -- the new photo gets uploaded, but it just doesn't display in the avatar settings.  When I posted my message above, the new avatar then appeared with the message.


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## PDXGolfer (Nov 19, 2016)

Then I tried to change the photo, and now it doesn't seem to be working again.


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## pedro47 (Nov 19, 2016)

There are some many long time Tuggers with missing AVATARS.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 19, 2016)

pedro47 said:


> There are some many long time Tuggers with missing AVATARS.


If you were using one of the built in avatars, it is gone. You need to now upload your own. Though they are working on trying to bring the built in avatars over at some point.


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## SmithOp (Nov 19, 2016)

PDXGolfer said:


> Okay.  Strangely, it appears that number 4 does work -- the new photo gets uploaded, but it just doesn't display in the avatar settings.  When I posted my message above, the new avatar then appeared with the message.



It took some time to process before the picture appeared in the avatar dialog, don't close the editor dialog until you see it.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 19, 2016)

The upload box does suggest using a pic no larger than 200 x 200 pixels.


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## Makai Guy (Nov 19, 2016)

dioxide45 said:


> The upload box does suggest using a pic no larger than 200 x 200 pixels.


Actually. it suggests an avatar of AT LEAST 200 x 200 pixels.


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## TUGBrian (Nov 19, 2016)

and yes, i did notice a bit of a delay when trying to use a much larger (size wise) avatar in the box...im guessing perhaps related to the time to upload and shrink it down to the appropriate size.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 19, 2016)

Makai Guy said:


> Actually. it suggests an avatar of AT LEAST 200 x 200 pixels.



Ahh, didn't catch that. That is likely why many people who uploaded avatars to the old BBS all look blurry. I think the old BBS required the avatar to be smaller than 60x60?


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## TUGBrian (Nov 19, 2016)

PDXGolfer said:


> Then I tried to change the photo, and now it doesn't seem to be working again.


I do show a picture of someone golfing in your avatar, was that not the one you wanted it changed to?


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## dioxide45 (Nov 19, 2016)

TUGBrian said:


> I do show a picture of someone golfing in your avatar, was that not the one you wanted it changed to?


I think it finished rendering the avatar to display on the pages after they made that post.


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## dmharris (Nov 19, 2016)

An additional step I noticed: Check the box "Delete current avatar?".  Wondering if that is a necessary step.  I'm still waiting for my photo to upload.  Hmmm.


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## dmharris (Nov 19, 2016)

Like how long should I wait for it to load?  I've gotten the old photo deleted but cannot load the new one.  It shows it in the file box but is not loading; no spinning wheel, nothing.


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## TUGBrian (Nov 19, 2016)

should be instant...and dont click the box to delete the avatar.


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## dmharris (Nov 19, 2016)

Interesting.  It would not take a horizontal format photo but took this vertical format.  Hmmm.


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## Karen G (Nov 19, 2016)

Brian's instructions worked very well for me just now.


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## Passepartout (Nov 19, 2016)

Works easily. You can even do some cropping, and editing of the photo you choose. I took down that ugly guy that was my avatar and put up my best friend IzzyBear. Cute, huh?


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## SmithOp (Nov 19, 2016)

Passepartout said:


> Works easily. You can even do some cropping, and editing of the photo you choose. I took down that ugly guy that was my avatar and put up my best friend IzzyBear. Cute, huh?



100% improvement


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## TUGBrian (Nov 28, 2016)

bump, you can pretty much add any photo you like, it will scale it down if its too large and or you can adjust the center so the avatar shows the main part of the photo.


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## ferndale (Dec 6, 2016)

Here you go David!!  I must admit that was totally easy with the instructions


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## TUGBrian (Dec 21, 2016)

uploaded a new tool that provides a "Gallery" of default avatars to choose from, and ive uploaded 25 sample avatars that you can use if you like for those that dont want to upload their own!

hopefully i can get back on the old forum and steal all the default avatars from there to put in this gallery so anyone who wants to use the original default ones can!


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## TUGBrian (Dec 22, 2016)

and uploaded a few beach/vacation ones now =)


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## csxjohn (Dec 22, 2016)

I can't find the photo I'm using so I'll stick with the grainy one until I can find it.  Have changed computers twice so it may be lost.


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## Nancy (Dec 23, 2016)

Test to see if Avatar worked.


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## Makai Guy (Dec 23, 2016)

Nancy said:


> Test to see if Avatar worked.


It worked.


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## Passepartout (Dec 23, 2016)

Thanks. This'll do for a while. Somehow today, the muffler and boots seem appropriate.

Jim


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## VacationForever (Dec 23, 2016)

I just changed mine today to a custom one, for the 3rd time because I just realized mine was the same as Jim's (I don't know who picked it first).


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## Passepartout (Dec 23, 2016)

VacationForever said:


> I just changed mine today to a custom one, for the 3rd time because I just realized mine was the same as Jim's (I don't know who picked it first).


HAHAHA. With only 25 to choose from it's hard not to choose one someone else has 'claimed'. If someone retrieves the old 
pontificating chipmunk (or whatever he was), I'll give him a job, but until I find something I like better or get a better photo of my beloved, but not so photogenic pooch, this will do.


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## TUGBrian (Dec 24, 2016)

sadly while we do have access to all the old vbulletin avatars, but vbulletin stored them all as 100x100 images and this is why they look "grainy" when used here on these forums because they are blown up to 250x250 (or something close) as the size in xenforo.

im sure we can add more default ones to the gallery list for folks to choose from, but its far more common for folks to pick a photo they like and use it as an avatar and xen should shrink it down to the right size even if you use a larger photo.


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## csxjohn (Jan 1, 2017)

avatar test, found the photo


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## isisdave (Jan 7, 2017)

So what's wrong with mine?  In my uploaded image, I can see the tips of the horns, and the line at the base, all at the same time. The "uploaded image" on  the avatar chooser dialog displays that way too.  But in the smaller box, as in the one you see at the left, the image doesn't fit in the box.  I can slide it up and down and get either the tips or the base, but I don't see a way to shrink it a little so it all shows.


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## DeniseM (Jan 7, 2017)

isisdave said:


> So what's wrong with mine?  In my uploaded image, I can see the tips of the horns, and the line at the base, all at the same time. The "uploaded image" on  the avatar chooser dialog displays that way too.  But in the smaller box, as in the one you see at the left, the image doesn't fit in the box.  I can slide it up and down and get either the tips or the base, but I don't see a way to shrink it a little so it all shows.



Reduce the size of the picture before you upload it.


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## TUGBrian (Jan 7, 2017)

in actuality, the avatar photos are 250x250 in size...if you try to attach a really large photo itll shrink it down somewhat but may not display the full range of the photo especially if the picture is wider than it is tall (as itll shrink it down to fit in a 250x250 box).

so unless the photo is perfectly symmetrical (ie the same height and width)...some parts are going to get cut off when its shrunk into the 250x250 box.


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## Makai Guy (Jan 8, 2017)

Your avatar image is taller than it is wide.  The avatar as it is displayed is square, so some of it is cropped off to be a square of the smaller dimension.  When padded out to become a square, you get this:


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## pedro47 (Jan 8, 2017)

Can isisdave just turn the image to the right or left to pick-up the whole image?


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## Makai Guy (Jan 8, 2017)

pedro47 said:


> Can isisdave just turn the image to the right or left to pick-up the whole image?


No, but he can save the one I uploaded then uploaded it as his avatar...


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## isisdave (Jan 9, 2017)

And so I did just that. Perfect! Thanks so much.


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