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[Outpost4]

Here it is:



When you use it over in the column to the left, the background will match the one from TrekBBS. I sharpened the picture a bit but I could do a better job if you had a bigger version of the picture itself. Do you? If you do, send it to me in a PM.

The process is relatively easy. You use screen capture to save a page of TrekBBS to your desktop. You use the eyedropper tool from any good image program to pick up that particular color blue used on the left hand side of the screen. You then replace the background with that blue color. It now looks transparent, although it's just the same color as the rest of the column.

[IJD GAF]

Hmm... I tried doing something along those lines, but decided that it would only look transparent against those using the traditional backdrop. I use the big blue backdrop.

I know there's a way of making it truly transparent, I just don't know how....

ETA: Thank you though, I really do appreciate the effort and it probably looks just right to 95% of the board.

[Cicero]

Is this what you're looking for?

[IJD GAF]

Perfect! If I may ask, what is the trick? Is there a particularly good program for that sort of thing?

[Outpost4]

I'd like to know, too, Cicero.

[Cicero]

I used GIMP, a free image-manipulation program. Photoshop would probably work as well.

The image was transformed by deleting the blue-gray background with the area-select tool (set somewhere between 30 and 60, I don't recall), then filling in a few areas of lost detail (which happened to be too close in color to the background) by hand and deleting a few stray pixels the same way.

Too keep transparency, the image was saved as a gif (which can handle transparency), rather than a jpeg (which can't).

[IJD GAF]

aha, i figured it couldn't be too tricky. Thanks a ton, both of you!

[prometheuspan]

is there some way to determine my post count i am missing? most boards its under yer avatar to the left over there...
<-----------
??

[Starscape]

Your post count is listed within your public profile. To view that, click on your user name at the top of the screen in the "Welcome" box.

You can also view your Profile through the "User CP" (User Control Panel).

[captcalhoun]

your post count is currently 41.

what i usually do to get a transparent background, is in Paint Shop Pro, i colour the background a hideously bright pink colour (the kind of colour not likely to be in the bit i want) and then use the 'gif optimiser' option and use the transparency tab to 'match areas using this colour' for the transparanecy and it does it for me, and then save it.

[prometheuspan]

kewl. thanks. so if you have to have 100 posts to have an avatar, how come it seems to be that i have an avatar at only 71 posts?
??
i tried it before i knew what my post count was guessing it was upish thereish.

??
and i seem to have an avatar?

does nobody see it but me?

aside from the fact that this site rocks cuz theres so little troll activity,
its sure quirky....

[captcalhoun]

i think it was mentioned that longevity now plays a part in rank advancement, but don't hold me to that...

[tharpdevenport]

Not avatar help, but I was wondering if someone can help make a couple short videos out of clips?

[Too Much Fun]

I'm having some avatar trouble. I'm trying to have an animated gif as my avatar. I've made it, re-sized it with GIMP so it's up to TrekBBS standards and even uploaded it to photobucket, but whenever I try to set it as my TREKBBS avatar, the animation is lost. Does anyone have any advice on how to post it here animated? If I send it to someone else can they set it up for me?

I'm also wondering why there's all this talk about avatar hosting in this thread when the only available option in the control panel about avatars seems to be uploading it from one's own computer. It would be a lot easier if I could link the gif from my photobucket since uploading directly from my computer doesn't seem to be working.

[captcalhoun]

the remote hosting talk is because the thread predates the change from UBB software to the new vBulletin software, where AnthonyF made it so that you could only upload to the site.

post your av in here and people can see if they can work out what's wrong.