Pictures / Images How-to

[Logos]

The site dimensions allowed for signature line images is (width) 500 X (length) 100 pixels. That means long narrow images are best, but square pics are fine too. (For example my sigline image is 495 X 39 pixels or something.) The low height but long width dimension is so that signature lines don't get too long, 'overpower' posts and cause people reading threads to have to do a lot of scrolling down the page. (also, as per Netiquette, frowned upon in discussion forums.)

To post an image in your signature line:

From your user control panel "UserCP" link top left corner of screen:

Step 1: upload the image's url (starting with "http://www") from photo hosting site like photobucket (which would be the "URL link-Email & IM") one, or from your computer.

Step 2: click the "Insert Signature Picture" link under the pic to make the {SIGPIC][/SIGPIC} codes show up in the sigline text window.

Step 3: Click "Save Signature" button.

[kathycf]

Good call, Logos. Thank you for the information.

Quick way to resize an uploaded image with photobucket. Click on edit and when the page loads above the image will be some editing options, one of which is "resize".

[kathycf]

Resizing an image tutorial. I use Irfanview, a pretty good (FREE) image editor to accomplish this.

Here is my original image I wish to resize:


I open up the image with the editor.

I go to the resize and resampling menu.



If I have a very detailed picture, I would probably choose the resample option as it preserves image quality and detail better. Otherwise, I would go with resizing. This is just a screenshot from a game so I will simply resize it. I set the dimensions for what I want and enter them. An image can be made smaller or larger this way, and is an easy way to do it.

Voila, a smaller picture.


You can also use Irfanview to enhance your pictures as well as adding a few special effects. More on this later.


The languages available in Irfanview

English
German
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
Nederlands/Dutch
Russian
Czech
Slovak
Japanese
Polish
Estonian
Slovenscina
Chinese
Turkish
Swedish
Tatarish

[Demona]

a question! Is it possible to embed into a post a picture that is being uploaded directly from the PC?
And thanks for the thread, it is very helpful!

[kathycf]

Oh, I didn't realize this thread had been moved. Sorry it has taken me so long to see this.

One other thing is you can add an attachment to the post if you don't have an image host. The only catch is you are very limited in the size of the file attached (which is necessary, it uses the Litnet's bandwidth).

Valid file extensions: bmp doc gif jpe jpeg jpg pdf png psd txt zip

Just under the area where you make a post (er, when you are in the midst of actually making one) is a section called "Additional Options". You can click on the manage attachments button to directly upload an image. It won't display in your post, but will be available just below it.

This is a viable option for once in while type stuff, but in my opinion if you want to post and share lots of images you are better off going with a free image host. There are several free ones, and I detail them on the first page of the thread.

[Logos]

oops, thanks kathy, forgot about that

[Nightshade]

Resizing an image tutorial. I use Irfanview, a pretty good (FREE) image editor to accomplish this.
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Do I have to down load this to use it?

[kathycf]

Do I have to down load this to use it?

Yes, you cannot use the software otherwise.

Some websites DO have features you can use online, but Irfranview isn't one of them. However, it is free as I mention and it is not a big download at just about 1 mb in size.

[kathycf]

Night, if it is a problem to download stuff I can re-size some pictures for you. You can attach them to an email and send them to me (if there are several you can put them into a compressed archive using winzip or winrar).

It is up to you, let me know via PM.

[Nightshade]

Never I mind I did download it and turned out the stupid picture was the right size anyway from when I used photobucket....still its an intresting application and I just used it to make a smilie tutorial for the newbie guide thread Had to try out my new toy though I ened up using paint mostly....

[kathycf]

PhotoFiltre is another good program. It works in a similiar way to Paint, but more features and just better quality. There is a free version and it works very nicely for me when I make my armor for the games I like.



The Gimp is another very powerful, full featured (and FREE) image editing program, but it is hard to figure out. This program has versions that run on Windows, MacOSX and Linux, and there are tutorials for using it.

Main link, with links to download for other platforms and the tutorials can be found on the left side of the page.

[Nightshade]

yay.....well I guess if I go for the Digital media production course next year Ive got a range of things I can use

[quasimodo1]

Dear kathycf, Thank you for the information as I was sadly lacking in that skill, probably won't use it much but sometimes "a thousand words..." Since I was burried in classic academia for many years...maybe i may be of help to you sometime. quasimodo1

[kathycf]

You are welcome, quasimodo1, I am glad the thread was of help to you.

[kathycf]

Photobucket has it's own tutorial section with a lot of useful information. You can find that by clicking here.