# Avatars



## Mike Bobbitt

Folks,

I wanted to announce that avatars are now available on this board. Here are some details:


Avatars show up just below your name, every time your post. (The Canada flag under my name is an example.)
You can opt not to have an avatar.
You can opt not to see other people‘s avatars.
You can select an avatar from some pre-defined choices. Right now, these are pretty bad, but I wanted to get the feature "out there".
People with 31+ posts can also provide a URL to their own custom avatar. Please keep the size to roughly 48x64 pixels. Large avatars will just be removed.
You can upload your own custom avatars into the Photo Album, in the newly created "Avatars" folder. You can then put the URL to your uploaded avatar into your profile. (I‘ll post seperate instructions on this, time permitting.)
When picking your avatar, it may appear "squished" but it will look OK when viewed on your posts.
As this is a "beta" feature, the avatar you pick now may disappear or change later on.

If you have any questions, just let me know. In the mean time, I‘m looking for ideas for new avatars!
Cheers


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Hello all,

One of my long standing and unfulfilled goals on this forum is to provide every Canadian Regiment‘s cap badge as an avatar. As you can see from the current selection, I‘m far from it. The reason being that I simply don‘t have most badges available to me.

So if you have full colour, large images of your regimental cap badges, I would love to have a copy. (Please e-mail to Bobbitt@CdnArmy.ca)

In return, I‘ll provide an avatar image for that badge on these forums.

Cheers


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

One more note... Here‘s how to update your Avatar:

In the upper right, click on "Profile," then "View/Update Profile," and then "Select a different Avatar Image."

Or you can just click here.

Some of the avatars will look "squished" on the selection screen, but they‘ll look OK in your posts.

If you have any questions, just let me know.

Thanks to those that have already provided badges.

Cheers


----------



## combat_medic

For the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada:

 http://www.seaforth-highlanders.ca/seaforthlogo2.JPG 

or 

 http://www.seaforthhighlanders.ca/frontstag1.gif


----------



## toms3

The Avatar image does not show up on my posts.  

Can you tell me why that might be happeneing?

Thanks

oops.....will you look at that...there it is....nevermind


----------



## Pikache

http://cdnarmy.ca/inf/hfc.php 

^RHFC cap badge looks like that, except it‘s all silvery colour.


----------



## Argyll_2347

The Argyll‘s website:  www.ashofc.ca


----------



## muskrat89

WOW - 1000+ members. Now isn‘t Mike or somebody supposed to give us cool CDNARMY.CA tee shirts?


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Absolutely. They‘re in the mail.    

1,000 members is a milestone though, thanks for all your support!


----------



## ArmyBoyzGurl

do any of you know the cap badge of fire control sys. techs?! is it the unicorn and lightening bolts one? i‘m not to sure.. thanks!


----------



## Doug VT

Yes that‘s the one for FCS Tech.  The EME badge.


----------



## ArmyBoyzGurl

sweet, i‘ve always thought that that was THE coolest badge.. LOL, thanks!


----------



## gk404

How about the QOR of C badge?


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Sounds great. Do you have a copy I can put in as an avatar for you?

Cheers


----------



## kurokaze

Here is a link to the 7 Toronto RCA badge.

 http://www.army.dnd.ca/7TORONTO_REGT/7torontorca/Images/CapBdge_4.gif


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Thanks, I‘ve already got the Arty badge in the list.


----------



## GGHG_Cadet

Heres the address to the Governor General‘s Horse Guards cap   badge:http://ww2.isys.ca/army/insignia/gghg.gif


----------



## Bzzliteyr

I posted my capbadge avatar to the pictures setting, it suggests linking to the avatar. how do I do this?

Bzz


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Just go to the album, find the image you want to use as an avatar, and right click, selecing properties.

This will show the URL to the image itself, something like this:

 http://cdnarmy.ca/album/Avatars/12RBC.gif 

Now just edit your profile, and you can paste this URL into the "Use Custom URL" box.

That should do it!

Cheers


----------



## Bzzliteyr

I am feeling kind of silly, but I don‘t see any "use custom URL" section with regards to avatars...

Bzz


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

No worries... Just click on "Select a different Avatar Image" on your profile screen and that will bring up a new window. The "Use Custom URL" option is at the bottom of the new window...

Cheers


----------



## Bzzliteyr

Maybe I have something wrong with my UBB code because I clicked on "select a different avatar image" and a new window pops up with a page of avatars, top left corner being blank, followed by the rank insignia for private.. all the way down to the cap badge that I believe might be SQFT.. along with the option of "next". On the left hand edge of this window there is "select this avatar", "no avatar" and "cancel".  I must be missing something as there is no option for inputting URL information.

Bzz


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Aha! I had the forums set to only allow custom avatars once a user reached 30 posts.

That restriction has been lifted, and things should now appear as discussed.

Cheers


----------



## Bzzliteyr

Whew, suddenly I feel a little less "lost" thanks Mike..

Bzz


----------



## BestOfTheBest

Can I have a tee shirt too.. please  :crybaby:


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Heheh. The shirt comment was just a joke. No such thing exists!   

But if I can offload enough stickers, that may just be the next venture...


----------



## Danny

How do I post pics in the block where you can put a quote?


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

To get something like this:


>


Try this:



		Code:
	

[quote][IMG]http://army.ca/ubb/Avatars/2-12-Log.gif[/IMG][/quote]

Cheers


----------



## Danny

Ok I mean how do I post a picture where I have "proud to be canadian".


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

I believe you can insert this type of code:



		Code:
	

[IMG]http://army.ca/ubb/Avatars/2-12-Log.gif[/IMG]

Cheers


----------



## Danny

But what if I want to put something other than the log badge?


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Then you have to put in something other than a URL to the log badge.   

The image you include has to be accessible over the net, and you need a URL (such as the one above) to insert into your sig...

Cheers


----------



## Michael Dorosh

We don‘t really need pictures taking up the sig line, do we?  That‘s so sophomoric - avatars should be good enough.


----------



## Jeff Boomhouwer

Let me first apologize for not being as computer savy as most of you, and secondly for posting this question in this forum. Hopefully my Infantry pers will be a little more forgiving. How do I move the Tor Scot avatar from the photo gallery to the profile section to use as my personal avatar? Your help would be greatly apreciated. Thanx.


----------



## bossi

1.  Click on "Profile" (top right corner, roughly)
2.  Click on "Edit Profile"
3.  Go down to Avatar and click on "Select a different Avatar image"
4.  Select the one you want by clicking on it and then click on "Select This Avatar" (there are several pages, and they might take a little while to load - you also may have to click on "next" at the bottom right corner in order to view the successive pages ... if you can‘t see the "next" button, you might have to "maximise" the page)
5.  Send me $1,000 dollars in small, unmarked bills.


----------



## Jeff Boomhouwer

If you find the Tor Scot avatar there I will send you 1000 grand in any denomination. The avatar is in the gallery area and not in the profile area my quest continues.


----------



## D-n-A

Save the Tor Scot capbadge to your computer, then upload it into the avatar section. Then follow the steps Bossi gave you.

Now send me $200 US in small bills.

Cheers


----------



## bossi

Hmmm ... I just checked - it‘s on the third page:

Tor Scot cap badge


----------



## fleeingjam

I want a tor scott thing too but this is all i could find.
<------------------------------


----------



## fleeingjam

Never Mind, i think i fixed it, hey Cpl. Boomer is that your real name, because im probably gonna come to fort york this tuesday, may 24th and ill say hello if a see you there.


----------



## Jeff Boomhouwer

Hey thanks. Your money is being printed as..I mean the cash is in the mail. Now how do I shrink this thing to a reasonal size.Yes Syed it is indeed me. You will have to say hi because you newbies look the same!!


----------



## Michael OLeary

I've been having a problem with the photo upload page continually failing on me.

I've been trying to upload the following avatar image as an option for those in the Recruiting process:


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Is there an error message displayed?


----------



## Michael OLeary

the following error message displays:



> "Error uploading photo: Will not upload! Could not validate UserID Michael OLeary"



The upload page is also starting with a filled-in password of about 20 characters.


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

It should also be filling in your username, with the number 64. That's your userid here, give that a try and see how that works... Confusing, I know, but there's no good way around it.


----------



## Michael OLeary

The form provides username, but no text box for user number. I tried adding user number to the name (with and without a space), but that didn't work either.

It's not a big issue for me. If someone will drop the photo above into the avatar section, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Actually, try just putting the number in the username field (no username and no spaces). If that doesn't work, I'll upload it, but I just want to be sure there's not another problem to sort out.

Thanks


----------



## Michael OLeary

Tried just "64" as user, but still no go.


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Ok, it's been uploaded:

http://army.ca/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=Avatars/applicant2.jpg


----------



## Michael OLeary

Thanks Mike. I'll let you work on the underlying problem whenever you get around to it. And this thread has no merit for retention now, so after you see this, you can just delete the thread (no need for it to take up server space).

Mike


----------



## McG

I've noticed that I have to be logged into the forums before I can upload a picture.  Then in the upload page, "150" automaticaly appears as user name and the password box is filled with *************.


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Yep, that makes sense. The photo album uses your forum cookies to pre-fill your username (er... number) and password. The password is actually a hash, so it's longer than your real password, but works just the same.


----------



## bossdog

Hey everyone! If anyone wants me to put together an avatar of their medals, let me know. I'll be happy to try and get something together for ya'. The only thing I ask is that you send me a digital picture of your mounted medals so I know that have actually been awarded the medals that you want in your avatar.

<EDIT>
We only get to show these (medals) off a couple of times per year, why not show them off in here!

It would be great if any programmers out there would like to play with a medals avatar generator!

<EDIT>
Here's an example:


----------



## alan_li_13

do you do cadet or civilian medals?


----------



## Fraser.g

How about a bar of ribbons instead of the full bar. That way they can be shown but not "in your face".
My concern is with those who do not deserve to have the medals displaying them as an avatar. A good example is a 16 year old "captain" on this board.

GF


----------



## bossdog

No - I won't do Cadet medals. I'm not saying that they weren't earned and I do know that cadets work hard for their awards but I want to leave this strictly for RegF and ResF mbrs.

Wrt the 16 year old captain with a museum rack on his chest, I will use caution and I will investigate their claims. I'm not anticipating a large return on this issue.

Medals or ribbons on the avatar will be the usres personal choice.


----------



## q_1966

you guys are missing a regiment in the Avatars, could you please put the Rocky Mountain Rangers in here, im sure some fellow Rangers would agree

- Shawn Papke


----------



## Lexi

I'm sure you could google Rocky Mountain Rangers and find lots of images to use as an avatar.
You could upload it in the Avatar section of the army.ca album and VOILA, your own personal avatar!   

On the same line of thought, I don't think I saw an RHLI avatar. Correct me if I'm wrong.   

Cheers,
Lex


----------



## Burrows

http://army.ca/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=Avatars/rhli_bdg.gif  RHLI

http://army.ca/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=Avatars/rmrang.gif  ROCKIES

The stuff I do for you people *sigh*


----------



## shippedout

Hello to all fellow military types (especially you zipper-heads)
This is my first posting on this great site and I look forward to participating in the future, even while at sea. (What's an old zipper-head doing deep sea in the engine room of a ship, we will get too that at a later date)
For you people looking for new Canadian regimental avatars check out a web site at www.regiments.org, not only is is a great site covering Commonwealth Army histories through-out most conflicts that Canada had participated in. It will also allow you to down load a gif. file of the regimental capbadges that are on the site. My avatar is from the site and it was as simple as single clicking (hi-lighting) the capbadge and saving the file to my computers desk top then uploading it to this web site when I developed my profile. I work on the Apple platform and it was a simple process and cannot a-test to how the PC platform will react. 
Good luck and UP the Dukes!


----------



## Fishbone Jones

Works the same way for a PC. So everyone can now upload your own. Go to the Photo Gallery and follow the "Upload Photos" directions.


----------



## Spazkatt

I can't seem to be able to upload a picture from my C drive to put on my profile. I tried over and over. Is there something I'm doing wrong? I clicked 'upload my own photo', clicked browse, chose one from my C drive, clicked 'open', then 'change profile'....nothing....WTF?
AL


----------



## Fishbone Jones

Can't get it to work for me either. Been trying for a couple of weeks. Used to be able to, now I can't. Hmmmm....


----------



## Inch

It won't work for me either, I asked Mike about it and he's looking in to it.


----------



## Spazkatt

OK...whew. Glad it's not just my fantastic komputer skills.
AL


----------



## Northern Touch

Im having the same problem too.  Don't worry guys, your not alone.


----------



## Burrows

my avatar wouldnt go either..not even for the ones on the server...


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

I believe that issue is now fixed.

Sorry for the inconvenience.


Cheers
Mike


----------



## Spazkatt

Yeah...works now. Thank you. Wasn't it worth the wait???
AL

<-----


----------



## MissMolsonIndy

Works now...


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Hmmm, I see resize isn't working very well...


----------



## MissMolsonIndy

Nah, but that's ok...

I figure you might as well put a face to a voice.


----------



## Burrows

Ive never heard you...do you have a pretty voice ???


----------



## Michael Dorosh

Can we maybe set some rules re: avatars; Spazkat's is so juvenile as to make the rest of the board look like morons.

MissMolsonIndy's, despite the size, is not too shabby....now if she would just acknowledge the email survey I sent to her...


----------



## Fishbone Jones

I kinda like Spazkatz avatar. I've certainly seen some worse ones on this and other boards. I see nothing wrong with a little humour here and there. I was going to use Bill the Cat from Bloom County but couldn't find a good one. I also intend on changing mine on a regular basis. The current one replaced my Baldrick one as not everyone was aquainted with Black Adder and may not have made sense to some.


----------



## Burrows

Sidenote: the pics in the gallery always dont work and show blank...have the Army.ca logo (not good for avatars in my opinion) or that little shadow behind it.


----------



## MissMolsonIndy

Burrows said:
			
		

> Ive never heard you...do you have a pretty voice ???



Well, I can't speak for Burrows, but I believe the majority of you caught my drift...

A lady never tells!

I did acknowledge it, you hooligan. Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule. Kindest regards.


----------



## Burrows

Im a hooligan *blush*


----------



## Spazkatt

> Can we maybe set some rules re: avatars; Spazkat's is so juvenile as to make the rest of the board look like morons.



No offence made to anyone. I wanted some kind of ....well....spaz....cat. This one made me laugh for a good 35 seconds. When it does no longer, I will change it. 
AL


----------



## Blackhorse7

How do I get my avatar's I have uploaded onto my profile, without it being the big massive photo?


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

We're having some avatar issues at the moment... Still trying to track down the cause, but for now uploaded avatars aren't resized.


----------



## Scratch_043

if you have photoshop, or similar program (I use MGI PhotoSuite) to resize.

open the picture in the program (Duh) and choose resize (again, duh) in the options menu.

it should give you an option to proportionally resize, choose yes, then change the horizontal field to 100 pixels.

Hope that helps.


----------



## q_1966

Heres the Rocky Mountain Rangers Logo link, its 
http://www.army.dnd.ca/39CBG_HQ/rmr.htm

- Shawn


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Thanks. It's now in the selectable list of avatars.


Cheers
Mike


----------



## Burrows

Mike,

If possible could we have the Lorne Scots P,D&H Regt crest as an uploaded avatar..I know there are a few Lorne Scots reservists on the board.

I know its in the avatar gallery...but its HUGE and it gets marked with Army.ca


----------



## q_1966

Thank-you
- Shawn


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Done. Keep 'em coming!


----------



## Sapper6

Mike,

I know you are still working on the problem of "down scaling" avatars that are uploaded to your site.... any word on when I can get my recent post - "Combat Diver 2" reduced to a more workable size?  I can't seem to reduce my image to a smaller (100 pixel) size?

Sapper 6


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

I've reduced them all to a max dimension of 65px. I still hope to have the problem  addressed properly at some point as well.


Cheers
Mike


----------



## Sapper6

Thanks Mike.  Great site.  I'm a relatively new member and think you've done an excellent job!  To you and all your elves, keep up the great work!  Merry Christmas!

Sapper6

p.s. Christmas lights around the banner are a nice touch.


----------



## Burrows

So mike Santa Claus?  well I guess Im the smallest moderator elf ;D


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Ok, this issue has now been resolved. Thanks for your patience all.

If your avatars are currently too big, just re-upload them and they'll automatically be resized.


----------



## someguyincanada

Just thought i would let you know.... 

Recent Uploads
Image Magick Error: composite: unable to open image `/var/www/html/album/Avatars/thmb_F1804.png': No such file or directory. composite: missing an image filename `/var/www/html/album/Avatars/thmb_F1804.png'.

Image Magick Error: composite: unable to open image `/var/www/html/album/Avatars/thmb_military_soldier_firing_md_clr.png': No such file or directory. composite: missing an image filename `/var/www/html/album/Avatars/thmb_military_soldier_firing_md_clr.png'.


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Thanks for the heads up... It's been fixed. Looks like the auto thumbnail generator doesn't like animaged gifs...


----------



## Blakey

Just uploaded about 14 more.
If anyone is looking something specific (military graphic wise) give me a shout I might be able to hunt it down.


----------



## Burrows

Blakey...many of those are already available...please only upload what you need personally.


----------



## Blakey

Rgr


----------



## Burrows

thanks


----------



## Morgs

For some reason my personal picture is not what i set it to be, in fact i have my profile set up so i dont display a pictre but for some reason it is.
I know how you all feel about posting insignia's and i dont want to offend anyone so can someone please help me remove it as soon as possible. I feel like a right n00b having to make this post, but i have tried everything i can to remove it.
Cheers,
Morgs


----------



## Morgs

....It seems to have now disappeared and i feel quite the idiot, as i have not changed anything. :


----------



## X Royal

It appears it may be a case of ask and you shall receive. I suspect one of the staff took care of your problem for you after your request.

Best Wishes


----------



## Morgs

Hehe, as you can see my second post was about 3 mins after my first. i know the staff here are awesomely dedicated to the site... So you are probably right.
(my nose doesnt look too brown does it?)  
Cheers,
Morgs


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Not sure what happened, it might have been a case of old information being cached for a bit, but I'm glad it's working OK now.


Cheers
Mike


----------



## Morgs

Thanks muchly Mike!


----------



## q_1966

Is there anyway to upload an avatar without having the annoying army.ca logo, i tried uploading loading it and all i saw was the logo across my face.


----------



## Armymedic

Papke said:
			
		

> Is there anyway to upload an avatar without having the annoying army.ca logo, i tried uploading loading it and all i saw was the logo across my face.



Might you want to courteously change how your post is worded?


----------



## Big Bad John

Subtle and polite isn't he.


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Papke,

The album is configured to watermark all images on upload. If you're just looking for an avatar, then you can upload one in the profile screen here in the forums, without the need to deal with the photo gallery.


Cheers
Mike


----------



## Sh0rtbUs

I think the reason it watermarks, is to prevent people from using the gallery as simply a host for their images. Go to Photobucket for free space if you keep having problems, then link the off-site image URL here.


----------



## gun plumber

Kinda related,so I'll post here in hopes of a quick reply.
I've uploaded a avatar to the forum's library,I've inputed the link into the box that says"URL photo..."but the only picture I get is a small square with an X in it as my picture.Could some one help me?


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Can you post the URL here?


----------



## gun plumber

http://army.ca/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=Avatars/wpnstech.gif


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Got it. That URL will cause the red X because it's a link to a web page, not the image itself. Try this one:

http://army.ca/album/Avatars/thmb_wpnstech.png


Cheers
Mike


----------



## gun plumber

thanks for the help Mike.
GP


----------



## gunner56

Any chance of seeing KOCalgR's badge? I like the RCAC fine,but showing a little more Reg't pride would be nice.BTW,great site.


----------



## George Wallace

gunner56

If you have a good copy of your hatbadge on your hard drive just go to your profile and under Forum Profile Information there is a box where you can upload your own picture.

GW


----------



## Michael OLeary

How's that gunner56? It's the best version I had.


----------



## gunner56

;DHey,thanks,Michael!That's great...just what I was hoping for.


----------

