Update: 09/07/08

• New Categories: Darker Than Black (41), ef (19), Haruhi Suzumiya (52), Revolution Girl Utena (19)
• Existing Categories: Movies (9), Video Games (2)

I ended up watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya again while taking screen shots for avatars. That was fun, but I wish there were more shots of Tsuruya and Kyon's little sister.

Ace, I didn't add your Boktai avatars because, well, the image quality on most of them is crap. You really need to either use higher quality JPG compression or switch to GIF. (Though you'll also need to use the correct compression settings for GIF to get them to look good.) And ... are some of those made with fan art?

I might write up some tips and guidelines for making avatars to put into the first post. We'll see how lazy I get.

Edit:
OMG I actually started working on the guide. I'll post each section here as I finish it, then put it in the first post once I'm done.


Choosing an Image Format

You've got two format options when submitting avatars to OtakuBoards: GIF and JPG. Both formats have their strengths and weaknesses but GIF is what you should use for most avatars.

GIF is a palette-based image format that is limited to 256 unique colors per image. For small graphics, such as avatars, GIF tends to have much smaller file sizes than a comparable quality JPG. However, for some avatars with color gradients or a large variety of colors, 256 is not enough to keep the image quality high.

What You Shouldn't Use GIF For
Original	GIF - 8.21 KB	JPG - 18.2 KB

Notice that the GIF version is smaller but looks grainy in the color gradients, while the JPG version is larger but looks very close to the original.


JPG allows the full range of colors but it is a lossy format, meaning that there will be compression artifacts in the image. To keep the quality high, a low compression ratio—and thus a high file size—must be used to reduce the appearance of noticeable artifacts. Because of this, JPG should only be used when adequate quality can't be obtained with GIF.

What You Shouldn't Use JPG For
Original	GIF - 8.84 KB	JPG - 18.3 KB

Notice that both the GIF and JPG versions look very close to the original but that the GIF version is much smaller.


Compressing High Quality GIFs and JPGs

Simply picking the format best suited to each avatar isn't enough to produce a high quality image, however. Using the right compression settings is just as important. Most of the specifics here will refer to Photoshop 7, because that's what I have, but most graphics programs should have the same or similar settings.

GIF has a number of settings that affect how the program chooses which 256 colors to use for the image and how it converts other colors to those 256.

The first and most important setting is how the program chooses the palette of colors to use. In Photoshop the three you should pick from are Perceptual, Selective, and Adaptive. Which ends up providing the best quality and the least graininess can depend on the image but Perceptual generally gives good results. Never, under any circumstances, use the Web palette.

Next up is dithering, which helps to reduce color banding but can cause graininess if overused. Again it can depend on the image but, I find a happy medium of 50% diffusion dithering usually works nicely. If you change the palette selection, try some different dithering settings as well since the palette setting can affect how much dithering is needed.

Transparency should be turned off unless your image actually uses it (which it shouldn't if you're submitting it here). Otherwise it will allocate a color as transparent and leave one less to actually be used in the image.

Good and Bad GIF Compression
Original	Good perceptual palette, 50% dither, transp. off	Bad web palette, 0% dither, transp. on

JPG compression is fairly simple since all you have to care about is the compression ratio. Generally, higher numbers on whatever scale the program uses means better quality. On Photoshop's 0-12 scale you'll probably want to use no less than 9. On IrfanView's 1-100 scale, 85-90 is preferable. Whatever setting you use, make sure there are no obvious compression artifacts.

Most programs also let you choose whether to save the image as a standard or progressive JPG. Standard JPGs load line-by-line when viewed on the Internet while progressive JPGs start out blurry and become progressively clearer as they load. For small images like avatars it hardly matters which you choose so take your pick.

Good and Bad JPG Compression
Original	Good 9/12 compression	Bad 5/12 compression

Cropping and Framing Images

With only a scant 150x80 pixel space to work with it's important not to waste space, focusing only on the features you want to display in the avatar. By the same token, it's also important not to crop out too much of the image, to keep those features well framed.

Cropping
OB's 150x80 avatar size lends itself well to making avatars from widescreen anime screen shots because their aspect ratios are close. But you'll rarely find shots where it's best to include all of the image in the avatar. That's where cropping comes in, to cut out a 150x80 sized piece from a larger version of the source image.

If you're using Photoshop there's an easy way to crop out a piece that's exactly 150x80 while also being able to see what it looks like with a border on it. First, create a new 150x80 image. Next, create two new layers and select the Marquee tool. Select the first new layer, push Ctrl+A (select all), then right click on the image. Select the Stroke option from the menu and add a 2px white stroke on the inside, then add another 1px black stroke, also on the inside. Now switch to the second new layer and add a 1px black stroke to it as well. You'll then have an avatar template with both styles of borders available.

With your template file (I recommend saving it for future use) you'll be ready to start cropping. Open up the image you want to make an avatar out of, decide what part of it you want to show, then resize the image so that the part will fit into a 150x80 space. (Make sure you're using a Bicubic or Lanczos resample setting when resizing the image.) After resizing, paste the image into the template—making sure that it's on a lower layer than the borders—and move it around until what you want is inside the border. It may take a couple tries to resize it right but with some practice you'll get good at knowing what size to reduce an image to to make it fit right. When you're happy with it, hit Ctrl+Shift+S (save as) and put your knowledge from the previous two sections to use in saving a high quality GIF or JPG version of it.

There are always exceptions but, here are some tips to keep in mind while cropping:

• Leave as little background space as possible without cutting out important features.
• Don't cut off only the tip of the chin. Either show it all or cut it off right below the mouth.
• Cropping out hair and the top of the head (above the forehead) usually looks fine.

Varying Amounts of Cropping
Not Enough	Just Right	Too Much

Framing
This is really just another part of cropping but, whereas the previous part focused on how small to resize the image, framing is about how to best position the image once it's resized. Again, there are always exceptions, but here are some tips:

• Often, a character's eyes provide a good reference point for positioning.
  • If they're looking straight forward, center the eyes or put them slightly above center.
  • If their eyes are angled, position them towards the opposite side that they're looking at.
• The character's posture can also influence the optimal positioning.
  • If they're leaning in a direction, position them towards the same side they're leaning towards.
  • The direction of leaning should generally be given priority over the direction of the eyes.
• Try to avoid leaving very small bits of background space showing between a character and the border.
• Make diagonal lines flow into the corners when possible.

Various Frame Positions
Too Far Down/Left	Well Positioned	Too Far Up/Right

Contrast and Color Correction

When making avatars out of art or screen shots—especially screen shots—it often looks better to increase the contrast a bit to make the image stand out more. But you should be careful not to go overboard because increasing the contrast can result in a loss of detail.

Note that the adjustment numbers here refer to Photoshop 7's scale.

Contrast Adjustment
No Adjustment	Contrast +10	Contrast +20

Notice the loss of shading in the hair, on the left especially, at +20 contrast.

Also notice how the colors have a slightly different hue after the contrast adjustment, most noticeable in the the skin color and the sky on the right. This, however, can be fixed by decreasing the color saturation by the same amount that the contrast is increased.

Contrast and Saturation Adjustment
No Adjustment	Contrast +10 / Saturation -10	Contrast +20 / Saturation -20

With both the contrast and saturation adjusted, the image stands out more without the colors looking funny.

How much contrast/saturation adjustment is best depends on the source image but, for most anime screen shots, I find somewhere between +10/-10 and +20/-20 works well. Whatever setting you pick, try to be consistent across all of your avatars from that series so that none will stand out as looking washed out or having super high contrast compared to the rest.

If you're using Photoshop, there's an easy way to apply these adjustments. Open up your template file from the last section and go up to the Layer menu. Make a new Adjustment Layer for Brightness/Contrast, and another for Hue/Saturation (these can be applied in either order), making sure that they're below the layers with the borders but above the source image. Now these settings will automatically be applied when you paste an image into the template and they can easily be adjusted from the Layers window.