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Can we have normal aspect ratios for profile pictures?

MelodicRain

By MelodicRain,
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MelodicRain

MelodicRain

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Not just for the main profile photo, but also for the Picks tab... right now the aspect ratio there is so awkward I'm forced to crop/resize my photos just for this tab, since normal 1024x1024 images look completely distorted. I don't really care if it's some completely random size like 157x157 but can we at least have consistent aspect ratios on ALL images in the profile? I guess they never bothered updating how the profile looks ever since launching SL... the UI looks like something from 1970.

Edited by MelodicRain
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Coffee Pancake

Coffee Pancake

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LL need to explicitly state what images are what size .. AND .. mandate that in ALL viewers .. AND .. maybe not use the system 1024 textures for such content. No one would design what we have now if they were starting from scratch.

We need some UI to assist the user uploading images for profiles so they aren't trying to manually fit a rectangular peg in a square hole that's been stretched to look like a different rectangle.

This is what Twitter does for it's weird header images. Lets have some of this.

VMUjgiK.png

 

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Lindal Kidd

Lindal Kidd

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Not only are the pictures in different parts of the Profile of differing aspect ratios...the aspect ratio for the LL viewer main Profile picture is different from popular third party viewers like Firestorm. So if you make your picture so it looks right in LL's viewer, it will look stretched in FS.

You can't win.

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MelodicRain

MelodicRain

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1 hour ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Not only are the pictures in different parts of the Profile of differing aspect ratios...the aspect ratio for the LL viewer main Profile picture is different from popular third party viewers like Firestorm. So if you make your picture so it looks right in LL's viewer, it will look stretched in FS.

You can't win.

I did not know that. Well RIP at any attempt at polishing up my profile considering there's still a large user base for the vanilla viewer for some reason.

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Blaise Glendevon

Blaise Glendevon

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2 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Not only are the pictures in different parts of the Profile of differing aspect ratios...the aspect ratio for the LL viewer main Profile picture is different from popular third party viewers like Firestorm. So if you make your picture so it looks right in LL's viewer, it will look stretched in FS.

You can't win.

It's time for LL to pull rank on the TPV and have everyone on one consistent profile pic size.

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Coffee Pancake

Coffee Pancake

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1 minute ago, Blaise Glendevon said:

So, I joined right as the SL Viewer 2.0 dropped and had no problem with it (I just like Firestorm Phototools better). What is this staunch refusal to change?

FS absolutely refused to adopt any aspect of the profiles as presented by LL in viewer 2 and recreated the viewer 1 profiles.

 

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Aiyumei

Aiyumei

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If i recall all of that is stated in the SL wiki, for profile pics I'm sure of it as I recently had to research it while taking snaps for that.

For pics, the aspect ratio is 4:3 and while the viewer changes the default ratio to 1:1 or 2:1 with maximun resolution of 2048x2048, that doesn't mean the photo is resized as well, it's a visual thing. You can change the ratio when you're viewing the texture in world, there an aspect menu on the lowe left corner on your window.

Now back to the profile pic upload. When it comes to profile pic uploading there is no need to upload anything to your inventory and use it after to change your profile photo. You can do all that from Second Life's home page by going to My Second Life and edit your profile. When you change your profile pic from there, cha changes go in effect in world almost immediately.

I hope that clears out the topic for profile pics ratio and specifics.(I'll get back you with picks specifics)

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Orwar

Orwar

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1 hour ago, Aiyumei said:

For pics, the aspect ratio is 4:3 and while the viewer changes the default ratio to 1:1 or 2:1 with maximun resolution of 2048x2048, that doesn't mean the photo is resized as well, it's a visual thing. You can change the ratio when you're viewing the texture in world, there an aspect menu on the lowe left corner on your window.

   It's a bit more complicated than that, unfortunately.

   The Second Life viewer displays profile pictures in 1:1, whilst Firestorm displays profile pictures in 4:3, so you can never have a profile picture that will work properly for both. Like ALM and using a neutral coloured sky setting when setting up and colour matching your avi, you can't ever control what settings any given person around you uses and thus how you are in fact represented on their end - latex without ALM ain't too hot!

   It also applies to what textures are displayed as when viewed. There's no way to 'save' how you choose to set the aspect ratio when viewing a texture, it will default to 2:1, 1:1, or if it's a 3:4 image it might become either a 1:2 or 1:1 when 'opened' by any given person - as far as the data is concerned, textures can only exist in ratios divisible by 2. For building purposes this generally isn't an issue - you can have a painting on your wall with a 4:3 picture simply by adding a 1/4th blank background (or you could hide a secret message, or make a doodle!) beneath your picture before uploading it so that it's natively 1:1, then scale its display on your prim to 1 x 0.75 and offset it. As long as you don't want it to be a repeating texture, that is. But that, sadly, isn't possible when it comes to the profile pictures.

   So, why don't we have a uni(meta)versal standard for profile picture resolutions across all viewers? It would make everything so much easier for everyone, right? Right?!

   Well, some people don't like change. Change is hard. It's why there are still a few backward nations that won't let go of inches and Fahrenheit and join the rest of the world in the 20th century.

   And no, I didn't type that wrong, I know we're in the 21st century, but let's cut them some slack and catch up bit by bit, eh?

   Waves the "I'm being sarcastic!"-sign like a madman. With fingers crossed behind my back. Plot twist?!

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Arduenn Schwartzman

Arduenn Schwartzman

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10 hours ago, MelodicRain said:

I guess they never bothered updating how the profile looks ever since launching SL...

The majority of SL residents uses Firestorm, which uses the old ratios from the official v1.x viewers since they were conceived back in 2003 (4:3 for the 2nd and 1st Life tabs and 16:9 for the Picks tab). The newer (official - 2.x and 3.x) viewers, despite your claim, actually did update their ratios around 2010 (to 1:1 and 4:3, respectively - still not the same, oddly enough).

A typical profile in the official SL viewer does look more modern. It's basically a web page. It's just that hardly anyone is using them.

10 hours ago, MelodicRain said:

the UI looks like something from 1970.

I understand you're using a hyperbole, but let me remind you what a UI in 1970 really looked like:

hazeltine2000-color.jpg.a7a38cc0db3f4840252a42790bd61561.jpg

An advanced Video Display Unit (VDU), introduced in 1970 - most terminals, like the DECWriter, were hybrid hard copy terminals (i.e. the output was printed on paper rather than displayed on a screen).

Edited by Arduenn Schwartzman
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Aiyumei

Aiyumei

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17 minutes ago, Orwar said:

So, why don't we have a uni(meta)versal standard for profile picture resolutions across all viewers? It would make everything so much easier for everyone, right? Right?!

Because there multiple standalone viewers made by different parties, each following their own standard. That's like saying why can't all web pages be the same - design, technology, limitations.

To get back on the profile pic topic - pulled right from the wiki - https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/How_to_set_profile_pictures

For picks size and dimensions there's nothing specific mentioned in the wiki, but I managed to dig out an old thread on the same topic

 

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Setsuki Takeda

Setsuki Takeda

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7 hours ago, MelodicRain said:

I did not know that. Well RIP at any attempt at polishing up my profile considering there's still a large user base for the vanilla viewer for some reason.

Also, if you use Firestorm to update your profile, you still need to go to my.secondlife.com to fix your profile picture for some people.

 

The Firestorm profile pic shows for some people, while the old pic will show for others, and be pulled by many scripted items that looks for your picture to display.

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Extrude Ragu

Extrude Ragu

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9 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Not only are the pictures in different parts of the Profile of differing aspect ratios...the aspect ratio for the LL viewer main Profile picture is different from popular third party viewers like Firestorm. So if you make your picture so it looks right in LL's viewer, it will look stretched in FS.

You can't win.

I've noticed as well that we actually have 2 profile pictures, the web profile picture is often different to the profile picture shown in Firestorm. Same for the 1st life picture.. What a confusing mess

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tomm55

tomm55

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I was confused by this too. If you are using Firestorm, then you need a photo in 4:3 for profile picture.

Regarding other pictures, it looks like not even LL can agree with themselves. In official viewer the Picks seem to be 16:10 but they display it 4:3 on web profile anyway.

picks.jpg.73dadbed588d8d6f39a42f7b84030a53.jpg

Edit: And to add even more confusion, in Firestorm the Picks pictures are dependent on dialog size.

Edited by tomm55
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Silent Mistwalker

Silent Mistwalker

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15 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

FS absolutely refused to adopt any aspect of the profiles as presented by LL in viewer 2 and recreated the viewer 1 profiles.

 

Must be why, for years, you've been able to choose between the Viewer 1 profiles and the so-called web profiles which, if I'm not mistaken, are, or rather, were, the Viewer 2 profiles.

Edited by Silent Mistwalker
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Orwar

Orwar

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1 minute ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Now I can read it even with my glasses on, thank you. 🕳️💦

   You're welcome!

   Not sure what I'm being thanked for, but sure, I'll take the credit!

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Blaise Glendevon

Blaise Glendevon

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11 hours ago, Aiyumei said:

Because there multiple standalone viewers made by different parties, each following their own standard. That's like saying why can't all web pages be the same - design, technology, limitations.

LL has been very clear when something (like the switchover from Windlight to EEP, or Bento, or BOM) will effect user experience enough to be mandatory. Profiles should be on that list. There's no reason they aren't standardized across all viewers. 

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