Profile picture... Getting the right aspect ratio.

[Merlin Saxondale]

There was always a problem in getting the right aspect ratio for a profile picture so that it works nicely with all viewers. Viewer2 displays it square, and Phoenix (for example) displays it in ratio 4:3. However much care was taken, it was impossible to get it right in both viewers.

Well, now that the profile picture can be uploaded via the web site, if you upload a picture of any aspect ratio it will show correctly in the fully expanded view, and is cropped to square, without stretching for the smaller version. It seems the perfect solution. BUT..  I am finding that when I upload a perfect 4:3 picture, it looks fine in viewer 2, but OMG, would you believe it, Phoenix takes the cropped square version, and then stretches it out, so it is still wrong in Phoenix.

Does anyone know a way of creating a profile picture that looks right in both of these two viewers?

(At the time of wriing mine is square, but the effect can be seen in my Alt, Merlin2).

[Jayvell Villota]

Usually, whenever I make a new profile picture for either myself or my friends, I open up PhotoFiltre or PhotoShop and make an image that goes by 165width by 123height in pixels, as that's the actual size of the profile picture for classic styled profiles.

However, now with the new profile pictures, viewed through my.secondlife.com, it's best to enhance your images size such as making the base image 500width by 373height in pixels and then putting whatever you want into it, and then when you do upload it, it'll be nice and big for new style profiles, for when people click on the image and it zooms into it, and it's nice for people that use Viewer 1 based clients, with the classic profile system, as it'd be perfectly lined up with the axis of the image constraints.

And not once have I had issues with Phoenix taking the image from the Viewer 2 profiles and pasting it in a Viewer 1 profile.

But, that's just me, and my way of getting a close-to-perfect profile picture to suit all viewers, as I tend to use multiple viewers for various things and I would hate it if something didn't look right on one viewer, but fine on the others.

[Merlin Saxondale]

Thanks, Jayvell for your contribution. I tried the method you suggested, using exactly 500x373, but I still find the same effect... stretched in Phoenix. However, you have hit on something, because your profile pic looks great in Phoenix. It is not a stretched version of the square-cropped pic as mine is.

I too use more than one viewer for different reasons, but the main issue I have is that it is what other people see that matters, and there are many using Phoenix.

[N1gh75h4d3]

I had this problem and found this thread and thought I'd add my 2 cents. I found the best way was to use the 4.3 aspect ratio and upload it in SL and use Phoenix or an older viewer and do it the old way by dropping it on my profile. It will still be cropped square on Viewer 2 but looks right when clicked on. Haven't tried Firestorm yet though.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Its 1 by 1.

Unless you're on an obsolete viewer.

 - however using such will cause your image on my.secondlife.com to look funny. So stick to 1 by 1 so folks can see you normally.

 Phoenix will in time be phased out into Firestorm - so its not worth bothering to make your profile look good for it. Its officially already been phased out (dev work stopped other than major bugs that they also have time for), its just a question of time for its users to migrate.