DPCmod: Custom username icons - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

02/18/2007 02:34:26 AM · #1

Well, another useless feature - just because it's fun. =)

I noticed a few people (like

idnic have little icons in their signature - maybe in hopes that one day custom icons would be allowed... or maybe in hopes that they'd one day be on site council. =)

My new script allows you to have (and see others') custom icons next to your username in the forums (like Site Council has).

You need GreaseMonkey and FireFox (and this may work in TrixIE in Internet Explorer, I haven't tried it.) My DPCmod page has all the info you need about obtaining and installing these plugins.

Once you've installed the script, you'll see that my icon looks like this:

- I typically smile in photos. =) ... and in forums. While green's not really my favorite color - I'm in a bit of a hurry.

I've preset

idnic's icon, because she happened to have one in her signature line. She'll look like this in the forums:

Of course, you'll be worried that you may never be able to tell Site Council (and other special members) apart from the mere mortals. Fear not, for these demi-gods have earned a little TM next to their names, like so:

In fact, I'd like to start a trend of calling them by their TM-equivalents, like Langdon(TM), or Kirbic(TM). =) just kidding(TM)

Oh yes, I almost forgot: How do I upload my custom icon? you ask? Well naturally, you PM me a little code which tells me the URL of your desired icon. Your PM should contain:

DPC_ICON=//www.somesite.com/my_icon.gif

Your icon can be most any image format, and will be resized to 14x16 pixels. Your PM is received by my server and your image should be installed within 2 minutes (try CTRL-refresh after 1-2 minutes).

You can upload a JPG into your portfolio (as was the case for Cindi), cleverly copy the URL out, and use it in your PM. Of course, JPG's can't handle transparency, which is why Cindi's icon has white around it. But I digress...

Your icon will be hosted on my machine, and anybody who runs the script will see your custom icon, instead of the regular old

In closing, site council (I don't know who is in charge of the icons) has done a smashing job of dressing up our little friend

. Let's see what you all can come up with.

Cheers,
-Jeff

RainMotorsports

Nikon D60

02/18/2007 02:36:32 AM · #2

Umm i believe this was already known about?
.... i guess there was changes didnt notice!

Message edited by author 2007-02-18 02:37:13.

smurfguy

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

02/18/2007 02:43:37 AM · #3

Sorry for the bit of information overload above. It's a bit late, and I'm a bit tired.

In case I forgot to mention it before, download the script from my DPCmod page. =)

-Jeff

Message edited by author 2007-02-18 02:43:52.

Canon EOS-20D

02/18/2007 02:43:54 AM · #4

Originally posted by smurfguy:

(I don't know who is in charge of the icons)

is!

smurfguy

02/18/2007 02:47:36 AM · #5

Originally posted by mk:

is!

I should have known. Ben had a great idea for my PPChallenge website, and his site is pretty slick. He must be a swell guy. =)

02/18/2007 05:42:09 AM · #6

Would

idnic or

konador be willing to post some sort of tutorial? I would have absolutley no clue as to how to start creating an icon like this.

hanneke

02/18/2007 05:44:13 AM · #7

Originally posted by timfythetoo:

Would idnic or konador be willing to post some sort of tutorial? I would have absolutley no clue as to how to start creating an icon like this.

that is a good idea. I tried it once, but it's very hard to come up with something so small, and make something nice of it too!

gloda

02/18/2007 05:50:23 AM · #8

What a cool mod! Thank you Jeff.
Editing the icons isn't that hard, save the basic one to your hard disc, open it in photoshop, zoom all the way in and play around.

02/18/2007 05:58:49 AM · #9

Originally posted by gloda:

What a cool mod! Thank you Jeff.
Editing the icons isn't that hard, save the basic one to your hard disc, open it in photoshop, zoom all the way in and play around.

I am trying that but man it looks chunky. A one pixel brush still seems to big.

hanneke

02/18/2007 05:59:57 AM · #10

Originally posted by timfythetoo:

Originally posted by gloda:
What a cool mod! Thank you Jeff.
Editing the icons isn't that hard, save the basic one to your hard disc, open it in photoshop, zoom all the way in and play around.

I am trying that but man it looks chunky. A one pixel brush still seems to big.

use your pencil tool, that's better ;)

sabphoto

Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+

02/18/2007 06:04:22 AM · #11

pretty cool mod, can't wait to try it. One question just wondering...you said most any type of image can be used...does that include animated gifs like say smileys?

Just wondering. Again great mod.

gloda

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

02/18/2007 06:09:06 AM · #12

If poeple start to use fancy animated icons I might disable the mod again - I don't want to be completely distracted from the forum texts.

breadfan35

Nikon D3

02/18/2007 06:13:49 AM · #13

I might dl some of this stuff later one and try it out.

02/18/2007 06:30:25 AM · #14

Good enough for now. Very cool!

02/18/2007 06:34:50 AM · #15

Originally posted by timfythetoo:

Would idnic or konador be willing to post some sort of tutorial? I would have absolutley no clue as to how to start creating an icon like this.

I don't really have anything to advise other than zooming in to 1600% and using the pencil tool to draw the stuff in pixel by pixel! I don't think there is any other way? If you draw it big and resize it, it usually looks way too soft and you can't see any detail at all so the trick is to just work small and keep tweaking it till it looks good :)

Also, I always have the top-left parts lighter so they look slightly 3D :)

Sigma 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical HF for Pentax

02/18/2007 06:39:40 AM · #16

Originally posted by smurfguy:

Originally posted by mk:

is!

I should have known. Ben had a great idea for my PPChallenge website, and his site is pretty slick. He must be a swell guy. =)

Hehe, thanks! You've done some excellent work with the DPC Mods!

Pug-H

Pentax K10D

02/18/2007 06:57:29 AM · #17

Well, I did the zooming up to 1600%, but I can't figure out how to get the background transparent at the moment. It will be fun to see these creations, but I'll only be able to see them at home because the school computers use IE.

Sigma 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical HF for Pentax

02/18/2007 07:00:06 AM · #18

Paint the background a different colour, like lime green. Then, do Save For Web and select gif. You should see a pallette of all the colours you are using. Click the lime green one, and then the small icon at the bottom of the pallette which says make transparent :)

Pug-H

Pentax K10D

02/18/2007 07:04:57 AM · #19

Originally posted by Konador:

I'm stuck with using the GIMP for the moment, and not terribly well. I didn't use lime green, but fire engine red. ;-) I'll be bale to improve it when have more time.
I sent the PM, but my icon hasn't appeared yet...

Kavey

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon

02/18/2007 07:23:39 AM · #20

Maybe I'm feeling curmudgeonly but I think it dilutes the SC icons by allowing everyone else to have custom ones as well. To me it's one of the special things that SC get to have a custom icon.

I would like to be able to have a (very small) thumbnail photo below user names as you have above which would be available to everyone.

But personally, I think it would be cooler to restrict the tiny custom icons to SC.

02/18/2007 07:24:19 AM · #21

I took a screen shot of this forum page and then picked the background color with my paint bucket and used that to make my background blend. I saved mine as a jpeg I think. Any benefits to saving as a GIF?

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon

02/18/2007 07:25:10 AM · #22

Originally posted by Kavey:

But personally, I think it would be cooler to restrict the tiny custom icons to SC.

I think as long as you dont install the plug in then you wont see anyone else custom icon but SC's.

Kavey

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

02/18/2007 07:34:22 AM · #23

Originally posted by timfythetoo:

Originally posted by Kavey:
But personally, I think it would be cooler to restrict the tiny custom icons to SC.

I think as long as you dont install the plug in then you wont see anyone else custom icon but SC's.

Yes I know but... I just think sometimes there's a tendency to think first "oh I like that how can I get ME some of that" before considering whether it's fair to the people who have EARNED themselves some of that!
Like I said, perhaps I'm just being curmudgeonly

02/18/2007 07:36:00 AM · #24

Originally posted by timfythetoo:

Well, there are 2 different background colours in teh forums so sometimes tehre will be a square of darker grey around your icon.

Elvis_L