AnimeSuki Forums

RRW · 2013-05-10, 14:17

I notice that you guys done some "experiment" with this couple days ago which why some avatar move in social group and VM. but it seem that you guys revert it to normal recently

I found it nicer to see moving gif in VM or Social group as opposed "static" gif.

So I wonder if you can do that again

thanks

Haiprbim · 2013-05-10, 15:02

Hey, RRW.

I have a question here: Do you, by saying "Moving" Gifs, mean Dynamic Gifs?

A gif is meant to be Dynamic, a short animation, while jpg, png and those sort are Static.
I haven't really used any gifs in my SG, but I would sure like to see them move if I would.
It is not against the rules to use gifs anywhere except in Signatures, so I guess you are talking about a technical issue here (A gif wouldn't stop being Dynamic unless it is forced to by the site).

RRW · 2013-05-10, 15:05

I mean like this user

http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=139956

you can see his avatar is animated in thumbnail

while this person his avatar dont get animated in thumbnail even thought it work perfectly in normal post

http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=112816

Haiprbim · 2013-05-10, 15:10

Ah, yes, I see what you mean.
Some Dymanic Avatars do not move once at someone's Profile while some do.
I've noticed that a few times myself, but I always focused on the Profile Picture when on the Profile Page.
Anyhow, we would need to wait for an Admin to check that out if you really want to know.

Auxilism · 2013-05-11, 23:19

It was done on the sly, wasn't it? I think that the person/people who did it was testing it but some other problem cropped up and he/she/they fixed it just by undoing the change. I don't think the moderators understand a lot of code (sorry if this sound offensive, I don't mean it) so the easiest (and most time efficient) way is to just revert everything back to the state when it was working.

***relentlessflame*** · 2013-05-11, 23:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkhalo191

It was done on the sly, wasn't it? I think that the person/people who did it was testing it but some other problem cropped up and he/she/they fixed it just by undoing the change. I don't think the moderators understand a lot of code (sorry if this sound offensive, I don't mean it) so the easiest (and most time efficient) way is to just revert everything back to the state when it was working.

I think it's actually the opposite.

When we moved to the new server, the creation of thumbnail images was broken due to a server permission problem. This was causing problems in social groups. But as an unnoticed consequence, the thumbnails for avatars were also not being generated. (If you notice in the example profile where it's working, it's not actually using a thumbnail at all, but the real avatar.) It seems that, when vBulletin generates a thumbnail for GIFs, it discards all frames but the first one.

When we fixed the issue with the social groups, now thumbnails were working again. And as a result, any avatar uploaded from that point forward now uses the thumbnail again instead of the original image, which means it's not animated.

So it's not a matter of experimenting and then reverting a change that didn't work. Rather it's a matter of fixing something that was broken (in one area), and it actually "fixing" something in a different area too when the "broken" behaviour was arguably better.

So... now the question is how to "fix it" ("re-break it"?)... will have to look through the options to see if there's a way to turn off thumbnail generation for avatars. (I'm assuming the reason it wants it is to force all the thumbnails to be square.)

Auxilism · 2013-05-12, 00:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

I think it's actually the opposite.

When we moved to the new server, the creation of thumbnail images was broken due to a server permission problem. This was causing problems in social groups. But as an unnoticed consequence, the thumbnails for avatars were also not being generated.

...

So it's not a matter of experimenting and then reverting a change that didn't work. Rather it's a matter of fixing something that was broken (in one area), and it actually "fixing" something in a different area too when the "broken" behaviour was arguably better.

Ah, thanks for clarifying.

Quote:

It seems that, when vBulletin generates a thumbnail for GIFs, it discards all frames but the first one.

...

So... now the question is how to "fix it" ("re-break it"?)... will have to look through the options to see if there's a way to turn off thumbnail generation for avatars. (I'm assuming the reason it wants it is to force all the thumbnails to be square.)

Very minor point, but not all gifs are affected.
Full message log.

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkhalo191

Short answer: the dimensions of the image have to be 60x80 or smaller; any bigger will cause them to stop animating. Of course, they have to be under 100kb as with any usable avatar.

TL;DR…

Mechanics

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

However, many members like to have their animations as big as possible so getting rid of thumbnail generation would be great.

NoemiChan · 2013-05-12, 03:45

This really bothers. I thought first is the pixels, then the colors and the file size...

Edit:

It's a bug. My old avatar that used to "work" doesn't work anymore. It's the same in some online games... it's like "opening" that allows a gif to work that "normal" should not work at all...

Guess reuploading will prove it...

***relentlessflame*** · 2013-05-12, 14:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkhalo191

Very minor point, but not all gifs are affected.
Full message log.

It seems that your observation is fully-logical given the code. See also this. It seems like it's possible to change this, but it requires manually modified the code files (which is kind of not great...) and then regenerating all the avatars. The thing I'm not sure about is whether this will delete the thumbnails that are no longer needed.

Anyway, it looks like we're on the trail...

Auxilism · 2013-05-12, 20:26

I thought about that at first but that would make the thumbnails bigger than the original 60x80 limit. I then discarded it as I thought there should be a reason why the forum wants all avatars on the user page and visitor message to be no bigger than 60x80. However, it seems that 60x80 is the default and was untouched because of that.

An alternative to generating all the avatars again is to ask all members to upload their avatars again. Even if they don't have it, going to the edit avatar menu has it right there for them to download the avatar to upload. The links would change from <blah>/avatar<blah2>_<avaNum>.gif to <blah>/avatar<blah2>_<avaNum+1>.gif and delete the images (avaNum in the avatars and thumbnails folder) which would no longer be used. It's the least we could do to get something we want and it's not that hard.

Kirayuki · 2013-05-14, 07:09

Just want to add up something related about small thumbnail version of Avatar, it seems transparency doesn't work now for that ? (the original one still working)

I just recently changed avatar today and noticed the transparency doesn't work in the small version, it was fine for my previously used one.

original = my currently used one
thumbnail version , as seen in profile page and Social groups

EDIT : Just tested using my previous one, the transparency doesn't work too for now.

Auxilism · 2013-05-14, 08:15

@Kirayuki
Looking at the page source code, I don't think they can change it easily.

TL;DR…

Coding mechanics

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

2013-05-12, 03:45	Link #8
NoemiChan Banned Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Philippines Age: 36	This really bothers. I thought first is the pixels, then the colors and the file size... Edit: It's a bug. My old avatar that used to "work" doesn't work anymore. It's the same in some online games... it's like "opening" that allows a gif to work that "normal" should not work at all... Guess reuploading will prove it... Last edited by NoemiChan; 2013-05-12 at 07:19.

2013-05-10, 15:02	Link #2
Haiprbim Banned Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Visual Dream Panire	Hey, RRW. I have a question here: Do you, by saying "Moving" Gifs, mean Dynamic Gifs? A gif is meant to be Dynamic, a short animation, while jpg, png and those sort are Static. I haven't really used any gifs in my SG, but I would sure like to see them move if I would. It is not against the rules to use gifs anywhere except in Signatures, so I guess you are talking about a technical issue here (A gif wouldn't stop being Dynamic unless it is forced to by the site).

2013-05-10, 15:10	Link #4
Haiprbim Banned Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Visual Dream Panire	Ah, yes, I see what you mean. Some Dymanic Avatars do not move once at someone's Profile while some do. I've noticed that a few times myself, but I always focused on the Profile Picture when on the Profile Page. Anyhow, we would need to wait for an Admin to check that out if you really want to know.

2013-05-14, 07:09	Link #11
Kirayuki Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2012	Just want to add up something related about small thumbnail version of Avatar, it seems transparency doesn't work now for that ? (the original one still working) I just recently changed avatar today and noticed the transparency doesn't work in the small version, it was fine for my previously used one. original = my currently used one thumbnail version , as seen in profile page and Social groups EDIT : Just tested using my previous one, the transparency doesn't work too for now.