Avatar MOVIE Support

[JAB Creations]

Call me crazy, but I think my avatar looks way better in 24 bit then, eh, 8 bit. Example, (80x80, you need divX)

My website requires the installation of DivX, and I will be working on using that codec/video support on my website more as time goes on. This includes the forums. I think my most loyal users/forum members deserve more then average Avatars. It's our face to the world.

15 24 Bit frames converts into 26KB at a resolution of 80x80. The same image/video at 8 bit sums up to 52 KB, TWICE the size, but with about 16 million or so less colors?

Like a min posting req for avatar option, I'd also like to see a min post req for avi avatars. I haven't played with mpg, but I cant remember the last time I downloaded an mpeg that was as good as a divX encoded file (it seems they're only good for dvds).

The worst part, was I couldn't even trick the forum into using an avi file for my avatar. I set the file to a avi renamed as avi, and it rejected it, then, uploaded a reg gif, then set it, then del the gif and replaced it with an avi renamed to a gif ext and it still didn't work. I can understand why avi support might not have been initially added, but I think me and other webmasters can keep this sutff under control.

So can we get some avi support in here please? It'd be great to see it in 2.2.6.

John
Webmaster & Host of http://www.jabcreations.com

[bigmattyh]

15 posts per page...
+ ~25K per avatar...
+ ~30K html...
+ ??K assorted graphics...
A long time to load for most users!

Chances are, this isn't a feature for which there would be a lot of demand. I bet it falls into the "Post a hack request (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8)" category.

[JAB Creations]

IF you had paid attention, I ALSO suggested that JUST LIKE reguler AVATAR POST REQ that we webmaster/administrators have the ability to require a min # of posts before members could use that option.

We can disabled avatars altogether for newbs who havent posted ever, make certain avatars unusable until a certain # of posts, so I'm pretty sure it's viable that avi support will thrive under the right conditions! Sides, isn't giving us more options allowing us to customize our Forums what this is all about? MAybe you don't know your traffic, but I know mine. So unless you can say the majority of my visitors are coming from aol proxy servers then you don't have a reasonable point.

[bigmattyh]

Excuse me. Since you are new here, you may not be aware that the vB devs consider many factors in whether to add a feature to the next version. One of these factors is demand. While your site and your audience may be fully capable of handling the transfer and the bandwidth invovled in serving up ~200K+ pages, MOST sites do not or cannot come near this. I did not say that you didn't know your audience or your transfer requirements; I merely pointed out that the particular consequences of this hack would exclude most vB owners from ever using it -- thus, the unlikelyhood that it would be added to a future version.

My suggestion to post a hack request was done out of courtesy to you, so that you could have a resource for getting your goal accomplished. When someone wants a unique hack for his forum, it is common to post a hack request in vbulletin.org.

[JamesUS]

I would say that the best chance of getting this set up in the near future would be to post a hack request on vBulletin.org

This will not be in version 2.2.6, which is now almost at the end of development. 2.2.6 introduces no new features, just bug fixes to round off the 2.x series.

As for vBulletin 3, we will be able to consider adding this nearer the launch time. However, personally I don't think it will be added as a standard feature yet, mainly due to the relatively low demand. The majority of internet users still use slow connections (myself included) and wouldn't appreciate larger page sizes. While obviously this isn't true for all sites, and your users would be capable of receiving this, it is a specialized feature and as such the best chance of getting it in the near future is via vBulletin.org

[JAB Creations]

I was unaware of the hack forums. However Bigmatt, my idea was all for lowering the data needed for animated avatars, while also increasing their quality. Wouldn't that make load times faster and make the pages more enjoyable?

It sounds like there is a sound of approvel of some sorts in your response James. If anyone at VB would like, I would be more then happy to create a full blown walkthrough for how people can create their own custome avi's to help promote such a feature. It's rather quite simple, and takes about 20 minutes to do. I'll see if I can get any help putting the idea into motion in the hack forums. Thanks guys . . .

[hypedave]

AVI'S as avatars, I dont think Modem users will like your forum, and if you are paying to get you forum hosted, there goes your bandwidth cap, an avatar can have good picture quality in gif or jpg. why use avi ?

[Floris]

Hey, just curious, is it allowed to have the copyright in the client-side script, instead of the server side script?

[JAB Creations]

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