CURE TUTORIAL: ADDING NEW SERIES & NEW CHARACTERS
So, you've signed up for Cure (note: if you're having issues with your Cure ID getting rejected, make sure it's all lowercase). Awesome! Now how the hell do you add photos?
ETA 7-3-08: I guess this is no longer relevant- Cure's cosplayer stuff is now all available in English. However, the information about adding series and characters is still useful, since those still have to be done on the Japanese side.
ETA again: Cure has restricted their pictures to 690x1037 pixels.
First, you need to be a cosplayer. To get the system to recognize you as a cosplayer, click over to the Japanese side and go to MyCure. Choose the fifth option down in the menu on the left-hand side of the screen. It's the menu option highlighted pink in this image.
This will get you to a page with some fields, but you're not interested in those. What you want to click is the starred pink button at the bottom. It says "Cosplayer (in katakana) kanji kanji wo suru." Click that, and you'll go to a page with a bunch of text and screenshots. It's not terribly important to understand that, I don't think. Congratulations, you're now a cosplayer. You can add photos, be added as favorites, etc.
Next step, adding photos. Still on the Japanese side, go back to MyCure. You should have a new menu available to you underneath the first one you had before. The first option there leads to http://ja.curecos.com/my/picture/ (don't follow that link from here, click it in the page). You'll get a blue box with a pink button inside leading to http://ja.curecos.com/my/picture/add. Go there.
You can upload five images at a time. Pick your photo, then hit the button at the bottom to upload. I'm not sure what the restrictions are yet, but whatever you're uploading is going to get compressed a bunch. I've uploaded one picture that was 100kb, it got reduced to 30kb. I tried one at 69kb (thinking maybe 70kb was the magic threshold), but it got reduced to 30kb as well. Whatever, you have 200mb to fill. (I'm just a bit worried about how terribly the red will compress on my HIM costume if and when I upload it.)
Okay, picture is uploaded and now you have options. Click the blue link underneath the pull-down option (the pull-down menu contains the series you've already uploaded, for easier labeling in the future). Oh, and have your series name in Japanese copied and ready to go (Wikipedia is good for this- don't be lazy and just enter it in English) A window will pop up. Enter the series title as your search term and hit enter. You will then get a list of characters for that series. Figure out which one is the one you want (again, Wikipedia will be helpful) and click it. If your character is not listed (Honey wasn't for Katamari Damacy), you'll need to add them. For adding new series/characters, see the edit below.
The window will close and the first two fields will be filled in with the series and character name. The next field is "variation" and the larger box is for a photo description. You can leave those blank if you wish.
Now, very important. AND THANKS TO WAYNE. Of the two radio buttons at the bottom, click the right-hand one. This makes a photo public. (Apparently a third option will show up if you have a fanclub, but I'm not sure how those work yet.) Hit the grey button at the bottom. Congratulations, you have a photo on Cure.
You want it to be your profile picture? If you go back to http://ja.curecos.com/my/picture/ (the first option in the second pink left-hand menu), you'll get a list of the photos you've uploaded. Underneath them should be some blue hyperlinked text that says "プロフ画像". Click that, it'll change it to your profile. Your current profile picture is the one that has "設定中" in pink under it.
I think that's it. Sort of. Comment with questions, I'm pretty sure that was as clear as mud.
PS. ADD ME! (oh, and let me know in a comment, since I can't actually see who's favoriting me)
PPS. Making this public, in case anyone actually finds it helpful and wants to link people over.
HOW TO ADD A NEW SERIES
If you get this message when you enter your series name into the search, then it's not in their database. Check your spelling and try again. If it's still not there, then you'll need to add it.
Enter the Japanese title in the first box, the furigana in the second, and the English title in the third. The four drop-down menus below that are for classifying the series. Sadly, I couldn't just say El Hazard was an anime and leave it at that. The parent categories aren't selectable, so you're going to have to pigeonhole your series a little further. I chose anime-love comedy, anime-fantasy, anime-comedy, and anime-action. You don't have to fill all four in, I have since realized, but (I think) you do have to fill in at least one.
Yay, El Hazard has been added. I got a few error messages that said "dfv.title_master_add.name_kana.invalid". If you get this, try taking out spaces in the furigana or any special characters and try submitting again. Click the grey button at the bottom. You'll now need to add your character.
HOW TO ADD A NEW CHARACTER
This is where a list of characters should show up. If your character is not in their list (or if you've just added a new series and NO characters are showing up), you'll have to add them. Click the first blue hyperlink.
Put in the character name in Japanese, furigana, and English name and hit submit. If you an error message like the one seen above, take out spaces in the furigana or any special characters. (I had a ・ and a stray space.)
Character has been added successfully. Hit the grey button and you'll go back to the first screen, with a new addition.
Click on your newly added character name to assign your photo.
ETA 7-3-08: I guess this is no longer relevant- Cure's cosplayer stuff is now all available in English. However, the information about adding series and characters is still useful, since those still have to be done on the Japanese side.
ETA again: Cure has restricted their pictures to 690x1037 pixels.
First, you need to be a cosplayer. To get the system to recognize you as a cosplayer, click over to the Japanese side and go to MyCure. Choose the fifth option down in the menu on the left-hand side of the screen. It's the menu option highlighted pink in this image.
This will get you to a page with some fields, but you're not interested in those. What you want to click is the starred pink button at the bottom. It says "Cosplayer (in katakana) kanji kanji wo suru." Click that, and you'll go to a page with a bunch of text and screenshots. It's not terribly important to understand that, I don't think. Congratulations, you're now a cosplayer. You can add photos, be added as favorites, etc.
Next step, adding photos. Still on the Japanese side, go back to MyCure. You should have a new menu available to you underneath the first one you had before. The first option there leads to http://ja.curecos.com/my/picture/ (don't follow that link from here, click it in the page). You'll get a blue box with a pink button inside leading to http://ja.curecos.com/my/picture/add. Go there.
You can upload five images at a time. Pick your photo, then hit the button at the bottom to upload. I'm not sure what the restrictions are yet, but whatever you're uploading is going to get compressed a bunch. I've uploaded one picture that was 100kb, it got reduced to 30kb. I tried one at 69kb (thinking maybe 70kb was the magic threshold), but it got reduced to 30kb as well. Whatever, you have 200mb to fill. (I'm just a bit worried about how terribly the red will compress on my HIM costume if and when I upload it.)
Okay, picture is uploaded and now you have options. Click the blue link underneath the pull-down option (the pull-down menu contains the series you've already uploaded, for easier labeling in the future). Oh, and have your series name in Japanese copied and ready to go (Wikipedia is good for this- don't be lazy and just enter it in English) A window will pop up. Enter the series title as your search term and hit enter. You will then get a list of characters for that series. Figure out which one is the one you want (again, Wikipedia will be helpful) and click it. If your character is not listed (Honey wasn't for Katamari Damacy), you'll need to add them. For adding new series/characters, see the edit below.
The window will close and the first two fields will be filled in with the series and character name. The next field is "variation" and the larger box is for a photo description. You can leave those blank if you wish.
Now, very important. AND THANKS TO WAYNE. Of the two radio buttons at the bottom, click the right-hand one. This makes a photo public. (Apparently a third option will show up if you have a fanclub, but I'm not sure how those work yet.) Hit the grey button at the bottom. Congratulations, you have a photo on Cure.
You want it to be your profile picture? If you go back to http://ja.curecos.com/my/picture/ (the first option in the second pink left-hand menu), you'll get a list of the photos you've uploaded. Underneath them should be some blue hyperlinked text that says "プロフ画像". Click that, it'll change it to your profile. Your current profile picture is the one that has "設定中" in pink under it.
I think that's it. Sort of. Comment with questions, I'm pretty sure that was as clear as mud.
PS. ADD ME! (oh, and let me know in a comment, since I can't actually see who's favoriting me)
PPS. Making this public, in case anyone actually finds it helpful and wants to link people over.
HOW TO ADD A NEW SERIES
If you get this message when you enter your series name into the search, then it's not in their database. Check your spelling and try again. If it's still not there, then you'll need to add it.
Enter the Japanese title in the first box, the furigana in the second, and the English title in the third. The four drop-down menus below that are for classifying the series. Sadly, I couldn't just say El Hazard was an anime and leave it at that. The parent categories aren't selectable, so you're going to have to pigeonhole your series a little further. I chose anime-love comedy, anime-fantasy, anime-comedy, and anime-action. You don't have to fill all four in, I have since realized, but (I think) you do have to fill in at least one.
Yay, El Hazard has been added. I got a few error messages that said "dfv.title_master_add.name_kana.invalid". If you get this, try taking out spaces in the furigana or any special characters and try submitting again. Click the grey button at the bottom. You'll now need to add your character.
HOW TO ADD A NEW CHARACTER
This is where a list of characters should show up. If your character is not in their list (or if you've just added a new series and NO characters are showing up), you'll have to add them. Click the first blue hyperlink.
Put in the character name in Japanese, furigana, and English name and hit submit. If you an error message like the one seen above, take out spaces in the furigana or any special characters. (I had a ・ and a stray space.)
Character has been added successfully. Hit the grey button and you'll go back to the first screen, with a new addition.
Click on your newly added character name to assign your photo.