Difference between revisions of "Snapshot resources"
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
The history of snapshots in Second Life hasn't been well-chronicled. Just about every Resident takes a picture at one point during their Second Life or another, but until recently, there's been a poor understanding of fundamental "pillars", including how many postcards get sent out, how many snapshots are uploaded to inventory, as well as the finer points of taking beautiful pictures. | The history of snapshots in Second Life hasn't been well-chronicled. Just about every Resident takes a picture at one point during their Second Life or another, but until recently, there's been a poor understanding of fundamental "pillars", including how many postcards get sent out, how many snapshots are uploaded to inventory, as well as the finer points of taking beautiful pictures. | ||
Dismissing snapshots as "just for fun" neglects much context: in increasing amounts, the first exposure someone who's not yet part of Second Life may get of our world are Resident-taken snapshots. Especially on sites with a much broader audience like [http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/ Flickr], the art of fine photography helps communicate our passion for capturing real | Dismissing snapshots as "just for fun" neglects much context: in increasing amounts, the first exposure someone who's not yet part of Second Life may get of our world are Resident-taken snapshots. Especially on sites with a much broader audience like [http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/ Flickr], the art of fine photography helps communicate our passion for capturing real emotions experienced in our online world. | ||
In addition, taking better snapshots also helps increase your self-confidence. Snapshots require a combination of skills, including precise camera control, knowledge of | In addition, taking better snapshots also helps increase your self-confidence. Snapshots require a combination of skills, including precise camera control, knowledge of lateral features (like adjusting the sun to get desired lighting), and frequently, avatar customization. Putting all of them together to get "the perfect shot" is a testament to how "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta meta]" quality snapshotting can be. | ||
Better snapshots also hint at dreams for a lovelier Second Life. Applied post-processing effects are done in absence of the ability to perform the same magic in realtime. But as new features emerge, avid virtual shutterbugs can indulge in them, and build on their repertoire of techniques used to create beauty as they see it! For example, | |||
== Tips 'n' tricks == | == Tips 'n' tricks == | ||
Revision as of 13:56, 26 April 2007
The following consists of miscellaneous info which often isn't easy to find, but very useful if you take Second Life snapshots, including postcards. Historically, documentation in this area has been sparse, and Residents have provided some great resources, so this is an ongoing endeavor at compiling those in an easy place — please help keep this updated!
A state of snapshots
The history of snapshots in Second Life hasn't been well-chronicled. Just about every Resident takes a picture at one point during their Second Life or another, but until recently, there's been a poor understanding of fundamental "pillars", including how many postcards get sent out, how many snapshots are uploaded to inventory, as well as the finer points of taking beautiful pictures.
Dismissing snapshots as "just for fun" neglects much context: in increasing amounts, the first exposure someone who's not yet part of Second Life may get of our world are Resident-taken snapshots. Especially on sites with a much broader audience like Flickr, the art of fine photography helps communicate our passion for capturing real emotions experienced in our online world.
In addition, taking better snapshots also helps increase your self-confidence. Snapshots require a combination of skills, including precise camera control, knowledge of lateral features (like adjusting the sun to get desired lighting), and frequently, avatar customization. Putting all of them together to get "the perfect shot" is a testament to how "meta" quality snapshotting can be.
Better snapshots also hint at dreams for a lovelier Second Life. Applied post-processing effects are done in absence of the ability to perform the same magic in realtime. But as new features emerge, avid virtual shutterbugs can indulge in them, and build on their repertoire of techniques used to create beauty as they see it! For example,
Tips 'n' tricks
Did you know...
- Changing image size and quality settings has no effect on sending postcards. Postcards will always be 640x480 (or smaller, depending on aspect ratio) and have lousy JPEG compression. This is a bug (internally, SL-21141) which has persisted to this day. Hopefully, it'll be fixed. It hasn't been reported in the Issue Tracker yet, but if you happen to, garner support from fellow Residents with votes and let Torley Linden know.
- You can use "Slow Motion Animations" to make action shots easier? Learn more.
- You can use Flickr photos as streaming media in SL? Your parcel's movie URL will show a Flickr set. Learn more.
- You can hide the ugly gap between the water and horizon? (This is workaround for a bug, SL-24381.) Learn more.
Social sites featuring postcards
- Snapzilla - The original pioneer to really make use of postcards in such a widespread manner, its success has encouraged many Residents to share their inworld memories. As of April 2007, Snapzilla currently boasts over 150,000 pictures and is en route to a "2.0" upgrade.
- SLBuzz - Postcards are part of SLBuzz's community site offerings. It also allows uploading of photos from your hard drive.
- Flickr - The popular photo-sharing service. They recently abolished their NIPSA restrictions in favor of a content filtering system, so Residents can show their SL snapshots in public searches.
- Via Snapzilla-to-Flickr and SLBuzz-to-Flickr, Residents can crosspost to another service to have their pictures also show up on Flickr, where they can be easily organized.
- Flickr's Second Life group - The largest. Look inside the discussion area for varied photographic tips 'n' tricks.
- Links to all Second Life Groups on Flickr - There are many Second Life-related groups. More keep appearing, so this likely isn't "all" of them — add ones you notice are missing!
- You can also use Flickr's tools to upload snapshots from your hard drive, and there are a variety of 3rd-party amusements like fd's Flickr toys and Dumpr which you can apply to your images.
Related info
You may also be interested in seeing this wiki's compilation of: