Second Life Wiki - User contributions [en]

Taking snapshots

2012-11-21T06:58:41Z

Wolwaner Jervil:

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'''Inworld photography is one of the most popular hobbies inside Second Life, and getting started is as easy as clicking a single button.''' Do you want to photograph gorgeous scenes like this?

: {{KBvideo|Slx1RuQQ9h4|640|385|type=youtube}}

This video tutorial from [[Torley]], SL photography master, teaches you the essentials in less than three minutes:

: {{KBvideo|Uj7qM1XNlWo|640|385|type=youtube}}

== Take your first snapshots ==

# As shown in the video, in the Viewer's [http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Basic-mode-FAQ/ta-p/733541 Advanced mode], simply click the '''Take snapshot''' (camera icon) button on your toolbar.
# In the SNAPSHOT PREVIEW window, choose '''Save to my computer'''.
# Click the '''Save''' button.
# A file browse window appears. Choose your location — like on your desktop — and save it there.

Now, each subsequent time you '''Save''' a snapshot during this session, it gets saved to the same location. If you want to change locations, click the triangle next to the '''Save''' button to choose '''Save As''', or restart the Viewer.

You should also open the snapshot in your operating system to ensure it turned out as you expected.

{{KBtip|Snapshots saved to disk automatically have a number appended to them. For example, "Snapshot_001.png, Snapshot_002.png, Snapshot_003.png", and so on.}}

== Use the Ctrl-` snapshot shortcut ==

There's a ''faster'' way than repeatedly clicking the toolbar's '''Snapshot''' button: press {{k|Ctrl|`}}. This bypasses the SNAPSHOT PREVIEW and saves to disk directly.

On PC keyboards with international characters this will not work.

Instead of {{k|`}} use the '''key on the right side of key {{k|L}}'''.

On a Danish PC keyboard for example, the shortcut becomes: {{k|Ctrl|Æ}}

On a german keyboard the shortcut is {{k|Ctrl|ö}}

== Change your camera angle ==

OK, so how do you change your camera angle? Since a snapshot is taken of what you see:

# Click the toolbar's '''View''' button to bring up the camera (Orbit Zoom Pan) controls.
# Click the controls to change your view. As you get more advanced, you'll want to try [http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Camera-point-of-view-controls/ta-p/700047 keyboard shortcuts] for each of these.

{{KBtip|To get an easy shot of your avatar's face, click the '''Preset Views''' (eye) button, then click '''Front View'''.}}

== Improve your graphics quality ==

If you've looked at other Residents' photos and wonder why some things look so vivid or sharp, it could just be because of graphics settings. These are dependent on how powerful your computer is, but if you meet or exceed our [http://secondlife.com/support/system-requirements/ System Recommendations], you should be able to see Second Life in all its glory. Here's a quick setup:

# Select '''Me''' menu > '''Preferences'''.
# In the PREFERENCES window, click '''Graphics''' tab.
# On the '''Quality and speed''' slider, click '''High''' (or you won't see clouds and stuff), or if you have a really powerful computer, click '''Ultra'''. When you're comfortable, you can also click '''Advanced''' to show more options.
# Click '''OK''' to save your changes.

{{KBtip|To make textures appear sharper and smooth out jaggy edges, click the '''Hardware''' button. Check '''Anisostropic Filtering''' and set '''[[Antialiasing]]''' to at least '''4x'''. Torley thinks this should be on by default on capable systems.}}

== Change the weather ==

Is it too dark? Want a clear blue sky with no clouds? That's easy too.

# Select '''World''' menu > '''Sun''' > '''Environment Editor'''.
# Drag the time slider to change the time of day, and drag the '''Cloud Cover''' slider to make the sky more clear or more overcast.
# A lot of extra fun can be had if you click '''Advanced Sky''' and make choices from the '''Sky Presets''' dropdown.

This is a local setting, meaning only you see the changes — no worries about burning anyone else to a crisp when the sun gets ''EXTREME!''

{{KBtip|Second Life's atmospheric system is called "[[WindLight]]". You can get [http://bit.ly/wlsettings hundreds more sky and water settings].}}

== Silent snapshots ==

If the ''whirr-click!'' snapshot sound and animation starts to get on your nerves, you can disable that.

# Select '''Me''' menu > '''Preferences'''.
# Click '''Advanced''' tab.
# Enable '''Show Advanced Menu'''. You'll see it appear at the top of your screen.
# Uncheck '''Advanced''' menu > '''Quiet Snapshots to Disk'''.
# In the PREFERENCES window, click '''OK'''.

{{KBtip|The '''Advanced''' and related '''Develop''' menus have plenty of hidden gems that affect snapshots in subtle to drastic ways. [[Taking_snapshots/Old|More of them are covered here]], although that article hasn't been updated for Viewer 2.x.}}

== What's next? ==

Torley says:

<blockquote>"I've focused on cutting to the chase so you can get photographing without feeling overwhelmed — even though amidst emotional beauty, it's natural to feel that way! Snapshots are a 'gateway skill' of Second Life that will lead you to learning so many other parts. Alas, I want to tell you upfront that despite their joy, there are many technical bugs with snapshots — such as them turning out black or otherwise distorted, which is why I recommend '''always check a test shot before continuing further in a session'''. Here are some links to learn more!"</blockquote>

=== What about the other save options? ===

You can also '''Email''' a snapshot, which is also known as "sending a postcard". What's different?

* '''Save''' button changes to '''Send'''.
* Clicking '''Send''' opens a window where you can choose a recipient and enter a message. There's a bug where the thumbnail here may be distorted but looks fine when received.
* There's an '''Image quality''' slider. Usually '''75''' or above gets adequate results. Postcards ''can't'' exceed a filesize of 1,024 KB (that's 1 megabyte) as shown under the thumbnail, so you'll need to decrease this.

{{KBwarning|1=Sending postcards has been crappy for a long time: postcards may fail to be delivered and can significantly slow a server. [https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-2283 SVC-2283] and [https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-5387 SVC-5387] are two of Torley's most hated bugs, and for reasons explained within, he really wants to see them fixed. Despite this, postcards sent to sites like [http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=secondlife&ss=2&s=rec Flickr] and [http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/ Snapzilla] remain popular — a testament to the dedicated lengths our Residents will go to for capturing the moment!}}

And lastly, you can save a snapshot as a photo (texture) directly to '''My inventory (L$10)''', which costs that amount each time. What's different?

* '''Save''' now shows it costs L$10 to save each photo to your inventory.
* '''Width''' and '''Height''' is ultimately constrained to powers of 2 because of [[Texture aspect ratios|Second Life's technical texture limits]]. What this means for most people: to avoid unwanted stretching/squashing, take square pictures (usually 512x512).

Since this can be confusing, Torley suggests avoiding saving textures directly to inventory unless you have a special reason. Instead:

# '''Save photos to disk for highest archival quality and because you get a local backup'''. (Saving many textures from inventory to hard drive is tedious.)
# Before you upload a texture into Second Life, crop and post-process it as you desire.
# Select '''Build''' menu > '''Upload''' > '''Image''' to choose a file and [http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Uploading-assets/ta-p/700165 upload a texture from your hard drive to your inventory].

The only real difference is your uploaded texture appears in your '''Textures''' photo instead of your '''Photo Album''', and with a different icon.

Other subtleties that aren't important enough for most people to care about:

* The '''Capture: Depth''' mode only works in '''Save to my computer'''.
* You can't choose a format when using '''Email''' or '''My inventory (L$10)''' — the former uses JPG and the latter uses Second Life's internal JPG2000.

=== More options ===

In the SNAPSHOT PREVIEW window, click '''More''' to reveal additional choices. Here's what each one of them does when '''Save to my computer''' is selected:

* '''Size''' - Default is '''Current Window'''. If you change the size, it may only capture part of the visible Viewer area, as shown in the preview thumbnail. Torley usually leaves this alone, since he prefers to crop in an external image editor. General rule: capture as much as possible, you can always ''edit down'' later but it can be time-consuming to re-setup an earlier scene.
* '''Format''' - Default is '''PNG''', which Torley recommends as the best balance for archiving snapshots in a web-friendly and relatively compact format. '''JPEG''' degrades image quality (plus, you can always convert PNG to JPEG) and '''BMP''' is an old format incompatible with the web, and uses bigger file size. Unless you know what you're doing, leave this alone.
* '''Width''' and '''Height''' - Change this if you want to change the dimensions of the captured area. You could increase them to capture at a higher resolution than your Viewer window's actual dimensions, although this can result in glitches. There's usually not a need to mess with this.
* '''Constrain proportions''' - This is grayed out unless you choose a '''Size''' of '''Custom''' proportions.
* '''Capture''' - '''Colors''' is the normal mode. '''Depth''' shows a depth map that you can use in Photoshop for selective masking, although it behaves somewhat flaky.
** '''Interface''' - Check this to show the Viewer's user interface (menus, sidebar, and so on) in the snapshot. Torley leaves this unchecked and uses external programs like Jing to capture, instead of flipping this on and off.
** '''HUDs''' - Check this to show [http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/HUDs/ta-p/700083 HUD attachments] in your snapshot. While you'd usually want this off, there are photographic HUDs like the [http://www.flickr.com/groups/karikomradhud/pool/ Kari Komrad] that place a stylized frame or other effects and are ''meant'' to be shown.
* '''Keep open after saving''' - Keeps the SNAPSHOT PREVIEW window open after you save a snapshot. Torley leaves this unchecked and uses the shortcut mentioned above.
* '''Freeze frame (fullscreen)''' - Does a cute visual effect when you take a snapshot. Torley leaves this unchecked because it's somewhat confusing and slows him down.
* '''Auto-refresh''' - Refreshes the thumbnail preview each time you change a control. Torley leaves this unchecked, again because of the aforementioned shortcut.

== Related resources ==

* '''[[Taking snapshots/Old|The old version of this guide]]''' - Dating back to the Viewer 1.x days. Some of it is obsolete but you may enjoy soaking up the history. However, many principles still apply and details have yet to be added. ''You'' can make this page awesomer by editing it!

[[Category:Content creation]]

Panorama

2009-08-11T07:19:51Z

Wolwaner Jervil: Inserted keyboard shortcut for german keyboard. Wol

{{postit|Welcome to the art of epic.}}

This guide shows you '''how to make a lovely, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panorama wide-angle view] of a Second Life scene''' such as:

[[Image:Here-island-panorama.jpg|640px]]

<font size="4">'''[https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/tnt/blog/2009/08/03/beyond-flat-pictures-on-the-web-second-life-panoramas Play with this and more examples in 3D.]'''</font>

== Preparation ==
'''Make sure to set your graphics preferences before getting started.''' You should be on a high-end computer that fully supports all of Second Life's visual effects with ease. Torley prefers running SL as a maximized window to capture as much of the screen at once while being able to switch to other applications, such as the panorama editor.

# Go to '''Edit''' menu > '''Preferences''' and click '''Graphics''' tab.
# On the '''Quality and Performance''' slider, click '''Ultra'''.
#* Optionally, check '''Custom''' and increase '''Draw Distance''' to '''512 m'''. This may severely drop framerate but provides a much longer range of view.
#* Also, disable '''Avatar Impostors''' — they speed up performance but look cruddy in a high-res scene.
# Click '''Input & Camera''' tab, also in the Preferences.
# Uncheck '''Show Avatar in Mouselook'''.
# Click '''OK'''.
# Teleport to a location you want to make a panorama of.
# If you can't get a good enough view of your surroundings, fly 25-50 m above the terrain mesh — or even more if the environment has extremely varied heights.
#* You should feel like you're in a "sweet spot" where everything around you looks wonderful and interesting: rolling hills on one side, a majestic waterfall in another direction, and assorted buildings to the north. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/sets/72157594425797728/ See varied examples.]
# Go to '''World''' > '''Environment Settings''' and click '''Environment Editor''' to change your [[WindLight]]/time of day setting.
#* For instance, if you're at a beautiful beach, opt for a rosy sunset.
#* Clear skies can look pretty, but they're harder to match since a solid (or subtle graduation) of color doesn't look particularly unique. Try experimenting with different degrees of clouds and sky gradients.
# Wait for the scene to fully rez in. You don't want gray or blurry textures.

== Photography ==
This should take no more than 3 minutes on a capable computer.

# Use '''File''' menu > '''Take Snapshot'''.
# Select '''Save to your hard drive'''.
# Under '''Format''', select '''PNG''' or '''BMP'''. The former saves space but will take more time on slower computers.
# Click '''Save''' button, create a new folder to save your first round of panoramic images to, and save it. This is your test shot.
# In your operating system's file navigation system, open that image to make sure it saved correctly. Then, you can delete the test shot.
#* Torley has dual monitors and likes to keep one window open on his desktop showing thumbnails of images as he goes along.
# In Second Life, go into mouselook from '''View''' menu > '''Mouselook''', or simply press "M" key when the chat bar is closed.
#* There's likely a way to script a more systematic means, but I haven't seen one yet.
# Since you can't see menus in mouselook, you'll need to use the '''File''' > '''Snapshot to Disk''' shortcut, '''Ctrl-`''' (Strg-ö on german keyboards). Start moving your mouse around and take pictures of ''every'' angle around you. Overlap is fine. Make sure you don't leave any gaps in the sky. ''Don't'' move your avatar aside from doing the necessary rotations.
#* A finished panorama can typically consist of 50-200 images; less if you have a high screen resolution such as 1920x1200, more if you do a lot of overlap.
#* Don't log out of SL yet. If your panorama editor can do a quick preview, it'll show missing areas where it was unable to join or identify images. If you haven't moved your avatar, you can take some extra shots, run another preview, and see if those holes get covered up.

== Rendering ==
You'll need a 3rd-party panorama editor to "stitch" the many images into a single one, such as:

* '''[http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html AutoStitch]'''
* '''[http://www.autopano.net AutoPano Pro or Giga]'''
* '''[http://hugin.sourceforge.net/ Hugin]'''
* '''[http://www.adobe.com Photoshop's Photomerge feature]'''

{{vital-info|3rd-party panorama editor suggestions... and stuff}}

== Advanced ==
It's greatly beneficial to reduce all moving elements in the scene. Smart panorama software can remove them without ghosting, but in case you need additional help:

=== Freezing the sky ===
# Go to '''World''' > '''Environment Settings''' > '''Environment Editor'''.
# Click '''Advanced Sky'''.
# Click '''Clouds''' tab.
# Click the ''''Lock''' buttons next to both '''Cloud Scroll X''' and '''Cloud Scroll Y'''.
# Also uncheck '''Draw Classic Clouds''' — they keep moving no matter what.

=== Freezing the water ===
This isn't a total freeze, but it's close enough.

# Go to '''World''' > '''Environment Settings''' > '''Environment Editor'''.
# Click '''Advanced Water'''.
# Click '''Image''' tab.
# Set ''all'' '''Big Wave Direction''' and '''Little Wave Direction X-Y''' sliders to 0.00.

=== Freezing flexiprims ===
# Enable [[Advanced menu|'''Advanced''' menu]].
# Disable '''Advanced''' > '''Rendering''' > '''Features''' > '''Flexible Objects'''. Flexis will freeze.

Other things can be frozen in the '''Advanced''' menu, such as toggling '''Advanced''' menu > '''Rendering''' > '''Animate Textures'''.

== See also ==
* 2009-08-03 - '''[http://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/tnt/blog/2009/08/03/beyond-flat-pictures-on-the-web-second-life-panoramas Beyond flat pictures on the web: Second Life panoramas]''' - Newer info on the topic.
* 2006-12-19 - '''[http://torley.com/tutorial-how-to-make-a-beautiful-second-life-panorama-in-15-minutes How to make a beautiful Second Life panorama in 15 minutes]''' - Torley's first foray into the craft. Some info is out-of-date but this is where it all began.

User:Wolwaner Jervil

2009-02-11T08:55:34Z

Wolwaner Jervil:

Hi,
I joined SL in December 2006 as a result of my company doing some research on virtual worlds.
Even if this research is gone now, I still keep on searching and i changed to mentoring a few months ago.
I have been a mentor and instructor/teacher to many people in RL so I thought being a mentor here is the right thing.

One thing I do is to have a Web-Site with information, tutorials and an index to interesting places in german and english languge.
Please see more at my web-page at [http://members.a1.net/secondlife SL Guided Tours Home Page] and have a look into the Web-Tab of the profile of Valie Eun - she's the one carrying the load of SL Guided Tours. The profile site may also be viewed at [http://members.a1.net/secondlife/profil/index.htm the profile site - set viewer width to 400px]

Mentoring on various welcome Areas and HI's my current posession.

My mother tongue is German, my English experience is more technical, but lasts for 35 years now and is getting fluent.

So wish you all fun and happiness in this lovely world.

Wol,
SL Guided Tours

{{ISO 639-3/cat-speaking/Volunteers|deu}}
{{ISO 639-3/cat-speaking/Volunteers|eng}}

User:Wolwaner Jervil

2008-07-08T10:23:44Z

Wolwaner Jervil:

Hi,
I joined SL in December 2006 as a result of my company doing some research on virtual worlds.
Even if this research is gone now, I still keep on searching and i changed to mentoring a few months ago.
I have been a mentor and instructor/teacher to many people in RL so I thought being a mentor here is the right thing.

One thing I do is to have a Web-Site with some information and an index to interesting places in german and english languge.
Please see more at my web-page at [http://members.a1.net/secondlife SL Guided Tours Home Page] and have a look into the Web-Tab of the profile of Valie Eun - she's the one carrying the load of SL Guided Tours. The profile site may also be viewed at [http://members.a1.net/secondlife/profil/index.htm the profile site - set viewer width to 400px]

I just started to be part of a German Newbie center as teacher (they don't like the "Instructor" word).

My mother tongue is German, my English experience is more technical, but lasts for 35 years now and is getting fluent.

So wish you all fun and happiness in this lovely world.

Wol

{{ISO 639-3/cat-speaking/Volunteers|deu}}
{{ISO 639-3/cat-speaking/Volunteers|eng}}

User:Wolwaner Jervil

2008-07-08T09:35:10Z

Wolwaner Jervil:

Hi,
I joined SL in December 2006 as a result of my company doing some research on virtual worlds.
Even if this research is gone now, I still keep on searching and i changed to mentoring a few months ago.
I have been a mentor and instructor/teacher to many people in RL so I thought being a mentor here is the right thing.

One thing I do is to have a Web-Site with some information and an index to interesting places in german and english languge.
Please see my Web-page at [http://members.a1.net/secondlife] and have a look into the Web-Tab of the profile of Valie Eun - she's the one carrying the load of SL Guided Tours.

I just started to be part of a German Newbie center as teacher (they don't like the "Instructor" word).

My mother tongue is German, my English experience is more technical, but lasts for 35 years now and is getting fluent.

So wish you all fun and happiness in this lovely world.

{{ISO 639-3/cat-speaking/Volunteers|deu}}
{{ISO 639-3/cat-speaking/Volunteers|eng}}

User:Wolwaner Jervil

2008-06-30T12:12:33Z

Wolwaner Jervil:

Hello - just to be here:
Please see my Web-page at [http://members.a1.net/secondlife]
I will update this page with new information soon.
{{ISO 639-3/cat-speaking/Volunteers|deu}}
{{ISO 639-3/cat-speaking/Volunteers|eng}}

User:Wolwaner Jervil

2008-06-23T11:52:22Z

Wolwaner Jervil: New page: Hello - just to be here: Please see my page at [http://members.a1.net/secondlife] More to be seen here soon.

Hello - just to be here:
Please see my page at [http://members.a1.net/secondlife]
More to be seen here soon.