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{{TOCright}}
Do you want to photograph gorgeous scenes like this?


{{red|INSERT VIDEO, TORLEY}}
'''Inworld photography is one of the most popular hobbies inside Second Life, and getting started is as easy as clicking a single button.''' This guide from [[Torley]], SL photographer pioneer, will quickly run you through achieving great results in minutes. Watch this short video tutorial and do the steps for yourself:
== 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 '''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, every subsequent time you '''Save''' a snapshot during this session, it gets saved to the same location. If you want to change locations, restart the Viewer.
You should also open the snapshot in your operating system to make sure it turned out fine.
{{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 a 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.
== Change your point of view ==
OK, so how do you change your camera angle? Since a snapshot is taken of whatever 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 {{red|keyboard shortcuts}} for each of these.
{{KBtip|To get an easy shot of your avatar's face, click the '''Eye''' icon to show Preset Views, then click '''Front View'''.}}
== Change the time of day ==
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.
Second Life's atmospheric system is called "[[WindLight]]". You can get [http://bit.ly/wlsettings hundreds more sky and water settings].
== Make your Second Life look its best ==
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 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 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|On a powerful computer, click the '''Hardware''' button and enable '''Anisostropic Filtering''' and '''[[Antialiasing]]''' to at least 4x. Antialiasing smooths out jaggy edges. Torley thinks this should be on by default on capable systems.}}
== 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'''.
== What's next? ==
Torley says: "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!"
=== What about the other save destinations? ===
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|Sending postcards has been crappy for a long time: postcards may actually never be sent and can significantly slow the server. [https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-2283 SVC-2283] is one of Torley's most hated bugs, and for reasons explained within, really wants to see this 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. If
* '''Format''' - Default is '''PNG'''. Torley recommends '''PNG''' 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. This feature is better understood after experimenting. Torley usually doesn't touch this for that reason.
* '''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. Default is unchecked.Torley leaves this unchecked and uses external programs like Jing to capture, instead of flipping this on and off.
** '''HUDs''' - Default is unchecked. 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.
Some of these options will change
==

Latest revision as of 09:12, 26 April 2011

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