Visual communication
Second Life is a visual, 3D world, so it's no surprise many Residents have expressed frustration with explaining things in words, and wish they could simply show what they're seeing. Especially for non-technical folks, terminology complications add to the layers of abstraction which make it difficult for Person B to understand the problem that Person A is telling them.
Torley setup this page to help "chop the slop" and get to the point! Whether you're asking for help on the forums, reporting a bug on jira.secondlife.com, or writing a help page on this wiki, visuals can enhance or replace words so you can communicate more effectively. Save time and trouble and learn to do the following:
Take a picture
... it'll last longer.
Seriously, in situations if you're seeing a Second Life visual glitch or want to show someone where to click, do this:
- In the Second Life Viewer, click the snapshot button.
- In the Snapshot Preview window, choose Save to my computer.
- Click the Save button.
If you need to show the user interface ("UI" for short, all the buttons and controls you can click on):
- In the Snapshot Preview window, click More. (The button's name changes to Less.)
- Under Capture, check Interface.
- Click the Refresh button (right above the Less button).
 |
Tip: You can save a snapshot to your computer with a single keystroke, Ctrl+`. The first time you do this during a session, you'll be asked where you want to save the picture. Subsequent snapshots in the same session are saved in the same location with ascending numbers: Snapshot_001, Snapshot_002, Snapshot_003, and so on. |
Then, in your web browser, go to the page you want to insert the image in.
There are tools to "grab" part of your screen and post it to the web even faster. For example, if you have a Flickr or Twitter account, there are apps that can directly upload there.
- Jing Project - For Mac and Windows. Free version available.
- Skitch - Mac-only but Torley uses this extensively to snap, then upload to web in seconds as shown here.
blogs.secondlife.com
- In a blog comment/forum post editor, click Insert Image.
- In the From your Computer tab, click Browse.
- Use the file browser to locate the image, and double-click it.
- Click Insert image. You should see it appear inline in your post, then you can keep editing.
|
Tip: You can also insert images from certain other domains. |
Make a video
Need to show something in action? Changes that happen over a period of time — like "slow rezzing" and "inventory sorting" — are often well-suited to video. These tools can make it simple. Spending a few minutes setting it up is well-worth it for all the time you'll save in the future! Optionally, record your voice on the mic to narrate what you're showing.
Watch the general-purpose video tutorials on these sites for how to use them — basically, the only specific thing that applies to Second Life is that you record the Viewer window:
- Screenr - Requires a Twitter account, but makes it easy to record a part of your screen (including the Second Life Viewer) and upload it. You can even upload to YouTube.
- Jing Project - Yes, it also does video! The Pro version isn't required, but has higher-quality video with smoother framerates.
See also
After you master the above basics, these advanced guides get into further details.