» Sun May 05, 2013 8:45 pm Screenshot Guidelines ( MUST READ BEFORE POSTING! ):
(Thanks to bashur and Matthew Kaine(?) for the original versions of this set of guidelines over in the Oblivion Mods section )
- No criticism should be directed at a person - only constructive criticism at the posters work
- How you should not post criticism: "That screenshot is really lame! The poster needs to learn how to screenshot!"
- How you should post criticism: "I'm not really a fan of that screenshot; In my opinion it could use a little more flair. Maybe try to have the angle at a diagonal slant with the sun behind them, that will give them a nice silhouette."
- If you find a post offensive, REPORT IT !
- Moderators know to to quickly deal with any situation of this nature, and will remove any offensive posts.
- Arguing, instigating, or making demands regarding the post invariably ends up worsening the situation.
- Not following the above rules could result in all involved parties getting a warning, even those defending themselves.
- Commenting on a posters style of play in screenshots:
- Members have a wide variety of playing styles and of capturing screenshots.
- No subjective (or moral, ethnic, political, religious, cultural, social, sixual, etc.) preferences should be dictated to others as right or wrong in this thread.
- All members are encouraged to post their screenshots regardless of their style of play, as long as they stay within the rules of this forum and thread.
Messages from the Moderators regarding this thread
"If someone barrels in and decides that the opening post guidelines for this thread are not applicable to them,
just report them, don't bother responding. Criticism for screenshots is fine, as long as it's constructive.
"I think it's stupid" and comments of that ilk? Are not criticism. They're just rather belligerant.
Don't like a particular screenshot - then don't bloody comment." - Leydenne
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"This is not the place to troll, flame, or spam others. You all are here to share ideas, converse, and have a good time.
We don't want anyone to spoil the party, so if someone happens to come along with those intentions
please use the report button and ignore that person's post (Do not reply to them or acknowledge them).
We will then take the appropriate action to cull the situation and remove the problem." - DreadLord
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"You cannot take assets from another game and use them in Oblivion, and that includes other BGS games.
What you do on your own computer is up to you but we don't want to hear about it or see it." - Rohugh
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"User made and modified in game characters depicting children must be fully clothed and not be posed in a way to be considered provocative.
The moderators have full authority to determine this and issue warns/suspensions/bans if required.
Likewise any screenshots depicting child killing will also be dealt with accordingly." - From Moderators and Forum Admin
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"If you don't care for a particular screenshot, you do not need to comment on it. If you have constructive feedback, that is fine. And people receiving polite feedback, don't get your back up.
But just because you don't like some of the looks, or feel they show too much skin, or whatever, as long as they do not break our forum rules, you'll have to restrain yourself. Sorry- no one cares if you don't like the skimpy shots. Sure, some of them may be over the top or whatever, or simply not to one's taste, but again- if they do not break our screenshot rules, then they are fine.
Post screenshots that are pretty, that are fun, or funny or scenic. Be kind to each other. Or don't bother with the thread."- Leydenne
Tips (under development)
Camera Tips (for basic screenshots without a third-party program):
- Press F on your keyboard to switch back and forth from first, to third-person view
- Press and hold F to change the camera angle by moving your mouse around. This will rotate the camera around your character.
- A side-to-side mouse movement will rotate the camera around your player
- A forwards-backwards mouse movement will tilt the camera angle above or below your character
- The mouse scroll wheel will move the camera closer or farther away
- You can equip your weapon and/or cast a spell in this position as long as you continue to hold F
- Press the "Print Screen" or "Prt Scr" button at any time to take your shot.
- Be careful not to take them too close together or you'll accidentally capture the "screen shot created" message in your shot if your UI is still enabled (see below).
How to disable the UI (Stats Bars, Compass, etc):
- Open the console by pressing the "~" key on your keyboard
- This key is located next to your "1" key, above your "TAB" key, and usually below your "ESC" key
- This will bring up the console, you'll notice a place at the bottom left of your screen where you are now able to type
- Type TM
- Press ENTER
- Then close the console by pressing "~" again
- Your UI (User Interface) should now be gone
- To re-enable your UI, type TM in the console again using the steps above
How to enable Free-Flying Camera mode:
- Open the console by pressing the "~" key on your keyboard
- This key is located next to your "1" key, above your "TAB" key, and usually below your "ESC" key
- This will bring up the console, you'll notice a place at the bottom left of your screen where you are now able to type
- Type TFC
- OR type TFC 1 to pause the action and enable the free camera.
- CAUTION: Animations and gametime passage may be suspended with TFC 1, but script functions are not. Scripts may still trigger events even while the actors or props they manipulate are still frozen.
- Press ENTER
- Then close the console by pressing "~" again
- You can then move the camera around using the same keys you would normally use to move your character.
- To go back to normal, type TFC in the console again using the steps above
- To change the speed in which the freecam moves, use the console command SUCSM (x), where (x) is the speed multiplier. Default appears to be about 10, which may be unwieldy.
How to panrotate camera while walking:
- Open the console by pressing the "~" key on your keyboard
- This key is located next to your "1" key, above your "TAB" key, and usually below your "ESC" key
- This will bring up the console, you'll notice a place at the bottom left of your screen where you are now able to type
- Type ANIMCAM
- Press ENTER
- Then close the console by pressing "~" again
- You can now rotate the camera around your character while walking/fighting etc.
- To go back to normal, type ANIMCAM in the console again using the steps above
How to Disable the AI of any Creature/NPC:
- Open the console by pressing the "~" key on your keyboard
- This key is located next to your "1" key, above your "TAB" key, and usually below your "ESC" key
- This will bring up the console, you'll notice a place at the bottom left of your screen where you are now able to type
- Type TAI
- Press ENTER
- Then close the console by pressing "~" again
- Entering the command while no actor is selected will cause all actors to stand at idle (but still have idle animation).
- Using while an actor is selected will freeze them in-place.
- To return to normal, type TAI in the console again, and press enter.
How to remove Collision from your Character (Clipping):
- Open the console by pressing the "~" key on your keyboard
- This key is located next to your "1" key, above your "TAB" key, and usually below your "ESC" key
- This will bring up the console, you'll notice a place at the bottom left of your screen where you are now able to type
- Type TCL
- Press ENTER
- Then close the console by pressing "~" again
- To return to normal, type TCL in the console again, and press enter
How to post your screenshots
- Upload to an image hosting site. There are many popular options for doing so, including a built-in service with Steam. Per asgard: From steam's screenshot manager, you simply select a pic, then hit the upload button. Then you click on 'View online library'where you can manage all your uploaded pics.
- Copy the URL for your image. The image hosting site you choose usually has a box with code to pick from. You'll want to get the code that refers to BBCode, and a direct URL. Do not bother with getting BBCode Image coding, as this forum does not support embedded images in posts.
- When you post your screenshot, it's often nice to include some flavor text, rather than just posting an undescriptive URL.
- The best way to do that is to type out the following: [ url = " TYPE YOUR URL HERE " ] TYPE NAME HERE [ / url ] (without spaces)
How to swap out animations (pre CK, PC only)
- Until pose mods come out, this method is the best option for making your character do things that NPCs can do!
- You'll need a .bsa extractor. I (Eisoj5) am using a Fallout3 extractor for the time being, but there are more options out there.
- Open the Skyrim - Animations.bsa file in your .bsa extractor. The animations for character and NPCs are located in themeshes\actors\character\animationsfolder within that file.
- Extract the animations you want to play with. I (Eisoj5) have a separate folder for all the random stuff I like to mess with/add to Skyrim, so I put them in that folder.
- Rename the animation you want to use ingame to sneakmtidle.hkx .
- Copy your new sneakmtidle.hkx to Skyrim\Data\meshes\actors\character\animations. (You will have to create these subfolders if they do not already exist in your directory.)
- In game, simply press the sneak button and your swapped animation should begin to play! Keep in mind this is only when you're sneaking and not moving. Moving will return to the regular sneak motion animation.
- To get back to the normal sneak idle animation, just delete sneakmtidle.hkx fromSkyrim\Data\meshes\actors\character\animations.
Lighting Tips (courtesy of UKnightwatch)
To avoid bad lighting, I try to;
- Not have a bright light directly behind subject
- Not have a very bright light too close to front of subject
- Not aim camera directly at a bright light
- Turn my character into good lighting
- Make good use of character items such as torch or spells that cast light and such if available
On PC;
Make use of the 'tfc' feature to move the camera accordingly to avoid bad lighting - see begining of this thread
I realise we are not all super smart when it comes to using art packages on PC (points at self as example of dimness) and we do not all have access to professional software - this has its problems.
If you are using a PC, there are some free to download image manipulating programs available - your search engine is your friend! Free software can be very basic but that is all we need. A little time taken to learn the basics of such free programs can pay off really well and bring our screenshots [more] to life.
Using FOV
FOV, or "field-of-view/vision", can help you zoom in for even better close-up shots.
- Open the console using the ` key.
- Type fov ##, where lower numbers equal a tighter zoom and higher numbers a wide angle. Close the console.
- The game is preset to fov 65. FOVs lower than 50 are great for close-ups, but can be hard to frame if your TFC speed is high.
- To get back to your normal setting, open the console and type either just fov again or fov 65.
MOD SUGGESTION
Here's a small list of mods to make your screenshots more interesting and actractive
- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/10870: This mod brings you a figurines allowing you to control yourself, and a special spell that can turn any NPC into brainless puppet doing any animation you want.
- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/17174: Pinup style poses for your female character... or your male, if you're into that sort of thing (http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/11811 needed for the mod to work)
- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=11757: Removes most of the blurriness from finisher moves and reduce the number of camera cuts in most moves
- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=7942: Removes drop of blood from screen
- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/22745: Adds footprints to the player, NPCs, and creatures
- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19660: Adds a snowy visual effect to the player and NPCs when snow is falling. Effects all live and deceased NPCs and wildlife with-in a set radius.
- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/5164: When drawing an arrow, the arrowhead rests on the hand of all places. Unless you like having a sliced up hand, resting an arrow's head on your hand while it's nocked and drawn is a bad idea.
You may find these guide useful: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19362, http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/17837 so you won't be lost in all those awesome animations and poses
Dragonborn and Dawnguard pictures can be posted in here. Please advise in your post that the following links in the spoiler tag are from Dragonborn or Dawnguard. PLEASE use the SPOILER TAG Armor from any DLC is fine but quest related locations/persons or battles may be stuff the rest of us have not seen yet.
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1456505-show-us-your-screenshots-81/
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A question though: what fov are you using for your shots? The faces look really distorted in some of them, especially the first two. (I mostly use 40-55 depending on how much I zoom in/out - down to fov 20 for extreme close-ups. I play of default, I think it's 75 or something.)
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