Difference between revisions of "MTS2:Creator Guidelines/Screenshot Basics"
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*'''TAB | *'''TAB | ||
| − | Puts the game into Cameraman mode, allowing better and more control of the camera. Make sure you are in live mode before going into Cameraman mode or you will see grid lines on the ground and floating where floor tiles may be placed. | + | Puts the game into Cameraman mode, allowing better and more control of the camera, and removing the blue user interface. Make sure you are in live mode before going into Cameraman mode or you will see grid lines on the ground and floating where floor tiles may be placed. |
*'''W and S | *'''W and S | ||
Revision as of 06:55, 19 April 2009
Contents |
Big Pics
The larger your pics, the better! Tiny pics won't show enough detail to see what you've made. MTS2 has a limit of 1280x1024 and 195 kbs so you can have nice, big, pretty pics.
Please don't just take a small pic and size it up in your graphics program to get bigger pics - this only makes the dimensions larger but doesn't add any detail and just gives you a blurry, pixellated larger pic, not a nice clear one.
Windowed Mode
In order to take your pictures using the methods described here, you will need your game running in a window, so you can easily switch to other applications without causing major instability and lag. Instructions on setting up Windowed Mode may be found here: Game Help:Windowed Mode
Windowed mode should be perfectly safe - in fact, some users actually report better game performance when running in a window. Your mileage may vary.
No more C Key
In order to take nice big pics, you should not use the game's screenshot system, using the C key or the camera button on the game's controls to take your pictures. Even on the highest picture settings, pictures will still be small, with a very high level of JPEG compression, making them blurry and crunchy.
Screenshot Program
There are many programs available, free and pay, that will take screenshots for you by using a hotkey, and save them to a folder - just like The Sims 2 with the C key, but with options for much better quality settings. There is a free version of FRAPS available that is a simple, quick, and easy program to use: http://www.fraps.com/
A quick Google search for 'free screenshot program' will also bring up many other options, which may have other features that are of interest to you.
Print Screen
If you have enough RAM to run Photoshop or another graphics editing program at the same time as Sims 2, you may want to take screenshots yourself, without the use of a program to store them for you.
To do that, simply press the Print Screen or PrntScn key on your keyboard - it's usually off toward the right, over the arrow keys, above Insert and Delete. This will copy your current screen to your Windows clipboard, as if you had selected and copied it as an image.
Then open any graphics editing program, create a new document the size of your monitor's resolution, and paste into that document. Your screenshot should appear in the document.
Camera Controls
Take some time to just play around with the camera. It can take a while to get used to the camera controls, and even once you are experienced in their use, it may be challenging to get the shot you want with the constraints on the controls.
If you haven't taken many sim pictures before, here is a list of camera controls:
- TAB
Puts the game into Cameraman mode, allowing better and more control of the camera, and removing the blue user interface. Make sure you are in live mode before going into Cameraman mode or you will see grid lines on the ground and floating where floor tiles may be placed.
- W and S
W moves the camera forward. S moves it backward.
- A and D
A moves the camera left. D moves it right.
- Q and E
Q lowers the camera. E raises it.
- + and -
Zooms in and out. The further you are zoomed in, the smaller the increment you will move when using the WASD keys if you have the camera hack as advised above.
