Avie Pix.....Few questions.....

Hello All ~ Yes I'm actually asking for answers here in the resident answers forum...


Ok....I've seen some great pix of avies so how do you do that?? When I try to take a pic of my avie he keeps moving his head making for a really silly photo. Also....if I ever do get a decent pic, how do I get it here on the forums? I suppose I just download it to my computer from SL and then upload it here nes pas??

Thanks for any help!

A lot of model poses are high enough priority that they will freeze your av in position.

And yes, save it to disk, resize (if needed) in Photoshop, and then post here.

I use the Snapshot to Hard Drive shortcut, Ctrl-`, so Ann doesn't whip her head around trying to follow the mouse cursor. Of course, if you WANT your av to look in a different direction, you can also tease it with the cursor and then use that shortcut to take the pic.

Some of the forums here allow attachments, but I usually host mine on Image Shack or Flickr and then use bracketed IMG /IMG tags to post it.

Patience and timing on the pic, I'm afraid...at least, from my experience.

As for getting it into the forum, link to a website with the pic (your own, if you have, or one of the freebie photo album sites...Flikr, Snapzilla, Photobucket, etc.)

**Lindel and Ann beat me to it...and with better info!**

All of the above, plus I use the freeze frame

I just 'focus' on my av using my mouse. Like when you cam in stores, etc. Stops her head from moving, although not entirely (eyes...)

Hire a photographer. A pro wil have poses, lighting, and all sorts of other tricks.

Or, have a friend take snapshots, then upload or email them to you.

Consider local lighting.

Post process with a photo editing tool.

Oh yeah, me too! Plus high res so I can scale and crop as I like.

I agree. But I have gotten very good with the timing. If you're on a poseball of some sort, and have a bit of patience, you can wait and watch which way the head/eyes turn for a bit and can gauge where it will be and then take the picture just as the head turns where you want it. You always have the option to view the picture before you upload it, so you can discard the losers.

The model poses are pretty good, but some are kind of cheesy. Try them out and find ones which work well for you.

I also have heard people say if you use one of your Alts to take the picture, that helps but I haven't tried it yet.

Set up the shot you want (by focusing on your AV itself). When you focus on your AV, it won't look anywhere--then use the 'camera controls' to move and rotate the camera--this will not affect where your AV looks.

Using alts to take a picture?



((yes yes, this is at least the 3rd or fourth time I've posted a picture of my alts, but this quote just seemed to call out for one of my alt pictures, sorry.))

I get the best results by using a photo studio, where I have a modeling pose stand, local lighting that is readily controlled, and a camera that has a locked in location. My N30 studio is on the top floor of my Ceera's Creations store in Fairchang Calypso, NE, and is available to the public to use. There's a tip jar there, if you feel so inclined after using it.

For on-site pics, a good AO or modeling pose, and patience is your best bet. Having a friend or an alt to take the picture can help, in some cases.

*cough*Photosphere*cough*

You got three of them on at once? My limit seems to be two,though I never tried three...hmmmmm.

All three clients needed to be opened before I tried logging in. All three needed to have the alt's name and password inserted before a single one entered. Then one by one they entered via "Home" - all but one had "Home" set at the same low lag place. Then the third logged in at "Home" (different home), and accepted a TP by one of the other two and TP'd over.

You know when the client is acting funny and you know you are going to crash shortly? All three clients were acting that way the entire time I, myself, and me were logged in.

Oh, and I did crash a lot, though that was when I had someone at the cartel hangout and wanted to log in another alt. At one point I had two at once at the hangout, but I never had all three (when are we going on the road?). Again, though, I had to follow the above process (clients opened, name inserted, low lag place entered, etc.) before going to the hangout.

Some of what I use:

A good location or background

Good avatar skin and stuff

A high priority animation, to hold your pose

Good lighting (Force sun or environmental settings - esp with advanced sky - in windlight)

*perhaps* an emote to get a smile

Control-0 to get a good close-up

I used all of the above for this shot, for example:





What's this about multiple avatar piccies?



Me, and Me - two years apart. Sorta.

Mari

Thanks for all the answers! Soooo taking a quality pic really is difficult - glad it isn't just me that thought so. Ann, the moving avie head when I'm trying to do it is so frustrating. Mary, you take some awesome pix! Michael Bigwig - you make it sound totally easy =) Maybe I will hire someone. How do I get flickr or photobucket?

just go to www.flickr.com

sign up with your e-mail address and poof! you now have an account. There are destructions on there on how to upload etc.

Well thats flickr anyway, not sure about photobucket - i have never used it before.

Be careful James. She's setting you up.

Thanksabunch Claire

*looks around* for what???

Isabeau! now look what you did! he's all suspicious!

hmmmf!

To save myself the trouble of having to type this multiple times, I'd just like to direct you to my blog where you can find info on how you can photograph yourself without need of an av. It just discusses camera positioning. Nothing beyond that. Nothing about lighting or anything.

But on my machine, if more than one client is running, my machine gets sloooooooooooooow to the point of crashing, so this tip helped save my SL experience. Hopefully it will help yours as well.

http://educube.blogspot.com/2008/02/lesson-14-photograph-yourself.html

Hold down ctrl+alt and left click on yourself. Your head will stop moving and you can use the camera controls (from the "view" drop down menu) to line up your shot.

Thankoo!

I gotta start workin' on my next show!

Mari