Snapshot problems

I know you can d/l to desktop and make changes to a snap, but I wanted to take a pic and upload it straightaway inworld to end up with a 512 x 512 picture with correct aspect ratio to display or hand to someone. I've tried wrestling with the very confusing options but just get a distorted ratio no matter what I try.

Am I missing something obvious and simple, or is the snapshot function still being weird? I'm sure I used to be able to get this to look right but now I'm stumped.

are you using the RC client or the main one?

After you click the snapshot button...
in the RC client make sure at the very top (where it says "What would you like to do?) you have "Upload a snapshot" ticked...
then further down... make sure the button "More>>" is clicked
then where it says "What size image do you need?" choose 512x512

after that your snapshots should be perfect 512x512s and ready to give people so they display correctly ^_^

if it is the main client.. i have no idea if the function is borked or not..

It should be ok, I just used it yesterday.

Thanks for your reply Hana. I have the main client version 1.19.4 and did have the settings as you describe, which seemed the logical choices but on upload the pics still came out squashed slightly, but noticeably, sideways and I couldn't see how else to get it right.

Possibly this was a bug now fixed in the latest version; anyone know? I guess I'd better update and see if that works.
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Aes

This is just the way image upload works. The X and Y dimensions of your image will be resized to a power of 2. It will most likely end up 512x512 or 512x256.

To fix the aspect ratio, if you are just viewing the picture in a window in SL, you need to resize the window. Unfortunately, this doesn't "stick" and you'll need to do it each time you look at the picture.

If you are placing it on a prim in SL, resize the prim to the correct aspect ratio.

[edit]If you want to be able to hand the image around to friends so they can just open it and see it in the correct ratio without resizing the window, you'd need to edit it on your computer before upload. Create a 512x512 image in your graphics program with a black background. Then paste your snapshot into it and resize it to the correct ratio. You should end up with black bars on the top and bottom of the image, like watching a "letterbox" aspect movie on TV.[/edit]

Wrong.
Or.. at least not entirely correct.

in the RC client when you select 512x512 the SL client actually "auto-crops" the image for you. There is \no\ squishing because you 'lose' a little of the 'right' and 'left' of your viewing area. Sort of like movies are 'cropped' from widescreen to 'traditional tv' size. The image isn't squished because the right and left are 'cropped' a little.

i have no idea if the main viewer does this or not..

on the other hand, in RC if you select "current window" instead of 512x512 as "what image size do you need" ... then you get a "squished" image (that of course is a power of 2 512x512) but it's \everything\ in your viewing area.. no cropping... and these images will need to be put on a prim to display correctly (without being deformed).

Ooh, feisty!

Yeah, well maybe I'm wrong in assuming the OP was saving to local hard drive with ""current window" size. But it seems the most likely scenario based on the problems she is describing.

This all works the same in RC and "normal" viewer so far as I know.

[edit]
This topic motivated me to write a bit of a description of what I do. I save ALL of my snapshots to local hard drive at "current window" size, with high rez enabled. I am not going to let the SL viewer decide where to crop my snapshots. So this is all based on that premise. http://www.awesomeocity.com/2008/08/06/second-life-image-upload-and-aspect-ratio/
[/edit]

Diag - yes I was trying to get an 'instant snap' to upload inworld and bypass saving to disk first; sorry if that wasn't clear.

I've got PSP7 so I've tried out the pasting into a black background method with snaps I'd already got d/l to disk and that works a treat. Have bookmarked your tutorial page for future ref. Thanks!

Hana - I know a few months ago I used to be able to get pics 'auto-cropped' to 512x512 in the snapshot window as you describe which is why I couldn't understand where I was going wrong yesterday. After wasting L$$ on trial uploads and much tearing out of hair, I now think my squashed pic problems may have been caused by a bug in the 1.19 viewer. Googling for more info turned up this Jira entry, now marked as resolved:
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-4586 . Hopefully 1.20 will work as your RC version does.

Many thanks to you both for the help.

Considering it's a major hobby in SL plus a vital business aid, I can't help feeling that inworld photography has been made WAY more complicated than it need have been. Roll on the day when SL has a more intuitive snapshot system and standardised set of sizes to use in the various profile pages!

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Aes