Eliminate HUD from Snapshots, please!

Argent, can you please elaborate on what this does, for us script-ignorant residents?

Adding my two cents... as an avid SL photographer I was quite dismayed when my HUDs started appearing in my snapshots

The "Show HUD Attachments" option in the View menu IS an improvement, but it still puts a monkey wrench in taking spontaneous snaps. Sometimes a "Kodak Moment" presents itself with little warning, and by the time I've hidden my HUDs it has passed me by.

PLEASE make the HUD Attachment default "OFF" for snapshots!

Agreed. Convenience is king--if this matters to you and you haven't posted here yet, please do. I will show all this to the devs.

I have taken thousands upon thousands of snapshots in my Second Life, including my Snapzilla collection. I understand.

Those calls would allow you to create a "snapshot" hud, that would hide the HUD, take the snapshot, and show it again.

It would also allow you to do cool stuff like taking periodic snapshots automatically, but that's a langiappe.

----

The title says it.

/me raises her hand, too. I agree with Govindira. HUDs out of snapshots! If possible, a tick box "show HUD in snapshot" would be useful, but if not - HUDs OUT is the best solution.

one more voice adding to the rising throng. . .

HUDS out of Snapshots!

A giant bump for this feature - I am so tired of snapshots being ruined by stupid HUDs. Please do something about this.

I say we start bug-reporting HUD-infected snapshots when we accidentally take one.

I vote for the no HUD in snapshots, too.

Nice idea on the HUD script Argent... if we made the HUD. Unfortunately, won't work on nomod HUDs.

Yes, the option to remove HUDs from snapshots (with default to OFF) is seriously needed. But Argent, thanks for the script anyway. For some folks (the ones who make their own huds) it will be a help.

True, and in any case that script is redundant now, it's not doing anything that the menu option to hide the HUDs doesn't do. That's why I was proposing that if LL wasn't able to implement no-hud-in-snapshot they implement a pair of routines...

1. A call that has the same effect as changing the "display HUDs" menu option.
2. A call that triggers a snapshot.

Then you could create a HUD that would hide the HUDs and make the snapshot and show them again.

I just now came to this section to specifically address the HUD issue and find its the first posting that shows up already.

I too get sick of turning it off constantly and forgetting when its on when I snap a pic.

simple solution.. maybe an option in the preferences themsleves to automatically show HUD or HIDE it when FIRST logging into SL, as for me, usually once I turn it off it stays off, unless I need to use it specifically.

If you never want to look at your HUD attachments, why do you have them attached to your HUD and located on-screen at all? Just edit and move them all off-screen, and only bring them on-screen when you want to use them?

For the folks who actually use their HUD attachments as user interface elements, automatically hiding them on login wouldn't help. But at the same time we certainly don't want them in snapshots any more than any other user interface elements!

Uses for huds in photos - overlays that make your HUD look like an old photograph, a polaroid photograph, a grainy video, an autograph in the corner, etc. This has already been done by many people and if you made HUDs invisible it would screw their objects up.

A better solution would be to put a show/hide script in your hud.

default
{
    
    state_entry()
    {
        llListen(0, "","", "" );
}
     listen(integer channel, string name, key id, string text)
    {
        if(text=="hide"){
            llSetAlpha(0.0,ALL_SIDES);
             llSetStatus(STATUS_PHANTOM,TRUE);
             llSetText("",<0,0,0>,1);
            }
        if(text=="show"){
            llSetAlpha(1,ALL_SIDES);
            llSetStatus(STATUS_PHANTOM,FALSE);
            llSetText("",<256,256,256>,1);
         }
        
    }
}

That would work... if all HUDs were modifiable. They aren't.

A better solution might be a button to hide HUDs so they don't have to be removed every time the user takes a snapshot.

Some may say, "Just take the HUD off." I know guys that wear multiple HUDs; they're supposed to take every one of them off every time they take a snap, then put them all back on again?

Making HUDs invisible is a need.

maybe if the makers of huds start realizing people use their hud for taking photographs the makers will be convinced to make them modify or add the show/hide function.

or put the hide hud option in one of the menus with a shortcut key combo. i don't think this is a big enough deal to add a UI button for, since the UI is very economic with buttons and maximizes screen space.

Good point. I've felt for a long time that what SL really needs is a drop-down screen with every user toggle/ primary option neatly placed, categorized, and easily updated. How many times a day do I change draw distance? What a pain to have to take several steps to do that simple thing.

Does this sound nutty?

I had a dream where I could tap the Ctrl key twice, quickly, and an easy control came up that let me adjust things such as draw distance. Functionally similar to Google Desktop's Quick Search Box.

I change my draw distance often during the course of a day, especially scaling it up to take epic snapshots, or cranking it down in a crowded club. Occlusion culling helps alleviate this, but there still is a need for control--at least for me.

Sounds like a possibility, but I could see people accidentally hitting that menu all the time when they accidentally pressed the CTRL key twice. Perhaps a small click button at the top of the screen (or side of the screen or wheverever) would serve the purpose well. But yeah, being able to set often-changed things on one central control screen would be terrific.

That's why people are requesting that this be an option;
That's what the script I posted was. As noted, that doesn't help with nomod HUDs. As noted, there is already a menu option for this anyway.
It's already a menu option, and making it a shortcut key wouldn't help much: You still have to remember to use it, and if you actually use HUDs for information you can't just leave them off all the time so you have to use it JUST before you click the snapshot, which is really annoying when the snapshot is really a candid shot and you can't retake it.

What we're asking for is an option to automatically trigger the existing menu option to hide HUDs whenever we click a snapshot.

Option. Automatically. Existing menu option. Every time.

There is no way "makers of HUDs" can implement this, because we don't have access to "the user is about to take a snapshot".

There is no reason to get "makers of HUDs" to implement this, because LL already did it.

And any variant that doesn't make it optional, and operate automatically when you take a snapshot, doesn't solve the problem.

WHY the HELL is it so hard to get LL to implement this right? They did a half-assed job with the "hide HUDs" option that AFAIK nobody actually asked for, but didn't make the jump to "in snapshots". There's something really messed up at LL if they can't finish the job.

Welcome to Second Life. LOL

To tell the truth, the HUD was somewhat ill-conceived from the start. I mean HUDs are GREAT... very nice for many things... but the total lack of ability to tell if someone is wearing a HUD or not has allowed rampant cheating at many SL games (anti-push HUDs with PUSH games, site systems with archery, etc). It seems that all too often LL comes up with a "really neat" idea but don't really stop to think what the consequenses of that might be. They fail to install "safety valves" along with the new steam engine.

I've observed for quite some time what I once mentioned to a Linden as a tendency for LL to do something "halfway". She asked what that meant and I later emailed her about a dozen examples of something that was implemented without thinking it through to its logical conclusion. Sad thing is, quite often it was something pointed out by numerous users prior to implementation and either ignored or decided against.

I think you're right... having a user option to automatically turn a HUD invisibile (default) when taking a snapshot is a good idea.