Snapshot sizing

Snapshots are frequently used for sales boxes or vendor displays in retail. The server load would be reduced if we had the option to frame smaller shots or change the resolution.

Agreed... or even better, have snapshots default to a 256 x 256 resolution unless specifically set otherwise. As Barbarra said, many new residents use plain old snapshots to populate vendors.

Its only much later that they realize the bandwidth savings by using lower resolution snapshots.

Agreed. I usually end up saving the snapshot to disk, and use Photoshop to crop, scale, and change the resolution as needed. Then I have to import it back in-world to use it.

I think it would be nice in most cases to be able to do at least some of that in-world.

Photoshop inside of SL? Horrors!

Anyway, the kind of cropping and adjusting I usually need to do for screenshots (square shape, higher contrast/color, etc.) probably wouldn't be implemented anyway. At some point you'll need to bite the bullet and use external applications.

yeah I would like an option to change the format/resolution and dimansions on snapshot dialog box.

the bitmap file option SUCKS. it takes mucho bandwidth and takes lots of hard disk space.

-shakes finger at lindens- tsk tsk!

even PNG works better and jpeg wouldn't be too bad since we aren't dealing with flat colors

I love the idea of a cusom sized snapshot, and since its mostly client side very low extra load on the server. Like many screen capturing softwares use, I would like to have a select area, high or low rez option. That would allow people to choose a section of thier screen and capture in high rez mode. I've seen many scenes that have a very artisitc flare at a certain zoom level, but lose it once I zoom in to it capture. By being able to select the capture area and rezolution SL snapshots will take on a whole new life.

I end up converting to PNG later to archive. BMP is archaic, yes... but it also doesn't require the extra processing time that may noticeably affect slower problems.

JPEG can be done... just CTRL-SHIFT-S and send yourself a Snapshot. Very lossy and awful compression, especially across gradient bands of similar color, tho.

ok I will jump in too.. I have gotten into these practices so far that seem to work..

STANDARD "PICTURES TAKING" PRACTICES

1. Use the shortcut "`" key to trigger the shot (the mouse moves the avi argh!)

2. Save images to hard disk and crop them there in an image editor (an old freebie)

3. Crop to one of the three standard aspect ratios found in the different tabs of Profile, which are:

1.0 x 1.0 (e.g. First Life Tab) (square)
1.33 x 1.0 (e.g. Second Life Tab) (squat rectangle) (technically it's 4/3 x 1)
1.67 x 1.0 (e.g. Picks Tab) (long rectangle) (technically it's 5/3 x 1) (this is the ratio closest to a full screen shot)

4. Save the cropped file as .jpg (my image editor does the conversion at save)

5. When saving, name the cropped file to include the pixel dimensions (e.g., Gorgeous Me 500x500px)

6. Upload to SL (having the pixel dimensions reminds me of the aspect ratio.. viewing an image defaults to 1x1 which squishes the others *but* I can apply the texture to a prim and size the prim correctly for in-word picture) (and now I read that uploading a .jpg it is converted to .tga anyway argh)

HI RES ISSUES

I used to take normal resolution pics which were "only" 2MB .bmp files but I fell in love with the Debug-Hi Res Snapshot option and files are now 70MB.. however, the quality is superb for forum posts and hi-res is required for M2 submissions and ads SO...

6. Take pictures at high resolution.. frame the shot then ve-ry sl-ow-ly press the "`" shortcut key *and nothing else not even the mouse* and hold your breath and wait the few seconds while the sl world "stops", music stutters, and the image is saved to disk. Works!

7. When cropping allow for extra time loading the larger file and cropping and saving.

8. When uploading allow extra time.

9. Delete the original 70MB .bmps and keep the 10MB .jpgs unless you really need to keep the original for another crop and save (e.g., different aspect ratios for different uses).

ASPECT RATIO ISSUES

I use vendors and I use slide show viewers.. having display panels that don't match 1x1, 4/3x1, or 5/3x1 happens all the time.. can size the prims to match the images or crop the images to match the prims or just live with squishiness. Don't have a final fun solution here yet. (hm.. automatic resize display onna' prim.. hm..)