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Tutorial: Screenshot Basics

Tags: #Broken Gallery  #Tutorial 
  • Member
    September 23, 2013

    It will bug some quests, like Blood on the Ice if used consistently, but for screenshot purposes it doesn't matter 

  • Member
    September 23, 2013

    Yeah, I tried playing around with it a bit since Ponty mentioned it, and I wouldn't set it too low. I tried setting it to 0, and even for screenshot purposes it messed up far too many things.

    I find setting it at 1 works well for screenshots though.  That way, the game time progresses in real time (1 hour is 1 hour).  Perfect for keeping the sun from moving while you're killing 20 dragons over and over for that perfect killcam shot.

  • Member
    September 23, 2013

    No, this is the right group for it.  I wasn't sure if we needed a "tips and tricks" thread, or if questions would just end up going on the individual tutorials, once I get them all up.

    I'm definitely planning to cover lighting and zooming in a future tutorial.  Just trying to get all the screenshots and find time to write it up.

    To answer your question, I found several approaches:

    1. Be aware of your surroundings.  With god mode on, there's no need to fight boss exactly where he stands.  Look to see if there's a good source of light nearby, then move your character over there.  The AI will eventually folllow.  You can also turn off the AI and control the Draugr directly with the tc command to manually put him in the right spot, then turn the AI on again so he fights you.
    2. Use Magelight or Candlelight spells.  Magelight in particular is nice.  You can cast it at a nearby rock or wall, it will stick where it lands, and it's quite bright.  Don't put it too close to the enemy though, or you'll get a starburst effect in your screenshot, and the harsh white light might make the shot look bad.  But used at the right distance, it really helps.  Don't mix it with highly coloured ambient lighting either, or it will kill the effect.
    3. Zoom the camera with the fov command.  If you have HDR rending turned on, the overall brightness and contrast of the camera will dynamically adjust depending on what's in the scene.  If you're looking at a dark draugr in a dark cave, with dark dogs, and a single bright candle, that bright candle will sometimes make the entire scene darker.  By zooming in on just the draugr, you can sometimes cut out the external point light sources, which triggers the HDR routine to increase the brightness and contrast to enhance the darker objects.
    4. Adjust the in-game brightness setting.  It can help, but tweaking it too much affects the contrast, giving you a "washed out" look.
    5. Fix the screenshot in Photoshop or GIMP afterwards.  It can help a bit, but won't completely correct really bad lighting.  It can also make the shot look a bit too "processed" or "fake".

    I'm trying to get examples of all of those techniques for the next tutorial, which is why it's taking a bit longer than I hoped to get it up.

  • Member
    September 23, 2013

    Magelight- gotcha. I've taken the picture but it was way too dark, so might try photo shop. I'm sure i get more opportunities though. And thanks for the useful and fast reply, it really helped. Looking forward to the next article

  • Member
    January 3, 2014

    Question:  I'm running Skyrim on an iMac with very low graphics settings.  I usually play on Low.  I can use Ultra to take still shots, but there's way too much lag to move my character around or do any action shots. Is there any way that you know of in-game to change the graphics settings from Low to Ultra, so that I can get where I need to be, compose the shot, and then beef up the graphics?

  • Member
    March 24, 2015

    Thank you for taking the time to write this. You've helped me out immensely with my screen shots.