#ffxiv tutorial

Let's continue exploring composition with a few more guidelines used in real-life photography, together with some FFXIV examples!

Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds involves dividing the viewport into a 3x3 grid by drawing two horizontal lines and two vertical lines, resulting in nine equally sized rectangles. According to the rule, placing key elements of interest along these gridlines or at their intersections create harmonious compositions and draws the viewer's eye in a visually pleasing and balanced way:

Rule of Odds

The Rule of Odds suggests that using an odd number of elements, such as three or five, tends to be more visually interesting and engaging compared to an even number. The Rule of Odds can be used to create a sense of asymmetry, tension, and visual flow:

Rule of Space

The Rule of Space emphasizes leaving empty space or room within the frame, specifically in the direction that the subject or elements are moving or looking towards. It adds a sense of direction or movement and allows the viewer to engage with the image more effectively:

Golden Ratio

The Golden Ratio, also known as the Divine Proportion or Phi (Φ), is a mathematical concept and compositional guideline used in various art forms. It is a ratio of approximately 1.618:1 and is considered aesthetically pleasing to the human eye. In photography, dividing the frame into sections based on the Golden Ratio and positioning important subjects or focal points along these divisions creates a visually appealing and balanced composition. That way, compositions that feel harmonious and naturally pleasing:

So there you have it! while not comprehensive, these guidelines may help create shots that are engaging and pleasing to the eye.

If you play FFXIV long enough you'll end up seeing a message in chat while running a duty letting folks know someone is getting raised. These are usually done via macro.

Why Do People Use Raise and Other Job Action Macros?

Raise messages basically boil down to "Other healers and raise capable members of the party, I am raising this person so don't waste your Swiftcast."

They can also communicate if this is a hard rez (no Swiftcast) and will therefore take time.

They tell you who scraped you off the floor so you have a suggestion of who to give your commendation. (This is why I appreciate others using them, personally).

They communicate part of a mechanic that another player might not know. The classic example was Paladin's Divine Veil, where they needed to be healed for the action to be completed. Although Divine Veil no longer requires it.

Creating and Editing Macros

Click the System button.

Click User Macros.

Select an empty macro or one you would like to overwrite.

In the opened macro, click the macro icon.

Select an icon to represent this macro. Or, use /micon in the macro itself to use the icon for the action.

Enter a descriptive name in the Name field, like Sage Hard Rez.

In the main body of the macro, you will enter the code of the macro, making sure each line is its own line.

Macro Components

/ac tells the system you are starting a command about an action.

"Action Name" says which action you want to use. This is job specific so you will need to make a rez macro for each job as it is Egeiro vs Raise vs Resurrection vs Ascend etc.

<wait.#> is telling the system to wait before executing the next line. The number tells the system how many seconds to wait. How long you need depends on your computer, internet connection and how congested the immediate area in game is. 2 seconds works for my current machine very well, 3 seconds worked better for my old laptop and if I'm at a world boss Fate or hunt train I don't even try to use the macro due to the long wait time needed.

/party tells the system to send the text that follows to the party chat.

<t> tells the system to substitute the name of who you are currently targeting in whatever message you are sending in chat.

<#> The number will tell the system who to target based on the position in the party list. So a 3 will target the 3rd person on the party list.

/micon "Action Name" will tell the system to give the macro the same icon as the named action.

Optimizing Rez Macro Placement on Your Hotbar

To get the most bang for your buck on your rez macro, I recommend the following order on your hotbar:

[Swiftcast] [Quick Raise Macro] [Raise] [Full Heal Action]

This set up will let you see if Swiftcast is still on cooldown. If it is you can skip your Quick Raise macro and either just click Raise directly or a Long Raise macro (which in that image is the X icon below my Quick Raise macro's icon).

Example Macros

These can all be directly copy and pasted into the body section of the macro editor.

Basic Rez Macro (RDM)

/ac "Swiftcast" <wait.2> /ac "Verraise" <wait.2> /party Raising <t>! Get back in the fight!

Hard (Long) Rez Macro (SGE)

/party Swiftcast is down! Hard rez-ing <t>! <wait.3> /ac "Egeiro"

Rez Macro with Swiftcast and Thin Air (WHM)

This is specific to WHM level 58+ and will allow you to instantly cast Raise with no MP cost to help make the most of your resources.

/ac "Swiftcast" <wait.2> /ac "Thin Air" <wait.2> /ac "Raise" <wait.2> /party Raising <t>! Get back in the fight!

Improvisation Macro (DNC)

Unless your team has played a lot of Dancer themselves they likely won't understand how Improv works. Macro messages are great for telling other people in your party what they need to do to benefit from things like DNC's Improvisation or PLD's Passage of Arms.

/micon "Improvisation" /ac "Improvisation" /party Stand near me until you hear the bongos for healing!

Aetherial Manipulation (for the BLM Who Can't Target Party Members to Literally Save Their Own Lives)

Its me, I'm that black mage. This automatically targets the third person in the party's list which will be the healer in a Light Party or the second tank in a Full Party. You will aether skate over to whoever that is.

/ac "Aetherial Manipulation" <3>

Living Dead Macro (DRK)

This is no longer required as Living Dead has been updated. But it is a good example of making a macro message fun while giving a needed instruction.

If you love Cute Clothes as much as me, these are very much for you. But if you don't really care what your character wears (or the color it is), these are completely optional.

Unlocking

You may as well do them both at once as they unlock at the same time and are both given by the same person and neither takes you out of Vesper Bay

[Image ID: screencap of Swyrgeim in Vesper Bay, to the left of her is a selection box that lists the options of two quests; Color Your World and If I Had a Glamour, Small Talk, or Nothing /end ID]

These unlock in Vesper Bay out in Western Thanalan aaallllll the way to the west, past Horizon but before the sharp turn north. you'll be out here a lot for MSQ later so remember it's location. If you get here at or around level 15 she should be the only quest marker, if I recall correctly.

[Image ID: two more screenshots of Swyrgiem, these two with quest synopses next to her. On the left is Color Your World; "Swyrgiem wants to show you a whole new world of colors." and on the right is If I Only Had a Glamour; "Swyrgiem wishes to impart to you her knowledge of glamours." /end ID]

Like the queen she is she sends you to get her drinks. If I Only Had A Glamour marks on the map who to talk to, but for Color your world you need to go to the Merchant & Mender that you can see in my caps just above the quests and the orange juice will be under Purchase Items. don't worry! it's only 7 gil.

[the rest under cut because this is Long]

I was RPing at the huge Prom event @crescent-ffxiv put on and one of my friends was having a bit of a problem keeping up. Mentioned it to them how I had my chat windows setup and they mentioned how they needed to try it out. That gave me the idea to make a short tutorial on how to get started tweeking your chat for easier RPz.

--Further Instructions Under The Cut--

Now that we know some basic lighting techniques, it's time to wander into the wild!

There's a lot that's out of your control, like weather and natural light. But let's use those to our advantage!

Supplemental Lighting

Remember: you can use the 3-point light sources and the Character lighting settings to bring attention to the subject, making it pop from the background.

In the example below, Freya is pretty dim against the background; so we position a yellow source to reinforce the torch light and a blue source to suggest moonlight.

Oh, one interesting thing about water surfaces: while point lights can't cast shadows...

...it can reflect over water surfaces!

The principle of using a point light to enhance, reinforce or suggest a source can be used anywhere: fixtures, skybox sources, armor, weapons... the sky (well, and the count of 3) is the limit.

Less is more

Simplify your shots. Visual elements draw attention away from the subject. By using Depth of Field (DoF) you can force background elements to lose focus.

Alternatively, you can look for parts of the background with fewer elements (like the sky, a cave wall, or a dark patch of a forest.)

Weather

Dungeons and open areas have wildly different lighting patterns. Don't fight it: instead, try to adjust your sources to enhance the feeling. Overcast weather gives less contrast, the same as night shots. On the other hand, Some instances can give very harsh light. Use it to your advantage.

Environment

Use it. The fact that you're not locked into place means that you can have better action shots, using the environment to help tell a story.

Also, the Golden Hour is real. Sunrises and sunsets give amazing opportunities for shots.

Night shots have their own characteristics, but they're basically similar to studio shots. So rim lights and key lights can bring subjects to the foreground, even if they're wearing dark clothing.

Sometimes the environment is the focus. Draw your character away, and let the beauty of Etheirys sink in.

Framing

Look out for structures that can help isolate your character from the background.

Now that I mentioned these points, let's see how (and why) some shots were taken!

Low contrast, DoF isolating from the noisy background, orange point light to Noemie's right, white-bluish point light to the top left.

High contrast, strong orange point light to the right of Louise, and a white point far to the left.

Here the scenario is totally irrelevant (apart from the general grey tone), So ADoF+Bubble, ADoF + Bokeh, a single white point from the sun's direction, and a high Character lighting.

Let's continue exploring the true endgame! Here's a quick guide that'll help you take more expressive facial screenshots.

The default behavior on gpose is a direct gaze facing front. It may look a bit doll-like, so we can breathe new life into it by modifying the direction the character is facing. You can toggle Face Camera by tapping Space or the Y button - the character will look straight at you (if allowed by the neck angle.)

This is good, but still somewhat lifeless. So let's modify the direction Zoltan is gazing at: you can do this by rotating the camera a bit and toggling Track Camera under Motion Settings.

Now his eyes are following the camera's position; toggle Target Motion (2) to freeze the gaze in the direction the camera is.

Now let's modify his expression! Under Motion Settings, open the Emotes list by clicking the Emotes button, and select one of the available expressions. Throw in a Lip Movement for good measure, too.

You can stack several different types of animation together, like Skill + Expression or Full Body Emote + Expression + Lip Movements:

The possibilities are endless. Here are some examples of this technique in use, with different combinations of body pose, expression, gaze and lip movements:

It's hard to overstate how important lighting is for photography in general- and the same applies to gpose shots.

This is a huge topic, so let's start with the basics!

GPose Controls

There are 3 different kinds of lighting control available when in gpose: Global, Character, and Points.

Global illumination is controlled by the manual brightness adjustment slider. This is equivalent, in real-life photography, to exposure. Character lightning has no real-life equivalent, but may be thought of as a brightness control that only influences characters and similar entities (minions, NPCs, and enemies, for example.)

GPose also gives you 3 point light sources that can be used to emulate the 3-point lighting traditional method for illuminating a subject.

Positioning a source isn't exactly intuitive: A source is placed exactly where the camera is at the moment it is toggled. So to place it you need to move the camera to the desired position, and then enable it by toggling its button.

Oddly enough, these points do NOT project shadows. (in fact, a great deal of 'glowy' elements don't, like weapons and armor.) But you can use this fact for great effects!

You can, for example, create shots with perfect dark backgrounds by strategically placing gpose light points behind objects that do not block the emitted light. You can learn more about this technique here:

Ok, so where was I? Oh, right- lighting!

Let's play around with what we just learned then. Here's a default setup for a scene: Notice that the ceiling light *do* project shadows, but it's kinda low-res. So let's set ambient light to zero and control the shades ourselves.

Some rotation and gshade filters from Neneko Colors for better luminance, color, and model shades. It's better - but still looks pretty flat.

We want to pop the character out, so let's add some highlights and rim lights. First, the hair: let's give it a lustrous shine. Camera up top and a slightly bluish point.

Now the weapon. Remember that the item itself doesn't emit light? so let's place another point with the same tone as the weapon to illuminate Louise. To her left and behind her, slightly distant so as to project on her legs as well.

And finally, a directional key light to help illuminate her face.

Her model is still too dark, so let's use the character lighting control to help with that.

Now let's make the whole scene a bit brighter. Change the brightness adjustment slider to manual mode, and bring it up as needed.

This should be a good point to compare the initial setup with our results so far, showing how much basic gpose lighting can enhance a shot.

Now that you know how it's done, it's easy to see how some of my poses were set up! Here's one with a yellow source top-right, an orange source bottom-right, and a dim white source to the left of Louise:

Or this one: A very bright white source to the left (and a bit to the front), and a dim bluish/purplish source to the bottom right. Notice how much Louise pops out of the scene.

Next, I'll talk about exterior shots, fixture light sources, and other neat things.