#screenshot tutorial

Sure! I used to use Chrome, but I started using Firefox now so I'll cover both (though they’re pretty similar anyways!)- First thing, obviously, you'll want to make sure you're logged into Netflix in your preferred browser. This method doesn't work on the actual Netflix app!

Next, if you're using Chrome, go into your settings. Find the setting called 'Use Hardware Acceleration when Available' and flip the switch ‘off’. This prevents the Netflix site from censoring the video player the instant you try to take a screenshot:

If you're using Firefox you should be able to skip this step and go straight to taking screenshots. (However, if you do have trouble, the equivalent setting seems to be 'Use Recommended Performance Settings' and can be unchecked). Next, pick your favorite screenshot tool. I like to use Xbox Game Bar that comes built into Windows 10. You can pull it up by pressing the Windows button + G. The first time you use it, it may ask you if the browser is a game (I can't remember or get it to pull this option up again...), just tell it that it is to get full access to the tools it will give you. Finally, find the scene you want to screenshot and pause the video. Go full screen for the best resolution (and to save yourself some cropping). Initially, you’ll see video player settings like this:

Simply wait a moment, and those will go away! As soon as they do, quickly press Windows + G, then click the camera icon in the upper left corner. And you’ll get a perfect screenshot!

Now, if you wait too long, you may get something like this:

Cutting out text bubbles/anything with rounded corners from messy backgrounds! Particularly useful for Sims, but I’ll post it here and reblog it on @nephaelia-sims​ Just because I literally just figured it out myself lol (and I’ve been using this for how long??? lol)

As the big bold letters above state, here’s a very small screenshot tutorial for you! I use Gshade in game, but most of this will be taken with it turned off.

Part 1. Lighting and Location

Arguably the most important part. There are a lot of pretty locations in the game, but how your screenshots turn out will depend on a lot of things such as lighting, time of day, etc. If you go to a very bright location and have a very pale character, they may get washed out. Similarly, if you have a character with dark skin, in dark clothes, and you go to a very dark shadowy location, you’re going to lose a lot of detail.

For the lighting, I really prefer ‘natural’ lighting, by which I mean light sources in game. In my photostudio above, you can see I have several lamps. I actually don’t like the lighting option in Gpose.

(I forgot to turn off my HUD lol) The first screenshot has the floor lamp turned on, vs floor lamp turned off. Its subtle, but it makes a huge difference.

Part 2. Posing and angles

So here’s Dijana making the quintessential dark knight pose. It’s all well and good, but pretty boring.

Simply changing the angle and how close the camera is makes it look far more interesting. Sometimes setting your character off center can make a big impact in the overall composition too.

Part 3. Screen Effects and Colour Filters

Even though I said I dont like the gpose lighting, using it with low values to make it subtle can be nice to add some more definition.

A few of the GPose colour filters are really nice. The ones shown here are Bright 3 and Pastel 1. Some others I really like though, depending on location, are Bright 1, Coloured Marker 1 and 2, Pastel 2 and Echo.

I don’t use screen effects often, usually just Sakura, but Brilliant 1 and 2 can make some really nice effects.

Limb Darkening set at 1 can also be nice- it’s subtle but adds more focus to the central image (if you post off center, probably not a good idea to use it.)

Part 4. Gshade

This part isn’t necessary, but Gshade has SO many presets that can really change the image. Some have their own backgrounds and effects added to the image. They are not used for gameplay at all (though there are some gameplay presets to be found). Here’s an example of a few used here (colour filter has been set back to normal for these)

Part 5. Image Editing

Another optional step, and unless Im doing a full repaint of a screenshot, it’s sometthing Im usually not bothered to do. Using programs like photoshop, paint tool sai, etc, you can add more definition and effects. Here’s a quick 30 second subtle edit of the last screenshot.

Part 6. CMTool

And one more optional step that involves a 3rd party program. This is the program that lets you load custom poses onto any character and change appearances. This is how I take screenshots of Dijana and G’raha for example, by turning a smn egi or chocobo into his character model then posing them together.

And that’s about it. When I take screenshots, I often take multiples of the same pose, using different angles, filters and gshade presets. Lets end with some of my favourite examples.

In my Swedish literature series I always link where you can find the books in both languages. Though it might be a little scary to buy from a Swedish website if you’re a beginner in the language. Even if Google Translate is a thing, I figured that I’d make a tutorial on how to shop on Bokus.

The series: 1 | 2 | more to come... 

📘 Keep in mind that Bokus ships to these countries:

Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland (incl. Åland), France, Faroe Islands, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (not the Canary Islands), UK, Sweden, South Korea, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Austria.

Not: Denmark or USA

📘 Bokbörsen seems to ship anywhere. 

Note: Mind you the tutorial took me at least 7 hours to make. I took the screenshots a month ago and postponed the editing part because I knew it would take all day, which it did. But I’m happy with how it turned out like and I hope it’ll be helpful to some of you! 💖✨

Double click on the photos for better viewing quality. 

(Well goodnight then, I’m tired)

Last edited: 2020.06.07

A while ago I got a request for advice on what sorts of visual references to provide an artist you are commissioning, and ever since then I’ve been meaning to whip up a guide. And then the guide became several guides because I have specific tips for specific things. I’ve bought a lot of commissions AND I am an artist myself, so I have experience on both sides of the transaction. As such, I have definitely learned how to make life easier both for the person paying and for the person drawing. 

Tips are below the cut.

My monitor resolution is 1440p. 

SRWE allows you to ‘hotsample’ -- which means you can render the game window at any size (resolution and/or aspect ratio) you desire, take a picture, and then return the window back to its normal size for regular gameplay.

To anyone else reading this, to see if you think you can benefit from hotsampling, here is a comparison picture from Dragon Age: Inquisition of a 1080p picture and the same image taken at 6k resolution. Note: The difference isn’t as noticeable in TS4 because the models are less detailed, but imo it’s still worth it.

I wrote a tutorial on SRWE for Mass Effect: Andromeda users, but it works in the same way for TS4 and any game that allows for the changing of the window size. It gives a good overview of what downsampling and hotsampling are, why they matter for good image quality, and step-by-step instructions to use it (in ME:A, but you can just substitute every mention of that for TS4 and it will work the same way).

TUTORIAL: How to use SRWE for hotsampling and multiple aspect ratios.

As for your specific question, @bsimth -- there’s not necessarily one specific reason your screenshots might not be looking as good as your game looks to you. It could be anything from compression method, to picture size, to the tool used to take the shots. (Presumably if the game looks nice and the screenshots don’t you already have the necessary resolution stuff all set up properly.)

To understand whether it’s directly related to your new monitor resolution I’d first recommend reading over the hotsampling tutorial above, particularly the part where I describe what hotsampling and, more importantly, downsampling actually are and why they provide good image quality. 

In short, taking a picture at a high resolution means there are more pixels available to draw all the information about the models being rendered on screen. This provides more detail and is a very good version of anti-aliasing. Still, if you are viewing that image on a huge screen (in terms of dimensions, not resolution) the benefit is going to be less noticeable than when viewed on a slightly smaller screen (in terms of dimensions and/or resolution), because of downsampling. This doesn’t seem related to your problem of the game looking nice but the shots not looking nice, unless for some reason whatever tool you’re taking the shots with is taking them at a smaller resolution than the game is rendering them at. 

So the first question I’d ask is: are your screenshots coming out at 4k in size when you look at their dimensions? The second question I’d ask is what tool you’re using to take your screenshots (and specifically, are you using ReShade and if so are you using TS4′s screenshot capture C to take the picture or ReShade’s key/an external tool)?

By request, I’m going to teach you how I edit my screenshots! 

I feel like my setup is very simple, so I don’t think this will be confusing.

(though there will be many screenshots throughout)

You will have A+ screenies in no time fam!

Program Used: Photoshop CS5 Portable (Message me for link to Windows download!)

~*Starts under the cut*~