Taking better screen shots

[Turoskel]

Ah I see, so better for staged shots rather then spontaneous ones like that proposal, unpausing would have helped but then i'd miss the moment they do it so fast.

I shall know in future to have that cheat on before they do anything I might wish to screenshot, assuming I know it will happen of course, I do love the surprises that mod gives me but I also curse the timing on occasion.

[Toni]

If you dont mind using the buy debug cheat there are some lights that cost nothing and don't show up in live mode. I'm not completely sure where they are but they are very good for screenshots.

[Katie123urgreat]

The lights are found when you go Sort by something (other than the room). Go into the buydebug section and go into Misc. The lights should be there.

[Forest_Bear]

I spend ages taking screenshots of my sims and even more time taking nature shots xD
Some times I get annoyed If I just miss the right angle or I bump my mouse on accident and loose my position

For some reason I find Twinbrook to be a lovely place to take screenshots.


I use tab a lot. Some of the expressions sims make crack me up xD


And I dont recomend night shots....well for all life states besides Vampires. Their eyes look so cool in dark light!



This thread has some really good hints! Im going to try to play around with the lighting...

[Tilia]

Getting inside the school bus is pretty easy for screenshots, but how are you guys getting inside the limo at prom for the photos?  I can't seem to manage it.

[saltpastillen]

You have to press tab, and then move closer, so that you go inside the limo. You should then me able to see the people inside.

[samoht04]

I'm going to merge this topic with our main Screenshots thread where you'll find more information on using the tab mode and also some other cool tricks.  Just read back a few pages and you'll find people explaining how to use the tab mode, it's worth reading from the start though - there are plenty of examples of screenshots!

[Alexrandia]

I just discovered another thing today while trying samoht's previous tip about using the "flame" light color (which is great). You can also change the brightness of the lights too, which is very helpful, especially for night-time indoor shots.

[Vanillin]

Wow, you guys gave some really good advice. I tried out the angle and lightning ones and it surprisingly made a dramatic difference.

I'm not sure if you can tell but the left side of the building (from our perspective) is more blue-ish. I changed the left streetlamb's color into a dim blue light and turned off the right streetlamb. I didn't take a comparison picture but before doing that the building looked... well... dead. (Yes, that was intentional )

^ Some of my shots look like this for some reason. It could make a nice screenshot but the building's transparent. I haven't been able to figure out which setting is the one that causes that. I'm pretty sure the draw distance was "High" at the time. Does anyone know which setting causes that? Or would you guys mind sharing your settings so that I could try them out?
Oh, and another question: When posting stories, which screenshot size do you prefer? (if you alter it, that is)
Thanks in advance. ^^

[Emily Redbird]

Gosh, I wish I'd found this thread sooner. I was trying to write a story, and some of the screenshots were good, but most of them I was ashamed of. I got a shot of my sim's first kiss - but you could only see their hair, because I didn't change the angle

I think I might start over and do it right this time... or I could just pretend my sim was too busy to take pictures, but would still like to tell us about it. Maybe?

I've gotten a tip from Tilia before telling me the tab key is my friend, but I didn't understand what she meant. Thank you so much for the great tips! I've really learned a lot

~Emily^.^

[wickedjr89]

I am only an amateur or maybe even a beginner in photo taking but I do use some of the tips mentioned here. The tab button is amazing, you can get a lot of shots utilizing the tab button to go into camera man mode than without it, as has been mentioned. I also usually have the hideheadlineeffects on cheat on to get rid of the thought bubbles and skill bars. I play with walls down but when I take a picture I pause the game and put walls up.

[shaunta]

Has anyone tried to use moviemaker to take screenshots? I had been wondering if you could get some "scripted" scenes played out and take pictures of it. Any advice does any one think this would work?

[Saltypaws]

I have only used moviemaker to have my sims do certain poses for screenshots.  I think there is other things you can do with that cheat, but I am not really sure how to use it.  The poses are quite cute and do make for neat shots, especially when you can have do certain faces that you miss during gameplay.  I might have to experiment with it to see what else it does.

[Chuckles_82]

For anyone struggling to get the close-up screenshots, click and hold the RMB while moving the mouse slightly forward. Holding your scroll button will change the angle, but not the position of your shot. The arrow keys will move the camera by exact increments, so I prefer the RMB method. Also, the zoom in and out button is great for including/excluding more of the room, but it adds a concave/convex effect, so you don't want to zoom out too far, or the furthest objects look too distorted. If you want to include more of a room in one shot, you could try taking several screenshots and making a panorama.

[shaunta]

I have only used moviemaker to have my sims do certain poses for screenshots.  I think there is other things you can do with that cheat, but I am not really sure how to use it.  The poses are quite cute and do make for neat shots, especially when you can have do certain faces that you miss during gameplay.  I might have to experiment with it to see what else it does.

Awesome! I just might have to give it a try soon for some shots in my story. Thanks Saltypaws [Love your user name by the way!]