Insimenator.org

When people have pictures of their sims how are the pics so clear and flawless is there a program or something?:snorting:

PLEASE HELP!

Photoshop is a good program.

maybe their video cards have something to do with the quality of the pictures?

Actually, you can touch-up pictures with a paint program/photoshop. I've done it myself.

Or you can use Photobucket or Imageshack.

Barely.  ;)  It factors in a little, but like EKozski said, a lot of it is photo enhancements and touch-ups done through an image-editing program like Photoshop, GIMP, and nowdays even Photobucket has options for enhancement.  :angel:

It's a combination of both video card and touching up with an image-editing program. The better the card you have, the less touch-ups you'll have to do. I have a great (pair) of video cards and do very little editing. So you're all right :)

BTW, I use Photoshop CS2

well it is either a good graphics card or it's because they are taking pictures using the printscreen (PrtScn) button on your keyboard, doing that can sometimes really give your sims pictures that good quality, the camera in-game is quite cr@ppy

Oh and maybe a good photoshop programme :D

-tweaking in-game pic options
-graphics card awesomeness
-good photo editing program (For the record, I use Paint.NET)

in case you dont have photoshop [i have it but have a very hard time understanding it] you can dowload a similar program for free[just google it or something] called photoscape..its amazing =)

I use Gadwin Printscreen for my story pics now (so that I can save the pictures without going in and out of the game all the time - remember: save as TIFF files) and Adobe Photoshop CS3 (plus that I've got around 3-4 years of experience using the programme at school and also a digital photography course)

also, turn all graphics up ingame, and if you still want to use the C-button pics, use the largest picture size available.

In photoshop I also use the brightness/contrast option (in the layer panel) for getting a small colour boost to the pics (but don't take it too far - it can make the pic look ugly wiht too much of it, as goes with all filters and so on. Less is more!), and I also use the smart sharpen filter before resizing a picture (this helps a lot - but don't put on too much). I also mostly use PNG files since JPG files have a tendency to turn down the picture quality a little.

and also remember that the less editing a picture needs after it's taken, the better it is, and the less work it is for you afterwards. There are also plenty of picture taking/editing tutorials both here at insim and on the MTS2-related sites.

hope this helps :)

Just a combination of good graphics card, turning smooth edges on (as well as maxing everything else) and using PrintScreen (I use Gadwin which saves the pics instead of just copying to the clipboard) can make all the difference. Sharpening before resizing is all I have to do after that for pics like this...


... and you can do that in Photobucket if you don't have any software.

Of course, if you want to spruce them up a little (or a lot!), you'll need something like Photoshop. This Photoscape looks very interesting too, I'll have to check that out - thanks for that karla :)

@theraven: Is there a difference between capturing in TIFF and saving as PNG, to capturing in PNG and saving in JPG with max settings? I gather JPG shrinks the file size, which is kinder on bandwidth when you're loading the page :dontknow: If there's a visible difference, on the other hand.. :?

Sadie, I know there's a definite difference, because I save my images as TIFF files myself.  When I updated my GIMP, I noticed how BMP files would always open up blue/green/yellow and kind of oddish, in both GIMP and my main editing program (even though the thumbnail previews showed the shots in normal colors)... and PNG files had this "layering" about it that would screw up when you saved your edited image (for example, say you had hair and clothes that used alphas, and they were in your pictures.  Instead of the alpha channels staying transparent, where they're supposed to be, once you save your edited image, the "transparent" areas turn "grey").  I suppose this doesn't quite happen to everyone, but it has happened on my end... and annoyed me, because it never happened before until I updated.  :dontknow:

TIFF files open up without such issues for me, and they don't "compress" like BMP, JPG, and PNG files (even though PNG compresses less than JPG and BMP, it still compresses nonetheless)... meaning you won't loose the full quality from that after editing or cropping your shots and saving them as JPG files.  Plus the fact that they seemingly save at a consistent file size.  All of my TIFF images are less than 3MB, while I notice all my old BMP and PNG files are all over the place from 1MB-6MB.  May not be too noticeable at first, but I tried it out after I found out PNG are compressed a little after first saving.  Hardly any difference, except in file size. :smile bi:

This picture was taken in game. No print screen. I just hit the camera, and used Gimp to sharpen it a bit, then soften.

My graphics aren't on high, I didn't smooth it out. It was saved as a JPG file. And, I have a crappy video card.

(http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk78/ekozski/snapshot_7573c031_35803d94.jpg)

LOL...OK, I can't resist...I have to jump on the bandwagon. I'm going to show you the differences between using the in game camera and printscreen/Gadwin and the difference between cards.

This is using my old Radeon 9650 (256mb) card and the in game camera, with my settings all on high and smooth edges on, etc and no photoshop editting to speak of.  It's ok, but I can do better.

(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g54/caffeinatedjoy/The%20James%20Family/Showingofffordad.jpg)

Now this next one is with the same card, taken with Gadwin. I adjusted the lighting and sharpened it. Better.

(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g54/caffeinatedjoy/Contests/Manof%20the%20Year/Spring.jpg)

Now this is taken using my new(er) dual Radeon x1950 (512mb) cards. I used Gadwin and the only touchup work I did was to use the smart sharpen tool set at something ridiculously low like 18%.

(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g54/caffeinatedjoy/Insim%20RP/College%20Life/GenePlaypuddle1.jpg)

*is in envy over graphics cards with 512MB...*  :drool:

If only I had the money and proper computer for such... I'm going nuts with my random lag moments on my poor (and gradually failing) 128MB card.  :(

Oh well.  One can dream.  :lol:

LOL Tenshii...I scrimped and saved for quite a while to get 1/2 what I needed for the computer I had built for me last year. Then...much to my glee, I made a good trade on some options I had with a company I worked for and got the rest of the money I needed. So, it was part spendthrifty saving and good deal of luck that got me my nice, droolworthy machine ;)

good explanation, tenshii :)

I use TIFF instead of photoshop files now. My computer can't read the photoshop-files other than inside photoshop itself, but it can read TIFF files (for previews, I mean). After finishing everything on the picture, I save a copy of it without layers and resized (for posting) as PNG, while saving a TIFF file with layers too.

I always save the original untouched TIFF file (in case something goes wrong with the copies), a TIFF file with layers, and a PNG file for posting (or JPG sometimes).

The one thing I can't figure out is, how you get that "glossy, glaze" effect on pictures?

Drives me batty.

I have to check this gadwin out. Thanks for the info.

Glossy glaze? Not sure what you mean...

That shiney sheen on pictures. Makes it look like a 8x10 glossy photo

Oh! I think I know what you mean...is it on the pictures I took? That's what happens when you use anything but the in game camera. The detail is much better with PrtScn or Gadwin. The in game camera loses alot of quality. :)

OK.

I have Gadwin.

Thanks to Tenshii.

Oh, I know what you mean. It's known as the warming technique - different people do it different ways, but generally it involves these steps:

• Duplicate the layer
• Gaussian blur (set at 1-3)
• Change blending mode to soft light (some use overlay)
• Adjust the lighting (brightness/contrast or some other way)
• Flatten the image

Then the old sharpen and resize. There are different ways explained in Contest Central - think there's a separate thread for Photoshop tutorials, but it doesn't just cover that program :)

Thank you so much for explaining that.

I actually copied your directions and pasted it in, Notepad. This way, I'll always have it.

Later on, I'll practice on a picture.

With the warming technique, it's a good idea to be careful. If your picture has a lot of dark colour in it already, warming will just make the colours bleed together and make the picture too dark. I rarely use it.

A couple good threads to look at:

How to TAKE pictures (http://www.insimenator.org/showthread.php?t=19580)

Photoshop Tutorials/General Photo Editing links and advice (http://www.insimenator.org/showthread.php?t=22677)

Very helpful stuff, CJ

I raise my coffee mug to you!

Thank you!

I am floored! OMG, I can see all the details in my pics now, since I got Gadwin!  I haven't used a paint program yet, all I did was cropped the pic and it is wonderful. Ooo, can't wait to play around with this. Now to learn how to use a paint program.

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c278/mailchaser40/A%20sim%20man%20house/Monterey%20Beach/Monterey%20part%20duex/YourgansDay.jpg)

All this time, I thought I had a crappy video card. I don't even have my card turned all the way up!

See? Didn't we tell you it was much better than using that crappy ingame camera! :clapp:

So much better! Thanks so much for the tips! Looks like I could understand it better in this thread. *dense*