Here are a few tips to ensure your screenshots are the best quality they can be! Good screenshots mean great graphics. ;)
Please read this page carefully BEFORE submitting your screenshots to me. It will save us both a lot of time, and it will ensure that your screenshots are the very best they can be.
Good screenshots make great signatures, just like crappy screenshots make mediocre signatures.
If your screenshot quality is poor, I may ask you to take better screenshots, following my guidelines, before I start work on your sig. To avoid any such delay, please try to make sure your screenshots are top-notch quality BEFORE you send them to me!
Good screenshots make great signatures, just like crappy screenshots make mediocre signatures.
If your screenshot quality is poor, I may ask you to take better screenshots, following my guidelines, before I start work on your sig. To avoid any such delay, please try to make sure your screenshots are top-notch quality BEFORE you send them to me!
I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO DECLINE YOUR GRAPHICS REQUEST IF THESE GUIDELINES ARE NOT FOLLOWED.
General
- To take a screenshot, just hit the "Print Screen" key (typically located above and to the right of the "Backspace" key on your keyboard).
- All screenshots are stored in your "/EverQuest II/screenshots" folder.
- Hide your UI by pressing the "F10" key twice. (The first hit toggles all windows to opaque; the second hit toggles all windows off; hitting "F10" a third time will return your UI to normal.)
Settings
- In "Options > Display > Texture Resolution" in-game, set "Character Texture Resolution" to "Maximum."
- In "Options > Display > Lighting" in-game, tick the box next to "Specular lighting." This adds shine to your eyes, hair, and -- most importantly -- armor!
- In "Options > Display > Flora" in-game, untick the box next to "Flora." This will prevent any part of your character from being hidden or distorted by grass, shrubs, or flowers.
- In "Options > User Interface > Screen Shot" in-game, slide your "JPEG Quality" all the way up to "100" OR untick the box next to "JPEG Format." (Doing one of these two actions will make sure that your screenshots contain as little "junk" ("JPEG artifacts") as possible.)
- For item-by-item descriptions of what all of the in-game display options mean and control -- and to squeeze the best possible quality AND performance out of your system -- read this great article on the EQ2 Official Forums:
"The Complete Guide to Display Settings Options"
Appearance
- Try to take your screenshots outside during the daytime when there is lots of sunlight. Sunlight also means heavy shadows, though, so be aware that obstructive shadows may be falling across your character's face and try to orient your character and camera to minimize them.
- Unequip any items that give off light effects (Luminous Bottle, Tinkered Lantern, Greater Lightstone, Glowing Black Stone, etc.), as they will distort your character's natural skin, hair, and clothing colors.
- Please cancel any spells that cause light or particle effects around your character. You might not notice them because they're "always on," but they can obstruct parts of your character and contaminate otherwise good lighting.
- Don't take your screenshots in zones with colored atmospheric lighting or a lot of haze in the air. Again, they will distort your character's natural coloration. Here are some examples of zones to steer clear of when taking sig-quality screenshots:
- The Peat Bog - yellows, browns (generally dingy lighting)
- Feerrott - yellows, greens
- Nektulos Forest - greens (generally low-light)
- Lavastorm - reds, purples (generally low-light)
- Everfrost - blues
- Greater Faydark - purples (generally low-light)
- Unless you specifically want your character in a certain pose, don't take screenshots while mounted -- particularly on the flying carpets, where what would normally be simple face-on shots tend to take on a fisheye-lens-type distortion. If this is fine with you, then it's fine with me, but just keep in mind that standing upright or performing an emote while unmounted tends to give better results.
- Please remove your cloak, weapons, and shield before taking screenshots. Cloaks can overlap armor on your shoulders, weapons and shields overlap armor on your torso, and all of these items can hide the outline of your character's physique. Sometimes they can be easily erased, but sometimes it's not easy at all! Removing them makes sure that as much of your character is visible as possible.
Examples
These are examples of BAD screenshots.
As you can see, the texture quality and level of overall detail is very low. The JPEG quality is poor, resulting in rough and pixelated edges ("JPEG artifacts"). The colors bleed into each other and merge into large blocks in low-detail areas.
"Phantom colors" tend to appear in these blocks, further distorting natural colors and details. (Phantom colors are colors that aren't supposed to be where they appear; they tend to run in complementary pairs: red/green, blue/orange, purple/yellow. For instance, areas of red in a low-quality graphic can have flecks of green, as illustrated on the leather tunic in the graphic on the left.)
These are examples of GOOD screenshots.
The texture quality and level of overall detail in these images is very high. The JPEG quality is good, resulting in smooth and well-defined edges. The colors do not bleed into each other and fine details are clear and sharp.
Submission Instructions
- Don't edit your screenshot(s)! I can adjust an image just about any way it needs to be adjusted, but this is easiest to do with the raw original version. It's very difficult to un-adjust an image that's already been edited.
- Don't resize your screenshot(s)! I can shrink large images as needed, but I can't enlarge small images without losing a great deal of detail. Some email clients or webmail interfaces (such as Hotmail) will shrink large images unless you tell them not to; make sure the image(s) you send haven't been resized by this kind of third-party program. (To bypass this feature in Hotmail, attach each screenshot as a "file" rather than as a "photo.")
- Don't convert your screenshot(s) to another file format! Attach the files straight out of your screenshots directory. Converting them to another file format (such as from TGA to JPEG) runs the risk of decreasing the image quality.
- A selection of screenshots is best. The basics:
- Two or more close-up shots of the face (from the bottom center of the collarbone to above the top of the head) from different angles.
- Two or more shots of the torso or body (from the waist or knees up) from different angles.
- Two or more "action" shots (fighting, performing emotes, etc.) of the torso or body from different angles.
- If you specified in your request that you want images of particular in-game items included in your sig as props, you must send me images of them. It's impossible for me to take images of all the in-game weapons, armor, mounts, etc. myself, so if you want something specific included on your sig, you will need to provide me with an image to use. If you don't have or can't send me the imagery you want included, it will have to be left out. (Icons and other graphics such as guild cloak heraldry don't count here, since I have access to all of those files on my own machine.)
- If you specified in your request that you will be submitting screenshots, I will not begin work on your graphic until I have received them.
- If you also requested a portrait, keep in mind that the size of your finished portrait will depend on the size and quality of the screenshots you send me, although I will do my best to meet the size requirements you specified.
- To submit your screenshots after filling out my request form, just attach them to an email addressed to eq2@lunaclick.net. You will receive a non-automated confirmation email when your screenshots have been received.
- If you can't or won't be able to take quality screenshots for your sig, you have another option! If a Screenshot Photographer Volunteer is available on your server, you can make an appointment with them to get some high-quality screenshots taken. Please check out the SPV thread on the EQ2 Official Forums for more information!
I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO DECLINE YOUR GRAPHICS REQUEST IF THESE GUIDELINES ARE NOT FOLLOWED.