tutorial | WindLight presets and the new SL™ viewer

Posted on January 31, 2009 by Ana Lutetia | 11 Comments

Like almost anyone I know, I am tired of seeing poor quality pics in the fashion feeds of SL™… I have to say that I completly agree with the SL Revolution post on this subject. And, please, don’t take it personal because it isn’t at all. I also told the author to feel free to use any pics in this blog that would look weird, especially my first SL™ pics. Constructive criticism is always good and if there is a way that i could improve myself, I want to know.

Some months ago, I wrote about my WindLight presets and made them available for download. I created my own presets because the presets available washed out the avie or were simply too white, too bright – in my opinion or in my computer’s opinion. Also, it is extremely important to have your monitor calibrate, if you want to take really good pictures inSL or simply if you are playing with images in an image editor.
The latest Release Candidate 1.22 will force a lot of people to make their WindLight presets a little darker. In this next viewer, the issue that made designers tint their prims/sculpties will be solved as well as the general lighting. That means that most WL presets that are already too bright will be even brighter and will washed the avie even more.
Some people have complaint about their pics aren’t as sharp or clean as they used to be. I don’t know if it will help, but here’s my pics settings.

WindLight | Second Life® wiki
second life | windlight

Category: MV-SL-Fashion, MV-SL-Technical, MV-SL-Tutorials, fashion

Comments

11 Responses to “tutorial | WindLight presets and the new SL™ viewer”

Casandra Shilova
February 1st, 2009 @ 01:21

Thank you Ana. I’ve been unhappy with my photos lately.
WindLight presets « iheartsl.com Second Life’s largest community blog
February 1st, 2009 @ 03:52

[...] wrote a new post about it with the links to download and some screenshots. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)CoolFlick: It’s like Cooliris without the [...]
Faerie
February 1st, 2009 @ 05:50

Thank Ana.

I have one question – I notice that you take your pictures at 3200 x 2420 which isn’t a multiple of your screen size 1024 x 774. Do you have any problems with this such as distortions?

Thanks

Faerie
Ana Lutetia
February 1st, 2009 @ 05:56

Faerie → Actually, I take my pics at 3173×2400 but in my computer their sizes is 3176×2399. I write 3200, then 2400 and let SL give me the *final* size instead of *forcing* my own size. (Did I made any sense?) And, no, I don’t have distortions issues. I used to take my pics at 1600×1200 and didn’t had any issues either. The only issue I have is a black line on the right. I will show you:

largest size

But that only happens inside the studio.

largest size

And, for my articles for Second Style I take pics at 6000×4000.
Nieve Thor
February 1st, 2009 @ 06:31

Thanks for the setting. I used to have problem when taking pictures with cream or white outfit.
Softpaw
February 1st, 2009 @ 07:50

I noticed you have both to email and to hard disk settings shown. Which do you use most and feel give the better shots?
no end
February 1st, 2009 @ 09:33

i think you must be one of the only people using atmospheric shaders. turn it off and the lighting looks better. face lights still look better and all the top screenshot kitties that take the best shots don’t use atmospheric shaders. you can add your own lighting tricks in photoshop but the SL one is pretty ugly and people look awful without a face light yet there’s a conflict with some that don’t have soft tones which look bad at times too. those lines by the mouth etc.. which is why AS off and FL attached is the pro way to go.
London Spengler
February 1st, 2009 @ 10:59

Thank you; I stored the link to check it in deep when I have time (probably in one of those two thursdays weeks, but I will give it a try :-p).

Anyway, I have a suggestion: with a high resolution, whouldn’t it better to deactivate the snapshot Auto Refresh? It takes soo much time to update!
Ana Lutetia
February 1st, 2009 @ 18:23

Nieve Thor → for cream or white outfits I use a black background

Softpaw → the first thing I do is set to 100% in the email menu; that’s why it is shown

no end → Thanks for the tip! I don’t edit my pics in Photoshop and I don’t use a facelight. The lines on the mouth are from the skin itself.
Can you tell me how do I turn off the AS…?

London Spengler → emailed you my presets
Prad Prathivi
February 2nd, 2009 @ 01:21

Great share, Ana! I definately be trying these settings out!
Review & Windlight Settings | Malt Fashions
February 2nd, 2009 @ 16:10

[...] how to achieve this, along with some of her own Windlight Plugins for download. Read and download here. Thanks Ana!! [...]