Screenshot archers give me your tips.

[beck11]

So Im looking to maybe dabble in some screenshot and maybe video taking in Skyrim and Im wondering if anyone has some tips to get me started. Im currently not really set up for anything yet so I need mods or tools that might be useful to look into.

 

1. Currently using Rudy enb, if there is a better enb for taking pics and videos let me know.

2. Im using Customize camera mod which comes with a handy freecam button. Let me know if there is something better or has more option I could look into. Prefer to keep it to 3rd person view most of the time.

3. Pose mods are not something I have any experience with but so far I know the Halo pose mod is the most popular but it seems cumbersome to use. Hoping there is a better alternative.

 

And any other things that might be useful to get or know about.

 

Cheers.

[myuhinny]

Halofarms pose mod is a lot better then what it use to like before you had to download 3 or so of their pose mods and install them now they are all in mod. Gomaperopero has some poses. http://gomaperopero.tumblr.com/

[Guest]

Which ENB you use is usually down to preference but I'd avoid SweetFX-only "performance ENBs" which just look terrible. If you can't run an ENB constantly, like myself, change the .ini to disable the ENB on startup and enable it in-game when you need it.

A popular camera mod is FreeFlyCam which I'd definitely recommend for it's rotating and especially the scrolling FOV feature. Probably a good idea to go easy on the rotation feature if you do use it. A lot of people find themselves rotating the camera way too much and over-saturating their screenshots with it. If you are going to use it, it's best to rotate during dynamic scenes like when a character is running or fighting, etc. It can also be useful to emulate confusion and disorientation. Simple poses with a rotated camera can still work but I try to avoid it when I can. 

For pose mods, there's this thread which lists about all the pose mods you'll ever need. It's usually a good idea to stick with either Halo's or Gomapero's Posers depending on what kind of feel you want your poses to give off (Gomapero's are usually more exaggerated and flamboyant) and then add one or two more posers of your choice. If you reach the animation cap in FNIS, there's an XXL version that you can get as well. 

Make sure to check out FaceLight, NiOverride Pose Adjustments, and HTools for extra utilities. 

[Jexsam]

Facelight is something you should use sparingly.  It has its uses, such as close-ups, lighting the face in tight spaces, and subtle light in already well-lit situations, but it can very quickly start to look unnatural.  Instead, where possible, try SSAssist Tools.  It has its drawbacks too; it's not good in tight spaces and can sometimes make a character look as though they were photoshopped into an image.  But it provides much better, more natural-looking light, and has several built-in color options for adding a flair to scenes.

 

Of the pose mods in the thread Artsick linked, my top recommendations (other than the ubiquitous Halo's Poser) would be Fuwa Poses, KinokoPose, Nise Poser, and Wulf Poser.  Gomaperopero's poses are too over-the-top for me, but if a more anime aesthetic is something you want, definitely look into it.  Further, if you find yourself needing more weapon poses than Nise or Halo's provide, Render Poses is pretty good, and includes a lot of poses for weapon types you just don't see many poses made for, if at all (you'd be amazed how hard it is to find a good pose for bows...).

 

Also.  While this may not be a concern for you for a while since you're new, I personally feel it's very important to install mods that add new, large locations to the game, especially if they provide different environments to shoot in.  Azura's Watch kicks ass; Beyond Skyrim: Bruma is perfect if you're a lore nut like me and also want a lusher, greener place to take shots; and Abandoned Temple has some great, somewhat lore-friendly locations to take advantage of.  And on that note, beautification of your lighting effects isn't the only thing that you'll want spiced up - vanilla locations need some love too!  JK's Skyrim does a beautiful job cluttering up the cities and towns of Skyrim in a believable way, making them much nicer backgrounds for screenshots.

 

I'll echo the suggestion for NiOverride Pose Adjustments.  It is to pose mods what Bodyslide is to body mods - it takes what was once static and turns it into something you can tweak and customize to fit your specific needs and wants in a given situation.  It has its limitations, but the sheer power even in small adjustments to existing poses cannot be overstated.

 

And lastly, don't rely on ENB as a crutch.  They're amazing, don't get me wrong - the depth of field functionality alone makes them an invaluable asset - but the foundation of a good screenshot, like any photography, is your composition.  A badly composed pic with a beautiful ENB is still a bad pic!  But even a mediocre ENB will elevate a good pic.

[Frankfranky]

Poser Hotkeys takes all the hassle out of all your pose mods, and all the rings and crap. So good. The poser data.exe will even find poses in your sexlab mods and you can use them without starting an animation through sex (mb not quite as much fun)

FootIK off spell makes feet look normal in poses. Absolutely required if you are sick of cutting all your shots off at the knees.

Jannox positioner - put stuff, inc people, exactly where you want them.

[aljustineg]

since some poser use ring and stuffs why not try this one Poser module for OSA

[Guest]

11 hours ago, KisakiChika said:

pray for good lighting, haha 

There was a small tutorial I saw recently that someone posted basically showing that they will place light sources themselves through the Creation Kit for perfect lighting but I can't seem to find it. Either way, it's a little too much overkill I guess. A good alternative can be using Jaxonz Positioner if you enable seeing light sources. You can just moves those like you would any static and increase the size/intensity of them. Jexsam also mentioned SSAssist Tools but I haven't tried that before. If you're really desperate you can just mess around in your ENB settings in-game and see how it turns out. I'm sure you already know all this but I'm suggesting it to keep along with the topic

 

10 hours ago, aljustineg said:

since some poser use ring and stuffs why not try this one Poser module for OSA

This is great and I use it a lot, especially with the merged esp which doesn't require any unwanted poses to make it work. The only problem is that this mod hasn't been updated since August last year so I doesn't have support for a lot of Halo's newer poses and Gomapero's as well. There are patches which you can find in the support topic but it still doesn't support all of Halo's poses (due to the update a few days ago) and newer posers from the last year like Render and Knox.

[idle]

Use this and this and snapdragon's DOF (it's a rather heavy one though).

 

On 30.12.2017 at 6:17 PM, KisakiChika said:

pray for good lighting, haha 

Yep, either that or place your own lights or move existing ones around. You can make light sources visible with Jaxon's positioner and move them with it. Alternatively move them with console commands. This mod allows you to place your own lights. (Although I would edit the RGB values of the tinted lights because they are very saturated)

[Antrox]

Facelight for dim face lighting but if the lighting is truly garbage in that particular area. Use Rail Light or SIMA. Also pose mods are easy. Just download a pack and use the Hotkeys or the rings it comes with. Most of the poses are labeled in halos poser.

[beck11]

Thanks for the tips. Im still trying to find an ENB to settle on so I have not crossed that hurdle yet. Settling on SnapDragon for now because I like the way it makes skin look in some of the profiles.

 

Lighting is definitely the most important factor for me so being able to manipulate light source will be useful for sure.

[Caulator]

Console commands are handy. I use often:

"set gamehour to x" (where x is hour you want)

"fw 81a" makes weather clear and sunny

[Guest]

I think it can be useful to vary your approach too. For instance, instead of trying to control everything as though you're working in a studio, sometimes you'll get the best lighting, the best backdrop, the best subject and spontaneous inspiration of what you want to capture just by playing the game. 

 

Get intimately familiar with console commands rather than just using mods, it's is a very good way to learn how to control things absolutely on the fly and with no prior set up at all, guerrilla style. You can get all the ad hoc lighting you'll ever need in a dark scene just by dropping torches in odd places, or casting magelight onto a distant alcove or whatever.  

 

If you have any experience at all of photography that goes even a little beyond snapshots,  the basic principles are unsurprisingly, essentially the same. 

 

'A Photographer in Skyrim'

 

'How to Take a Perfect Screenshot'

 

'How to Take Screenshots in Skyrim'

 

'Screenshot Console Commands'

 

Magelight tweaks

 

Say you find a nice wooded glade, the sun is just in the right spot, there are dapples of shadow and soft shafts scintillating through the canopy. What this scene needs is a naked maiden tied to a tree, and an approaching pack of trolls with stonking hard-ons. You will need:

 

- poser mods

- sexy time boom boom mods

- console commands to summon mobs, make them compliant, change or freeze time, call in some morning mist via a weather id, arrange placement, disable collision etc

- an aesthetic eye  

 

[Caulator]

Nice!

For HUD, when I want IT dissapear for screenshot, I change opacity on menu all the way to the left. No need for console command or mods.

[isb_mmtribe]

I know this is an old post, but maybe this will help out someone that stumbles across it.

 

A few more I rely on are Screenshot Pad, which lets you rotate and otherwise position your character, and MFG Console for, well, tons of stuff, but facial expressions mostly. Also lets you identify pretty much everything in the game to get IDs and show what mod something is from. There's a steam guide to what each command does here.

 

A few for working with NPCs are Extensible Follower Framework (EFF) for recruiting non-follower NPCs and better follower inventory management. I don't know if the description mentions it, but there's an MCM option to recruit any NPC your crosshair is centered on. I did Not like using Follower Live Package for screenshots, although it's great for playthroughs. Are you There is another great way to keep track of added followers/NPCs, and it has an option to move them to your character without cloning them.

 

I love Snapdragon Prime ENB for the ability to easily tweak it, and if you're going to play around with ENBs then ENB Man is a must imo. So much easier than keeping track of what you've put in various folders. I'll echo what others have said about the console and Jax's Positioner. It's amazing what you can do with player.placeatme xxx and Jax. Move torches/lights, add rugs, delete features you don't like, etc. Roundrovin's reference guide will save you a ton of time and let you check out what's in a pose mods before you commit to downloading/FNISing them. The articles linked above all helped me out a ton too.