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Your best Dragon Age screenarchery


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#51
FenPhile

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Thank you, FenPhile.

 

Well done taking good shots of that Elven puzzle room. I tried for ages, and found it really difficult to get a good position. Those are nice pictures!

Thanks.  It took me a ridiculous amount of time to get a few good shots.  This thread has really inspired me to try to improve my screenshot-fu.  I would probably have finished this runthru if I wasn't taking so much time wandering around looking for good shots. Last night I found myself wondering which armor would look best against the red rocks of the Western Approach...


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#52
catabuca

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Thanks.  It took me a ridiculous amount of time to get a few good shots.  This thread has really inspired me to try to improve my screenshot-fu.  I would probably have finished this runthru if I wasn't taking so much time wandering around looking for good shots. Last night I found myself wondering which armor would look best against the red rocks of the Western Approach...

 

I can sympathise.

 

You know what I managed in the game today? I killed one camp of venatori and closed one fade rift in the Oasis. The rest of the time I was taking screenshots.

 

was hoping to get my first run done by February. We'll see.


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#53
AARomell

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I wanted to let you all know that you've got some wonderful screenshots. I'm just starting to use the tool set and right now I have more frustration while using it than good screenshots.I do have a photo that I feel turned out quite well. I do have it as my profile photo, but it is pretty small.  Anyway, hope you like it. :)fe001f62-eb62-4c8b-9973-8555140fdc0c_zps


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#54
MelissaGT

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MelissaGT, your inquisitor is gorgeous.  I could never get the makeup to look so good.

 

*snip*

 

Thank you! She's my "Snow White" warrior - I love the way she turned out!

 

Anyways, the Vinsomer is one of the prettiest dragons in the game. I was able to get some nice shots when you first enter The Storm Coast and she's flying in the distance:

 

16181785710_cc82dd1ef0_c.jpg

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15746932514_6efdc73e0b_o.png


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#55
Rannah

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I can sympathise.

 

You know what I managed in the game today? I killed one camp of venatori and closed one fade rift in the Oasis. The rest of the time I was taking screenshots.

 

was hoping to get my first run done by February. We'll see.

 

Same here! DAI tools gives so much freedom to take screenshots I never experienced before, and it is worth every minute.

 

During my last playing session I managed to kill 3 spiders, and take 1 screenshot:

 

16378301972_86c5e358c0_b.jpg


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#56
Sarielle

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I have a question about DAI tools. Hope it's not cluttering the thread. I downloaded it. It works, to a degree. I can toggle UI and move the camera. What I don't understand are the FOV options.

 

If I use any of the FOV hotkeys, I end up with the camera way somewhere else (and the world is usually upside down so I have to rotate the camera). I read the readme where it suggests changing the default FOV, but I don't know what to change it to. Any help would be appreciated. Lovely screens!



#57
MelissaGT

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16378259945_60d9255f8e_c.jpg

 

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#58
MelissaGT

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I have a question about DAI tools. Hope it's not cluttering the thread. I downloaded it. It works, to a degree. I can toggle UI and move the camera. What I don't understand are the FOV options.

 

If I use any of the FOV hotkeys, I end up with the camera way somewhere else (and the world is usually upside down so I have to rotate the camera). I read the readme where it suggests changing the default FOV, but I don't know what to change it to. Any help would be appreciated. Lovely screens!

 

The FoV tool comes in handy when you are trying to zoom in on something, particularly with faces. It can also be used to widen your shot, similar to using a wide-angle camera lens. Once you first hit it, you will have a screen that makes no sense. Just keep holding the button down til things come back into view. My biggest suggestion to you is to play around with it. It took me quite a while to get used to it. 

 

In my opinion, DAI Cinematic Tools is much easier to use with the controller. I've been able to fine-tune it much easier. 


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#59
Snook

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Y'know, I'd never noticed how much better Cullen's facial scruff texture is than everyone else's until now. His actually looks believable. :S



#60
Sarielle

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The FoV tool comes in handy when you are trying to zoom in on something, particularly with faces. It can also be used to widen your shot, similar to using a wide-angle camera lens. Once you first hit it, you will have a screen that makes no sense. Just keep holding the button down til things come back into view. My biggest suggestion to you is to play around with it. It took me quite a while to get used to it. 

 

In my opinion, DAI Cinematic Tools is much easier to use with the controller. I've been able to fine-tune it much easier. 

 

OK, I'll give that a try. Thanks. Also thanks again for the SweetFX suggestion -- started a new game with it and I'm loving it.



#61
catabuca

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Under the Misc tab, you'll see that the default fov is set to -1. If you set it to 0 you get a black screen. If you set it to anything higher you get a normal picture at various focal lengths. I believe that ~50 is relative to default fov, so if you set it to 50 when you want to start lining up a shot and use the fov hotkeys from there you won't get an inverted screen. Set it back to -1 when you're done taking screenshots so that your fov will be correct during cutscenes.

 

(What is happening when you get the inverted screen is the fov dropping below -1.)

 

You can use the fov box in Misc to manually add the fov you want, if you're more familiar with that sort of thing from Skyrim or whatever. The difference is, as far as I'm aware, it's using vertical fov instead of the standard horizontal fov. That means you'll have to calculate what number you should input here in order to get the desired field of view. This is a calculator that was created for BF2. Someone on the DET forum linked to it in the DAI discussion as a means for calculating what you should put in.

 

So, for example, a fov of 30-50 is often quite nice for portraits. Let's say you want 50: you would type in your screen res, followed by 50, and calculate. That gives you the value of 30 - which is what you'll want to type into the fov box in DAI Cinematic Tools.

 

You can keep a little notebook and jot down some of the most common fovs you're likely to want to use, so you don't have to calculate all the time. Or, you can just use the hotkeys. Whatever makes more sense to you. (I change the number to ~50 and then I use the hotkeys from there.)

 

A note on FOV:

 

There are lots of reasons you might want to change the fov of a shot. I recommend experimenting on a single scene with something in the foreground and something in the background, and taking the same shot with different fov values so you can see what differences it makes.

 

One reason might be that you change the fov to a larger number because you want to fit something in frame but you can't move the camera back any further. Likewise, you might change the number down because you want to hide something off-camera but moving closer ruins the shot in some way.

 

Another reason might be that you want to change the perceived distance between foreground and background objects. The narrower (smaller) the fov the closer together objects will appear. That also means background objects will appear larger. The wider (larger) the fov the farther away background objects will appear, and thus will also appear smaller. This can have a big impact on composition, and can help you achieve a more interesting shot if you know what kind of feeling you want to elicit.

 

When taking portraits, you can change the shape of someone's face using fov - which can help get across a particular feeling. A lower fov will make someone's face appear wider and shorter; conversely a higher fov will make someone's face appear narrower and longer (this obviously applies to all objects, but in portraits it can be especially important and/or useful).

 

Be aware, a wide fov will start to distort the image. Objects at the further edges of the picture will start to tilt inwards, so they won't be vertical anymore. Only what is in the middle of your picture will be vertical. This can be used to good effect in some images (I used a very high fov, a low angle, and I also tilted the camera so that the vertical object in the image was the hand on the left, with everything to the right of it appearing to lean over - I think it works here because it enhances the dream-state aspect of The Fade). In others, all you end up doing is creating a picture that looks unbalanced and badly framed. That's not to say that all vertical objects/lines must be perfectly vertical in your shots all of the time. As soon as you start tilting the camera up/down or rolling it clockwise/anti-clockwise your lines will start to shift. It's a good idea to find the object(s) that act as the 'anchor' or main focus of the picture (not always necessarily the people in the picture) and see if that looks well-aligned. If it does, the eye will generally compensate for any other lines that aren't.

 

With that all in mind, if you're not going for a shot that would definitely benefit from the distortion of a wide fov, try to stick to a lower fov as it will create the least distortion. Better to pull out than to go wide. (It's often said that the best tool a photographer has for focusing and fov isn't a zoom lens but their feet.) Still, there is no rule against using a wide fov, and it can be a lot of fun and produce amazing shots - but more can go wrong with a wide fov than can with a narrow one.

 

On a side note: I find it very, very useful to take a practice shot and open it up in Windows Explorer at a small-ish size. My eyes can better discern shapes and relationships between them better in a smaller image than they can when the picture is plastered across the whole of my screen. That way I can usually tell if something is 'off' or if it works.


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#62
Sarielle

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That is incredibly helpful Catabuca. Thank you so very much. <3


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#63
FenPhile

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Thanks for the detailed fov tutorial catabuca.  Good info and presented in an easy to understand manner.

Here's one of the Gamordan Stormrider.

yCRYgSg.png


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#64
Xhyn

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This is probably my favorite thread on this forum. There is some really talented people here. Impressive shots everyone!

It makes me want to try the Cinematic tool.

 



#65
catabuca

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You should try it out, Xhyn. It might extend your play time by about 100 hours but it's worth it ^^

 

I really like that everyone is helping each other out, here and on the Tips thread. More of this kind of thing on BSN!

 

Sorry I'm so verbose with my tips... it's always been a problem of mine.

 

FenPhile - that picture of the dragon is absolutely gorgeous.



#66
catabuca

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So this doesn't look like much, but I keep making love heart eyes at it because I've never been in a position to be able to go and take photos of interesting places and this game lets me. It's like carrying a camera loaded with different types of film to a hundred different places. 

 

16182508649_be9a770a94_c.jpg

 

(click on the picture for the larger version at flickr - I'm going to start linking to the larger versions this way from now on)


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#67
catabuca

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You'd likely get better b&w results using the various shaders in SweetFX, but that would require a lot of fiddling with numbers and it's not to everyone's taste. It's easier to do it with the CineTools. I'm going to create a b&w SweetFX config that I can turn on and off when I want it, so I can get a bit more depth than is possible with CineTools alone. If I get something nice I'll share it.

 

There is also a shader program called ReShade. It's in public beta right now, but some people are using it to great effect in a number of games. It brings a great deal more functionality to in-game post-processing than SweetFX can, for example it hooks into the games and tries to access the depth buffer - meaning you can add effects like dof to games that otherwise don't support it. It also allows for SSAO - ambient occlusion - that until now was either only available if a game included that option itself, if you forced it through your driver, or through using an ENB. It uses shader files like SweetFX, but can be used for so much more. It IS working in DAI, and once I've finished this run, patched my game, and started over I'm going to try it out. I haven't used it before, but if I can work it out and if I get something nice in terms of a config, I'll be sure to let you know, and perhaps try to write a (less verbose) tutorial about it.


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#68
catabuca

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A couple more I've taken recently:

 

15764905643_29c22d12c3_c.jpg

 

 

15746238444_1ee7449af1_b.jpg

 

 

16334053126_c365fdbb48_b.jpg


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#69
Ashoken

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Hi! I just found this thread. Everyone's screenarchery is fantastic. Makes me shy to share, but I'm not that shy. I just started working the DAI Cinematic Tools. Here's what I've come up with. I will get better. I will!

 

Spoiler


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#70
catabuca

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Welcome to the thread, Ashoken!

 

Don't be shy. I think the default setting for most people is "my pictures are crap, everyone else does so much better" (I know that's how I feel almost all of the time) - but that's a good thing, because it means you're always critiquing your methods, and always looking to learn.

 

I particularly like your Viv picture. I like the unconventional angle, and the hex/spell is quite striking.

 

I look forward to seeing more of your pictures :)


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#71
Ashoken

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Thanks for the warm welcome, @catabuca! I've found Viv to be very photogenic. It's been fun playing around with the cinematic tools. I have cultivated an addiction to flycams throughout many Bioware games. I will share more screenshots as my archer girl moves through the game. It's my first play through on nightmare. Eek.

 

More Vinsomar

Spoiler


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#72
Sarielle

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@Ashoken: Gotta say I love the Viv picture too. Then again, I just love Viv :P But the spell timing and angle are great imo.

 

So ... I started playing around with this some more. I always liked the shadows move in Haven's lighting so I snagged a few of my Quiz playing with that. Not up to the standards of some of you guys but I thought they turned out OK. :) I liked the faceshadow on the last one the best but I hadn't figured out DoF at that point. D'oh.

 

EDIT: Pretty demon as a bonus :P

 

Spoiler

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#73
FenPhile

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You should try it out, Xhyn. It might extend your play time by about 100 hours but it's worth it ^^

 

I really like that everyone is helping each other out, here and on the Tips thread. More of this kind of thing on BSN!

 

Sorry I'm so verbose with my tips... it's always been a problem of mine.

 

FenPhile - that picture of the dragon is absolutely gorgeous.

Please don't apologize for your verbosity.  I always appreciate people who are willing to share what they know.  So, thanks for that.

Thanks also for the kind words

You'd likely get better b&w results using the various shaders in SweetFX, but that would require a lot of fiddling with numbers and it's not to everyone's taste. It's easier to do it with the CineTools. I'm going to create a b&w SweetFX config that I can turn on and off when I want it, so I can get a bit more depth than is possible with CineTools alone. If I get something nice I'll share it.

 

There is also a shader program called ReShade. It's in public beta right now, but some people are using it to great effect in a number of games. It brings a great deal more functionality to in-game post-processing than SweetFX can, for example it hooks into the games and tries to access the depth buffer - meaning you can add effects like dof to games that otherwise don't support it. It also allows for SSAO - ambient occlusion - that until now was either only available if a game included that option itself, if you forced it through your driver, or through using an ENB. It uses shader files like SweetFX, but can be used for so much more. It IS working in DAI, and once I've finished this run, patched my game, and started over I'm going to try it out. I haven't used it before, but if I can work it out and if I get something nice in terms of a config, I'll be sure to let you know, and perhaps try to write a (less verbose) tutorial about it.

I would be very interested in a tutorial (verbose or not).  I miss the days of taking pics with fuji black and white film (yes, actual film.  I am antique)

 

A couple more I've taken recently:

 

 

 

 

15746238444_1ee7449af1_b.jpg

I very much like this one.  I really need to learn how to use SRWE.

 

 


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#74
FenPhile

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And a few portraits.  Makes me kind of want to hug Loghain.  My Warden would be appalled.

0eWByiq.png *

1aovpVP.png


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#75
Rannah

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Yes, they did a good job with Loghain.

 

I am quite fond of dragons, so I did some screenshots. These are the ones I think as "best":

 

15756766894_d0b04f9159_b.jpg

 

16192999179_60800dd0bc_b.jpg


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