Screenshot tips

[Aero_Shodanjo]

Well, I hope this helps for some. Feel free to add more. I know I'll miss a lot.

TIPS FOR TAKING SCREENSHOTS

Screen Resolution:

I consider 1024x768 dpi as the bare minimum for taking screenshot - especially for showing your works to other. Need I say more?

Anti Aliasing:

For smoothing the jagged lines.

Enabling 4xAA has given me good result for the screenies. If your monitor is capable of higher res, then high anti-aliasing setting may (or may not) be necessary, since you can rezise the pics down.

IL2 Setting:

I avoid S3TC compression - it gives an ugly color artifacts when looking at the skin upclose. Use uncompressed instead.

I use perfect setting, but other skinners prefer excellent in-game.

Ok, that's for now, I hope you guys can add more to this thread

[turnipkiller]

Where does one find the anti-aliasing switch? I looked all over in the game and I couldn't find it. What is S3TC compression too?

[UF_Zargos]

I'll just add some comments about Shondanjo tips. When taking screen shots I always use the closer zoom (PgDwn) to avoid perspective and distorsion effects. I also use the higer resolution the game allows (1600 x 1200). Then I use photoshop to select the part of the picutre I want.

[Serval]

You need the settings in IL-2 setup. They become available when you have a customn Graphics instead of standard for the card you use.

[Aero_Shodanjo]

I should make myself clearer

Ok, now I split the tips into three parts: Before entering the game, in-game and editing the screenshots. Thanks for the additional infos from Zargos and Serval

PC Setup

• Anti aliasing is set in your display properties. To do this: Right click on the desktop then click: properties/setting/advanced tabs and you'll see your VGA card under "adapter" tab. Just a caution, setting AA too high may slow down your PC considerably.
  
  AA settings in my Nvidia 6600 card are: no AA, 2x, 2xQ, 4x and 8x. The higher the AA level is set, the smoother jagged lines will appear but will also put a heavier workload for the card. So my setting is "the middle of the road", that is 4x AA. If you have a newer, more powerful VGA & PC you can consider to pick a higher AA level.
  
  Setting your AA may be a bit different with ATi card, but the principle is the same.

• Monitor Resolution: Again, it's in your display properties (right click on the desktop, then click on properties). The settings available will be dependant on your monitor and your VGA card. My old GTC monitor won't allow me to set higher than 1024x768 although my card is capable for 1600x1200 dpi and beyond.
  
  DONT set the resolution higher than your monitor can handle.
  
  If your monitor is able to display larger res, then you may consider to lower your AA setting a bit.

• Set the texture compression in IL2Setup. You need to choose "custom" under the video tab to enable custom selection of the texture filtering and compression. Texture filtering choices: bilinear/trilinear/anisotropic. Texture compression choices: none/16bit/S3TC.
  
  I use bilinear (for the best performance for my PC) and no compression (to avoid color artifacts)

In-Game

As Zargos said, from external view, use zoom view (PgDn) and use the mouse to control the zoom level and angle. Using zoom view won't give you perspective distortion (the wings or nose looks bigger and out of proportion, for example) when you take a close-up screenshot.

Take as many as you want but if you quit the game and start again, the new ones will likely overwrite the previous screenshot in your IL2FB/PF folder. So the next thing you do after you finished taking your screenshots is:

Editing your screenshots

Go to your IL2/FB/PF folder and look for files with .tga (targa) extension. The file names are always like "grab0000.tga, grab0001.tga" and so on. Unfortunately Windows XP doesnt has a built in capability for displaying tga file in explorer, so you may need to install Explorer Shell extension addon such as Thumbview Lite .

The .tga is a type of graphic file that often used in game industry (correct me if Im wrong). One of the benefit is that tga files support transparency - the appearance of damage (bullet/cannon holes, burnt rudder etc) in IL2/FB planes are because of this. But they are huge files. One screenshot in unedited targa file in my FB folder is no less than 2mb (im not sure but I think if you set the monitor res higher, you'll get a bigger tga screenshot file. Is that right? anyone?)

So you need to edit them and convert them to a more manageable size. If you like them the way they are, then you only need to convert them. Irfan View is an excellent image viewing program that can convert (and batch convert) .tga files to .jpg.

Well, that's all for now. If there's any other thing that I remember about this, I'll add more

[turnipkiller]

Okay, I am sorry if I sound like a dummy here, I am not a big fan of adjusting things, especially when I don't know what they do. My lack of computer knowledge doesn't help either

My video card is pretty old I think. It is an Nvidia GeForce 2 MX. It gets me by when I fly and I don't want to really sink alot of money in this computer until BoB comes out.

Anyways, when I access the Antialiasing menu, there is a box that says "Application Controlled". When I clear the checkmark out of this box, a warning comes up and says "Overriding this setting is intended ONLY for applications that do not expose anti-aliasing settings." If I do this, will it make some programs unusable?

Thanks for taking the time to lay out some tips.

[Osram]

although my card is capable for 1600x1200 dpi and beyond.

You probably mean pixels here.

The .tga is a type of graphic file that often used in game industry (correct me if Im wrong).

Correct.

[Osram]

When I clear the checkmark out of this box, a warning comes up and says "Overriding this setting is intended ONLY for applications that do not expose anti-aliasing settings." If I do this, will it make some programs unusable?

No, all it means AA settings in other programs will be ignored. It sounds like you do not make any anyway , so that would be no big issue for you. It might be some program sets AA for certain parts of the screen, but it is "only" a visual quality thing, not a works / does not work thing.

[turnipkiller]

Okay thankyou m8. I only had the choice of 2xAA and 4xAA, I tried 2xAA, major hurt in the frames department, but excellent for screenshots. Thanks again.

[Aero_Shodanjo]

You probably mean pixels here.

*banging my head on the wall*

Oh yeah. Thanks for the correction. I always get mixed up between dpi and ppi.

Now to remind myself, dpi is for printing - printer's ink numbers in dots per inch.
ppi is pixel per inch. Monitor res and graphic files are measured in this

*banging my head on the wall again*