How do I make SL look good in your preferences?

[mythicalmermaid]

Hi, I am using the Nirans Viewer, and I am thinking of becoming a model in SL, but I want to know how should I set up my preferences to make SL look more realstic? I have a good graphics card so my PC can handle high quality, I would love it if my SL looked like this

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r-xZ-Ipysk

Notice how her whole SL looks kind of blurry but super realistic, how do I do that? if you could please give me pics step by step how to make my SL super good, please do it!

BTW I am using Windows 8.

[gbaughma1488314364]

The secret to a good experience on Second Life is having your graphics card support OpenGL Natively.

Just because a graphics card is super-fast at, say, Skyrim will mean that it's good for Second Life.

Almost all graphics cards support DirectX, which is what the majority of video games use.  Second Life, however, uses OpenGL for 3D rendering.

I use a GForce GTX550ti which supports OpenGL Natively, and I can run my graphics all day long on High or Ultra, at great framerates (30-70FPS).  I specifically bought that graphics card because of the pricing (about $230) and because of the OpenGL Support.

--Greg

DJ-G

[Rolig Loon]

AFAIK, Nirans viewer is being discontinued, so there's no point in setting Preferences to optimize it for you now.  I do not have any personal experience with Exodus, but I understand that it is good for photography.  I suggest waiting until the Server Side Avatar Baking upgrades are rolled out in a couple of weeks, however, and then messing with whatever viewer you choose at that point.  To get some of the effects that you are apparently interested in, you will need to have a computer that is capable of running SL on its Ultra settings so that you can take advantage of light & shadow options, and you will want to explore depth of field settings.  The specific settings, of course, will depend on your own computer.

EDIT:  Aha ... Here's a note to the contrary.  Niran's may be alive and well after all >>> http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Art-Music-and-Photography/Was-my-Investment-into-Second-Life-photography-worth-it-and-what/td-p/1975037/page/3

[Innula Zenovka]

NIran did recently say something that suggested he was going to stop developing his viewer, but either he was misinterpreted or he's changed his mind.   He certainly changes his mind quite frequently -- he's always redoing the UI.

You can keep up with his frequent releases by following his blog, and he answers questions over in the alternative viewers sub-forum at SLU.

 

[Lindal Kidd]

In the machinima link you provided, Lighting and Shadows is enabled, and I think a small depth of field blur is being used.  The rest is, I think, due to whatever Windlight settings were in use.

Also, whether or not Niran's viewer is continued, don't worry.  The viewer you use does not affect the "look" of SL you get...it only affects what *controls* you have over that view.  The Firestorm viewer incorporates a set of functions called "PhotoTools" that will let you adjust the look of things just as Niran's tools do -- but you'll find the tools and adjustments in different places than you're used to.