firestorm filming/ photo settings comparable to black dragon??

[Sandra8675]

I'm asking because i want to make sure i'm getting the best settings for filming/ photo before i decide which viewer i wish to use in future.  I know black dragon is king when it comes to images/ filming detail.  My computer can in fact handle black dragon.  I'm just hesitant to change.  

So I was wondering in peoples first hand experiences...  Is it even possible to change the settings of firestorm to be anywhere at all kinda sorta near to black dragon settings?  If so what settings are u using?

I looking very much forward to hear what others think.

[Jenna Huntsman]

You can't.

The reason why BD is better for photography is because the viewer is designed as such - and uses different shaders and a modified rendering pipeline to achieve the looks that it does.

FS on the other hand is fairly stock* renderer (I'm sure the FS team have modified it, feel free to jump in and mention the exact differences) designed for day-to-day use on any supported platform.

Different tools for different jobs.

[Coffee Pancake]

1 hour ago, Sandra8675 said:

So I was wondering in peoples first hand experiences...  Is it even possible to change the settings of firestorm to be anywhere at all kinda sorta near to black dragon settings?

Yes, it absolutely is possible, you will miss out on a couple of small shader tweaks that BD has and easy access to the tools & UI it presents to adjust the scene.

The bulk of BD (aside from a total UI reskin) is options focused around tweaking the output with initial settings adjusted for visual quality rather than performance. All those settings will have identical counterparts in all viewers, although they might not be exposed to the end user with UI.

BD tends to produce images with slightly more contrast than others by default .. which can cause colors to get blown out when editing later.

The secret sauce to beautiful BD photographs you see plastered all over flickr is ... photoshop/lightroom/etc .. everything from simple correction to multiple composited shots to full repaints (I mean, is it even fair to call it a BD picture after the creator has spent a day in photoshop repainting every pixel by hand .. but I digress)

My advice would not be to try and replicate the output of one viewer in another, but instead aim for a neutral raw image, capture using the screenshot floater and specify an output resolution at least 40% higher than the intended final image. Post process this the way you would post process any raw photograph (if you don't have adobe, give https://www.rawtherapee.com/ a shot). Photoshop will come into it sooner or later as there are LOTS of issues with the raw output from SL that no amount of viewer "magic" can undo - seams, creases, alpha glitching, etc.

Focus on composition and lighting.

Pay attention to the details, especially for avatars it's not uncommon to take a picture, detach hair or other clothing and take a second without moving the camera just to make fixing things easier later. You will find this much easier to do with 2 viewers running - one for the picture and one for piloting the subject & editing the scene as needed.

Don't forget the snapshot floater can also capture the depth map, so no need to capture blur in the viewer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKKhuOXwAAk) - This can also enable a lot more post process magic tricks.

[Jackson Redstar]

BD does alot of things better. FS does something better. Then there is always post production work that you can make it pretty much not matter which viewer you use

There are a few 'annoyances"  in BD though 1) no Texture refresh (that can be a royal pain alot of times)  2) you cant turn off your 'show look at' (not that much a big deal but need be aware of that' 3) can't re-synch animations (say if you're trying to photo a couple on a dance animation) 4) it JellyBeans almost everyone lol (really have to crank up the complexity) 5) no 'phototools' panel like in FS so you have to often bounce between (and scroll through) BD's side slide out panel and preferences to adjust what you need 5) no ability to highlight local light sources (this can be a huge deal sometimes)

Some things BD has that WILL help in world photos is 1) better shadows engine 2) better 'shine' control' 3) ability to turn off alphas in DOF 3) better DOF 4) can uses attached lights without having local lights on) 5) Tone Mapping (this is huge specially if you want to do darker nightime photos 6) Poser - if you shoot yourself on a pose mainly - this is a MUST have

[Sandra8675]

23 hours ago, Jenna Huntsman said:

You can't.

The reason why BD is better for photography is because the viewer is designed as such - and uses different shaders and a modified rendering pipeline to achieve the looks that it does.

FS on the other hand is fairly stock* renderer (I'm sure the FS team have modified it, feel free to jump in and mention the exact differences) designed for day-to-day use on any supported platform.

Different tools for different jobs.

yes....  figured as much...  may have to go to black dragon for still images.  Don't know if i wish to mess with trying to film though on black dragon.  I've just heard major horror stories how difficult it is to move the avi around.  But...  When I look at peoples stills and videos who use black dragon it beyond a doubt looks visually so much better.  Again...  My computer can handle it.  I guess i just need to stop being hesitant and jump in.

[Mandy Carbenell]

4 hours ago, Jackson Redstar said:

BD does alot of things better. FS does something better. Then there is always post production work that you can make it pretty much not matter which viewer you use

There are a few 'annoyances"  in BD though 1) no Texture refresh (that can be a royal pain alot of times)  2) you cant turn off your 'show look at' (not that much a big deal but need be aware of that' 3) can't re-synch animations (say if you're trying to photo a couple on a dance animation) 4) it JellyBeans almost everyone lol (really have to crank up the complexity) 5) no 'phototools' panel like in FS so you have to often bounce between (and scroll through) BD's side slide out panel and preferences to adjust what you need 5) no ability to highlight local light sources (this can be a huge deal sometimes)

Some things BD has that WILL help in world photos is 1) better shadows engine 2) better 'shine' control' 3) ability to turn off alphas in DOF 3) better DOF 4) can uses attached lights without having local lights on) 5) Tone Mapping (this is huge specially if you want to do darker nightime photos 6) Poser - if you shoot yourself on a pose mainly - this is a MUST have

I have to agree, on a daily base I am on FS and sometimes you see a landscape you just have to take a pic of so I use FS. However for a planned shoot my go to viewer will remain BD simply for the reasons Jackson stated.

[NiranV Dean]

10 hours ago, Jackson Redstar said:

BD does alot of things better. FS does something better. Then there is always post production work that you can make it pretty much not matter which viewer you use

There are a few 'annoyances"  in BD though 1) no Texture refresh (that can be a royal pain alot of times)  2) you cant turn off your 'show look at' (not that much a big deal but need be aware of that' 3) can't re-synch animations (say if you're trying to photo a couple on a dance animation) 4) it JellyBeans almost everyone lol (really have to crank up the complexity) 5) no 'phototools' panel like in FS so you have to often bounce between (and scroll through) BD's side slide out panel and preferences to adjust what you need 5) no ability to highlight local light sources (this can be a huge deal sometimes)

2) You can turn it off, just not in the Viewer but regardless of any Viewer. http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Show_Look_At

3) You can resync animations. Dragon - My Useful Features - Animation Controls - Select everyone you want to sync, hit Restart.

4) Hardly an annoyance if you can change it, its just a side effect of a much less forgiving complexity system.

6) You can highlight local light sources like in any other Viewer, the option has also been recently added to the options window of the Build floater. Otherwise you can find it in the Tools menu (like in most Viewers), Dragon - Tools - Options

9 hours ago, Sandra8675 said:

yes....  figured as much...  may have to go to black dragon for still images.  Don't know if i wish to mess with trying to film though on black dragon.  I've just heard major horror stories how difficult it is to move the avi around.  But...  When I look at peoples stills and videos who use black dragon it beyond a doubt looks visually so much better.  Again...  My computer can handle it.  I guess i just need to stop being hesitant and jump in.

Horror stories from people that didn't check the FAQ, didn't ask for help and did not check the Keybindings tab in Preferences that allows fully customizing controls.

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by NiranV Dean

[Jackson Redstar]

12 minutes ago, NiranV Dean said:

2) You can turn it off, just not in the Viewer but regardless of any Viewer. http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Show_Look_At

3) You can resync animations. Dragon - My Useful Features - Animation Controls - Select everyone you want to sync, hit Restart.

4) Hardly an annoyance if you can change it, its just a side effect of a much less forgiving complexity system.

6) You can highlight local light sources like in any other Viewer, the option has also been recently added to the options window of the Build floater. Otherwise you can find it in the Tools menu (like in most Viewers), Dragon - Tools - Options

Horror stories from people that didn't check the FAQ, didn't ask for help and did not check the Keybindings tab in Preferences that allows fully customizing controls.

 

thanks for the update. but for everyday use ur doing 'action' photography, hitting ctrl + s to resynch everyone in the scene makes a bit more sense:) .. Ill have to look into turning off the show look at, i know people aren't that fixated on that anymore, but some people still will im you and say Why are you camming me or camming my gf? lol

Edited September 10, 2021 by Jackson Redstar

[NiranV Dean]

1 hour ago, Jackson Redstar said:

thanks for the update. but for everyday use ur doing 'action' photography, hitting ctrl + s to resynch everyone in the scene makes a bit more sense:) .. Ill have to look into turning off the show look at, i know people aren't that fixated on that anymore, but some people still will im you and say Why are you camming me or camming my gf? lol

Restarting doubling down as "resync" is just a nice side effect, it was never meant to do that, but there is said option. I'm not planning to include a resync animation option (apart from it already being there as explained) as i find it incredibly useless when you have a poser and change/edit poses to match anyway. It also overlaps other controls too easily. WASD and CTRL/Shift/Alt in any combination are extremely dangerous shortcuts as they are used for camera and movement and can easily overlap (Advanced menu toggle does for instance)

Edited September 11, 2021 by NiranV Dean