I recently came across an article by Huckleberry Hax about making your own animated GIFs in SL. He does an amazing job with his, so head over to his blog and check them out.
This is now on my list of things to do, but while reading the article, he mentioned something that reminded me of a tip I’ve learned.
Huck mentions that he uses a camera lock HUD, so that once he has his angle and everything set up for the shot, he can move his avatar and his camera angle remains fixed. This means he can walk through the shot, as he does in the example animated GIF.
The HUD he mentions is only $10L, so I will definitely be picking this up. However, if you are not going to be moving in your shot, Firestorm has a built in option.
We’ve all been there – you get everything set up for your shot, your camera angle is perfect. And then you notice that your arm is going through your dress, or your hair has eaten part of your jaw. So you have to zoom in, edit things, and then try to find your perfect angle again.
With FS, it’s pretty easy. Find the camera tools button, which looks like this:
Add it to your toolbar and then open it. The camera tools menu looks like this:
See the two eyeball buttons on the right-hand side in the middle? Those are the two you need.
Click on the eyeball with the DOWN arrow, and it will save your camera angle.
So if you find your perfect angle, you can save it. Zoom back in, edit and make your fixes.
Then, hit the eyeball with the UP arrow and it will move your camera back to your perfect angle. Tada!!
Now, you can only save one angle at a time, but it’s a built-in tool (in Firestorm), so you don’t need to fuss with any other HUDs.
It won’t work in situations like Huck’s, where you want to move your avatar around while shooting, but for still photography, it’s a very handy tool. Try it out!!
A Kat and A Mouse 