This was brought to my attention by a post in the Visionaire group from WrenNoir Cerise. There has been an update to the Black Dragon viewer.
I’ve used the Black Dragon viewer before and really liked it for taking photos. However, I haven’t used it in ages – mostly because I haven’t really been in SL much in ages.
But I will definitely be downloading it and trying it out.
The new update apparently lets you move any/all of the individual bones that make up your avatar. So you can pose yourself exactly how you want.
WrenNoir included a link to a video in her notice, which I’ve embedded below. If you can’t see the video, click here for the link.
The music was a tad annoying, so I muted it. The first part of the video shows the editing of the avatar pose in Black Dragon. The last half is photo editing in Photoshop, so you can skip that if you’ve no interest in that part.
I can’t wait to dig in and start experimenting. Thanks to Wren for the heads up!
Inara Pey’s breakdown of new changes to the Black Dragon viewer, which I find very nice for taking photographs.
I am going to download the new version so I can play around with the Avatar Complexity settings and see how the ‘jelly babies’ work.
Most in the dance world (including me) generally have avatar impostors turned off, so not sure if/how that will affect my view.
I am happy to read about the option to right-click and force an avatar to render fully – this would seem a great option for performers who may be complex, but I still want to render.
Knowing who is dancing and being able to right-click on them may present a challenge!
It will also give me a chance to play with the quick-settings for graphic preferences.
I’ve already found that Black Dragon works better with my computer (and it doesn’t complain as much) when taking photos. Can’t wait to download the update and try it out – especially the resizable preview!
On Saturday, May 23rd, NiranV Dean released version 2.4.2.5 of his Black Dragon viewer, which brings with it three core updates:
Revisions to the Unified Snapshot floater
An experimental cinematic camera
A “lock” feature to synchronise map changes (diffuse, normal and specular) across all three channels simultaneously.
Unified Snapshot Floater Updates
The snapshot floater updates include:
An option to save the snapshot upload type
Automatic file format changes when switching to profile/inventory upload and back
Fixes for auto-refresh
Improved world freeze – the entire world is now frozen, and allows proper camming around.
However, what is likely to find favour with a lot of users (assuming it is adopted by other viewers, including LL’s) is the ability to now preview snapshots in a separate, resizeable texture panel.
The alternative snapshot preview panel can be accessed via the Preview button in the Unified Snapshot Floater
I googled ‘photoshop’ – I need to wash my eyeballs now. -.- Image Source: logo-kid.com
It’s Tuesday, which means I made it through Monday.
Yay!
I’ve been busily working on photos, though I still don’t have as much time as I would like to.
A few more days, and then I will have some extended time to spend in-world.
After taking my Photoshop class, I’ve been trying to apply what I learned.
I was taking some pics in-world at Slink West (a really beautiful sim!) and trying out the new filters they added to Firestorm with the last update.
I generally take a couple of pics with different windlights, but sometimes I try out the filters just for fun, to see what they do.
I used a filter and really liked the effect; however, I decided I wanted to try and recreate the look myself in Photoshop, rather than just using the FS filter.
When I posted the photo in the LOTD post, Yummy asked if it was a FS filter.
So yay!
I think I accomplished what I wanted, if that’s what she thought. 🙂
This is the original photo.
I cropped it, of course.
And I was using the system avatar, so some work with liquify was in order.
Then I played around a bit with various things in Photoshop.
What I ended up with was this:
I usually try not to change the look of LOTD posts too dramatically.
If I’m showing off an outfit, I want it to show as it would in-world.
Sometimes, though, it’s just fun to play around.
You can do so many different things in Photoshop.
With this photo, I was trying to recreate the filter I liked.
I was happy with the way it turned out, but I rarely think a photo is ‘done.’
It’s not exactly like the photo I got with the FS filter.
That photo looked like this:
I’m so glad that FS added the filters to the viewer.
It gives me another set of options to play around and have fun with.
The Black Dragon viewer is still a bit faster when it comes to actually taking the high-res photos, but it’s nice to have choices.