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Mad Poster
#26 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 8:45 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 10th Feb 2018 at 9:07 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by SparkySays
See now, those are sometimes blurry in a weird way. I don't say this to criticize the person whose tumblr that is, but just out of curiosity if anyone knows what is going on there. Are they making them blurry on purpose? A lot of the indoor shots you see it but a good example is the one of the woman holding a plate of cookies. Her boobs are in focus but her arms are blurry and it's a little confusing because they're not that distant from each other.


Those pics look more like Photoshop to me. Mostly because there are pics without the effect in the same posts as those without effects. The blur effect also looks a bit more randomly applied than the post effect mod would probably apply it. Nice pictures, though.

Blur in real photos most often happens when you use a large blender opening. The area you focus on and most things in roughly the same distance will be sharp. The more distant the camera gets (in front and in the back) will be more and more blurry the further away they are from the focus point. A very large blender opening (my camera goes down to F2,8 as the largest) gives a soft blur. The further up you go (I think mine has F14 as the smallest), the crisper the image gets. How close the camera is to the focus point also has something to say. Further away gives a crisper look, while close in gives more blur. For motion blur, it's the closing time on the blender that creates the blur (longer closing time = more motion blur, while short closing time = little to no blur).
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Mad Poster
#27 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 8:47 PM
Many of the photos you see have been rendered prettier in Photoshop, as mentioned. Also some people do have awesome graphics cards capable of showing off the game to its' full advantage.
But as for me, I use the newest mods, such as the clouds, sky and water fixes, and the backgrounds that were released in the past year. They made all the difference in the world!

Receptacle Refugee & Resident Polar Bear
"Get out of my way, young'un, I'm a ninja!"
Grave Matters: The funeral podium is available here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/e6tj...albits.zip/file
My other downloads are here: https://app.mediafire.com/myfiles
Helptato
#28 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 8:57 PM
I run the game on highest settings and slightly edit my pictures in Photoshop to sharpen them up and make them less dark. Like this, for example:



I have the editing style I use set in actions so once I crop, it takes seconds to turn them into pretty "shiny" pictures

I play maxis match. I used to have those really shiny realistic skins but TBH now I prefer the cartoony style.


Emma!

Simblr
[url=https://peanutbuttersandwich.dreamwidth.org/Dreamwidth[/url]
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#29 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 9:18 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
Those pics look more like Photoshop to me. Mostly because there are pics without the effect in the same posts as those without effects. The blur effect also looks a bit more randomly applied than the post effect mod would probably apply it. Nice pictures, though.

Actually, I don't think so - the effect is something you turn on and off manually and is not in effect all the time. The shadows that appear in the corners and against objects is typical of that mod. Part of it, I think, is an activated cheat (might be wrong, I don't know for sure) that's been modded to behave differently than the native version.

Edit: this one, I mean: http://theatticbox.tumblr.com/
It's particularly clear in the picture of the bathroom - see the shadows in the angle of the wall and round the bath.

Quote: Originally posted by FranH
Many of the photos you see have been rendered prettier in Photoshop, as mentioned. Also some people do have awesome graphics cards capable of showing off the game to its' full advantage.

The point of many of the pictures on tumblr and LJ is just that - to make pictures. They're often not actually playing the game in the way many of us do in here. So, photoshopping is part of the activity. They're not being deceptive or anything, they're making pictures.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#30 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 9:51 PM
Post some pictures here since I am not sure what shiny means. My guess is though that you are not looking at their game but at a photoshopped finish to their pictures.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Alchemist
#31 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 9:59 PM
Quote: Originally posted by maxon
That's an interesting one - they're using that shadow mod there. I decided against that though I might go and have a look again now I've reinstalled on Win7.
Shadow mod?
Mad Poster
#32 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 10:08 PM
In my case, I bump most of the settings up high - in exchange, I have to lower the game resolution a bit to keep it stable, but I play in windowed mode. Furthermore, I use default replacement skins (the Imperfection set that can be found here on MTS), a default replacement grass, and use FRAPS to take my screenshots rather than the in-game tool.

No postprocessing.


I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#33 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 10:17 PM
I use lots of CC and high settings (skydome used) but no photoshopping. My game looks like this.
Screenshots

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#34 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 10:26 PM
Quote: Originally posted by omglo
Shadow mod?

Yeah SciBirg linked it last page

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Alchemist
#35 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 10:44 PM
Quote: Originally posted by maxon
Yeah SciBirg linked it last page
Oh, Pineapple's mod. Thanks.

I can't give anyone the secret to a shiny game, but for the second question, I play with semi-realistic Sims and maxis match objects. IIRC, the examples were photoshopped - with a bit of lightening and sharpening.
Screenshots
Field Researcher
#36 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 11:20 PM
Quote: Originally posted by SciBirg
Link to the Posteffects mod (please be careful! Only use with a good graphics card and fast computer):
https://pineapple5050.tumblr.com/po...skyfix-pond-sea


This one is really the best- it's a nice balance between performance and graphic enhancements. I love it, and was so excited when I found it. The other one... that is going to kill any computer that isn't top-knotch, and even then it's going to be a strain. Post-processing takes up a lot of performance compared to something built into the program.

I also tend to stick to maxis-matchy CC. Photoskinned anything looks atrocious in-game, except for eyes.

But yeah, other than that, it's mostly photoshop on tumblrs. My game looks pretty good, but not that good.
Mad Poster
#37 Old 10th Feb 2018 at 11:58 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 11th Feb 2018 at 2:30 AM.
Getting good pictures is for me roughly 20% ingame graphics and game setup, 70-75% skills in scene setup, decorating, posing, light setup and camera work, and 5-10% photoshop. I make as good a starter point for my pictures as I can, so there's little (if any) afterwork needed in photoshop.

I like to keep my pictures close to their starting point, and most of the extra stuff I occasionally do in photoshop isn't even visible on the finished picture (like combining several pics together, or add in effects not possible ingame, or fix clipping issues I couldn't remove ingame). Most often I don't do anything more than my usual crop, brighten/contrast, smart sharpen and adding a frame. With actions, that's less than a minute in Photoshop per image. Occasionally I'll go out of my comfort zone and try to add (more or less) photorealistic effects on pictures, to varying degrees of luck.

I've on occasion gotten comments that "your ingame graphics are so nice!" when posting a picture - but my game(s) are pushed to pretty much the same limit as any computer with decent enough graphics can handle (everything except shadows on high + the Radiance mod). Sometimes they go on to say I must have an amazing computer - but to me that's basically like saying the tool I'm using is doing all the work. My game looked almost the same on my crappy old laptop with 512 MB memory and no dedicated graphics card (it didn't handle shaders, and I kept shadows and reflections off, possibly lower screen resolution, and the game lagged like mad, but other than that things looked much the same), than on both my computers with dedicated graphic cards. You might as well compare a pro camera to a cheap pocket camera, and be of the opinion that you must have the pro camera (or computer...) to take good pictures. Truth is, you don't. You can get both crappy and amazing pictures with both of them - but it's the person behind the camera that counts the most - their skills in using the tool, their creativity, and whether they know how to take good pictures. Having a better tool may help on the picture quality (resolution, etc.), and it may have some useful settings - but it can't fix a crappy composion. If your computer can handle settings on high without lagging too much, there really isn't that much of a difference a new and awesome computer can do to the graphics. The game might run better and faster, and you may be able to use the post-processing mod or other similar graphic-enhancing mods, but that's mostly sprinkles on the cake. What does make a difference is the hours I spend on scene setup, lights, decorating, posing and camera work. I'm guessing that's how it is for any simmer who mostly is intersted in taking pictures. I'm not by any means one of the best photographers out there, and a lot of simmers are much better than I'll ever be in taking sim pictures, but over the years I've developed a style I'm comfortable with, and it suits me just fine.

Examples from each computer underneath (sorry for the small picture sizes), in case anyone don't believe me.(old laptop, stationary, current laptop)
Screenshots
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#38 Old 11th Feb 2018 at 1:57 AM
Oh wow, I'm so excited that all of you guys replied to this! To those that posted pictures of your game, they all look very nice! I love them. I wish I could reply individually to all of you guys, but I think multiple replies are rather frowned upon.

Thank you for the suggestions on Photoshop and the mods! I'm still a bit of a novice on editing with Photoshop; I'm a photographer, so I have it on my computer for doing some light editing with my photographs but I only use the basic editing tools. I really need to sit down and learn the ins and outs of the program...

Oh, I attached two photos of my in-game photos, before and after (my attempt at) editing! I use Fraps to take most of my pictures.
Screenshots
Mad Poster
#39 Old 12th Feb 2018 at 1:52 AM
All right, since everyone is showing their stuff off, this is mine-of Don Lothario & Jan Tellerman on vacation in Twikki Island. No photoshopping, nothing. Plain as is with graphics card by Nvidia:
Screenshots

Receptacle Refugee & Resident Polar Bear
"Get out of my way, young'un, I'm a ninja!"
Grave Matters: The funeral podium is available here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/e6tj...albits.zip/file
My other downloads are here: https://app.mediafire.com/myfiles
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