Weekly Feature Capturing the Galaxy

Star Wars Galaxies is brought to life by the beautiful scenery and amazing landscapes in the game that reflect the Star Wars universe in all it glorious colors and diversity. But how can you capture the finer details in screenshots in a manner that can transport the viewer into that world?

For this weeks feature, were going to look at how the Ewok Festival of Love and other game updates are captured and brought to life in screenshots. Well also give you some insights on how you can do it yourself!

Capturing the Celebration of the Ewok Festival of Love

We recently featured incredible screenshot galleries to promote two amazing game updates, the Witches of Dathomir and the Ewok Festival of Love. To find out how these incredible screens were captured we spoke to our partners at LucasArts we took these fantastic screenshots.

For those interested in capturing your own SWG screens, here are some tips from our LucasArts experts on best options to use, settings and the process involved in staging the scene.

Who from your team worked on taking the screenshots for the Ewok Festival of Love? How long have they worked on Star WarsGalaxies?
Team members from the Galaxies QA team worked on the screenshots which includes, Marco Crescenti, James Houlahan, Steven Ross French and Jeff Diaz. The team really enjoys these B-Roll sessions because it allows us to show off some of the most fun aspects of SWG. Most of the team has been playing SWG since launch and have worked on it for several years.

Describe the process of staging the home for the Ewok Festival of Love screenshots. Did you guys have to go through all of the content? Did you just spawn the items? Do you keep homes already staged and just decorate them?
We do run through the content on test servers to review how the player is going to interact with the game and play through it on live servers as well. For the decorating sessions we do spawn the items. Each of the houses are created from scratch, we spawn an empty Naboo house and spend as much time as possible decorating to create the best scenes.

How long did it take to set up each of the scenes for the screenshots?
Overall it takes about half a day to set up all the scenes. This is actually a deadline we set for ourselves because if we could, we would spend all day setting up cool houses.

Did your team argue about where items should be placed? Tell the truth!
Not really, we usually assign different areas to each team member then work together to blend the designs to make a seamless house. When there are design disagreements, we just remove the items in question.

Do you have any trouble getting NPCs to look at the camera or stand correctly?
All the time! The players only see the best screen shots of the hundreds we take. Most of the time, we will repeatedly pose by NPCs and wait for the NPC to turn a certain direction or emote in some way that adds value to the shot.

What are your favorite items from the Ewok Festival of Love?
Amongst the team, our favorite item is the chocolate fountain placed upside down to make a cool effect. Its also fun to combine them, with one on a wall, and another facing up to create a neat waterfall effect.

What do you like best about Star Wars Galaxies?
There are many aspects of SWG that we like, but our favorites are: socializing in the cantinas (and reading player character bios), decorating houses, customizing characters, bounty hunting and the space game.

What do you like best about player housing and decorating features in Star Wars Galaxies?
The team greatly enjoys the diversity of the housing decorations. Within Galaxies, we can personalize any house to suit our style and then change it at any time.

I know that you guys normally use the internal dev servers to take screenshots, but do you ever find a need to take screenshots on the live servers? Do you secretly take screenshots of large groups of players?
Of course! For most SWG events, we will run around the crowds and take screen shots and video. Although the team can make some cool looking characters, the players characters and houses are diverse and amazing.

Do any of you have player characters on the live servers? If so, what profession, race, and level? Note: we wont be including this question if you dont have any.
The entire team has multiple characters. Some of our most played characters consist of a 90 Human Bounty Hunter, 90 Zabrak Spy, a 90 Ithorian Beast Master Officer, and another 90 Zabrak Spy.

Do you have any tips for the community on what settings work the best for taking really good screenshots? (Options, Turning off the User-Interface elements, etc.)
The best game settings for creating great screenshots are just thatthe best settings your computer can support. Raise your resolution to the highest your computer and monitor can support. Also, Galaxies has an excellent graphics and terrain options menu, so raise the settings as needed to best suit your screenshot.

We recommend turning off Enable Post Processing Effect and enabling antialiasing. These options are available in the Graphics tab of the option menu. This will smooth the lines of your shots a bit. Remember to uncheck Fade Objects, Cross-Fade Levels of Detail, Use Low Detail for Distant Characters, and Enable Character Lod Manager. These options lower the quality of the characters and objects in your screenshots.

Lastly and most important: lighting, lighting, lighting! The best shots are ones in which players can clearly see whats happening! When composing shots, make sure the camera characters personal light is on and choose places that have appropriate light sources. Adjust the Brightness, Contrast and Gamma as needed. If you want a night scene, find spots where there are torches or lamps, anything to show off the scene clearly. A lot goes into a good screenshot.

Without mentioning a specific graphics card can you mention specific technology that works best?
This is a difficult answer. Computers have multiple components and configurations that can affect screenshots. The best advice is getting a solid video card and a solid monitor, both that support high resolutions.

Do you have any tips on staging scenes for screenshots?
There are many ways to take great screenshots. The best advice we have is to keep your screenshots focused and simple. Define what you want to show in the screenshot and make that subject the focus of the shot. To use a marketing term, make sure the main focus of the shot pops. If we are capturing an armor set, we want to find a background that contrasts well with the armor. We dont want to shoot brown armor in front of a brown wall. The character and the focus are lost in the background. Also, do not be afraid of extreme angles! High shots looking down, low shots looking up, you can capture some epic and dramatic images with more dynamic angles.

Capturing Your Options!

So how can you take your own great screenshots? Well, the first thing you need to do is understand your options! In order to help you get a better grasp of all the options, we asked the Development Team for information about all the boxes, sliders, and whatchamacallits that can be found in the Options window. The Development Team was kind enough to share the information with us. The information can also be found our Knowledge Base along with other related topics!

But, before you run off and make a bunch of changes, youll probably want to know how to take a screenshot! The default screenshot key is the PrtScn key on your keyboard. Also, you can hide all UI elements by using the Ctrl + Shift + H combination.

Graphics Options

In the two pictures below, you'll see all the different in-game options you have for altering video settings while in-game. This area can be accessed by hitting O, or opening up the game menu and clicking on Options. As you mouse over the different choices on each Options screen, you should see tooltips for each selection.

Depending on the quality of your video card and the settings you have in place on the LaunchPad, some options may not be available to you (Brightness, Contrast and Gamma Correction are shown below).

Particle Limit: (0-2048) - Limits the number of particles you can see on your screen at one time. Some game-system important particles will not be filtered out with this option, with blaster bolts being a good example.
Brightness: Allows users to alter brightness levels while in-game.
Contrast: Allows users to alter the contrast levels while in-game (differentiation between colors).
Gamma Correction: Allows users to alter the gamma, or how grey levels between black and white are displayed.
Disable Animation Priorities: Having this option checked on allows animations to override each other, instead of queuing up to be processed in order after completion.
Enable antialiasing: Check on to enable 2x Full-Screen Antialiasing; a technique that is used to smooth jagged distortions in curves and diagonal lines cannot be used in conjunction with Post Processing Effects; has no effect in windowed mode.
Enable post processing effects: Can not be used in conjunction with Anti-aliasing.
Enable glare: Enables the screen glare that results from looking directly at the sun.
Viewing Distance: Allows users the ability to manage how far out the game will attempt to render characters, structures and other items. The higher the setting, the more resources needed to perform the task.
Field of View: Allows users to change what they see when on the character; either a very narrow, 'forward' looking view, or one with greater amounts of peripheral vision.
Fade Objects: Determines whether objects will fade in/out of view, or if they will be rendered instantly.
Cross-fade Levels of Detail
Use Low Detail for Distant Characters: If checked on, the system will render distant characters and NPCs/creatures at a lower quality; this improves performance, but will reduce the quality of mobiles when viewed at a distance. Once they get within a certain range, the system will change over to the standard level of detail.
Enable Character LOD Manager
Simple Camera Collision (Faster): When enabled, collision with objects happens faster, but is not as accurate.
Offset Camera: When enabled, the third person camera view sits slightly off above the right shoulder of the character, instead of directly behind.
Camera Height: If Offset Camera is disabled, this slider alters the height/angle of the camera when in third person mode.

Static Object Level of Detail: Allows users to alter the graphic quality of static items, like rocks, trees and buildings.
Character Level of Detail: Allows users to alter the graphic quality of player characters, pets, NPCs and creatures.
Particle System Level of Detail: Allows users to modify the quality of particle systems, like rendered smoke or fire.
Nebula Density: Allows users to adjust the detail level of nebulas in space.
Render Shadows (ground): Allows you to determine if shadows should be rendered for player characters or static, non-character objects like buildings. Rendering shadows is not recommended for users of lower end video cards, as it may adversely affect performance.
Save Screenshots As: Allows you to select one of three different formats for your screenshot files; Bitmap (.bmp), Targa (.tga) and JPEG (.jpg). For .jpg files, you can also alter the quality of the image taken and saved; the more detailed, the larger the file size, in general. The screenshots are saved to a folder called screenshots within the directory where you have Star Wars Galaxies installed on your computer.

Terrain Options

Players can customize the level of detail shown in the local terrain and fauna/foliage. Anyone who is running an older machine/setup may find that they can increase their game client's performance by reducing one or more of the settings offered here.

Global Terrain Detail: Modifies the overall detail of terrain and terrain objects in Galaxies. Users with older or lower-end systems are encouraged to keep this in the mid to low range for optimum performance.
Terrain High Detail Range: Changes the range at which the game client renders terrain and fauna in the highest detail. The higher the detail, the more individual objects will be rendered; rocks, planets, etc.
Render Distant Radial Flora: Toggles on/off the rendering of distant trees.
Render Non-collidable Flora: Toggles on/off the rendering of small plants, shrubs and other terrain objects that your character will not collide with/be obstructed by.
Non-collidable Flora Draw Distance: Measurement (in meters) of how far out the game-client will attempt to render non-collidable flora. Option is not active if Render Non-collidable Flora is unchecked; Minimum 32m, maximum 128m.
Render Nearby Radial Flora: Toggles on/off the rendering of nearby grass and flower elements.
Near Radial Flora Draw Distance: Measurement (in meters) of how far out the game client will attempt to render radial flora. Option is not active if 'Render Nearby Radial Flora is unchecked; range is 16m minimum, 64m maximum.
Specular Terrain Lighting: Toggles on/off whether light will reflect off of a shiny surface. Changes to this require a client restart.

Interface Options

The Interface tab of the Options screen contains many of the toggles for helpful User Interface (UI) windows and tools; you can pull up Options with the O key, or through the command/main menu button.

HUD Windows Opacity: Allows you to alter how much you can 'see through' the heads-up display/UI.
Overhead Map Options: These options allow you to customize the appearance over the Overhead Map. You can select which elements you want to view (waypoints, creatures, labels, buildings), and you can also change the opacity of the map. (how much you can see through it).
Expand Toolbar to a Second Row: Adds a second row to the toolbar
Enable Coordinate Display: Toggles on/off the coordinate display meter. (X, Y, Z coordinate).
Show Damage Statistics Meter: Toggles on/off a small UI window that echoes damage statistics to the player.
Show Terrain on Map: Toggles on/off the display of terrain coloration on the radar mini-map.
Creature Names and Symbols Blink when in Combat
Show status information above the intended target
Enable Windows Key in Windowed Mode
Enable Windows Key in Full screen Mode
Show Tips/Notifications: Toggles on/off the mouse-over 'tool-tips' many systems have built in.
Allow Overhead Map Rotation: Allows the map to rotate with the player/in the direction that the player is facing.
Allow Object Icon Rotation: Toggles on/off whether item icons in your inventory rotate.
Show the Quest Icon for NPCs: If checked, shows a round blue/white question mark symbol over most quest-granting NPCs.
Automatically sort Inventory Contents: When items are added to your inventory, they will be displayed in alphabetical order.
Automatically sort Datapad Contents: When items are added to your datapad, they will be displayed in alphabetical order.

Show Object Arrows on the Radar: Toggles on/off radar-based arrow guides for waypoints or mission targets.
Enable Display of Friendly NPCs on the Radar: Toggles the display of friendly targets on the radar mini-map.
Show Experience Monitor: Toggles on/off a silver/yellow experience monitor which generally resides on the bottom of the screen.
Onscreen Waypoint Monitor: Toggles on/off the UI window for the onscreen waypoint monitor (can activate/de-activate waypoints on the planet without having to open the datapad).
Show Arrows to Waypoints On-screen: Toggles on/off directional guide arrows which correspond to the active waypoints and/or missions you have active on the planet.
Chat Bar Fades Out: When checked, the chat bar and box will fade away, allowing for better visibility.
(Missing bold category heading) Dragging item onto a container puts item into container (instead of re-arranging them within the player's inventory)
Always Show Range in Ground Radar: Toggles on/off the radar's display range value.
Show Target Arrows in Space: Toggles on/off guide arrows in space (similar to 'Show Arrows to Waypoints On-Screen').
Show Damage Arrows in Space: Toggles on/off guide arrow which helps the pilot determine where damage done to their ship is coming from.
Show Visible Enemy Damage Arrow: Same as above, but includes cases in which the target damaging you is within your field of vision (the other only works on the periphery of the screen).
New Vendor Double Click to Examine: When turned on, double clicking on an item on a vendor will result in you examining the item; with this off, double clicking of an item on a vendor results in a sale.
Show Quest Helper: Toggles on/off the Quest Helper UI, which shows tasks for the current, 'active' quest.
Secondary Target Status Window: You can choose to have a secondary target status window; this can be set to the target you mouse over, or the 'target' of your current target (i.e. if you are targeting a quenker, and the quenker is targeting your buddy Bob, Bob will be in the window).
UI Palette: Allows user to choose from several pre-determined color schemes for the user interface.
Always show Names on Object Icons: Toggles on/off name display on items in your
Object Icon Size: Allows re-sizing of the icons in a player's inventory (can also be done with CTRL+scroll).
Command Button Opacity: Changes the opacity/visibility of the main menu button.
Fly Text Size: Determines the size of the text that pops up above your/your target's head as you are in combat.

Camera Elasticity (Starships only): Controls how quickly the camera will pan/shift around as you cycle through targets.
Show Targeting Cursor Aid (Starships only): Toggles on/off the targeting aid cursor/cross hair used in space: the aid takes the speed, and vector of you and your target into effect, and provides a guide for where you should be shooting to have the best chance at causing damage.
Targeting Cursor size (Starships only): Allows the Targeting Aid cross hair to be resized.
Buff Icon Options: These selections allow you to re-size the appearance of buff icons as they show up on your target, secondary target, your personal status, and your pet's status. You also can modify how distinct the 'whirlygig' (countdown monitor) is for buffs that are currently active, or that are on a cool-down timer.
Show Average for These Resistance Attributes: These selections can help show an average quality for a resource, based on the different criteria you select. If you were to just select Overall Quality, your resources would have a yellow value that shows the OQ of a resource the next time your inventory is open. If you select OQ and Shock Resistance, then the system looks at the value of the two criteria, and averages them out. This can prove helpful when you are looking at a case full of resources of similar types.

Resolution Size

In order to change the resolution size of your screen, you can click the game options button at the login screen. The resolution option I sunder the Graphics tab of those settings.

If you have your own tips fortaking great screenshots, please join ourdiscussion and share them with everyone!