#vp tips

[dread-red-queen]

Welcome to my Little CharLI and VP spotlight tutorial I will be going over a few things I have learned since starting Virtual Photography in the hopes I can help out people unfamiliar with CharLI and want to learn how to light there model, make characters look at each other and how to use AMM to help get that perfect shot.

I'm not an expert but I have improved alot since I starting using these simple tips I will share with you.

Here is what CharLi looks like when you open it, it may seem a little overwhelming at first but once you get used to what does what, its prety simple to use

I'm going to be sharing how I use spotlights in this tutorial so don't worry about the other lights for now.

first of all I usually only use a single, or a set of 4 or 8 spotlights in my shots, you can use more of course.

this is what the spotlights look like, they are in two parts, the main spotlight mesh, this is the physical spotlight that emits the light, and the pink triangle (Pin) this gives you an indication of there height for reference, this is useful when you are getting your lights in position as you can physically see them to get them in the right spot.

Here you have your radius, this is how close the spotlights are to your model,

your rotation this does as it says and rotates your lights around your model,

your intensity is how bright your lights are. each as two sliders, the top is subtle the bottom will be more extreme.

For example with radius if I use the top slider it moves the lights further away but only a little, if I use the bottom slider it will move them even further away. be careful as you can push them so far away light no longer hits your model or they disappear through walls. so its a little trail and error.

Here you have colour, position and angle

colour - is self explanatory, you can use the red, green and blue sliders to change the colour of your lights, it can be a bit of trail and error to get the colour you want

Position - you can adjust your lights position in the X, Y and Z axis i.e to the left, right or up or down.

Angles - tilt you lights to the left, right or up or down

Ok now we know the basics of what does what.

There is more stuff you can adjust but I'm still learning so we will only be covering what I use and know which is the basics

When you first spawn in spot lights, they will likely be to close to your model and the light will be a little too bright, so once you spawn them in we can make a few quick adjustment to there radius and light intensity to make that lighting a little less harsh.

See how much better this looks already? a good tip I follow is to lower your exposure in Photomode down, then bring up lights with CharLi so you have a better control of the light on your model.

multiple spotlights spawn in a ring around your model, if you want to use different colour lights ect, I usually converge my lights so they are closer together then rotate them to one side of the model.

Once I have my coloured lights in position I duplicate them, this duplicates all settings from light intensity, radius, colour ect, then I use the rotate function to bring the duplicate lights to the other side of the model and adjust my colours.

here I have made the left lights pink and the right lights a pale blue. looks kind of cool right?

I noticed when having lights on either side, the middle of her face was not lit so I added a single spotlight in front to give her face some light. I also zoomed in using the FOV slider in Photomode. you can zoom with the scroll wheel but this can result in some distortion like making her head look bigger than her body at some angles. using the FOV slider gives you much better quality and far less distortion.

Once you are happy with your lights positions you may find the lights are in the way when trying to get your shot as at some angles the lights will be in the shot blocking your model. to solve this you can hide the mesh and pin we talked about earlier with these icons here. this will hide the lights while still lighting your model. giving you more freedom to get that perfect angle.

you know when you click look at camera in Photomode the body twists with the head, spoiling some poses and causing clipping ect. well with AMM you can make it so only the eyes look or only the head does.

using AMM if you head to tools, then either target your replacer or V then toggle if you want just the head to tilt to look at camera or just the eyes.

Here I have toggled just eyes so now Raven will track me with just her eyes rather than rotating her torso and head as well. if you want to swap to just the head, open AMM select just the head. then close AMM you will need to then toggle the look at camera of and on for it to change.

Another thing to bare in mind is when and if you decide to change the rotation or position of your model in Photomode. your lights will follow V so sometimes this can change your lighting. you may need to adjust rotation ect to get them back where you want them so bare that in mind if you adjust your models position after you have your lights in place.

simply use the tabs at the top to select each light and make any adjustments you need to get your lights back where you want them. un toggle hide mesh or pin if you hid them to make it easier to see where they are when making adjustments then you can re hide them when your done.

Lets say you have a replacer spawned and you want your characters to look at eachother. this can be done using the look at camera feature with a little help from AMM

open AMM and go to tools, now depending on who you want to look at who will decide who to target. in this example I will show both. first I will target Raven (V) and select head only for look at camera. then close AMM. I will rotate the camera to the other side of my replacers head then select V and look at camera. then open AMM and target V. then open Target tools and you should have an option to freeze target.

once you freeze the target close AMM and you will see her head will stay in position and is now looking at Goro

Bare in mind once you freeze a target this way you can not unfreeze despite that being a button, If u change pose while frozen it can get pretty cursed pretty quick. its a pain in the ass. some poses you can swap to without it getting to cursed but again its trail and error. if you need to change pose ect you will have to exit Photomode and re-enter it to unfreeze it can be prety time consuming. if there is away around this I'm unaware of it currently feel free to share if you know.

Here I repeated the look at camera trick with Goro so now my models are looking at each other yay

another thing to bare in mind with CharLi is the lights focus on V so you will notice here Goro is not as well lit as Raven. Spawning more lights and adjusting there position with X, Y and Z will come in handy here. it can take some experimenting though.

Here I have added additional lights and positioned them on Goro so he now has light to.

Here we have taken a photo after doing all our adjustments to lights, there position and making our models look at each other. sometimes there will be an error where it will go darker then you want when you hit space to take your shot. I think its called auto exposure error or something basicaly its the game being poopy its annoying but sometimes unavoidable so you may need to keep adjusting your lights and taking shots until the game behaves.

One final thing I like to do when tweaking my shots in photoshop. I usually adjust exposure. offset and contrast to make the pic really pop

Here I have adjusted the offset up a little and tweaked the contrast up a little. it really softens blacks and the light and makes the pic look better in my opinion.

And there you have it. all the tips and tricks I have learned while doing Virtual Photography. I hope this helps peeps out that want to get into VP.

If you have any questions regarding anything I have said my Asks are always open. I'm happy to talk you through stuff if you need some help. I'm also willing to do screen share discord calls to help you follow along or show you in real time how to do stuff if your interested in something like that drop me a DM.

🚫 Do Not Re-Upload/Edit My Shots/Art Without My Permission🚫

             [Pillowfort][Instagram][Tumblr][AO3][Nexus][Ko-Fi]

[imaginarycyberpunk2023]

VP help needed!

I need help for motorcycle pics! When he's on it I cannot take good pics bc what are his eyes doing??? Also he's constantly moving and AMM won't let me freeze him.

But how can I put a motorcycle upright when nobody sits on it? It doesn't work for me? They always have the parked position which is tilted.

I also have not found poses that work well. I want him sitting on it, one leg down or both.

I would also like to do some action shots but as a first step I'd be happy to just have him look hot on a bike ok 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

So many questions, I am thankful for any tips!!

[cinnamon-flame]

Hello I am back with more Viva Piñata doodles! Turns out if you think enough about fluffy piñatas you can force your way through art block (at least for a while)

The typical Viva Piñata experience, I love you Pretztail but why are you like this I drew so many Pretztail as a "do over" of my first Viva Piñata drawing from 2018

that's when it all started

[nativeconservative]

[pollyannawog]

Not to be too cringe on main or anything but what if. Pinatasona….

[ghostoffuturespast]

Tips For VP When You're Rolling Without Mods

I've just recently gotten into virtual photography (mainly for Cyberpunk 2077) and I don't use mods. I play on console and vanilla PC. (I've noticed images are much crisper on PC but I'm still using the basic photo mode.)

There are a lot of amazing VPers and modders out there who make phenomenal use of mods and put a lot of time and love into their photos which is fantastic! It means we get to see all sorts of beautiful and super cool creative photos of OCs and characters and enviro shots that we'd never be able to see in the base version of the game. It's great!

However, if you don't have access to mods it can be intimidating to start taking photos when all you have is a vanilla version of the game. Unfortunately, these tips will not solve the dilemma of trying to take photos of your otps... But I'm here to tell you that vanilla is a perfectly fine flavor and despite the limitations, with a little ingenuity and problem solving, you too can take awesome photos.

Now, do I take the world's greatest photos? No. But I'm having fun and I enjoy the challenge of having to get creative with the limited set of tools at my disposal and I like taking candid photos. There's something magical about capturing a moment as it's happening.

So, here's what I've learned so far. All the photos below were taken on PS5 and, apart from adjusting the in game camera settings, are unedited.

Lighting

Good lighting will do almost all your work for you in photography. However, unless you're carrying your own light around it's something you have very limited control over in game (and IRL), so you'll have to rely on what you find. There are going to be a lot of instances when you want to take a photo but the lighting just sucks. You learn to work around it. Once you learn to spot good light sources though you'll know them when you see them.

Portrait and character shots can be tricky without mods, NPCs don't always cooperate. But with a little patience and timing you can grab some really wonderful shots. You may need to hop in and out of photo mode a few times in order to get them though, especially if they're moving around.

For portrait style photos you're looking for radiant or diffused sources of light that'll highlight your subject, think ring selfie lights or when you walk into a naturally well lit room without direct sunlight coming in. Strong directional lighting works very well too, it's high contrast and can be very dramatic but you have to be more considerate of the angles and it's harder to utilize when you can't pose or move your subject. Color of light isn't so important (unless you're looking for specific mood lighting), you just need enough light to prevent your subject from looking washed out and blending in with the background.

For landscape or environmental shots you can change the time of day if you're looking for a particular vibe, and weather can add extra ambiance, so there's a bit more freedom with taking these kinds of photos. Different times of day have different types of light, different tones. Warm or cool. And lens flares and glare can make fun effects. Urban settings also generate a lot of their own light, which makes it much easier to photograph as a subject.

Take the time to get to know your light sources as well. Rotate your subjects or camera, if you're able, and check out what the lighting does at different angles.

Play with the sliders

Exposure, contrast, highlights, depth, focus, and field of view are your friends. Get acquainted with them and figure out what settings you like, what works best in what situations, and don't be afraid to push the boundaries! Crank the settings to min and max just so you understand what they do. Hell, even some of the preset effects and camera angles are stellar too depending on what you're trying to accomplish.

Since there's no way to adjust saturation in game, I will typically bump down the exposure and up the contrast and highlights to make subjects stand out more and give the illusion of being more vibrant. I also know photos have a tendency to export darker on PS5, so I've learned to err on the side of making them slightly lighter than I want them. And it's personal preference, but I bump the film grain all the way up. Makes me feel like I'm using an old school camera.

Take the same shot with multiple settings in case something goes wrong or if you don't like the way something came out, or just to see the differences. It'll also give you a reference point for later in terms of what settings work for what kinds of photos you're trying to take.

Find the right angle

Be prepared to do some goofy ass shit for the sake of your photos. Getting in NPC's faces, moving around so characters heads will track your position, cheesing poses, climbing on furniture, scaling buildings and billboards, stealing trucks to use as step stools. It's all part of the fun.

You're gonna look ridiculous playing the floor is lava on desks, doing the slav squat on light posts, standing on top of street sweepers, or crouching like a gremlin on a ledge; but hey, you got the photo. Different angles (high, low, close-up, far) can also help frame your subjects, tell a story, or provide extra visual interest as well. And don't forget you can incorporate the environment too! The landscape can help set the scene, tone, and mood of your photos. I did some kind of parkour to get the photos below.

Break the wall

The camera has a pretty limited range of movement, but sometimes you can break it or it'll break on it's own accord in certain scenarios. (Or V. Break V, your tripod.) Use that to your advantage. Phase through surfaces, rubber band off objects, utilize being able to pan farther than you normally would. Poke holes in physics and embrace the accidents. For instance, I've discovered that you can pan back much farther than normal when you jump onto the top of lamp posts. Like double or triple the amount you normally woud. No clue why, but it's very useful for landscape photos.

If you've played the game a few times and don't mind breaking your immersion you can also take photos during missions and gigs. You won't have the full range of camera options if you pull up photo mode during dialogue, but in between snippets of talking is a great time to snag photos of your favorite characters or places that become unavailable outside of quests.

The photo below was a happy accident and it's still one of my favorite shots I've taken. It looks like something out of a movie. I glitched through the wall, got stuck and ended up behind a fence way outside the range of where the camera is normally stuck around V. Total Bob Ross moment all because I was trying to see how far I could push the camera.

Don't force it

Sometimes you get an idea for a cool shot, but something in the execution is lacking. Maybe it's the lighting or the way it's framed or you can't time it right. Don't sweat it and move on. Or revisit it later. Save often. Not everything has to be a masterpiece and that's okay. Everything is practice.

The most important thing

Have fun! :)

[wanderingaldecaldo]

The Streetkid

Pepe: Everything chill, hermana? V: Some bastard tried to mug me. I handled it. Pepe: Who? Local guy? V: You really think some local'd try to mug me, Pepe?

After I took a break in February and played Horizon Zero Dawn, I felt the need to start Cyberpunk 2077 up once more with my disaster bisexual streetkid. I wanted to play through the story fully, and not get distracted by photomode like I have all the other playthrus I started since I first bootcamped my MBP.

To that end, I am only playing with clothing replacers, which is highly ironic given the recent wealth of ArchiveXL mods. But creativity within restraint is something I always enjoy, and dressing Val this playthru has indeed been fun. It's made me go out of my way to shop for clothing, and check back with vendors whenever I'm nearby because I might finally stumble upon Mel's green plunge dress.

Also I have been thinking about Val in context of this AU (versus what I consider her canon, the Into My Arms series) and how she will call Rogue from the rooftop instead of Panam, and then contrasting that with Corpo Val and how she goes it alone with Johnny, and it gave me some good insight into their respective personalities.

To some extent Streetkid Val is used to relying on others—her cousin Mark, then Emma and her gang, then 6th Street and Atlanta and Jackie, of course—while Corpo Val grew up in the cold, distrusting corpo world. She had a few real friends but they were scarce so she learned to rely on herself most of all.

And a couple more, just because I can:

[princiepuppy]

Viva pinata discord

If I made a discord for the viva pinata tip xenia pc port, would anyone be interested in that? For trading wildcards and such!

[theglittersalamango]

pester deep thinking and staring at the moon

[heart-buzz]

th

the damned JELI

[girlyliondragon]

Got my Xbox wireless controller for my computer. Once I get my SSI money, I'll afford a Game Pass Ultimate sub so that I can play Viva Pinata TIP at last. Let's just hope my computer can handle it. Because the emulator sucked ass.

[kargaroc]

[imaginarycyberpunk2023]

Blood splatter(ed) tutorial by @halsin

Okay, so @halsin was gracious enough to send me this lil tutorial in my DMs and I thought it might be useful for others, too so I asked her 8f it was OK to screenshot and put here.

So splatter away friends!

Thank you, babe, for being so kind 🧡

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

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fight for the love of your life like the DNC (Dem leadership) fights to be the loser all the time.

[mastersindigitalmedia]

Choosing the right provider can make all the difference to your business. Use these tips to get the service you need.