Just one other thought. Like the real world, the best portraits can really only be achieved by a third party. Get someone who has a good photographic eye (or at least a basic understanding of photo composition) to take the pictures for you. Especially if you have a specific scene you'd like to be part of the image. Maybe your betrothed?

Worst case scenario, I can help you get a shot. If you can't get the character creator working (to get the high-res models) for you (still getting the black screens) we can team up and use the opening cinematic of a Heroic quest to get some screenies of your high-res model. I make this offer to my own hubby as well (who would be giving me the stink-eye if I didn't ;-) ).

Sure thing, look for me!

Welcome to Marketing 101. LOL.

Every job I worked as a designer that had anything to do with advertising (especially my year at the community paper) had us creating the most absurd copy to try and make each ad stand out from every other ad we did. I look back at some of them and cringe.

Even the good ones do it. I remember when Microsoft was going from the XP era into the Vista era, Apple was doing the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" series of commercials. As someone who worked on both professionally, I was both irked (as a PC user) and amused how Apple criticized "PC" for needing to get new components in order to upgrade from XP to Vista. Conveniently forgetting the little detail many Mac users needed to replace entire systems when they went from 9 to OS X because of major requirement change and Mac's limited upgrade capability (not to mention Mac driver patches are much longer in the coming than PC.

We were happy about getting new systems for the upgrade, but the company wasn't about the cost, and we weren't because of the down time in getting the new systems set up and everything transferred over.

Okay... sorry about the ramble. That's just marketing for you.

Per the bioware forums Dev tracker:

"Hi folks, Just in case you missed it, we added the following to the Known Issues thread earlier today:
Anti-aliasing is currently disabled for ATI 6900 series graphics cards.
Holograms will disappear during conversations if players modify their preferences to turn off bloom while anti-aliasing is on.

To give you all some more insight, the ATI issue is due to a severe graphical glitch and we are in discussions with ATI to resolve this. Thank you for your patience."

I can only imagine. I was using the same jacket I got on my starter world. Smuggler gear sucks until level 50 I am assuming. I saw some PVP styled gear I like.

Wow! I hope this is something added and soon. Love the smoothness and look.

Just whatever you do, don't ask him how long it took to get looking that good in the armor! It hasn't been easy for him.

Thanks. I will try that tonight, or when my character finds some better clothers to wear. LoL. We can't all be studly troopers with great armor.

-Kevin ~ Captain Xal Starlighter

Thanks. I will try that tonight, or when my charater finds some better clothers to wear. LoL. We can't all be studly troopers with great armor.

-Kevin ~ Captain Xal Starlighter

Kevin,

Not sure why you are getting a black box.

That said, I tried a few methods to get the best possible shot of my character.

Right now there are two models used in game a high-resolution model/texture in cut scenes for detail (because what is drawn can be controlled), and a lower resolution one for general game play.

I personally believe (thought I could be wrong) the character select screen uses the high-resolution versions and provide a good framing for a bust shot. If you have Picasa (if you don't, you can get it free at picasa.google.com), simply open up Picasa then alt-tab back to SW:TOR. When you hit "Print Screen" Picasa will generate its own screenshot (SW:TOR does not recognize the Print Screen button at the character select screen).

Because of the looping animation, you should find a few "poses" that convey the right 'look' you want your character to have. As that pose approaches spam the Print Screen key a few times. This will give you a good selection of images to narrow down to the one you like best.

Once you have that, anyone with intermediate skill in Photoshop should be able to remove the background around your character.

Well... that's what I wound up doing anyway and am quite pleased with the character shot I was able to get using this method.

:woohoo: WOW!!!!!!!!!! :woohoo: VERY impressive guys! What program/online service do you use to create a signature? I've used an online service for WOW, but don't know if the same one will also create SWTOR signatures as well. I'll go check that one out again then I have to figure out how to save it to our forums. :unsure: I, unfortunately, know absolutely nothing about this kind of cool stuff. Someday, I hope..........

Episode 498 - Voyager - "Innocence" - 04/08/1996

http://www.allstepisodes.com/megvid.php?n=4222

Tuvok crash-lands on a moon and finds children who have been abandoned.

Enjoy!

I am having a very hard time capturing a screen shot. Print screen just creats a black box when I hit it. Anyone have a tip for me to help me get my character's picture?

-Kevin ~ Captain Xal Starlighter

This ad just popped up on Facebook, by "register.perfectworld.com" and for STO. This is the copy:

"Follow the rules of acquisition as a Ferengi in Star Trek Online & bribe & cheat your way to the top! More is good. All is better!"

Whoever wrote that copy has not played a Ferengi in-game. (I have a new Ferengi alt.) Ferengi have as a species trait a discount for requisitions. That's it. No wheeling and dealing, no cheating. Also, it's clear from "The Path to 2409"/"The Needs of the Many" that a Ferengi who is joining Starfleet has likely done so to spite these characteristics of the Ferengi culture.

It's just, weird. The ad has no relevance to the game whatsoever.

Quote by DakonKor

The only way that I am aware of to do animation without the limitations of GIFs would be HTML 5 (which I know nothing about) or using a Flash animation. I'm not sure if either would work in our forums though.

Only one way to find out! I'll give it a go and see what I find out.

I have included the availability information provided up to this point in the Leadership Thread. I've included times as GMT, EST, and PST. Most were fairly easy to convert, others I was unsure but made my best estimated guess.

Please let me know if you notice any discrepancies I need to correct.

Here is an example for those who are visual like myself.



Although it may not seem like a lot when you add up all the lines in this game into a massive image it can make a huge difference to the overall look and feel.

Quote by DakonKor

Thanks for the post Jon. Even though I'm aware that SW:TOR is the first MMO for many Stonewallers, it's easy to forget this basic information should be shared when you've been involved with these games for over a decade.

I would add that I use Avast! Anti-virus.

It is always highly reviewed by respected PC magazines and sites, and even the free version usually outscores Norton or McAfee due to lack of bloat, stability, ease of use, and the speed with which new threats are added to the protection.

It's been a few years since I've dug into the adware/malware issue, but my plan of attack continues to be both the free version of AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy. I run them, one after the other, once every 3-4 months and have had no issues with malware or adware in over 8 years.

Yeah being in a house full of gamers in different age ranges it's a wake up call to always remember the basics. Thanks for the link I added it to the list.

Thanks for the post Jon. Even though I'm aware that SW:TOR is the first MMO for many Stonewallers, it's easy to forget this basic information should be shared when you've been involved with these games for over a decade.

I would add that I use Avast! Anti-virus.

It is always highly reviewed by respected PC magazines and sites, and even the free version usually outscores Norton or McAfee due to lack of bloat, stability, ease of use, and the speed with which new threats are added to the protection.

It's been a few years since I've dug into the adware/malware issue, but my plan of attack continues to be both the free version of AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy. I run them, one after the other, once every 3-4 months and have had no issues with malware or adware in over 8 years.

Interesting Jon. I remember before the last Turkey day weekend beta we had AA but then it was removed in one of the later builds. I was hoping to see it come back. Do you see a visible difference when you enable it? This may just be an incorrect tool-tip text. I can't wait to get home from work and try it out.

@Seannewboy - That's not a dumb question. Basically it makes everything look smoother (but can reduce performance depending on system resources and configuration. AA reduces the amount of jagged edges you see on all the models. I'm gonna really geek out here :P , here's the definition from Webopedia:

In computer graphics, antialiasing is a software technique for diminishing jaggies - stairstep-like lines that should be smooth. Jaggies occur because the output device, the monitor or printer, doesn't have a high enough resolution to represent a smooth line. Antialiasing reduces the prominence of jaggies by surrounding the stairsteps with intermediate shades of gray (for gray-scaling devices) or color (for color devices). Although this reduces the jagged appearance of the lines, it also makes them fuzzier.