How to Improve Gallery Pictures

To those commenting on lighting, I agree that it would be helpful to be able to toggle it to the time of day you like, but to do so via a new tool might add too much complexity. I think that the developers *might* be able to at least give us the same button that we use in build mode to toggle time of day, since that functionality is already built in. Doing it picture by picture might be difficult though...

What I usually do to get the lighting just right (or as close to it as I can given, as @Manssom noted, the environmental hues), is to have my play tester sim on the lot, and to fast forward his/her time of day to the one that I think looks best. Then, I go to save the lot. This works now, without any new Gallery options, so I thought I might mention it for those who may just be using the build mode day/night toggles. While helpful, the chosen times of day are not always ideal.

Yes, @MAINAGO1, that is the goal, to ensure that the system is entirely in-game and that images can't be tampered with post-process (without triggering the CC flag). That way, it would be a system that Maxis could support for non-CC builders.

@Pegasus143 In my opinion, ideally, it would be entirely up to the builder what he or she chooses to capture in their images. I would like to see a prompt asking for the number of pictures to be taken, say, up to 8, as 8 is the current maximum (based on the number of levels of the build), and then a prompt to take each picture. I understand that this means that a builder might not choose to provide an overhead layout shot or might focus on the exterior at the cost of the interior, etc., but I'd rather see that freedom, and let the downloaders decide whether they want to take a closer look in game or not. I think that most builders, given a high enough number of images to use (currently, lots with only 1 or 2 levels don't get many images, and the Image Replacer tool could not add image slots), would choose to provide a balanced view of their creation.

@SimsLovinLycan If we're able to get option 1 or 2, I think they would address all of your issues, because you would have the freedom to take your shot at any angle, zoom, walls up, etc. as you choose (although again, option 2 might be more limited).

@EmmaVane I'm adding your sims requests to the index. :)

@luthienrising That's a very good point. A skip function would probably be a must have, which, when selected, would just take the default pictures that the game takes now. They might also want to consider adding an option in the game options to toggle the functionality on/off altogether and have it off by default to avoid confusion over the changes.

@Mirrrr We are not discussing custom thumbnails here. If you would like to provide your feedback on custom thumbnails, there is a thread for that here. In this thread, we are discussing gallery images generated strictly in game with no post processing effects.

An interesting suggestion @DominicLaurence, but I think that it would be the same amount of work for them programmatically to generate some of the images via default and the rest via creator as to generate them all via creator. I personally would rather see them all creator driven.

@Luke I think we'd need Maxis themselves to clarify whether they care about creations having a uniform look. I tend to think it's not so much because they want everything to look uniform as it is that they had to create a program with preset distances and angles, and they chose to use homes levels as a basis for each shot beyond the first two shots. With any luck though, a sim guru will pop into the thread at some point and let us know if there are specific requirements to how images must be set up.

@Lovelysimmer100 Just want to clarify that I am not in charge of anything here. :D I just created this thread in order to enable us to give Maxis suggestions that they can use to meet our needs without us having to resort to an outside tool. There is another thread where we have provided feedback regarding the patch change and Importer Tool here. If you read it, you'll find that I am not a fan of the change by any means, but having spoken my piece there, I'd rather focus now on what can be done going forward for those of us who are committed to being CC free with our creations. Those who don't mind the CC flag are free to continue to use the Image Replacer tool.