Simviation Forums

I am eager to learn the ways of screenshots. I have read all I can in the screenshots how to section. I'm pretty sure that I'll know how to do the upload part however one problem still eludes me. Where in gods name are my shots going to when I hit print screen!?!??  I was reading the how to's thread and it said they would be ready on my clipboard for editing (or something to that effect). Unless i've missed something from being over tired..............I'm not seeing a clip board. I've also noticed that when I do hit print screen nothing happens. Is this normal? Then they just show up on the.....er........clipboard....ahem......... I would appreciate any help in this matter as I am clearly screenshot illiterate. I love learning new things, but dislike being ignorant to what i'm sure is something obvious that i have missed. Thankyou in advance and for making me feel quite at home here since my first post yesterday. Good evening to all.

When you hit print screen, that pick is saved on your "clipboard."

There are several programs designed for screenshot taking. The one I use is fsscreen. If you create a folder and put the fsscreen.exe in there every time you take shots they go to that specific folder... You can also take multiple shots without pausing the sim or stuff like that. I think fsscreen is availible here at sim Yafsscreen is although I didn't really like that one.

Hope it helps

I took one or two shots last night for GP. THen I shut my FS off and went into regular paint just to get a general idea. There were no images waiting on me. So I went up to file followed by brouse to look for this elusive ClipBoard and could not find it. I went as far as going through my entire FS9 for this thing and it's just not there. Perhapse I should get one of these printscreen programs before I get started. And apparently you have to minimize FS not turn it off to take a shot? (at least with regular Paint?). So let me drop back and punt on this one.  Whats the easiest (for now) program out there that will assist me in taking shots? One that I can take my shots, turn off FS when I'm done, go to this program,they're waiting on me when I get there, edit them to Sim V regs, then upload? My head hurts. Sorry for all the questions fellas.

OK, I"ll try and explain screenshot taking without a program a little better, I think I made it a little confusing.

1 First, find an image you want to take a shot of and hit print screen.  This image is now saved on your clipboard.  If you hit print screen again, you will overwrite that image.  So, you can only take one screenshot at a time.

2 Now, minimize FS (or close FS, whichever you prefer)-minimizing just makes it faster to return to the sim.

3 Open MSPaint or a simular program.  Using the tool bar at the top, click "edit" and on the drop down menu click "paste."  Your image should now appear.  

4 Now save the image using MSPaint.

You can now return to FS and take another screenshot.

The programs that Souichiro mentioned are intended to make this process much easier.  I have never used one but they sound like you can simply hit "print screen" whenever you want and all those images are saved.

I hope that is more helpful to you.  

( sheesh the new image upload system is usefull for these kinda posts!)

Basically what you see here is my current screenshot folder. My fsscreen.exe is in this folder and every shot I took get's dropped in this folder.

As easy as that. It doesn't matter where you put the folder either. So save them to where you want them.... No clipboard needed!

Once again Fsscreen

Ok, that makes sense........however.....The clipboard thing...

The edit is up on the toolbar in the upper left corner of the screen.

FSscreen........Is there a link to this here at the V?

I think I'm going to look into this program as well because it sounds like it makes things a lot easier.

I normally use Irfanview, download it from http://www.irfanview.com for free.  You can decide for yourself where the screenshots get saved, and also what key you press to take the shot in the first place.  So if there's a key combination you never use, say Shift-T, just tell Irfanview to take a screenshot whenever Shift-T is pressed.  Take as many as you want, then go to whatever directory you told it to use and all your screenies will be there.  You can even specify what format you want them saved as, I normally use .jpg

Gryshnak

Two things.

I
FSscreen is supposed to take multiple shots. No matter how many times I hit print screen. It's not. It saves the last shot to my clipboard so all I get is the last shot of say an entire flight. Where are the rest of the shots? Am I supposed to set it up for multiple screenies? If so. Wheres that tool in FSscreen?

II
I've got the resize part of my screen shots down easily. All of them ar at 800X600. My problem now is the compression. How do you compress images prior to uploading them here to the site? I uploaded around 9-11 shots and though they all said sucessful upload eventualy were taken off the site one by one due to their "weight".  I have no idea if FSscreen is supposed to have a tool in it that does this or if I'm supposed to have a seperate program for it.

I have alot of screens I'd love t post to share my artistic ability but am worried they will get deleted for doing something wrong. The last thing I want to do is upset any of the moderators that keep this wonderful site together. Based on my last efforts that have all been deleted. It's safe to say I had my fill of "marmalde" and want to make sure I'm doing it right.  Thanks in advance for any additional help in this matter.

Mike..............

You MUST have FSscreen running. Click it on before (or even during the flight) from the shortcut. Then you can press FSScreen as many times as you want and then, after your flight, you can see them all.

Mike, there are a variety of ways you can make them smaller.
This is my technique.

1)Name you images
2) Select all
3) Right click and send them all to email.
4) Ok the box that asks you to make them smaller
5) Up pops an email with them converted from bitmap, huge sizes and weights to a nice image ready for simviation. Drag them each out onto the desktop.

It takes just a few seconds and you don't have to do them individually.

As far as FSscreen goes I figured it was something like that. I'll try that tonight. As far as the compresssion goes, you more or less email yourself with your shots which have been compressed via your email correct? I'll try that tonight as well but it sort of seems redundant emailing pics to yourself that are already there. I'm not knocking your method by any means. If it works for me I will most likly use it all the time. Just seems like there should be an easier way to compress without emailing yourself. Thanks for the info Saitek Anyone else got anymore suggestions on the compression help?


Mike..................

The important thing to understand about using one of the multiple screengrab utilities (like FSScreen) is that you must have it running before starting FS. I think some of these utilities have options for format, sizing & even compressing the images.

As far as the compresssion goes, you more or less email yourself with your shots which have been compressed via your email correct? I'll try that tonight as well but it sort of seems redundant emailing pics to yourself that are already there. I'm not knocking your method by any means. If it works for me I will most likly use it all the time. Just seems like there should be an easier way to compress without emailing yourself. Thanks for the info Saitek  Anyone else got anymore suggestions on the compression help?

I've never heard of this method for resizing shots before. Something like IrfanView would be much easier. IMHO

PS. The Clipboard is a Windows feature. Think of it as a temporary place to store a file, data or text when moving it. Pressing the PrintScreen key saves the data to the Clipboard. Pasting it into an appropriate program retrieves it.

I know how to take shots now Hagar. FSscreen has the tools to resize my images to 800X600 and also neat effects for editing and what not but not for the compression side of it (unless I missed it). Taking shots is not the problem. And now that I know to to turn it on before a flight (FSscreen) multiple shots won't be a problem now either. I'm simply looking for suggestions on how to compress my shots after editing them in FSscreen so as not to have them deleted an hour or so after uploading them here. Thanks

I'm simply looking for suggestions on how to compress my shots after editing them in FSscreen so as not to have them deleted an hour or so after uploading them here. Thanks

Try IrfanView. http://www.irfanview.com/

To reduce the file size of an image open it in IrfanView & click File/Save As. Select JPEG format & adjust the Save Quality slider to suit. This takes a little experience but you should soon get the hang of it.

PS. You can also use IrfanView to resize the actual image.