WoW Rookie: Thanks for the memories
by Lisa Poisso 
Dec 30th 2009 at 4:00PM
There's nothing quite like your first time through Azeroth. Capture those memories by snapping screenshots (pictures of what's on your screen) in game as you explore, level, discover, plummet, laugh, triumph, fail ... All the moments that make life within the World of Warcraft so utterly bewitching.
Screenshot basics
- Take a screenshot by hitting the Print Screen button on your PC or Command+Shift+3 on your Mac. You can set a more convenient key binding in game in your Game Menu; hit Key Bindings and scroll down to Miscellaneous Functions.
- Screenshots get stored in the World of Warcraft folder on your computer. Look for the folder called Screenshots. Screenshots used to be saved as big, unwieldy TGAs, but now you'll find them in convenient .jpg format.
Setting up the shot
- Remove your interface (hotbars, text, character frames and all the other game clutter) by pressing Alt+Z. (Repeat Alt+Z to show your interface again.)
- Hold down your right mouse button to scroll your camera around for a more interesting angle.
- Flip your camera view around to take a picture of yourself from the front. (Look in the Key Bindings in your Game Menu if yours isn't bound yet.)
- Zoom all the way in with your mouse wheel to remove yourself from the shot for a first-person view.
- Increase your zoom distance in your Game Menu; go to Interface, Camera and push the slider to Max Distance. You can also tweak the settings yourself.
- Going for the best graphics possible? Adjust your settings and your video mode settings.
More tips on composition
- Traditional photo composition rules will help you take more interesting shots.
- Remove names over characters' and NPCs' heads in your Game Menu; go to Interface, Names.
- Sentry Totems, Mind Vision, Eye of Kilrogg, Eyes of the Beast and other remote viewing abilities can help you grab some great shots of dangerous or inaccessible content.
- Add-ons can automatically capture milestone moments for you.
- Smart Screenshot and Perfect Screenshot automatically hide your UI and unit names while taking a screenshot, then restores everything afterwards.
- Multishot, PhotoOp and Achievement Screenshotter automatically takes a screenshot when you level, kill a boss, earn an achievement or pass other milestones.
- Deathsnap takes a picture of anything and everything that kills you.
- FreezeFrame offers timestamping options including the name of your character, location and so on.
Editing your screenshots
- Edit your screenshots (crop, recolor, add speech bubbles or special effects) with programs such as Picassa (free), Paintshop Pro (reasonably inexpensive) or Photoshop (an investment).
Visit the WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's. WoW Rookie walks you through all sort of new-player concerns, from game lingo for the beginner to joining your first guild as a mid-level player and on to what to do when you finally hit level 80.Filed under: Tips, How-tos, Features, WoW Rookie
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jack Dec 30th 2009 4:10PM
I use and addon called Scrapbook that automatically removes the UI and puts character and timestamp info in the corner. You can set it to take one at set intervals though that fills the directory quickly. I created a Macro to trigger the Addon and put it on all my Hotbars. Every time something cool happens I just click it. Great way to document your travels.
(cutaia) Dec 30th 2009 4:11PM
I just wish there were a way to remove names over everone's heads with a hotkey. I'm not gonna go into my interface menu and click all those boxes before and after each screenshot.
Anyone know a way to do this? Even in macro form?
Sedna Dec 30th 2009 4:32PM
I, too, would love to hear if there's a way to hotkey or macro this.
BioHazard Dec 30th 2009 4:40PM
You should be able to call SetCVar() from a macro, but I would think you would run out of characters before you could specify all of the options.
You can use the "UnitName*" CVars to control names listed at http://www.wowwiki.com/CVar#Interface
You change them with macro commands like:
/script SetCVar("UnitNameNPC","0");
to turn them on and off. (0 for off, 1 for on)
I'm not at my WoW system ATM so I can't test it, but it should work.
Treeston Dec 30th 2009 5:24PM
/run local s=0; for i,k in pairs({"Own","NPC"})do SetCVar("UnitName"..k,s)end for a,b in pairs({"PlayerName","PetName","TotemName","GuardianName"})do SetCVar("UnitNameFriendly"..b,s)SetCVar("UnitNameEnemy"..b,s)end
Change s=0 to s=1 above to make it enable instead.
(cutaia) Dec 31st 2009 11:54AM
Thank you very much. I'll have to give this a shot*.
*No pun intended.
BioHazard Dec 30th 2009 4:33PM
Man, was I the only one that thought the title meant another blogger was leaving? :S
Nice article. Especially for the point about photo composition. Remember your rule of thirds and leading lines! :)
I had a nifty screenshot addon that would take lots of pictures in a circle so you could photostitch panoramas. Forgot what it was called, PanoShot or something.
Also, I'm obligated to mention GIMP http://gimp.org/ in any post about photo editing because it's so great for poor people like me. ^^
nomadic0ne Dec 30th 2009 4:57PM
Ppfft! GIMP. That's a lame photo editor.
;D
Zhiva Dec 30th 2009 6:20PM
Paint.Net > GIMP
http://www.paint.net/
sikon Jan 1st 2010 2:06AM
Except Paint.NET is a) Windows-only by design, and b) recently went proprietary with the author berating the free software community.
Gimmlette Dec 30th 2009 4:44PM
F13 on my Mac. I believe there's a way, via the Interface button, to assign an unused F key to take screenshots. You will want one button capability so when the tank aggros ALL the maggots in the plague wing, bubbles and they come after the healer, you can record this for posterity. Or you finally get the infamous "naked" bug in ToC 5-man. Or you are all bored silly on a Friday night and decide to see who can jump off Dalaran and hit the river. Command+Shift+3 takes waaaaaaaay too long.
And, no. That is NOT me. .> yes....a different dwarf. I am not the dwarf you're looking for.........runs away.
Res Dec 30th 2009 4:54PM
Man.. I saw this title and thought someone else was leaving the site.
Ed Dec 30th 2009 4:59PM
Same here. :(
Nazgûl Dec 30th 2009 6:04PM
It's like a guild. One person leaves and suddenly it seems like half the guild is gone.
Adam Holisky Dec 30th 2009 6:31PM
Except half the guild isn't gone.
WoW.com is a very large and old site, with lots of people. We always have turn over in staff, only the last couple times it's been more noticeable. Most of the time people don't even realize when a writer has moved on. =)
Pemberton Dec 30th 2009 5:17PM
back in 2007 I deleted my original WoW folder on my older hard drive before I knew there may have been a treasure trove of old screenies in it. I had been using ALT + Print Screen and then pasting into Windows paint, not realizing it saved them automatically on pressing Print Screen.
I feel like I may have lost an album of baby pictures. : /
Alchemistmerlin Dec 30th 2009 9:01PM
I've been trying to find an addon that will autmatically crank my video settings (The ones that you don't need to restart for), and then put them back afterwards, because I always forget where I had them set for optimal framerate/prettiness before I change it for screen shots.
Anyone know of something like that?