Taking a screenshot (a.k.a. Screen Capture) is a relatively
simple process, and it can be quite helpful to know how to take
one. You can take pictures of anything, from completing a tough
quest, to leveling one of your skills up and more. Of course, it's
different to take a screenshot in each operating system.
Instructions For...
Windows
Macintosh
Quickshot (software)
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Using Windows
(1) Taking The Screenshot
Press the Print Scrn key on your keyboard. It can be found above
the Insert key and to the right of the F12 key. Anything on the
screen is now in the computer's memory, or the 'Clipboard.'
Hint: A key combination of Alt + Print Scrn will take a screenshot
of only the current window, making cropping of your new picture
much easier!
Warning: you CAN'T take another screenshot, or copy anything (using
cut and paste) at this point! The screenshot has been saved into
your computer's temporary memory, and it will be deleted if you
copy anything, take another screenshot or turn your computer
off!
(2) The Picture
Open up Paint or another graphics program like Photoshop or
PaintShop Pro, and paste it by pressing Ctrl+V.
(3) Cropping
Cropping is very important! Most of the time, you only want a
specific part of the game screen, or maybe even the entire game
screen. Crop out anything you don't need, like the side menus
(unless you need it). You will need to use the selection tool in
Paint to select the part you want, press Ctrl+C to copy it, Ctrl+N
to make a new page, and then Ctrl+V to paste it into a new
document. Other programs have tools to crop and add effects that
you can use.
In paint, you want to select the marquee tool, in the top left hand
corner of the toolbax (in red):
Then just select whatever part of your picture you want, press Ctrl
+ C to copy it, press Ctrl + N to clear the excess part of the
picture, and then paste what you copied with Ctrl + V.
(4) Saving Your New Screenshot
You can't forget this part! you need to save your new, editted
screenshot
Since .bmp (a.k.a. bitmap) images are big and 'unfriendly' to the
web, you should save it as a .gif or .png to make it smaller. In
Paint, select the format you want to save in from the 'type' menu,
and then type in a name with the same extension (.gif or
.png).
Why not save it as a .jpg? - Well, .jpg's are actually meant for
photos, like the ones you take with a camera. They aren't meant for
computer generated art due to the wide range of colors (and most
computer art is pixelized). Of course, you can still save
screenshots as a .jpg, but there is generally more distortion and a
larger file size.
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Using Macintosh
Press the key combination of Shift+Command (apple)+3. The apple key
can be found betweent the Alt key and the Spacebar key.
Depending on your system, it may be saved as a different file
type:
In Mac OS 10.x, a PDF file with your picture in it will be saved to
the desktop. You need to open it, choose Export from the File menu,
then choose a new format to save it as. then click Save.
In Mac OS 9.x and below, it should just be an image file saved on
your desktop.
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Imageshack Quickshot
ImageShack Quickshot is a small program that allows you to easily
take screenshots without having to go through each of the above
steps (paste, crop, and save) before being able to take another
one. It's a very useful tool, especially if you find youself
annoyed with having to individually save each and every one of your
screenshots, one at a time.
Some of the benefits of this program are:
You can set your own hotkeys to save and upload your screenshots
automatically.
Saves each screenshot in a format defined by you (png or jpg) - no
need to stop your game and save them anymore!
You can take a fullscreen picture, or just a screenshot of your
currently open window.
You can get Quickshot from the ImageShack website