I’ve been fascinated by the idea of “virtual photography” for quite some time now. For those wondering what on Earth I’m talking about, I’m referring to the idea of creating aesthetically pleasing screenshots using video games as the base medium, but sometimes involving editing software to touch them up a bit or get rid of some of the inevitable glitches you find in polygon-based games.

A lot of modern games are embracing their photo-realistic nature by including a photo mode right there in the game itself; these modes often include numerous realistic filters and settings that work like an actual camera, as well as, often, an enhanced version of the game engine that sacrifices framerate in the name of visual fidelity, since virtual photography is more concerned with the quality of still images than fluidity of movement.

What I’ve found more interesting over the years, though, is the ability of games to let us photograph things we simply wouldn’t be able to in reality. Fantastic structures, stylised characters, improbable situations, that sort of thing. And as such, although I like the idea of photo modes in stuff like Forza Motorsport and its ilk, I’m inevitably drawn much more towards games that allow you to photograph characters and fantastic environments rather than cars. Nothing against cars, of course; I’m just more interested in people and places.

Second Life

A few years back, I spent quite a lot of time in the social/creative MMO Second Life. I was going through some difficult stuff at the time, and the people I met in there helped me through it a great deal — more than they perhaps knew. To my shame, I haven’t been back for quite some time and I don’t know how many of them would remember me now — it’s been a good five years or so since I logged in, I think — but I have fond memories from that time, and pleasingly, I have a visual record of many of those fond memories.

Early on in my time “on the Grid”, as Second Life players called it, I developed a fascination with photographing people’s avatars. Since your avatar was a reflection of your personality in Second Life — you could change appearance at will, and there was no “level-locked” equipment or anything; you just had to create, find or purchase items — I found this to be an interesting means of coming to understand various people. Above you can see one Kade Klata, someone who was a great friend to me during the aforementioned difficult times, and someone who got me into this whole virtual photography thing in the first place.

Kade disappeared off the Grid one day and I was never sure where she went; wherever you are, Kade, I hope you’re happy, and I hope you know you touched my life for the better.

This was an early experiment with using heavily stylised filters to smooth off the rough edges of Second Life’s graphics. This particular image was taken in a region called “Botanical”, which was renowned for having beautifully constructed scenery. Worthy of note is the fact that all the buildings, scenery and objects in Second Life are constructed by the “players”, so someone had spent a lot of time on this place; it seemed only fitting to immortalise it somehow.

I normally hate taking pictures of myself, but even though I loosely modelled my Second Life avatar on myself, I actually enjoyed putting myself into virtual photographs. This image was in a moody area called “Templum Ex Obscurum”; I forget what its actual purpose was — perhaps just to look pretty — but I was pleased with how this shot came out, and even more pleased with the fancy lighting I managed to create while figuring out how Photoshop worked.

I don’t mind admitting that when I was most involved in Second Life, I was somewhat emotionally fragile. One of the things I liked most about that virtual world when I was in it, though, was the fact that there were all manner of ways to express yourself. This image, taking alongside one “Rylan Carling”, who graciously agreed to come and model for me, was actually rather cathartic to create. (That’s “me” in the background; by this point, I’d been given something of a virtual makeover by a friend.)

…Yeah, I was pretty emo around that time. (Hell, I still am; I still like this image and what it symbolised when I was putting it together.) Anyway, enough of that; if you want to see more images from that time, take a peek at my long-abandoned Flickr account.

Final Fantasy XIV

The inherent drama in a role-playing game makes for some great “photos”, assuming you can time pressing that screenshot button correctly. Like this:

Or this:

And then, of course, like Second Life, there’s the self-expression element of everyone’s avatars thanks to the “Glamour” system, whereby you can make one piece of gear look like another.

This image is pretty special to me; it’s our whole Free Company meeting for a “group photo” shortly before the release of the first expansion pack Heavensward.

Custom Maid 3D 2

And finally, it would be remiss of me to talk about virtual photography without mentioning Custom Maid 3D 2, which I introduced to you all the other day. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the “photographs” I’ve taken using this are, shall we say, not entirely suitable for publication on this particular blog (I have a few standards!) but, well, here’s a few that I feel I probably can just about get away with…

The thing that’s impressed me most about CM3D2 so far is the fact that it’s the closest I’ve seen 3D graphics get to 2D art. The character models, the art style, the outlining, the cel-shading and the expressiveness of the faces — all of those things combine to create something that is not at all “realistic”, of course, but which is a very convincing recreation of the idealised anime style.

As you’d expect from something with the word Custom in its title, the character creation system in CM3D2 is pretty astounding, allowing you to customise pretty much anything from face and body shape to eye style and whether or not the character has one or two of those cute little “fangs” you sometimes see anime girls depicted with. You can even set how heavy their boobs are. And choose their clothes, obviously. Dressing your maids up is one of the most fun parts of the game that doesn’t involve doing lewd things.

Even the lewd bits are eminently suitable for virtual photography, though, since there are a number of “actions” that simply pose rather than… you know… do stuff. Combine these poses with the control you have over their costumes as well as the camera control mod that allows seriously precise positioning of your viewpoint plus the wonderful ability to make the characters look at the camera on command (assuming it wouldn’t be physically impossible) and you have a virtual photo studio that’s a whole lot of fun to play around with.

Games are art, yo.