Know Your Menus - File menu

As promised I am starting to put up the Know Your Menus Classes on this Blog - here is the first one "File Menu"... this is the last draft of the notecard given out at the class, and will be updated as new info arrives or as I decide to modify the text for whatever reason.


The File Menu
for a quick reference cheat sheet for all the shortcuts used in the SL browser and the official wiki page which may or may not be as up to date ;-)

Upload image
You can upload images in TARGA (.tga), PNG (.png), or JPEG formats (.jpg)
TGA - 24 bit for standard textures, 32 bit required for alpha textures (ie those TGA's that have an alpha channel to make areas transparent or partially so)
PNG - will be alpha if you have a transparent background and normal if you have a white background
Uploads cost L$10 each file - you can up load individually or in a batch - but each file will cost you L$10
on upload you can preview your file before you pays your hard earned Lindens as any of the following things ( a pull down menu below description field in the upload window):
Image - flat texture as ity might appear on a prim face
Hair - how it would appear as Linden default hair
Female/Male Head - how it would appear as applied to the default Female or Male head
Female/Male Upper body - how it would appear as applied to the default Female or Male upper body - useful for trialing upper body skins, undershirts, glove, shirts, upper jackets
Female/Male Lower Body - how it would appear as applied to the default Female or Male lower body - useful for trialing lower body skins, underpants, pants socks, shoes (only partially on the latter)
Skirt - full length skirt - if you have alpha in it to make it shorter or have a non straight bottom edge etc it will appear at the maximum length you have made
Sculpted - what the texture will create if applied to the Sculpted texture panel in the Object tab of the Edit window - as applied to a 1x1x1m sculpty

Upload Sound
how to do sounds for SL video from Torley: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=QBVmFafFatE
Sound files are constrained to 10secs long and need to be saved in 16 bit, 44Khz mono or stereo and in .wav file format.
Each file will cost you L$10 to upload

Close windows
will close each of the floating windows on your screen either in reverse order of opening or all at once -depending on which shortcut you do Cntl-W or Cntl-Shift-W

Save texture as...
If you have a full perms texture open this option will be available... you can then save the image as TARGA (.tga) onto your hard-drive.

Take Snapshot (or SL photography ;-)
Opens the Snapshot window here you have a number of options:
Send a postcard
you can send the image as is in an attchment in an email to anyone whose email address you know including a message.... if that person then joinsd SL using that email addy as tehir email address you will get a bonus in Linden ;-)
Upload a snapshot
you can upload the image displayed for L$10
Save snapshot to hardrive
the image as displayed in the preview will be saved to the directory you specify as will any subsequent images saved to disk from SL
Preview panel
the black outlined area is the part of the screen that will be saved
File Size
the size of the file you will send, upload or save
Refresh Snapshot
will refesh the image to what is currently on the screen
Save/Cancel - self explanatory
more
will open more options
Less
will close the options

Image size
pulldown menu with the following pixel size options (which will apply to all snapshots taken until this option is changed again):
current window (the size of this will depend on your own scren resolution/aspect ratio)
the other options in this pull down menu will depend on what you are doing ie postcard/uploading/saving the image shown
postcard: current/640x480/800x600/1024x768/custom (you set the area size)
Upload: current/small (128x128)/medium (256x256)/large (512x512)/custom (max will depend on your screen resolution and what you have set in screen resolution in your SL Preferences)
Save to harddrive: current/320x240/640x480/800x600/1024x768/1280/1024/1600x1200/custom all these may depend on the screen resolution of your machine
if inputting custom sizes and want to retain the proportions of your selection whilst making the pixel measurment larger or smaller check the constrain Proportions box - only avail when you have custom size selected)
image quality - this slider is only available when sending a postcard
Capture
Colours: will capture what you see normally (with or without the HUDS as specified in the check boxes beneath)
Depth will capture the atospheric fogging/depth indication
Object Matts - shows what is on top of what - map colouring style
Check boxes:
show interface in snapshot - have this selected if you want to see the effects of glow on your image (but make sure all your windows and huds are out of the area you want to capture)
show HUD objects in snapshot - shows your HUDs but not the windows you have open and does not show glow effects
Freeze frame - after selecting this click refresh... you can then use your mouse and the modifier keys to zoom around (alt rotates the camera view, ctrl tilts it, control shift pans) - great for getting the right shot when taking photos... and uncheck to return to normal viewing ;_) It's kind of like frozen SL
Auto refresh - will update the snapshot regularly

Snapshot to Disk
Any settings you last set in the Snapshot panel will be used if you use this option
Shortcut - Cntl-~ (tilde is on the top left key of a QWERTY keyboard)