:TITLE:How to Capture Screenshots
:INC:index
:SUB:Introduction
Screenshots uploaded to VNDB must confirm to some strict guidelines. In
particular, they should not have any window borders and must be in the correct
resolution (precise to the pixel!). Uploading screenshots that do not confirm
to these rules will likely result in them getting deleted shortly afterwards.
This page is a tutorial on how to correctly capture screenshots using
various tools.
:SUB:IrfanView
- Download and install Irfanview from irfanview.com. Installation should be
fairly straight-forward.
- Start Irfanview, you should get a window like this.
- Hit the C key or go Options -> Capture/Screenshot to open
the capture
setup window.
- Check the "Foreground window - client area" selection box. This
option makes sure that you won't see any window borders and that the
screenshot is already correctly cropped.
- Set a hot key. Irfanview uses Ctrl+F11 by default, but since the Ctrl
is usually assigned to skipping in most games, you will probably want to
change it. To do so, left-click on the key area and press the desired key
combination. Alt+F11 should do the trick.
- Check the "Save captured image as file", choose a destination folder and
select JPG in the "Save as" options.
- Click "Options" to open the JPEG save options
window
- Set the quality somewhere between 95 and 100.
- Press "OK", and then press "Start" to close the capture setup window.
Now go to the visual novel you want to capture and press the configured hot key
at the desired moment. Irfanview will automatically capture and save the
screenshot in the chosen directory. These screenshots are suitable for
uploading to VNDB without further modifications.
:SUB:ShareX
- Download and install ShareX from getsharex.com.
- Start ShareX, you should then get a window like this.
- Go to Task settings and
adjust your capture settings and
image settings.
- You can set a custom hotkey for window capture: Go to
Hotkey settings and change the
default hotkey for window capture.
- Change the After capture tasks according to your preferences.
- (Tip) If you want to change the directory where screenshots will be saved, go to Application settings and follow these steps.
- (Tip) You can change the naming pattern of the saved screenshots by going to the Task settings and following these steps.
Now go to the visual novel you want to capture and press the configured hot key
at the desired moment. The saved screenshots can be uploaded to VNDB without
further modifications.