PhotoStand II User’s Manual

PhotoStand II version 1.2.3
Ananke Media Systems
Revision 03, May 2010

Introduction

PhotoStand II is an advanced modelling stand for Second Life photography. Designed to work effectively with PhotoSpin, PhotoStage and PhotoLite, it can also be used in any photographic situation requiring a pose stand.

PhotoStand II is available in two versions: Basic and Pro. Both versions are fundamentally the same, except the Pro version comes with the PhotoStand II HUD, a set of 60 high quality poses, and free minor version updates. You can also purchase the PhotoStand II HUD separately for use with the PhotoStand II Basic. The instructions in this User’s Manual apply to all three products: PhotoStand II Basic, PhotoStand II HUD, and PhotoStand II Pro.

Please see the Usage Agreement section at the end of this manual. Using PhotoStand II means you have accepted the terms of this agreement.

Setting Up Your PhotoStand II

PhotoStand II comes packaged in a box, either separately or bundled with another product such as PhotoTools Pro. Rez this box in-world, right-click it and select Open from the menu. Copy the contents to your inventory. Locate the folder containing PhotoStand II in your inventory. Inside this folder you will find the following items:

PhotoStand II (in Basic and Pro packages)
PhotoStand II HUD (in HUD and Pro packages)
PhotoStand II Quick Start
Read Me: a notecard containing last-minute information and release notes

To set up your PhotoStand II, rez it in an appropriate place, such as on the PhotoStage backdrop. Since PhotoStand II is copyable, you can rez multiple stands if you wish. This will be useful if you have many poses and want to organize them using several PhotoStands.

Once you have set up your PhotoStand II, you can customise it through a number of settings. Please scroll down to the Settings section below for details.

Basic Operation

The PhotoStand II is very easy to use. Right-click the stand, and select Pose. You will adopt the first pose available. (If you are wearing an animation overrider (AO), you may need to turn it off for the poses to take effect.) To exit the PhotoStand II, click the Stand Up button on the bottom of your viewer screen.

Left-click PhotoStand II and a menu window will appear. You can leave this window open while you work with PhotoStand II. Left-click the stand to reopen the menu should you happen to close it. Please see Using the Menus below for further instructions.

If you purchased the HUD or Pro packages, you can also use the PhotoStand II HUD to control the stand. Locate the HUD in your inventory, right-click it and select Wear. The HUD attaches to the Center 2 HUD slot and should appear on the center of your screen. You can easily move the HUD to a convenient position on your screen, or select an alternate HUD slot. Please see Using the HUD below for instructions.

You can also use the chat interface to operate PhotoStand II. Please see Using the Chat Interface below for details.

Using the Menus

Main Menu

The main menu contains buttons for a number of basic operations plus navigation to other menus:

Pose >> – Click to navigate to the Pose menu. Use these controls to cycle through the poses in your PhotoStand II (see Pose section below).
Spin >> – Click to navigate to the Spin menu. Use these controls to spin the PhotoStand II (see Spin section below).
Turn >> – Click to navigate to the Turn menu. Use these controls to turn the PhotoStand II in degree increments (see Turn section below).
Hide/Show – Click to make the PhotoStand II invisible or visible. This button automatically toggles between Hide and Show.

Get HUD – Click to have a PhotoStand II HUD delivered to your inventory (only available with PhotoStand II Pro).

Web Manual – Click to open the web version of the User’s Manual.

Update – Click to check for updates to PhotoStand II Pro. If an update is available, it will be delivered to you after a few minutes.

Reset – Click to reset the PhotoStand II to its default stage. All the settings regarding poses, rotation, etc. will be reset to their default values.

Info – Click to show information on the chat channel about the current state of the PhotoStand II, including its version number.

Pose Menu

The Pose menu allows you to change the active pose at any time. PhotoStand II comes with a prepackaged set of poses, and you can also add your own (see Adding and Removing Poses below for details). The Pose menu contains the following buttons:

Previous/Next – Click these buttons to change to the previous or next pose in the PhotoStand II.
Back/Forward 5/10/20 – Click these buttons to jump 5, 10 or 20 poses backward or forward in the PhotoStand II pose list.
<< Main – Click to return to the main menu.

As you cycle through the poses, a hover text above the PhotoStand II shows the name of the current pose. (Note: this hover text will be hidden when you hide the PhotoStand II.)

Adding and Removing Poses

Edit the PhotoStand II by right-clicking it and selecting Edit in the pie menu. An Edit window appears.
Click the Content tab. You will see a list of poses in the list (identified by the running figure icon). You will also see other items here that are not poses: do not change, delete or rename these items.
To add a pose, drag it from your inventory and drop it into the list. To remove a pose, right-click it and select Delete in the menu.
Wait a few seconds for the PhotoStand II to re-load the pose list.

Spin Menu

You can choose either Spin or Turn to rotate the PhotoStand II. Spin rotates the stand continuously. Turn rotates the stand in degree increments of 5, 30 and 90 degrees.

Spin Left/Spin Right – Click these buttons to spin the PhotoStand II left or right.
Spin Stop – Click to stop the spin.
Fast/Med/Slow – Click these buttons to control the speed of the spin.
Zero – Click this button to return the PhotoStand II to the base rotation point (see Turn section below for more details).
<< Main – Click this button to return to the Main menu.

Clicking any of the Spin buttons immediately executes the corresponding action.

Turn Menu

You can choose either Spin or Turn to rotate the PhotoStand II. Spin rotates the stand continuously. Turn rotates the stand in degree increments of 5, 30 and 90 degrees. The Turn menu also provides buttons that allow you to set the base rotation point for the PhotoStand II (see instructions below).

Turn Left/Turn Right – Click these buttons to turn the PhotoStand II left or right by degree increments.
5/30/90 – Click these buttons to set the number of degrees you want the PhotoStand II to turn. Clicking these buttons only sets the degree of rotation; you then need to click Turn Left or Turn Right to make the stand turn.
Zero – Click this button to return the PhotoStand II to it’s base rotation point.
Pin – Click this button to set the base rotation point to a desired position.
To Grid – Click this button to align the base rotation point to the Second Life grid
<< Main – Click to return to the main menu window.

Setting the Base Rotation Point (Pin)

The PhotoStand II is composed of an outer ring and an inner disk. The outer ring is marked with a small dark blue arrow pointing inwards. This arrow marks the base rotation point, which is the point from which the rotation of the inner disk is measured. Using the Pin button, you can align the base rotation point to suit your specific needs; for example, if you are using PhotoStage, you will probably want to align the base point so that the PhotoStand II faces towards the photographer. Alternatively, you can use the To Grid button to align the base point to the Second Life grid. When you click the Zero button, the PhotoStand II returns to the base rotation point.

The inner disk of the PhotoStand II is marked with a small orange arrow that points outwards. When you use the Turn buttons, this arrow marks the current rotation of the inner disk, relative to the base rotation point on the outer ring.

To set the base rotation point for the PhotoStand II, follow these steps:

Use the Turn buttons to rotate the stand until the inner disc is aligned the way you want.
Click Pin. The outer ring will reposition so that the dark blue arrow lines up with the orange arrow on the inner disk. This will now be the new base rotation point.
Alternatively, you can use the SL edit tools to rotate the stand to the desired alignment, and then click Pin to set the base rotation point.

Important Note: Spin and Turn operate independently of each other. In Spin mode, both the outer ring and the inner disk rotate simultaneously. Hence, if you move from Spin mode to Turn mode, the PhotoStand will first reset to the base rotation point before performing any Turn actions. Given this, when setting up a shot, it’s best to work exclusively in either Spin mode or Turn mode.

Using the HUD

The PhotoStand II HUD provides a more convenient way to control the main functions of the stand.

The HUD is organised vertically in panels which correspond to the PhotoStand II menus: Pose, Spin, Turn and Set (see below for details).

You can hide the HUD by clicking the top Logo panel. This feature can be useful when you want a clearer view of your shot without the clutter of user interfaces. Click the Logo panel again to restore the HUD interface.

Hide/Show

On the top panel, immediately below the PhotoStand II logo, you will see two square buttons: one blue and one grey. These buttons correspond to the Hide/Show buttons on the main menu.

Use the grey button to make the PhotoStand II invisible, and the blue button to make it visible. This feature allows you to make the stand invisible when it’s time to start shooting.

Pose

Use the arrow buttons to cycle through the poses in your PhotoStand II.

1/5/10/20 – jumps one, five, ten or twenty poses backward or forward in the PhotoStand II pose list

Spin

Use the arrow buttons to spin the stand continuously, and the square button to stop spinning.

Spin Left – spins the stand to the left.
Stop Spin – stops the spin.
Spin Right – spins the stand to the right.
Fast/Med/Slow – changes the speed of the spin.

Clicking any of the Spin buttons immediately executes the corresponding action. For example, if the stand is spinning right at a slow speed, and you click Fast, the stand will immediately spin fast.

Turn

Use the arrow buttons to turn the stand.

Turn Left – turns the stand to the left in degree increments.
Turn Right – turns the stand to the right in degree increments.
5/30/90 – sets the number of degrees the stand will turn. Clicking these buttons only sets the degree of rotation; you then need to click Turn Left or Turn Right to make the stand turn.

Note: Spin and Turn operate independently of each other. If you move from Spin mode to Turn mode, the PhotoStand will reset to Zero (the base rotation point).

Set

For details on how the Zero, Pin and To Grid settings operate, please see “Setting the Base Rotation Point (Pin)” in the Turn Menu section above.

Zero – returns the PhotoStand II to it’s base rotation point.
Pin – sets the base rotation point to a desired position.
To Grid – aligns the base rotation point to the Second Life grid.

Using the Chat Interface

The chat interface allows you to control the PhotoStand II by typing commands in the chat window. By default, PhotoStand II uses chat channel number 81. You can change the chat channel if you wish. Please see the Settings section below for instructions.

To give a command to the PhotoStand II using the chat interface, type /81 (or the number of the chat channel if you have changed it) followed by the command. For example:

/81 hide

This command will make the PhotoStand II invisible, and is equivalent to clicking the Hide button on the menus or HUD.

Some commands require you to provide parameters. Type the parameters after the command separated by a single space. For example:

/81 move 42

This command will make the PhotoStand II move 42 poses forward.

To display all the chat commands for PhotoStand II in the chat window, type /81 help or /81 ?

The chat commands supported by PhotoStand II are described in the following sections.

General Commands

These commands correspond to buttons on the Main menu.

help – displays the chat commands in the chat window (you can also type ? instead of help)
hide – makes the PhotoStand II invisible.
show – makes the PhotoStand II visible.
reset – resets the PhotoStand II to its default stage. All settings regarding poses, rotation, etc. will be reset to default.
info – displays information in the chat window about the current state of the PhotoStand II, including its version number.

Pose Commands

These commands are related to the buttons on the Poses menu.

next – moves to the next pose in the stand.
prev – moves to the previous pose in the stand.
move – corresponds to the Forward and Back buttons on the Poses menu. After typing move, you need to specify the number of poses that you would like to move forward (a positive number) or backwards (a negative number). For example: typing move 3 will advance 3 poses forward; typing move -20 goes back 20 poses.

Spin Commands

These commands are related to the buttons in the Spin menu.

spin left – spins stand to the left.
spin right – spins stand to the right.
stop – stops the spin.
slow – spins the stand at slow speed.
med – spins the stand at med speed.
fast – spins the stand at fast speed.
zero – returns the stand to the base rotation point.

Turn Commands

left – turns the stand to the left in degree increments.
right – turns the stand to the right in degree increments.
rinc (rotation increment) – corresponds to the 5, 30 and 90 buttons. After typing rinc, you need to specify the number of degrees that you want the stand to rotate. For example: rinc 90 sets the rotation increment to 90 degrees.
zero – returns the stand to it’s base rotation point.
pin – sets the base rotation point to a desired position.
grid – aligns the base rotation point to the Second Life grid.

Integrated Commands

These commands work across several products, such as PhotoStand, PhotoStand II, PhotoStage and PhotoLite. You can control multiple products at the same time with a single command.

showall – Shows the PhotoStand II.
hideall – Hides the PhotoStand II.

Settings

The PhotoStand II can be customised using settings that you can modify according to your preferences. For example, you can specify which users are allowed to use the PhotoStand II. Each setting is stored inside the PhotoStand as a notecard. Follow these steps in order to see or alter the settings:

Edit the PhotoStand II by right-clicking it and selecting Edit in the pie menu. An Edit window appears.
Click the Content tab. You will see a list of notecards with names beginning with the # sign. These are settings. You will see also other items here in addition to settings; don’t try to change, delete or rename these items.
To change a setting, right-click it and select Rename from the menu. Change the text after the equals sign to the value you would like, respecting the limits applicable to that particular setting (see below). Press Enter when you are done to save the setting’s new value.
Wait a few seconds for the PhotoStand to apply the changed setting.

Important: Do not rename or change in any way the text between the # sign and the = sign in a setting. Also, don’t leave any blanks to either side of the equals sign. If you do this, the setting will not be interpreted correctly by the PhotoStand II.

The next sections describe how to change the specific settings available in the PhotoStand II.

UsersAllowed

This setting controls who can use your PhotoStand II. Possible values are:

All – Anybody can use the PhotoStand II.
Group – Only active members of the group assigned to the PhotoStand II can use it. (Note: you assign a group by editing the stand and selecting the group on the General tab.)
Owner – Only the owner can use the PhotoStand II.

If this setting is not specified, or a value other than the ones listed above are used, the PhotoStand II will default to allowing all users.

ChatChannel

This setting controls which communications channel is used by the PhotoStand II to listen to your chat commands. You can change the channel to any number between (and including) 80 and 89.

If this setting is not specified, or a value other than 80-89 is used, the PhotoStand II will default to channel 81.

Support

PhotoStand II is sometimes bundled together with other products, such as PhotoTools Pro. Since these products entitle you to updates, you will get the latest version of PhotoStand II whenever your main product is updated. Please check the User’s Manual for your product if you want more information about updates.

Please consider joining the Ananke Media Systems User Group to keep up to date about new developments and other information related to PhotoStand II. Find this group using Search (Edit, Search), move to the Groups tab, enter “Ananke Media Systems User Group” (without the quotes), hit Enter, select the group in the list and click Join. Please make sure that you understand and agree with the group charter before you join.

The Ananke Media Systems website and blog is also a good source of information and support. Please visit us at https://anankemediasystems.wordpress.com.

I welcome your feedback and comments about PhotoStand II. Please send me an email at serenitymercier@shaw.ca.

Thanks for using PhotoStand II !

Usage Agreement

Please read carefully.

As an owner of PhotoStand II, you are free to utilise the product for its intended use as described in this User’s Manual and the AMS web site. Other uses are not allowed under this agreement.
You are not allowed to disassemble or reverse-engineer PhotoStand II.
You are not allowed to alter PhotoStand II’s prim configuration or prim properties other than by using the customisation mechanisms provided for that purpose and documented in this User’s Manual.
You are not allowed to use the poses included as part of PhotoStand II outside PhotoStand II. In particular, you are not allowed to extract those poses into your inventory or other objects.

Using PhotoStand II means you accept the terms of this agreement.

Acknowledgments

Conceptual Design: Serenity Mercier.
Scripting: Desdemona Enfield, based on original scripts by Anna Tretiak.
HUD Design and Build: Serenity Mercier.
Stand Design and Build: Serenity Mercier and Anna Tretiak.
Exclusive poses: Kali Meads, Helianthus Mesmer, Myllie Writer.
Additional poses: Alexx Markova.

Ananké Media Systems