Ananké Media Systems

PhotoStand User’s Manual

PhotoStand version 1.1.2
Ananke Media Systems
Revision 23, April 2008

Please note: the original PhotoStand has now been discontinued, replaced by  PhotoStand II. This User Manual will remain posted for the benefit of those still using the old PhotoStand.

Introduction

PhotoStand is a powerful modelling stand that you can use with your PhotoStage or PhotoLite.

Please see the Usage Agreement section at the end of this manual for some usage limitations.

Setting Up Your PhotoStand

You probably received your PhotoStand packaged in a box, most likely bundled with another product. If this is so, please un package it into a folder in your inventory. Inside this folder you will find the following items:

• PhotoStand. This is the PhotoStand itself.
• PhotoStand User’s Manual. This is the complete user’s manual.
• Read Me. This notecard can contain last-minute information and release notes. It is important that you read it before you set up your PhotoStand.

To set up your PhotoStand, rez it in an appropriate place, such as on the PhotoStage backdrop. Since the PhotoStand is copyable, you can rez multiple copies if you wish.

Once you have set up your PhotoStand, you can customise it through a number of settings. Settings are described at the end of this manual in the Settings section.

Basic Operation

The PhotoStand is very easy to use. Disable any animation override (AO) that you may be wearing and sit on it. You will adopt the first pose available. Click the Stand Up button at the bottom of your screen to leave the PhotoStand.

Touch the PhotoStand and a menu window will appear. You can leave this window open while you work with the PhotoStand, and you can touch it at any time if you happen to dismiss the menu window.

Alternatively, you can use a chat interface to operate the PhotoStand. Please see the Chat Interface section below for a detailed description.

Please bear in mind that, due to current limitations with SL menu windows, buttons showing just a hyphen (“-“) may be used sometimes as spacers for a better layout. You can safely ignore these buttons.

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

• Show/Hide – Click this button to show or hide the PhotoStand. Hiding it is useful when you want to take a picture.
• Info – Click this button to show information on the chat channel about the current state of the PhotoStand, including its version number.
• Reset – Click this button to reset the PhotoStand to its default stage. All the settings regarding poses, rotation, etc. will be reset to default.
• Poses >> – Click this button to access the poses menu. Here you will be able to change the PhotoStand active pose.
• Rotate >> – Click this button to access the rotation menu. Here you will be able to rotate the PhotoStand to obtain the best angles.

The following sections describe these areas in depth.

Poses

You can change the active pose at any time, whether or not you or somebody else is standing on the PhotoStand. PhotoStand comes with a few sample poses, but we suggest that you add your own ones; see Adding Your Own Poses below for more information. The poses menu contains the following buttons:

• Previous/Next – Move to the previous or next pose. This switches to the previous or next pose in the PhotoStand pose list. If you are standing on the PhotoStand, you will adopt the pose.
• Back/Forward 5/10/20 –  Jump 5, 10 or 20 poses back or forward in the PhotoStand pose list. If you are standing on the PhotoStand, you will adopt the pose.
• << Main – Click this button to return to the main menu window.

As you click the different buttons to cycle through the available poses, the PhotoStand shows the name of the current pose.

Adding Your Own Poses

Follow these steps to add your own poses to, or remove existing ones from, the PhotoStand:

1. Edit the PhotoStand by right-clicking it and selecting Edit in the pie menu. An Edit window appears.
2. Click the Content tab. You will see a list of poses in the list. You will see also other items here that are not poses (i.e. they don’t have the running figure icon that identifies poses). Don’t change, delete or rename these items.
3. To add a pose, drag it from your inventory and drop it on the list. To remove a pose, right-click it and select Delete in the menu.
4. Wait a few seconds for the PhotoStand to re-load the pose list.

Rotation

You can rotate the PhotoStand to find the best angles. You can do this while standing on it or not.

The PhotoStand is composed of a base plus a rotating top. The front of the base is marked with a small black triangle pointing inwards. This triangle marks the “base” rotation, which is the rotation from which the rotation of the top is measured. You often want to align the base rotation according to the configuration of your photography studio; for example, if you are using PhotoStage, you would probably align the base rotation so that it points towards the photographer.

The front of the PhotoStand top is marked with a small black triangle pointing outwards. This triangle marks the current rotation, relative to the base rotation mentioned above. When you look at the PhotoStand and the top triangle is pointing back at you, this means that the model standing on it will probably pose facing you. When you rotate the PhotoStand, the black triangle moves to signal the amount of rotation.

The rotation menu contains the following buttons:

• amount buttons (5, 30 and 90 degrees) – Switch to this amount to rotate the PhotoStand top left or right (keep reading).
• Left/Right – Rotate the PhotoStand top to the left or right by the selected amount.
• Zero – Rotate the PhotoStand top to the base position.
• Pin – Set the current rotation as base.
• To Grid – Align the base rotation to the global coordinate system.
• << Main – Click this button to return to the main menu window.

To set a good base rotation, you can rotate the PhotoStand using the menus and then click Pin, or you can rotate the PhotoStand using the edit features in Second Life and then click Pin. Both ways work the same.

Chat Interface

The chat interface works by letting you type commands on the chat area that the PhotoStand can understand. By default, the PhotoStand uses chat channel number 81; you can change this if you wish using a setting. Please see the Settings section at the end of this manual to learn how to do that.

To give a command to the PhotoStand 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

That will make the PhotoStand to hide, and is equivalent to clicking the Hide button on the menus. Some commands take parameters. Parameters follow the command separated by spaces. For example:

/81 move 8

That will make the PhotoStand move eight poses forward.

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

General Commands

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

• reset – Like clicking the Reset button.
• info – Like clicking the Info button.
• show – Like clicking the Show button.
• hide – Like clicking the Hide button.

Poses Commands

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

• next – Like clicking the Next button.
• prev – Like clicking the Previous button.
• move – Like clicking the Forward and Back buttons. Please specify the number of poses that you would like to move forward (a positive number) or backwards (a negative number) as a parameter. For example: “move 3” advances 3 poses forward.

Rotation Commands

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

• left – Like clicking the Left button.
• right – Like clicking the Right button.
• zero – Like clicking the Zero button.
• pin – Like clicking the Pin button.
• grid – Like clicking the To Grid button.
• rinc (rotation increment) – Like clicking the 5, 30 and 90 buttons. Please specify the increment that you want to use for rotations as a parameter. For example: “rinc 90” sets the rotation increment to 90 degrees.

Integrated Commands

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

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

Settings

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

1. Edit the PhotoStand by right-clicking it and selecting Edit in the pie menu. An Edit window appears.
2. 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.
3. To change a setting, right-click it and select Rename from the menu. Change the text after the equals sign to whatever 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.
4. 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 equals 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.

The next sections describe each setting that is supported by the PhotoStand.

ChatChannel

This setting controls which communications channel is used by the PhotoStand to listen to your chat commands. Possible values are numbers between (and including) 80 and 89.

If this setting is not specified, or a value other than the above mentioned is used, channel 81 is assumed by default.

Support

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

We suggest that you join the Ananke Media Systems User Group to keep up to date about new developments and other information related to PhotoStand. 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 and feel free to leave your comments.

You are also welcome to send us feedback about PhotoStand by sending email to ananke.media.systems@gmail.com.

Thanks for using PhotoStand!

Usage Agreement

Please read carefully.

1. As an owner of PhotoStand, 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.
2. You are not allowed to disassemble or reverse-engineer PhotoStand.
3. You are not allowed to alter PhotoStand’s prim configuration or prim properties other than by using the customisation mechanisms provided for that purpose and documented in this User’s Manual.
4. You are not allowed to use the poses included as part of PhotoStand outside PhotoStand. In particular, you are not allowed to extract those poses into your inventory or other objects.

• Using PhotoStand implies your acceptance of this agreement.

Acknowledgments

Design, building and scripting by Anna Tretiak.
Extensive testing by Serenity Mercier.
Using free animations by Alaska Metropolitan, Ferran Brodsky, Kaboom Karlfeldt and Mistress Midnight.
Using exclusive animations by Kali Meads.
Using animations by Alexx Markova.