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Photo Looks

After reading this guide, you will know what each of the eight photo looks changes, and you will be able to build a configuration for photography.

What Photo Looks Are​

The Photo Looks folder sits in the fourth top-level slot of the recommended menu layout. It holds eight command entries, and pressing one swaps seven lighting-related values at once to that look's fixed combination.

They are commands, not sliders. Instead of nudging a value, they jump to a predetermined combination. These entries exist so that, wherever you are shooting, you can pull the avatar back to the same reference quickly no matter what the world lighting does.

The Eight Entries​

EntryHow it differs from Neutral
Photo: NeutralThe reference. Read the other seven as changes from here
Photo: Dark World RescueRaises minimum brightness and drops maximum brightness sharply. Also reduces the influence of the world light color
Photo: Flat StudioRaises minimum brightness the most and narrows the brightness span the most. Removes the world light color, mixes in unlit, and lowers emission and backlight
Photo: Unlit ReferencePushes unlit to maximum and removes the world light color, emission, and backlight entirely
Photo: Warm PortraitShifts the temperature warm, narrows the brightness span, and raises emission and backlight slightly
Photo: Cool PortraitShifts the temperature cool, narrows the brightness span, and raises backlight slightly
Photo: No EmissionNeutral with emission turned off
Photo: No BacklightNeutral with backlight turned off

These eight are the names the recommended layout seeds. You can change them to anything you like in the Menu Layout tree, and after renaming, pressing one still applies the same look.

Why It Is Stored in Three Bits​

The eight states are stored as three Bools rather than a synced integer — Photo Look Bit 0, Photo Look Bit 1, and Photo Look Bit 2. Since 2 × 2 × 2 = 8, the eight states fit exactly into three synced bits.

The three bits are one set. If even one photo-look command is enabled in the menu, all three bits must satisfy the following.

  • Enabled must be on
  • Animated must be on
  • Pin To Value must be off

Break any one of those and validation refuses the configuration. A configuration that enables only some of the three bits is refused for the same reason.

Putting a photo-look command in the menu also pulls the three bits into the budget calculation automatically. Uncheck the whole folder and the three bits drop out of the budget with it.

Starting From the Photo Capture Preset​

This preset erases every per-feature setting you had saved and replaces the whole menu layout. If you have a configuration you tuned by hand, check it before applying. Applying can be reversed with Undo.

  1. Select the avatar root in the Hierarchy and set Starting Preset to Photo Capture in the inspector's Quick Start card.
    • This is correct. The dropdown reads Photo Capture. Nothing has been applied yet.
  2. Press Apply, then press Apply in the confirmation dialog.
    • This is correct. The menu tree is redrawn and the numbers in the Budget & Validation card update.

This is what applying it does. Advanced Catalog in the Advanced Options card turns on, and the features are enabled and disabled as in the table below.

StateFeatures
OnPhoto Look Bit 0 · Photo Look Bit 1 · Photo Look Bit 2 · Shared Color X · Shared Color Y · Additive Light · Edge Rim · Shadow · Final Output
OffVirtual Light · Replace Mode · Add Mode · Follow Character · Light Yaw · Light Pitch · Virtual Light Intensity
OffCast Shadows · Depth Effects · Outlines · Normal Maps · PBR / Reflections · Performance Distance Scale
OffMinimum Brightness · Maximum Brightness · World Light Color · Unlit · Emission Intensity · Backlight Intensity · Value · Temperature

That last row can look wrong. Those are exactly the values the photo looks move, and yet they are off. Because a photo look swaps all of them at once, exposing the same values again as sliders only adds menu slots and parameters. If you do want the individual sliders, turn them back on in Menu Layout.

The Values a Photo Look Moves​

All eight looks are combinations of the seven values below.

  1. Minimum Brightness
  2. Maximum Brightness
  3. World Light Color
  4. Unlit
  5. Emission Intensity
  6. Backlight Intensity
  7. Temperature

Press a look and those seven values are applied to the target MingToon materials in one go.

The target avatar has to expose all seven values

A configuration that uses photo looks must be able to read all seven values from the target avatar. If even one cannot be resolved, validation refuses it at that point. Rather than emitting a control backed by empty clips that quietly does nothing, it fails on the spot. This happens on targets running an older or incompatible MingToon version.

Pinning the Photo Look Bits​

Pin To Value is the switch that fixes a feature at one value without exposing it in the menu. You can use it on the photo look bits too, but the order matters.

  1. First uncheck the eight photo-look commands (or the whole Photo Looks folder) in Menu Layout.
  2. Then turn on Pin To Value for the three bits in Selected Item Settings.

Do it the other way around and validation refuses the configuration, because an enabled photo-look command requires the three bits to be unpinned.

Remove the commands first and then pin the bits, and no photo-look entries are left in the menu and none of the three synced bits is spent.

Fixed in 0.1.0

Previously, a configuration that pinned the photo look bits was rejected at install time with a "no target binding" error. It was fixed in 0.1.0.

Removing Photo Looks From the Menu​

MethodResult
Uncheck the Photo Looks folder in Menu LayoutThe folder and the eight entries inside drop out of the final menu and its parameter cost. The placement stays, so you can turn it back on later
Delete the folderOnly the placement disappears. Feature settings and authored materials are untouched
Apply the Performance presetThe three photo look bits are turned off along with it

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