Image Editing

Screenshot Quality Guideline: Image Editing

Jump: Assessments | Jump: Examples | Jump: Tutorials

Jump: Guidelines | Jump: Examples | Jump: Tutorials

Possible Assessments

Approvable	Title	Description
	Edited images	The required screenshots seem to be edited in ways that alter the in-game appearance of your upload. This makes it impossible for us to assess the quality of your creation.
	Reshade	The required screenshots for your creation(s) appear to have been taken while using Reshade or another program which alters the default appearance of the game. Please disable all external graphics enhancements while taking required screenshots.
	No image editing	The required screenshots for your creations comply with the image editing guidelines. Well done!

General Guidelines

All required screenshots should be straight from the game with minimal editing that does not alter the in-game appearance of the items. After all, downloaders want to see what the items will look like during actual gameplay! They don't just want to see your skills at applying filters. Photoshopping pictures also makes it difficult for MTS moderators to assess a creation.

However, for additional screenshots beyond the required ones, you can do whatever you want! But remember, the mandated screenshots have to follow these guidelines.

What counts as "editing"?

Anything done to images apart from cropping or downsizing. However, a few kinds of editing are allowed in required pictures, provided they do not alter the in-game appearance of the creation.

Edits allowed

Cropping and downsizing. As long as no parts of the creation are cut off. :)
Collaging together screenshots. However, remember that the individual pictures within the collage still need to be big enough for MTS moderators to see. At least 600 pixels on the small side is our recommended minimum size. So if the entire collage is only 600 pixels, and comprised of multiple screenshots, those individual screenshots will probably be too small. The only exception to this is colour swatches for items with many recolours, and even then we still require multiple full-sized pictures of the item.
Adding a small border, as long as it does not obscure any parts of the creation, and as long as the screenshot not including the border is still large enough.
Adding small text labels, as long as they do not obscure any parts of the creation. For example, labelling floor plans "floor 1" in the corner is fine. But putting "living room", "bedroom 1", "bathroom", etc labels directly covering each room is not okay.
Artificial Depth-of-Field, as long as it does not affect any parts of your actual creation. For example, if uploading a Sim, you may blur the background behind the sim, but not any part of the sim itself.

Edits not allowed

Colour/contrast/brightness filters. These obscure the actual in-game colours and appearance of items, which deceives downloaders.
Sharpening. Sharpening filters don't actually improve image quality, they just distort the contrast selectively. Not only do they help nothing, they can actually degrade images and create deceptive changes to the appearance of items.
Squashed/stretched. If resizing your pictures, make sure to adjust the scale in equal amounts in both dimensions, vertical and horizontal. Scaling in uneven amounts will make the pictures look distorted.

ReShade

With the popularity of ReShade these days, we figured it's worth specifically mentioning it. MTS treats ReShade like any other colour/contrast/brightness alteration. Namely, it cannot be enabled when taking required screenshots. No matter how small the alterations. But you may use it as much as you like for additional pics!

Section Guidelines, apply in addition to the above General ones.

General Guidelines

All required should be straight from the game with minimal editing that does not alter the in-game appearance of the items. Minor edits like cropping, collaging together photos, adding a small border or unobtrusive text are fine. Filters like sharpen, blur, levels, colour adjustment, etc., should not be used on the required screenshots, as downloaders would like to see what it will look like in their game. To avoid distorting the images or making them crunchy, make sure to maintain the correct aspect ratio when resizing images, and never enlarge images. Also make sure that your photo editor is not compressing the images too heavily when saving. You may edit any additional screenshots as you like, of course, but make sure the required ones are not edited.

Jump: Guidelines | Jump: Assessments | Jump: Tutorials

Examples

Colour filters

This image has had contrast and colour filters applied to it. While these filters may look pretty, they make it impossible for downloaders to tell what the item will look like in their game.

Sharpening

This image has been artificially "sharpened" in Photoshop.

Correct

This image hasn't been Photoshopped at all

Squashed

This image has been stretched in Photoshop, distorting it. Make sure to avoid this when resizing.

Collage

This is the maximum collage (4x2) you can have while still having 600px images, at 2560x1440.

Too much text and effects

This may very well be the best little house in town, but it is difficult to tell because the text and sparkle-stars are very distracting, and cover up portions of the house.

Appropriate text

Even though there is some editing done to the image to add the text block, everything about the front view of the house is still visible

Tutorials - General (All games)

Resizing

Knowing how to correctly resize screenshots is important, as doing this incorrectly can lead to the screenshots being "squashed" or otherwise distorted. Not only does this make it difficult for moderators to assess the creation, it's also off-putting to many downloaders. But we're here to help! This tutorial will cover the two most commonly used programs: Photoshop and Gimp.

Resizing the whole image

Resizing is making images smaller or larger, but not chopping off or adding any parts of the image. An important caveat, don't upsize images. Why? Because upsizing images in PS/Gimp doesn't actually add information or improve quality. All it does is fill in the extra pixels with "junk" information, which can often make the image look much worse. Downsizing is okay if you want to make your pics smaller, but why would you do that? MTS can host full-resolution screenshots from most modern monitor sizes without problem! However, if your pics are truly massive and you want to make them a bit smaller, here's how:

Photoshop

Open the image
Click on the "image" menu and select "image size"
A dialogue box should pop up that looks like this:

Photoshop resize

Notice the options highlighted in red. These are crucial.
Make sure that the width and height are linked, so that they both change to the same degree. If this setting is correct, there will be two lines running from the paperclip icon to the width and height boxes. If this is incorrect, there will be no lines (click on the paperclip to alternate).
Make sure that resample is checked. Leave the setting at automatic.
After you've double checked those settings, enter in your desired pixel dimensions for width into the width box. The height box should adjust automatically. At the top of the dialogue, you can see the new file size in the "image size" field.
Press okay and save your file. Congrats, you've downsized an image without distorting it!

GIMP

Open the image
Click on the "image" menu and select "scale image"
A dialogue box should pop up
Make sure that the width and height are linked, so that they both change to the same degree. If this setting is correct, there will be two lines running from the paperclip icon to the width and height boxes. If this is incorrect, there will be no lines (click on the paperclip to alternate).
Enter in your desired pixel dimensions for width into the width box. The height box should adjust automatically.
Press "scale" at the bottom of the box and save your file. Congrats, you've downsized an image without distorting it!

Resizing a selection or layer

If you are making a collage of pictures and need to resize only a selection or single layer of the image, this is the best method to use.

Photoshop

Open the image
Resizing a layer If you already have the portion of the image you want in a separate layer, then skip ahead to the step that begins with "Move tool" below.
Resizing a selection If the portion you wish to resize is part of a larger image, you'll need to select it first. Choose the rectangular marquee tool. The hotkey should be "M", or you can find it in the sidebar. It should look like a rectangle with a dashed outline, though it may be "hidden" behind the elliptical marquee tool, which looks like a circle with a dashed outline. See this screenshot:

Photoshop marquee tools

Drag the rectangle to the size you want, starting in one corner. Once you have the selection you want, release the mouse button. You should see a dashed, blinking outline appear around your selection.
Move tool Switch to the move tool (the one that looks like four crossed arrows). You should see boxes ("handles") appear on the corners and midway along the sides of the selection.
To resize the image without stretching it, there are two options depending on which version of Photoshop you have:
CC 2018 and earlier (including Creative Suite versions): Hold down the SHIFT key, then grab one of the handles and drag. The image should maintain its aspect ratio (the relationship between height and width) as long as you hold down SHIFT. Once you are happy with the new size, release the mouse button, then release SHIFT. Press Enter or click on the check mark button in the top bar.
CC 2019 and later: Creative Cloud 2019 (released October 2018) reverses the traditional Photoshop controls for this. So, to resize without distorting the image, simple grab and drag one of the handles. Do not press SHIFT, as this will allow the image to distort. Once you are happy with the new size, release the mouse button, then press Enter or click on the check mark button in the top bar.

Jump: Guidelines | Jump: Assessments | Jump: Examples