Photo mode, tab by tab¶

Photo mode stops the world, hands the player a free camera, and lets them tune the picture over eight tabs before saving a high resolution shot.

It is one component on the player, one camera actor, one widget, and eight Data Assets that describe the tabs.

The component: Content/TheLastTemplate/Blueprints/ActorComponents/BP_PlayerPhotoModeManager, already on BP_PlayerCharacter
The camera: Content/TheLastTemplate/Blueprints/PhotoMode/BP_PhotoModeCamera
The panel: Content/TheLastTemplate/Blueprints/Widgets/PhotoMode/BP_PhotoModeWidget
The tabs: Content/TheLastTemplate/Blueprints/DataAssets/Widgets/PhotoMode/

Two ways in¶

There are two entry points, and both call Toggle Photo Mode on the component:

the Photo Mode row of the pause menu, which is the pause.photomode row of Content/TheLastTemplate/Blueprints/DataAssets/Widgets/Menu/Childs/DA_Page_Pause
the Photo entry of the developer menu, which closes the menu and opens photo mode

No key opens photo mode on its own. If you want one, make an Input Action, map it in IMC_Default, and call Toggle Photo Mode on BP_PlayerPhotoModeManager from the player character. See Change the controls.

The eight tabs¶

The tab order is fixed by the E_PhotoModeTab enumeration, and each tab reads one Data Asset.

Tab	Data Asset	What it controls
Camera	`DA_Page_Photo_Camera`	Free camera or gameplay camera, tilt, field of view
Depth of Field	`DA_Page_Photo_DepthOfField`	The blur, and what stays sharp
Display	`DA_Page_Photo_Display`	Brightness, sharpness, saturation
Screen Effects	`DA_Page_Photo_ScreenEffects`	Chromatic aberration, film grain, motion blur
Filters	`DA_Page_Photo_Filters`	The colour look, and hiding characters
Vignette	`DA_Page_Photo_Vignette`	Darkened corners
Frames	`DA_Page_Photo_Frames`	Aspect ratio bars
Logo	`DA_Page_Photo_Logo`	Your logo, and where it sits

Every tab holds exactly three rows. The rows are S_SettingRow entries, the same structure the options menu uses, so a row is a slider, a toggle or a selector depending on its Row Widget Class. That is covered in Add or change a menu page.

Every row that ships¶

Tab	Row	What it does	Range	Default
Camera	`photo.camera.mode`	Keep the gameplay camera where it was, or fly a free one	`Default`, `Custom`	`Custom`
Camera	`photo.camera.roll`	Tilts the picture, in degrees	-45 to 45	0
Camera	`photo.camera.fov`	Field of view, in degrees	20 to 120	80
Depth of Field	`photo.dof.enabled`	Turns the blur on	off, on	on
Depth of Field	`photo.dof.distance`	Sets which distance stays sharp	0 to 100	50
Depth of Field	`photo.dof.intensity`	How strong the blur gets	0 to 100	67
Display	`photo.display.brightness`	Lifts or lowers the whole image	0 to 100	50
Display	`photo.display.sharpness`	Edge sharpening	0 to 100	50
Display	`photo.display.saturation`	Colour strength	0 to 100	50
Screen Effects	`photo.fx.chromatic`	Chromatic aberration	0 to 100	0
Screen Effects	`photo.fx.grain`	Film grain	0 to 100	0
Screen Effects	`photo.fx.motionblur`	Motion blur	0 to 100	0
Filters	`photo.filter.index`	The colour look	`None`, `Noir`, `Sepia`, `Vintage`, `Cold`, `Warm`	`None`
Filters	`photo.filter.intensity`	How much of the look is mixed in	0 to 100	100
Filters	`photo.filter.hidechars`	Takes characters out of the shot	`None`, `Player`, `All`	`None`
Vignette	`photo.vignette.enabled`	Turns the vignette on	off, on	off
Vignette	`photo.vignette.size`	How far the darkening reaches in	0 to 100	23
Vignette	`photo.vignette.intensity`	How dark it gets	0 to 100	100
Frames	`photo.frame.index`	Aspect ratio bars	`None`, `2.39 Ratio`, `1.85 Ratio`, `4:3`, `1:1`	`None`
Frames	`photo.frame.colour`	Bar colour	`Black`, `White`	`Black`
Frames	`photo.frame.intensity`	Bar opacity	0 to 10	10
Logo	`photo.logo.enabled`	Turns the logo on	off, on	off
Logo	`photo.logo.corner`	Which corner it sits in	`Bottom Right`, `Bottom Left`, `Top Right`, `Top Left`	`Bottom Right`
Logo	`photo.logo.size`	How big it is	0 to 100	50

Four aspect ratios ship, plus the None entry that turns the bars off. Five colour looks ship, plus None. So a selector that reads "5 of 6" on screen is showing you the off entry as one of its choices.

photo.frame.intensity is the odd one. It runs 0 to 10, not 0 to 100 like the other opacity sliders. If you copy that row to build another one, copy Max Value with it.

Warning

Logo Texture on BP_PlayerPhotoModeManager ships empty. Until you set it, the Logo tab still works, the toggle still flips, and nothing appears in the picture. Set your own texture there before you decide the tab is broken. See Put your own logo, frames and filters in photo mode.

Keys and mouse while the panel is open¶

The bar along the bottom lists seven hints. Five of them are keys, and each one is also a button you can click.

Hint	Key	What it does
GRID	`G`	Shows and hides a rule of thirds grid
HIDE MENU	`H`	Hides the panel so you can judge the frame clean
RESET TAB	`R`	Puts the three rows of the current tab back to their defaults
PHOTO	`Enter`	Takes the shot
CLOSE	`Esc`	Leaves photo mode

The other two, ROTATE and ZOOM, are on the mouse: move it to aim the camera, scroll to change the field of view.

Flying the camera uses the normal Input Actions, so they are all rebindable in IMC_Default:

IA_Move moves the camera on the ground plane
IA_Photo_Elevate moves it up and down, on Space and Left Ctrl
IA_Photo_Roll tilts it, on E and A

Tabs and rows also work with the mouse. Click a tab to open it, click a row to select it, then drag a slider or pick a side of a selector.

What the game does while you shoot¶

Time is not paused, it is slowed to Photo Time Dilation, which ships at 0.0001. The world still ticks, so the camera keeps moving while everything in the scene stands still.
Anything simulating physics nearby is frozen and its velocities are stored, then given back when you leave. Ragdolls are settled first so a body does not twitch during the shot.
Every game widget is hidden and restored on exit, so the HUD is never in the picture.
Characters are only hidden if you ask for it, with photo.filter.hidechars.

Taking the shot, and what is in it¶

Take Photo hides the panel for the frame, then asks the engine for a high resolution screenshot. Photo Resolution Scale ships at 2, so the file comes out at twice your screen resolution and lands in your project's Saved/Screenshots folder. The shutter sound is Content/TheLastTemplate/Audios/Widgets/SC_PhotoTake.

The bars, the vignette, the colour look and the logo are not widgets. They are drawn by two post process materials, M_PhotoModeGrade and M_PhotoModeLens, which means they are part of the render and they end up in the file.

When you leave, Save Photo Settings writes every value back into SG_MenuSettings, the same save the options menu uses. A player who set up a look keeps it the next time they open photo mode, and after a restart.

Camera limits you can retune¶

These are plain fields on BP_PlayerPhotoModeManager, in the Details panel of the component on BP_PlayerCharacter. They change how the camera feels, not what the picture looks like.

Field	Ships at	What it does
`Max Distance From Player`	`600`	How far the camera may travel from the player, in centimetres
`Move Speed`	`350`	Fly speed, in centimetres per second
`Move Smoothing`	`12`	Higher means the camera reaches the input faster
`Look Sensitivity`	`1`	Mouse look multiplier
`Look Smoothing`	`18`	Higher means less lag on the aim
`Roll Speed`	`60`	Degrees per second when tilting
`Zoom Speed`	`4`	Field of view change per wheel notch
`Zoom Smoothing`	`10`	Higher means the zoom settles faster
`Min FOV`	`20`	Lower bound of the zoom
`Max FOV`	`120`	Upper bound of the zoom
`Photo Time Dilation`	`0.0001`	World speed while photo mode is open
`Block Camera On Collision`	`true`	Stops the camera going through walls
`Photo Resolution Scale`	`2`	Screenshot size, as a multiple of your screen

Min FOV and Max FOV match the range on photo.camera.fov. If you widen the slider in the Data Asset, widen these two as well, or the zoom clamps before the slider does.

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