Visual communication

Second Life is a visual 3D world, so it's no surprise many Residents have expressed frustration with explaining things in words, and wish they could simply show what they're seeing. Especially for non-technical folks, terminology complications add to the layers of abstraction which make it difficult for Person B to understand the problem that Person A is telling them.
Torley setup this page to help "chop the slop" and get to the point! Whether you're asking for help on the forums, reporting a bug on jira.secondlife.com, or writing a help page on this wiki, visuals can enhance or replace words so you can communicate more effectively. Save time and trouble and learn to do the following:
== Take a picture ==
... it'll last longer.
Seriously, in situations like if you're seeing a Second Life glitch or want to show someone where to click, this video tutorial shows you how to insert a snapshot on the blogs.secondlife.com forums:
: 
Written steps:
# In the Second Life Viewer, click the snapshot button (camera icon) on the bottom bar.
# In the window, choose Save to my computer.
# Click the Save button.
#: 
If you need to show the user interface ("UI" for short, all the buttons and controls you can click on):
# In the window, click More. (The button's name changes to Less.)
# Under Capture, check Interface.
# Click the Refresh button (right above the Less button).
Then, in your web browser, go to the page you want to insert the image in.
=== blogs.secondlife.com ===
# In a blog comment/forum post editor, click the Insert Image icon (again, a little camera).
# In the From your Computer tab, click Choose File (Browse on a Mac).
# Use the operating system's file browser to locate the image, and double-click it.
# Click Insert image. You should see it appear inline in your post, then you can keep editing.
=== Advanced usage ===
There are tools to "grab" part of your screen and post it to the web even faster. For example, if you have a Flickr or Twitter account, there are apps that can directly upload to those sites.
* Jing Project - For Mac and Windows. Free version available.
* Skitch - Mac-only but has a super-smooth workflow. Torley uses this extensively to snap, then upload to web in seconds as shown here.
== Make a video ==
Need to show something in action? Changes that happen over a period of time — like "slow rezzing" and "inventory sorting" — are often well-suited to a video recording, also called a screencast. These tools can make it simple. Spending a few minutes setting it up is well-worth it for all the time you'll save in the future! Recording a screencast is often faster than typing, and feels more natural. Optionally, record your voice on the mic to narrate what you're showing.
Watch the general-purpose video tutorials on these sites for how to use them — basically, the only specific thing that applies to Second Life is that you record the Viewer window:
* Jing Project - Yes, it also does video! The Pro version isn't required, but has higher-quality video with smoother framerates, and lets you upload to YouTube. Jing free gives you a link (like http://screencast.com/t/NWM4ODI1ZGUt ) to paste into a post.
* Screenr - Requires a Twitter account, but makes it easy to record a part of your screen (including the Second Life Viewer) and upload it. You can even upload to YouTube.
== See also ==
After you master the above basics, these advanced guides get into further details.
* Machinima
** Making movies
* Taking snapshots