Screenshots #4 (+Guide)

(surprise-surprise) Load up the replay you want to make screenshot(s) of. Once you're experienced with making these, finding a replay and finding the perfect spot in it will be the most time-consuming part of the whole process. Once you're paused at the desired spot, plan how many screenshots will you want to make (it will be 2by3=6 in my example), then starting in one corner, use the arrow keys to first snapshot the entire row (keeping track of the edges, so you cover all the area with your screenshots), then moving up to the next row, and so on.
Keep in mind that due to the irregular shape of the control panel, the space you're able to use from each shot is pretty much only this much:.
Some tips:
- Try not to have units selected when watching the replay, because you'll lose space due to the resource/supply indicators, that can be pretty annoying. Once you select a unit in a replay you can only empty your selection if a unit dies, clicking on the ground wont work. (for example, switch to "spearhead" units that are likely to die very fast before a clash)
- Make sure your cursor is not in the aforementioned "useful" area, because the screenshot will contain the cursor too. You do not want to find 9 cursors on your high-res screenshot when you're done;)
- Make sure you overlap your screenshots well, thats necessary anyway for merging them, and its better to waste some space then to go back to a spot in a replay to get some missing details. (going back to an exact frame in a replay is very hard:p)
- Due to the above, I've found it convenient to keep the replay paused at the spot, and SC running while I'm assembling the picture, so its easy to go back if something's missing still.
- This usually wont be an issue, but wait until the "screen captured to..." text has disappeared from the screen before taking the next shot

I'll show a 2x3 example from a random TvP game. After making the screenshots, I'm opening them all in GIMP. (thumbnails from now on, click on them for full versions) Then create a new image (File>New) with the desired size. (the example will be a 2x3 picture, so 1400x2000 pixels should be more then plenty. When estimating, keep in mind that a single screenshot is exactly 640x480 pixels. Also, you do not want to open way too big canvases either, because these things chew up memory fast.)

Then one by one, just copy them to the large canvas, and join them to the already existing parts. Its a good idea to start with the top rows, going lower step by step, it will spare you a lot of time (just think about it).

This is the part that most people presumed awkwardly complicated and tiresome, but I've found that its very easy and fast with a little practice.
After I've copied the new (second) shot to the large canvas, I want to merge it right away to the rest.

Let's start zooming in (Ctrl+mousewheel forward) and find some control point that will help us with this.

You can see how the Dragoon's right side is visible on the right shot, that will be a perfect joining point. Let's zoom in further to find some characteristic pattern:

It's a piece of cake from now on, just slide them over each other precisely:

If you zoom out (Ctrl+mousewheel) you should see that the two images are merged perfectly. You can continue adding the new pieces one by one.

After all the pieces are merged, you won't be seeing a regular rectangle right away -since the overlapping areas make each row's width different-, just use the rectangle select tool and select the area you wish to save as your final product:

Open a new image once again, now exactly the size of your selection, and copy and paste your selection onto it, and you're pretty much all done, save it in the file format of your choice.
(I'm using .jpegs, with the settings below:

)

Our final product:

If I've left out anything important, or I wasnt clear enough somewhere, please let me know in the comments (/PM), I'll try to answer there or add it here.