Step-by-Step Guides¶

Hands-on recipes from your first photo to animated scenes. Each one lists what you need and every step.

1. Your first great photo
2. Pose your PMC
3. Catch bots mid-action
4. A squad photo with real bots
5. Build a scene with photo-only characters
6. A moody portrait with lights and depth of field
7. A smooth camera move video
8. Action shots in a live raid
9. 16K photos and transparent backgrounds
10. Animate a scene with the timeline
11. Give a character a different weapon
12. Save a setup and reuse it
13. Make your own photo frame

1. Your first great photo¶

You need: any raid.

1. Find a spot with nice light and press F6. The raid freezes.
2. Fly the camera with WASD, R/F and the right mouse button. Get low: shots from knee height look more dramatic.
3. Zoom with the mouse wheel. A narrower field of view (zoomed in) flattens the background and looks more cinematic.
4. Go to FRAME and turn on a Grid (rule of thirds). Put your subject on one of the lines, not in the middle.
5. Go to EFFECTS and try Preset looks. Filmic and Cinematic are good starting points.
6. Optional: DEPTH OF FIELD > turn it on, Focus Mode: Screen Center, lower the Aperture until the background softens.
7. Press Tab to hide the menu, then P.

Your photo is in Your-SPT-Folder/DuckCam/Screenshots/.

2. Pose your PMC¶

You need: a raid. A weapon in your hands makes it more interesting.

1. Press F6 to freeze.
2. Go to CHARACTERS and press Your PMC > Add. A copy of you appears in your exact raid stance with your weapon, and your real PMC is hidden.
3. Pick a pose:
4. Library: Gear Rack Poses for mannequin poses (and poses from other mods, marked [mod]).
5. Library: Body Animations for the game's own animations: crouching, aiming, reloading, leaning... Use Clip Time to pick the exact moment.
6. Move it into place with Rotate, Left / Right, Close / Far and Up / Down. Left and right follow your camera, so "Right" moves it to the right of your screen.
7. Make it look at you: Look Target: Camera.
8. For full control press Pose Bone By Bone > Pose Editor (Pose Mode):
9. Click a bone, press R, move the mouse, left click to keep it.
10. Press X, Y or Z while rotating to lock an axis. Type 45 for exactly 45 degrees.
11. Pose one arm, select it, Ctrl+C, then Ctrl+Shift+V to mirror it onto the other arm.
12. Ctrl+Z undoes. RESET ALL (twice) goes back to the raid stance.
13. Type a name under LIBRARY and press SAVE NEW to keep the pose.
14. Ctrl+Tab leaves Pose Mode.
15. Hide the menu (Tab) and press P.

Changed your mind? Raid Stance > Restore brings back the stance you had in the raid.

3. Catch bots mid-action¶

You need: a raid with bots nearby.

Option A: freeze everything 1. When the action happens, press F6. Bullets, bodies and bots stop exactly where they are. 2. Fly around and find the angle. 3. To nudge the moment forward: TIME > Frame Step Count (try 1 to 5) and press Step Frames.

Option B: freeze only the bots 1. Press F9. Every bot stops in its exact pose, but you and the world keep going. 2. Walk right up to them for a close-up, in first person or with DuckCam (F5 or F6). 3. Press F9 again to release them. Get out of their sight first; they react to what they can see.

Option C: copy a bot 1. Freeze with F6. 2. CHARACTERS > Players in this raid > pick the bot. A copy appears in the same pose, holding its weapon. Turn on Hide Original to hide the real bot. 3. Now you can move, turn and re-pose the copy freely.

4. A squad photo with real bots¶

You need: a raid with some open space.

1. Press F6 to freeze.
2. CHARACTERS > Spawn Bots > Open Spawner (Bot Spawner).
3. Pick a role, for example PMC USEC.
4. Dress them: click a slot, pick from the Item Database. Pick a weapon from your presets.
5. Save it as a kit so the whole squad matches.
6. Press Spawn. A green marker follows your mouse. Shift+click to place several bots in a row. Red means the spot isn't safe; the reason is shown.
7. Close the spawner. The bots stand still because the scene is frozen.
8. Add yourself: Your PMC > Add, and move your copy into the group.
9. Want them posed? Copy each bot (Players in this raid) with Hide Original on, then pose the copies.
10. Light the group: LIGHTS > Create Light > At Camera, then a second light from the side.
11. Photo: Tab, P.

Only in this session (ticked) removes the spawned bots when you leave DuckCam. Untick it to keep them in the raid.

5. Build a scene with photo-only characters¶

You need: a frozen raid. Good for "impossible" scenes: bosses side by side, a lineup of factions, characters from other raids.

1. CHARACTERS > Add Any Bot (photo only) > Open Spawner.
2. Pick any role, dress it, and press Add To Photo. It appears as a posable character with no AI.
3. Repeat for each character.
4. For each one (Edit Character): pick a pose, place it, set Look Target.
5. Go to OUTFIT & GEAR to change clothes. Show: Everything also lists boss and bot clothing.
6. Surrounding NPCs: On hides every real bot for a clean background.
7. Save each character to bring them back in another raid.

6. A moody portrait with lights and depth of field¶

You need: a dark spot (a building interior, or night).

1. F6, then add your PMC (CHARACTERS > Your PMC > Add). Pose it and set Look Target: Camera.
2. Frame a head-and-shoulders shot. Zoom in with the wheel (a narrow field of view looks like a portrait lens).
3. ENVIRONMENT: optional, set Time of Day to dusk or night for dark surroundings.
4. LIGHTS (three-point lighting):
5. Key light: fly the camera to the front-left of the face, about 1.5 m away. Light Type: Spot, Create Light > At Camera. Set Intensity so the face is well lit.
6. Fill light: front-right, lower Intensity (about a third of the key), a cooler Colour.
7. Rim light: behind the head, pointing at the back of it. A warm or coloured Colour outlines the silhouette.
8. Go back to your camera spot (store it first in a Bookmark with Alt+Shift+1, return with Alt+1).
9. DEPTH OF FIELD: on, Focus Mode: Manual, focus on the eyes, low Aperture for a soft background. Turn on Show Focus Plane while adjusting.
10. EFFECTS: try Noir or Cinematic, add a little vignette.
11. For the best blur, use Render DoF Photo instead of P.
12. LIGHTS > Light rigs: save the setup with Rig Anchor: Character to reuse it on anyone.

7. A smooth camera move video¶

You need: FFmpeg installed (Installation).

1. Freeze the scene (F6) and set up your shot: characters, lights, look.
2. Go to PATHS.
3. Fly to the start of the move and press Add Keyframe (or Insert).
4. Fly to the next spot, Add Keyframe again. Three to six points make a nice move.
5. Press Play to preview. Adjust:
6. Path Duration: total time, for example 8 s.
7. Ease In and Ease Out for gentle start and stop.
8. Edit Points On Screen: drag a numbered tag to move a point.
9. Turn on 3 s Countdown.
10. Go to CAPTURE: set Frame Rate (60 is smooth) and Resolution.
11. Press Ctrl+F12 to start recording, then press Play in PATHS.
12. When the move ends, press Ctrl+F12 to stop. The MP4 is in Your-SPT-Folder/DuckCam/Videos/.

Recording locks the game clock to the frame rate, so the video is perfectly smooth even if your PC stutters while recording.

Bonus: multi-camera cut. Make several paths (New Path). While one plays, press Alt+2, Alt+3... to cut to that path at the same moment, like a film editor.

8. Action shots in a live raid¶

You need: a raid. Best with a friend's bot fight nearby, or spawned bots.

1. Press F5. DuckCam opens but the raid keeps running.
2. Fly the camera to a good angle. Your PMC stays where it is.
3. F1 switches the mouse and keys between the camera and your PMC, so you can keep playing while the camera films.
4. F4 (slow motion) slows the raid for dramatic moments. TIME > Raid Clock Follows Speed keeps your raid timer fair.
5. Press F6 at the perfect moment to freeze, then take the photo.

In a live session you can be hurt unless Live Damage Protection is on.

9. 16K photos and transparent backgrounds¶

You need: a frozen scene.

16K photo¶

1. F6, set up the shot.
2. CAPTURE > Photo Resolution: pick 8K or 16K.
3. Press P. The screen steps through several zoomed-in tiles for a few seconds. Don't move, and keep the scene frozen.
4. The finished photo is stitched together and saved. Large files (50 MB and more) are normal at 16K.

Transparent background¶

1. Add your characters and pose them.
2. CAPTURE > Transparent Background: On.
3. Choose All Characters or Photo Characters Only.
4. Keep Scene Shadows keeps their shadow on the ground.
5. Press P. Everything but the characters is transparent: perfect for thumbnails and edits.

10. Animate a scene with the timeline¶

You need: a frozen scene with characters.

1. Add and place your characters.
2. Press Ctrl+T to open the timeline.
3. At time 0: pose everyone and place the camera, then press KEY ALL.
4. Move the playhead to, say, 2 s. Change poses (Pose Mode) and move the camera. KEY ALL again.
5. Repeat for more moments.
6. Ctrl+Space plays it back. Drag keys to retime. Pick an ease per key (smooth, linear, ease in, ease out, step).
7. Record it: Ctrl+F12, play, Ctrl+F12.
8. Save the scene to come back to it later.

11. Give a character a different weapon¶

You need: a photo character.

1. OUTFIT & GEAR, pick the character.
2. Find the weapon slot: Primary Weapon, Second Weapon, Holster or Melee.
3. Press Item Database > Open, search for the weapon and pick it. It's a display-only copy, so your inventory doesn't change.
4. Back in CHARACTERS, turn on Weapon In Hands.
5. Hand Weapon chooses which one it holds: Main, Pistol (from Holster) or Knife (from Melee).
6. Pose the arm in Pose Mode: the weapon follows the right hand. WEAPON GIZMO fine-tunes where it sits.

12. Save a setup and reuse it¶

All are plain files in Your-SPT-Folder/DuckCam/. Zip them to share (Making Content).

13. Make your own photo frame¶

You need: any image editor (GIMP, Photoshop, Krita, Paint.NET...).

1. Make a new image at your screen's shape, for example 1920x1080 or 3840x2160.
2. Draw your frame around the edges. Keep the middle transparent.
3. Export as PNG with transparency.
4. Put it in Your-SPT-Folder/DuckCam/Overlays/. Use a subfolder (for example Overlays/Film/) to give it its own category.
5. In game: OVERLAYS > Overlay Folder > Rescan, then pick it under Frame.

Stickers work the same way: any size, transparent around the shape. Add them with Add Sticker.