Got my hardhat on...

[SweetLadyMell]

Hi all :)

Okkies, I have my hard hat on and am ready to...build a house. If I do that is a sandbox, there are some issues/questions:

- how do I put everything in one of those convenient unpack boxes?

- are there sandboxes that have more than a few hours "return rate"? I cannot finish a house in three hours :)

Of course, I was thinking in renting a patch of land where I can build at my own pace...but, is that the proper way to go about it?

Just some newbee questions. I'm slowly sinking deeper in, and...I like it :)

=^_^=

Mell

xxx

[Rolig Loon]

Assuming that you are building your first house as a place to live in yourself , you'll need land for it sooner or later. Why not sooner?  That way, you won't have to worry about pesky time limits and curious onlookers (or worse) in a public sandbox.  And you'll know that your house fits on your land too.

The best way to answer your questions about using a builder's box is to go get one and use it. They all do basically the same thing, but they each have their own bells and whistles.  Builder's Budy is still free, and the other popular systems are all available for less than $2 USD, so you're not risking much by getting a couple of systems to experiment with.

[Perrie Juran]

Another good thing to do is save your work as you go.

That way if you find you need to go back to a 'prior state' because something is not working out it is easier to do.

This can also save you a lot of hurt if you happen to get caught by a clean up in a Sand Box.

[SweetLadyMell]

Hmm, a patch of land is the option then...however, saving my work, I'd not know how. I usually link the whole thing and "take" it in inventory, then restore it, unlink and coontinue...but, I'm a noob builder

Mell

xxx

[Rolig Loon]

You don't need to link it.  Take it as a coalesced object.  There are a few things to be careful about, but it's the best way to move a large object from one place to another.  Read this carefully and watch the video >>> http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/How-to-move-a-build/ta-p/919109

Random things to think about:

1. Small objects are easy to miss and aren't always grabbed by a surround select.  After you have picked up your coalesced object, check the area IMMEDIATELY for objects you may have missed, and pick them up as a second coalesced object.  Don't forget transparent objects too.

2. If you accidentally pick up a Linden plant, you won't be able to rez your coalesed object again without asking Live Chat for help, so don't do that.

3. Before you rez your coalesce object.... open your Build/Edit tool with CTRL +3.  If you do that, the coalesced object will automatically be selected as it rezzes so you will be able to move it or retake it easily.

4. Also, before you rez it, be sure that you have enough room and enough L.I. allowance to support it.  Rez in the middle of a parcel that is considerably bigger  than your object.

5.  For best results and peace of mind, rez large coalesced objects on a temporary sky platform instead of the ground.  That way you are less likely to rez on top of other things -- or someone else's things, or partly underground.

6. It can make sense to pick up your work as two or more coalesced objects (Roof, second floor, first floor, ...) rather than a single one. If you do that, remember to plan some way to fit the parts together later, like interlocking prims. (That's also good advice if you transport your structure as linked prims instead of a coalescd object.)

 I strongly suggest practicing with a dummy building before you try it on the real thing.  Once you know what you're doing, this is not hard.  I have moved large structures from one sim to another many times and rarely ( :smileyembarrassed: ) screwed up. 

[Ohjiro Watanabe]

My suggestion is start with a smaller project than a house. Maybe a dog house or  a garden shed or something. Focus on learning to use the build tools, getting perfectly aligned prims and how to shape them with hollow and cut and so forth. Also how to apply textures to prims and using the options for the offsets and rotation of the texture on a prim.

Also a visit  to Ivory Tower Library of Primitives may be useful.

 

[SweetLadyMell]

Thanks Ojiro

That advise was given to me half a year ago...and yep, I followed that. the building works, still have some small steps to go (like texturing and packagiing) but so far, it workks. I have (hehe) learned most from the ivory tower (still have to sweep the top floor I assume), doing things, looking at how others do things and...the people in the forum

The top floor is...strange...still, the view in wonderfull

Mell

xxx

[markkemp]

My out-of-the-box thinking advice:

1) Find a friend or (god forbid) boyfriend/girlfriend in SL that owns a private sim.

(if it turns out they don't own land then dump them lol)

2) Ask very nicely if you can make a private building skybox there.

I think you would be amazed how easy that is to achieve. Especially if you're a Casanova :matte-motes-inlove:

Another thing you could do is offer a sim owner say 5% revenue share from any marketplace sales you make in return for having a private skybox for building.