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Is there a tutorial for building a simple house?
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Question
Lindal Kidd
I haven't seen one, but I can write out some very basic procedures here for you.
1. Put down a foundation. Megaprims are good for this, and there is a free megaprim finder/fetcher on Xstreet called the SALT HUD.
2. I find that more megaprims are handy for outlining the house, even if you intend to replace them later with smaller prims so as to make openings for stairwells, windows, and doors. Put up one megaprim wall, and SHIFT+Drag it to make the opposite wall. SHIFT+Drag again to make a third wall, then rotate it 90 degrees and move it into place.
3. With three walls in place, if you plan to have a second story, place the floor for it. Allow at least 5m for each floor. Less will appear cramped because of the default camera position a couple of meters above your avatar.
4. See how you like the proportions. Adjust as needed.
5. Decide where you want door(s). Rez a new wall prim the same height as your "placeholder" wall, and wide enough to go between one corner and the door opening. Delete the placeholder. SHIFT+Drag to copy this prim and slide it to the other side of where the door will be. SHIFT+Drag again for another copy and slide it over the door to frame the opening. Re-size it to fit between the prims to the left and right of the door.
6. Use similar techniques to build walls around window openings. You can see that I like the SHIFT+Drag method...it lets you keep wall parts aligned perfectly. You can use this method to make windows, too. Place it and size it to fit the opening, then just reduce the thickness and texture it with a blank texture, a black color, and 80% transparency...or use a window texture for panes, etc. I also like using the numeric entry boxes where possible for precision, especially the rotation ones.
Building your house aligned to the world coordinates simplifies things greatly, as all rotations are 0, 90, 180 or 270.
Texturing your walls before SHIFT+Dragging copies can save you a lot of texturing time later.
Selecting all the edges of walls and making them fully transparent can make seams between prims less visible. If transparent does not work for your application, texture the edges the same as the outside or the inside of the wall.
Don't forget the value of cut and hollowed prims. If there are no openings in it, a single prim can form three sides (heck, even four sides) of a building, or the roof, floor, and two sides if you turn it sideways.
Textures are important. Spend some time choosing some really nice exterior and interior textures.
Once the shell is done, add details like interior walls, staircases, and doors. Decorate by placing rug prims, pictures on the walls, planters, and other details. Make the house "work" by scripting the doors to open and shut, and the windows to tint. Add some local teleporters...they're more convenient than stairs, many times.
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