How does your avatar look today ?

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 minutes ago, Saravendi said:

the beach in heels 

Beautiful shot, Sara!

Also, a worthy entrant into the "Impossible in RL" sweepstakes!

[Skell Dagger]

5 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Skell (who is an honourary Photo Goddess)

I'd like to thank the Academy...

(Also, it wasn't so much a shove as it was a gentle nudge LOL)

Edited August 8, 2019 by Skell Dagger

[Zeta Vandyke]

One more before I fall asleep!

Love the new wet look outfit from BB. No practical use in any way I could think off, but excellent for picture  

 

[Angelina String]

Old clothes, new hair (surprise, surprise )

[kiramanell]

58 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

It's not every day I get to respond to Goethe in SL!

There are lots of people, of course, who don't feel this way, including some on this thread who really enjoy the freedom to play with, not merely their hair or wardrobe, but their entire look. It represents, I guess, a different sort of relationship with digital identity -- something somewhat akin to the old, and probably rather reductive, distinction between "augmentationist" and "immersionist"?

I'll confess to being an utter slave to my identification with my avatar, to the point where it feels really weird to assume a male shape and outfit for photos (as I sometimes do), and really disturbing when bad things, like deformation, happen to my avi. It also explains how my alt, Laskya, was almost instantly recognized as me when I first introduced her to the forums after a couple of years' hiatus from this place. (Also, maybe, why I can't role play.)

But on the flip side, that is a limitation that i think also enables a different kind of creativity? To switch from Goethe to a paraphrase of a rather similar idea as expressed by Robert Frost, not having a sort of baseline of a sense of self from which to work feels rather too much like playing tennis without a net. How far can I stretch, what new ways can I find, to express the digital me?

 

You always say these deep things that make my pretty little Bento head hurt. 😛 (Yes, I have one too now, LOL). Seriously, though, had to give some thought on the wholre 'augmentationist vs. immersionist' thingy. Not even sure the distinction is that absolute, when I apply it to myself. My personality is certainly pretty much how I am in RL too. I'm always (why almost always) rather bubbly, a bit timid, a little intimidated in the presence of overwhelming talent (like, erm, yours, for instance), not truly as dumb as one might think, LOL, but generally quite content being in awe of what others do. So, in that sense, I'm not really an immersionist.

SL is more than 'a fancy phone' for me, though (apparently ascribed to augmentationist). It's definitely always me. Augmented, the way The Matrix talk about 'residual self-image' (I now vaguely recall an earlier discussion about this). The term isn't fully applicable here, in the narrowest sense, in that it's broader than just trying to recreate memories of lore. More like an idealized version of myself, really: me, augmented, but different in all the positive ways that matter.  But stil always me, Like my AO is always set to some sort of demur stand. Don't mind sexy, per se, LOL, but the aforementioned timidness is always there.

In a way, I am a bit of an immersionist too, that, in SL, I try and make a consorted, and continual effort to be the kind of friendly person not always matched in RL. That's the Surrogates part for me. I figure, if you can choose to be anyone you want, might as well go the extra mile to be the best Kira I can be.

Okay, I thought I was going to be coherent; devolved a bit into rambling.  Anyway, Scylla, I always enjoy your thought-provoking posts.

[Catrie]

57 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

I'm not a photo goddess (or even a goddess, damn it) so I guess I shouldn't be answering Kira's question, but hey-ho.

I have an  SL Photography for Beginners tutorial on my blog if you fancy a read of it, Kira. In section 1 I explain how to get those high-resolution screenshots. The tutorial was written partly with fashion photography in mind, but I do at least cover some of the basics of what can be done.

<.<  I maaaaaay have linked that in an SL FB group the other day, Skell. 

Edited August 8, 2019 by Catrie

[Rhiannon108]

58 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

I'm not a photo goddess (or even a goddess, damn it) so I guess I shouldn't be answering Kira's question, but hey-ho.

I have an  SL Photography for Beginners tutorial on my blog if you fancy a read of it, Kira. In section 1 I explain how to get those high-resolution screenshots. The tutorial was written partly with fashion photography in mind, but I do at least cover some of the basics of what can be done.

And, Gods...you deserve that status for all your patient and expert help you give us! I see what you put up with in the chat! Oh my!

[kiramanell]

30 minutes ago, Zeta Vandyke said:

One more before I fall asleep!

Love the new wet look outfit from BB. No practical use in any way I could think off, but excellent for picture  

 

 

Talk about great photography! Wonderful. Beautiful lighting and composition. ❤️

[Skell Dagger]

21 minutes ago, Catrie said:

<.<  I maaaaaay have linked that in an SL FB group the other day, Skell. 

I wondered where on FB those hits came from! I hope someone there found it useful.

19 minutes ago, Rhiannon108 said:

And, Gods...you deserve that status for all your patient and expert help you give us! I see what you put up with in the chat! Oh my!

Aw, thank you so much. There are days when it can get a bit much, but it's such a worthwhile job that the good always outweighs those moments.

[Nalates Urriah]

@kiramanell One of your first steps should be to setup your graphics card for SL. See http://blog.nalates.net/2016/06/05/nvidia-settings-2016/. 

A next step is to calibrate your monitor so we are more likely to be seeing what you are seeing. In Win-10 enter 'calibrate', no quotes. This should get you to Calibrate Display Color. It is pretty much a self-explanatory walk-through. It also sets the brightness & contrast so you use the full range of your monitors capability.

Photo Tools is W A Y handy. I use them everyday. A great set of SL Camera/Photography tutorials for the FS viewer is William Weaver's YouTube videos. These disappeared for months. Wasup wit that? But they are back today. Check them out. There is too much to soak up in a month or two. So, go through them as suites you.

Strawberry Singh-Linden has some unique tutorials... Moving Your Own Avatar, and Moving Avatars. A recent bug in FS broke the ability to use this technique. I have to test the 6.2.4 FS to see if they got it fixed.

PS: I used FS 6.2.4, the current release, and this trick for moving the avatar works again. With a full mesh body and head selecting the avatar is tricky. Also, Strawberry says right-click to select. I had to left-click to select the avatar. While I can move the avatar in X,Y,Z I cannot rotate the avatar  So, FS only partially fixed the problem. See FIRE-23399.

When EEP is released William's tutorials will be obsolete. I suppose that depends on what the FS Team does with Photo Tools post-EPP release. I expect something will change. But, if you learn what the settings do, you just have to learn where the controls for those features moved to.

The Snapshot Tool is what most of us use the capture the images we post here and on Flickr. Press Ctrl-Shift-S... it pops open the control panel and takes a snapshot. You can then decide what to do with the image. Experiment with all the settings in that panel. I typically use a Custom size, 3000x1525px. Even with no AA shrinking that image to 1024 would have the effect of having had AA on.

There are a number of fun things in the Snapshot Panel. Filters is one. Plus, you can capture depth maps for post processing in GIMP or Photoshop. 

BLACK DRAGON... is a different viewer, user interface, abilities, features... like the Avatar Pose feature... it is popular with photographers. But, you will have a learning curve. I gave up using it because the author likes to experiment with UI. This put me in a perpetual learning mode. But, for really GREAT images, there is no better viewer and that includes FS. But, FS UI is consistent, seldom changing. 

Edited August 8, 2019 by Nalates Urriah

[kiramanell]

1 hour ago, Nalates Urriah said:

@kiramanell One of your first steps should be to setup your graphics card for SL. See http://blog.nalates.net/2016/06/05/nvidia-settings-2016/. 

A next step is to calibrate your monitor so we are more likely to be seeing what you are seeing. In Win-10 enter 'calibrate', no quotes. This should get you to Calibrate Display Color. It is pretty much a self-explanatory walk-through. It also sets the brightness & contrast so you use the full range of your monitors capability.

Photo Tools is W A Y handy. I use them everyday. A great set of SL Camera/Photography tutorials for the FS viewer is William Weaver's YouTube videos. These disappeared for months. Wasup wit that? But they are back today. Check them out. There is too much to soak up in a month or two. So, go through them as suites you.

Strawberry Singh-Linden has some unique tutorials... Moving Your Own Avatar, and Moving Avatars. A recent bug in FS broke the ability to use this technique. I have to test the 6.2.4 FS to see if they got it fixed.

PS: I used FS 6.2.4, the current release, and this trick for moving the avatar works again. With a full mesh body and head selecting the avatar is tricky. Also, Strawberry says right-click to select. I had to left-click to select the avatar. While I can move the avatar in X,Y,Z I cannot rotate the avatar  So, FS only partially fixed the problem. See FIRE-23399.

When EEP is released William's tutorials will be obsolete. I suppose that depends on what the FS Team does with Photo Tools post-EPP release. I expect something will change. But, if you learn what the settings do, you just have to learn where the controls for those features moved to.

The Snapshot Tool is what most of us use the capture the images we post here and on Flickr. Press Ctrl-Shift-S... it pops open the control panel and takes a snapshot. You can then decide what to do with the image. Experiment with all the settings in that panel. I typically use a Custom size, 3000x1525px. Even with no AA shrinking that image to 1024 would have the effect of having had AA on.

There are a number of fun things in the Snapshot Panel. Filters is one. Plus, you can capture depth maps for post processing in GIMP or Photoshop. 

BLACK DRAGON... is a different viewer, user interface, abilities, features... like the Avatar Pose feature... it is popular with photographers. But, you will have a learning curve. I gave up using it because the author likes to experiment with UI. This put me in a perpetual learning mode. But, for really GREAT images, there is no better viewer and that includes FS. But, FS UI is consistent, seldom changing. 

 

Thank you kindly! ❤️And all of you, for that matter, for helping me out in such a lavish manner! 🤗's to everyone!

Edited August 9, 2019 by kiramanell

[Catrie]

I would also like to add that some people use Lumipro to help light their scene.  However, that is stupid expensive. 

@Orwar put out his own lightbox and it's on the MP.   It's free, btw, as he thinks these tools should be available to everyone.  He also put out a camera preset tool. You can set the camera,  move, then click a button and it comes back to the same position you set it.  Honestly, I haven't used this one a lot, because I tend to forget. 😛  Again,  it's free

You can find his store here. I may be a bit biased, but I wouldn't endorse them if I didn't trust Orwar and know that the items are good and work. 

Edit:  I use the lightbox all the time. You wear it, so you can use it at places you don't have rez rights.  It has SERIOUSLY helped me out many times. 

Edited August 9, 2019 by Catrie

[Angelina String]

New hair AND new clothes (well at least a new shorts  - lol)

Contemplating if I dare to join the other surfers out there 🤔

[Rhonda Huntress]

If you want to try something not near as complex as The Gimp or Photoshop, take a look at the free program PhotoScape X.  Lots of cool point-and-click tools and filters.

[kiramanell]

2 hours ago, Catrie said:

I would also like to add that some people use Lumipro to help light their scene.  However, that is stupid expensive. 

@Orwar put out his own lightbox and it's on the MP.   It's free, btw, as he thinks these tools should be available to everyone.  He also put out a camera preset tool. You can set the camera,  move, then click a button and it comes back to the same position you set it.  Honestly, I haven't used this one a lot, because I tend to forget. 😛  Again,  it's free

You can find his store here. I may be a bit biased, but I wouldn't endorse them if I didn't trust Orwar and know that the items are good and work. 

Edit:  I use the lightbox all the time. You wear it, so you can use it at places you don't have rez rights.  It has SERIOUSLY helped me out many times. 

 

Thank you, dear. 🤗 You're always so helpful.

And while I have you on the line, *g*, is yours a Catwa Lee head too? (Yes, I've start to look at these things, now that I've been shopping myself for the good stuff).

[Talligurl]

I won a gift-card from a car dealer,  so I am shopping for a new car.

 

[Momo Addams]

Fullmetal Alchemist-Lust Cosplay. 💛

[MattNight84]

https://mattnight84.wordpress.com/2019/08/09/pizza-and-wine/

 

[BelindaN]

12 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

It's not every day I get to respond to Goethe in SL!

There are lots of people, of course, who don't feel this way, including some on this thread who really enjoy the freedom to play with, not merely their hair or wardrobe, but their entire look. It represents, I guess, a different sort of relationship with digital identity -- something somewhat akin to the old, and probably rather reductive, distinction between "augmentationist" and "immersionist"?

I'll confess to being an utter slave to my identification with my avatar, to the point where it feels really weird to assume a male shape and outfit for photos (as I sometimes do), and really disturbing when bad things, like deformation, happen to my avi. It also explains how my alt, Laskya, was almost instantly recognized as me when I first introduced her to the forums after a couple of years' hiatus from this place. (Also, maybe, why I can't role play.)

But on the flip side, that is a limitation that i think also enables a different kind of creativity? To switch from Goethe to a paraphrase of a rather similar idea as expressed by Robert Frost, not having a sort of baseline of a sense of self from which to work feels rather too much like playing tennis without a net. How far can I stretch, what new ways can I find, to express the digital me?

I had to look up the Goethe thing!!

But this is an interesting discussion on how we see ourselves here in SL. I'm totally immersed in me here, and my avi is an extension of who I am, and like Scylla, I feel discomfort and anxious when my avi goes wrong. Oh and when I knowingly put myself in places (and positions) which I shouldn't be in......but sometimes I like to push the boundaries here which I would run a mile from in RL.

But my alt experience is different. These girls are my creations. They don't exist beyond SL. They carry my moral compass, but when I take them out, I'm like, one step removed, and its a different dynamic to when I'm me. I don't exploit their innocence, and although my intention was to RP vastly different personalities, my own reserved views, have limited how far I could go. The whole thing has really opened my eyes to what makes me who I am.

[Catrie]

6 hours ago, kiramanell said:

 

Thank you, dear. 🤗 You're always so helpful.

And while I have you on the line, *g*, is yours a Catwa Lee head too? (Yes, I've start to look at these things, now that I've been shopping myself for the good stuff).

I'm happy to help when I can.    No. I'm currently using the Genus Baby head.  Previously, I've had the Catwa Sofia head and the Lelutka Simone head. 

[Zeta Vandyke]

7 minutes ago, BelindaN said:

But my alt experience is different. These girls are my creations. They don't exist beyond SL. They carry my moral compass, but when I take them out, I'm like, one step removed, and its a different dynamic to when I'm me. I don't exploit their innocence, and although my intention was to RP vastly different personalities, my own reserved views, have limited how far I could go.

Very much have the same experience. I know with Zeta I am "restricted" in how I behave by my rl personality, because she is me. That's why alts were created (among other reasons) but it turned out they have the same moral compass as me too. But like you say, it's easier to step out of the comfort zone/boundaries with them, and experiment or roleplay. I do like to give each of them a distinct personality that I try to act on, to prevent them all being copies of me. Not that I log in with alts a lot really anyway.

[xBaeBeex]

new bodysuit from 50LF tonight

 

[Catrie]

 

[VanillaLovelace]

[MrsSeren]

I tried using Blackdragon but got totally and utterly confused so removed it and shall stick to doing my pictures in Firestorm; they not may be amazing buuut ya know what I have fun regardless and to me that what matters!