SL isn't the same any more

[ChinRey]

1 hour ago, Han Held said:

Here's a couple of links from their forum that addresses legal usage of filter forge textures;

https://www.filterforge.com/forum/read.php?TID=11328&MID=120040

https://filterforge.com/forum/read.php?TID=10655&MID=115283

 

Hmmm...

Quote

It is considered polite to mention the filter authors somewhere in the comments to your renders, but you are not obliged to do that.

Does that mean the SL texture makers who use Filter Forge creatively and the texture merchants who upload and sell the ready made texture are all impolite?

 

1 hour ago, Han Held said:

It's not just a library of textures -tho it's that, too. But they're a base, which you can adjust different parameters to make something that is uniquely your own.

Warning from SLGHC (Second Life General Health Office): Using Filter Forge as the creative tool it was meant to be rather than as a library of ready made resellable freebies is highly addictive and known to cause loss of sleep and gray hairs. It is easy to tell yourself you can stop any time but there is always one more little adjustment to make. In extreme cases people have been known to not only spend hours working with the existing filters but even create their own. If you reach that level of addiction, there is no longer any hope for a cure.

Edit: Just to illustrate how serious this can be. One of the almost 6,000 ready made filters generates fantasy island maps like this one:

The three main controls of that particular filter only allow you to generate 90,000,000,000 different island shapes. That doesn't sound like much of course but then you can change the size, shape and number of mountains, country borders, rivers, forests and of course, also the frame and the color scheme. Enough fun to last a lifetime or five and that's just one filter.

Edited June 2, 2017 by ChinRey
Adding an example

[Pussycat Catnap]

Since you all mentioned Filter Forge... I have seen it goes through 3 different 'last day is today' sales. 80%, 70%, and now back to 80%...

They seem to have the same understanding of the word 'last' as the furniture shop that used to be down the block from me where I lived a decade ago in RL. A place that had a 'final clearance closing' sale going for about 5 years...

There seems to be a massive feature jump when you hit the professional version, as far as SL needs would go - given that is the breakpoint for bump maps.

Edited June 3, 2017 by Pussycat Catnap

[Harper Held]

It was worth what I paid for it; in terms of the productivity boost it provides it's worth the full price. But as you said -it's on sale frequently enough that one can wait for a sale to come around. I suspect that when version 7 comes out it'll be a bit of a wait for the next sale -but who knows?

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2017 by Han Held

[mehllama]

On 5/10/2017 at 11:36 AM, Caitlin Tobias said:

Maybe for you and lots of others.

For me, and lots of others, it wasn't and still isn't.

SL was, and is, for many a place to meet people, have fun, be social. The user-created content is nice and very much appreciated, but not 'what SL was about' to begin with.

Don't get me wrong, I loved it in 2007 - the content - and I still love it. Be it made inworld or not, for me that makes no difference to my SL Experience as a whole.

I think that really hits on the simple fact that SL is whatever the user wants it to be. That's the beauty of it while also perhaps a RL example of why Utopia is impossible: everyone has their own unique ideal of perfection and when they demand it be implemented cookie-cutter style on everyone else, it gets weird. What's great about SL is that if you like the pre-mesh styles and customs, if you will, then you can totally decorate your home and even create a community based on that. I see countless communities just like that; whether by design or not, they've remained old school, which is great for them). Also, the many OpenSim grids while possessing mesh capabilities are for lack of an economy still pre-mesh outside of pirated and copybotted things stolen from SL. So for the truly nostalgic, that is another option to look into maybe. I find SL and the other grids interesting to explore in their own apples and oranges way. 

The consumer side is perhaps a growing demographic aspect of SL but one that arguably helps to pay the bills to keep LL afloat. I sell a lot of mesh clothing items in my store that I retextured, which is what many 2nd or 3rd tier stores like mine do, and I have an okay business that requires creativity in the specific area where I apply it. That creative outlet would not be available were it not for those who create the mesh. 

I don't believe mesh creation itself requires a degree from MIT; just dedication at first. I have friends who are mesh creators and brilliant people; I've known some not so bright people also who create mesh. It's just about sitting down and spending the time to learn it (which I need to do but readily admit I don't really want to invest in right now).

 

 

[Phil Deakins]

On 10/05/2017 at 5:36 PM, Caitlin Tobias said:

SL was, and is, for many a place to meet people, have fun, be social. The user-created content is nice and very much appreciated, but not 'what SL was about' to begin with.

I'm sorry, but you are mistaken. That was, no doubt, what SL was about to begin with for you, and a great many others, of course.

To begin with, SL was about various things, a fundamental one of which was user-created content. It still is a fundamental aspect of SL, but that aspect has changed drastically. The way it's changed is written more than once in this thread, so I won't repeat it here, but that is what this thread is about. It's not about the social aspects of SL.

Edited June 3, 2017 by Phil Deakins

[Skell Dagger]

Well, if you want to get all "chicken or egg" about it, the very first thing a non-Linden did on the early Second Life grid (before it even came out of beta) was to build something. Steller Sunshine was left alone in Second Life one night back in 2002, and when the Lindens returned the next morning, they found she'd built a cabin (now gone) and a beanstalk (still there). Prior to that, Second Life (or LindenWorld as it was then called) was pretty much a shooter game and nothing more. What Steller did that night changed the entire potential of SL, so - in essence (and somewhat pedantically) - it could be said that creating things was what SL was about to begin with.

[Akane Nacht]

Hm... unless builders build something for their eyes only, creating is in fact a social activity too - the point is usually to share their creations in some fashion, no?

[Chic Aeon]

4 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

Well, if you want to get all "chicken or egg" about it, the very first thing a non-Linden did on the early Second Life grid (before it even came out of beta) was to build something. Steller Sunshine was left alone in Second Life one night back in 2002, and when the Lindens returned the next morning, they found she'd built a cabin (now gone) and a beanstalk (still there). Prior to that, Second Life (or LindenWorld as it was then called) was pretty much a shooter game and nothing more. What Steller did that night changed the entire potential of SL, so - in essence (and somewhat pedantically) - it could be said that creating things was what SL was about to begin with.

Nice to know that bit of history

[Pamela Galli]

6 hours ago, Akane Nacht said:

Hm... unless builders build something for their eyes only, creating is in fact a social activity too - the point is usually to share their creations in some fashion, no?

I have found I can build or I can socialize, not both at the same time.

[Marigold Devin]

On 2017-5-12 at 3:01 PM, Aislin Ceawlin said:

This is my all time favorite glitch, lmaao! Looks like I needed to make a waxing appointment! (Or buy a lawn mower!!!)

Just catching up and reading through this entire thread and this post might be my favourite post EVER - can't stop laughing at the ginger "minge" ! 

This was my favourite glitch too. Shoes and hair up the rectum. 

(And that was my favourite dress in my early days in SL - but on my av it seemed to expose half my nipples.) 

Ah the good old days  

[Aislin Ceawlin]

1 hour ago, Marigold Devin said:

Just catching up and reading through this entire thread and this post might be my favourite post EVER - can't stop laughing at the ginger "minge" ! 

This was my favourite glitch too. Shoes and hair up the rectum. 

(And that was my favourite dress in my early days in SL - but on my av it seemed to expose half my nipples.) 

Ah the good old days  

LMAOOO, yep, bald, missing a foot, YUUUUGE Ginger "minge" (God, I loved her on Drag Race) I was totally bringing sexy back! HAHAHA!