1st SIM is it normal to feel crazy? XD

[Macrocosm Draegonne]

So right up front, I know, I know, I can cancel the sim at any time, and im under no obligation to do anything in particular with it... but.... did anyone else feel like a total loon for buying a full SIM their first time?  

Im still waiting on the transfer ticket to sort and my mind is swirling, cancel it!... keep it! You're a nutter! Have Fun & create! lol im going crazy over here thinking of which of my mesh creations will be brought inworld and what I will do with them, how will the SIM be designed etc.  Its a gigantic undertaking for someone like me who gets into the fine details, and is sometimes too perfectionist to get ***** done all that timely, im a crazy artist with a million projects, what more do you expect? ?

50/50 chance I will give it back in a month, or the pressure will compel me to action towards a lot of fun and sharing of creativity.  Either way im pushing forward, im not going to be scared to rent a SIM for gods sake, I have dozens of servers in the cloud lol, but this is different of course, sharing my 3d art is more personal than building websites, its my art and expression on display, but that's all probably a good healthy pressure I suppose.

Anyway, i already feel better just writing this out and acknowledging my nervousness and all, so please do have a good laugh at me, its only fair.   ...and if you were nervous your first time please share.

[Callum Meriman]

Not nervous the first time.

My first was in 2007, and I've had them ever since.

[Garnet Psaltery]

I get that feeling every month when the bill is due  Don't think about giving up yet, just have fun and see what happens.

[Macrocosm Draegonne]

3 minutes ago, Callum Meriman said:

Not nervous the first time.

My first was in 2007, and I've had them ever since.

Wow, ten years, that's impressive!  I guess its safe to say you've enjoyed it and its worked out.  

Im just in overthinking mode, im moody, Double Cancerian, INFJ lol...  They better hurry up with the transfer ticket tho, or I might go running wildly into the woods never to return, after canceling the transfer... lmao... almost did it twice since I submitted it.  Its not the money, I have enough to keep it going, but its the commitment and output of creative flow, its not something that can be forced, at least not with me, though a little pressure never hurt.

[Macrocosm Draegonne]

27 minutes ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

I get that feeling every month when the bill is due  Don't think about giving up yet, just have fun and see what happens.

Yeah lol, it is a bit pricey, although I have paid a lot more for web-servers in the past for serving websites, in total I do a lot more now, though I have offset all that to clients and dont manage the servers anymore except one straggler server of a few old sites.  Considering how much action and lindens can flow thru a sim it seems a fair price, I hear it will get some more tweaks in tier and land fee's over the next year or so as infrastructure continues to go into the cloud, not sure how they can manage to reduce the price given what a server is responsible for, but there are always new efficiencies that can be found I suppose.

I will give myself a little while to pull something off, and if it doesn't work out, no harm, no foul, I can simply sell or return the server and come back the next time with a fresh more informed plan lol.  This was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up, spur of the moment and all that fun stuff.

I do have mesh skills, so I could sell objects to supplement the servers cost, and already have the whole casper suite n all, ive got all things... but i must also have the drive and inspiration.  I am sometimes even perplexing to myself in what can bring on a good creative flow state with high output.  But... seeing all the things that can be done with 3d art has always been inspiring to me, and SL too.  I do know blender 3d, though im still learning the particularities of game optimized objects, and as that relates to SL.  I have been studying that for about a year now, going too damn slow if you ask me, so maybe this SIM will be the needed pressure and impetus to finally put some stuff out there and have fun with it.  Or I might just explode! ? lol

Edited October 2, 2018 by Macrocosm Draegonne

[Garnet Psaltery]

It really is good to see your enthusiasm  If you haven't already run some of your ideas past friends perhaps now is the time to do so, if only to give you an anchor to the ground  

[Macrocosm Draegonne]

25 minutes ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

It really is good to see your enthusiasm  If you haven't already run some of your ideas past friends perhaps now is the time to do so, if only to give you an anchor to the ground  

yes I agree, I have been doing some of that, it really does help a lot.  It's true too, I should start from the ground up, moving to the more complex things later, ive already got a ton of ideas and things to build, and a bunch of my own mesh to work with, but being in RL business all these years (with less responsibilities now thank the gods!) I know I will need a solid yet flexible plan, and willingness to fail forward!  I don't expect to make tons of money, thats not the goal, but I do expect that if im a good enough creator, I could pay for the server sometimes (or even often eventually?) with the lindens earned, and use the whole experience to expand my blender building skillset, while sharing & collaborating with others too lol.  Yes my coffee is kicking in! ?

[Alyona Su]

10 hours ago, Macrocosm Draegonne said:

but.... did anyone else feel like a total loon for buying a full SIM their first time?  

Not really. Some nervousness, perhaps. $150 U.S. every month is a loot (My first in 2006). It gets easier if you manage it well. I think my estate had 3 full private regions, 1 full mainland region, 1 Homestead, and 2 Open-Space sims simultaneously (I had a very successful furniture store LOL)

But, eventually, SL became more work than fun and ~long story made short~ nowadays I don't do any of that stuff and only do fun.  

[Macrocosm Draegonne]

30 minutes ago, Alyona Su said:

Not really. Some nervousness, perhaps. $150 U.S. every month is a loot (My first in 2006). It gets easier if you manage it well. I think my estate had 3 full private regions, 1 full mainland region, 1 Homestead, and 2 Open-Space sims simultaneously (I had a very successful furniture store LOL)

But, eventually, SL became more work than fun and ~long story made short~ nowadays I don't do any of that stuff and only do fun.  

Yeah I can respect that, for me fun is super important, but I do enjoy working, especially creating, so its not always laborious.  You make a great point though, there is a reason im relieved I dont have as much responsibilities in the business i was part of launching.  You do tire of overworking, most often doing so very underpaid, for years, startups are not easy and require a ton of commitment, its one reason why 9 out of 10 businesses close in their first year in RL.

[Callum Meriman]

12 hours ago, Macrocosm Draegonne said:

..but its the commitment and output of creative flow, its not something that can be forced, at least not with me, though a little pressure never hurt.

I know the creative process well. I have sat for months with a project half done waiting for the inspiration, then it appears with the most unlikely connection.

 

It's worth it.

 

[Macrocosm Draegonne]

Ive started drawing out my plans and such, and im beginning to think the delay in the transfer ticked being completed might be a sign to wait a month as I build my build, and plan.  I can virtualize the whole thing on my desktop locally first before bringing in world.  I wonder if that is a better approach than jumping right at buying the SIM now? 

Id only save one months server cost, but I might also do a more thorough job on my plan too.  Hmmm... I will ponder this as the delay continues lol, Im definitely getting a SIM, but the exact date is flexible, and there are always SIMs to get, and im certainly not ready day one as it is, lmao but that never stopped me before in many things.  Hmm...  Decisions decisions.   At least im a lot less freaked now that i spoke with you all, and actually sat with my plans, outlining some things.

Thank you everyone for giving great feedback!  Its helped a ton, and made me more excited too

[Callum Meriman]

It's fun to talk about.

I love the planning stage. I love the building stage. After a month or two, the finished product - to me - is ripe to be swept away, like a mandala. So, I often delete, or pack it away in a builder box to start the next.

When I do a new sim-wide layout, I flesh out the entire design in huge primary coloured prims, almost a freehand sketch. I've found it helps with scale - but that could be because I have a real disconnect between scale in Blender and scale in the region as I see it when I walk around.

I find it's good to also get the terrain roughly done at that point. When it's almost finalised, terrain can be exported as a raw, run through pimstar and seen in Blender too.

Depending on what I am then trying to do, often I will then import the huge prims into Blender and use them as placeholders to mark position and scale for the mesh I make. As I do each piece I finesse it on the beta grid, then import it into the region properly.

[Macrocosm Draegonne]

14 minutes ago, Callum Meriman said:

It's fun to talk about.

I love the planning stage. I love the building stage. After a month or two, the finished product - to me - is ripe to be swept away, like a mandala. So, I often delete, or pack it away in a builder box to start the next.

When I do a new sim-wide layout, I flesh out the entire design in huge primary coloured prims, almost a freehand sketch. I've found it helps with scale - but that could be because I have a real disconnect between scale in Blender and scale in the region as I see it when I walk around.

I find it's good to also get the terrain roughly done at that point. When it's almost finalised, terrain can be exported as a raw, run through pimstar and seen in Blender too.

Depending on what I am then trying to do, often I will then import the huge prims into Blender and use them as placeholders to mark position and scale for the mesh I make. As I do each piece I finesse it on the beta grid, then import it into the region properly.

I love doing that!, layering in all the things, only to wipe them out and try a different approach, its really a lot of fun.  I do usually also make some prims and export them to colladas to bring into Blender, that really does help a ton with scale & space, though another trick is that product in marketplace which was created originally for sculpties, you can export the terrain in mesh chunks with it now (32mx32m) each and can do the whole sim pretty damn quick too.  This helps me visualize the area im building out, even if I dont use any the terrain at all, for layering etc.  It is tricky to use over property lines, although it still works perfectly, you wont see the visual cues provided by its particle effects, you'll have to rely on spacial thinking and math to get it right lols, its easier than it sounds though. (Edit: and in blender the resulting meshes need to be scaled up x10)

I have been enjoying using the beta grid a lot too, that helps a ton figuring out best lod and li, have spent most of my time tinkering with that area, I want solid optimization and visuals, and really there is no need to upload a million copies of something to the main grid, or waste lindens on it either lol.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Macrocosm Draegonne

[Macrocosm Draegonne]

Im sure you already know but in case anyone doesnt there's also a flythru and walkthru feature in Blender in the navigation menu and you can adjust the height/camera angle etc a bit, its not perfect but you can get somewhat of a sense that walking thru your design would give, minimally speaking.  With Blender 2.8 though that will be even better, we can mimic SL rendering in the viewport, even as we edit the mesh, all in real time with all the lighting and such. Im super excited for that!

[Macrocosm Draegonne]

OMG, still waiting on the transfer ticked! ? 

I have further eased my mind by allocating (& limiting myself to) four months of server payments in a nice block, so no pressure, and ample time to work out my mad man wild ride down the vortex hole, and see if im up to it and it works out, lol. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/wlwnbcxBuzI

 

Edited October 4, 2018 by Macrocosm Draegonne

[Annabell Wandsworth]

On 10/4/2018 at 4:10 AM, Macrocosm Draegonne said:

OMG, still waiting on the transfer ticked! ? 

I have further eased my mind by allocating (& limiting myself to) four months of server payments in a nice block, so no pressure, and ample time to work out my mad man wild ride down the vortex hole, and see if im up to it and it works out, lol. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/wlwnbcxBuzI

 

Awesome reference! I love that movie.

I say if you can afford it, and it makes you happy, go for it. 

[Macrocosm Draegonne]

4 hours ago, Annabell Wandsworth said:

Awesome reference! I love that movie.

I say if you can afford it, and it makes you happy, go for it. 

Yeah true, im sure there's more responsible things to spend time and money on, but I think this will help me with my blender3d adventures and finally putting some of my creativity out in the realms.   Its exciting!  Especially considering all the new features and goodies the Lindens are working on that we will get to tinker with.

[Tamara Artis]

This thread is awesome! I could feel the anticipation and excitement lol

[Macrocosm Draegonne]

Well, turned out the seller really was having a rough time at present, plus there was a language barrier, between me and Linden staff, we could not get a hold of her again to confirm the sale which there were a couple details missing still in her Ticket.  So I took it as divine guidance to wait until ive constructed most of the mesh for my SIM to launch this fall/winter, and to just buy a SIM directly from LL, it would have cost the same either way, but I was really stressing over the accelerated timeline lol, my plan was for nov/dec maybe even later depending on how long certain things take to construct.

So yea,   on the one hand im sad she disappeared and I really hope she's ok, but I know how much better things will be given I have the time to focus and not stress over it too much now, so I can really do right by quality and optimization.   No way im giving up on getting a SIM now, ive really got the appetite for it, that was the closest I've gotten yet lol!

[Kyrah Abattoir]

I did feel awful shelling out the 1000$ setup fee back in the days.