Privacy Screens

[archangel969]

7 hours ago, elleevelyn said:

i like how you have modeled this. As you pointing out, screens can be used effectively

just to up-level this way of modelling, so that we can build on what we see here, in a way in which the neighbours can see our screens in a positive light rather than a negative light

if we step the flat screen in from the border by about 2 to 4 metres and place 3-dimensional trees between our screen and our border then our neighbour can see what we see and will be more inclined to  build out their parcel in a complimentary way

and when we do this then our screens need not be transparent on our neighbour's side

one-sided transparent can cause more ugly than non-transparent as when the neighbour can see thru our one-side transparent then they see the L-shape screen corner on the far side of our parcel. Which from their pov looks ugly, so more times than not they will stick up their own screen to screen out our far side screens, when we thought we were being neighbourly by making the near screen transparent

 

 

Yes, you are right about the downside of one-sided transparant screens because of the effect when you see the flat corner on the far side. You think you are doing the right thing but it looks odd in reality.

[Marianne Little]

I have used free cut out trees with transparent background from here:

https://freecutout.com/tag/free-cut-out-trees/

They can be put together in a free program like Krita or any other who support TGA so it can be uploaded to SL with transparent background. I recommend experimenting and use local textures first before you spend money on the final uploads. Not all leaves look so good when you use them as big screens.

 

[Marianne Little]

I have posted this Halloween picture last year, but I added some text.

It is from one of the double prim cities LL has made. It was supposed to be futuristic, but nobody cares about it, it is all kind of houses. It is a LL futuristic building next to me.

I have a wall (W) pulled in a bit, two 2D flat screens behind it, and 3D trees in front. I would love to have more layers, but the parcels are fixed 1024 m in size.

I used two flat 2D screens because I set one to alpha masking, to avoid flimmer and alpha clashing. The two screens are not the same, and gives more variation in a small space.

View from the futuristic building:

Edited June 3, 2023 by Marianne Little

[Marianne Little]

By all means, I like the futuristic building. It is not ugly. it was just not the manor style. If I had a modern house, I think I would not need to cover it.

But the Apple Fall manor is so high in Li that I needed to rent double prims land, or else I could not have enough Li for furniture.

[Devilgrey]

On 6/2/2023 at 4:26 PM, archangel969 said:

I wonder if it's really necessary to build that high so the neighbours view is spoiled? (and yes, I contacted the neighbour several times). I guess it's fair to say that the buildings of the neighbour are not really complimenting the atmosphere. So if you ask the question: 'Why use privacy screens? This is the answer. Living in some parts of Mainland with high building, walls etc next to you, forces you to do that. Although I guess there is no privacy screen that can compete with this kind of high buildings.

* Oh, and my privacy screens (always invisible at the neighbours side) are the trees at the background. Before the privacy screen trees I place three dimensional trees, also woven into the privacy screen a bit, so it looks like both are part of a forest background. *

i dealt with a similar issue.

i had bought a mainland plot maybe a year ago to create a art gallery/garden space in sl to showcase my art. my neighbors had obnoxiously tall ugly textured walls around their lands. So i ended up putting some foliage & tree privacy screens around my land, to prevent the garden atmosphere i was creating from being disrupted by those ugly walls. never used privacy screens on any other parcels i had rented or owned before. i didn't think about making the prims invisible on the outside at the time at the time tho, will keep it in mind do it if the need ever arises again. or maybe i'll just build the sim in the sky next time? i don't own that mainland parcel anymore, sold it. i only have a liden home now, & there's no ugly walls there at least.

there's a time & place for privacy screens. maybe to block out garbage in the bg from other parcels, or to help with landscaping. normally i just use the "other avatars can't see you" for actual privacy, or turn on my security orb if i'm getting too many weirdos invading my space.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Devilgrey

[Gabriele Graves]

Tip: There is always the option to see if you can minimise or eliminate the things you don't want to see by lowering your draw distance.  This works much better than privacy screens and will improve your viewer performance.

There's also derender if you use Firestorm.

With these things combined I never see anything I don't want to see.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Gabriele Graves

[Hilly Souther]

I definately derender

[archangel969]

On 6/10/2023 at 4:47 AM, Gabriele Graves said:

Tip: There is always the option to see if you can minimise or eliminate the things you don't want to see by lowering your draw distance.  This works much better than privacy screens and will improve your viewer performance.

There's also derender if you use Firestorm.

With these things combined I never see anything I don't want to see.

Yes, thanks, I use them a lot, both derendering and lowering the draw distance. But my land is open to public, so I can derender, but also my visitors have to do a lot of things  if I don't want them to see the skyscapers and walls from the neighbours. I can't remember I saw instructions while visiting other sims: 'please, derender the garbage of the neighbours 😄.

Lowering the draw distance works, but my neighbour had set up walls and skyscapers very near the border, so if I approach that border I see them anyway. And also for this counts: my land is meant for visitors to enjoy. I don't like to tire them with all kinds of instructions so as not to confront them with the neighbours' horizon pollution.

One solution is: going to the sky, which I did with my public park. Dutch estate is still on the ground, but I think it's better later this year to also take Dutch estate to sky level.

Edited June 11, 2023 by archangel969

[archangel969]

When I was interviewed by Elric and Saffia with video for Desigining worlds, Elric was filming on my land, and then Saffia said: 'Don't take too wide shots, Elric, this is Mainland! 😂

Edited June 11, 2023 by archangel969

[Always Incognito]

12 hours ago, archangel969 said:

Yes, thanks, I use them a lot, both derendering and lowering the draw distance. But my land is open to public, so I can derender, but also my visitors have to do a lot of things  if I don't want them to see the skyscapers and walls from the neighbours. I can't remember I saw instructions while visiting other sims: 'please, derender the garbage of the neighbours 😄.

Lowering the draw distance works, but my neighbour had set up walls and skyscapers very near the border, so if I approach that border I see them anyway. And also for this counts: my land is meant for visitors to enjoy. I don't like to tire them with all kinds of instructions so as not to confront them with the neighbours' horizon pollution.

One solution is: going to the sky, which I did with my public park. Dutch estate is still on the ground, but I think it's better later this year to also take Dutch estate to sky level.

Its sad that the pretty parts of mainland has to move up in the sky. But its a matter of taste i guess... 🥺 I really appreciate what you have done on your land and also made it public. Not something we should take for granted ❤️

[archangel969]

5 hours ago, Always Incognito said:

Its sad that the pretty parts of mainland has to move up in the sky. But its a matter of taste i guess... 🥺 I really appreciate what you have done on your land and also made it public. Not something we should take for granted ❤️

Oh dear, now I have to blush, I just really enjoy doing it!

And yes, it is definitely a matter of taste. And it's also what Marianne Little says: sometimes a certain neighbour's style just doesn't suit your land. My neighbour's land is not really ugly, it's just a big city-like style and I have a country style, which clashes. Then again, even on Mainland, you could be quite considerate of your neighbours by, for instance, not putting high skyscrapers too close to the border and/or wondering whether a mile-high wall is really necessary to put up.

[archangel969]

And my apologies if I have let this topic stray from the actual path! It was about - especially ugly - privacy screens and whether it is necessary to use them.

Living in the 'wild west' of Mainland, I gave some reasons why sometimes privacy screens are necessary: to mask the view of objects from neighbours that don't fit your land's theme. And sometimes neighbours put up not only tall buildings but also miles of high walls or they let whole blocks of houses hanging in the sky while furnishing, not for days, but half a year. In those cases, privacy screens can help. But in my opinion, that is definitely an emergency measure.

Many privacy screens are indeed ugly, but I also pointed out how best to integrate them with 3d objects to still make it look nice.

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by archangel969