Chic Aeon

Working in the garden today -- both virtually and corporeally :D.

I went through my inventory (both clothing and such as well as Home and Garden) about a year ago and purged. Do it ever so often still with a big reorganization at the first of the year. Sadly there were so very many clever and nice looking items that I felt I had to throw out. Most of the issues with my things were bad LODs. Personally that bothers me more than heavy textures, but that isn't good either. It is probably important to remember --- for all of us) that INTERIOR items don't need to hold their long distance viewing nearly as well as EXTERIOR items. But still, in my mind you should be able to see the kitchen clutter for example from the hall ^^. Sometimes items break apart (small and complex ones are the most problematic just because of the way mesh is handled in SL) from a meter away. Well THAT isn't good. So NOW my inventory is pretty LOD "safe" -- if smaller :D. I kept a few LOD4 items but I Have those tagged in my inventory. Amazingly and happily while I have noted SOME really bad LOD items on my Bellisseria travels, most things outside have been quite good. That makes me happy. The CURRENT design issue with many creators is the overuse of large textures -- this from some top brands that never had that problem in the past. My guess (I certainly didn't ASK THEM) is that folks are using MORE and BIGGER textures in order to get there furniture and decor items to look smoother and sharper. And they DO! They look glorious. But there is a cost there and it is called "lag" LOL. So, personally I try and limit myself on the new and extra pretty stuff. Get too much of it in one place and movement can be a problem. On the plus side, these same creators have OLD items that still work very well and still look great. It is difficult to be a wise consumer these days. Several threads over on the mesh board have highlighted that. It is also probably important to note that items made up of PARTS (as in secondary home and decor products made from full perm items) will most likely have a higher land impact than a SIMILAR but single mesh item. Land Impact can frequently be saved by purchasing "grouped clutter" that is one single mesh. Again, these are the SL rules, not the triangle count. As an example I replaced a very cute garden prop last night with something similar and seemingly more complex ( pieces of the mesh joined together before export) and traded the 3 land impact item for a 1 land impact item. So in general (not always) you will get more for you LI buck from folks that make their own mesh. (Again, that is GENERAL "rule" LOL). And, since I haven't looked at this thread much since I started it I will say that MOST of my land impact points were used OUTDOORS (not the norm it seems -- so far at least) with add-ons to the house and two outbuildings. Add a bunch of gardening clutter plus some front porch seating and yes, more clutter and that took the majority of my land impact. Happily I had some old plant groupings (no longer available) that offered plenty of fill in flora for almost no land impact. I pretty much spend my time outside in the fresh air, so I want that area to feel lived in. I still have 31 land impact points available (more than a few days ago as I have been making things to replace those "full perm" decor items :D). They SHOULD go upstairs in the bedroom, but first I need to find some things that I want to put there LOL. They will appear; I am sure. Happy shopping!!!!!

Looked at your comment on the "comes in many colors" photos LOL. Sigh. Had to smile too. Honestly if your stuff is "good" people will find it anyway. And if not, all the "advertising" isn't going to do any good. I think we should just enjoy ourselves and make our homes ---- well, our homes. If someone LOVES "the product" in a photo they will ask the poster who made it. I certainly have done that and others have too. I have been on a few other platforms with advertising threads in their forums. While I posted now and then, I never saw that it was a very fruitful endeavor. Just sayin'

Lots of fun photos tonight. I am beginning to believe I have entered a "role play continent" LOL. Not a bad thing. MEANWHILE my project of the day was still in the garden. Got the gardening fever for sure (RL also). One prim clutter. Gotta love it! Impressive what we can do with 351 land impact points! Woot.

You can watch this thread AND the official Linden blog too. You GET it through your account website.

Back on my building pad, here are some examples of various Windlights(R) and how different a normal map can look. These are shots of the new building == hence not mine as I rarely use normal maps in Second Life. The house is very cute, but it is easy to see how different the textures CAN look under different Windlight(R) settings. EDIT: Since the person above (with a link to an external product which is definitely mentioned in the community guidelines as a no-no ) objected to the mention of a creator, I am going to remove the name of the maker of this wall. Since a huge number of people recommend OTHER people's products hourly every day, I do NOT believe there was anything wrong with me mentioning the name. I wanted it to be clear it was not MY normal map. This is all the same view and camera angle. I simply cycled through some of my Windlight(R) settings from the quick preference pane.

Just noting to keep thing "true" that your comment is completely incorrect. I could easily put in screenshots and perhaps someone else will, but I have more important things on my todo list.

So you have a closed and empty Marketplace store and a completely (just a blank white photo even) profile and you are wondering why the mesh body builders don't respond? It is difficult to get those kits. You need to show the person that makes the body that you have some skills and are RELIABLE. Maybe make some jewelry where you can fit the items to the avatar and don't need a kit OR some applier clothing as most of those kits are readily available.

Well there was pretty much of a traffic jam when I went over to the "Open House" just now. I just cammed as those rooms are REALLY small --- oh so small. There were of course folks INSIDE the house also. Definitely not "my" style and I knew it wouldn't be but nicely put together. Even those of us that make mesh have other "favorite" creators, items that we admire and are extremely well-made and clever (and hopefully optimized as game assets). I typically use {what next} and Trompe Loeil products in my personal spaces --- along with my stuff too of course. Presumably I LIKE what I make and hence USE what I make LOL. One of the not so secret secrets to styling is flow and continuity. Keeping "brand" selections smaller helps with that. I have a few things on my plot now that are more of less "placeholders" for similar things I will make over time -- not to sell necessarily as they aren't niche enough to be great sellers but simply so that the flow will be better. Some design styles simply go together better than others. I had to smile the other night as I was chatting with Winter ({what next}) and she asked if the little library was mine. I said it was and sent her a copy. We DO SHARE now and then. It isn't all about making money. Actually everything that I have made so far lately has been for ME, and not as a product. For the last couple of years I was wrapped up in the event world. Then, PRODUCTS became a mandatory part of life. I have left that now and I am happy that I have. While we are talking about open houses, I have a shot of a cute place that I took on my cross country bike ride the other day. I lost it when editing and didn't use it. Find it somewhere in Yuge (at least I named the shot with the sim :D) ,

More garden goodness. I expect some great crops this summer!

Too hard to tell but Smart UV can be very problematic and "not so smart". Here is a video that might help. Be particularly careful of the direct of the woodgrain and the relative size of the textures per each peice. That's in the video. Note that mapping is an art unto itself :D. Some of us love it, some --- not so much :D. Here is the playlist, there are some beginning ones with mapping and some more complex things as time goes on. Hope that helps some. Hopefully you can get to the LIST from this video. That is what I am pasting in but it is just coming up with the first in the playlist :D. Good luck!!!!!

New houseboat atole getting flora now over at SSP, but that has to be finished and the sims copied over to Bellisseria and the abodes rezzed and the plots numbered and added to the database etc. And the weekend is coming. So mid to end of next week for HOUSEBOATS maybe? Obviously not official. And the new HOUSES will be much later so not "very near future" on those.

Here is an example of something similar. See how the ONLY edges are where they were needed? Also both sides look exactly the same. Aim for something close to that. Any time you see something that looks "odd" and not "clean" then yes, you very likely have an issue that needs to be fixed and yes, it will likely cause problems inworld and often can up your land impact as the uploader gets confused.

Well unfortunately you still have the same TYPE of issue, but not the exact same one. On both sides you have extra "something". I am thinking it is an edge but I really can't tell well enough. You have some extra edges that likely don't need to be there. I can't see "why" they are there. In theory you could remove those edges with - delete > edge loop. If this isn't making sense to you -- I get that. I am sure I did this same thing a few times (maybe many) while learning. It may be simplest to remove all the side faces and whatever else you have that is causing the issue (now up top on both sides) and then fill that section in. It CAN be fixed but it is pretty difficult to explain all the steps especially not knowing what you know. Sorry. And good luck Again, sure that most of us have been here a time or two.

From your third picture (good to upload screenshots for sure) it looks like you have two extra triangles that need to be deleted. If you go into wireframe mode (edit view - Z_key) you should be able to see what needs to disappear. as an alternate you could delete an outside face or two to see the inside. NOTE that your right and left sides don't really match. That part doesn't rally matter -- just sort of shows how you may have found a way into trouble example although there is no face here that ACTUALLY NEEDS to be deleted. It is a very easy fix. Likely to happen again so now you know.

While that might not be a bad move, there is no reason to believe that the person buying your item would even READ the text in your listing OR any notecard you added. I am sure many of us have had folks contact us asking questions that were answered ON THE LISTING and / or in the pack -- OR by actually visiting the demo. And there is no way to assure that they will follow your rules if they do read. Personally I can't see that a lot of folks would be interested since most likely items can't be changed (even via hud in some cases), copied, or taken into inventory for later. They could only be moved if the decorator gave them editing rights and that seems unwise. So the only change that they could make would be to delete the item. And if the person using the service had their land set to group then wouldn't the decorator need to be in that group? This if autoreturn is set which hopefully most folks do. Maybe I am missing something. Maybe you could look at it another way. If the people using the service LIKE your item, they might purchase another of your items in the future. Which seems to be what you were after anyway with your "loss leader" item. Good luck.

Checking those boxes changes things on YOUR parcel. Your neighbors need to have them checked on THEIR parcel for it to affect you.

:D. I didn't even look to see who was so creative! LOL. Thanks for letting me know. Lots of oldtimer's over here (and more wanting to come). Fun. Thanks.

Some folks (you probably saw this) were so very clever as they camped and waited for their house to reappear. This person appears to have "decorated around" where the house would eventually appear. It really made me smile. Also a few people reported here that they had been waiting four or five days after sending in a ticket so you can see how they might get a little "antsy" :D. Hopefully most folks have their spots now. Thanks for all the great work!!!!

From the covenant : *Your Linden Home may not be removed, modified, exchanged, set or deeded to group, or transferred. You can ADD to your home with in themed add-ons or outbuildings or other furnishing. Rereading might be good There are quite a few folks with house rezzing issues and some have put down temporary shelters.

Informational notecards on the wall here at the Machinima Open Studio Project : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA6/107/56/1003 Have fun. Feel free to film. That's what the sim is here for. Lots of software that you can use. Much is free. There may be suggestions here (hope so). Try what you can and see which works best for you. No giant LEADER that I know of.

To be clear EVERYOINE had the same chance. No one knew when the new homes would be available (certainly not that "I" know of anyway and no one was over there) until there was an official blog post letting folks know. According to Patch they will be working on several (I think he mentioned six or so) styles throughout the year. It is a long process. You can watch what is being set up by looking at the SSP sims on the map. Right now they are working on more houseboats. More houses will come later. If you want to keep up with what is going on --- just like in real life -- you need to watch the official blog and the threads on the forums.

Just a couple of general comments to things said throughout this thread. The reason why you may not SEE people is that they have "others can see and chat with folks on this parcel" turned off. (I do and most of the people I know do that on all their land). So they COULD be down on the ground. Actually I see a lot of folks roaming around at ground level. I just did a quick test flying up from 2000 past 4000 meters with my draw distance at 256 and only saw a handful (I think 5) skyboxes up in the sky. About half were empty places like building pads. I agree that the houses could have been made with less land impact. Presumably they are made for LOD1.25 or even 1 but still, they ARE "primmy". The are nicely made though. Most folks want more space and more open rooms so I suspect that the next batch of houses out will have those features. There ARE more styles in the works (Patch mentioned six or so) and they will include more nautical themes as well as (we think - not official) trailers. The old Linden homes WILL (official =Patch) disappear probably by the end of the year and folks will need to move to the new Linden Homes or go mainland. It is likely (honestly can't remember if this is official or not) that there will be some 512 versions of the house for those that want to have a LH but also want a small mainland parcel (like for a shop). While there are some sim designs that seem fairly "cookie cutter" the continent has been designed by hand and there are some areas which are outstandingly pretty. Different designers most likely. All in all I think they have done a great job. The new continent (and more are planned) isn't for everyone certainly and there are no commercial endeavors or adult areas. There is also JUST the 1024 size. So there will always be place for the other types of land. The new living choices are part of the long term switch from a land based (tier) economy to one that is more balanced and I think that is a good thing overall. All of this info is on other threads. Just putting it here for folks that don't read that often.

Here is a screenshot of how you can tell BEFORE YOU LINK (and save a lot of time). Click on the "more info" tab and you will see the cost of the item. In this case it is 9.5 (the highest of the three numbers will be the cost). So it will be 9 LI. The only real gain you get from linking is on objects that are under the .5. So 1.7 (which would be 2) and 2.9 (also 2) would USUALLY be 4.6 BECOMING 5. There are exceptions but it gets a bit complex. So this is a basic guide. Mostly used for those . 5 objects :D. Looking at this my sim looks pretty well "decorated :D. Back to work.

Yes the little plants are great. Glad you had some uses. One of the BEST things about blogging is that you get COPY "gacha" items :D. I lose enough things that are copy. NO COPY items are very dangerous. When I can, I always sell copy sets along with the gachas. Different venues have different rules though so many times creators have no choice (during the event or after) with how they sell things.