Chic Aeon

There are some impressing looking things in the shop and yes a fantastic gift. The photo above is a friend, not me and he is perfectly happy with his new look. Just would like to know for other guys who really need to move into the new 'mesh arena' even if kicking and screaming. A couple always wear dark skin so this wont work well for them as is. We are what we are even in virtual land LOL. Thanks a bunch. PS you are looking for a mesh mustache (black). Not hard to find happily or wait until someone who knows where it is TPs in - LOL.

Actually as stated in my post there IS an Omega applier system available -- in the Altamura store prominently -- I was wondering if that worked with this FREE version. Evidently that list isn't quite up to date maybe.

There is a free full body and quite lovely Free Mesh (Bento) Avatar on the current Mens hunt. WITH Alpha hud it is a wonderful prize. The Omega applier at the store states that it works with "select" Altamura avatars. The notecard with the free mesh body says it comes with skin tone choices but they don't seem to be there. Not a complaint, just wondering if anyone has TRIED to see if the Omega hud will work with the free avatar. I don't ALWAYS want to be the beta tester.

Steamy --

@Aquila Kytori Well I am not sure this is going to be very HELPFUL but I just did a test for an AO map and all I did differently from my tutorials was choose Ambient Occlusion in the BAKE menu - LOL. Here is what I got. Seemed to work fine. You obviously wouldn't need to work hard on your materials set up as that is all ignored. Here is the screenshot. Remember in Cycles LIGHTING IS THE KEY!!!!! Big time. And YES this is going in some space leftover in another baked texture of the set -- hence its odd layout

LOL. Who would have though? Actually I don't ever bake AOs in Cycles since I bake the textures in there (one BIG reason for loving it) but I 'have' done it once just to see and pretty sure I can remember. All the rules are basically the same. Just a different button. Will look into that. And congrats on the new machine. I think you will be VERY HAPPY with Cycles. Much more realistic IMHO. Cheers

Alpha layers haven't worked for my alt there for many MANY months. I take her into edit shape mode and that fixes it. I pretty much have everything there that she has on the main grid but her inventory is pretty small. I (as Chic) had major inventory issues there when the big "mirror" change took place; they took me almost a week to rectify on the main grid. So I haven't logged in there as "me" and have no clue how that account is now. Getting that alpha thing fixed would be great!

What "I" would do --- and again, I would never upload this in one piece but that's me -- is select all the roof parts (with ceiling and drag them UP quite a ways (along Z) Then add lighting inside and bake at the same time. Again there is a better way in Blender Render -- I just don't remember it. A search of forums including "baking" "too dark" would probably find your answer. Also it is very unlikely that you will be happy with the results baking the WHOLE house on one texture like this. Not enough pixels. So you may want to make things at least two textures :D. Again, personal taste. Good luck. Glad the tutorials were helpful.

The good news is that "zombie" glytchs (do nothing and stick around forever, can't be clicked on and don't attack -- hence lowering the viable glytchs available) were almost non-existent last week. I found one and a friend found one. SO MUCH improvement there. "Sleeper" glytchs are still in abundance. Ones that you can click and click and sometimes wake up to be caught or attack OR never wake up and just disappear after three minutes or whatever it is. Pink gems seem to have left the building. None this week for me, none for anyone I talked to, ONE for me last week (might have been one that had missed its retirement ceremony). So things are HARDER this week. Let's look a the philosophy of this. It appears (only empirical evidence from the week as well as folks that I talked to) that hunting is down. Once the pinks started disappearing, people started complaining. Attrition comes into play of course and I am sure there are official statistics that show how many folks are hunting and how many gems (and glytchs) they are getting. The thing is ---- once you have been playing for over a week you likely have all the glytchs you need including collections of all the rares and epics. After that it is delete or never pick up time. People at that point are after gems to get into the bonus areas or for better weapons. I don't even click on the rares and epics any longer as (at the moment) there is no chance of getting a pink or even some greens. I just ignore and skirt them and hope they don't attack me. OR sometimes I give myself over "for the greater good" and purposefully get attacked so that some commons (with possible gems) will come onto the scene. Today seems to have been harder for folks in general. Whether that was turning up the attacks, turning down the gems, or just our perception of how things were going -- I know not, but a note from a RL friend came in just now. Here is what he said (email so not against the TOS). [expletive deleted] went to Falmouth and got blasted 9 times in a row. I landed and got hit by 2 from the front and 1 from the back. Every other glytch I tried to zap got the smoke rings and I got zapped, zapped, zapped. Left that place. This isn't making friends LOL. On the plus side a new area (I only found one) was added -- the Moles hideaway. Much fun and I actually opened the minimap to figure out where the glytchs were. A small area, it won't be one of my favs but I really did enjoy seeing the locale. I actually have enjoyed seeing MANY places from the Moles and Dept of Public Works that I never new existed. One more thing I forgot for any devs that might be reading. The "get five and move on" isn't really working. Sometimes I only get three (three in total, not three with gems) and sometimes seven. A friend just wrote and told me of a place he was just at where he got ten ( that hasn't happened for me at that place so it isn't a constant thing apparently). But noticeable if you play a lot.

It depends in part whether you are using Cycles Render or Blender Render as the steps to get an AO is different in each of them. In Cycles you do indeed use a light source (or several) inside OR you can back sections separately (like the roof without the walls, walls without windows and doors etc.). Different projects might be attacked from different directions. In Blender Render there is something about "gathering" maybe in the WORLD tab? It has been almost three years since I used Blender Render so I really can't remember. No doubt someone will let you know. Best to let the folks on the thread know which engine you are using though. And good luck. If you haven't tried uploading your "whole house" you might want to do that before worrying about your baking as uploading a house in one piece often comes with issues. And you may need to backtrack some. Just a suggestion.

And I doubt that will be the norm for clothes anyway :D. And while we are on that Animesh subject, are some of the Glytchs animesh? Some seem to just cycle between visible and transparent for their animations OR actually move in that been here awhile but I forgot the name of the program way LOL. But a FEW seem to "morph" and I am wondering if that might be Animesh. (Not sure I care as a designer but certainly might as a blogger - consumer). Thanks oh one who knows (most) everything.

You can also play the "spend what I earn game" which means winner or working for Lindens and keeping a budget. You can also make and sell things (but some of those things have costs so it really depends if you WANT to do that.

I think Whirly is correct. UNLESS you make the item yourself, then you could upload a different version (on the beta grid where it is free) and photograph.

The BEST deal is the YEARLY Premium choice which works out to a bit over $1 US a month after the stipend comes back to you each week.

Typically one uses EITHER legacy "bump and shine" or ALM "specular and normal". So it seems likely that they don't play well together. Glad you figured it out.

The reason why your sculpts look awful (and I just skimmed because of "the wall of text" ) is because you have bad Level of Details for them. I never made sculpt maps and most folks avoid them at all costs now as THEY ARE VERY LAGGY in most cases. That being said MESH can also slow down things if it is made improperly (like your current sculpts it sounds like). So while mesh in inherently better than sculpts which were as stop gap anyway while Linden Lab figured out how to get mesh incorporated --- mesh can also be very bad (and expensive to upload if you make it "too heavy" which is what many tutorials talk about. Learning mesh making IS difficult. I have been at it over four years and still learning. These might help. They are specifically FOR SL. Don't expect to be a pro in a week. It doesn't happen but it is fun eventually. https://www.slartist.com/browse-the-tutorial-chic-videos-1-date.html Obviously start at the beginning. They publish like a blog with newest (and most complex) first.

Always.

The weekend went very smoothly and happily so. Some new locations (at least three) were added. I only found one "zombie glytch", this late afternoon on Sunday so that is a HUGE improvement over last week. Way to go devs! And a little philosophy. Since Rares and Epics are not currently giving out any kinds of crystals, I have found myself avoiding those in favor of the commons which sometimes give out crystals. After many many hours of hunting, most hunters have all the glytchs that they can use and are after crystals to upgrade weapons or get into bonus rounds. That's good really for the new folks coming in as they can get the rares and epics. Not sure that was "the plan" when the rules changed LOL, but I can't imagine that I am the only one with this method. There are still some very slow to "actualize" and react glytchs. Some sims more than others. For any dev that might be reading this, the fluffy orange Milli (forgot the rest of the name) seem ALWAYS instantly clickable and reacts one way or another. That might be a clue as what the issue is. Those reading the forums may have noted other complaints on "lag" which has nothing to do with FPS which are still good. So part of this may be more of a systemwide thing. Anyone that gets into the bonus rounds, would love to see a report of sorts. I am sure I will not be the first. Things to do. That damn business ethic. Cheers.

Best to explain what the project is -- how vast -- timeline etc in order to get any worthwhile replies. Just a hint. Also compensation etc.

You can never EVER have too many backups. ( You CAN be too thin ) . If you do and then lose ALL OF THEM you KNOW it isn't your fault. So worst case scenario most of us have been in a similar situation ^^ and lived through it. Consider it a learning lesson. If it is mesh you likely have the pieces in inventory that you uploaded. If prims well it won't cost to rebuild anyway. Hopefully you will find it somewhere in your inventory.

Firestorm I have noted (especially at night but also first thing logging in in the morning (after a reboot) that textures were loading very slowly -- especially the glytchs which "should" have been in my cache I would think but maybe not LOL. Actually thinking about it, there was some "lag" when I was redoing my shop around noon. I would move something and it would take awhile to actually MOVE. Items rezzed took a long time too (not the same thing). So yes, some issues. Might be channel specific, not sure. I have great fps (most always over a hundred) and generally have no issues. Teleports seem to be working fine.

In general you will be much better off with a skin MADE in the tone you want than tinting which often gives a very "flat" appearance. And if you "just" tinted your face it would never match your body. For that you need appliers that are for BOTH head of your maker (or Omega) and body. Keep on with the demos and you will likely find something to your liking.

While I thought the pinks were completely gone I did get one this afternoon. Maybe the Powers That Be decided that getting a rare or an epic was enough of a big deal. I do agree though that you only need one set and by the time someone has enough to enter the bonus round (any of them) they will have given away or deleted thousands of glytchs -- tens of thousands most likely.

It actually says " Sorry, but you do not have enough gems to visit Rusty Cauldron. You need 10 blue gems and you have only [ insert your gem totals here] gems. Why not go and collect some more gems by capturing glytches?" It does NOT say that it "costs" 10 blue gems -- only that you have to have that many in your coffers. The wiki says ( I can't paste in here legally so you can go look under BONUS LEVELS) but you get 30 minutes of play for an UNDISCLOSED number of gems. Might be 1 blue --- who knows? If you only had 10 blue and you spent 10 blue there would be no way to buy additional time. Maybe someone who has been to a bonus level (I have seen one gal with a canon so suspect she might have been) might let us know -- then we will know :D. I don't imagine I will ever get there. Things to do, people to see, venues to stock LOL. I am still curious.

A fun trip last eve where I found a Broom Parking area which had me smiling big time. Hence this photo for "the blog".