Chic Aeon

Cycles does a much better job than Blender Render. A combination of area lamps and point lamps works well and you need a plane (and or wall if needed ) to reflect the light. Don't put the back of yours model up against the wall unless you want it completely black which is pretty unrealistic. The gloss and reflection is mostly about the node structure (glossy node and mixed shader most likely) and not so much the lighting. A combination of course. And yes, lighting is tricky. Some tips in this video: https://www.slartist.com/displacement-shine-part-1_f129d7183.html

Not exactly sure what you are asking but Ambient Occlusion is in the same dropdown as Combined; right above it. This WILL give you a grayscale texture with AMBIENT (not cast) shadows. If you merely want a UV layout with only the outlines of where you would add your texture, then you save that in the UVimage editor under IMAGE > SAVE AS IMAGE after you have unwrapped. No need to bake in that case.

Too philosophical a question for a complete reply , but THIS case it is an avatar that I made for a blogger challenge long ago. Her name is Lani and she uploads my test mesh on the beta grid. She really has no "life" LOL. But running two viewers at the same time, the broken mesh only shows up in the viewer that has the avatar WITH the broken mesh. The other avatar on the same machine sees everything as fine.

Well something very similar happens with the Maitreya body and the Lelutka head, both pretty well used *wink* so I am thinking there is something else going on. Oddly I am pretty sure (and I will check the next time this happens) but for me Chic sees herself as missing parts in sort of a cracking up mode but her alt sees her as normal.

If you look CLOSELY at your two side by side photos you can see that your HAIR and EYES also look darker in the photo with the darker eyebrows, so I think in part anyway that it is the way the computer is handling the Windlight setting in two instances of the viewer (even if everything is set the same). I notice that often I see things on my alt differently than my alt does, often it is animations but something definitely does happen differently. If everyone else is seeing the the makeup darker and you are seeing it lighter, it might be that they are all seeing it the way it was supposed to look and the ONE view that is off is the problematic one. As an aside I tried the SlackGirl makeup that came with the head and wasn't all that thrilled so you might want to try another makeup applier and see if that works better for you. That's all I can think of. I have had occasion when my alt looked MUCH taller than I did from one viewer and not at all with another. I don't understand WHY though. Maybe some techie folks will have an explaination.

Even on High-Ultra (what I used too) there can definitely be an issue with skins and head appliers NOT matching even from the original creator. IF however this is happening on most skins you might want to also check that you have all your skin tinting set back to zero (that is white with no tints at all). It is easy to forget that you were trying to match something up (never really works) and left a tint on. One thing you can do and this is harder for guys -- is get a collar (jewelry unless you are actually into the "collar" thing) and cover up the problem. A friend of mine has a Akeruka head which apparently has issues fitting with bodies other than Slink (this via Strawberry Singh's blog). So SOMETIMES there really is no fix for any of us == even on Ultra.

It is probably important to note that there is a difference between photo textures turned INTO seamless textures and those generated. I use an old version of Corel Paintshop Pro and it has the make seamless feature in it. Copies of X4 are probably almost free now :D. Other programs GENERATE textures mathematically from your input -- usually from a starting point texture that you choose. If I need that I have a REALLY old copy of PhotoImpact that still amazingly works in Win10. They are not interchangeable, so it is important to know which kind you want. You may need both. You can also make textures within Blender using cycles (and likely other ways I don't know about) and then save that texture to your computer and make that "generated" texture seamless. So plenty of possibilities.

Just on a historical note, there was a time LONG LONG ago when people were told they couldn't use those words in anything -- as in blog names. So the blog that I was with closed down as did some others, some were renamed and a few just stood their ground and DIDN'T change -- and are still around, Iheartsl feed ( a community blog back then) for one. I started my blog at that time so my archives tell me it was April of 2008. And the reason it is called "Chic at Phil's Place" was a joke because we weren't even supposed to MENTION "Second Life" in our blogs or writings and someone started calling SL "Phil's Place" for the current CEO (think that was his title). It was pretty wild back then. So a bit of a trip down Memory Lane.

OK. It isn't an issue really, just one more step each time. I most always work with materials on for the view and ambient occlusion on before that step when in Solid mode so the editing isn't an problem or wouldn't be if I switched to white. I get gray upload with single material meshes also, not white. I DO get white however if I port something over from another grid using the viewer download option probably because I have changed it to white in the model I saved from. Thanks all.

This seems like a silly question to ask after four years, but my mesh always ends up light gray when I upload into SL. I change it to white and all is good. But I am guessing (hoping) that there is some default that I can change from "gray" to "white" and skip a step each and every time. So now you really smart folks can show off your knowledge *wink*. Thanks.

is there easier and convenient way to make lindens in the game? NO

Also along with the physics mesh which is pretty much IMPERATIVE for houses in SL you might try uploading with the Linden Viewer if you are using a third party viewer. I had an issue not long ago and the Linden viewer would upload (I had a prestine and lovely physics mesh but I also had some "jogs" in the building which the uploaders SO DID NOT LIKE. The Linden viewer DID upload it correctly with my physics mesh but it was also going to be 27 instead of 6 (which was much closer to what it should have been as only a few walls with windows that didn't open. So I abandoned that linden model :D. But worth a try. LOTS of info in the mesh forum about making physics models for houses.

She said it before I did LOL. Good for her. It is kinda unclear too how that will play out, but since I already own it in SL I am good. It is NOT EASY but with some puzzling it works very well. There are videos if we didn't mention those on the AVSITTER website. Might be good to download those if you plan on using the opensource version.

If this is an alt that you want to switch to or a business partner you are going in with, then you could send your original content (or gachas I guess :D) to the person who would hold the account. They would need to reproduce the listings and could give you part or all of the money by using the "Revenue Distribution" option at the bottom of the listing form. Then you could take down the items in the other account as you cannot list twice. Actually a better plan would be to unlist the items in the current Marketplace store and then relist in the new store and then delete them from the original account so that you don't forget as you cannot have the same product sold by two different people -- unless of course it is a full perm item that someone sells to let others resell and I never agreed with that LOL. Anyway a LOT of work if you have very many products, so may not be something you want to do. I know it is against the TOS to sell your avatar account, but other folks have taken over stores from the original content creator assumably by buying the items full perm and the rights to sell them. There may be some extra hoops to go through with Linden Lab as I know you have to have lots of proof to take over an account of someone who has died. It IS REAL MONEY you see :D. That was probably more than you needed to know.

Thanks all. Since I don't really need another new learning curve, I think I will go with a simpler solution :D. But I am smarter now and that is good.

Lots of great info in that post, thanks. And I will update very soon to the new FS viewer. Meanwhile. I did empty trash a day or so ago. But I CAREFULLY (very carefully as "burned 20 times = VERY shy" sort of thing) read through my trash folder before emptying. So it wasn't in the trash WHEN I emptied the trash. And I know that this weird behavior makes it very difficult to find out what is happening. It was gone after emptying trash but whether in an instant or a day I have no clue. One thing I wondered about was if all the textures in that folder disappeared from the grid as a whole as happened Spring 2016 with my logo (all copies of the logo that I knew of -- alts, venue owners etc. lost the logo). THAT time the texture was completely gone from the gird and I had to export from Inworldz as it was a very old logo and not on my hard drive). The answer to at least some of that question was 'no' as I had a texture from one of Torley's free packs and I still have that in my general texture folder. Other times (likely completely different issues) items have disappeared from SEVERAL folders at once. I keep multiple copies of items in different folder and different subfolders and have had items disappear from ALL of them at once. So really no great reason to keep so many backups but I keep hoping it will help LOL. Most of the time, it seems that most of us just find things missing when they were there not long ago. I am not completely sure that "my" issue is "this current" issue since I have always had a lot of inventory loss over the years. My account may reside on an unhappy server :D. Who knows. If I actually have something useful to report I definitely will, but aside from knowing for sure that the folder was there at the opening of SL14B -- I have nothing much.

So I do understand how NPCs work in Opensim. I have used them with very good success. But I am confused a bit on how they are used in SL. Neither Google or a search of the forum is turning up any great answers. Some comments I found stated that in SL you run the NPCs from your own computer (not that way in Opensim where you just plunk them down and the region server does the work). I am guessing that NPCs need to be claimed as being used -- there is something in the web backend about scripted agents and such. I do know that having a lot of them cuts your framerate :D, but I was thinking about some use in a new art project. So breadcrumbs to an info page would be great. I only remember seeing them used a couple of times in SL. Once was in an art installation long ago and there was one in the autoresponder police car in a RP sim that I lived in. So I am thinking that there must be some reason that they aren't used MORE - LOL. Logic kinda dictates that notion. Thanks a bunch.

Just bumping this so we don't forget as I had another (smallish) occurrence just now. I lost my complete folder that had all the SL14B textures I used in the Live Stage sims. This was not a huge deal as I had the texture I needed today on my hard drive and uploaded again. JUST TO MAKE SURE it was really gone, I went back over to the build and clicked on the buildings to get the texture. Nope, it didn't recognize any texture in my inventory. Even the official SL14B posters (many in many colors) were gone (same folder in my inventory). This was a top level folder and ONLY contained the textures I used in that build plus the official posters. There were no special characters just "SL14B". And yes I have been SUPER careful when emptying my trash So let's not forget this is still an issue.

Yes, that is where it used to be. Now the server "number" is there but no channel names as it was before. When I click on the Release Note link below the number it takes me to a page that says MAIN -- hence my assumption that it is the MAIN channel.

Not sure how to find the channel but it says I am on as that seems to have disappeared from the help tab in FS but it says Second Life Server 17.06.12.327066 which appears to be the MAIN channel (this is mainland) I mostly notice this when I come home from out and about.

No refunds I am guessing. Even when an upload goes bad due to server issues (seldom these days) we were not given refunds. I suspect that policy is still in effect. Did you maybe take some snapshots that came into your inventory? That counts as uploads. It doesn' need to be something that you import from your computer.

I have Lara too and the same problem but also with my Lelutka head. It is as you say when I have been out and about and hither an yon. So apparently an issue. I have had it for a few months so not new. Firestorm viewer if that might matter.

Since this thread got resurrected I wanted to add that I have not purchased a male body yet, but I have tried most of the BEST SUPPORTED (which would currently be Slink and sadly TMP as there are a lot of those bodies out there). Those are what I see most often in the male clothes blogger boxes anyway). THAT being said I did try Belleza not long ago and I was very impressed. It is a slim body so no way to get terribly "beefy" but I LOVE the hud (as much as I explored it). So I would say that it is the up and comer. I haven't found a combo head and body that works for what I want though (this is for blogging not walking around in LOL). While I was looking I found that Aeros had completely redone the shop since I was there a month ago or so. The old system skins are gone or maybe still on the marketplace. There are some impressive looking Catwa head appliers. And there is a vendor setup holder for Belleza. The free Akeruka head is quite nice but it doesn't really fit the Belleza body. I noted in a post from Berry awhile back that she mentioned the Akeruka male head worked with Slink but not others (Belleza wasn't out then yet -- I think anyway. So for me, I will be watching Belleza and Aeros. and THEN look for a head that will fit both -- at least that's my plan. The free Akeruka (group join fee) gals head works fine with Maitreya as a friend got that. The male head fits pretty well but has one spot near the Adams Apple that is definitely not right and a good skin doesn't fix it. That's what I know !

OK. That looks good and you are smarter ---- But of course there is a BUT coming. I am pretty sure that you will still have alpha issues IF you try and make the bulbs transparent too. Still good to keep going and learn I think. But to your other question. No matter "how" you make that inside face you will need to DIVIDE it into at least two materials == mapped separately. So typically you would map it so that the outside of the bottle including the bottom was all one material and the inside surfaces another. You "might" need a third material for an edge (like on a wine glass). I looked long and hard for an example blender file but while they MUST be in my file manager somewhere I cannot find them. So here is an example of a texture and a glass from inworld and hopefully you can figure out something from that. you can see that the transparent part of the glass is divided into three parts. The stem in this case is solid. Hope that helps. PS. From your screenshot of work in progress I am thinking you will need to get rid of some edgeloops or have issues with LOD and or land impact. Think SIMPLISTICALLY.

I have ESP