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Chic Aeon

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Everything posted by Chic Aeon

  1. So the answer is, yes you can make money and many folks do. More do not and just enjoy having a little shop. It sounds like you have skills so you may do well. I agree heartily that "niche" is king and what finally got me into the REAL money area after a lot of years of making what everyone else did . Most all of the things I sell are things that I made for myself or LEA7 because I couldn't find what I wanted. Some have been great sellers from their inception. Some I sell now and then most likely because they really ARE niche items. So enjoy yourself, keep your overhead low and see what happens. Good luck.
  2. Former art teacher. Gave classes in the differences . If it is cast shadows, I vote NO - LOL. But honestly if you lovem, them keep them. Be aware though that if people use viewer shadows they conflict mightily. I can think of two house I have with them. Have to match your Windlight to the shadows when taking photos. Not my favorite activity. And there were a couple of other comments that sounded like answers on ambient shadows. One stating they prevented tiling (true) and another but don't remember the details now. It is quitting time for me. Much accomplished. Always good.
  3. It is a little difficult to tell if you are talking about CAST shadows or AMBIENT shadows -- both very different. I am a BIG believer in ambient maps with texture overlays as they give so much depth to an object -- this would be for ambient shadows ON and object. I also am a hater of built-in CAST shadows which come with furniture. I typically (thankfully) can move them into the floor or wall and get rid of them. Sometimes you can detach. I do like "cast shadows" behind photos however -- so who knows. I use Firestorm but not the latest beta. When I install a new version I have to turn on shadows purposefully. I like shadows and use them most of the time unless it is laggy. Shadows really slow down your computer so not many folks can use them and even those that can often don't "all" the time. I added materials to my last builds (pre TOS changes) using the LL viewer. I made both versions for resale. Personally I would use ambient shadow map overlays in areas where it will make a difference. If it is a solid outside wall the chances of much going on in your ambient map is low. So places where a natural form shadow would be can have ambient maps and large walls (especially outside) could leave them off and you can tile successfully. I have done this mixed method on new builds on other platforms lately and it has worked very well. Unless you really love materials I would leave those out. They just make the item take longer to rez. Sometimes they are great but not that many people at this time will see them. That's my input
  4. It is indeed difficult to get to the grid and upload the first time. This has been an ongoing issue for well over a year. Glad you figured it out. I did too finally but wasn't actually sure HOW. Good you posted the link. That will help others. Thanks.
  5. If it is YOUR mesh item (one that you uploaded and hopefully made yourself ) you can use the Singularity viewer (and I hear the new Firetorm beta too perhaps - haven't updated). You can export from SL or another OS platform and get a dae or obj. From there you should be able to modify within Blender. I haven't tried modifying but the export and import works well. My Op Ed blog post last week was on this and can give you more details should you want to venture over. http://chicatphilsplace.blogspot.com/2014/01/faux-mesh-and-import-export.html Scroll down below the stars for the techie stuff. If this is a full perm mesh item you purchased, there is no legal way to export. It is unlikely you have the rights to modify the dae unless you purchased the dae -- and in that case you wouldn't need to get it - LOL. Anyway, that's the skinny. It does work well on your own stuff if you have misplaced (or lost amidst a myriad of files) the CORRECT dae. I am a messy modeler I guess. I have way too many files and usually sort by last date and that gets me what I want. Sometimes though it doesn't. In that case the exporter is a lifesaver. Good luck.
  6. Since you aren't the first to ask lately (the other folks didn't get any replies) I am guessing you are on your own. You never know though. It does appear that your avatar model is NOT the correct one -- at least not the one we see all the time. A search for SL avatar. I know there is one for clothes maker but I don't do clothes. A quick search lead me to this thread: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Avatar/if-you-need-a-3d-model-of-second-life-avatar-where-you-find-it/qaq-p/986483 You need to understand that the folks that have spent weeks learning how to rig long hair will not likely be happy to share their findings. Most of them ARE in business. I certainly understand that. Keep looking and experimenting. Folks seem to figure it out. Not my thing
  7. This is a resident forum so complaint will do no good for you here. Going to your marketplace sight I see that you are using photos from the web (some with watermarks right on the photos) as your advertising. These are all against the TOS. So all those other products COULD be taken down. Probably the person that complained only bothered with a few thinking that LL would take them all down. So it might be good to replace those "stolen" photos with ones you took yourself making those gestures in SL.
  8. Nice to read your post. The browser based world, if you haven't noticed has been "dead" for two months. No word from any of the devs (well one very short post on the forums). It is looking dire over there unless they are selling. Congrats on your nomination. I was most interested in your YouTube info. I haven't uploaded any video since the anti Monsanto day which was -- well who knows? long ago. I don't doubt your words at all since I fought big time against that automatic linking to song selling websites when your track was creative commons downloaded from (LOL it's been so long I have forgotten the biggest CC download site, oh my). Anyway so much going on against the rights of folks, not just SL. That doesn't make it better. I had a friend trying to get into his old Blogger account and could not unless he could come up with a Yahoo email???? All quite bizarre. So where exactly are we as digital citizens? It isn't good out there and seems to be getting worse. I made a very nice product on the "small grid" today. It would most likely be popular in SL as it is a remake (much improved over the one from four years ago *wink*) of a popular product. It uses only ambient maps so no "illegal" textures come in to the mix. Still, it isn't happening for me. I can't get enthused uploading. And yes, I am still making almost as much as I did before when I was actively adding products. For those wondering, I did very well in the possibly defunct grid (money and famewise). I am doing amazingly well after three weeks in "the smaller grid" where the folks are SO friendly it is kinda scary. So for builders -- there ARE other options. I am not naming names here as don't want anyone to have reason to delete this thread.
  9. Thank you for posting Trinity. I think you worked harder than any of us in this area . I may be rethinking a few things.
  10. As I read these few comments of where folks are I can't help but be a philosophical (at typical state for me which is sometimes comforting, sometimes escapist). I can remember four or so months ago when this began. I honestly felt like someone had died. It was beyond betrayal. Five months later I still have no faith in The Labs. They lost me long ago; fandom will not return. Still, I have done so much these last few months, ventured to many grids, enjoyed a couple in the longer term. I have met some great people that I never would have met had the the TOS remained in fairer mode. There is no question in my mind that this was wrong and unfair -- and planned. But there has been an upside -- for me anyway. We make our own roads. I hope those affected will find themselves on good journeys. Edited for grammmmmmmar as I was so not awake when I posted this.
  11. Asked to respond and so here I am . I have not changed my mind on the TOS of August.I have not uploaded since perhaps the beginning of September when CG Textures rang the bell loudlyI am still a member of the UCCSL but I am not a group person. I hate meetings and am better in a supporter roll. I do vote when asked.I have no problems with the route UCCSL is taking; I suspected that The Lab would ignore the group and The Lab did.I am still in Second Life. I take care of LEA7 and support the working content creators with a blog post a day (three or more in busy December). My shop is still open and doing quite well selling things I made BEFORE the TOS change. I no longer participate in hunts or update the store other than adding decorations now and then.I am currently building joyously and for free on another grid, something I never suspected I would be doing. I MAY bring some of that work to Second Life when summer rolls around. I am giving the TOS a year to play out -- just my personal comfort level. [Later edit: Actually since I do try and abide by all the rules and we can NOW only use textures "legally" that we either made on our own computer or from our own photos (items we hold full copyright to) it is unlikely that I will be building much again in SL. I often make my own textures but a starting place is often free to use photo stock. ] I am very pleased to have found a place to work in the interim. Happy to talk with content creators about expanding their horizons, but not on this long thread. IMs go to email. Chat me up; I am full of info after several months of adventuring on other grids. There are also several articles on my blog of interest. Edited for grammar.
  12. Thanks. I mentioned with AO off is fine. With on he hops up out of the chair. Not too friendly .
  13. Now I am pretty sure I know what the issue is but it has been a LONG time since I upload bvh files :D. So might was well confirm or deny my thoughts. I have a 45 second maybe animation -- might be thirty. It works fine for me and another person but for the third person it only plays through once IF he has his AO on. Without it fine. The other two folks had no issues with their AO on. The animation is set at Priority 4. My guess is that his "freebie" AO has a priority four (or maybe mor than one) animtion in it. Is that correct smarter than I folks? Thanks.
  14. I am jumping in here with Drongle and others. Since August if you didn't make an item or own the copyright to it, you cannot upload it legally into SL. So according to the lawyers commenting on the TOS, that means no one else's goods, even creative commons or free to use items. Since you are having issues uploading, perhaps that is a "sign" you should not be . The folks in the mesh forum will be happy to help you learn how to make your own original mesh.
  15. In my experience it is unlikely LL will remove a bad review. Maybe it if was talking about pizza and you sell beds -- but not normally. I have a competitor that has repeatedly bought one of my most popular and expensive items JUST so that he can write a bad review. These are alts of course but they each say the same thing (one twice so I guess he forgot) so it isn't hard to tell it is the same person. I took my original products off the market even though they were selling well. I redid them with new textures and added new mesh accessories and put them back up with that info. I also addressed EVERY COMMENT HE MADE about the products and there was no way that he could complain -- - Well he still wrote the same review two more times. By then I was ******** and so I wrote back to him addressing his complaints. You can visit the build in world -- all the photos in the listing show it exactly how it is. His complaints had no credence at all. Writing made me feel better and I still sell tons of those items. People that have been around awhile know this happens. I, personally, rarely buy anything JUST from a marketplace listing. I go in world and see the demo. If there is no demo, I often don't by. So if there was the least bit of truth in any of his review text, address that and fix it. Then you can write a comment to the next bad review (actually I have only received four bad ones all on the same product from presumably the same person) you can write with righteous indignation. Sorry. I know it is NOT fun to have someone target you.
  16. The shadow maps likely ended up with seams as there wasn't enough padding included in the mapping. You did what you did what you can do. The correct way to fix would be in the mesh. That is a typical problem and most folks use EITHER the ambient map or do their own thing with the UV as their guide. Assuming you didn't get a dae and don't know how to fix such things *wink* you are correct that you need to be in live with it mode. Most designers give out a demo. Look CAREFULLY at the demo. Now you know why. Re Fanwear, there is plenty of it. It is however against the TOS. Best to make your own designs. If you want more info, take the MESH TEST which you can get to in your dashboard. It will give you a better idea on what is "legal" and what is not. ALSO NOTE the the current TOS (section 2.3 I believe) clearly states that you cannot upload any material that you do not own the copyright to. Hence, the answer is NO. Best to make your own designs that don't depend on others work or fame.
  17. Rules in OS (at least IW) and SL are very different for linking. I made a full sim city surround there a couple of weeks ago. The maximum size there is 128 (no megaprims) so I had to build in pieces. When I finished I tried -- just for fun -- to see if it would link and amazingly it did. I was pretty blown away as didn't expect that. So I have a LINKED surround of 12 pieces that is 256 x 256 x 64. So like the last post I answered on this subject (interesting!) the rules are different here. They have to so do with the size of prims as well as the distance. I have forgotten but anything fairly big (like 40 meters - maybe 32) won't link well. So folks either use a coelesced method or put in a rez box.
  18. Chic Aeon

    SL vs. IW

    Hi -- I have been uploading in IW every day for a couple of weeks now. The rules are different for mesh and you get pluses for some things and other things cost you more. You can ask the techs on the Inworldz forums if you want the complete run down. In general LARGE items like buildings import better there with lower land impact -- again in general. I made a hilly model that is 49 in SL at 64 meters (and goes up according to the plan) and it is 1 LI even to 128 meters in IW. Also the physics work without a physics model to upload. All pluses from my point of view. On the other hand very detailed SMALL items which can come in SL at .5 land impact can be more in IW. IW gives the number of tris more weight in the equation and not the size. Even the lower LODs which can add lots of LI in SL have less of an impact in IW. You get three times the number of prims in IW per sim than you do in SL so LI isn't something that is a big deal. Most folks have sims (very cheap) or rent spaces with what SL residents would consider very generous "prim" allotments. I just built a whole sim city with many buildings as well as some vendors and demos. It came in at 1357 and was mostly mesh, some prims. The downside in IW from a mesh creator's point of view (or mine anyway) is that folks don't "get" mesh yet. It is kind of like a couple of years ago here. There are some that are living in both worlds that really want mesh. Others have the "we have tons of prims why would we care?" attitude. There are so many things you can do with mesh that you cannot do with prims . It will be interesting to see how long it takes for mesh to really catch on there. Over a year here so I estimate about the same. So the only way to know is to upload the same mesh in both places. Eventually you get a feeling for what will happen. In Cloud Party, the physics also work automatically and the emphasis is on the tris not the size. There you have a choice AFTER upload whether an object will be seen from far away (I liked that a lot). So different grids, different rules.
  19. Yes, I made the dae animation for a CP avatar. But I enjoyed the process a lot more so would prefer that over the bvh maker software. I could import another avatar into Blender to work with. It has been so long since I uploaded animations to SL that I am having issues stopping the animation - LOL. I remember making them with entry frames, so not a one frame pose thing. I am thinking the animations should be fine with the looping. Just got busy working on other things and put this aside. Have to spend some time and remember how I made the old ones -- or start over . CP has been quiet as a morgue for two months now. I haven't been there except to download things back to my computer .
  20. If you have specular, normal and diffuse maps you can use them on either a mesh object OR a prim using a viewer that supports MATERIALS. Many viewers still don't have that. In the viewers that do (the SL official viewer does and the beta of Firestorm) you would find the slots to put the textures as NEW additions in the texturing tab. I haven't installed the beta of Firestorm so I am not sure how it matches up. But you must have one of the latest viewers in order to use the specular maps. When MESH is sold full perm with maps, those are most often ambient maps and UV maps. They certainly COULD also contain normal, specular and diffuse (or a combo of them). So simply those maps DO NOT make a mesh object in the way a sculpt map would. IF the maps are basically solid with no islands of shapes in them, then they were made to use on either prims or mesh. The will not work on ALL mesh of course, but just like you can use plain textures on mesh without an ambient map, you can often use plain (regular old fashioned png files that have been around forever) -- you could use these. Here is the wiki page which may help: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Material_Data EDIT: when you purchas full perm MESH, you get an object and not a texture.
  21. Local textures is the easiest method and Drongle pointed you there. You can also use the BETA GRID, Aditi and upload both your mesh and the textures there for testing. It is peaceful over there on the mesh sandboxes and not crowded. Saves lots of money especially if you are learning or experimenting. If you haven't used Aditi, note that you will need to do a separate Mesh Uploader test. It is a different grid. Some folks have problems getting an account on Aditi. If that is the case and you do a lot of uploading you could use another grid like Inworldz or Kitely where the rules are very similar and the uploads are free. I asked about that long ago when I was starting and folks said it didn't work. While the land impact costs may come up differently on other grids, the items import the same way (not counting the physics issue which wouldn't be important in flowers or deco items) and some folks I know are using those grids for testing and selling their products in both places. It mostly just depends on how much uploading you plan to do.
  22. I don't use Maya so there may be an issue within Maya. Speaking in general --- Is you "combined" object ONE mesh object or is it a linkset? That is, when you get it imported in world (or hoping to ) would it be ONE object that could not be unlinked? Or four separate objects. You can upload either way BUT if you are trying to upload a linkset it may be that the frames are not close enough to each other for the uploader to think of them as one object. If that is the case, you COULD move the frames around so that they are closer to each other (not intersecting but maybe sort of stacked but not touchting) and then upload. You can then use unlink and reassemble them. Doing that saves upload costs. If it is a single mesh object then I don't know. I have seen that message a time or two but it has been long ago. IF you are uploading on the beta grid, know that the beta uploader especially has times when it simply isn't working and it has nothing to do with you or your mesh at all. Sad but true.
  23. Just to be clear, you can use EITHER web profile or inworld profile to change your photo. For picks you need to be sure and save save pick if it is new and of course that "OK" button is very important. For profile photos, now that there are two viewers with different ratios for the profile area you have to decide whether you want to go square or rectangular. The photos can not look correct in BOTH formats. I have been known to split the difference at times. For rectangular a 400 x 300 resized to 256 x 256 and sharpened a bit work well. Square of course is 256 x256 for fast loading. 512s will work but take longer and you should NEVER use a 1024 for a profile photo as it may never load for some folks. That's what I know.
  24. You are very welcome to visit. There are classes going on from time to time but there is no schedule posted. Folks come and go as they please. If you want general info on second life a good place to start would be New Citizens Incorporated (hope I have that correct; it has been awhile) or NCI where there are always lots of avatars hanging out -- many new. I "grew up" there as did many, many avatars. They have all sorts of classes and a big board near the main landing point that tells you when and where they would be.
  25. OK. I did some more looking and found an old thread about FIXING the bvh export. Then I looked again and FOUND the ability in Blender to export bvh. Not sure why I missed it before. So in theory I don't need a converter, I can export straight from Blender. I 'may' need to try different exporting methods. On my list. It is a long one.
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