Fluffy Sharkfin

Without wandering too far off-topic (since the thread is called AI vs Creators, not AI vs Humanity) if your predictions are correct and the evolution of AI results in a large proportion of humanity becoming essentially redundant then perhaps that's just part of our own evolution. Using productivity as a metric by which to judge the value of an individual whilst simultaneously striving to automate every possible task is obviously a recipe for disaster, if AI expedites the process of people coming to that realization and becomes a catalyst for societal changes then perhaps that's not such a bad thing. While I'm sure there are plenty of studios that will happily employ AI to generate a lot of generic, derivative assets, one of the key components of asset creation is storytelling. A good 3D asset (be it a character, environment or prop) will often have a myriad of small details all of which serve as visual cues which provide the context and history of the character, place or item. So essentially, even if you were to use an AI to create such an asset the core skills of imagination, observation and descriptiveness which are essential as a creator are still required in order to provide a sufficiently detailed prompt that would allow the AI to create a result that even came close to what the creator had in mind. When it comes to creativity AI, much like procedural generation, will most likely end up as a toy for those who aren't inclined to spend countless hours learning how to use 2D/3D apps and as a very powerful tool in the hands of those with the expertise to use it properly. No matter how "good" AI art may get in the future, it's not going to effect real creators because at its core art is about expression rather than commerce and I doubt AI will rob humanity of its desire to express itself.

I'm not suggesting AI won't have a transformative effect on the way in which people approach the design process but as with any new technology initial fears that it will replace humans entirely in a particular field are, I feel, a little alarmist. It seems more likely that the end result will be more effective tools which can be used to streamline the process of creativity. I think if any group of people should be in fear of AI replacing human artists it should be art critics who rather than pondering the deeper meaning of what an artist is really trying to express with a particular piece will be relegated to standing around trying to guess which keywords they used to have the AI generate said "masterpiece".

I'm a big fan of AI experiments and AI art has produced some excellent results but, as usual, it seems that those in charge of developing the technology decided to breeze right past the question of "should we" and focus solely on the "can we". In this instance it's a case of "should we take the intellectual property of others and use it as a dataset for our experiments without their permission?". That being said, I think these new AI driven image generation systems could be quite useful as a tool for visualization purposes, like AI generated concept art for example. It would be interesting to see what results an AI could produce if limited to a large dataset of PBR surface materials. Having an AI that can generate unlimited variations of seamless PBR textures based on a few keywords like "Ivy covered garden wall" or "paint splattered rough wooden planks" would certainly cut down on production time considerably when creating 3D assets. Anyway I doubt AI art is going to be taking many jobs in the design field (at least not from anyone that's actually competent at their job), as someone on Twitter put it ...

Synching animations between two entities (be they avatars or animesh) just isn't reliable enough to be an effective solution. I imagine the best way to create a convincing walkable pet would be as a non-animesh attachment that includes a full set of custom animations for both the avatar and the pet, repurposing the excess bones (i.e. wings, hind legs, tail) in the bento skeleton to create the bones for the pet. That way both entities are using the same armature so there would be no need to synch animations and the leash can be part of the same rigged mesh object rather than a stream of particles.

And those are just the more heavily moderated livestreams, some of those twitch channels are way more toxic than dead dogs and poo!

If all the OP is looking for is a texturing app then Substance Painter is probably going to be the best choice due to the amount of free substances/materials available for it and the number of tutorials. However if the $15 monthly subscription is out of their price range and they're looking for a cheaper alternative purely for texturing then Pilgway also produce an app called 3DCoatTextura which is aimed exclusively at PBR texturing, etc. and, like 3D Coat, comes with perpetual license and rent-to-own options. When buying/learning any new 3D app it's worth trying demos and familiarizing yourself with how the alternatives compare and which you feel most comfortable using before committing time and money to any one of them, especially considering the amount of time that you need to invest to fully learn to use a 3D application.

The basic principle of using a particle system to distribute leaf cards across a surface does work, but depending on the software you're using it can be a bit of a pain to set up and there are probably easier ways to achieve the same results regardless of what app you're working in. @VirtualKitten Since you're playing with trees here's a handy link explaining how to make trees like this Airborn - Trees

And to bring the thread slightly back on topic, here we have another example of communication "faux pas" and how a careless choice of words can lead to a potential calamity entirely of your own making... Choose your words wisely, for sometimes they have teeth and your posterior can suddenly become nothing more than a succulent morsel!

Honestly, if people were to make up wild and fantastical rumours about me I'd probably actively encourage them. I'm really not that interesting so anything that helps to add an air of mystery to my persona would probably be a bonus! 😅

If you press the wrong button and end up falling through the infinite void for the rest of eternity then... RIP, you will be missed! o7 (just kidding, that's probably not going to happen.... probably!)

When engaging with others on a forum such as this with a fairly well established community, you will inevitably meet groups of like-minded people and also those who share opposing views to your own and I think it's easy for those less familiar with these forums and the people that post here to mistakenly perceive the rapid succession of posts from people who all share the same or very similar views and whose posts compliment each other due to their familiarity with each others perspectives as some sort of coordinated attack.

Not to drag this thread off-topic with a discussion of the pros and cons of various software (which is a pointless endeavour since we all know it's the results that matter not the tools used) but Autodesk now provide an indie license which allows access to the fully featured application for around $260 a year (as long as your annual earnings are below $50,000). That being said it doesn't detract from the fact that Blender is by far the most obvious choice (and I say this as someone who doesn't use Blender beyond opening .blend files and converting them for use in other applications), it's versatility, focus on community-driven development and the fact it's already been so widely adopted by SL content creators make it pretty much the only option if LL were looking for an application to "endorse" by providing documentation, tutorials or even possibly plugins to help aid in the creation of content for SL.

I'm always reluctant to throw around the term "sock puppet" since it's hard to be certain and once you start believing they're everywhere then it becomes too easy to discount opposing views as background noise and effectively construct your own echo chamber.

Sometimes in life you encounter individuals that so epitomize the traits that you are trying to demonstrate that it's almost as if they're naturally occurring caricatures that are destined to be held up as examples no matter what, and the instance you cited illustrated your point exceptionally well. I think to some extent making fun of each others faults can also be an important part of human interaction and bonding since it can promote a feeling of acceptance by those around you of flaws that you may otherwise feel self-conscious about, but regardless a public forum is probably not the best venue for any kind of roasting.

I'll preface this by saying I prefer to talk in general terms than cite specific individuals as examples since public opinion can vary, new facts can come to light and public figures can fall in and out of favour as a result, especially when dealing with those involved in politics, so sometimes such examples don't age well. That being said, and without mentioning any specific names, while it would be nice to claim that everyone is deserving of understanding and forgiveness there are some who seem hell bent on proving themselves the exception to that rule.

No, but wearing certain headsets for more than an hour or two tends to make my head feel like it's been trapped in a vice sometimes. 😅

Oh lord, I wouldn't last a day then. As some people have probably noticed from how long my posts are I have a tendency to ramble. Combine that with my rabid curiosity about almost everything and fascination with people in general and the length of an average phone call for me is at least an hour. 😅

I can't help but feel some sympathy for celebrities (and others who live their lives under public scrutiny) that develop NPD, if you live your life surrounded by cameras and being watched by millions I imagine it's hard not to end up feeling like "it's all about you!". I also think that sometimes people forget that they're on a public forums and will treat threads as a conversation between friends, which is nice in a way since it makes the forums feel inviting and hospitable, however those conversations can sometimes be open to misinterpretation. For example, Poster A and Poster B are engaged in friendly banter and are "roasting" each other, everything is funny and all involved can see the humour until one day Poster C happens to read the thread and sees the comments making light hearted-fun of a persons shortcomings but instead of seeing it in the context of humour they view it from the perspective of someone who has endured years of ridicule from others about what they perceive not as a shortcoming but a disability. Now I'm not saying that humour has no place on a forum, and would hate to see that friendly banter disappear, but at the same time given the public nature of the forum and how poorly humour can sometimes be conveyed via text, the potential for misunderstanding is pretty high so derogatory remarks, even those made in jest, can be a recipe for disaster.

Yeah sorry I should have made it more clear I was speaking generally. My own experience with customer support is more along the lines of providing continuing support for specific clients after the completion of a project, so I don't have to deal with the sheer volume of people that a call center has to process. Obviously when you have so many customers to deal with then weeding out the ones that are just being problematic becomes a matter of time-management and cost-effectiveness so the rules are probably quite different.

As commonly seen in the indignant "But my rig can play all the latest AAA games at 463672 fps, if SL is performing badly it's not my hardware!" posts.

While I haven't worked in a call center I've had plenty of experience of providing "after sales support" to clients and customers, and was talking in general about being required to provide support to people in a professional manner. I don't know how many others on this forum have worked in call centers but I'm sure there are some who have been providing excellent customer support in SL for years without ever setting foot inside a call center, and personally I think their opinions on the subject of customer support are just as valid as anyones regardless of their RL career choices.

Oh there's a difference between stupid and abusive, and of course nobody is (or should be) forced to tolerate abusive behaviour, but when faced with a customer that "just doesn't get it" despite multiple attempts to explain you're still expected to continue attempting to assist them if they request it, whereas in our private lives we can simply walk away or ignore them if we've had enough.

Yes, unfortunately customer support is one area where sometimes instead of recognizing stupid and rising above it you're forced to get down in the mud with it and wrestle it into submission. ETA: Not that I would ever consider any of my own customers/clients (past, present or future) stupid of course, they are all exceptionally intelligent and upstanding individuals who I have the utmost admiration and respect for!

Yes, it can be applied pretty much universally. The tricky part is knowing when to give up on trying to elaborate and explain how the facts support your position and accept that the other person simply isn't interested in facts and just wants to argue or complain.

You let the facts speak for themselves. If said poster refuses to be swayed by those facts that's their problem. As for anyone else that happens upon the thread if, as you said, "it's clear that most if not all of the problems are caused by their not understanding" and they're just complaining rather than seeking help then that fact will be equally as evident to others as it is to you, and they can decide for themselves whether the posters complaints are valid or the product of their own lack of understanding. Simply put, you can't win an argument with someone that doesn't value fact over opinion, so state the facts and then leave them to their folly.