Fluffy Sharkfin

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.

Yeah, you're not wrong. Perhaps I should have clarified that by "everyone" I meant everyone that asks the question in good faith and is genuinely interested in finding a realistic answer, as there are some who have adopted the talking point and regurgitate it as a "gotcha!" when arguing against what they consider "special treatment" for minorities and others who will contemplate no compromise when it comes to defending what they see as their right to individuality or to belong to whatever minority/community they identify with. It would be nice to find a clear answer in order to be able to finally debunk the notion that the two concepts are mutually exclusive.

Well, you're definitely unique and irreplaceable.

This seems to be a major stumbling block in a lot of conversations and a point that's come up in many arguments in various circles. The question of how we promote a sense of equality and unity for everyone while at the same time maintaining our own sense of individuality and cultural identity is complex and I've yet to see a clear answer that satisfies everyone.

Coincidentally, your choice to resurrect this thread does coincide quite nicely with the recent announcement of VRChats new Avatar Dynamics System (not directly related to SL I know, but still an interesting look at the types of features dealing with avatar interaction that are being explored on similar platforms). VRChat’s Avatar Dynamics System Aims To Upgrade Interactions ETA: Official Blog Announcement (and Youtube preview video for those that prefer to watch rather than read). Avatar Dynamics is Now Live

Children can be remarkably cruel, then they grow up and learn subtlety.

That's fair enough and we can each decide on the terminology we choose to use for various things. I think it's just personal preference how rigid we all are when it comes to using certain terms (for example the profession of "brick layer" say's nothing of all the additional work involved in the process of building a brick wall and yet seems to be the official universally accepted term). As I already said my original post was mostly just meant in jest, with the emphasis being that creating content for SL can sometimes feel over-complicated and backward in comparison to the workflow used for other platforms. For example, if you look at a lot of the current development platforms they're all moving toward better integration and compatibility between the software used to develop content and the environment the content is intended for, meanwhile SL is using the collada format. Asserting that creating content for Second Life within it's limited capabilities is at times frustrating and over-complicated doesn't equate to saying that it somehow requires additional skills that aren't necessary in other areas of the 3D industry, just that trying to incorporate a workflow that includes as much of the capabilities of modern software as SL can support is at times cumbersome and less intuitive than creating for other platforms. Anyway, I think we've dragged this thread off-topic for long enough debating the importance of semantics, although at least in doing so we helped keep it from sliding off the first page for a while I suppose. Hopefully the OP will find a modeler, mesher, polygonist, vertexician, triangle-wrangler or quad-slinger who can help them with their request, I doubt they'll care what they call themselves as long as they can get the job done!