Rufferto

Here is part of the main room I decorated using only a few of the freebies from the Chic Buildings 2017 and 2018 Advent Calendar. I re-sized and re-colored a few of the pieces, but they were all low impact.

lucagrabacr wrote: I think for a platform as versatile as SL, the promotional videos they made are a bit lacking and bland, and they don't do the platform justice at all in showing what it's capable of. I'm talking about the promotional videos here, not the videos targeted to SL's existing users, but to possible new residents or players. I mean, to me personally, and I do think this also applies to more people out there - the literally unlimited customizations you can do to your avatar/character alone is a HUGE selling point, and then there's the fact that you can use 3rd party 3d modelling tools to create anything you want, and upload it inworld (given you passed the mesh upload permission test, which is easy anyway) then use them however you want, and with the addition of scripting, you can literally create and do anything you can imagine. But none of them are explicitly mentioned in SL's promotional videos. Why? I've been on SL for 3 years, not that long really, compared to other long-time residents, but it sure gave me an idea of what SL is technically capable of as a platform. Yet if I were to put myself in the shoes of people who have little clue of what SL is, and then watch the promotional videos from their perspective, I'd say "Oh, okay" - at best. To be fair though, sure there is a lot of people out there who might be interested to SL for it being a "Virtual world where you can be anything and do everything you want" But "be anything and do everything" is very ambigous and non-technical. There are many video games out there using that phrase, "be anything you want" yet their level of character customization is very, very limited. Or, "do everything you want" but "everything" is limited by the fact that the players are stuck with what the game has to offer in the first place. So because of these widely-used phrases, skeptical prospects most likely won't buy those kinda implications, they want technical and factual details to support those kinda statements or implications. And in SL you can literally be anything and do everything. So why don't the promotional videos pointed those points out explicitly? Here's one for example, see how boring and stereotype-inducing that is? At least for me. ........................... I watched the video on youtube, and I agree that it does not show all the possibilities for creativity in Second Life. I also saw a quick shot that showed part of the Destination Guide in the background, and there was a mention of "Wet Willies" - was that a subliminal? I also feel that most of the avatars shown represent the "beautiful people". How about showing some senior, sedate avatars, in modest clothing? Also, don't forget those who would like to be furries, or tinies, or dinosaurs. I think that there is a great niche in Second Life for people my age (70's) who can no longer travel in real life comfortably, but who would still like to 'visit' other places, but they won't be lured here by pictures of avatars dancing or riding roller coasters. I also agree that the youtube video should include segments showing how architects could model virtual buildings, clothing designers could create beautiful outfits, artists could create works that are not limited by the cost of materials or by limitations of space, and so on. How about showing someone creating a statue in mesh, but include a comment that there is a steep learning curve, so people won't feel like a failure when they can't create the Taj Majal on their first day. And as for changing into different avatars - isn't one of America's favorite holidays Halloween? I confess that I seldom wear the same avatar/outfit all the time, and shopping for new shapes, skins, clothing, etc...is always fun. The 'five easy steps' thing is also deceptive - I've been here quite a while, but I'm still learning.

ChinRey wrote: Completely forgot to mention three important free texture places: Moard Ling's Freebie Folly Help Island Freebie Store Jubjub's Makersmart Thank you! I will add these to my next update. I also recently found a free texture-giver on Hobo Island. As for re-distributing them, my idea was that these could be used by residents on their own builds. If someone finds a texture at one of the sites that aren't really full perm, please let me know. I would also check with the original creator before putting any of these textures on an item to be sold or given away - it's only fair.

Mochadaisy, don't give up.... One thing you might try is to find out if the merchants where you bought the hair and furniture have a re-delivery box in their stores. I was pushed out of SL a few days ago just after making a purchase, and what I bought disappeared, but I got another copy from the re-delivery kiosk. Hope you find a place you like, and get your things back.

Confession - even though I've been here for a while, I often wear an off-the-rack avatar, partly because it is anonymous, and maybe partly because I figure people might forgive my 'eternal noob' mistakes more readily. It was fairly recently that I got "all dressed up" and walked into a public venue. Realizing I was still wearing the HUD from a hunt I had been on, I tried to detach it and ended up detaching my skirt instead. From the bar, a chat message "Well, that's a start." I fled in embarrassment.

ChinRey wrote: The problem is that comnmercial textures must be full perm and unfortunately over the years many builders have been a bit thoughtless about sharing them with friends who again shared them with their friends and so on. There are lots of genuine good (and even more genuine not-very-good) freebie textures all over Second Life but it can often be very hard to determine which are legit and which aren't. BUt here are a few places with confirmed legal freebie textures: Denise Unicorn FairChange Calypso The Linda Kellie Collection at Coniston There are others too of course. I'll se if I can remember more. Ubnfortunately you just missed one of the msot important sources of freebie textures, Yadni's Junkyard. It closed down less than a week ago. The University of North Carolina used to have a nice collection of old freebie textures too but then somebody there must have discovered they had forgotten to cancel their SL bill all those years ago. The campus was abandoned in January. No Yadni's? (sound of quiet sobbing) But - much obliged for the new links - looks like I will spend my day off re-doing everything - and mourning Yadni's. Any idea if Stillman/Nix is in danger?

Thanks, all! I guess I must have arrived just as they were re-booting. I'm going back and taking more pictures.

I just wanted to say how amazed I was by the displays at the sims devoted to the Birthday Party. Even though I went back numerous times I wasn't able to see it all, and at my last visit things were going dark and it looked as if they were dismantling everything. Very sad. Wish I had had more time, or the party had lasted longer. I'm wondering if anyone has thought of saving some of the most interesting structures the way that some cities in real life have kept remnants of former World's Fairs?

ChinRey wrote: Awww, the ZIndra collection was supposed to be a secret!!! Anyway, you seems to have missed the biggest collection of official LL textures, the one at Stillman. There may be a few at Nix too, can't remember for sure. As for non-LL free textures, you should be very, very careful. There is a lot of genuinely free textures around but also lots of pirated copies of commercial ones. Thank you! I will double-check to make sure that I have Stillman and Nix on my list. I started this collection for myself back when I couldn't make heads or tails of some commercial texture's permissions. Right now I have so many that I haven't finished cataloging them. I am not aware of having bought any pirated textures, but I have seen some of the free textures for Shareta Osumai offered as "free asian textures" on the marketplace, I guess to get people to visit their stores. I've also seen other 'freebies' for sale at a store I will refer to as "F.G." I complained about it, but nothing was done.

I've put together a guide to finding collections of free textures in Second Life* I'm on Version 3 because I'm constantly finding new ones. I've listed the ones in the Library, Newcomer Island, freebie and welcome centers, Soj's Land, the four Linden Subdivisions, Molemart, Aley Mart, and The Market at Nautilus. Yesterday I found out that there are two places in Bay City that have collections of textures appropriate for that community. It seems as if when the Linden Moles created new lands they often provided textures for the people who were moving in. My question is, when they created Zindra did they make textures for that continent? If so, where could I find them? Also, if anyone knows of a place I've missed I'd appreciate the information. *(for sale on the marketplace but you can see it for free, without landmarks, at http://wartybliggensthetoad.blogspot.com under the May entries.)

What, you aren't supposed to edit your appearance in the middle of the road? I'm not a new noob, just an eternal one. I do notice that the very new noobs have trouble navigating. One fell on me the other day after trying to walk up a cliff. I have trouble navigating sometimes too - I'm wondering if a joystick controller would help?

Decisions, decisions...If you were happy with your old alt, why change? Only problem might be if had a premium account and left without going through the proper procedures, there may be a small fee to reactivate your account.

I'm no graphics expert, but I often use a program called Grab (for Mac) to select an area on the screen, rather than using the SL camera. I'm not sure what screen capture app would work on a PC. See: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-take-a-screenshot-on-pc/ I'm sure someone here can explain how to adjust the viewer settings for best definition. (The Blender icon is just for show, like my running shoes.)

Thank you for clarifying things. 4994 it is.

Clicking both "Allow Public Access" and also clicking "Group Access" will create ban lines around your property for everyone who is not listed as part of the group owning the land. I am an eternal newbie, so when one of my avatars couldn't access my parcel I at first thought it was griefers. Then I finally figured it out - had the owner unclick the "group access" button, and then it was OK. Linden support called this glitch 4995*. I had kept quiet about this as I was embarrassed, but I recently was using an alt to look at property for sale**. Twice I ran across "For Sale" property that had ban lines around them because of this situation*** and the sellers were older and wiser than I, so I thought I would mention it on the forum. *I couldn't find "4995" listed on the JIRA. **She doesn't carry a lot of money so that she can't click "Buy it Now" by accident. ***I hate ban lines, but now realize that they can be set up by accident.

Thank you all. I am much relieved.

I know when you are writing fiction sometimes the characters seem to take on a life of their own, and when I'm making a doll sometimes one of them seems to have a definite opinion on what they should wear ("No, not the pink....I hate pink."), but now I'm starting to wonder if the same process is taking place with my avatars. I'm running four avis right now - three because I wanted to save on tier while I was in my "I want to be a real estate mogul" phase, and one for when I wanted to be incognito, but now I find that each seems to have developed different quirks. Maybe I'm just going crazy.

This is a challenging parcel - irregularly shaped, and not quite two 512's. The land is rocky, but the view is nice, and the neighbors (so far) haven't been any problem. I'm moving on, but don't want to abandon land. Oops - forgot the landmark: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Callisto/55/141/71 Apparently it sold yesterday but I wasn't notified. Teleported 'home' and it belongs to someone else now. But hey, the money is in the bank.

My experience has always been that I never need anything until after I have gotten rid of it. The problem with a big inventory, though, is trying to find something. What I am currently trying to do with my own inventory is to go through a few items at a time. Things that I think I or someone else can use can be filed, things that I don't think anyone could ever use can be thrown away, and things I'm not sure about can be put in a box marked "To trash or not to trash?"which maybe I will have time to go through later. I remember someone saying you should sort your inventory every time you are inworld (ha!). It would help me not to take every freebie in sight. Now I need to go sort inventory.

Earlier I posted that wearing an avatar that looked nothing like you in real life was a form of deceit. I realize that 'deceit' was too harsh a word - I should have used a word like 'costume' and I apologize. I must confess I have a certain uneasiness about showing up in a virtual world in a young body when I am, in fact, an old woman, but I also like the fact that I can put together an avatar that perhaps reflects my 'beautiful soul'....this is a puzzle to me. I remembered, vaguely, some quotes from George Bernard Shaw's "Don Juan in Hell" so I looked it up. --------------------------------------quote-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE OLD WOMAN Do not ask me how old I was - as if I were a thing of the past. I am 77. DON JUAN A ripe age, senora. But in hell old age is not tolerated. It is too real. Here we worship Love and Beauty. Our souls being entirely damned, we cultivate our hearts. As a lady of 77, you would not have a single acquaintance in hell. THE OLD WOMAN How can I help my age, man? DON JUAN You forget that you have left your age behind you in the realm of time. You are no more 77 than you are 7 or 17 or 27. THE OLD WOMAN Nonsense! DON JUAN Consider, senora: was not this true even when you lived on earth? When you were 70, were you really older underneath your wrinkles and your grey hairs than when you were 30? THE OLD WOMAN No, younger: at 30 I was a fool. But of what use is it to feel younger and look older? DON JUAN You see, senora, the look was only an illusion. Your wrinkles lied, just as the plump smooth skin of many a stupid girl of 17, with heavy spirits and decrepit ideas, lies about her age. Well, here we have no bodies: we see each other as bodies only because we learnt to think about one another under that aspect when we were alive; and we still think in that way; knowing no other. But we can appear to one another at what age we choose. You have but to will any of your old looks back, and back they will come. THE OLD WOMAN It cannot be true. DON JUAN Try. THE OLD WOMAN Seventeen! DON JUAN Stop. Before you decide, I had better tell you that these things are a matter of fashion. Occasionally we have a rage for 17; but it does not last long. Just at present the fashionable age is 40 - or say 37; but there are signs of a change. If you were at all good-looking at 27, I should suggest your trying that, and setting a new fashion. THE OLD WOMAN I do not believe a word you are saying. However, 27 be it. [Whisk! the old woman becomes a young one, magnificently attired, and so handsome that in the radiance into which her dull yellow halo has suddenly lightened one might almost mistake her for Ann Whitefield]. ----------------end quote------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am not a Photoshop expert, but I love playing with it and trying new techniques. I find most UTube videos move too fast for me, but I've found a lot of text-and-photo tutorials on the web. I learned most of what little I know through a college "extension" course. I had to show up in person, but it forced me to meet deadlines, and the professor was able to help when I had some problems. This was some time ago, but the class used "Adobe Photosop Classroom in a Book" as a text and I would recommend it.

ZoeTick wrote: I don't want to make friends in SL. Very few participants meet my high standards, and the small numbers who do do not seem to share the same interests.. Why should I drop those standards in SL when I refuse to do so in rl? I have wasted considerable amounts of time finding out that people who say they would like to be friends with me are lying about their educational prowess, their competence in supposed areas of expertise, their morals and ethics, and worst of all, their ability to communicate. Do you forumites find that you have to revise your expectations downwards to find people to talk to? When you are talking about 'participants' are you referring to the personas created in Second Life, or the person who created the persona? When I was in the Society for Creative Anachronism we called the 'backstory' to our characters our 'persona'. When you put on your garb you also put on your persona. I think some do that in Second Life as well. When I'm communicating with someone in Second Life, I always take what they are telling me "with a grain of salt." While I don't tell lies in chat or im's in Second Life, I feel that having an avatar that looks nothing like the real life 'me' is in itself a form of deceit. I am not looking for friends in Second Life, either. All of the 'sociability' this aspie can muster is used to try to keep the real life friends I have. Perhaps in Second Life, if you cannot find someone who meets ALL of your expectations, you could find different participants who might be able to fulfill a few of your expectations - for example, you could have an Educated Friend, a Friend with High Morals, and so on... Hope this helps. I am not a 'forumite'.

Second-life relationships can be fun in an intellectual way, but for a real 'love' relationship to evolve, I think you need to include all the other senses - touch, smell, etc...before you can form a permanent bond. An older documentary, Life 2.0, is now available on UTube for free and you might find it interesting to watch.

So many places...I'd been gone for over two years so I've been re-visiting some of my favorites from years past and I'm pleased to see that many of them are still there. I was at http://slurl.com/secondlife/ACC%20Alpha/36/14/26 (House of ACCentaury) yesterday and it is still amazing. Be sure to take the unicycle ride. Some of the areas near the Linden subdivisions have neat features: the 'catch a fairy' game near the hobbity one, the Cape Ekim Dragon near the contemporary one, and the Temple of the Mole Gods (and free rickshaw ride) near Shareta Osumai. Caledon still has many lovely regions, and the 'how to' exhibits at Oxbridge are quite good. Yadni's Junkyard and the giant bears, of course. Linden Realms has a certain fascination. Torley's island, of course. If you have a premium membership the Magellan Quest covers some nice territory. I especially like the wilderness area. This is all I can think of right now. I need to check and find out if the Robot Sanitarium is still open.