Janet Voxel

I’m sorry...I bit my knuckle and everything, before I typed this ....I deleted it. Can you post a picture of what you’re talking about? Not a second life picture...a real life picture. I want to see what you mean before I offer any advice.

I like having real life conversations! They don’t have to be personal, but stuff in the news, TMZ type stuff is always fun and interesting. I tend to stay away from “woe is me” types, not because I’m heartless, but what can I do about someone 3000 miles away who is getting evicted tomorrow (why they’re on SL is beyond me). I’d feel bad for rest of the day. I also tend to stay away from people that are too goofy and non-sequitur. It’s a schtick that gets old really fast. I tend to be middle of the road, but small talk is a sweet spot because it just can lead to so many things.

Boards and lucky chairs are still around, so are freebie hunters. The way people shop has changed. Shopping used to be an exploring, word of mouth kind of thing. You could go to a store or mall and find a cool store nobody ever heard of. You’d pop in see if they had anything new, any new freebies, hang out and wait for a board to have your letter, buy a thing, get a thing for free, move on to the next store...rinse and repeat. Somewhere in there events started. The events only have the newest items (mostly, I’ve seen repeat items) and people don’t visit stores like they used to. The way you get your stuff out there is by doing events. They still do freebies but freebies are group gifts. No need to hang around, just join the group...grab your freebie and go. There are also blogs that tell you where the freebies are. There just isn’t a need for them like there used to be...for creators or shoppers.

It’s definitely not something you’re going to be able to do overnight. There is no easy way to make mesh clothing. First you need to learn how to model mesh. There are many tutorials on modeling basics, how to make donuts, coffee cups, etc. All of them will be useful to learning your way around a 3D modeling program. Crazy as it might sound, you can make a shirt out of a mesh cube. Now you need to learn how to rig. Programs like Avastar do a lot of the heavy lifting but you still have to know what’s going on there. There are also tutorials on weight painting, etc. This step is just as important as modeling. So your simplest pipeline is 3D modeling program>SL. You can also use other specialized 3rd party modeling programs like Marvelous Designer. So now you have to learn how to use that as well. Now your pipeline is 3rd party modeling program>modeling program>SL. Most creators are actually a team of creators that handle the different aspects. It’s doable to do by yourself, but you have to know about each step. But, start with modeling.

Eliment makes the best dreadlocks imo

Sad thing is someone would buy into it and do it.

There’s also about three men’s fashion fairs a month now. I know one is called The Mancave, the other ones I don’t remember. They’re always on seraphimsl though.

Because we're very photogenic!

If it's clothes or a head skin and it's an event, I'll try it on at the event. Sorry, not sorry...I'm not coming back to the event to buy a couple of things. If it's a store, I'll go home and try it on though.

Chillin at the beach with Kristin

I agree with those that say standing around dressing your avi up and shopping is pretty therapeutic. That’s the positive of doing those things. What has been a concern of mine and increasingly so over the last couple years is SL has gotten more anti-social as a result. So while we look 100x better, the social element is disappearing. I asked about shopping from a hud instead of going to a shopping event a couple of weeks ago. I was surprised at some of the responses because they were along the lines of “I do it for the experience.” To me the “experience” has become a laggy, lengthy process that isn’t very enjoyable. About a week ago, I met a nice guy. We chatted, we found we had motorcycle riding in common. So we decided to go riding together. He spent the better part of an hour rezzing different vehicles until, I had enough and left. I was riding around the track by myself, because he was just standing there rezzing vehicles. I think he was trying to impress me, but I was more impressed that we were able to have a normal conversation and find something in common....before that. That pretty much is what the SL experience has become: being impressive about things nobody cares about because they’re trying to be impressive too.

When it’s a paid demo, I close the box and move on to the next item. All I want to know is if it’ll fit the body I’m using and what it looks like on me. If the creator can’t be bothered with that, I’ll find a creator that can, it’s easy. It’s usually right in the next stall or display.

I always hear bad things about pvp in second life. Cheating, rage quitting...I feel like I heard a story where a guy got beat by a girl and banned her from the sim. Yeah, I’m good....

I think I brought this up in another thread. The biggest problem coming into SL is once you’re done with newbie island or whatever it’s called these days....you’re pretty much on your own. Unless you’re lucky enough to find a good mentor. 99% of newbies just aren’t going to find a good mentor. As it stands it’s like taking a six year old to New York or Tokyo and then telling them “You're on your own, kid.” what should happen after you’re done with the basic tutorial is be taken somewhere to learn more basics. A picture telling you you can create is cool and all. But how about a tutorial showing you how? Basic building stuff, then if they’re still with it, intermediate blender stuff? ....you get the idea. Instead of telling them what they can do. Show them what they can do. Then let them loose on SL.

It’s actually my favorite SL story. I came here and wandered around newbie island for a while. I think back then there was a crappy tutorial or tutorial notecard, can’t remember which because it told you very basic stuff that your average video game player would know. The problem came when I tp’d away from newbie island. I couldn’t figure out where to go to even shop or how to make myself look as good as everybody else. I think someone directed me to Redgrave. I saw a group of people and I asked them for help. They were....not on the up and up. But they really helped me by showing me where to shop, advice on my avatar and some nice hang outs to go to. The reason I say they weren’t on the up and up is because they gave me a folder of ripped skins and shapes and told me to learn how to do a shape before I even attempted to make a nice avi. Now, years later, I realize they were in Redgrave copybotting people. But at the time, giving me something to do and work on was a tiny life raft that kept me afloat until I discovered other things to do in SL.

Eight years. I made clothes for a couple years before I switched to this avatar. This avatar used to be my clothing model while I worked in PS and blender. I decided to just work on photography instead of clothes and I’ve stuck with that. I do get the urge to jump in blender every now and then still.

Oh look, another person that posts ridiculous things to get reactions from people. These forums could use more of those....

I knew they were going to let him have it for this. The title should also be “How to be generic in SL”

Tried the Fameshed GO hud. It’s not quite what I had in mind. However I like that it takes you to the store and you can walk around lag free and you have the opportunity to pick up things you might not have known they had. Fairs also killed store traffic, so this is a nice way for bringing it back.

Because it’s SL! That happened to my sister. Except the guy didn’t say anything. She was sitting on a couch with sex animations in it. When I tp’d in the guy was going to town. I im’d her “New friend?” The ding got her attention and when she saw what was going on she freaked out! She was yelling at him in local and in voice. He just tp’d away without a word.

Exactly what I'm saying! Hi5!

I don't see in world stores going anywhere. I usually pop in to find things I haven't seen before and usually, I do! When events first started it was a nice experience. Now? terrible....don't like. Also, how much are you exploring if you're having a hard time moving around? Waiting for textures to pop in? I get the idea of them, but it's hard to do what you came to do....walk around and shop.

How many days of waiting are we talking here? And why should you have to wait if there’s a better way to do it?

I had clothing in mind when I was talking about the direct buy hud. Apparently there’s a hud that takes you to the store already. Maybe have that feature for furniture and objects you really need to see?

I hadn’t heard of those, i’ll check them out when I get home. It’s good to know someone is attempting it. I’m still curious if there is a technical reason it’s just now being attempted.