Ajay McDowwll

That happens if the system hair is textured with a transparent texture, but the sliders aren't pulled all the way in Our SL bodies are weird lol

On a related note, one thing I have discovered while calculating my render times wearing my Maitreya, is that if I have my body alphaed using the alpha cuts, my render time dramatically decreases as opposed to when I just use alpha layers. So at this point, any time I'm out and about there are really good odds I'm wearing both a custom alpha layer (I'm obsessive about making them) and also have the corresponding slices alphaed out. I'm also generally hiding the top/back of my skull on my head, as this similarly reduces render time.

This is what I want most. I own the Slink Physique Redux as well, but due to lack of clothing support I mostly stick with my Maitreya.

Like most have said, I don't think that's it... at least not necessarily always. I'm primarily a text-chatter, but I do use voice with certain groups of friends, some because we type for our livings and dangit, our hands are tired by certain points of the day. Others because we like that added connection of voice. I don't find voice chat necessary for friendships. I have friends I've had for nearly 15 years and I've never spoken to them in voice. It's a fun adjunct for me, but not a requirement.

I'm having fun with filters on Photoshop

What kind of top -- like with words on it or something? I have t-shirt templates and Photoshop, it's something I do here and there

Yep! Except we met my first day inworld WAY back in the day on Help Island Public. I was a serial profile-reader even then, and I saw he had a picture in his profile. I asked him how he did that; he helped me out. We became friends, and over the months we became more. We'll have been married RL for 13 years come August

Hooray for bunnies! I love them lol -- they're cuddly and weirdly adorable

I'd seen several articles regarding SL over about a year's time. Eventually I came across an article about virtual Dublin, and as I'd missed our family trip there due to having a newborn, I figured I could at least walk the streets virtually... so in August of 2007, I signed up

All my best wishes are going out to your friend for a speedy recovery ❤️

Yeah, the no-mod thing making it so you can't rename a product drives me nuts too. I have multiple folders of my head with the style script removed with labels like "Dark lips/ pointed ears" "Dark lips/ rounded ears" "Light lips/ rounded ears" etc. Same for a ton of my hair that has accessories with different options; I have folders with "Red hairband, Blue hairband, Brown hairband" etc. ad nauseum. The chats for my body and head tend to be pretty active, so for me, I can see having more call on the CSRs could result in a real bottleneck for support requests. All that said... maybe it's something that's time has come? Possibly creators could make a separate group for modification questions, which would leave the CSRs on the main channel to handle questions like "Why is my hair on my chin?"

I hear you. What I can see happening -- and this is rank supposition based in large part upon what I've seen in customer service chats -- is people coming in, asking that still, and getting terribly, TERRIBLY offended that customer support is not available for modifications, and creating a mess out of the support chat time and time and time again. I see related interactions happening day after day after day. And before anyone wonders, no, I'm not a CSR for any brand. I am a professional SL layabout -- I toil neither do I spin. Okay, I host a live music set once a week at the Blarney, but that's the extent of my worklife in SL as it currently stands lol

Eh, could be? I can just see the angle Cinos brought out in the OP, and I can understand why that would be an issue. The support angle was stated by a creator; I'm merely listing reasons why I see it as valid. As for the furry community, I can't really speak to that. I have a Jomo I enjoy, and I rather like that it's modifiable, but it's not my default. The problem, Coffee, is that you're using reason and logic; these tend to be in short supply at times Copy your original, rez the copy, if you borken the copy, re-rez the copy and try again. It's not rocket science. I've spent too much time in the Catwa and Maitreya chats, though, and I see what questions are asked even now. When that's added to how little many SL residents know about editing at all... it's a potential dumpster fire. That said, if creators could sign on for it, I'd be totally down for that.

All things being as you stated, then absolutely. The question still remains regarding exactly how the bodies are scripted. If they've all got unique names, then as you say, easy-peasy. But if they're hard-coded in (which I've seen done for varying purposes, although I don't know if any bodies do that)... you're once again in the territory of massive customer support issues. Ultimately, the link issue is just one part of a greater whole when it comes to creators' decisions to release no mod bodies. Again, I do not LIKE that my bodies (outside of my Jomo and my Belleza Isis) are no mod, but I understand some of the decisions behind it.

True, but I think depending on how the body was scripted that it *could* be problematic. I know some scripts are very specific with regard to what link number certain parts are. If you're talking more about having a script for modifying a body (like the one for the Belleza optimization), then yes that can be taken care of. And if so, then you get folks in the body's customer support chat constantly asking how to use the optimization package. If that's part of the creator's work, well and good; if it's not, you're dealing with declining multiple questions for support of a third-party product. I am not at all against modifiable bodies, for the record. I think they're great. I just think that the customer service angle -- not to mention potential extra work on the part of the creator -- can be a reason that creators swing overwhelmingly in favor of keeping their bodies no mod.

(sorry about the double nesting -- I was backspacing and everything went haywire) This is my actual response, in case it gets missed via the "expand" command: "Hahahahaha!! No. No, they would not. Of course some people would, because they actually look at the documentation and have reading comprehension skills, but from what I've seen in customer support channels, it would create a clusterfludge of epic proportions and we'd have CSRs ripping their hair out more than they already do. Plus also, customer support would be going in two different directions: 1) how do I fix this/ apply this/ activate this/ OMG MY BODY HAS THREE FEET, and 2) how do I go into edit/ edit linked parts/ how do I relink/ what is a root prim/ what is a face... I'd say I'm over-stating, but I've been in building classes marked as intermediate or advanced, and folks are still asking about root prims. Don't get me wrong -- in a classroom setting that is fine... but CSRs aren't building instructors, and that's what you'd end up needing for that end of the customer support."

Hahahahaha!! No. No, they would not. Of course some people would, because they actually look at the documentation and have reading comprehension skills, but from what I've seen in customer support channels, it would create a clusterfludge of epic proportions and we'd have CSRs ripping their hair out more than they already do. Plus also, customer support would be going in two different directions: 1) how do I fix this/ apply this/ activate this/ OMG MY BODY HAS THREE FEET, and 2) how do I go into edit/ edit linked parts/ how do I relink/ what is a root prim/ what is a face... I'd say I'm over-stating, but I've been in building classes marked as intermediate or advanced, and folks are still asking about root prims. Don't get me wrong -- in a classroom setting that is fine... but CSRs aren't building instructors, and that's what you'd end up needing for that end of the customer support.

To add on, if you also threw a modifiable body into the works, there would inevitably be questions about why the body doesn't work when you've unlinked and relinked, how to do X, Y, or Z... and that's on top of the standard "Why does my neck have a line" refrain that sounds Each. And. Every. Day. Still.

I think the customer service angle is a realistic one. I know for many of us it's just good sense to keep the original packaging our body came in so we can get a fresh copy if something borkens, or a redelivery (same with heads), but some people will have an issue even with a no-mod body or head, and if you suggest just unpacking a new copy they'll do about anything to avoid that. The time I've seen taken in various customer support channels dealing body issues is pretty intense. Now add a modifiable body onto that... ouch. All that said, I wish more bodies were modifiable as well. I need to get the Belleza optimizer for both myself and one of my alts (I have Isis, he has Jake), because I want to play with it and see what it does... I'm not technically minded, but the thing is... I know if I screw it up, I just unpack a new copy. Or better still, I make a copy FIRST and work from that copy rather than having to go through the whole unpacking scenario. But seriously, people lose their minds when their avatars get messed up. I get it, because our avatars are important; they're a reflection of ourselves, either our actual selves or just how we want to present in SL. But the time various CSRs have to take working out body (and head) issues is already extensive.

Okay, in fairness this was yesterday, but I was slacking and didn't get around to posting it. These rabbits... OMG LOVE. I just want to jump through my monitor and snuggle him lol

I don't lie about it. The most I do is have varying degrees of vagueness, depending on who asks. Sometimes I stick with SLT +3, sometimes I say southeast US, sometimes I go with Florida, or at the county level, and a few people know my city. Fewer still have my mailing address lol -- but they're almost entirely people I know RL as well.

I'm on team "I'd have to talk to them first". SL is peopled by monsters as much as RL is... and sometimes it takes time before you see through the mask, whichever one it is they're wearing. TL;DR: meh, doesn't matter how they look.

I've taken forum breaks that have lasted months; I can't remember how long, but there were times it wasn't even on my radar. With regard to SL, my husband and I were offworld the better part of a decade, from somewhere in 2009-2010 up through October of 2019. I logged in less than once a year during that timespan. Now that we've returned, we're pretty solidly back

I am hoping this new way of looking at avatar rendering will push us in exactly that direction. I'd love a version of my Maitreya that didn't have the cuts. Much of the time I'm straight BOM, down to alpha layers. For those times when strictly layers won't cut it (which, for me, is only if I'm wearing a top with one shoulder dropping off), then the alpha cut body would come out of retirement.

I believe any optimization without sacrificing quality will have to come from either a) computer hardware upgrades, or b) the Lab itself. The two biggest boosts I've had to my viewer performance were when I got a new graphics card, and when the Lab did the scripting updates that dramatically bumped up region performance. Beq Janus's post did mention the Lab is working on improving performance with regard to SL water, which took a big hit with the introduction of EEP. I'll be very pleased to see that, as the hit to FPS overall was significant when we moved away from Windlight. Editing to add this: if the viewer could depend more on the GPU rather than CPU, much like Alchemy does, that would actually result in a definite performance boost... but if it didn't happen with this update, I'm not sure if we'll see it. It's a shame, because I love the FPS I get with Alchemy, but the UI drives me insane and I always go back to Firestorm.