TatianaDokuchic Varriale

So to recap: Reputation is now based on Likes and was populated with the old Kudos. Makes sense. As of yesterday you could see Who Likes What both on the posts and from the Reputation link on the Profile page which is kind of cool. As was mentioned Kudos weren't available in the old Merchant forum (waves hello to fellow Merchants) so I'd like to thank K Kwan who "kudoed" me back in July 2013 for some response I made about Materials. Without you, I'd currently be unlikeable

Great start! I was actually inspired to start updating my places and they're taking shape quite nicely. I'm currently quite satisfied with the limits on photos, descriptions etc. so my personal priorities are more along the lines of search functionality and integration (as described by Marianne). My other priority is described in the jira Integration of Second Life Map . I couldn't seem to leave a comment there so I'll explain further. While Marianne is looking for context with regard to the mainland, I'm looking for the means to relate/group private regions as I belong to a continent comprised of three estates (three different owners) with a current total of eight regions. Integration of the Second Life Map would be very effective in this situation as would the ability to tag the regions for search. I'll be very interested to see how this all fits together. Thanks!

We get the occasional bot cluster (up to about 17) on various parcels in our estate. Never have figured out why so I'd be interested to hear some theories. I usually boot them by restarting the region. They're darned creepy standing around in their mindless huddle so I figure they most likely discourage real traffic.

Phate Shepherd wrote: I put that bug report on the Jira about a recent patch to IE11 causing the marketplace slowdown, but nobody else could repeat the issue. Maybe I'm not crazy after all! Feel free to add to the comments in that bug report if your symptoms (and IE version) match. I have the same problem - Windows 10 IE11 Update 11.0.32/KB3160005. I've given up and switched to Chrome. I've also seen people commenting about the same thing in different forums. I would have commented on the Jira issue but for some reason I'm having trouble with that as well.

** waves hello to Pamela ** Pamela Galli wrote: That's three and a half years old. :mansad: I would "watch" it but the site seems to be down atm. Yep, every six months or so I paste the link into a discussion on some forum or chat. Seems I was MUCH younger when it first went out :matte-motes-bashful-cute:

Here's the jira that I created back in January 2012: Marketplace:Add Land Impact as a Searchable Field Now that Land Impact has been implemented as "Second Life's mechanism for calculating the computational weight of an object against land usage limits." it has become a necessary filter for the Marketplace Search. Personally I would be fine with a simple update that would see the current label "Prim Count" changed to "Land Impact" but I'm not opposed to the creation of a new "Land Impact" searchable field. The important thing is that Land Impact is included in a timely fashion, however it is done. It may also be prudent to include a corresponding "See Description" checkbox similar to that which is used for Permissions.

Look here: http://blog.machinimatrix.org/3d-creation/blender-meshes-trail/sl-default-avatar-for-marvelous-designer/comment-page-7/ Be sure to read the comments. I'm using the ones provided by Doc Tokyo with the arrangement points and they're working well.

MIstahMoose wrote: Are blogs as a form of promotion and advertising viable by any means? I am sort of curious..since I for one dont really read any. I am planning to design a website and it will have a release feed, but should it also contain a blog? Or should I just give out a bunch of free stuff and lindens to bloggers and see what happens? Does anyone have any experience with a promotion from a blog gaining them a noticeable consumer base? I can see friends reading another friends blog, but as far as I can see there aren't too many larger blogs in SL with quite a following? Then again I do not read or follow them, so I am curious. But I have definitely.been to websites..so I know that is still viable for any production but hiring bloggers worth it? Or shall I await them to approach me? I've had a "store" blog for over five years now and it continues to be a great experience for me. Along with (limited) product promotion, I blog about related subjects (history, art, architecture, second life & its communities, etc.). The blog acts as the anchor for a larger social media (SM) strategy which includes Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Reddit, Forums, etc. The blog is also a bit of a money maker on its own. I get the majority of my Second Life information via SM including a lot of great blogs, Yes, there are Second Life blogs out there with large followings but they're not usually what you would classify as just "store" blogs. As a form of advertising & promotion using a blog and SM is certainly viable. You'll have to decide how much time you want to devote to this as it can become quite time consuming. As others have already mentioned, good products & excellent customer service are your first priorities. Good luck!

If there are two private regions with a void (i.e. no region at all) in between can you see one private region from the other? Thanks! ETA: Thanks to all three people that answered this. I learned something from each of you!

The good news is that you can use Local Textures which will still allow you to get a free preview of your work.

The Google Affiliate Network (GAN) is closing on July 31, 2013. As far as I know, this is currently the only way to use the Second Life Affiliate Program so will it also be closing at that time or will there be a switch to another affiliate network? August 6, 2013 Update: On Friday, August 2, 2013 I received an email from LL telling me that the Second Life Affliiate Program had moved to Commission Junction. Other affiliate programs that I was using via GAN had given me their information months before the switch. Since GAN was already shut down, I was actually surprised when LL sent me something. Better late than never I guess.

Drongle McMahon wrote: By the way, it is worth noting that pseudo-relief from normal maps does not contribute ambient occlusion. So you still need baked/painted AO to get the full depth effect. Fortunately it is non-directional and does not suffer from conflict with the SL AO. It just adds to it. I've been wondering it the lack of an Ambient Occlusion Map is the reason that the changes with Materials is so subtle. What do you think?

Sy Beck wrote: TatianaDokuchic Varriale wrote: I believe that "the vertical offset refuses to stick" is a bug. It's happened to me and others have also commented on it. I was wondering, is your vertical offset a negative number? Well done smarty :smileyhappy: Works perfectly now, thanks for the quick reply. Oh good! Glad it worked

I believe that "the vertical offset refuses to stick" is a bug. It's happened to me and others have also commented on it. I was wondering, is your vertical offset a negative number?

Perrie Juran wrote: And it is as with many (if not all?) old things in the old JIRA marked "INACTIVE." But it's still alive in my heart :heart:

Here's the Jira for Marketplace:Add Land Impact as a Searchable Field. I created it on January 23, 2012 and it's been "Acknowledged". "Now that Land Impact has been implemented as "Second Life's mechanism for calculating the computational weight of an object against land usage limits." it has become a necessary filter for the Marketplace Search." I like to post the link every once-in-a-while

Rya Nitely wrote: There is an easier way to get this effect. It's called 'Shininess' in the Texture tab. You have a range of choices from low to high and you just select the one that looks best, and Voila! No tutorials necessary and everyone can see Most things that I tried the old "Shininess" on came out "butt ugly" - lol. Now, with specular maps you can really control the amont of gloss and also have different areas highlighted on the same texture. It really is much better! Edited: Hopefully to provide more clarity

Chic Aeon wrote: I bought ShaderMap and like it very much. Very slick interface. The demo is VERY crippled so all you can really tell is if your computer will run it (memory hog so will not work for everyone) and how the interface works. It does seem to do a very good job and the fellow that made it has lots of videos and a nice online manual of sorts. I am happy with my purchase Thanks, Chic! It's good to get another opinion. I'm sure there are a lot of products out there, at various price points, that will do the same kind of thing. I was impatient because I wanted to learn more about Materials and didn't want to spend too much time searching for tools. This one really helped me get up to speed quickly as the map generation (normal & specular) was so easy.

Coby Foden wrote: Brrrrrr ... makes me cold just looking at you!! Nice job

Madeliefste Oh wrote: I think that in the same spot that you use now for 'Mesh', you have room enough to change the text to: Mesh & Materials It will not be overdone. I did add a standard mesh logo to my boxes just after mesh came out. And at the moment I'm rather in doubt if I will leave it there. When I first did put it, it was mainly to make the difference very clear between my sculpts and my mesh items. But since my sculpt shop and my mesh shop are devided in world, and we now have the full perms mesh category on the marketplace to put the items, the word 'mesh' on all pictures has become superfluous. However when your items are in categories that offers prims, sculpts and mesh in the same category I think it is certainly and advantage to make it clear that your product is made of mesh. Yes, I think I might do that One thing that convinced me to identify Mesh is when I caught myself looking specifically for it on other products when I was shopping. I'm guessing a time will come when mesh is so common that it won't be necessary. It willl be interesting to see when that happens.

Great video, Medhue! Thanks!! After watching it yesterday, I went searching for something similar that I could use with Corel Photo-Paint. Unfortunately, the Nvidia Normal Map plugin doesn't work with Photo-Paint. I did try it with GIMP but for some reason the preview wouldn't work for me. After some looking around I finally settled on ShaderMap. It's not free but it's not that expensive and there is a trial version you can use to check it out. Besides normal maps, it also generates displacement, specular, and ambient occlusion maps straight from the loaded texture The previews are great and I found customizing the maps quite easy. Just another option to make our move to Materials a bit easier

Madeliefste Oh wrote: While I was very skeptical two days ago, after some fiddling around with the material system, I'm grapped as well. It is not hard at all to work with it all, once you understand the basics of the system. I have my first product out now with materials. I'm not a fan of updating older products, I always try give things my best shot and make smart choices, so I don't have to come back later to the same item. But now with these materials it might be a different cup of tea... I'm considering to add normal and specular maps to older products as well. Looks great! It really highlights the benefits of Materials where you can control the "shine" for different components, the wood chest, the metal locks & corners, the leather straps etc. I'm probably going to update a few of my favourite products as well. I was already thinking of converting some of them to mesh and this will add a little extra. I'm also wondering what to do about the main picture that advertises my products on the SLM. I reluctantly added a "Mesh" logo onto that but I'm even more reluctant to add "Materials" now that it's out. Seems like overkill but I'm still deciding. What do you think?

arton Rotaru wrote: People shouldn't expecting to much from materials. But even if the effects are subtle, the eye will recognise it, it will look more real, than with the static effects we had in the past. From my own observations, I have to agree with you arton. If the original texture (diffuse) is good, i.e. it already has a realistic 3D appearance, adding normal & specular maps will not dramatically change it. It will, however, add a touch more realism with subtle shadows, shine etc. And, as you say, this effect is dynamic so if you have a flickering fireplace or idle the day away watching the natural light move across the object you will see things change. I think this is well worth the extra effort! As an added bonus, if your diffuse texture is already good the people that cannot use the Advanced Lighting Model are still getting a quality product. As for pricing, I don't believe that adding Materials is going to allow for a significant price increase. It certainly didn't happen with Mesh. What I think will happen is that those items using Materials correctly will be of a higher quality and therefore will generate better sales. It will be interesting to see how this develops!

BlackMagi Darkwatch wrote: The reason I mentioned attached lighting is it would be dynamic as the visitor interacted with the scene, It would cause the shadows to move as they moved. In my test scene there is no possibility of adding sun/moon as the build is supposed to be underground so it needs to be lit with wall torches but therein lays the problem. To place wall torches in a more or less realistic way I would need to place more lights than the viewer can render. When using the wall torches as light sources the effect is static, we can simulate movement using particles and even add sounds but in RL the flames would dance which in turn would affect the shadows being cast over the walls/floor. I totally love materials but can anyone suggest a way to better light an underground scene where the flames can dance and create a more dynamic effect to their surrounding area? Black You might want to check out Outy's Fire and Light Scripts v3.0 by Outy Banjo's which includes a nice "Flicker" module that may be what you are looking for. I've been working on some wall paneling with a lot of raised plaster work. Since it's meant to be used in an 18th century chateau it gets a bit of sun/moon but not a lot. The addition of normal & specular maps in combination with the fire flicker is pretty cool. As someone else said, it's subtle but makes the overall scene come alive a bit more. Because this texture is meant to be used indoors (with lower lighting) I found I could use a much higher intensity on the normal map. From now on, I'll have to remember to adjust my wall textures depending on whether they are for interior or exterior use.

Pamela Galli wrote: Also the offsets don't stick for me either. I couldn't get my offsets to stick for anything but the diffuse map either