Kalynn Carnell

I just had to do this myself last week. It took me about 4 days total, at about 4-5 hours each, to sort out and categorize 4 years worth of stuff. I'm a wearer, shopper, and a builder, so I had quite a bit of stuff. As far as organizing, I have set up folders for Accessories, which contains all my jewelry, tattoos, glasses, hats, etc. In the Body parts folder, I set up subfolders for Shapes, Skins, Neko bits, Eyes; pretty much anything that alters my avatar's body itself. Clothing was the big hassle. I decided to tackle it the same way I organized my RL closet; Coats, Dresses, Gowns, Skirts, Pants, Jeans, Shorts &Capris, Tops, Undies, Socks & Stockings, etc, etc. There are certain designers that have their own folders, since I had so many outfits from them. I left them as they were. Furniture and Decor folder was separated into sub-folders according to rooms (living room, bedroom, etc). My textures were placed into texture organizers a few years ago, so I didn't really have to deal with them, thank goodness. Objects took a while to sort, and I have yet to sort all my houses and buildings that I've created over the years. Anyone know what category an Ice Palace might fit in? :smileywink: Like everyone has said, you will just have to think about how you remember things. For instance, do you remember a particular outfit as being from a certain designer or store, or do you think of it as "that black skirt with the silver buckles" and "that blue off the shoulder top"? Think about how you organize in RL, and make that your template in SL. It will take time, and you will get bored and tired of organizing, so just do it a little at a time. Don't be afraid to toss or give away things. Just for fun, I made one folder in my clothing and called it "Omg. I wore that?" Good luck!

Jenni, I would prefer to use shadows and all the wonderful lighting that SL has to offer, but the truth is, I don't have the graphic capabilities to do so. So, its prim shadows on my furniture for me, until I can get a monster computer that will allow me to turn those graphic settings to the ultra setting. Believe me, I long for that day. LOL

Oh, this is awesome! I live in the States and didn't get to donate anything this year. It kind of snuck up on me, so I didn't even get to order my Red Noses. :smileysad: A friend of mine that lives over there lets me have them shipped to her house and then she ships them to me. Anyway, I'm glad to know where I can go in SL to donate to this wonderful charity! Thanks for setting up a donation jar!

Chosen, I wanted to say thanks for posting that tutorial for eyes. I tried it myself, and have discovered that I definitely need to find my graphic tablet and pen in order to do it justice. My mouse was just too unwieldy to give me the fine control needed to get a decent approximation of the final outcome of this tutorial. That being said, again, thanks for posting it. Makes me want to make my own set of eyes for my avatar now. :smileyhappy:

Thanks everyone! That was kinda what I thought, I just wasn't sure on the opacity of the shadow. I'll see if I can find one in world, just to save on uploading costs. :smileytongue:

I'm not sure if this is a building or a texturing question, but I am wondering how one would go about adding those floor shadows to a piece of furniture. It just seems to make the piece more real to me, and now that I am about to build some new furniture, I really want it to have that finished look. Any suggestions? Btw, I use CS3 for graphics and textures, and I've been building in SL for a while. I'm just back after a prolonged vacation in the real world. :smileywink:

I have this same problem. I've been curvy, with actual hips and a butt, since day one. I constantly have to adjust prim skirts to fit over the curve of my booty and often have to resort to rotating the entire skirt so that its a bit lower in the front than the back. Even the skirts with resizer scripts are hit and miss. So far, I've found one skirt that fit me perfectly "out of the box" from CoG. The skirt I was messing with last night took me about an hour or so to adjust, using both the resizer script and doing it manually. I had to stretch the belt a bit, using the "edit linked parts", and then had to move a few of the skirt prims and rotate them a bit to fit over the curve. As an aside, I love clothing creators that sell their stuff as mod/copy. I don't mind no trans, if I can get it to fit. I did once get a skirt prim that was no mod, so I simply sent a notecard to the creator. Not only did she send me the mod prim, she sent me the same outfit in a different color! Needless to say, I am a patron of her store quite often, and send people there all the time.

In RL, I'm 5'2" in shoes, so when I got into SL 4 years ago, I went with the flow and had a tall avatar. She was well proportioned, though, in relationship to her height, so I didn't look like I'd been stretched. I wore that shape for oh, a couple of years. I took a break for a while, and when I finally came back on a steady basis last year, I noticed that my friends were suddenly shorter than me. I adjusted my height and shape so that I was more in step with them, so now my avatar is about 5'4". I've noticed that most people haven't followed the trend of more realistic human heights, which puts me right at eye level with most men's crotch. That being said, I love my short avatar! And when I see another short avatar, I get silly happy, especially if its a guy! I still haven't found a lot of furniture sized for my new short size, but I'm taking care of that by building my own. Couple's animations are still a challenge, such as dancing, but I have fun with it by wearing my wings to make it look like I'm flying, since I'm several feet off the ground anyway. :smileyhappy: I've also noticed that a lot more designers are creating for more realistically sized avatars, which makes fitting prims so much easier (love those resizer scripts for fitting!). I do still have a tallish shape (about 5'10"-6') in my inventory in case I need it, although the only time I've actually used it was when a friend of mine was adjusting some poses in a piece of furniture he was making and needed a "rag doll". LOL

I've helped a few newbies here and there during my time in SL. Usually, it's someone that I've been talking to already for a little while and then they just ask me for help. The most fun I had was helping out a guy friend that had a rez date fairly close to me. My sister helped with him...and I can say that a year and a half later, on his SL wedding day, he was still wearing the hair that I had helped him pick out. LOL. His partner wouldn't let him change it. I have seen some people with shapes that honestly make me want to ask them if they actually meant to look like that. I never do, but if a prim is poking out somewhere or they aren't wearing the bases with their shoes or the SL system hair is showing, I'll send an IM to let them know. As for filling out profiles, I'm like Venus. I like to perv the profiles to see if there is something interesting in there that I can open a conversation with that person about. I have to say that I don't really have any places or clubs or anything in my picks; just a few to reflect my sis, a funny moment with a friend, funny quotes I've heard while in SL, and a poem that my RL boyfriend wrote a few years ago. Mmmm....I think I need to go hit some of the newbie welcome areas to see if I can help out anyone.

Valto, I think one of the problems you are having with your skin looking "painted on" is because there are no highlights or shadows on the skin. Take a look at some of the other skins around you; human, furry, whatever. You will notice that the front and back of the thighs, the calves, the arms and such all appear to be lighter in tone, whereas the sides of the thighs, body, arms, etc appear darker. Shadows and highlights will help the skin look like its actually wrapped around the body. Also, skin is never one overall color. Try adding some noise to the purple area. You can do this by going to Filter (on the top tool bar), Go to Noise>Add Noise. A window will open where you can choose the type you want to apply. I've found a lower number looks better, and I use Uniform distribution and check the Monochromatic box. Here's an example of No Noise vs. Noise added: You can see that Noise sort of breaks up the solid color and might help with some of your frustration of the "painted" look. (As an aside, I was able to edit my earlier reply to include the picture I had made showing a few different filters and such. I made the dark stripes in the purple area with the Burn tool at 100% exposure and highlighted above them with the Dodge tool set at 20% exposure, then applied the filters.)

When I first started in SL 4 years ago, a friend of mine who had been in for much longer and made shapes made one for me. It was tall, but well proportioned, with actual muscles on the legs! *Gasp* Well shaped legs, almost unheard of! Anyway, I think Kalynn was about 6'5 or so back then. Today, she's about 5'2" or so, which is my height in RL. Yes, this puts me about equal with most avatar's leg length, but I like being short. It is very apparent that I am not a child avatar, as my womanly features on the upper region of my torso will attest to. I've also made a point of saying this in my profile. Kalynn has a tall shape that I will put on sometimes, but even then, she's only about 5'10". I like variety in my SL, and love being a "shorty". :smileyvery-happy: As for those "sex sims" the OP mentioned; I worked at one club as a host, and the owner told me that she had had some questions directed at her about the size of my avatar. This conversation is what prompted me to put the disclaimer about not being a child avi in my profile. It irritated me that my height was even questioned. I mean, come on; the owner wouldn't have hired me if she had had any question about my age or reservations about my avatar's height. Course, it didn't help that where I stood sometimes put me right next to a very tall male (one of the shift managers) and I only reached his waist. LOL

Since you mentioned photoshop in your post, I'll make suggestions for that particular program. These are only suggestions, and I'm sure other people will have some as well. 1. Since you have full permissions, you need to get the texture file from him and open it up in photoshop. Use one of the selection tools (lasso, magnetic lasso, quick mask, or the pen tool...love the pen tool!) to pick out the tribal bits that he wants changed. Once you have the selection (that little line of "marching ants"), you can either choose the brush option and simply paint over that area with red, or you can play with the color replacer tool. 2. Skin: The line between the white and purple is too hard and obvious. Try using the fuzzball brush in the default brush palette for that line. As for the stripes, the Dodge and Burn tools are wonderful for that. Burn makes sections of your painted color darker, while Dodge will make it lighter. Then, to get the look of fur, play with your filter gallery. I found that either sprayed strokes or smudge sticks gave a really good approximation of fur fibers. Here's a photo with some of the settings I used. I'm still learning all the possibilites of the various tools in photoshop, so maybe someone who has used it a lot longer than I have will have some better suggestions. Good luck!!

Oh, yes, that has happened to me several times, and sadly, I've been the one that has disappeared a few times. To me, RL takes precedence over everything else. There is one person that I met in my first year in SL, and I'm happy to say that even when I disappeared, he and I stayed in touch via phone, text msgs, and playing in WoW together (he's my guild leader). Another one of my friends, though, disappeared without a word, and I do wonder about him, He was a very good friend; I attended his SL wedding and became good friends with his partner as well. Her account totally disappeared, and he doesn't answer the email address I had for him. I miss him sometimes, but as I said, RL takes precedence. "People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you will know what to do for each person. When someone is in your life for a REASON . . . It is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are! They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrong doing on your part, or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realise is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered. And now it is time to move on. When people come into your life for a SEASON . . . Because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They bring you an experience of peace, or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season. LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person, and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant." Author Unknown

If you just got the video card today and installed the drivers that were included with the card, you really should go to the manufacturer's website and download the latest set of drivers. You can also find more info about what graphic cards work with SL here.

Victor1st Mornington wrote: Thanks for the kind comments folks One more pic. About 500 metres above my home in Refugio is one of the two TARDISes i have as skyboxes. Fans of the show and folks who keep up to date with the new series will recognise this next picture of the main console room of my skybox... Does Doctor 11 know you hijacked his ride? Do you have a fez hiding somewhere in there as well? Still, absolutely gorgeous, and I am more than a bit jealous. Personally, I'd love to see the rest of your TARDIS collection. But then, I'm a geek about that show. *^.^*

Ahhhh. So much more soothing on my eyes than bright white. Just curious; is this done with a CSS style sheet and is it really hard to learn? I'd love to play around with it and make one, too. Btw, I have noticed that there seems to be a bit of white shadowing around the names on the badges, making them just a bit hard to read (for my eyes, at least). Otherwise, everything else looks great. Good job!

You could ask a Moderator to lock this thread for you, or just let it go. People will see it's been answered, and will stop on their own. Just like any other forum, the thread will die eventually. And, welcome to your Second Life! Hope you have as much fun as I have had over the years. :smileyhappy:

It could be a setting in your mic controls itself, not just in SL. If you are in Windows, you can usually find your mic controls by going to the Control Panel >Sound (in Vista) or Control Panel > Sounds and Audio (in XP). Sorry, I am not familiar with Windows 7 enough to tell you where to find it there. Run a test with your mic, just to make sure that it's working properly. That may or may not clear up the problem. I just checked the voice settings on Phoenix, and I honestly do not see on the Voice tab any setting that could make it sound like you are using Push to Talk without actually having the Push to Talk option checked. I'm sure someone else will have other suggestions for you as well. Good luck getting it sorted. I hate it when my voice chat goes wonky.

Thanks, but I do have to say that I got the idea from seeing Suella's avatar of a wedge of cheese on a transparent background. I just thought, "Hmmm....I could just do a totally blank one. Wonder if that would work?" I'm just glad it did. :smileyvery-happy:

Hey, what a great idea! I just had to try, and this is my first post on the new format, so I'm crossing fingers that it turns out right. ETA: It worked, yay! And of course, I had to play just a bit to see if it would be possible to get rid of the default avatar so my face wasn't on there twice. I just made a 100x100 transparent picture in photoshop, saved as a PNG (which saves the transparency of the picture), uploaded it, and chose it as my avatar. You can see the result over there <<---. No double pictures!