Medhue Simoni

Those are definitely good points! Those could also be more reasons why the IM system is bad. I, myself, have hit the wall in total text, and thought, I better put this in a notecard, or something might get lost.

Tari Landar wrote: If LL would just listen and actually address issues, and fix what's possible to fix, I bet they'd have a much better rep with people, lol. Really, it's not hard to turn that rep around, and it's pretty straight forward how you do that. You just fix the bugs. Blender was plagued with bugs 5 years ago. Saving every few minutes was a must. At the last Blender Conference, the coders were literally tracking and fixing the bugs while at the conference, to keep the total known bugs ridiculously low for such a complex program. It's many times more complex than SL, althought no back end, which does bring about many more problems. LL just has to take bug fixing seriously. I've tried to get bugs fixed. It's like pulling teeth. They always assume you are lying or don't know what you are talking about. My experience with all software companies is completely different. They assume you know the program, likely better than themselves. When they fix it, or figure out why I had the issue, they are extremely happy I helped them find a problem. Some even gave me free stuff. Notice, I said when, not if, because I've never filed a bug, or jira, or messaged a programer about a problem and not had it addressed affectively, except for SL.

You know, I don't think the Lindens quite understand the volume that we deal with. Yes, I know that is kind of crazy to say, but let me explain. When V2 came out, and every1 screamed about it, LL had some meetings to try and fix the problems. Of course, I went to them. Few other people were there. There were literally more lindens than users. In 1, it was just me and Moon Metty. In that "meeting" I complained about LL's new little icons next to all your friends names. Oz had no idea why they were a problem. I tried to explain that my whole viewer would freeze up for a long time by just opening my friends list. He didn't have that problem, cause he doesn't have 10 thousand friends, but I do. He didn't understand the volume of icons my viewer had to process. He only had is own situation to test, which is nothing like mine, or any merchant's.

OzwellWayfarer wrote: I didn't believe capped IMs was "a thing" either until I went away on holiday for 3 weeks last year, and returned to total devastation. Basically it said "your Ims were capped" or something to that effect in chat, and I couldn't see any of those IMs and there were no email notifications for those either. I have no idea how or why it is triggered, but it IS real. My backup now is to provide my gmail email in my profile. There is no real ideal solution as you know Plus each merchant seems to have a different preferred contact method. Well, obviously, IMs get capped, and I have no solution for that, if people want or need to step away from SL for awhile. That said. It's kind of crazy to have a system that gets capped. Automatically it makes itself unreliable. I'm sure there some spammy reason for this, but I think that is the price you pay for having an IM system. What exactly is the point of an IM system if it's unreliable? If it's about spam, then attack it from the front end, not the back end. Meaning, stop the spammers, but don't keep people from getting IMs.

Gadget Portal wrote: I've often had this same rant. Despite our profiles telling people to send IMs so we can actually reply, people send notecards- sometimes to say even less than an IM could. It's ridiculous. If people don't want to turn on IM to email and want to insist that IMs get capped... They deserve to have messages lost and to lose L$, if you ask me. Plus if they're too dumb to read simple instructions, you probably don't want to deal with them anyway. It's nice to know that someone else feels this same frustration. I try to do my best to support my customers, and the worst thing in the world is to be hurt by things you have no control over. In a virtual world, the communications system is the heart of the whole dang system. How can it still be this bad? Why are we subjected to this notecard torture?

It's just hard to do business this way. At the very least, we need a reliable communications system. It's another part of SL that FAILS miserably. I don't really blame the people trying to navigate around it. It's inexcusable to still have these problems. The customer contacted me back and was very happy she FINALLY got the download links, but she told me she did send an IM also, and that IM is not in my email. Now, I'm an animator, so I've never generally spent a huge amount of time in SL, except when I'm actually constructing something in SL, or like making my combat system. In some rare cases like that I'm in SL for hours on end, but that is not the usual. It's the creation aspect that I always loved. Over the past few years, I spend even less time in SL, as I'm doing more and more outside of SL. But... I still want to support SL, and my customers here. When applicable, I will convert what I've made to an SL version. This IM and notecard BS just makes things more and more difficult.

So, not a week ago, some1 IMs me and tells me they never got their download links. I sell a set of bodysuits with weights for Blender to use when rigging clothing for SL. Some people asked if they could pay for the package with lindens, so I figure out a way. The person just needs to pay me the lindens, and send me an IM with their email. I state this right on my website. Despite this, people still send me notecards, instead of IMs. Yeah, I know, people like to use notecards. Whatever! The problem is, LL stopped sending us email notifications for notecards, so I never knew this person sent me anything. I have far too many transactions to actually see them and notice. The customer was nice about it, despite waiting weeks, but I can't do anything different, besides log in every day and check my notecards. Then, today, I get someone else saying they never got their download links. I'm like WTF, and check all my notecards. Now, I didn't find even 1 message or notecard from this person saying they didn't get their links, so I have no clue what is up with this case, but in the process of investigating, I see another person that sent me a notecard that I never knew about. Now, I have no idea who to be mad or annoyed at, but something has to change. Plus, I just don't understand this obsession with notecards. Yeah, I get that it's a work around faulty IMs, but do we all have to be forced into using them FOREVER? Whatever happened to IM and Notecard? Despite having hundreds of sales a day, and numerous IMs a week, for almost a decade now, I've never had capped IMs. I always try to log in ever few days, at the least. Today, I don't know what to think tho. There are IMs that I don't get notifications for once in a while, and sometimes I get notifications, and login, only to not have any IMs, and having to find the person in search to get to the IM they just sent me. There is definitely something up with the whole system, which is crazy, but not unexpected from LL. I do eventually see all the IMS tho. Really, I don't know why I'm ranting, cause it seems that this is just the way things are. Sad, isn't it. You know tho. I counted how many people sent me notecards instead of IMs, and it is staggering how many people did this. I thought for a second, maybe if I put the word IM in bold type on my website. Then, I just laughed at myself.

Hi Caitlin!! This is the first I've even hear about all this, but I generally stay in the animation or mesh sections. Now, I want to hear the whole story. Anyone got a blog link that talks all about this? Pst.... is your inworld camera broken?

If you have Avastar, then use their collada exporter for all rigged meshes. You only need to select the mesh you want to export, and there maybe a Selection Only options in the export options on the lower left side panel when you export the mesh.

Theresa Tennyson wrote: I'm not saying honest criticism isn't useful; just that forums aren't. For every piece of useful information you'll have to filter out a huge pile of sidetracks, personal conflicts, utter ignorance and Rick Astley videos. It's like straining a litterbox, only the proportion of reusable material to crap is reversed. Maybe that's why there are so many cat pictures... And after all of that you won't see what your customers think; you'll see what the users of your forum think. Look at any news article - say there are three hundred comments on it. That will represent one-one-millionth of the population of the United States, and in fact a self-selected one-one-millionth that is almost entirely made up of trolls and idiots. Maybe that is true, but ..... As a creator, I don't have that many people freely giving me advice or criticism. Even if they are totally wrong, big deal, it's still more data to tag and put into the files. Sometimes, all it takes is 1 little comment to spark a whole different way of looking at a problem. You have to be open to that criticism tho. Just as a funny example. Today, while doing my daily routines, I listened to 1 CEO on a podcast, saw a couple CEOs tweet stuff, watched Epic's Ceo on a Youtube video posted today giving away money to Unreal content devs that make cool stuff, and talked personally with 3 CEOs on skype.

Theresa Tennyson wrote: And this thread is a perfect example of why Lindens don't bother with the forums. Article on the obsolesence of Internet fora from 2011... http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/remembrance-of-message-boards-past/?_r=0 If that is the case, It would be sad, and not a good sign. I'm not talking about people having lively, or actually interesting opinions and honest criticisms. I'm talking about a company filled with grown adults but child like sensitivities. When someone gives you criticism, or even says what you made sucks, it's not a reason to curl up in a ball in the corner. I'm just a tiny fish. Yet, I have dealt with thousands of customers, and many hundreds that were insulting. When I first started, yeah, I was affected by the criticisms. Then, my brain took over and realized that maybe these people, rude or not, were actually trying to tell me something. Something I wasn't noticing myself. Yeah, some are just mean, but NONE of them can't be a opportunity to learn something and grow. It's tough sometimes, but what would life be, if it was easy? Today, I'm not affected, even in the slightest, by a negative comment. I'm actually more interested in them, and I want to hear more people's opinions. Sometimes, I agree with them, and make a correction. If they are saying crazy things, then I can comment, correct anything that is wrong, and leave their comment as evidence of their own delusions, and anger. Another customer will also likely come by and point out how crazy the person is. Matter of fact, I don't think I have 1 negative comment on any of my products that don't have some other customer correcting them, in some way. There is also a level of honesty here. I, for 1, will always try to be honest, and upfront with people, as this benefits all parties. Recently, I got a big contract job because I was flat out honest. I had no idea how to do what they needed, but I was asked by another client to look at this character generator system, which they were also wanting to use. So, I just messaged them saying that, and if they couldn't find someone to do the job, to give me a call. They called, and I figured it out. When I finished the job, the lead coder told me they had dozens of people that responded, with most of them saying they could easily do the job. Not 1 came through. He said I was the only guy that actually said that I had no clue how, but I might be able to figure it out. When you aren't honest, you're just wasting people's time. I think my time is probably the most precious thing I have.

LlazarusLlong wrote: Medhue Simoni wrote: Ebbe, are you awake? How about filling us in on what is going on at the lab? You do understand that almost every game company does weekly, and some even daily podcasts or Youtube videos. Most don't even have a reason to do this, like LL does. Unity is the closest thing to the SL platform, and they have videos almost everyday. Go onto their forums, they have actual Unity workers there answering questions and engaging. Seriously LL, you tell us how complex SL is, yet nobody at LL answers anything, EVER. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for an answer here, Medhue. It took Ebbe NINE MONTHS to respond to a Missing Persons Forum callout. Apparently, he's been "busy" . . . That is like the perfect example of what I'm talking about. Not only does Ebbe not come to his own forums, but no lindens do either. Even the so called moderators can't bother themselves long enough to let Ebbe know about a thread, with his name in the title. Oh, I know I'm not going to get any answers. I've done numerous threads with his name in them. I'm not saying he has to be here all the time, but a few minutes every once in awhile would do wonders. Being busy is not really an excuse. We are all busy, and I bet quite a few of us are much more busy and work many more hours than he does, but here we are. If nothing else, I'm evaluating the numerous options I have to spend my time at. What I see from other platforms, are people engaging as much as they possibly can, even CEOs. What I have seen from LL over the past 5 or so years could barely fill a 3 page notebook. To me, this just doesn't look good. Seriously, I'm looking for a reason to keep promoting this platform, when I could be promoting others. Supposedly, they have this new platform coming, which we have heard nothing at all about, and that really worries me. I know the history of the company pretty intimately and seen bad decision after bad decision. It's almost like they have no clue what they are doing. Just look at Fitted Mesh, or releasing mesh avatars who's eyes aren't even rigged. Fixing any bug is a year long process, if it ever gets fixed. Yeah, Ok, It might seem like all I'm doing is bash them, but it's because I love the concept of the platform. It's because I know personally, and work together with creators in this world, whether here or on other platforms. I'm criticizing them because I give a crap. Heck, for whatever reason, I keep paying for my sim.

Initially, I was perplexed by this topic, until I went and looked at the Stickies. Do we not have a category just for our Avatars? It's pretty bad when the people that run the forums can't even put their posts in the right categories. Personally, I've given up on the forums. LL doesn't give a crap, and neither should I. We, meaning the community, has made numerous good suggestions for the forums, with LL not responding AT ALL to any of them. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I come here once a week, and that is only to check that I didn't miss something. You'd think, with so many employees, a few might actually deal directly with their customers in the forums. Just like Rodvik, Ebbe is dropping the ball. We go months without hearing even a peep from LL. It's ridiculous. With almost every other company I deal with, I know everything about what they are doing. Nothing is really a secret at all. They understand that the community is the most important part of their jobs. Even the coders understand this. The crazy part is, LL has no fricken reason to hide things. Nothing they could ever come up with is worth hiding. They gain NOTHING by hiding things. If anything, they more than anyone should be as open as possible, because their whole business model is based on what we the community does. If LL does something, we can make it better, or we could make it totally fail. Including us should be a primary part of their discussions. Ebbe, are you awake? How about filling us in on what is going on at the lab? You do understand that almost every game company does weekly, and some even daily podcasts or Youtube videos. Most don't even have a reason to do this, like LL does. Unity is the closest thing to the SL platform, and they have videos almost everyday. Go onto their forums, they have actual Unity workers there answering questions and engaging. Seriously LL, you tell us how complex SL is, yet nobody at LL answers anything, EVER.

I really don't know of this is it, but in Blender, you change the texture assigned in 2 ways. One way is in the materials and texture tabs. The other way, which I thought was strickly for the viewport, is to apply the actual material groups to the proper textures in the UV Editing layout, to see them properly in the viewport. I'm wondering if you didn't do the 2nd way to 1 of your LODs, and it causes this in SL. That's probably not it, but maybe. It might also be worth checking in the texture tab, and making sure the right mapping is applied.

LovedWarrior Quan wrote: Thank you! You made it very easy! Thanks! I learned so many new quick tricks, I thought It was worth making another video.

Gaia Clary wrote: Your solidify trick is very cool! I like I actually saw this trick done by that guy who posted a video about his problem in Avastar, not long ago. He did it super quickly, but when I saw him do it, it instantly caught my attention, and I jumped into Blender to test it.:matte-motes-nerdy:

Sassy Romano wrote: Oh how we've progressed! Just a couple weeks ago, I wandered across a video of a women who was beraiding a designer, warranted or not, I have no idea. What this lady was complaining about whas that her mesh hands don't match up exactly with her mesh body, but the problem with the separate mesh feet she can live with for now, if she wear her boots. I was like. OMG! I wonder if she has separate mesh breasts and butt. Yeah, I think it's a bit out of control now. And..... all these crazy customization huds. It's nutty. That said, LL should be paying attention to this. Arguably, female avatars and accessories are by far the largest market in SL. When they build the Avatar editor for the new world, they should cater to this, and make it so that all of us can import completely customizable characters. They should allow us to import models with our own blend shapes that make all of our avatars even more customizable than the SL avatar. Yeah, it is more data, but it's alot less data than what is going on in SL. In the new world, they will have to implement limits. Really, I'm getting far too excited to see what LL does in the new world. I need to calm down, as not to set up an expectation that LL can't meet, for my inevitable disappointment. Custom skeletons will kind of change everything for me. I might even think about doing various rigs where I make all the animations for these unique animal rigs, image a dragon rig, then I put out the rig, for free, so anyone can create a dragon and use my rig, which fits my animations. If LL does it right, people could even add to my rig, and my animations should still work, as long as they don't mess with the hierarchy chain. I could make rigs for all kinds of creatures. Heck, I'd even rig the models for them.

Elinah Iredell wrote: I really just want to start with the basics if I could just do some simple things like unwrapping and merging simple shapes I would be happy. What is your opiion on what resolution the textures should be? Texture resolution is somewhat straight forward. Depending on what you are making, and artist wants as much as they can get. That said, SL is unique in that every bit of content is downloaded, so the less data you can make something, the fast it will rez, and less stress you will put on rendering the item. If you are talking about texture with alot of detail, you need to use 1024, if the texture is a simple color with no shading, you don't even need to use a texture. Go as low as you can go, whenever possible, especially when you are not lossing visual quality. What you really want to learn, is how to take advantage of bump mapping and specular mapping, as those are really going to be the features that make your meshes look amazing and stand out. I have a video on UV unwrapping in Blender.

I don't think it would be ridiculous to say that a good million people or more use Blender in some way or another. It is useful in literally dozens and dozens of areas and markets. Blender has a donation model, primarily. I know of a couple dozen viable businesses that run completely on a donation model. I've donated to the Blender Foundation, and many people I know would also donate. No, I don't donate thousands of dollars, but $50 here and here. They don't need you to pay them thousands. If only a fraction of their users each give them 20 bucks, then they are swimming in dough. Personally, even before I used their software, I was rooting for them. I saw it as a great way to develop code. Other companies just take their same code, slap a new UI on it, and give it a different version. This is ridiculous. I have software where version 2, and version 11, are exactly the same, except for a more unusable UI in the more current version. Yeah, they actually went backward in development. I'll spare the company the embarrassment of naming them. Even tho Blender is free, I have no problem at all donating on a regular basis, because I'm not getting scammed like all the other 3D software companies do. I should not be paying full price for the same fricken program with a tiny bit more code. That's ridiculous. Then, to get more people to upgrade, these companies purposely make their versions incompatible. Really, they shot themselves in the foot, and I won't feel bad for those companies when they collapse.

Very good post Penny! As a creator who has made avatars, the Draw weight recommendations are actually pretty generous, for the most part. My most popular avatar is my Lycan Avatar and his hair, all over his body, is actually real geometry, and even with all his clothing on, he doesn't go over 30k. I could actually reduce him significantly, if I wanted. I think what really needs to happen, besides LL putting some kind of limit in, is that consumers need to demand that all avatars sold on the Marketplace have draw weights. If the merchant doesn't post draw weights, then refuse to buy from them, or ask them. Just like no1 would ever buy furniture without it showing Land Impact, consumers should not be buying avatars with no draw weights in their description. Your avatar, although not that high of a draw weight, is extremely wasteful. I'm not saying that to criticize anyone, just as a statement of fact. The sword looks to be the only thing on him that is optimized. That shield alone is extremely wasteful, and it's 1 of the few things on your avatar that you can see thru. My point, for pointing this out, is that despite all that wastefulness in the avatar, it is still has a pretty low score. So, pretty much any avatar creator that can't, at least, get their score into the orange, likely doesn't have much of a clue what they are doing.

In Blender, I can just create a quad version by selecting the body part, going in edit mode, select all edges, and hitting ALT+J. I thought you could do something similar in Maya.

A video on how to make tight fitting clothing really quick and easy. I am using Avastar, but many of the same tricks can be used without it.

Sorry, I had to post this here. New video from LL!!! New Prizes!!! It's CRAZY!!!!:matte-motes-smitten:

Amethyst Jetaime wrote: Customer buys an item in world and pays $200L Customer gets the product Merchant receives $200L Customer buys an item on MP and pays $200L Customer gets the product Merchant receives $190L It is the Merchant who paid the fee, not the customer. The only way the customer would have paid would be if they paid $210L for the item which is not allowed by the LL terms which forbid pricing the dress higher than the inworld price. If LL wanted the customer to pay the fee they would allow merchants to increase the cost by an amount equal to the fee. The fee is overhead for the merchant in the same way any other cost of doing business is, such as upload fees, and the costs of anything the merchant buys to make the item which all come out of gross profit. A merchant doesn't make any money (net profit) unless the gross profit exceeds the overhead. Many merchants don't make enough gross profit to cover their expenses and have to pay out of their own pocket for any losses. Well, technically, regardless of who actually pays, the reality is, that the customers always pay for all overhead and expenses, if the merchant is profitable. All costs are part of the price. No business would survive if this was not actually the case. So, whether you are talking about real world taxes, or LL commission fees, it is always the consumers that pay. Taxes and fees on merchants are really a way for the governing bodies to tax the public without them knowing it. Some ignorant people even want their governments to tax their corporations more, not understanding that this will raise the price of what they buy. If the government taxes corporations at a rate of 25%, all that really means in that the costumers of that corporation are paying 25% more to the government. The same goes of LL and the commission on the Marketplace. All the consumers are paying 5% more than they have to. Most merchants don't have an inworld store, so it doesn't matter what rules LL puts in to make the price stay the same.