Bitsy Buccaneer

Something that shows off the creative potential for different forms of expression. It wouldn't represent the best of SL if everyone showed up in standard business wear. Maybe something that was neat and tailored, but from another time period or an unexpected country. I promise not to do ninja kicks while dressed as a geisha though. :matte-motes-smile:

AdamZadig wrote: Like ChinRey I will give my final thoughts on this group and what it represents. It's a way to show that you are the original creator of the entire item. Sometimes in the past I have purchased an item and soon after realised it was cheaper to buy the original full perm version which is sold by the original creator. It's not saying as a buyer you shouldnt buy full perm items, its just a place for those who create their own to have a group to promote themselves. I do not see anything pretentious or pat eachother on the back about the group. Every niche in Second Life has a group. And it has stores that are both small and large in regards to reputation and popularity. I'm kinda disappointed with the negative feedback its got in the forums. I dont see the harm it does to have a logo that says you created somehting yourself from scratch. Yes anyone can claim they do when they dont but thats not a reason for those who genuinely create their own not to want to advertise the fact. Final then? In hopes you return with an open mind, here are some of my thoughts. Original work, especially mesh, is a strong selling point if the quality of the work holds up. But of course you don't need a group to tell people that you created everything from scratch. A simple sign or tag line works too. I'm not sure how the decision makers in a group would gain that level of certainty for that level of originality unless they forced their members to send all texture and dae files to them. My guess is that there has to be a fair bit of accepting someone's word on it. Some shoppers may be impressed by the logo and think it means more than it really does. This particular group has created more than a little enmity for itself however and some shoppers might decide to go elsewhere. Maybe you don't care about that. Maybe they're not your target audience anyway. It's up to you to decide whether the possible benefits are worth the possible costs. But it really isn't fair to get peevish with people who are letting you know about that enmity. Sometimes finished products ARE more expensive than the original full perm mesh. But then you are buying more, and in some cases it may well be worth it if something is skillfully textured or has a great animation set. Does that red herring have anything to do with the rest of the discussion here? Unless I've read ChinRey's posts wrong, SLOCCA doesn't just exclude the use of FP mesh created by others. It also forbids the SELLING of FP mesh by its members. I gather this is because they feel it discourages originality within SL. That's absurd. Someone who wants to help out other builders or sells FP because it's another market for their work is no less original than someone who doesn't and encouraging more people to build encourages more creativity in SL, which in turn encourages more originality. Surely I'm not the only one who's moved from working with FP mesh to battling the Blender beast. Is that mindset something you want to support and align yourself with? Putting their logo on your work is more than just telling others you created your items all by yourself. NO ONE here is saying to hide the fact that it's original work. They're just suggesting that this specific way of doing it comes with a few complications you might want to take into consideration.

Imagine you've arrived in a large city like London or New York, one comprised of countless communities of people from all over the world which variously intersect or ignore each other in countless ways. SL is that complex. Could you understand it by sitting in a coffee shop chatting to whoever happens to wander by? And for all that many here use it as escapism, it does seem that most bring their real lives and selves with them in one way or another.

It worked! The first time. Had to cobble two bits of script together, but I got all of the curlicues in the right places. :} One of the hunt organisers kindly added a One Per Av bit to the hunt giver script for me, so it will at least slow down acquisition. The printing plate is stocked with 15 copies of the currency note and the information notecard encourages any role players to talk with me if they would like a different set up. The printing plate only gives the stocked currency to the owner of the plate, so it's a rough simulation of printing the money. Maybe I'll get fancy and make a printing anim to go with the sales version. The friends who tested it for me are treating it like a fun toy, you know one of those toddlers' things where blocks fall out and you stuff them back in the top. :matte-motes-smile: The owner of the plate can then give the currency to others, so no one else can game it unless the owner changes the script to open access. Maybe I could do something like offer to add a custom watermark if a RP community wants to prevent gaming altogether. Then it wouldn't matter if someone else bought their own or took every alt into my shop during the hunt. Mostly I wanted something a bit different to get away from more ancient art to go on the wall. The initial feedback has been positive, so I might lose out on a couple of sales doing it this way (like Mongolian trade/Marco Polo is a lucrative area of RP :matte-motes-smile:) but hopefully will gain more from people just liking it. I appreciate all of the feedback very much. I'm not an RPer so any help in understanding their needs is great.

The first use of this will be part of a package for a hunt prize. The restocking idea is simple enough and stowing multiple copies of the bank note in the printing plate will tidy up the package, so I'm going to go with that for the hunt. Though rereading some things whilst writing up the stealth history lesson, erm, notecard for unsuspecting hunters :matte-motes-smile:, reminded me that rampant overprinting of currency (and subsequent inflation) was part of Mongolian history, so maybe I should just let that possibility be built in after all. :matte-motes-smile: I am going to come back to your suggestions, Rolig, and any others may make, for the version that goes on sale and some other projects in the pipeline. Thanks to both of you. If any RPers see this and want to chime in or IM me with suggestions for how they'd like it to work, feel free.

This is probably a noob question, working with scripts is not my forte and what I've read in the forums has just confused me. I'm putting together a role play package which includes a historic (late 13th cen) printing plate and paper currency and thought it would be fun if the printing plate gave out the notes to its owner, rather than just including a bunch of them loose in the package. Since currency is controlled by officials, no copy/yes trans is a nicely realistic set of perms. (Yes copy, no trans is pointless of course and full perm money is, in theory at least, a bit yikes. :matte-motes-smile:) Relying on the owner to change perms before giving them out in RP is one way, but it would be nice to take that burden from them if possible. Giving the owner copy/trans notes would also mean that he or she would only have to use it once, after which the printing plate would become nothing more than decor. I'd like to make it more RP-functional if possible. Is there a work around to the inability to change perms? Temp rez solutions won't work. Something that rezes the currency would, as long as it gives no copy. Any ideas for other (non-script) approaches? If not, is there a JIRA to set perms for owner after next owner or something similar you can point me to? :matte-motes-smile: We need that sort of thing.

Could you have possibly uploaded the wrong version of a LoD level when you came onto the main grid? That's always turned out to be the source of wonky texture issues for me, but then I'm not doing anything anywhere near as complex as an avatar. It's easy enough to test for if you think to watch for changes as you zoom in and out. Remembering to think of that early on is usually my short coming. :matte-motes-smile:

Talligurl wrote: What do the poor people who cannot see the awesomeness that is me need to do? Apply to the Fashionista Financial Assistance Programme for a grant to buy a faster computer. Have you made your donation yet? :matte-motes-wink-tongue:

Hmm. Compression. Didn't think of that. The texture sizes page goes down to 8x8, so I figured it was relevant. But this is SL, so we can't count on that. :matte-motes-smile: Ive been running around in my favourite hippy outfit for weeks now. No idea what my ARC is cause the updated official viewer won't let me log in, but it's so retro it has to be low. I'm not even wearing shoes, let alone fancy feet. Will have to upscale before I can pare down. Congratulations on making your own body hair. SL is becoming more and more like RL every day. :matte-motes-wink-tongue:

You're not odd or the only one. They're looking for women they can bully. They're probably also chancing, playing the odds by pestering lots of women in hopes of finding one or two. That scattergun approach means that it will seem like the creeps are a higher percentage than they really are. There aren't necessarily all that many of them, they're just more likely to IM random women. When you run into one, just shrug it off and move on. Mute them if need be, or TP away for a few minutes. Or you can invite them to my shop, say I'm your building alt and watch them try to pretend to be interested in ancient art and history. If you don't know anything, just make it up. :matte-motes-smile: Do what works best for you to remind yourself that you are in control of your side of the encounter. My art history lessons work well because they completely reframe the situation. Trying to argue with the bulliers doesn't because it's playing into their power game.

Gonna necropost here since the topic is more than timely and the thread is fascinating. Very glad I stumbled across it again while looking for something else. Hopefully it will help those who are putting their avs on a diet. Re the wee conversation immediately above: Yes, the default/library transparent texture is 32x32. When I remember, I use an 8x8 I got in an ancient tutorial instead. (Called something like Totally Transparent. Torley created it, so it's probably scattered about the grid.) I will put it in a free box at the landing point of my store, Buccaneer's Restorations. Direct TP via my profile. If you prefer to use search or can't remember how many cc's n's and ee's there are in Buccaneer :matte-motes-smile:, the words "Roman Art" should get a hit on the sim. I'll put a copy at the sim landing point too. The rest of you can debate whether 8x8 helps enough to bother. :matte-motes-smile: I have Blender brain and need my bed. Oh duh, I can just link here. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Firmans%20Haven/144/107/93

ChinRey wrote: Chrismaky wrote: I totally understand that SL is a user generated content community. I get that. But a lot of you need to understand that creating mesh is FREE and easily learned. It's not a hard thing to grasp. If that is true, why is it that ninety-nine percent of the mesh you see in Second Life is garbage? Prokofy mentioned two common serious problems with mesh, surfaces you can't rez on and land impact spinning out of cotnrol when items are linked. He could also have mentioned items (especially cars actually) that break down into a mess of triangles even at moderate vieweing distances, houses with walls you can alk through and doorways you can't and floors you sink into or float way above etc., etc., etc. All those problems are not caused by mesh itself and are easily avoided by competent mesh makers. They are caused by people trying to make mesh without understanding the basic principles. I'm going to borrow this post to riff off of because, well mostly because making quality mesh for SL is so straightforward and easy to learn I'm taking today off from it.:matte-motes-mad: After two years of struggle, I've gotten to the point where I feel relatively comfortable with Blender and can make decent looking objects. So now I'm pushing hard to chase after the Holy Grail of 1 LI pieces that don't break down with distance. And that means coming up with a second object, comprised of somewhere around 28 tris (prim workers can imagine this in terms of two tris per cube face), which holds the important dimensions from every viewable angle and retains various key elements so they can work together in SL. Plus two more objects for middle distances and lower graphics settings. There are ways to simplify that process. They don't always work. If it's a building or furniture, we also have to make a custom physics shape. This shape is what keeps your av where it's supposed to be. LI can skyrocket if the physics shape isn't done well. On the box bed I'm currently making, there are two side pieces someone might conceivably want to sit on or rez something on without needing to adjust the position. I haven't found a physics shape which keeps them raised AND the LI to 1. Which do I compromise on? How much time do I spend trying to do both? This project is geometrically simple, so it's obvious the LI matters more and it's not hard to figure out most of what the majority of people will probably want most of the time. Other things? Not so straightforward. And it is very very easy to get caught up in working entirely in cam view and forget to do things like use the item before uploading. All of those different details, decisions about what to compromise, and ways of thinking are needed to make good mesh for SL. And that's not even getting into the joys of laying out one or more UVs, which then need to be textured efficiently. Or what happens when an early decision turns out to be wrong and you have to figure out how to fix it after days of painstaking detailed work that you'd really rather not have to do all over again. Which is why I'm taking today off. Grumble. When it comes down to it, climbing the mountain of a learning curve that is Blender feels like the easy part. Why on earth should everyone who wants to build go through that if prims work for them? 100% mesh? No way. I love some of that old school creativity and geometrical brilliance.

Sighs. I had a bit too much real life so I switched projects to one where I thought the mesh was done and it was just texturing left, and scripting which a friend will help me with this weekend,... only to find that a choice I made in the very early stages was a compromise too far and the oh so carefully mapped UV needed to be redone. And of course it is much harder to redo the UV at this point. And I'm just moaning here cause I know most of you will have done something like that too and I need to clear my head before I dive back in.

Like someone else noted, it's what people do with the onion skins that are the more frequent problem. And it's not just what they do with their onion skins, it's things like high ARC shoes over Slink feet over mesh body feet, or even boots over Slink feet cause the wearer can't be bothered to take off the feet. (I have seen a surprising number of people say they do this in group chats.) And that anklet they forgot. And the toe rings. :matte-motes-smile: It's easy to over do in a very grand fashion these days. My comment was more than a little tongue in cheek and about bad practices in general, not specific to any one type in particular. I have definitely been in situations where a few high ARC avs have made for difficulties getting around (like sales shopping, events and MM boards). If someone handles their layers and layers of clothing and textures well and it doesn't affect others, superb. For those who don't, now it really is just their choice.

I'm easily amused, so I giggle at some of the slow rezzes and the impossible scenarios they create. Of course there are times when it's not good, like being inadvertently naked on a G sim, even if everyone knows it's a quirk of using mesh. To the OP and other new or returning peeps considering mesh bodies - there is a lot of change in that area. An early fad was absurdly ginormous mesh breasts with nipples that could poke an eye out and mesh butts big ennough to require an extra seat on an airplane. Now the rage is full mesh bodies. System clothing was nearly obsolete in some circles for a while, but I've noticed popular creators going back to it. (Makes sense since appliers are a big trend and clothing appliers are just system clothes for mesh bodies.) LL is also in the process of releasing updates which will probably set off at least two more rounds of major changes. You can read about the one that was just released here: https://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/Jelly-babies/m-p/3031284#M225489A really important one in the pipeline will add new "bones", sort of like more joints for the av skeleton and greater flexibilty in positioning limbs. Some of the things which creators do with those might not work terribly well with existing mesh bodies which weren't optimised for those possibilities. My suggestion to those who are new or returning is to wait before buying and study other people's avatars to get a better sense of what is possible now. You can ask in fashion-orientated groups too, but IMO it's usually more helpful to ask people who are wearing something you like the look of. And use the Avatar Rendering Complexity figures on demos before you buy anything. The mesh body thing can be overwhelming if you try to just dive in. Fortunately you don't need to do that, take as much time as you need to enjoy the adventure. :matte-motes-smile: P.S. Both mesh and pre-mesh building techniques have eccentricities which stand out until you get used to them and forget about them. None are absolutely perfect, so go with what makes you happy. And doesn't lag other people out obscenely.

This just might be enough to get me back on the official viewer. :matte-motes-agape: Multilayered mesh body part robots be gone!

Do you really think either Disney or LL staff are going to go through each and every violation they come across (and yes, using the word Sith is a violation) to decide what is acceptable and what's not? A company can lose legal ownership of a brand name if its generic use reaches a high enough saturation point that it can be seen as being in general use. This is why they fight so hard to prevent it happening and why they don't like a generic or "inspired by" use of their trademarked words and names. So even if they did go through each and every violation, yours would still have been pulled. Once you calm down enough to realise things like the ability to send post across the ocean, think of a new name for your collar and put it back on marketplace without any use of trademarked words.

Commercial games are an example of a legitimate license to use intellectual property from movies. Some idjits steal data from those games and upload that for sale. If the ones you found are from games, contact whoever made the game so they can ask LL to remove the items. From what I've heard, they're more likely to act.

Anything that has a texture can have DEMO plastered over it. Anything that can be rezzed (even if it has a no rez script in it), can have a large box attached to it. Shapes don't fall into either of those categories, so the oversized feet and hands are a rather clever way of providing demos. Especially in the days BS when hands and feet were just flippers to be ignored or bemoaned instead of constantly scrutinised gotta gotta gotta have em gonna die without them fashion accessories.... :matte-motes-wink-tongue:

What with all of the forum requests for friends from people who are shy or reserved or otherwise find it difficult to meet people, I thought I would make an offer. Look me up inworld and use me to practice on. Send me a friend request or a nice message saying a little about yourself. I do a lot of building so I'm inworld sporadically these days. My messages often cap, so if you don't receive a reply within three days or so, try again. (Please don't send a lot of short messages though - we only get 25 of course and one person can eat up a lot of that if they send another one every time they think of something else.) The hours between SLT midnight and 2 am are when I'm currently most likely to be inworld, or maybe some time between 5 am and 8 am. You can TP to my shops via my profile picks, so feel free to drop by, see if I'm on sim (try a radar scan if your viewer has one or look for a green dot on the mini map view) and say hello. If you don't know what to say to start a conversation, you can always mention this thread. Or if you rather, you can start off by writing something here. I will probably leave it up to you to make inworld contact though, because that is a useful and important skill to learn. Thanking creators whose work you like is another way to practice. There are some amazingly kind and generous people in SL. As for myself, I am understanding, patient and easy to talk with. I'm not going to chase after people but I will do my best to help if you take some initiative. How does that sound?

Below is a picture of an oil lamp Im working on, along with a very early start at a lowest LoD build (currently 28 tris, LI on its own is slightly over 1). The lamp has a fatter central section with a handle and spout attached, so it's important to carry over the proportions of each section into the lowest LoD. My question is this: Is there a way in Blender to accurately measure parts of a semi-complex build? TIA. 

I am now a convert to mirror building. :matte-motes-smile: Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you, had problems getting into beta grid when I was ready to test and then RL got in the way. Its schedule and mine weren't cooperating for awhile. Anyway, things seem to be proceeding apace though I haven't finished all of my LoD levels yet. Provisional LI is good too. Thanks for your help, arton. As always, it's much appreciated.

You know how Sansar isnt going to be SL2? Now I'm wondering if Sansar and its experiences might not be a stepping stone in developing a more immersive, full world SL. Is anyone talking about that possibility? Maybe I should look into trademarking the name 3rDLife. :matte-motes-wink-tongue:

My current project is a painted boxbed/daybed. The construction and geometry are simple, with the entire design interest coming from the painting. This is why I would like the textures to be as sharp and clear as possible while still being resource-friendly. The daybed has full left/right symmetry so I thought I could divide it in half without adding many vertices or triangles and use the same texture for each half. (512x512 used twice rather than 1024x512.) I've used Project from View for the UV so far. Had to tweak parts of the layout slightly to accommodate perspective, but that was straight forward when done as a single layout. (The 1024x512 set up.) Trying it as two halves doesn't because the only way I've come up with is to Project from View from the back/reverse side and then the perspective distorts size and placement greatly. The two halves need to match exactly so I'd rather not rely on having to reshape it manually. My other thought it to rebuild as a half and use the mirror function, which is still a bit of a frightening mystery to me. :matte-motes-smile: So I thought I would ask for advice here before I go wading back in and wracking my brain over things which might turn out to be dead ends. Can the UV be flipped simply? (I can't figure out what to call it to search for it.) If I UV the first half before I use the mirror function, will I still need to UV the second half separately? Will the added vertices matter enough on the lowest LoD that I should just scrap the idea? (This is my first piece of proper furniture.) In theory, I know about using hidden triangles and spare materials to get around some of that; will such an approach counteract my idea of reducing texture data? Right now, with only the mattress edges beveled, it's reading Verts: 83, Faces: 64, Tris: 150. Haven't explored lowest LoD options too much, but it's a bed/couch so I don't have to chase the < 1 LI dream too hard. :matte-motes-wink:

It seems like traveling is less popular than it used to be, but there are still people who do it as a regular activity. A good friend of mine often walks the Linden roads to see what's new and interesting. If you were to stop someone like him, you could probably have a bit of conversation about places to visit and possibly a new friend. I mention this because you're wanting to meet people who share a hobby that is unorganised and spread out. If you come across any other travellers, say something. Think of a basic strategy for how to do that ahead of time and write it out somewhere very easy to find again. (All about minimising sources of anxiety.:matte-motes-smile:) This could be something like "Hi, I'm traveling through SL looking for interesting places to visit. Are there any you especially like?" And that's a conversation started. It might help to have some other responses written out too, like a simple "Thank you, it was nice to meet you" for people who say no. But only if it helps minimise anxiety for you. Second, would you consider taking up a bit of building as a second hobby? It doesn't have to be serious and it can be a great way to meet other people. Building-related groups tend to be friendly, with people who are happy to help those who are new to creating. Plus, people like to get gifts and if you build, you have a supply of things to give away. :matte-motes-smile: The more I create, the more interesting my SL is. My time in world is haphazard, but your hours are when I'm most likely to be in these days. (If you can, maybe try out different hours - most Americans (and thus many SL residents) will be asleep in the early SL hours and things like RP sims will be quieter. You might have better luck later.) For the remainder of the month I'm going to be busy building for a hunt but feel free to say hello. At that hour, there shouldn't be anyone besides me and maybe a friend on sim.