Blender? Blimey, Begin @ The Beguineing, Sheepishly

Dhughan attended yet another class on sculpted prims, and came away shaking his head at choices offered if we want to get serious about making stuffs again – and not get too frustrated at our inability to make anything besides blobs.

Sculptypaint, for all its excellent freeness, is really limited in its usefulness. It’s marvelous for producing simple-ish geometric shapes, which can also be twisted and textured in the program. It’s a steller smoother, if a sculpt has been produced with a different program. But for detailed sculpting, or a carved or high-relief look, not easy to use.

So hey, it looks like I might have to try the most famously not-easy-to-use sculpt programs out there, Blender.

As the class recommended, I’d got the JASS2 route, and do the recommended version installs of the different required components… and then start to take classes at Builder’s Brewery, and look at the tutorials online, and all that. Because there really are some interesting shapes required for some of the funny, silly, or slightly creative ideas I’ve been struggling to “virtualize.”

NOTE: Please read the pre-requisites for the classes on this page. It is important to remember that while I will make every effort to help you in class if you are having trouble or are unfamiliar with something, the classes must be able to continue at a decent pace. If you are unable to keep up in class, please bear in mind that classes will be repeated (I do the same new class at least twice in the week it premieres.) and many of my students do, indeed, take them again.

via Blender Classes – TAMA Products.

But I took a break from thinking about building, and making stuffs to put in shops what don’t suck rocks.

First, I took my herd of sheep out for a spin (thanks to the Church of SecondLientology‘s excellent popenmagnate’s generousity). Hit a few clubs.

Here’s the Blarney Stone in Dublin, after I was baffled by the “age verification” barriers. Whut? I’m like, one meelion years old in Second Life, as I could see by the ominous “scroll back and back and back and back to the year of your birth” menu.

I wore a bright green titler over my head: “YESS MY SHEEPS ARE DED…. jeeeez.”

They were a big hit, especially when I backed into corners and the dance animation went into a flat spin. The people at the Blarney were funny, but the music wasn’t what it was when I first got there and got rebuffed by the age barrier, so I started looking around for places to take the kids out for the evening (now I will need to figure out how to make breedable goats for people who can’t stand the idea of talking pregnancy bellies so they can say the exact same thing).

And then I noticed an event happening that was a COULD NOT POSSIBLY LOSE situation: a Barnyard-themed dance party with prizes for best in farm animals.

I couldn’t find the place at first, very pretty rezz area, though. I thought this sign was a teleporter, clicked “Sit,” and hello, photo op. Deal widdit.

Yeah, they were nice, but a little “meh” on the sheep. And the music was kinda not there for me either.

That’s me in the corner, losing my faux sheepskin religion. In the foreground, two pretty ladies wearing awesome tats and not much else.

That’s an egg basket, in case you were wondering.

The horsey guy and the little rat-girl were getting down, but my sheep were broke-dancing.

Remember that moment in “Napoleon Dynamite” suddenly goes from hopelessly dorky hick kid in scuffed moon boots to badass urban funky dancing machine? Kind of like this, but with spurs.

The hammerhead shark was a nice touch, but where were the frickin’ laser beams on his head?

Then I met up with Mist in virtual Oahu. I was prepared to be not that impressed, as there are a lot of tropical places in Second Life, but this place made me gasp.

I KNOW, it’s gorgeous. There’s rental areas with super upscale cliff cottages, less expensive over-water unfurnished places, public areas, and merch. Really, really nice Hawaiian merch – and I should know, because my typist has dragged me there about… 7 or 8 times.

The textures, sounds, and lush beauty were absolutely spot-on.

We sat for a while just chatting while watching the big waves, after Mist showed me around. It was clearly time to get out of that dark steampunk outfit (really an excellent one from BlakOpal called Desert Explorer that I’ve been wearing nonstop for… more than a week, so it was a bit crusted over).

Then this crazy magical Second Life experience crashed over me like a giant wave.

Mist took off for a short time to confer with her partner about their virtual vaca, and I wandered down the beach. Very pretty, nice area, and hey, is that a killer whale? I had to get a closer look, so I instinctively “touched” it to focus the camera on it, but clicked “sit” by mistake.

What? WHAT? I’m a frickin whalerider now! And it’s driveable!! So off I went.

And then I saw the Arizona Memorial (the original one, not the “newer” temporary one that’s in Tucson at the moment (sigh). Just out of shot, in front of the orca, a lei floats on the water, with a label – “[someone] Resident Remembers…” and a shiver went up my spine in RL.

I’ll have to return there and have some quiet time, it’s not for lighthearted screwing around. It’s traditional to throw a lei in the water when leaving Hawaii, or to bid farewell to a loved one at a seaside memorial service.

Anyway.