Free, correctly proportioned shapes by Penny Patton

Definitely worth checking out, Penny’s guidelines could make for better builds, too.

Her MP page links to her Second Life Camera Settings page. When using these shapes using her camera settings makes for an impressive change. I am so used to using the alternate camera settings for my defaults I am all OMG!, when a new install reverts them to system defaults.

via New Penny Patton Shapes Released

Tweekly Digest: 18-Feb – 24-Feb

  • Taking a break. Off work work, will start a new project for play work shortly. #SecondLife ->
  • Oh, Blender, don't make me learn you all over again. ->
  • @skeskali When will outdoor outfitters realize that 18/20/22/24 and up size women like decent gear? ->
  • @skeskali Darn it, was hoping it would work for you. The pants I found were an 18 and cut right for a awkward-hippy size. ->
  • For the record, there is very little drama here. o.0 ->
  • @skeskali Oh, ma'am, I feel your pain. I lucked out at REI with big wind/rain pants recently, think they have them online. ->
  • Lunch for the typist. What's going on, world? ->
  • @isfullofcrap Beaufiful ->
  • ♫ "Jami Sieber – Hidden Sky [10a]" on Radio Riel Reverie (Tunemark) ->
  • The New World Grid (French open sim) is "evolving" (hosting change) so backup your content. http://t.co/65HwB4LIvP ->
  • Where I'm At In #SecondLife Literally and Figuratively: The Tier Is Too Damn High: I was sorry to se… http://t.co/20asl9jE7t ->
  • @isfullofcrap "Imma take a l'il nap naow, it's been a big day." in reply to isfullofcrap ->
  • @m_ethaniel I need to add new blogs to my Google Reader/Feeddler app, thats for sure. I keep forgetting about the blogroll. ->
  • @m_ethaniel Did you ever sell that awesome Medieval Changing Tent? I used to switch outfits while wearing it whilst, er, dancing ->
  • @m_ethaniel Gotta check that out asap. in reply to m_ethaniel ->
  • @isfullofcrap wut wut? Is this the floofy one in the pic you tweeted, or an actual new baby panther in the house? ->
  • It's @TensaiHilra 's favorite! ♫ "Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science" on Radio Riel Steampunk ->
  • @gentlemanrhymer Masterful playing AND tweeting expected. Crack on. ->

Where I’m At In #SecondLife Literally and Figuratively

I was sorry to see a reference in a recent Second Life Newser to the closure of a part of the Szygy Community, via “Life Cycle of an Island” at the Newser.

Due to the way the Newser has to show categories as nested blogs, the actual entry by Grey Lupindo is at their SL Places blog.

So I was very happy when Celtic told me that she and Samantha had a plan to keep at least some of Syzygy alive.   They are working on the details now.   I’m not sure how much or who will remain there.   But as of today it appears that I will be able to move back to the original Syzygy.  My neighbors will be my very good friends– Grjandomore Greene, whom we call Gri, and Muse Nishi.  Gri and I were neighbors on Corvus, and he is a great person to share land with.   He never once complained about my wolves howling or disturbing him.   Muse Nishi was the first person I became friends with in SL, many years ago.   She’s very creative and fun, and I’m glad she will be a neighbor.

The island of Corvus was a wonderful place while it lasted.   I will always have happy memories of it.   Until my new place on Syzygy is finalized, I have rented a temporary apartment in a place that seems to be much more suited to me—a tree house in a forest.  I’ll let you know how the wolves adjust to live among the branches. — Places: Life Cycle of an Island

It’s wonderful that Grey has found an acceptable new home, with agreeable neightbors in a familiar community. So often one of the hardest things to find in Second Life, aside from the perfect skin/hair/clothing combo of course, is that perfect community of like-minded souls.

That’s not to say that there isn’t conflict – this will happen in any residential community and it’s just a given that must be dealt with as it comes up. But the hardest thing about community, once it’s found, is the possibility of losing it and losing the connections with everyone in it, if the community is in danger of collapsing. In Second Life, communities are at risk because the cost of maintaining residential or venue land is prohibitive. Even groups that share tier are struggling to maintain their lands, due to the ongoing cost of tier (groups can share tier and there’s a 10% discount for group land, which is why I and my “family” of alts and firends hold the amount we do).

I’m still a member, for sentimental reasons, of a group that Samantha Glume occasionally sends messages on. It was for the “Cha-no-chashitsu” Butterfly Tea Pavilion. It was a tiny little place just off the road, designed as a Japanese teahouse, but with a locking door. It was supposed to be a quiet little place where people could enjoy the floating butterflies and fountains while changing clothes. Across the way was the Neko Jinja Shrine, another place that I hung out at during my very earliest days in Second Life, before I ever found a place to rent that was truly “home” in a community sense.

Near the Neko shrine was the original Jocko Domo store, which had some connection to the owners of the shrine and tea house, and also nearby was the spot where Luneko had her wonderful “newbie kit” set out. I first learned to sort inventory in that little teahouse… for some reason, it was one of my favorite places then and even after it moved to a different spot after some group land combining, I still occasionally dropped by.

Samantha Glume’s group land was back behind the roadway, and for a long time, I dithered about joining their group formally rather than drifting around in the edges of the “associated” little groups for the shrine and tea house. It was a huge wrench for them all when they decided to leave the Mainland and commit to the syzygy community islands, and it was a huge undertaking when they expanded, and now recently it’s a huge sorrow now that they’ve had to draw down on their island lands.

All that disruption and hope and heartache was based on the necessity to deal with tier, whether there was enough donated tier to make the move to the islands possible, or whether there wasn’t enough to justify keeping all the lands after a year or so (very sorry, not really clear on the timeline).

They’re not the only group that’s had to draw in its horns; I’m thinking of the big controversy a while back when the Elven group went off to the wilds of Open Sim when they could no longer maintain their beautiful sims. I also wonder how my Anglican group is doing, since they originally started under the non-profit or educational angle. However, my friend Cady Enoch is a very capable person and I think she has their tier donation and fundraising pretty well organized. A few of my fountains benefit them with a small donation.

Anyway. Back to our story, the one about finding home and community.

I drifted around rootless for a while, and rented for a few weeks at a time in a series of anonymous condos and skyboxes. For more than a year, I was in a medieval-themed sim that was peaceful, yet had occasional fun social events. I was perfectly happy in my little monastic cell, sorting inventory from hunts. Yikes.

Yes, it was at least a year or more after my first rezzday that I first learned how to rezz a box, patiently taught by my friend Mistletoe, who had a couple of her early businesses based there. The sim eventually lost a beautiful second sim that was set up as parkland to the Homestead debacle, and I started to become a bit more aware (albeit dimly) of the costs of tier and what owning an entire sim or region actually meant in $$$.

Does Linden Lab realize that even now, years later, people are still bitter about the Homestead issue? And are they even aware of the current “the tier is too damn high” meme that’s been going around? I’ve got to get me some of those dwarves, I’ve got roadway and railway parcels that need some new landscaping…

Being such a late bloomer, I eventually started looking for somewhere else to live (the sim is still there, but most of the people I knew are gone or interested in other things now). That was when I eventually bought a few cheap inland Mainland parcels in Tintafel and started to learn how to build. That kept me busy enough for a few years, but then eventually I got interested in the world of Steampunk, because it was like being a Victorian, but with all mod. cons.

I flirted with the idea of finding something in Caledon, but was always put off by the lack of choice in Caledon (it appears that there’s very little available at any one time) which is great for the Guvnah, but not so great for someone hoping to rent there. I looked around some of the other Steamlands, and was interested in New Babbage until I realized it was a bit dangerous (and also I stumbled into somebody’s roleplay or machinima shoot one day and got politely told off). Then one day, I happened to attend something (probably an Aether Salon event) where I found myself in Steelhead Shanghai. Next door was Steelhead St Helens, full of trees and mountains and water that reminded me of my old homes in the western US in RL.

Even so, after renting one or another shop or parcel there, it still took me a year or more to work up the nerve to attend a group event, after keeping an eye on group chat and working out who was who and what was what (as in, “What’s a Jaegermonster, and what’s that crazy lingo of theirs mean?” Although I or my alts are still not as active socially as we could be, we’re comfortable hanging out at events, dancing, chatting, and attending town halls (although I missed last night’s meeting).

Where I’m at, literally and figuratively, is in the Steelhead group as far as residential land and 1 shop is concerned, plus I’ve got some mainland parcels held as part of my “home and work” group with 1 home and one other shop. For community, it’s Steelhead – although my mainland home is in the same region as the Cafe Wellstone hangouts, I’m not in attendance at events there as often as I’d like. I think everybody is coping with tier for the most part, but that’s probably dependent on donated tier as well.

I’m coping with tier at the moment, owing to the group discount, and I’m relieved to say that my funding for it and for SL is on the good foot. I fund my activities not through sales of my products (which have been up lately, though, that’s a good sign) but through an incentive program from my RL work. There was a change to the program at the new year, and for a while I was concerned that it was going to go the way of the dodo and I’d have to start earning my keep a little more and being less of a lazy dilettante. But it has been continued, with some minor changes. I’m “good to go” for my (somewhat expensive) parcel rentals in Steelhead and won’t have to go to my landlord to ask for either a smaller second parcel or turn it in entirely.

Which is a good thing, as I like my landlords very much, and I know that keeping the Steelhead sims going is both a joy and a worry for them both. So I’m happy to be ahead on tier and I’m happy to give some $Love at events my neighbors and community members have, since not all of them are lucky to have this weird micro-finance funding that I have. Several people have mentioned the same thing in group chat – we’ve lost a few people to illness and/or embarassment at lack of $L to pay tier, and the feeling in the community is and always shall be “We are Steelhead.”

Meaning, we may be a disparate bunch of half-baked Victorian werewolves, Moon-elves, furries, Jaegermonsters, Sparks, clanks, scamps, robotic windup dollies, tinies, and chronologically unstuck humans, but we are family and we care. Those of us who can, pay tier ahead, because we know there may be a few who may be a little behind. We do the best we can for each other and stay out of each other’s bidness. As a part of my dopey Lenten madness, I’ve committed to paying tier at least 2 to 4 weeks ahead, and fortunately now my funding is set for the foreseeable future (although it’s nice that stuff is selling, anyway). I get similar vibes from the Cafe Wellstone folks, although I really do need to check in more often with all of them, too. It’s just that events and music and what not cut into my building and texturing time, now that my self-induced creative block has been mostly crumbled away.

So there it is. I’m part of a couple of communities, and now that the RFL season is about to start up, I’ll be more involved in them through the season. And maybe in the future, I or one of the alts will get more involved in the Raglan Shire (tinies!) community. Those l’il critters sure know how to have fun building and making stuffs – it’s part of what got me out of my blue funk, going to their events.

I wish the Szyzygy group lots of luck – they have an interesting and creative bunch of people. I wish my own communities luck, too – for now they’re willing to do what needs to be done to maintain group lands and group ties.

If only Linden Lab were as interested in supporting community – they fail to see that a small reduction in tier would likely result in a lot of people deciding to either increase land holdings, or in new owners and renters deciding to give it a whirl.

LL might find they have more customers. And then they might do something about the awful retention rate, where millions sign up over the years but only a tiny percentage stick around long enough to learn how to fly, dress, shop, walk, and socialize. They might see an improvement in the concurrency rates, where no more than 30.000-60,000 are logged in at any one time.

And then pigs could fly, but anything is possible in Second Life.

Tweekly Digest: 11FEB-17FEB

Oh, Blast And Damme and Stink And Bother: Perms, I Am The Weakest Link #SecondLife

Away_001

Thanks to a timely word from a customer, I have discovered a rather annoying perms problem that must be fixed in my canes. I was hoping to set them to be mostly modifiable, and leave the script control and so forth no-mod (mostly so that customers don’t break the way the cane interacts with animations).

However, it’s clear that it must be done in a way that allows for customers to modify the items (I don’t care for no-mod products myself), while hoping that the risk of breakage is slight.

Fingers crossed, chaps and chapettes! I shall fix the products and push updates. But I do hate fussing with perms, they are so fearfully hard to set correctly.

It’s Always #MardiGras in #SecondLife! Chameleonic Medicine Hat $L199

Just in time for Mardi Gras, but stylish any time – change the look to go with any outfit.

Give to friends, change the texures, and nobody’s got the same chapeau on.

ChameleonicMedicineHat700x525

Laissez les bon temps roulez with this fun texture-changing Steampunk medicine-show hat. Folder also includes a flight HUD script to add after resizing your hat.

Wear this hat for Mardi Gras, or change the textures for year-round style. Add your own if you like! Just be careful to edit linked prims and add textures to the contents of the hat body or band only.

Send me an IM if you have any questions, I receive all queries via email.caution: make a copy once you resize to your taste, don’t add the flight script without deleting the resizer first.

via Second Life Marketplace – @LC@ Chameleonic Medicine Hat with resizer v2

Tweet:

The Dragonlord Walking Stick with basic Gent’s Cane AO – $L150

Just listed at the Marketplace – The Dragonlord walking stick

Dragonlord512

The head is a dramatic silver with heavily scaled greenish-black patina, and silver dragons gamboling about the ring just below the handle. The wooden shaft is solid chestnut, and there is no ferrule so that you may stretch or shorten the stick to fit your height (remember to edit linked objects).

While testing the new stick I pottered around Steelhead on walkabout – I shall try to do on Sundays, it was a pleasant stroll and it got me out of my workshop.

  • Simple, elegant walking stick – 3
  • Suitable for either males or females add female anims
  • Compatible with Posture is Everything’s Gentleman Jim LIGHT and FULL GJ Cane AOs
  • Includes Basic Gentleman’s Cane AO
  • Adds debonair style to your Victorian, Steampunk, Medieval, or Edwardian RP

via Second Life Marketplace – @DF@ The Dragonlord Walking Stick c/m/nt

The Dragonlord Walking Stick – $L150 at #SLMarketplace

1-DragonlordCanePlain_002_005-001

Now available at SL Marketplace – The Dragonlord walking stick

Dragonlord512

The head is a dramatic silver with heavily scaled greenish-black patina, and silver dragons gamboling about the ring just below the handle. The wooden shaft is solid chestnut, and there is no ferrule so that you may stretch or shorten the stick to fit your height (remember to edit linked objects).

While testing the new stick I pottered around Steelhead on walkabout – I shall try to do on Sundays, it was a pleasant stroll and it got me out of my workshop.

  • Simple, elegant walking stick – 3
  • Suitable for either males or females add female anims
  • Compatible with Posture is Everything’s Gentleman Jim LIGHT and FULL GJ Cane AOs
  • Includes Basic Gentleman’s Cane AO
  • Adds debonair style to your Victorian, Steampunk, Medieval, or Edwardian RP

via Second Life Marketplace – @DF@ The Dragonlord Walking Stick c/m/nt

Also on my mind of late: If you purchase the “Basic Gent’s Cane AO” for $L15 and subsequently purchase one of the full-featured canes, they currently come with the same AO. I am happy to refund the $L15 on any duplicate purchases – if I happen to have my wits about me, I shall send purchasers an IM advising of the refund. If you purchased the Basic Gent’s Cane AO some time ago, I may not have caught the duplication – please do send me an IM anytime, I receive them as emails.

Link: Second Life Marketplace – Froobert’s Further West Trading Co. by Dhughan Froobert

Content Creators May Enjoy Playing With iPad Apps To Make Stuffs

Most advance content creators may dismiss this as “not that useful or interesting,” but yesterday while struggling with a clothing template I went looking for a sort of “drawing app” that might be useful for making things or editing templates for Second Life.

Actually, I’d already been playing with an iPad app called “Art Studio” that enabled me to create some quite nice looking fabric textures very easily, just in the course of doodling around and playing with some of the settings and filters. I’d bought a simple stylus (not one of the fancy artist’s pressure sensitive ones) and have been enjoying playing with that, too. Art Studio has a lot of goodies; the free version is quite good and even has layers and filters, and the paid version (I think, bought it a while ago) doesn’t have ads and does have the ability to add a lot of extra brushes.

But what I was really thinking about recently was somehow using the iPad as a drawing pad or tablet for my main PC. I quickly found many references to an app called “Air Display,” but the cost (almost $10USD) put me off for a week or more.

Finally, yesterday I decided to just see what it was about, and within a few minutes, wa-la! Not only was I able to slide any open window off of my PC and onto my iPad, I was working in GIMP on a clothing template, with the stylus as the controller.

If you have an iPad already, and have a spare $20 or so (the stylus only set me back $10 as well) you might be amused by what you can do. I was able to draw, write, and work with the GIMP interface.

I suppose I might be able to log on to Second Life – as a curiousity, it would be funny to do that. The keyboard stays active as an input device, and so does the mouse. However, it might be quite useful if you’re in the sort of class inworld where the instructor puts something up on a join.me or Google Docs display while inworld, as the iPad works very well as a seoncd monitor. There’s apparently a mirror mode, too.

In any case, it was fun to play with, and made working with hand-drawn selectins in GIMP more enjoyable than they are with my mouse, which is sometimes rather jerky and stiff for some kinds of operations.

Perhaps somebody with a lot more creative talent might find it interesting to play with; I can definitely say it’s easy to set up (download free drivers on your desktop and install, then install the paid app on the iPad). I’ve made 4 or 5 interesting and unique fabric textures already, and Dhughan was working yesterday on an actual piece of clothing (a rather colorful vest with Art Nouveau-style phoenix figures). He may be branching out into a bit of menswear before too long. It all comes of this playing around with apps and “drawrings” and such; it’s probably just a passing fad but you never know.
Link: Air Display: iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac or Windows PC as an external monitor