It's entirely sculpted prims, unless there's a regular prim tucked in there somewhere that I'm forgetting, but I believe it's entirely sculpts. I'm kinda surprised I haven't seen more avatars making such extensive use of sculpted prims. I'd say once you've got a program and way of exporting figured out, they make av design so much easier. I put this avatar together in two sittings. My previous avatars all took months of fiddling with individual pieces.
For people not already familiar with 3D programs, I reccomend a simple 3D modeler called 'Moment of Inspiration' or 'MoI'. Easily found using Google.
Sculptypaint, Tokoroten, and Rokuro are all sculpted prim programs created specifically for SecondLife, and all are very useful. The latter two were used for many of the pillars, walls, and computer terminals in my Metroid build.
Oh, Phibbs, I've updated the space pirate avatar a little. Altered the invisiprim script so that the eyes are always shiney, you don't have to set it manually, and I shortened the arms so that they don't break when typing or during other animations. It's a trade-off, ja, but overall I have to say it looks better not having the upper arm jutting down past the lower arm when typing.
It's entirely sculpted prims, unless there's a regular prim tucked in there somewhere that I'm forgetting, but I believe it's entirely sculpts. I'm kinda surprised I haven't seen more avatars making such extensive use of sculpted prims. I'd say once you've got a program and way of exporting figured out, they make av design so much easier. I put this avatar together in two sittings. My previous avatars all took months of fiddling with individual pieces.
For people not already familiar with 3D programs, I reccomend a simple 3D modeler called 'Moment of Inspiration' or 'MoI'. Easily found using Google.
Sculptypaint, Tokoroten, and Rokuro are all sculpted prim programs created specifically for SecondLife, and all are very useful. The latter two were used for many of the pillars, walls, and computer terminals in my Metroid build.
Oh, Phibbs, I've updated the space pirate avatar a little. Altered the invisiprim script so that the eyes are always shiney, you don't have to set it manually, and I shortened the arms so that they don't break when typing or during other animations. It's a trade-off, ja, but overall I have to say it looks better not having the upper arm jutting down past the lower arm when typing.
Huh, I hadn't noticed the typing thing. Guess I'll have to go get the update!
And I'll definitely have to check out those programs you mentioned, I've been beating my head against a wall trying to get Maya to do what I want it to. That isn't to say there hasn't been progress, it's just a lot slower than I'm wanting it to go.
Somewhere early in the thread, I mentioned a few cool places to visit, if you want to do some non-disturbing types of exploring.
If you're into steampunk, do a search for Babbage. All kinds of coolness there.
Into Post-Apocalyptic stuff? Search for the Wastelands (and check out Radd's build 'Mini-Zebes' and my store 'Big Damn Technology; I don't have much for sale, but it's pretty cool stuff. Plus you help me pay my rent on the land. Also there's a sewer hole which is neat).
Cyberpunk? Search for Suffugium, or Post-Human city (riddled with awesome secret places to explore). There's another major one, the name of which I'm not recalling at the moment.
I spend a lot of my time in the wastelands; they just added a new sim, and there are some really outstanding builds there. Some are more lazy or unskilled than others, but the majority of the residents take a lot of pride in their plots.
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ViscountalphaThe pen is mightier than the swordhttp://youtu.be/G_sBOsh-vyIRegistered Userregular
edited September 2007
I give up on second life. its laggy and I really shouldn't be playing it at all. SL has gotten far too weird and I just don't have time for it.
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The DeliveratorSlingin PiesThe California BurbclavesRegistered Userregular
Somewhere early in the thread, I mentioned a few cool places to visit, if you want to do some non-disturbing types of exploring.
If you're into steampunk, do a search for Babbage. All kinds of coolness there.
Into Post-Apocalyptic stuff? Search for the Wastelands (and check out Radd's build 'Mini-Zebes' and my store 'Big Damn Technology; I don't have much for sale, but it's pretty cool stuff. Plus you help me pay my rent on the land. Also there's a sewer hole which is neat).
Cyberpunk? Search for Suffugium, or Post-Human city (riddled with awesome secret places to explore). There's another major one, the name of which I'm not recalling at the moment.
I spend a lot of my time in the wastelands; they just added a new sim, and there are some really outstanding builds there. Some are more lazy or unskilled than others, but the majority of the residents take a lot of pride in their plots.
I'm going to guess the cyberpunk place you can't recall is Nexus Prime, and if it's not, it should be.
Somewhere early in the thread, I mentioned a few cool places to visit, if you want to do some non-disturbing types of exploring.
If you're into steampunk, do a search for Babbage. All kinds of coolness there.
Into Post-Apocalyptic stuff? Search for the Wastelands (and check out Radd's build 'Mini-Zebes' and my store 'Big Damn Technology; I don't have much for sale, but it's pretty cool stuff. Plus you help me pay my rent on the land. Also there's a sewer hole which is neat).
Cyberpunk? Search for Suffugium, or Post-Human city (riddled with awesome secret places to explore). There's another major one, the name of which I'm not recalling at the moment.
I spend a lot of my time in the wastelands; they just added a new sim, and there are some really outstanding builds there. Some are more lazy or unskilled than others, but the majority of the residents take a lot of pride in their plots.
I'm going to guess the cyberpunk place you can't recall is Nexus Prime, and if it's not, it should be.
That's the very one.
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omega71Too old for a title, too ornery to care.Sacramento, CaliRegistered Userregular
edited September 2007
Does anyone know anything about Shoucast hosting on Second Life??
I think I have everything set up right, but I dont know how to broadcast it over SL..
Any help would be appreciated either on here or in game
Wow Radd, those are great examples of what you can do with sculpties. I really want to try my hand at them but I sucked at gamespace and it really is hard for me to get used to whole new designs on interfaces and such. Are any of those programs free though?
Bam! Updated all the holograms in the build. Also figured they looked so much better when they were all one colour per area, so most of them are orange now, except those in the Tourian which are blue. They all have more animation now, too.
Also, done like two or three updates to the Space Pirate avatar. Both the arms and legs have been improved so it should be at least as reliable as any furry av out there as far as not breaking during animations or poses.
I'm seriously considering doing a second Space Pirate av based on the pirates in Metroid Fusion.
I've been thru half of the Ivory tower. I made my canes just from screwing around but those were easy, just a few cylinders, and a sphere and texturing. I am having issues making things that aren't made out of simple geometric shapes, hence the helm, which I did remake which was better but I scrapped anyways.
The canes you make the ones you showed a few pages back? If so, you got pretty decent skill, specially for being somewhat new to building. More messing around and you could probably get a pretty good Big Daddy going.
Oh, and yes, yes those were mine. Those were much more impressive because it is just what, 4 prims put together, but the Big Daddy is incredibly hard because I have no idea how to abuse the prims to make up the complex shapes.
Yeah, I know what you mean! The cane looks a lot like the ones me and Phibbulator put together!
Neva on
SC2 Beta: Neva.ling
"Everyone who is capable of logical thought should be able to see why you shouldn't sell lifetime subscriptions to an MMO. Cell phone companies and drug dealers don't offer lifetime subscriptions either, guess why?" - Mugaaz
Not that one, you fool. That Battery Cane from Gaslights Emporium is the one I bought and currently used. I didn't mean I made that one. I was talking about the ones I first posted a good dozen or so pages back.
And I know the owner of that shop, he does great stuff. I wouldn't just rip him off... >_>
In fact, I dug up the origional post. Not bad for not knowing what the fuck I was doing... Besides, the battery cane is hardly 4 prims.
Alrighty then, I made myself a really basic cane and well, it actually turned out quite good, 4 prims, shiny, looks respectable actually. It's right there to the right. I don't mean to boast but it was my first actual model in SL! Then I went ahead and toyed around with gems. I think I got a real good prism like gem going but went one step further and made them glow, but the glow is set so low so that you don't notice it unless it's really dark or nighttime...
Of course, if you guys want one, either the round brass cane or the gemmed canes, send me an IM in game or something. I think I am going to sell them for an easy L$30 or so...
Enjoy!
EDIT: Oh! Btw, they are free to ALL PA forumers. I meant that I will be selling them for L$30 to others.
EDIT: It's good to see at least Mr. Shepherd is getting good business.
Why don't you just go back to claiming that all furries look the same? You seemed so much more competent of that.
Okay, yeah, now I cannot even connect to SL. I hop on and 3 seocnds later my bandwidth drops to zero and I have gone link dead. Man, what the hell... This really blows. Any ideas as to what it can be? I use Comcast cable internet, a network card, and their netgear gateway router thing, but I have already configured it to allow the ports on the gateway and since the Network pci card I added was also giving me problems, the ethernet cable is connected directly to my PC's Mobo. I honestly have no idea now, and SL is the only thing to do this!
Okay, yeah, now I cannot even connect to SL. I hop on and 3 seocnds later my bandwidth drops to zero and I have gone link dead. Man, what the hell... This really blows. Any ideas as to what it can be? I use Comcast cable internet, a network card, and their netgear gateway router thing, but I have already configured it to allow the ports on the gateway and since the Network pci card I added was also giving me problems, the ethernet cable is connected directly to my PC's Mobo. I honestly have no idea now, and SL is the only thing to do this!
It's probably just the grid. It happens quite a bit.
Okay, yeah, now I cannot even connect to SL. I hop on and 3 seocnds later my bandwidth drops to zero and I have gone link dead. Man, what the hell... This really blows. Any ideas as to what it can be? I use Comcast cable internet, a network card, and their netgear gateway router thing, but I have already configured it to allow the ports on the gateway and since the Network pci card I added was also giving me problems, the ethernet cable is connected directly to my PC's Mobo. I honestly have no idea now, and SL is the only thing to do this!
It's probably just the grid. It happens quite a bit.
It's been like these from yesterday and today and my GF about 2 miles away using AT&T internets is fine... :x
If I ever expand the build, I'm doing it Super Metroid style, taking the grungy, dark looking Tourian out again, but making Mother Brain's tank shattered and ruined, then hiding a second Tourian even deeper underground!
But, yes, yet another update. I've updated the elevator holograms so they look nicer. I've added in a notecard at the beginning with credits where credits are due, a short explanation of how to use the elevators, and I'm about to head back to the build with a new freebie! Well, not really new, been a part of the build for a while. I was meaning to do more with it but decided to just move on to newer things.
If I do another Metroid avatar it will probably be the Fusion version of the space pirate, or a Chozo ghost avatar, that might be neat.
We'll see. I may be about Metroided out for a while. Expecting my new steampunk land soon, and been toying with ideas for new steampunk avatars to go with those I've already made.
If I ever expand the build, I'm doing it Super Metroid style, taking the grungy, dark looking Tourian out again, but making Mother Brain's tank shattered and ruined, then hiding a second Tourian even deeper underground!
But, yes, yet another update. I've updated the elevator holograms so they look nicer. I've added in a notecard at the beginning with credits where credits are due, a short explanation of how to use the elevators, and I'm about to head back to the build with a new freebie! Well, not really new, been a part of the build for a while. I was meaning to do more with it but decided to just move on to newer things.
If I do another Metroid avatar it will probably be the Fusion version of the space pirate, or a Chozo ghost avatar, that might be neat.
We'll see. I may be about Metroided out for a while. Expecting my new steampunk land soon, and been toying with ideas for new steampunk avatars to go with those I've already made.
Ooh, now you got me all excited to see your steampunk stuff again.
Some things came up, and it took me longer to start in on new gear than I'd intended, but now I'm almost done with my newest avatar. Should be ready in time for December. I'm almost certain that at some point someone will compliment me on my Big Daddy avatar:
Still a bit of work left, but next weekend it should be completely ready to go.
Edit:
Oh, and that's not to say I haven't been busy. I've also been working on a new steampunk build to rival my Metroid build in size. I'm about halfway done with that. I'll post some screenshots soon!
Nice job Radd. I am glad to see you are back. I have been busy within SL too. I've been making stuff for a college professor who has been trying to get some SL classes up and going. His original classroom was laughable; laughable I say!
Oh, I too have been busy, I designed a club for some furry friends of mine,
Btw, great diving helm. Very nice detailing on the textures too.
God damn WindLight is sooo pretty. In case you guys don't know, Second Life went out, and purchased some uber software for skys, waters, and other special effects. This shit is fantastic and you can edit it right there on the fly. It's incredibly sweet, and really makes things look very pretty. Especially the real bloom effects they have added now. ^^
A basic beach, running at about 30 fps on my 7600GT, 2gigDDR2ram, E6400 system.
So, is there a creation tool out there better than the basic ingame one? Or do people just spend lots of time trying to make primatives look like what they want it to look like? Christ, its like giving monet a red, blue, and orange crayon to work with
God damn WindLight is sooo pretty. In case you guys don't know, Second Life went out, and purchased some uber software for skys, waters, and other special effects. This shit is fantastic and you can edit it right there on the fly. It's incredibly sweet, and really makes things look very pretty. Especially the real bloom effects they have added now. ^^
A basic beach, running at about 30 fps on my 7600GT, 2gigDDR2ram, E6400 system.
Wait what? SL is different now? Eh. they screwed over my account so I don't feel like dealing with the hassle and idiocy of getting it back. Makes it that much easier to never want to play it again.
Although, I'd love to see if they finally got around to making things better there.
So, is there a creation tool out there better than the basic ingame one? Or do people just spend lots of time trying to make primatives look like what they want it to look like? Christ, its like giving monet a red, blue, and orange crayon to work with
You have sculpted prims now, which basically allows you to model an object in a real modelling program, export its surface information as a texture, then import said texture into SL and deform a primitive to fit.
So, is there a creation tool out there better than the basic ingame one? Or do people just spend lots of time trying to make primatives look like what they want it to look like? Christ, its like giving monet a red, blue, and orange crayon to work with
You have sculpted prims now, which basically allows you to model an object in a real modelling program, export its surface information as a texture, then import said texture into SL and deform a primitive to fit.
...O.o
I was with you until that last part, of deforming a primative to fit. How... what?
Edit: Found a nice guide for doing exactly this with modo, sweet
The thing with sculpted prims is that you're still limited to simple shapes, however you have much more control over those simple shapes, and the option to use more advanced tools to make the most of them. You still have to stack them until they look like what you're trying to model, but now when you're done the results are much more impressive.
Of course, I've always maintained that SL looks unbearably ugly in the hands of people who are unwilling or unable to create decent scripting/audio/graphics in SL, but can be pretty impressive when people who are willing, and with time able, to create something worthwhile. That doesn't change even as better effects and performance boosts are added, though it's certainly great for those areas where people do put it to good use.
Also, with a lot of help from a couple friends, there will be a neat scripted feature. The bubbles coming out of the helmet? They'll only appear when you're underwater. If so much as your head is poking out of the water, no bubbles! Automagically!
God damn WindLight is sooo pretty. In case you guys don't know, Second Life went out, and purchased some uber software for skys, waters, and other special effects. This shit is fantastic and you can edit it right there on the fly. It's incredibly sweet, and really makes things look very pretty. Especially the real bloom effects they have added now. ^^
A basic beach, running at about 30 fps on my 7600GT, 2gigDDR2ram, E6400 system.
Wait what? SL is different now? Eh. they screwed over my account so I don't feel like dealing with the hassle and idiocy of getting it back. Makes it that much easier to never want to play it again.
Although, I'd love to see if they finally got around to making things better there.
Oh yeah man, they made it really pretty.
And just how was your account screwed? I have never heard of any shit like that, except that they didn't take a certain CC. And yes, the game has gotten better since the FL were playing it. It's not perfect, but definately more stable.
Accounts getting screwed over happen a fair amount, from what I heard, especially when the account owner lets their account go unused. A good friend of mine who's been playing off and on for almost 3 years lost his account and $20US in Linden dollars over a $10 billing issue that he didn't fully understand because he didn't have a premium account or own any land.
So he made a new free account.
Also, sculpies are fun, I made some puffy arabian type pants yesterday so I could screw around in an Arabian Nights RP sim and not use the really crappy free outfit the sim gives out to visitors. They're still a work in progress, but I get pretty good results with some simple tools.
Lucky, there's no server side options for Windlight yet. Sim owners can set time of day, but that's it. So far. Server side options to allow sim owners to set their own defaults are coming, as well as the ability for everyone to share Windlight settings as inventory objects.
Lucky, there's no server side options for Windlight yet. Sim owners can set time of day, but that's it. So far. Server side options to allow sim owners to set their own defaults are coming, as well as the ability for everyone to share Windlight settings as inventory objects.
Yeah, I just discovered this and some more about Windlight in their newspostings.
I think Windlight is very impressive from what I have seen. I mean, it's much better than what a lot of other games and game engines throw into their games. Oblivions water, sky, and bloom all suck compared to this. Then again, yes, this is like a year later, but I am sure they could have done something equally as impressive if that was their goal.
I told myself I wouldn't try anything SL related... repeatedly. Tried it once before and didn't like it at all, was totally lost too.
Now... now I'm not quite so sure, the stuff I've seen in the last few pages of this thread has me thinking that SL might have some pretty awesome stuff afterall, and it IS free right? How does a newbie ever hope to get going/get exploring without any cash?
I need to make a website guide to getting the most out of SL. I'd say it's easy, but I'd be lying. SL is like the web without a decent search engine, and you have to design or buy your own videogame character on top of it, everything from texture maps to animations.
If you're skilled at any of the following, then it makes getting the most out of SL so much easier:
Texturemaps/Photoshop
3D Modeling and Design
Scripting/Coding
Animation
If you know two of those things, you've got it made. There's a very easy way for you to make money creating items for other people. It takes time, it takes effort, but once the ball is rolling it keeps on rolling, giving you the money to work with to take things even further.
( I intentionally do not include sound related skills here. Sounds is a very important aspect to SL that somehow winds up completely overlooked by all but a handful of the most detail oriented creators in SL. There's really not much of a market for it, at least not yet. )
If you're good at creating graphical objects in SL (avatar skins, clothing, avatar attachments, buildings) then you can sell those skills, and make your own avatar look great without spending a dime. The visually oriented are always in great demand, even if half the population can't see the quality difference between a default av skin and one made by a talented skin maker.
If you're good at scripting, you're even more in demand. People love guns, vehicles, attachments that light up or swirl around or shoot out flames. People need doors that open when clicked, windmills that turn to face the direction of the wind, flowers that face the direction of the sun, lights that turn on automatically at night, barrels that blow up when shot, trap doors that swing open when someone walks over them, etcetera. Most of the basics are covered with freebie scripts, but everyone has their own unique ideas that require very specific scripting.
The default animations all suck horribly. No one wants to walk like they've had both knees replaced with prosthetics, while wearing a back brace at all times. The standing animations, jumping animations, sitting animations, are all just as bad. There's a big market for animations to replace all those. People want multiple animations for everything, not to mention the requisite assortment of dance animations.
In short (Too late!), if you have a skill or product to sell in SL, you'll never need to invest any of your own money into it. Just reinvest what you make (since uploading textures/sounds/animations cost L$10 a piece).
As for that initial investment? Well, if you do supply a paypal account or credit card number or what have you when signing up, they give you an initial L$250 to play with. That's 250 texture maps, animations, sounds, or whatever you need. Of course, since the preview window is so crappy you'll blow through much of that with failed textures, you'll have to really invest the time to learn about skinning/clothing templates, and be very picky about what you upload until you've created some items to sell and start an inworld income.
Posts
For people not already familiar with 3D programs, I reccomend a simple 3D modeler called 'Moment of Inspiration' or 'MoI'. Easily found using Google.
Sculptypaint, Tokoroten, and Rokuro are all sculpted prim programs created specifically for SecondLife, and all are very useful. The latter two were used for many of the pillars, walls, and computer terminals in my Metroid build.
Oh, Phibbs, I've updated the space pirate avatar a little. Altered the invisiprim script so that the eyes are always shiney, you don't have to set it manually, and I shortened the arms so that they don't break when typing or during other animations. It's a trade-off, ja, but overall I have to say it looks better not having the upper arm jutting down past the lower arm when typing.
Huh, I hadn't noticed the typing thing. Guess I'll have to go get the update!
And I'll definitely have to check out those programs you mentioned, I've been beating my head against a wall trying to get Maya to do what I want it to. That isn't to say there hasn't been progress, it's just a lot slower than I'm wanting it to go.
Morbid curiosity made me create a character.
Djiem Sinister, and I have no idea where I am.
If you're into steampunk, do a search for Babbage. All kinds of coolness there.
Into Post-Apocalyptic stuff? Search for the Wastelands (and check out Radd's build 'Mini-Zebes' and my store 'Big Damn Technology; I don't have much for sale, but it's pretty cool stuff. Plus you help me pay my rent on the land. Also there's a sewer hole which is neat).
Cyberpunk? Search for Suffugium, or Post-Human city (riddled with awesome secret places to explore). There's another major one, the name of which I'm not recalling at the moment.
I spend a lot of my time in the wastelands; they just added a new sim, and there are some really outstanding builds there. Some are more lazy or unskilled than others, but the majority of the residents take a lot of pride in their plots.
I'm going to guess the cyberpunk place you can't recall is Nexus Prime, and if it's not, it should be.
That's the very one.
I think I have everything set up right, but I dont know how to broadcast it over SL..
Any help would be appreciated either on here or in game
Also, done like two or three updates to the Space Pirate avatar. Both the arms and legs have been improved so it should be at least as reliable as any furry av out there as far as not breaking during animations or poses.
I'm seriously considering doing a second Space Pirate av based on the pirates in Metroid Fusion.
Here's Radd aka Penny Patton waving her laser katana about willy nilly.
Motherbrain totally doesn't know what hit her.
I ran out of missiles!
Better shot of the rest of the room.
edit: never mind, found the place now. Awesome. :^:
Penny/Radd has them hidden in the build. They're free, you just gotta figure out how to get them (I won't spoil how).
Yeah, I know what you mean! The cane looks a lot like the ones me and Phibbulator put together!
"Everyone who is capable of logical thought should be able to see why you shouldn't sell lifetime subscriptions to an MMO. Cell phone companies and drug dealers don't offer lifetime subscriptions either, guess why?" - Mugaaz
And I know the owner of that shop, he does great stuff. I wouldn't just rip him off... >_>
In fact, I dug up the origional post. Not bad for not knowing what the fuck I was doing... Besides, the battery cane is hardly 4 prims.
EDIT: It's good to see at least Mr. Shepherd is getting good business.
Why don't you just go back to claiming that all furries look the same? You seemed so much more competent of that.
It's probably just the grid. It happens quite a bit.
It's been like these from yesterday and today and my GF about 2 miles away using AT&T internets is fine... :x
But, yes, yet another update. I've updated the elevator holograms so they look nicer. I've added in a notecard at the beginning with credits where credits are due, a short explanation of how to use the elevators, and I'm about to head back to the build with a new freebie! Well, not really new, been a part of the build for a while. I was meaning to do more with it but decided to just move on to newer things.
If I do another Metroid avatar it will probably be the Fusion version of the space pirate, or a Chozo ghost avatar, that might be neat.
We'll see. I may be about Metroided out for a while. Expecting my new steampunk land soon, and been toying with ideas for new steampunk avatars to go with those I've already made.
Ooh, now you got me all excited to see your steampunk stuff again.
Still a bit of work left, but next weekend it should be completely ready to go.
Edit:
Oh, and that's not to say I haven't been busy. I've also been working on a new steampunk build to rival my Metroid build in size. I'm about halfway done with that. I'll post some screenshots soon!
Oh, I too have been busy, I designed a club for some furry friends of mine,
Btw, great diving helm. Very nice detailing on the textures too.
A basic beach, running at about 30 fps on my 7600GT, 2gigDDR2ram, E6400 system.
...Hyperbole, but I digress
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
Wait what? SL is different now? Eh. they screwed over my account so I don't feel like dealing with the hassle and idiocy of getting it back. Makes it that much easier to never want to play it again.
Although, I'd love to see if they finally got around to making things better there.
...O.o
I was with you until that last part, of deforming a primative to fit. How... what?
Edit: Found a nice guide for doing exactly this with modo, sweet
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
Of course, I've always maintained that SL looks unbearably ugly in the hands of people who are unwilling or unable to create decent scripting/audio/graphics in SL, but can be pretty impressive when people who are willing, and with time able, to create something worthwhile. That doesn't change even as better effects and performance boosts are added, though it's certainly great for those areas where people do put it to good use.
More screenshots.
Also, with a lot of help from a couple friends, there will be a neat scripted feature. The bubbles coming out of the helmet? They'll only appear when you're underwater. If so much as your head is poking out of the water, no bubbles! Automagically!
Oh yeah man, they made it really pretty.
And just how was your account screwed? I have never heard of any shit like that, except that they didn't take a certain CC. And yes, the game has gotten better since the FL were playing it. It's not perfect, but definately more stable.
So he made a new free account.
Also, sculpies are fun, I made some puffy arabian type pants yesterday so I could screw around in an Arabian Nights RP sim and not use the really crappy free outfit the sim gives out to visitors. They're still a work in progress, but I get pretty good results with some simple tools.
and of my very 'Sands of Time' ensemble, puffy pants courtesy yours truly!
Also the zelda inspired tats
Yeah, I just discovered this and some more about Windlight in their newspostings.
I think Windlight is very impressive from what I have seen. I mean, it's much better than what a lot of other games and game engines throw into their games. Oblivions water, sky, and bloom all suck compared to this. Then again, yes, this is like a year later, but I am sure they could have done something equally as impressive if that was their goal.
I told myself I wouldn't try anything SL related... repeatedly. Tried it once before and didn't like it at all, was totally lost too.
Now... now I'm not quite so sure, the stuff I've seen in the last few pages of this thread has me thinking that SL might have some pretty awesome stuff afterall, and it IS free right? How does a newbie ever hope to get going/get exploring without any cash?
If you're skilled at any of the following, then it makes getting the most out of SL so much easier:
Texturemaps/Photoshop
3D Modeling and Design
Scripting/Coding
Animation
If you know two of those things, you've got it made. There's a very easy way for you to make money creating items for other people. It takes time, it takes effort, but once the ball is rolling it keeps on rolling, giving you the money to work with to take things even further.
( I intentionally do not include sound related skills here. Sounds is a very important aspect to SL that somehow winds up completely overlooked by all but a handful of the most detail oriented creators in SL. There's really not much of a market for it, at least not yet. )
If you're good at creating graphical objects in SL (avatar skins, clothing, avatar attachments, buildings) then you can sell those skills, and make your own avatar look great without spending a dime. The visually oriented are always in great demand, even if half the population can't see the quality difference between a default av skin and one made by a talented skin maker.
If you're good at scripting, you're even more in demand. People love guns, vehicles, attachments that light up or swirl around or shoot out flames. People need doors that open when clicked, windmills that turn to face the direction of the wind, flowers that face the direction of the sun, lights that turn on automatically at night, barrels that blow up when shot, trap doors that swing open when someone walks over them, etcetera. Most of the basics are covered with freebie scripts, but everyone has their own unique ideas that require very specific scripting.
The default animations all suck horribly. No one wants to walk like they've had both knees replaced with prosthetics, while wearing a back brace at all times. The standing animations, jumping animations, sitting animations, are all just as bad. There's a big market for animations to replace all those. People want multiple animations for everything, not to mention the requisite assortment of dance animations.
In short (Too late!), if you have a skill or product to sell in SL, you'll never need to invest any of your own money into it. Just reinvest what you make (since uploading textures/sounds/animations cost L$10 a piece).
As for that initial investment? Well, if you do supply a paypal account or credit card number or what have you when signing up, they give you an initial L$250 to play with. That's 250 texture maps, animations, sounds, or whatever you need. Of course, since the preview window is so crappy you'll blow through much of that with failed textures, you'll have to really invest the time to learn about skinning/clothing templates, and be very picky about what you upload until you've created some items to sell and start an inworld income.