Spendin' some time today working on the tree village. Not that you could tell by looking at it, considering that I have been working on some new ideas in the sky. I am pretty much satisfied with a proto-type for a new building shape I want.
But damn it, it is always the textures that hang me up. I have a lot of textures. I have spent more money on textures than I really want to think about over the years I have been in Second Life. I end up using a very big handful or two of good reliable textures (I think every builder does, or so I have observed) But damned if you don't get a new project, and nothing you have works.
I would really like for the Tree Buildings to match, but all be a little different. From interiors to exteriors, because why wouldn't they be? But to keep it from looking like a train wreck, I have to be careful to make sure everything co-ordinates. This is no small task.
I have a growing list of uses for the various buildings. For instance, I want to build a Tavern, and have a little infirmary. Places for trades people, and of course, places designated for homes. The smallest building nearest the dock is destined to be a fish monger (at least, I think. I could change my mind.)
There is one thing I am growing very irritated with, and that is Foliage. The foliage that comes with the tree houses we have used as a base, is your basic, 1- prim plant sculpty. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but when you get it in Megaprim form, It intersects objects, and makes it hard to touch things that need touching. Like doors. Re-sizing and repositioning these HUGE prims tends to leave the tree looking awkward, and the buildings over exposed. I really want the tree village to be un-obscured while you are in it, but fairly well hidden when you are on the outside of it, with a few rooftops and structures peaking out here and there.
Also, by un-linking and moving all the foliage so I could build, I more or less lost the ability to control the textures in the trees. It kind of defeats the purpose.
So I am not sure what to do about all of that. I do know that I think the foliage that came with the tree is needlessly primy., but I may find that I have to re-rez them in their original form and add them back to trees after the building is done, in hopes I can make it work. But before I can get rid of all of the foliage, I have to get those buildings perfect.
Which brings me back to textures. A vicious cycle.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Limbo
Even though I still check my mail daily, I have not been in world for days. I hate to admit that the reason is probably because I ran out of lindens, when some building projects got stuck. Sad, because those are the things I log in for now? Where are those days when I logged in, in the morning, with a sense of purpose? And again in the evening to reap the benefits of a simple, but sweet, social life and RP life?
I find myself asking, if those days are gone, and have been since January 29th, 2012.
Even though I have land (which I intend to keep) and (we) have put a lot of work into putting an RP worthy space up there, I am feeling numb about it right now. I have no intentions of getting rid of my land, or taking down the build.
But lets face it, the only thing that is there right now, is that build, and probably some confused people. I am not "physically" present, but I am also not present mentally or emotionally.
I am starting to wonder if I just need Asterinissa (what was formerly known as The Seven Isles) to "exist" even if I can't seem to make it live.
On a personal level, It's not a lot of fun, anymore. I love my friends, and enjoyed their company so much I couldn't let go. But so much of that doesn't exist in world for me, so the rewards I felt are non-existent.
Things (in world) are pretty lonely now. I still love Second life and do not intend to leave. But I just don't know if I can run a decent RP on my own. I have to be delighted by it, and inspired by it.
It has been hard to let go. All the work, and creation, and such, it is so precious to me. But where is my inspiration, and my passion? Is it going to come back?
I don't know. In the meantime, I will keep the land and see if it does.
I find myself asking, if those days are gone, and have been since January 29th, 2012.
Even though I have land (which I intend to keep) and (we) have put a lot of work into putting an RP worthy space up there, I am feeling numb about it right now. I have no intentions of getting rid of my land, or taking down the build.
But lets face it, the only thing that is there right now, is that build, and probably some confused people. I am not "physically" present, but I am also not present mentally or emotionally.
I am starting to wonder if I just need Asterinissa (what was formerly known as The Seven Isles) to "exist" even if I can't seem to make it live.
On a personal level, It's not a lot of fun, anymore. I love my friends, and enjoyed their company so much I couldn't let go. But so much of that doesn't exist in world for me, so the rewards I felt are non-existent.
Things (in world) are pretty lonely now. I still love Second life and do not intend to leave. But I just don't know if I can run a decent RP on my own. I have to be delighted by it, and inspired by it.
It has been hard to let go. All the work, and creation, and such, it is so precious to me. But where is my inspiration, and my passion? Is it going to come back?
I don't know. In the meantime, I will keep the land and see if it does.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Of Skin and Trees
When I am depressed, or stressed I either build, forgo logging in, or build avatars just for the sake of building avatars.
This time I am doing a mixture of the three, so the Tree village is going slowly.
And I have been distracted by some avatar building. I've not opened any new accounts, I am just using somewhat neglected alts to try and build 3-d versions of the people that live in my head. (most of whom have never seen the inside of Second life. You see, after years of role-playing, and being a lapsed writer, I have many people I love in my imagination. There is something rewarding about watching them move.
I was pretty successful in making a beloved Argyria-stricken Mountain Elf of my husband's. Said husband then asked if I was going to do his counterpart.
So I thought I would give it a go, and I have learned a few things on the way.
1) I only use two basic skins for my female and child avatars. (one is a template I can make my own from. The other, an awesome group gift.)
2) Most of those skins (that I make) look quite different, as I put them on differing faces. The templates allow for a lot of tinkering and results. However...
3) Those skins are starting to look to much alike.
You see the character I am now trying to build bears just enough similarities to Korinna, (being that they are both female.) that my template made skins look too much like Korrinna to work. No matter what I do to them, when I put them on this girl's face (she has an entirely different face structure on the sliders) she looks too much like Korinna to be individual.
It is very frustrating. I hate the skin shuffle, once I got Korinna's skin down perfectly, I was majorly relieved. People who used to actually read this blog must have been relieved too, because it was all I bitched about.
Which leads me to something else I have learned.
4) While it used to be the other way around, finding skins for females is WAY harder than it is for males.
Do you know why? The products for males caught up just enough that the stores and creators are well known. Most male skins are high quality, realistic skins.
But the female skin market has become so saturated, it's hard to know where to start. And the usual cliche's apply. Loads and loads of makeup, big faking looking bewbies, and lips that are bigger than the bewbies.
I'm really stumped as to what to do, especially since I don't really want to spend any money, and the one skin mall I knew of that had good mania boards has gone the way of many sims... offline.
Anyway, back to the tree village project.
Husband is working hard on making a lift, I have some textures that need making, and to re-texture every poorly textured house. I have neighbors across route 9 now, that also have a tree house. Theirs is better... for now. ::rubs hands together:: I have far more buildings than I shall ever need, but if I want it to look village-y I think I have to keep them.
But in terms of progress, I had a beautiful pirate move a beautiful ship into my little bay, which is a serious boon! I have a zip line to purchase, and many roofs to make. It is coming along, but very slowly. This morning I will head in for a little bit to try and work out some of the issues.
One thing I dread, is I have to take all of the foliage off the tree houses in order to build for now, which is the opposite of what I *wanted* to do. But, there is no way to work around them. After that I will have to replace the foliage a piece at a time. Hopefully this will be a way to reduce prims, I just hope I can do it realistically.
This time I am doing a mixture of the three, so the Tree village is going slowly.
And I have been distracted by some avatar building. I've not opened any new accounts, I am just using somewhat neglected alts to try and build 3-d versions of the people that live in my head. (most of whom have never seen the inside of Second life. You see, after years of role-playing, and being a lapsed writer, I have many people I love in my imagination. There is something rewarding about watching them move.
I was pretty successful in making a beloved Argyria-stricken Mountain Elf of my husband's. Said husband then asked if I was going to do his counterpart.
So I thought I would give it a go, and I have learned a few things on the way.
1) I only use two basic skins for my female and child avatars. (one is a template I can make my own from. The other, an awesome group gift.)
2) Most of those skins (that I make) look quite different, as I put them on differing faces. The templates allow for a lot of tinkering and results. However...
3) Those skins are starting to look to much alike.
You see the character I am now trying to build bears just enough similarities to Korinna, (being that they are both female.) that my template made skins look too much like Korrinna to work. No matter what I do to them, when I put them on this girl's face (she has an entirely different face structure on the sliders) she looks too much like Korinna to be individual.
It is very frustrating. I hate the skin shuffle, once I got Korinna's skin down perfectly, I was majorly relieved. People who used to actually read this blog must have been relieved too, because it was all I bitched about.
Which leads me to something else I have learned.
4) While it used to be the other way around, finding skins for females is WAY harder than it is for males.
Do you know why? The products for males caught up just enough that the stores and creators are well known. Most male skins are high quality, realistic skins.
But the female skin market has become so saturated, it's hard to know where to start. And the usual cliche's apply. Loads and loads of makeup, big faking looking bewbies, and lips that are bigger than the bewbies.
I'm really stumped as to what to do, especially since I don't really want to spend any money, and the one skin mall I knew of that had good mania boards has gone the way of many sims... offline.
Anyway, back to the tree village project.
Husband is working hard on making a lift, I have some textures that need making, and to re-texture every poorly textured house. I have neighbors across route 9 now, that also have a tree house. Theirs is better... for now. ::rubs hands together:: I have far more buildings than I shall ever need, but if I want it to look village-y I think I have to keep them.
But in terms of progress, I had a beautiful pirate move a beautiful ship into my little bay, which is a serious boon! I have a zip line to purchase, and many roofs to make. It is coming along, but very slowly. This morning I will head in for a little bit to try and work out some of the issues.
One thing I dread, is I have to take all of the foliage off the tree houses in order to build for now, which is the opposite of what I *wanted* to do. But, there is no way to work around them. After that I will have to replace the foliage a piece at a time. Hopefully this will be a way to reduce prims, I just hope I can do it realistically.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)