Nalates' Things & Stuff

Flickr Background & Profile Image Sizes

2017/03/08 by Nalates Urriah

Controlling the image you have for a background in Flickr is a bit trick. I found it frustrating the last time I changed my background. I tried to sort it out again, as I wanted a new background. I did find a sizing that works.

The complication in sizing this image is from Flickr needing to resize the image on the fly to fit various screens. Below a certain size, they stop displaying the image. My Android Samsung S5 is an example (I don’t use the Flickr app) of where it isn’t displayed. However, they do display the image on my iPad.

Whether profile or landscape, the iPad uses a 1024 x 768 display of the web page. Flickr does not resize (respond to the change) as you change from profile to landscape. At least my old iPad doesn’t.

Discovering Flickr and Following Groups

2017/03/082017/03/08 by Nalates Urriah

I suspect most Second Life people know about Flickr. Lots of SL peeps use Flickr. However, I suspect few know how to find the awesome art that is appearing every day. I know it has taken me some time to realize how to find the awesome art.

There are people that mention artists and give you their names, Hamlet at New World Notes often features an artist. I do from time to time. Other bloggers do too. But, waiting on us to reveal those you think are awesome could be tedious. So, how do you find awesome Flickr artists to follow?

New Sansar Video

2017/03/07 by Nalates Urriah

Jo Yardley posted about a new Sansar video released by Linden Lab: Official Sansar publicity video released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tdkW64u3YA

Well done. Makes it look interesting.

I take this as part of the promotional run up to general release this ‘Spring’.

There is a lot of chatter about Project Sansar on the web. Looking at just the past 30 days, there are pages and pages of Google search results on Sansar.

Second Life News 2017 w10

2017/03/07 by Nalates Urriah

Servers

Who knows? The Second Life blog/forum is still off line. There is no ETA for its return. Every week or so they post in Grid Status about it being down. Duh! And that it is taking longer than expected to get it going. The excuse is they want to be sure they get it right… the post must be written by a former politician… They blew the time estimate. Software developers ALWAYS run into unexpected problems.

I'll stop the world and melt with you — I’ll stop the world and melt with you

The Grid status seems to be on automatic so, update or not it tells us there is an update. My region device tells me the main channel region I live in has not restarted since 2/24. So, no roll to main channel today (Tuesday) as of 10 AM SLT/PT.

Photoshop 3D: How to make textures for Second Life Avatars – #1

2017/03/06 by Nalates Urriah

There are a number of good and really bad Photoshop 3D tutorials online. I think Michael Hoffman makes one of the better sets of tutorial videos for those starting out. Clicking his name takes you to his YouTube channel. Here is his BASIC tutorial for getting started with Photoshop 3D (#1 in series) but, it isn’t specifically for Second Life users. So, I’ll add some SL specific help.

More to Know

There are some things left out that I think are important for the basic starting out tutorial. Plus, it doesn’t answer questions about using SL Classic Avatar files. I’ll try to answer those questions and jump you to the things we do in Second Life.

Second Life: Stockings – Classic & Slink

2017/03/03 by Nalates Urriah

Making stockings for the Classic and Slink legs has some challenges. One is understanding how to get a straight edge at the top of the stocking. I’ll explain some of the oddities between Second Life™, Photoshop, Blender, Classic and Slink.

The frustrating oddity is dealing with avatar templates. Slink and Classic are not compatible, close but a problem.

In the image, look in the ‘A’ section, there is a copy of one of the Robin Woods templates made for the Classic Avatar. I’ve used Photoshop 3D to paint some lines on it.

If you have drawn a straight line across the 2D template assuming it will appear straight on the avatar, think again. I knew it wouldn’t work as I’ve experimented before.