Second Life News 2013-25

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Viewer changes are picking up speed. As the new multi-channel process moves forward we will see more viewer projects moving forward. Some of these things are things I’ve written about weeks and months ago.  Now they are coming to a viewer near you.

TPV Dev's Meeting 2013-24
TPV Dev’s Meeting 2013-24

Inara has written an update on the SSA (Server Side Appearance): SL projects update 24 (5). See it for details. The summary of that news is simple. We are likely to see SSA enabled over the next 2 to 6 weeks. I expect it to SLOWLY creep across the grid. The server side code has already been rolled out to the main channel. Now it is just a matter of enabling it on the regions. But, there are concerns about problems and whether the new servers can carry the load. So, this will be a very careful roll out.

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How to Make Mesh Hair

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I came across this tutorial in my YouTube subscriptions. It is done using Maya and Photoshop. But, the technique can be used in any 3D modeling and paint program. It runs 35 minutes. I like the ideas presented.

[youtube 6Wi4-fdeYyM]

If you notice, this is a CG Cookie related video. The CG Cookie version is here: Creating Polygon Hair for Game Characters. CG Cookie is a great site for 3D modeling tutorials.

Experience Tools 2013-24

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Do you remember the Experience Tools? Officially they were called Advanced Experience Tools, I suppose they still are. We have been hearing a rumor or two here and there. We have gotten a clue or two from Lindens in the User Group meetings.

The video below is an old one…

[youtube mGPiywc6Hh0]

Don’t try to join the group mentioned in the video. We have no idea whether this group will come back to life or not.

Back in March 2012 the Lindens released the above video on the tools (see: #SL Video of Linden Realms Tools). We know that a server change for experience tools was rolled to the main grid some time ago (in RC May 2013 week 19).

Today Oz Linden updated the wiki with new information on viewer repositories. One of the beta viewer projects is an Experience Tools viewer. So, we are getting closer to seeing what the tools are. (See: Linden Lab Official: Viewer Source Repositories. Unfortunately the repository is still set to private. So, we cannot see the viewer code or get a running copy of the viewer. But, I take posting of the repository as a step toward public release.

Moving Your Avatar

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Strawberry Singh is well known for her personality and gorgeous pictures. She has a talent for posing an avatar and composing a great image. In the blog post Moving your own Avatar! she explains how to position your avatar. I mean to actually move the avatar.

Singh Logo
Singh Logo

One of the ways to move an avatar into just the right position for a photo is to sit it on a prim, play the pose, and make the prim invisible. You can edit the prim and move it wherever you want. Of course the avatar goes with it. But, things get much more complicated when you are in a no rez region.

That is when Strawberry’s tips will come in way handy.

SL10B Hunt

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About mid-afternoon (SLT) the Lab posted about a Premium member hunt. There are also more free things in the Market Place. Look for the Party Pack.

The hunt has gifts for Premium members. But, the hunt seems to be staged as part of a story. The post says: “Magellan Linden has uncovered an evil scheme by mad Doctor Talpa, to build some form of mind-control machines and take over the world. Magellan is busy building a machine to counter this scheme, but in the meantime YOU are needed to gather materials and components — and to destroy any of Talpa’s machines you can find.”

See the post here: SL10B News and Premium Gift Hunt.

Second Life Griefing 2013-24

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Every release of the viewer and server software has more fixes to stop griefing. But it is an escalating problem. Sort of an arms race.

A recent casualty appears to be the Pornstars group. It seems that group is going to close because of griefer infiltration. It will be replaced with a new group:  The Sexiest® : Pornstars click the name to find the group.

You may be unexpectedly ejected from the group. That will be the group closing. There is some hope this may be avoided. But, that depends on whether the Lab helps out.

Many are hoping the coming Group Ban Lists will help with this problem.