Tutorials

On Various Subjects

AvaStar Update 2014-17

by

AvaStar is on RC version avastar-1-1-1052_blender-2-65.

Changes:

  • wip: cleaned up the mesh_morph functions for better readability
  • Alter to rest Pose now also works for automatic weight from mBones
  • Removed obsolete print() call from previous commit

Blender: Using Brush Textures in Blender – This is a good texture painting with brushes based on textures.

[youtube 7FobUOuISak]

If you are thinking of using Creative Commons textures as the video shows be sure to read: Linden Lab TOS and Creative Commons.

Second Life Money Exchange

by

In August of 2009 I wrote an article on the Linden Currency Exchange for Second Life™. See: XStreetSL Currency Exchange Tutorial and Second Life Currency Exchange Extended. Back then things were a bit different. There was competition in the Second Life money market. The US government has ended that. Now, Linden Lab is the keeper of L$ and the only company officially converting L$ to RL currencies. There are black markets in Lindens and there is a reason they are called black markets.

Buy Sell Orders 2014-15
Buy Sell Orders 2014-15

What has not changed is people not understanding currency or currency markets. Someone in the Answers section of the SL Forum was asking why their Sell L$1/US$1 order had  not been completed when other similar orders had been. 

Read more

The Problem: Fitted Mesh an Alpha Tutorial

by

I suspect anyone that has worn mesh clothes is very aware of skin-poke-through and ‘holes’ from the Alpha Layers making parts of the avatar invisible. I am particularly annoyed by both. But, is there anything we can do? That is the question asked at Fabulously Free in SL. Here I’ll provide the techy answer and information. I’ll also link to good tutorials.

[youtube 62SI2NCg2gc]

Fab’s three advisors answer the question. Their answers are straight forward and provide the advice most of us know. But, there is a more complete techy answer. First I’ll summarize their answers then get into the tech.

Read more

Pages: 1 2

Making Videos in Second Life

by

There are lots of tutorials on this subject. This article isn’t a tutorial. It is a collection of tutorials and information about making video using Second Life or any virtual world. I saw that Hypergrid Business has an article up titled: 5 tips for video tutorials and 3D simulations. The article is written by Ann Cudworth.

Image by Honour
Image by Honour

She manages to write the whole article without using the word Machinima. I’m not that much into Machinima so, there may be some nuanced difference between the terms machinima and video tutorials. But, I don’t see it. 

Read more

Pages: 1 2

Flat Berry

by

Last Thursday Strawberry Singh did a tutorial on how to make a cutout for making Flat Whoevers. See: Making a Flat Cutout for Second Life using Photoshop.  The tutorial is simple and straight forward. You get everything you need to know to make a decent cutout. But, there are some Photoshop tools that make the process much easier and provide a much better result.

The new Photoshop CC and CS6 (think it is in CS5.5 too) have a feature called Refine Edge. If you are trying to trim hair or fur out of a background, you have to learn about this tool. Check out the 10 minute video.

[youtube soJdXsFx8V8]

The video is made by Howard Pinsky. It is on the pro side, which for me means no rambling, tangents, or umm-haa’s. It is to the point, clear, and crisp. I subscribed to his channel. If you use Photoshop and are still learning, and who isn’t still learning, then this is a good channel for you. 

Read more

Second Life Most Popular Regions

by

One of my readers asked about where I got the list of top 50 regions in Second Life™. Fortunately they included a link to what they were asking about, because I was like, OMG! I did that? Well, as the picture shows I got the list from Hamlet over at New World Notes. I didn’t do it.

SL Forum Post
SL Forum Post

Here is Hamlet’s latest list: Top 50 Popular Second Life Sims. This is from August 2012. Hamlet gets it from Metaverse Business.

I was wondering if the list is available online. It does not seem to be. I suspect it is part of a commercial subscription service they may offer.

Read more