Update: As of March 2015 this article is still accurate.
Now that the new community blogrums are open people are exploring the settings and tools in the new system. Seems there are some gotcha’s you’ll want to avoid. Making your avatar image or badge has some dandy gotchas. Hopefully this tutorial will help you avoid them.
My Avatar Pic Only – #2
Yesterday I provided a link to Torley’s Welcome to a new Community System video tutorial. At about minute 5 in he explains how to add your avatar picture to the blogs/forum. I uploaded a couple of images and using Torley’s instructions got the images uploaded and one set as my Avatar picture. My 150×150 px image appears as a 36×36 px image in the forum. Phfffffpt! Not really what I wanted. See image #2.
This is a tutorial about knowing enough about eyes and lashes in Second Life to know what you are buying. Hopefully enough to avoid getting ripped off. This is not about how to make them.
I’ve run into problems buying lashes. I’ve found it very frustrating. May be this will save you some frustration and Lindens. You may also find there are some eye-lash types out you didn’t know about.
In Second Life many new products require some color matching to look right. The most notable of course is prim feet and shoes. Also, the skin color of genitals, which has led me to wonder if male color blindness includes black and white blindness… If you have been to one of SL’s Chippendales-like places you understand that comment. I suspect part of the problem is the number of different ways devised to match the color in SL. I’ll try to sort those out for you, so Second Life Color Matching and color picking are easier.
Also, if you haven’t bought your first pair of prim feet and shoes yet, I know where you can get a gorgeous pair for L$25. Read on.
You can see a YouTube video that previews the coming Firestorm Viewer. If you don’t know, Firestorm is the next generation Phoenix Viewer based on series 2 code. The video shows how to work with the new Firestorm Viewer user interface. The video lasts 15 minutes.
UPDATE: 3/2012 – The site where the HAX files can be downloaded is down. It may come back… or not.
Photoshop CS4 and 5 and Blender will allow one to accomplish the same thing as HAX. Both are easier as you can work directly on the 3D avatar. Look through the Mesh Clothing tutorials to see how to get the avatar model.
UPDATE: claireharford has started hosting the files needed for Multi-Chan Hax.LINK
Multi-Chan Hax - Image 1
I’ve taken some time to play with the multi-chan hax filter. It works, but it is not intuitive. The video tutorial that MistressOfDesign made on faces and socks helps. I think she did an excellent job fitting a lot of information in the time allotted. But, it still leaves things to be figured out.
Multi-Chan Hax Interface - Image 2
When you want to make a pair of pants or a top you’ll find you need to know more. I’ve been sorting my way through Multi-Chan Hax (MCH). Below is what I’ve learned so far from starting a top/blouse. One thing I’ve learned is when it comes to making tops MCH is a tool to help you make things, NOT a tool that does everything for you.
If you want to follow along, look at the first tutorial on Multi-Chan Hax that I published and get MCH installed and tested. Also know this is not a Photoshop (PS) tutorial nor a beginner’s tutorial, it’s about MCH. So, I won’t be explaining how to do PS things. I’ll assume you know the basics of image editing and compositing. You’ll have to Google for PS help.
UPDATE: 3/2012 – This was neat, but the site with the download is down. It may come back or there may be another download site. I do not know of another site and we can only hope the site comes back.
Photoshop CS4 and 5 Extended allow one to skip using HAX and work directly on the 3D avatar model. Blender will also allow import of the SL avatar model. One can use its texturing and painting tools to work directly on the model.
So, unfortunately, as with many things, HAX and this article are out of date.
UPDATE: claireharford has started hosting the files needed for Multi-Chan Hax.LINK
This is neat. If you are a clothes maker in Second Life, you need to know about this way of making clothes. Clair Hartford posted a tutorial on the SL blogrum today. I think the thing is awesome. I’m excited. If you want to make seamless clothes, this is something you really want to know. This process has been around since 2009 and I’m just now finding out about it. Darn.
