Tag Archives: Tutorials

On Various Subjects

Second Life – How to get better image quality…

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There is an ongoing quest, for those of us texturing clothes and things in Second Life™, to upload better quality images. So, here is some new information on making better textures or aka diffuse layers. See Compression Depression.

Beq Janus, is one of the people working with the Firestorm team and has tweaked the mesh uploader and other parts of the viewer, been involved in tracking down bugs, and figuring out workarounds for various problems. Now she is on about a discovery made with the help of Whirly Fizzle, all starting with one of Hamlet Au’s New World Notes posts about Frenchbloke Vanmoer…  who?

Beq’s Blog – February 2019

Whoever, down in the Debug Settings it is said there is some magic. Unfortunately, it isn’t there, often as is the case with magic. The magic appears surprising to some as they do not understand the trick and think the wand, hand waving, and abracadabras actually do something magical.

However, there is a lesson to be learned and another step in the quest for better SL image uploads.

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Using the EEP Viewer – Second Life

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The Enhanced Environment Project is progressing and nearing completion. Thursday Feb 14, 2019 Rider Linden updated us on where they were in development. (Ref) He is expecting the project to move to RC status very soon™. It is now available to test in its ‘project status’ in the Blue Steel and Le Tigre channels of the main Second Life™ grid. So, it may be time to start playing with the feature.

Also, with this feature comes a new item, EEP-Windlight settings, that can be sold on the market place and traded among users. If you have a talent for making sunsets, this may be your niche.

EEP and Non-EEP Viewers Feb 2019

You can get a copy of the Enhanced Environment Project viewer in the Second Life™ Alternate Viewers. As I write we are on version 6.0.2.524123 of this project viewer. It installs in its own directory. So, it won’t break or affect any of your other installed viewers. Updates to this viewer are mandatory. Meaning when a new version of the Project or RC viewer is released you have to install the update to continue using it.

NOTICE: If you click SLURLs to open your viewer and login into the SLURL’s region, installing any viewer will change which viewer Windows uses. Windows uses the last viewer installed. There are tools and tutorials that will help you tell Windows which viewer you prefer for those clicks. See SLURL Proxy.

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Second Life: Photo Backlighting

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If you have a Flickr account, you know how popular photography is in Second Life. So, photo-how-to’s are popular too. Then there are the peeps with a bit of exhibitionist in their blood posting in, How does your avatar look today?

Hamlet just posted an article with a couple of video tutorials on backlighting in Second Life. See Cassie’s Clips: How To Use Backlighting & Projectors.

Hamlet is featuring videos by Cassie Middles (Flickr URL). The video shows how to use Cynefin’s Projection Lighting Kit (L$650) (Video below). Mixed in is how to use your Windlight settings and adjust the sun to get the lighting you want.

Cassie also made a video showing how to use the resulting image and improve it. Below. Continue reading →

Photoshop CC 2019

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A new version of Photoshop is out. Here is a video explaining 20 of the more interesting new features. They include mention of a couple of performance improvements, which I don’t think much of… but, I will pay attention when I try the tasks next.

Some basic key operation has changed. Undo (Ctrl-Z) is one. I think the new behaviors are more logical. But, I will have to unlearn the old ways now committed to muscle memory. The changes affect a number of things. So, I’ll be bumping into them.

And there are sort of small changes that will make using PS much nicer.

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How to find Cheap, Good Stuff in the SL Marketplace…

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Ryan Schultz has published a little tutorial on his site, Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: How to Find Free and Inexpensive Items on the SL Marketplace. I think it is a handy tutorial on how the SL Marketplace search features works… I use the word ‘works’ loosely.

The Search

The Search

Using the left-column of filters makes finding stuff a bit easier. But, one has to know to make the search using the top ITEMS – Merchant/Store search setting ‘Search In’, ‘Show Maturity Levels’, and ‘Keywords’ before adding the left-column filters.

The ‘Sort By’ in the mid-upper right of the page just below the ITEMS search is also a big help. The sort can be changed at any time in your searches.

You can also search for a store or merchant. Once you select a merchant/store you have the option to ‘Search this store’. Then follow with left-column filters.

Things in the marketplace do not age out. Also, when merchants stop using Second Life, their stuff remains in the market place. Even if it requires a third-party server to work and that server is taken offline. All of which is a BIG gotcha for new SL users.

So, the sort order can be important search criteria.

Adobe Spark – Free

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Adobe has released a new free web tool, Spark. It is an editor/creative tool for those wanting to quickly put creative things on Instagram, Flickr, YouTube, and other social media. The video shows how it is used as a video editor.

From the video, this image shows that video is one of the three primary areas in which Spark is useful, Posts, Pages, and Video. Amy Landino, the video creator, points out the limits of Spark. It is not going to replace Adobe Premiere Pro.

Spark Options

But, this is may be handy for quick little things and those that can live within the restrictions of a template driven system.

Since it is all free, you may be wondering why it is free. The servers and programming all cost money. So, there must be some financial model behind what Adobe is offering. I think Adobe’s incentive is marketing for Adobe products. There are opportunities they take to promote Premiere and their other retail products. I can’t yet tell if that is the sole benefit to Adobe. But, they weren’t asking for an email address or log in during the parts I played with.

YouTube already has some Spark Tutorials. So, you aren’t solely on your own.

If you have ever wanted to show off your SL creations, avatar, pretty place… this is an opportunity to create with free tools from the premier maker of artistic software.

Blender as a Video Editor?

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Need a free video editor? Learn Blender Video Editing in 35-minutes. This is the video that shows you how to set Blender up for video editing.

Even if you are not interested in using Blender for video editing, check this out. I learned a bunch about setting up the user interface.

He is going really fast. The video is loaded with information. Red meat… yum.

One of the better video tutorials I’ve stumbled on.

Second Life Forum Cover Photos

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I spend time helping people in the SL Forum, mostly in Answers. A question came in about making a Cover Photo… a what?

SL Forum Profile with Cover Photo

When logged into the forum open your profile. There are a couple of ways to do that. Up in the upper right click your name and select Profile. Or on any forum page where you have posted click your profile image. Continue reading →