Inventory, Clothing, and Objects Guide

This is part of the Getting Started in Second Life Guide. This Part is a quick guide on the SL Inventory, clothing, getting items, and managing your Inventory.



Inventory



Ever wish you can carry everything you own with you? Well, in SL, you do :)

Almost everything you own in SL is kept in your personal Inventory. Think of this as a giant (almost) endless closet that you always have with you. It can hold thousands of objects (and mine does ;P)

In your Inventory, you can store your Clothing, Object attachments (like jewelry), even big Objects like cars or houses. When you need to use one of these items, you pull it out from your Inventory.

You can browse through your Inventory by clicking on the Inventory button on the lower right corner of your screen.

This opens the Inventory window.

The Inventory window is like the file viewer program on your computer (Windows Explorer, etc.). It comes with a set of folders. You can create additional folders and subfolders as you need to keep your stuff organized.


Inventory Folders



At the very top level, there are just 2 folders: "My Inventory" and "Library". "My Inventory" contains all your stuff. "Library" is a special folder that Linden Labs maintains to give you access to a shared library of goodies. But most of the time, you will be using the "My Inventory" folder.

Under the "My Inventory" folder, there are a number of Main Inventory folders. All of the Main Inventory folders have little logos on the folder, like the little white shirt on the Clothing folder.

When you create a folder, the folder will be a plain yellow folder (without a little logo). It would look like "Natalia's Sample folder" in the picture.

Theres a nice description of all of the Main Inventory folders in the SL Help/Inventory page.

We will be working mainly with the Clothing and Objects folders in this tutorial.


Wearing Clothing Items

Clothing and some Objects (like jewelry) are designed to be worn. Other Objects (like boxes, cars, and houses) are designed to be "rezzed" on the ground. Rezzing something in SL means to make it appear.



To Wear a Clothing item or Object in your Inventory, just Right-click on it in your Inventory and select "Wear".



When you are wearing something, the Inventory item will show up in bold letters with word "(worn)" next to it. To take off an item, just Right-click on it in your Inventory and select "Take Off".

Attachment Objects (like jewelry) work the same way. You Right-click on the Object and select "Wear" to put them on.


Rezzing Objects and Opening Boxes



Some Objects (like boxes, cars, and houses), are meant to be placed on the ground.

To "rez" an Object, just drag-and-drop the Object from your Inventory onto the ground. Because of lag and other issues, sometimes you have to try this a couple times for it to work. Be patient...there are thousands of other residents doing the same thing :P



Many places in SL do not allow you to rez Objects on the ground. This is to prevent residents from leaving stuff all over the place. At these places, you will see a brown box in a red circle at the top center of your screen.


Getting Inventory Items

Getting stuff is part of the fun in SL :) Whether you like clothes (like me :D) or cars or art, theres lots of stuff in SL for you!

Unfortunately, getting stuff in SL can be surprisingly tricky when you are new to SL. There are several different ways to get Inventory Items from an SL object. And when you get an item, it can show up in different folders, depending on the type of item. But dont worry, once you get the hang of it, its like second nature ;P

Lets try getting stuff from a couple places in SL :)


New Citizens



One of the places I recommend in the Getting Started in Second Life Guide is New Citizens. Their freebie wall has a treasure trove of freebies.

Just press the "PAGE FORWARD" or "PAGE BACK" buttons to scroll through the list of items. Left-click (or Touch) a box if you want an item. The item will be delivered to you in a couple seconds.



The item will show up as a single Object in your "Objects" folder. An Object looks like a little brown box in your Inventory.

When you receive a single Object like this from a place, it is typically a box with several items inside. You will need to open the box and get the items out.












To open the box, just drag-and-drop the Object from your Inventory onto the ground at New Citizens. New Citizens lets you rez objects there. But to prevent clutter, it will send it back to you in a couple minutes.




The boxes at New Citizens are smart and will offer their contents to you as soon as you drop them on the ground. Just click "Keep" and SL will create a new folder under "My Inventory".













Most boxes at other places are not this smart: you will have to Open them. So if you see a dumb box just sitting on the ground, try Right-click on it and select "Open".



This will open the "Object Contents" window. Click on the "Copy To Inventory" button. This will create a new folder under "My Inventory", just like those smart boxes at New Citizens.

Once you get your new outfit from the box, you are ready to "Wear" it :)


Free Dove



Free Dove is another place I recommend in the Getting Started in Second Life Guide. Free Dove is probably the best place in SL for new residents to get all the stuff to customize their appearance.



Free Dove works very differently from New Citizens. Instead of a central display, Free Dove has many boxes and signs throughout the store. To get the contents of these boxes, Right-click on them and select "Buy" (dont worry, this wont cost you any money).



This will open the "Buy Contents" window. It will show you the price at the bottom of the window (in this case, its L$0, or free :D). Press the "Buy" button to get the contents of the box.

SL will create a new folder under "My Inventory".

Most shops and malls in SL work the same way as Free Dove. To "Buy" things that cost money (or Lindens L$), just Right-click on them and select "Buy". The difference is that you would need L$ for these transactions :P

So when you see a box of products in SL and you want its contents, try Right-clicking on it. The Pie Menu will show you what you can do ("Touch" or "Buy").


Saving Your Appearance

Youve worked hard putting together just the right skin, shape, shirt, pants, hair, and jewelry. Wouldnt it be nice to save it somewhere so you can put the same outfit on again later? You can in SL, and its easy to do!



Right-click on your avatar, and select "Appearance...". This will open the "Appearance" menu.

Click on the "Make Outfit" button at the bottom.



At the "Make New Outfit" window, enter a Folder name at the top. Check all the checkboxes except the "Rename Clothing to Folder Name". Click "Save" button.







This will create a sub-folder under the "Clothing" folder with the name you provided above.

Later, when you want to change back to this outfit, just drag-and-drop the entire folder (the "Blog Outfit" folder in this case) from your Inventory onto your avatar.

Easy, isnt it? Now you can create dozens ready-to-go outfits, from formal ballroom to casual to robot :)




Creating Folders



Creating a folder is easy to do: Open the Inventory window. Select "Create" from the top menu bar, and the "New Folder" option.















This will create a folder named "New Folder" under the "My Inventory" folder. Right-click on "New Folder", select "Rename", and give it a new name. Then drag-and-drop it into the appropriate sub-folder.













Staying Organized

Keeping your Inventory organized is the most important thing in SL. In a single trip through Free Dove, you will probably end up with dozens of new folders and hundreds of new items. Take a few moments early in your Second Life and start organizing those folders.

Here are a few hints from someone with 20,000 items in her Inventory :P

1. Organize each type of item into folders and sub-folders. For example, under your Clothing folder, you can create sub-folders like these:

   Complete Outfits (for outfits from "Make Outfits" in the Appearance menu)
   New Clothes (new clothes you bought and havent sorted thru yet)
   Old Outfits (old outfits you dont plan to wear, but dont want to delete)
   Parts (see below)

Under "Parts", you can create sub-folders for each type of clothing:

   Gloves
   Jacket
   Misc
   Pants
   Shirt
   Skirts
   Underwear-Socks

Now you can look thru all your Gloves quickly to find one you need :) Definitely play around and setup a layout that works for you!

2. Keep the "My Inventory" folder clean. It should have only the Main Inventory folders (folders with logos). Keep items and other folders inside these Main Inventory folders.



Since your "normal" Inventory has only the Main Inventory folders, you can easily tell when you receive a new folder (because the new folder will not have a logo on it).

3. When you receive or buy something, put away the new items away as soon as possible. That means putting them into the folders and sub-folders you created in Step 1 above. It you dont do this, things can get out of hand very quickly!

4. If you are like me, you dont always have time to sort through items right away (or ever :P). At least create an "Unsorted" folder under "Objects" and throw everything in there. OK, its a mess, but at least the rest of your Inventory looks clean. (You dont want to see my RL closet ;P)

5. Delete stuff. Do you really need those 400 pavement textures? Or every product demo you ever tried? (Do you think I do the things Im telling you? ;P)


Search Inventory



What if you put an item in a sub-folder and forgot where you left it? Thankfully, SL has an quick and easy way to search for Inventory items.

Just type any part of the item's name into the "Type here to search" bar at the top of the Inventory window. This will show only the items fitting your search term. I need this in RL! :)







Item Permissions

When a resident creates an item in SL, the creator can control what other residents can do with the item. The item creator does this by setting the item's permissions.

The 3 permissions are Modify (Mod), Copy, and Transfer (Trans). The SL Help/Permissions page has details on each permission.



When you look at an item in your Inventory, you can tell what permissions you have. If you see "(no transfer)" after an item, then you have Modify and Copy permissions, but No Transfer. If you see "(no copy)(no modify)" after an item, it means you have Transfer permission, but No Copy and No Modify. If you dont see anything after an item, it means you have Full permissions to the item: Modify, Copy, and Transfer.

Item permissions affect how you can use an item. For example, most clothing items are sold with "No Copy/Transfer" permission. Since you cannot copy it, you can only have the clothing item in a single outfit folder. But you can give (or sell) the clothing item to someone else.

Another common set of permissions is "Copy/No Transfer". That means you can copy the item as many times as you like within your own Inventory. You can use this clothing item in as many outfit folders as you like. However, you would not be able to give this item to another resident. And also, the vendor will not be able to give you refunds if you dont like the item.


I hope you are more comfortable about using items and keeping your Inventory manageable :) Have fun collecting all that cool stuff in Second Life!

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