Day 57: Oriental Dress, Single Prim Attachments, and Camera Controls

Quick question: What do you think about the contents of this blog? Am I being too wordy? Too technical (who me? :P)? Would you like me to talk about other stuff? Please let me know your thoughts via comments, even anonymously. I really appreciate it! :)



Today, I stopped by the beautiful and tranquil Second Life Supportforhealing center. This is a peaceful place where troubled souls can come to meditate, speak with others, and search for some answers or inner peace.

One thing I really enjoy about Second Life is the diversity of things available. SL is not just about games, clubs, gambling, or cyber. In addition to education and cultural events, there are surprising places where one could go to reflect on life.



The SL Supportforhealing center is not necessarily a 3D engineering marvel, but it is certainly one of the most beautiful places in Second Life. The center is designed as a place of healing for those recovering from depression, emotional trauma and illness. So I think you would appreciate this place best if you are in the right frame of mind: for when you are troubled and in search of some peace and quiet place to reflect.



I like to walk along the "wooden" walkway that encircles the sim, stopping at the occasional area to sit and meditate. You can even watch yourself meditate at some of these areas :)

If you see a meeting in progress, please be respectful. You may be asked to join in, or, depending on the type of meeting, you may be asked to leave (for example, if you are a male avatar walking into a Women's Support Group meeting). Please dont be offended, since the meeting is there to help people with real problems. It is not a show.



I would not encourage you to come if you are looking for an activity or in an "exploring" kinda mood. You will probably find this place a bit boring. Just make a mental note of this place for when you need a moment of peace.

I learned of this place while attending meetings for some Second Life support groups. There are a number of active support groups in Second Life. So if you are dealing (or have dealt) with some Real Life issues and want to speak with others, click on Search/Events and select the Category for "Charity/Support Groups".

This center is the Second Life extension of the Internet-based SupportForHealing organization. You can find it by clicking on Search/Places and entering "supportforhealing" as the keyword. The SLURL is SupportforHealing (85,227,22).



Since the Supportforhealing center has an oriental theme, I decided to wear my oriental dress today. This was a store-bought outfit, since I was not in much of a building mood today. Ive notice that oriental outfits look particularly nice in SL, as I have a couple of very realistic-looking oriental tops. If you havent tried one yet, check it out! You wont be disappointed.

One reader had suggested that I talk about how to make prim attachments/accessories. Admittedly, I am addicted to prim attachments (as I had mentioned in yesterdays post just how devastating "Detach All" could be). Everything from hair, earrings necklace, wristbands, rings, belt, shoes, cuffs, ribbons, etc.

Except for hair, I have mostly started using items that I made. Most of these items can be built in less than an hour (excluding the shoes!). So to kick this off, lets talk about the simplest of attachments: the Single Prim Attachment.

As you probably know, everything in Second Life is built using 1 of 7 primitive (or prim) types. These are Box, Cylinder, Prism, Sphere, Torus, Tube, and Ring. I know you may be thinking that there are more shapes under the "Create" button, but they all ultimately boil down to one of these seven prim types. Except for the Trees and Grass (I have no idea how those work, but like...you cant wear them, so who cares? ;P)

A Single Prim Attachment means using one of these prims, adjust some of its attributes, then attach it to some part of your avatar. Sounds simple? It is. And you can do some pretty neat things.



Take my earrings, for instance. They are 2 dome-shaped red dots. I have ones exactly like them in RL (too bad I couldnt just rez a pair in RL ;P). These take a few seconds to make and you can change colors to match any outfit.

All you have to do is go somewhere where you can build something. Try a sandbox if you dont have a place to go. Click on the "Build" button at the bottom of your screen. Select a sphere when the menu comes up (the second one from the right), and click somewhere on the ground nearby.



You should now have a wooden ball on the ground. If you havent tried this before, congratulations, you are now a builder! :)

We need to turn the ball into a hemisphere, change the color, and adjust the size. I recommend that order, because we are going to make a small prim. And it takes some trial-and-error to get used to working with small prims. Ill show you a trick in a minute.

You should have the "Edit" box on the screen. If you dont, then Right-Click on the sphere and select "Edit..." In the "Edit" box, if you see a "More..." button at the bottom, go ahead and click it so you can see all the options.

First, give the prim a name. Click on the "General" tab and enter "Red Dot Earring" in the "Name" field.

Click on the "Object" tab. This is the main screen for adjusting the size, shape, and position of the prim. See the option on the right labeled "Path Cut Begin and End"? Change it to B=0.000 (the default) and E=0.500. Thats it, its now a hemisphere.

So now, lets make it red. Click on the "Texture" tab. This is the main screen for adjusting the appearance of the prim. Click in the square box labeled "Texture" (the part that looks like wood). When the Pick:Texture box come up, click the "Blank" button and click "Select". Your prim should now turn bright white.



Next, click in the square box labeled "Color". Click on the bright red rectangle at the bottom of the 2 rows of color rectangles. Click "Select" to choose the bright red.

Lastly, we want to make the prim a little shiny (more like plastic or metal). So do you see the drop down box labeled "Shininess" (it should be set to "None" by default)? Click on the drop down box and change it to "Medium". You will notice that the prim is darker, but more shiny now.

Finally, lets resize the prim. Click on the "Object" tab again. Look for the "Size (meters)" setting on the left side of the box. Change the settings to X=0.020, Y=0.020, Z=0.020. And voom, your prim should shrink to a meer red dot. Pay close attention to where the prim is, because it is easy to lose it at this point. But its no big deal if you do...just make another real quick. :)

Thats it, your earring is ready-to-wear. Go ahead and close the "Edit..." box.

Now we need to take the prim into our inventory, duplicate it, and fit it on our ear. This is the tricky part, because you need to become somewhat good at using your camera controls and manipulating 3D objects. But I promise you that these are very useful skills in SL. These "fitting" skills are important for everything from adjusting your hair, jewelry, or shoes. Even if these items are store-bought, they may require minor (sometimes major) adjustments.

First lets use the camera to zoom into the prim. Hopefully, you can still see the prim, even if its just a little red dot on the screen. Press and hold the Alt key. Then click on the prim (or as close to it as you can) and keep the left mouse button down until the view centers on the area you clicked. Now, while keeping both the Alt key pressed and the left mouse button down, push the mouse forward to zoom in. Do it slowly! And notice that you can move left and right to adjust your view as needed. If the view gets messed up, dont worry. Just press [Esc] and the view would reset itself. You can then try again. Try this a couple times to get the hang of it.

Now zoom in until you can clearly see the earring (you just need to be able to click and select it). Right-click on the earring, and select "Take". This takes the earring into your inventory. Now click on the "Inventory" button at the bottom of your screen. Open the "Objects" folder, and you "Red Dot Earring" should be inside.

Since you will need one of these earrings for each ear, you will need to duplicate this prim. Right-click on "Red Dot Earring" and select "Copy". Right-click on "Red Dot Earring" again and select "Paste". Now you have 2 earrings.

You should rename these earrings so you can keep track of which is right and which is left. Right-click on one and select "Rename" and change the name to "Red Dot Earring (R)". Change the other one to "Red Dot Earring (L)".

Lets fit it onto your avatar. Many people prefer using a pose stand to do this step. It helps keeps the avatar stationary. Most clothing stores let you use their pose stands, and some even give away pose stands. You can also get one at most freebie places like Yadni's. Alternatively, you can just play a pose that freezes the avatar. But this is not absolutely necessary (I usually dont, unless I need my arms extended to fit bracelets).

Right click on the right earring ("Red Dot Earring (R)") and select "Attach To >", then choose "Right Ear". When you first attach the earring, it will be facing the wrong direction. You need to rotate the earring to fix this.

So use your camera controls (the Alt key thing above), click on your right ear, and zoom in as close to it as you can so you have a good view of the earring. BTW, you can do this in multiple steps: zoom in a bit, click on another object to focus on, then zoom in some more.



Then right click on the earring and select "Edit..." If your hair is in the way, you may want to detach or unwear it for now. You should see the red/green/blue movement arrows on the earring. The earring should be positioned like a dome on the ground. We need to flip it up, so the dome faces in the same direction as your AV's face.

To rotate the prim, press and hold the "Ctrl" key. The display will change from the red/green/blue arrows to red/green/blue circles. Each of these circles represents a rotational axis. Note that by default, this rotation occurs relative to your AV.

With the "Ctrl" key pressed, click and hold the left mouse button on the circle you want to rotate in (should be the green circle in this case). Now move the mouse to rotate the prim until the dome faces forward (until the "Y:" figure at the top of the screen reads Y:90.000). Release the "Ctrl" key when done.

Next position the prim on the earlopes by clicking and dragging each of the red/green/blue arrows. Do this slowly! Or the prim may fly off in some unknown direction :P You may want to move the camera around as you do this as well (the "Alt" key thing).

You may want to do some additional rotations by pressing the "Ctrl" key to improve the fitting (especially along the blue circle). Fitting is all about re-positioning and rotating.

Here is an important step! Once you are done, Right-click on the earring and select "Detach". This saves the fitting you have just made. Now, you can just Right-click on the earring and select "Wear". It will know where to go.

For the earring on the left side, just repeat this process. Be sure to attach the earring to the Left Ear.

Thats it. You just made and fitted a pair of prim earrings! All prim attachments are fitted the same exact way, from simple jewelry pieces to 100 prim shoes to giant robot AV's. We will build on these skills on future entries.



And if you are feeling adventurous, why dont you try to make a pair of these black metal bracelets? Ill give you the specs fitted for my arms. The size will probably vary for your AV, since I try for a tight fit. Adjust the Size X and Size Y numbers accordingly:

"Object" Tab
Size: X=0.070, Y=0.075, Z=0.070
Path Cut: B=0.049, E=0.950
Hollow=95
Taper: X=0.15, Y=0.15

"Texture" Tab
Texture is Blank
Color is Black (or choose any color you like)
Shininess=Medium

Attachment points are Left Forearm and Right Forearm.



A moment of silent reflection after a long day of prim twisting :)