Day 279: Sculpted Prims Tutorial Part 4 (Texture)

In Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this tutorial series, we discussed sculpted prims and how to create them using Wings 3D and ROKURO. With these 3D programs, we can create and tweak just about any 3D shape relatively easily. However, there is something important missing: the texture.

In this Part 4 of the tutorial series, we are going to talk about one way to create textures for sculpted prims.

Programs and techniques for working with sculpted prims are changing daily. But 3 SL residents have really made the techniques we've talked about possible: Omei Turnbull created the Wings 3D sculpted prim exporter and importer. Yuzuru Jewell created ROKURO and his latest creation, TOKOROTEN. I really appreciate your efforts in making sculpties easier for the rest of us :)


Sculpted Prim Texture Overview



Creating texture for sculpties is basically the same as any other type of prim. You can create texture files using Photoshop, GIMP, or just about any graphics program.

But sculpties tend to be unusually shaped. And a single sculptie may represent more than one type of material. For example, part of a sculptie may be metal; while another part may be wood. That makes creating texture for sculpties more challenging, because its hard to figure out which part of a texture file will map to which part of a sculptie.

Commercial 3D programs (like Maya, Lightwave, Modo, and ZBrush) let you import the sculpted prim into the program and paint directly on the sculpted prim. The problem is that these programs cost more than I can afford, even with my student discount! So I have to settle for the less expensive alternative :P

We are going to talk about one technique based on discussions from the SL Forums: work on the texture in Photoshop or GIMP, and use Wings 3D to preview the texture periodically. Its not as easy as painting directly on a sculptie. But its good for the occasional sculptie builder. And its a lot more affordable :)

I strongly urge you to use ROKURO version 1.02 (Aug 12, 2007) for this tutorial. Be sure you have these settings (they are the standard settings):

   Points(P): 33 Points(3)
   SaveSetup(S)/TGASize(S): 128x128(1)

When you save the sculpt map in ROKURO, be sure that you click on the dropdown box next to "Save as type:" and select "BMP 24bit 62x62 File".

Also, this tutorial specifically refers to the Wings 3D Exporter "wpc_sculpty_080707" (Aug 7, 2007). The Wings 3D Exporter is available from the SL Forums. If you dont have access to the SL Forums, Omei Turnbull (the author) has kindly made it available for free from PK Pounceworks. The files start with "wpc_sculpty_080707".

Here is a quick overview of the steps involved:

1. Import the Sculpt Map into Wings 3D.

2. Import the "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" file into Wings 3D.

3. Apply the "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" file to the Sculptie.

4. Open the "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" file in Photoshop (or another graphics program).

5. Edit the "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" as needed.

6. Save any changes back to the "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" file.

7. In Wings 3D, "Refresh" the texture to see it on the Sculptie.

OK, here we go... :)


Step 1: Import the Sculpt Map

***Note: Dont skip this step by opening a Wings 3D saved file. In order to do this tutorial, you must import the BMP sculpt map file into Wings 3D. This will create a UV Map of the sculpt map.

Go ahead and start Wings 3D.



Click on the "File" option from the top menu bar, select the "Import" option, and click on the square box to the right of "Second Life Sculpty (.bmp)...".

If you see a list of "Topology", select "Sphere". Make sure the "Triangulate" checkbox is unchecked, then click "OK".

Select the "Sculptie Messy Candle.bmp" we prepared in Part 3 of this tutorial series.



You should see our familiar messy candle :)













Click on "Select" from the top menu bar, and "All Faces".














The messy candle will turn red.



Right-click on the main window to bring up the popup menu. Select ".UV Mapping." from the popup menu.



You should see the "AutoUV : STL" window showing you a red version of the UVMap from UVMapper.

Go ahead and close the "AutoUV : STL" window.

Thats it...the UV Map has been applied to the model.










Step 2: Import the "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" File into Wings 3D



Here is a UV Texture Map I created to help work with sculpted prims. This Texture Map will help us figure out which part of the sculpted prim maps to which portion of the texture.

Click on this UV Texture Map image to the left (so you see the image full size). Right-click on the image and select "Save Picture As...". Enter "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" as the file name.

(Note: You might want to save an extra copy of "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" somewhere, since we will be directly editing the "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" file.)



Click on the "Window" option from the top menu bar, and "Outliner".







This will open the Outliner window.



Click on the "File" option from the top menu bar, and "Import Image...". Choose the "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" file.











You should see a tiny version of the UV Texture Map appear in the Outliner window.













Step 3: Apply "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" Texture to the Sculptie



OK, this part is a bit tricky...

First, left-click on the text "UV-Texture-Map". This will select the item.

Next, drag-and-drop the "UV-Texture-Map" item onto the line that has the word "default".









At the "Texture Type" popup, select "Diffuse".












Click on main window (on the messy candle itself) and press the [Space] bar to de-select everything. You should now see the UV Texture Map on the messy candle :)











Step 4: Open the "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" file in Photoshop

Now that we are setup to preview the texture in Wings 3D, its time to open the UV Texture Template in Photoshop.

If you are using another graphics program, you can do the same steps using the graphics program of your choice. It doesnt have to be exact...we have already done the hard part by setting up the preview :)



Start Photoshop and open the "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" file you imported into Wings 3D above. It has to be the exact same "UV-Texture-Map.jpg" file you used above, or this wont work!



Select the Layers palette. Because this is a JPEG file, there should only be 1 layer called "Background". We want to change "Background" to a normal layer.

Right-click on the "Background" layer and select "Layer from Background...".

At the "New Layer" window, click "OK". The "Background" layer has now become "Layer 0".





Change the "Opacity" of "Layer 0" to 50%.















Click on the "Create a new layer" button on the bottom of the Layers palette to create "Layer 1".

Move "Layer 1" below "Layer 0" by dragging and dropping the layer.










Steps 5-7: Working on the Texture in Photoshop



We now have a workspace all setup and ready to paint the texture :)

The semi-transparent UV Texture Template will serve as a guide as we create the texture. Once we are done with the texture, we can just turn off "Layer 0" before saving the final file.






Lets flip back to Wings 3D and look at our Messy Candle...

The top rim of the candle is A7 to H7 and A8 to H8. We want to make this part of the candle lighter than the bottom.

Notice that the melted part of the candle goes from G1 to around G7. The bottom of the candle goes from A1 to H1, and A2 to H2. We are going to make these 2 areas darker than the rest of the candle.

BTW, your candle would probably be different, unless you are using the texture from Sirena Hair & Fashion. So choose areas that match your candle :)




Select a light brown foreground and a dark brown background color.

Then select the Gradient tool. If you see the Paint Bucket tool, Right-click on the Paint Bucket and select the Gradient tool.















Draw a straight line from the bottom of D8 to the top of D6. This will create a light brown to dark brown gradient.

Its a bit hard to see what we just did. So try turning down "Layer 0"'s Opacity from 50% to 10%.



Click on the Foreground color square. This will open the Color Picker.

Click on the radio button to the left of the top "B:" (the one for Brightness). Then pull the slider down to make the color darker. Click "OK" when the foreground color is noticeably darker than the background color.



Select the Brush tool and a large brush (around 13 px).















Draw some freehand lines from G1 to G7, across A1 to H1, and across A2 to H2. These are the melted areas of the candle.

For better effect, click on the Foreground color square again. Make the foreground color even darker, and draw some more lines in this area.

Now lets see our changes in Wings 3D :)

Click on "File" from the top menu bar, select "Save for Web...", and over-write the original file.



Flip back to Wings 3D. Right-click on UV-Texture-Map and select "Refresh".






You will notice that the changes we made in Photoshop now shows up on our Messy Candle. How cool is that! :)

You can preview your changes whenever you feel like it. Just save the file in Photoshop, flip over to Wings 3D, and select "Refresh".




Lets finish up our texture.

Go back to Photoshop, click on "Filter" from the top menu bar, select "Blur", and "Gaussian Blur...".

In the Gaussian Blur window, enter "5" for Radius and click "OK".











Click on "Filter" from the top menu bar, select "Noise", and "Add Noise...".

In the Add Noise window, enter "15%" for Amount, select "Gaussian", and check the "Monochromatic" box. Click the OK button.












Click on "Filter" from the top menu bar, select "Blur", and "Gaussian Blur...".

In the Gaussian Blur window, enter "1" for Radius and click "OK".











Go to the Layers palette. Click on the "eye" next to "Layer 0" to hide it.

Thats it...we are done!

Click on "File" from the top menu bar, select "Save for Web...", and over-write the original file.






Flip back to Wings 3D. Right-click on UV-Texture-Map and select "Refresh". Our Messy Candle now looks much messier :)

Feel free to add additional details to the candle by jumping back-and-forth between Photoshop and Wings 3D. Remember you can add layers to help you make changes. Adding layers also help you move things around in case they dont show up correctly in the preview.


Finishing the Messy Candle

Once you are done editing the texture file, save it under a different name. Say, something like "Messy Candle Color Texture.jpg".



Just upload and apply "Messy Candle Color Texture.jpg" the same way you would any other prim texture.

Note that when you apply the texture, you may need to flip the Horizontal and Vertical (by clicking on the "Flip" checkbox). But you will find that the texture looks pretty much like it did in Wings 3D :)

I hope you have found this Sculpted Prims tutorial series helpful! Im sure there will be more tools and development to come in the next few months...so I cant wait :)

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© 2007 All Rights Reserved.

Day 277: Miniature Golf at Bedrock

Remember the Flintstones? You can go visit their home town of Bedrock in Second Life :)

Bedrock is sorta how I remembered it from the cartoons...



Heres Wilma and Fred's rock house :)



And this is where Fred and Barney goes to bowl every week!



Theres even an airport! Remember, theres a limit to the number of stones you can bring on board :P



Heehee...and heres the elephant who puts out the fires in Bedrock :)

Bedrock has a number of other games and a disco. There are even rumored to be hidden areas...

Bedrock is fun to see, but Ive got my own reasons for coming...



You see, I LOVE miniature golf :) I just came back from playing Real Life miniature golf, where I totally beat my date :) He claims he let me win (thats such a bad excuse for guys ;P).

Anyway, I thought SL would be the perfect place for miniature golf! Where else can you have cool windmills and miniature castles :) I went to Search for "miniature golf", and Bedrock was on top!



Miniature golf costs L$50 per person at Bedrock (around 18 US cents). You buy a golf club and off you go on this 9 hole course...



See? Total golf pro! Watch out, Tiger Woods :P

You "Touch" the golf club to drop a ball on the ground, then aim the red arrow in the direction you want to hit. It does take a few tries to figure this out.

Oh, and you dont hit your balls a second time. You have to "Touch" your golf club to drop a new ball every time. You just cant drop it too far from where the old ball landed, or you will lose points. (So I cant cheat when no one is looking :( )



Hole 6 is the flaming volcano! Definitely never seen one of these in Real Life :)



I have to admit, it does take a LOT of patience and time to go through the whole course. Most of the time, I lose my ball and have to lose points by dropping a new ball far away.

But it is something silly and fun to do :) Definitely worth trying with someone you want to do silly and fun things with.

Lol and they need some kissing poseballs so the couple ahead can hold up everyone behind :P

To come to Bedrock, click on Search, select Places, and enter "bedrock" as the keyword. The SLURL is Drymonia (172,38,252).



Oh Blue Poseball, darling, you absolutely give the best massage in SL!

Day 275: Second Life Botanical Gardens

You know I have a thing for gardens. So Im glad to hear that the new Second Life Botanical Gardens is almost done :)

The SL Botanical Gardens started in one of the Mainland sims. But early this year, they moved into their own sim.



Turn on your sound and follow me through the Botanical Gardens. You definitely dont want to miss all the cool sounds effects :)

Oh, and press "Play" on your Music tab too! Enya was playing while I was taking all these pix...it was so nice, I didnt want to leave :P



Like other garden sims in SL, the Botanical Gardens has many trails that wind through the garden. Just like a Real Life botanical garden, these paths wind into each other. So just give up...youre going to get totally lost :P



Heres my favorite part of the garden: a section of the trails thats covered by sheer flexi fabric awnings. They flap in the wind, and are totally dreamy! Right out of a romance novel :)



Um...is that lightning in the rain forest? Can lightning strike twice in the same spot in SL?



And of course, there are many secluded spots around the sim where you and your...um...friend can watch the sunset or the stars. Just like Real Life garden sims, SL garden sims are naturally romantic :P



There is a beautiful aviary in the sim, full of birds, exotic plants (with scary-looking flexi parts :P), and waterfalls...



The Botanical Gardens give you a notecard with things to do when you arrive in the sim. One of the things to do is to talk to Buddha. So dont forget to get some wisdom :)



Im not too sure about this gondola thing! Im not dressed for paddling :P



And definitely float in the water and look at the stars (with Mouselook). I wonder how this would look with WindLight? :)



So grab a friend and take a stroll through the SL Botanical Gardens. Click on Search, select Places, and enter "botanical" as the keyword. The SLURL is Botanical Gardens (194,60,38).



Blue Poseball, darling, its amazing you know all the romantic spots in SL!

Day 274: Sirena 3 Women/2 Men's Hairstyles (Messy Hair with Sculptie Accessories)

Im in Second Life Insider! It was an honor to chat with Curvaceous and Tateru Nino from SL Insider :) Tateru is a total legend in Second Life! Im thinking of joining the Cult of Tateru ;P



Its Monday again (seems to be one every week! :P) This week, its messy hairstyles with my first batch of sculptie accessories :) Heehee...you just know that sculpties were coming...



Angie is a tropical hairstyle, with long flexi strands swept to one side. Like Leilani, Angie has a Hawaiian hair flower: In this case, a white hibiscus (with sculptie flower pedals). The hair flower only goes on the left side...so it's for those with someone close to the heart :)



Lisa is a short messy hair, with strands going every which way. It comes with a color-changing headband, just because handbands are so "in" right now! :)



Kate is a wonderful "everyday" hair. With bangs that open up to curls running down the front. And long flexi strands that move nicely and flow down the back. Comes with a sculptie heart charm...just because hearts should be sculpties :)



And I havent forgotten about you guys :)

Brad is a medium length hair...for those who like it long, but prefer to look respectable :) No relations to any movie star I know of... Although I absolutely *NEED* to make something from "Troy" :)



Victor is a classic combed-back style for the guys, held in place by carefully applied hair care products :) Very stylish and no-nonsense (so I mustve been possessed when I made it ;P)



Steve is out of control with buying male modeling poses... :P

Day 272: Sculpted Prims Tutorial Part 3 (ROKURO)

***Update: If you find ROKURO useful, please consider donating inworld to help support the ROKURO website! Every L$ counts! This will help keep ROKURO as free software. The inworld donation box is located here: Hewes (168,130,79). You can read about the donation situation in the SL Forums.


In Part 1 and Part 2 of this tutorial series, we talked about sculpted prims and how to create them using Wings 3D.

In this Part 3 of the tutorial series, we are going to use another program, ROKURO, to create sculpt maps. We are also going to tweak one of the ROKURO sculpt maps using Wings 3D.

This tutorial specifically refers to ROKURO version 1.02 (Aug 12, 2007). If you are using older versions of ROKURO, there are additional steps involved to convert the TGA to BMP files.

Also, this tutorial refers to the Wings 3D Exporter "wpc_sculpty_080707" (Aug 7, 2007).

You will need the free Particle Scripts folder (yes...Particle Scripts :P) from Sirena Hair & Fashion to complete this part of the tutorial. Click on Search, select the Places tab, and enter "sirena" as the keyword.

Also, I put a copy of the completed Sculptie Candle (and its sculpt map textures) in the Sculpted Prims box at Sirena Hair & Fashion, just in case you dont want to go through all the steps below :)


ROKURO Overview

ROKURO is a program specifically written to create a special type of sculpted prim. ROKURO creates a 3D object out of a flat drawing by spinning it around in 3D.



So if you drew a shape like a "U" in ROKURO...



ROKURO will create a sculptie cup :)

ROKURO is free, super easy to use, and doesnt even need to be installed. Just download the program and run it! I wish more programs were like this :)

Also, we can import things created with ROKURO into Wings 3D for additional tweaking (to add bumps or completely change the shape). ROKURO can be a great way to create a starting shape that we "finish" in Wings 3D or Blender.


Getting and Running ROKURO

Downloading ROKURO is easy. Just go to the ROKURO Website and follow the links for Windows or Mac versions. The Windows version comes as a ".zip" file.



When you open the ".zip" file, you get "ROKURO.exe" that is ready to run. No installation needed :) Just double-click on the file to start!

And ROKURO is super easy to use: just drag the blue dots around to create the shape you want. If you want a cup, just make something that looks like a "U". There are some sample pix of what you can do on the ROKURO Website.

(Note: the author of ROKURO just released a new sculptie creation tool called TOKOROTEN. TOKOROTEN creates objects by pushing outwards. The cool thing is that the techniques in this tutorial also works with TOKOROTEN :D)


Candle Holder


First lets make the candle holder.

Would you believe I made this in like 15 minutes? Its really easy to do. Just start up ROKURO...



And drag the little blue dots around to something like this...

Dont forget the little spike at the top. It keeps the candle from falling off :P

And due to poor planning, I always seem to have a pile of blue dots on the bottom.

Be sure you have these settings (they are the standard settings):

   Points(P): 33 Points(3)
   SaveSetup(S)/TGASize(S): 128x128(1)
   SaveSetup(S)/Column(C): Column(0)
   SaveSetup(S)/Rotate(R): 360 Degree(0)

When you are done, simply select the "File(F)" option from the top menu bar and "SaveTGA(S)...". Click on the dropdown box next to "Save as type:" and select "BMP 24bit 62x62 File". Enter a file name for the ".BMP" file (something like "Candle Holder"). And you are ready to upload the sculpt map to Second Life :)

Please see Part 1 for detailed steps on uploading a sculpt map and creating the sculpted prim.


Messy Candle



Now comes the fun part :) We are going to make a messy candle. Not the nice new candle cylinder you just bought from the store. But one that youve been using for a while. One day while you are in SL, you left it on for too long. It melted on one side, and a blob of wax now sits at the base. :)

More importantly, we are going to use ROKURO to create the starting shape, then tweak the candle in Wings 3D to give it that messy look.



First, start up ROKURO and arrange the blue dots to something like this. Note that you should put some extra blue dots in the upper right and lower right corners. This would give us more points we can tweak in those areas.

Then select the "File(F)" option from the top menu bar and "SaveTGA(S)...". Click on the dropdown box next to "Save as type:" and select "BMP 24bit 62x62 File". Enter a file name for the ".BMP" file (something like "Messy Candle"). And you are ready to upload the sculpt map to Second Life :)


Tweaking in Wings 3D

Once you have created the "Messy Candle.bmp" in ROKURO, you are ready to import it into Wings 3D for tweaking :)



Go ahead and start Wings 3D. Click on the "File" option from the top menu bar, select "Import", then "Second Life Sculpty (.bmp)...". Select the "Messy Candle.bmp" you created above.

If you see a square to the right of the "Second Life Sculpty (.bmp)..." option, then go ahead and click on the square.

If you see a list of "Topology", select "Sphere". Make sure the "Triangulate" checkbox is unchecked, then click "OK.

Select the "Messy Candle.bmp" you just created.

(Having "Triangulate" slightly improves the quality of the sculpt map created by the exporter. However, this feature can make your computer run slower. So we wont be using it for this tutorial.)



If all goes well, the candle shape that you created in ROKURO should now be in Wings 3D, ready to be tweaked. Super cool, isnt it? :)

Before we start tweaking, make sure that you have the "Advanced Menus" enabled in Wings 3D (Edit/Preferences/Advanced/Advanced Menus). This would enable us to use the Magnet while tweaking (trust me, you will need it :D). You can find detailed steps for enabling the "Advanced Menus" in Part 2 of this tutorial series.



This is the end result. OK...this was MY end result. Your results will vary :P This is tweaking, so its definitely not a precise thing :)

We are trying to make the candle look like it has melted on one side, and theres a puddle of wax on the base of the candle.

So ready to start tweaking?



Start by clicking on the Tools option from the top menu bar and select "Tweak".
















Make sure that the first pyramid is selected on the middle top part of the main screen. This means we will be working with points/vertices (which would enable us to use the Magnet :D).

Press the "2" key to select the "Dome" shape for our Magnet. We want to make the big changes first, then go in and touch things up later...



Now Left-click and hold on a point/vertex around the top rim of the candle. You will see a blue circle appear. This indicates the Magnet is active. Press the "+" and "-" keys to adjust the strength of the Magnet. You will see the blue circle grow and shrink as you do this. The bigger the blue circle, the stronger the Magnet, and the more "stuff" gets moved as you tweak.

And remember that you can press "Ctrl-Z" at any time to Undo any changes you dont like.

Pull the rim of the candle slightly out and down.



Now pull out some of the candle right below where it melted. And start tweaking around the rim and the base of the candle.

Now press the "4" key to select the "Spike" shape for our Magnet. This enables us to make sharper points than the Dome.

Go back and start making detail tweaks. Remember to adjust your Magnet strength with "+" and "-" keys. Also, be sure that you rotate your view by clicking on the Middle mouse button.



Once you are done tweaking, press the "Esc" key to get out of "Tweak" mode.



Click on the "File" option from the top menu bar, select "Export", and select "Second Life Sculpty (.bmp)...". Name the file "Sculptie Messy Candle.bmp".

Please see Part 1 for detailed steps on uploading a sculpt map and creating the sculpted prim.


Finishing the Candle



Once you have uploaded the Candle Holder and Messy Candle to SL, go ahead and rez a couple prims and turn them into a Candle Holder and a Messy Candle.

You can modify sculpted prims just like other prims by repositioning, rotating, and resizing them. So go ahead and resize the Messy Candle and fit it into the Candle Holder.

Hmmm...arent we missing something? Oh yeah, we need the candle flame :)

We created a burning candle before using particles in "Creating Particle Effects Part 1". We are going to create a candle wick and borrow the particle flame script to complete our candle :)

First we need to make a little candle wick.

Go ahead and rez a Cylinder. Go to the General tab, and change the Name to "Wick".

Enter the following dimensions:

Size X: 0.010
Size Y: 0.010
Size Z: 0.020

Go to the Texture tab. Click on the square above "Color".

When the "Color Picker" window appears, click on the black square and click "Select".

Go to the Content tab.

Look in your Inventory for the "Particle Script - Candle Flame" script from the Particle Scripts folder you got from Sirena Hair & Fashion. Click and drag the "Particle Script - Candle Flame" script from your Inventory to the Content tab of the Wick.



And you should have a burning wick :)



Now, just position the burning wick in the middle of the candle. Thats it, you have a messy candle that will keep burning forever (or until the sim crashes :P).

The combination of ROKURO and Wings 3D are great for creating sculpted prims quickly and with relative ease. Good luck with your sculpties projects :)



***Update: Yuzuru Jewell, the author of ROKURO, has just released ROKURO Pro! ROKURO Pro combines ROKURO, TOKOROTEN, and a new pipe bending thing called MAGE. The cool part is that you can use them together to make some interesting sculpties, like the trumpet thing behind me :)

ROKURO Pro also lets you preview the final shape and enable you to change the control points.

ROKURO Pro has a 3 day free trial so you can try out what it can make. The product costs L$3200. You can update from previous versions for L$500.



Awww...Blue darling, how sweet! A candlelight tea party! :)

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© 2007 All Rights Reserved.

Day 270: Clueless in Midgar

OK, I have this cute outfit on today. And this time with the matching hair (and hair beads :D). Now someone told me I should go see Midgar...



The top part of Midgar is called the "Upper Plates". Is that like the nice part of town or something?

Theres this huge building in the middle of Midgar that goes way up into the clouds...



Oh my gosh, a coin-op laundromat. Ive been looking for one since I started Second Life! Now I can finally wash my clothes! :P



Midgar is full of people! Most dressed kinda funny. And whats with all the big swords? ;P



*Pssst* I wonder whats in that giant building. Its got lots of people with those big swords standing out front.

But that never stopped a mermaid before :)



Like...its just an office building! So whats the big deal?



Wow...theres like NOBODY in here! I wonder if Im suppose to be here...

I better sneak out before those guys with the big swords notice me :P



The other part of Midgar is called the "Slums". Its probably because they used old and trash prims to build this part of town :P



The "Slums" is an interesting area. It has a disco full of...um...cactus people...



Say, who replaced the mermaid with a bird in that sign? So totally uncool!



Theres even a pretty little church here. Perfect for that...um...fantasy wedding :P


Midgar is an amazingly detailed Final Fantasy role-playing sim. It's like Midian City when it comes to details. Its a popular sim, much like the large Goth role-playing sims.

OK, so Im totally unqualified to write about Midgar. I know next to nothing about Final Fantasy. But thats never stopped me from sneaking around before :)

Midgar has its own combat system (FFCS) and its own collection of guns, knives, equipment, even fashion :) Fighting seems to be a popular activity here. Fortunately, they seem to be OK with me just sneaking around exploring...

Like other role-playing sims, you are generally allowed to look around as long as you dont interrupt other people. Dress appropriately and tread lightly :)

If you are a Final Fantasy fan (or at least know what it is), you should definitely see Midgar! Click on Search, select Places, and enter "midgar" as the keyword. The SLURL is Midgar (139,141,689).



And be sure to recycle...cause the landfills in Midgar are getting full! :P

Day 268: Dresden Gallery

Today, its time to be princess for a day :) Well...at least Im going to wear my tiara and walk around a palace :P

Welcome to Dresden Gallery of Second Life, a sim-sized reproduction of the Zwinger Palace in Dresden, Germany. More importantly, the sim is an experiment in reproducing a Real World museum in Second Life. In this case, its the Old Masters Picture Gallery (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister) located inside the Zwinger Palace.

Thank you so much to my blog friend Ana who told me about this really great place! Check out her blog for some awesome exterior shots of the palace, using the new SL viewer with WindLight :)



Mmmm...I guess Blue Poseball and I could rough it here for the summer :P



As far as I could tell, Dresden Gallery is complete reproduction of the Old Masters Picture Gallery in the Real World, down to the information desk and gift shop :)

The gift shop has free paintings and clothing, so definitely stop by!



Of course, the best part is the gallery itself. All 750 paintings in the Real World gallery is reproduced here. I assume they are even in the same spots!

Just click on any painting to get an information notecard about that painting. Thats 750 notecards!



Be sure to use this map as a guide. It has the artists and the locations of their paintings.

The gallery is roughly divided into two sections, red and green.



The red section has red decor, and the green section has green. So its easy to find your way around. You can Alt-Zoom back to the map whenever you need, so theres definite benefits for being in an SL gallery :P

So off I go to play my favorite museum game: spot the famous paintings :) Grab a list of famous paintings, and off I go on the search!



Heres Giorgione's famous "Sleeping Venus".



Not to be confused with Vecchio's "Resting Venus". Cause this Venus is just resting :P



And heres one of the museum's most famous pieces: the Sistine Madonna by Rapheal. Do those 2 cherubs look familiar? :)



And Correggio's Nativity. Check out the lighting effects from the 1500's! I still havent figured out that Photoshop filter :P



The gallery has many other artists, including several paintings from Rembrandt.



When you are done, drop the museum a note and let them know what you think. This is an experiment, so they are looking for feedback.

I really wish more Real World museums and galleries would share their treasures online like this! It would be totally cool to walk through the virtual gallery, then see the Real World one :)

Check out the Dresden Gallery website for more information. Or better yet, just come and see Dresden Gallery for yourself. And bring your camera :) Click on Search, select Places, and enter "dresden" as the keyword. The SLURL is Dresden Gallery (123,128,26).



This is so thoughtful of them to reproduce the couches in the galleries :) You can take a break when you get tired from "spot the famous paintings" :P

Day 267: Sirena 5 New Hairstyles, Including a Freebie!

Sirena is now twice as big! With 30 different hairstyles, I was running out of space already. So Im glad when my neighbors decided to sell their plot :)

Its Monday again, and more new hairstyles :) This week, its super accessories and an (almost) freebie!



Claudette brings the hair to the back into a bun before falling into long flowing flexis. The bun is held in place by a fancy twisting color-changing hair clip with pearls...



Nicki is an updo with a tiara that will make you feel like a princess :) Perfect for formal functions and ballrooms. And the coolest part is that Nicki and Nicole can swap accessories. So Nicki can wear Nicole's Garland, and Nicole can wear Nicki's tiara... :)



Isabelle is a long flowing hairstyle held in place by color changing polka-dot headbands. Thats right, you can change just the color part of the polka-dots! It comes with 2 headbands: one with color polka-dots/white background, and one with white polka-dots/color background. Its a really cool effect...check out the demo :)



Nadia is a short curly hair. Its a very chic styling and comes with a cute little heart charm on a chain...



Jenny is a medium length hair tied with long flowing flexi ribbons...color-changeable, of course :) So its a dramatic hair in any shade. The best part is that Jenny is just L$1 per color pack! Heres your chance to try out those exotic tips and textures :)



Blue Poseball, darling, can you hear me from the other side of the store?

Day 265: Sculpted Prims Tutorial Part 2 (Wings 3D)

In Part 1 of this tutorial series, we talked about how to create sculpted prims (sculpties) from sculpt maps. We installed and created a sculpt map of a mushroom using Wings 3D.

In this part 2, we will talk about Wings 3D in detail, particularly features specific to sculpties. We will then create a sculpted prim hat using Wings 3D.

BTW, I am NOT a Wings 3D expert. I saw Wings for the first time about a week ago. So please let me know if I do something really dumb here :)

Here goes... :)


Wings 3D Overview

Wings 3D is a quick and relatively easy program for creating sculpted prims (I said relatively ;P). Steps for getting Wings 3D and the sculpted prim exporter up and running are in Part 1.

The Wings 3D sculpted prim exporter only works with a sphere with specific dimensions (number of Sections and Slices). We cannot use any Wings 3D tools that change the dimensions of the sphere. So there are lots of Wings 3D features and techniques we cannot use for making sculpted prims. In fact, the Wings 3D tools we can actually use are rather limited. Thats nice, cause its fewer buttons I have to learn ;P



Im assuming that you want to create a "Real World" type object, with lots of bumps and irregularities. In Wings 3D, you would create a general shape, then tweak it. This is similar to the mushroom we made in Part 1 of this tutorial.

When creating the general shape, you repeatedly select parts of the sphere, then do something to them. For our mushroom in Part 1, we selected the top of the sphere, then "scaled" it to make it bigger.

Once you have the general shape, you would Tweak the shape to make it more "realistic". You can also use the advanced Wings 3D magnet tool to seriously Tweak your shape. We are going to do all these things in a moment :)


Camera Controls

But before we can do anything, we need to see it first :) So lets talk about camera controls for a moment...



Go ahead and create a Sphere with 32 Sections and 31 Slices (Right-click on the main screen, click on the square next to "Sphere"). Detailed steps are in Part 1 of this tutorial.

To zoom in and out, roll the mouse-wheel on your mouse. If you dont have a mouse-wheel, then you need to choose one of the alternate Camera Modes (under Edit/Preferences/Camera/Camera Mode, "Maya" works pretty well if you are familiar with SL). Note that the some functions use different keys if you choose an alternate Camera Mode.

To move the camera around the sphere, click once on the Middle mouse button. Then move your mouse left or right to move sideways. Move your mouse up/down to tilt the camera. Once you are happy with the view, click the Left mouse mutton (yep, this takes getting used to!)

To pan the view, click once on the Middle mouse button, then press "Q".

If the view is seriously messed up, just press "R" to restore the original view :)


Selecting Things

There are 3 major ways to select something in Wings 3D. There are also some other neat tools to make things easier for you to make your selections.



The first major way is to select one or more points (or vertices). You choose this option by clicking on the left-most pyramid in the center top of the screen.

Once you click on the left-most pyramid, you will see a bunch of little black boxes all around your shape. If you Left-click on any one of these black boxes, it will turn red to show that you have selected it. If you click on a red (selected) point/vertex, it will be de-selected and turn black again.

You can select multiple points/vertices by clicking on them one at a time. This will let you move/rotate/scale multiple points at the same time.

Once you make a selection, you can grow that selection with the "+" key. This will grow your selection outward one point at a time in all directions. You can shrink your selection with the "-" key. When you create a shape in Wings 3D, you will often grow or shrink you selection as you change the shape. We will be using this technique for our hat below.

To clear all selections, just press the [Spacebar].



The second selection method is to select an edge. You choose this option by clicking on the second pyramid in the center top of the screen.



Edges are very useful in Wings 3D, particularly for working with spheres. Once you select an edge, you can use the "Select/Edge Loop/Edge Loop" menu option to extend that edge all the way around the sphere.



Once you have an Edge Loop selected, you can extend the selection to the nearest end of the sphere by selecting "Select/Edge Loop/Edge Loop to Region". This is a quick way to select a large section of the sphere.

And remember you can use the "+" and "-" keys to grow and shrink your selection.



The last selection method is to select a face. You choose this option by clicking on the third pyramid in the center top of the screen.



Also, check out the various options in the "Select" menu at the top of your screen, under the "By" tab. In particular, "Random" will select a random percentage of the object (perfect for roughing things up). "Shortest Path" is a great way to connect 2 points that you select.

Making Changes to the Sphere

Even though we are limited to tools that do not change the sphere's dimensions, there are still quite a few things we can do to that sphere! The best way to figure out what each option does is to try it :) Just make a sphere, select something, then play away...

The changes you can make depend on the selection method you choose (Point/Vertex, Edge, or Face). But in general, you can always Move, Rotate, or Scale.



Moving takes your selection and moves it. It does this by stretching the adjacent parts of the object.

To move your selection, first make a selection. Then Right-click on the main screen and choose Move. Choose "Normal" if you want to move your selection straight out. Choose "Free" to move it freehand. Choose X, Y, or Z to move in a single direction.



Moving may sound simple, but you can create some interesting effects by moving Edge Loops or whole regions.



Rotate will, well, rotate your selection. It will twist the adjacent areas to compensate.



Likewise, Scale will grow or shrink your selection, by distorting the adjacent areas to compensate.



When you make your selection using Points/Vertices (1st pyramid) or Faces (the 3rd pyramid), you have the additional option to Flatten your selection. This is a quick way to squish a part of the sphere!



When you make your selection using Points/Vertices (1st pyramid), you can use all Deform tools, including Crumple, Inflate, Taper, Twist, and Torque. Youve gotta see what some of these things do! :) But be warned: if you make the changes too extreme, they will not come out well in Second Life.

Tweaking with Magnets

We did some simple Tweaking in Part 1 to rough up the mushroom and make it look more natural. When used with the (somewhat tricky) Magnet tool, Tweaking becomes super useful in sculpting prims.

You have to turn on "Advanced Menus" to enable access to the Magnet tool. This will change the way some of your menus look and work. But its well worth it :)

To turn on "Advanced Menus", click on the "Edit" menu option at the top of your screen, then select "Preferences..."



In the Advanced tab, click on the Checkbox next to the "Advanced Menus" option.












Select the "Tools" option at the top menu bar, then the "Tweak" option.

You should notice some additional commands at the bottom of your screen.












Go ahead and try to Tweak a Point/Vertex. Theres now a glowing blue ball around your pointer! This ball shows you that the Magnet is active. When you Tweak the Point/Vertex, you should notice an entire section of the sphere is pulled.

You can adjust the strength of the Magnet by pressing the "+" or "-" keys.

To disable the Magnet (and go back to regular Tweaking), press the "1" key. Press "1" again to re-enable the Magnet.



You can also choose the shape of the item you are Tweaking. Press "2" for Dome, "3" for Straight, and "4" for Spike. Try it to see the different effects :)


Making a Hat

OK, thats enough overview. Lets make something :)



We are going to make a hat. Sort of a modern retro 1960's version of a 1920's Cloche hat (and you thought Wings was confusing :P) The hat shows a number of tools we talked about...and because I wanted a hat like this :P.

First, make sure that you have turned on Advanced Menus. If you have not done so, then follow the steps in the previous section ("Tweaking with Magnets").



Go ahead and create a Sphere with 32 Sections and 31 Slices (Right-click on the main screen, click on the square next to "Sphere"). Detailed steps are in Part 1 of this tutorial.

BTW, for final projects, you may want to use 64 Sections and 63 Slices for better resolution. But this means more Sections you have to move :)



Click on the "Select" option at the top menu bar and select "All Vertices".













Right-click on the main screen and select ".Scale Axis." from the popup menu (this menu looks a bit different with Advanced Menus turned on). Then select "Y" from the next popup menu.



Move your mouse slowly to the right until the display on the upper left corner of the screen reads about 150%. Left-click on the main screen to accept the change.

Dont worry about being exact...its just a hat :)



Press the [Spacebar] to clear your selections.

Then click on the 2nd pyramid in the top center of the screen for Edge selection mode.

Click on one of the horizontal Edges just above the middle of the sphere.



Click "Select" from the top menu bar and select "Edge Loop", then "Edge Loop" again. This will draw a red circle all the way around the sphere.



Click "Select" from the top menu bar and select "Edge Loop", then "Edge Loop to Region". This will select the top half of the sphere.



Right-click on the main screen and select ".Move." from the popup menu. Select "Y" from the next popup menu.

Move your mouse slowly to the left until the red portion is about even with the top of grey portion.



Press the "-" key once to shrink the selection. One row of Faces should now be de-selected.



Right-click on the main screen and select ".Move." from the popup menu. Select "Y" from the next popup menu.

Move your mouse slowly to the left until the red portion is just slightly inside the brim of the hat. Dont go in too deeply on this one (its part of the brim).



Press the "-" key once to shrink the selection. One row of Faces should now be de-selected.



Right-click on the main screen and select ".Move." from the popup menu. Select "Y" from the next popup menu.

Move your mouse slowly to the left until the red portion drops further into the hat. But dont bring it down too far...you still have a few more rows to go.

Again, press the "-" key once to shrink the selection. One row of Faces should now be de-selected.



Move the red portion down a bit more. Then press the "-" key again to de-select another row of Faces.

Repeat this a few times, try to keep the insides fairly even...

You may want to rotate the camera to get a better view of the inside of the hat.



Continue until you reach the second to last row. Be careful and dont go down too deep, or you may come through the other end of the hat!

So far, we have a hollow half sphere. But we could have done this with ordinary prims! Alright, here comes the sculpted prim magic :)



Press the [Spacebar] to clear your selections.

Then click on the 2nd pyramid in the top center of the screen for Edge selection mode.

Click on the inside Edge of the brim. This should be the same Edge you selected to create the Edge Loop before. Be sure its one of the inside edges, not outside!



Click "Select" from the top menu bar and select "Edge Loop", then "Edge Loop" again. This will draw a red circle all the way around the brim of the hat.



Press the "+" key once to grow the selection.



Right-click on the main screen and select ".Scale Uniform." from the popup menu.

Move your mouse slowly to the right until the display at the upper left corner of the screen reads about 120%. Left-click on the main screen to accept the change.



Now that we are done with the general shape, its time to tweak!

It might be helpful to tilt the camera view and flip the hat upside-down. Click the Middle mouse button and tilt the camera around. Click the Left mouse button when you are done.

Click on the "Tools" option from the top menu bar and select "Tweak".

Press the "2" key to select "Dome" shape for the Magnet.



The hat looks too perfect at the moment, so we want to make it more "realistic".

So grab a point/vertex and start pulling and pushing :) Go ahead and push in the sides a bit and tease the brims. Add some bumps here and there.

Remember, you can press the "1" through "4" keys to get different shapes for the Magnet (or turn it off). Also, use the "+" and "-" keys to adjust the strength of the Magnet.

Press the [Esc] key when you are done Tweaking.



One more final touch...

Click on the left-most pyramid in the top center of the screen for Point/Vertex selection mode.

Click "Select" from the top menu bar and select "All Vertices".



Right-click on the main screen and select "Deform" from the popup menu. Select "Crumple" from the next popup menu. And select "Random" from the last popup menu.

Move your mouse slightly to one side until the hat has a slight crumpled look. Dont over do it! Left-click on the main screen to accept the change.

Thats it. Our sculptie hat is ready to be exported to Second Life!

To export the sculpt map, click "File" from the top menu bar, select "Export", and select "Second Life Sculpty (.bmp)...".

You now have the sculpt map for the hat, ready to upload to Second Life. Refer to Part 1 of this tutorial for detailed steps in creating the sculpted prim from the sculpt map.


Congratulations! You just sculpted a real sculpted prim with a 3D program. How cool is that? :)

If you just want to see the hat or play with the sculpt map, I put a copy of both in the "Sculpted Prims" box at Sirena Hair (116,217,22).



So where should I go with my cool new sculptie hat? :)

48605-071006-403191-19

© 2007 All Rights Reserved.

Day 263: The Pond

Welcome to The Pond, a bit of Australia in Second Life.

The Pond is a group of sims run by BigPond, an Australian Internet provider. So you will find a lot of BigPond customers (real Australian guys) in these sims :)

Hmmm...I wonder if my Babbler Translator can translate Australian... :P



The Pond are definitely corporate sims...with all the professional touches :)

Just look at all the different areas. The map is definitely helpful! Unfortunately, not all of these areas seem to be fully working yet...

There are meeting rooms, places to watch movie trailers, a romance park, bar, disco, and SCUBA diving...



The Pond is designed for BigPond customers, so theres even a Pagoda of Power and Wisdom with helpful SL tips...sorta what you would expect in a Welcome Area.



Club Illusion is a nice disco with definite promise of finding real Australian guys. :P Unfortunately, I cant seem to find an event schedule anywhere...



So armed with an Australian-translator, what exactly can someone across the Pond do at The Pond?

Well, the Billabong Bar is a local hangout and a nice place to meet the "locals".



Its also the gateway to the Australian Outback, where you can "Bush Walk" to Uluru. Im so not dressed for this!



Rez a Mocassin (jetski) and go for a ride!



Better yet, head over to the adjacent Ponderosa sim...just look for the Harbour Bridge (did I mention these are corporate sims? :P)



Check out the famous Sydney Opera House, with a mini-art exhibit underneath.



And the coolest part is that the Ponderosa sim is a giant motorcycle raceway. And you can rez a motorcycle and race for free :)



I am so not dressed for this! :P



Hmm...what exactly do they mean by "Human Cannonball"?

If youve always wondered what Australian sounds like, come check out The Pond. Click on Search, select Places, and enter "the pond". The SLURL to the main arrival area is The Pond (127,135,41).



Um...did someone say SCUBA diving? :)

So if a mermaid wears her hair flower on the left side, is she allowed to harass Australian guys? :P

Day 261: Virtual Starry Night

Post-Impressionist art, anyone? :)

Welcome to the Virtual Starry Night, a virtual exhibit of Vincent van Gogh's work in Second Life.

This is totally thanks to Deedee who told me about this amazing exhibit :)



Yep, van Gogh is the one with the famous Sunflowers :)

Virtual Starry Night has 3 areas: Portraits & People, Landscapes, and Stillifes. Each contains a maze of rooms with van Gogh's paints from all over the world.

The nice thing is that each painting has the name of the painting and where it is on display. There are paintings from Amsterdam, New York, Paris, and many other cities around the world. There are also paintings from private collections.



And heres the gallery's namesake: "Starry Night", currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

There are also tidbits about van Gogh's life throughout the gallery.



And heres Vincent himself!

I dont know how he can paint so many self-portraits! I have problems just taking pix of myself :P

Oh, you are welcome to take photos and videos :) As long as you dont use the flash, of course :P



And the absolute coolest part about Virtual Starry Night are the 3D paintings. When Deedee first told me about this place, I didnt know what she meant by being *IN* a van Gogh painting...

Well, you can literally go into a 3D version of van Gogh's painting :)



So I can sit on the pool table in van Gogh's painting, "The Night Cafe" :)

The gallery reproduced several of the paintings as complete scenes in Second Life, so you can walk around inside the painting...



How about "A Bridge in the Rain"? Complete with particle rain, of course :)



This is probably the coolest way to look at van Gogh's work. If you are interested in modern art, you really have to see this! Click on Search, select Places, and enter "starry night" as the keyword. The SLURL is Luctesa (95,193,66).



Heres van Gogh's long lost masterpiece: "Mermaid in the Bedroom" :)

Day 260: Sirena 5 New Hairstyles (Long Hair at the Beach)

Do you have a question about Second Life you've always wanted to ask? Or just want to dance with a group of friends? Come to the Sirena Q&A Dance Event this Sun, June 17 from 11:30AM-12:30PM SL/PDT at the Sirena store (Search/Places for "sirena", SLURL: Sirena Hair (116,217,22)). We will try to answer your questions, from basic to advanced. But be warned...we may give silly answers ;P

Thanks, LadyAyn, for this great idea! If this works out, we will do it on a regular basis :) Hmm...so how does this Dance Ball thing work again? ;P



Wow, its Monday again! Time for another 5 new hairstyle :)

This week, its long and beach hair :)



Leilani is a Hawaiian hair style, with long hair that runs down the back. The cool part is the traditional Hawaiian Hair Flower (in this case, a Plumeria, but its color-changeable). In Hawaii, the Hair Flower shows your availability, much like a ring. If worn on the right side, it means you are available. If worn on the left (closer to the heart), it means you are taken...



Amanda is the attention-getting of this group: a lot of hair that flows all the way down your back, tied with a cute fuzzy hair tie :)



Nicole is an elegant updo, great for any formal occasion. It has a flower garland that can change color in certain areas (so its multi-colored, but color-changeable :D)...



Mariah is the long hair with an attitude. A big top with long curly locks. Comes with a jeweled headband with color-changing jewels...



Kelly curls away from the face in a styled cut, with a string of super cute color-changing beads...

All hairstyles come in 3 sizes, (S)mall, (M)edium, and (L)arge for easy fitting and adjustment.

There are 48 textures in 12 color packs to choose from. And all hairs can be color-tinted (with 66 colors) to give you even more color choices!

So check them out at Sirena Hair & Fashion. Click on Search, select Places, and enter "sirena" as the keyword.



So many beaches in Second Life...so little time... ;P

Day 258: Sculpted Prims Tutorial Part 1

Sculpties, anyone? :)

Theres a lot of interest in sculpted prims (sculpties) right now in Second Life. Theres also a lot of discussions and tutorials on sculpties. But things are all over the place and most of the discussions go WAY over my head :P

Im hoping to make sculpties a bit friendlier. At least the basics. So, this is like "Sculpties for Blondes" :)

Im NOT an expert on sculpties...Im just relaying what Ive learned from playing around with them a little bit. I also dont have the money to spend on 3D programs right now, so Im going with the freebie programs :) Before last week, I made smoothies with my Blender and thought Wings belonged on birds. So if youve seen these programs before, you already know more than me :)

If you want more technical information, the Sculpted Prims FAQ on the Second Life Wiki is an excellent resource with lots of links and samples. Also, search for "sculpted prims" in the SL forums.

But if you want to know what sculpties are and a (very) basic intro to tools for making them, then read on...

Of course, this is a multi-part series (because I like to drag them out :P). In this part 1, we are going to talk about what sculpted prims are, make some from existing textures, and then make a simple texture using Wings 3D. In future parts, we will create more complex textures and also look at Blender (in other words, I dont know how they work yet :P)



Whats a Sculpted Prim?

Youve probably seen this pix with the plate of fruits from Linden Labs. The fruit shapes (and the plate) are all sculpted prims.

Sculpties are prims, just like boxes, spheres, tori, etc. Except that sculpties use a small texture file to describe the shape, instead of settings like Path Cut, Hollow, Taper, etc.



These small texture files are called sculpt maps (they have psychedelic colors because they were invented by hippies :P) OK no...their colors describe the shape of the sculptie...sorta where each little portion of the sculptie shape is located.

Because sculpt maps really have a lot of information in them, its not practical to create them using regular paint programs like Photoshop or GIMP. Sculpt maps are generally created using 3D programs like Blender, Wings 3D, Maya, etc. Theres a really nice list of these 3D programs on the Second Life Wiki.



Creating Sculpted Prims

So how do you create a sculpted prim? Its really easy, actually...

Just rez a prim on the ground (like a Box, for example).








Then Edit the prim, go to the Object tab, and change the Building Block Type to "Sculpted".















Thats it! You now have a big wooden sculptie apple :) The apple stem costs extra :P (its a different sculptie)

You can go ahead and resize the apple just like any other prim. You can change the texture and color, even make it semi-transparent or shiny.

Notice that the apple has a wooden texture, just like any other newly created prim. If you want that nice apple texture from the photo, just apply an apple-skin texture to the apple sculptie. The texture works just like any other prim, except it is a bit trickier to line up the texture properly...



If you want to apply a different sculpt map to the prim, just click in the "Sculpt Texture" window and select the new sculpt map. Thats all there is to it...

You do have a bunch of sculpt maps, dont you? :P










Finding Existing Sculpt Maps

OK, so you are probably asking, where can I get some sculpt maps to play around with?

There is a package of sample sculpt maps you can download (sculpt-test.zip) from the Second Life Wiki. This contains 7 sculpt maps: cube, apple, banana, plate, letter-s, apple-stem, and test01. You can upload these textures to SL and apply them to any sculpted prim to try it out.

Note: Some of these sample sculpt maps create sculpties that look inside-out. Im not sure if this is an SL issue or a problem with my computer. Just thought I should mention it in case you see the same thing...

(Since I uploaded these sculpt maps already, you can pick them up for free along with the samples below at Sirena Hair (116,217,22). Its in a box called "Sculpted Prims".)



In addition, the Second Life Wiki has an excellent page with lots of sample sculpties. You need to create a small script and use the texture UUID to grab the texture (the instructions are on the page). Be sure you use the textures for the Main Grid (not the Beta Grid or Teen Grid).

If you just want to play with some of these sample sculpties, I also put them in the "Sculpted Prims" box at Sirena Hair (116,217,22)


Creating Sculpt Maps

You are probably reading this because you are interested in creating your own sculpt maps. After all, even that cool sculptie push-pin gets boring after a while.

To create sculpt maps, we need a 3D program. There are 2 freebie 3D programs that are great for making sculpt maps: Wings 3D and Blender.

Wings 3D is probably the easiest way to create sculpt maps right now. Wings 3D is relatively easy to learn (at least to do simple things). And theres an excellent sculpt map exporter for Wings 3D, so you can export a sculpt map within minutes of installing the program. Unfortunately, Wings 3D has fewer tutorials than Blender, and doesnt have some of Blender's cool features (like sculpt mode!) So in the long run, it may be harder to make some things using Wings 3D versus Blender.

Blender is an amazing 3D program packed with tons of buttons that do amazing things. Unfortunately, it takes me a while to figure out what those tons of buttons do :P Creating sculpt maps from Blender is also a complicated process right now, at least when you are wearing blonde hair. Theres a Blender template file you can use that makes the process easier. Unfortunately, the Blender program itself will simply take longer to learn. But Blender is definitely worth learning if you plan on making complicated sculpt maps.


Installing Wings 3D

So lets start by installing Wings 3D and setting up the Second Life Sculpted Prims Exporter.

Note: I am not sure if the Wings 3D exporter works on anything other than Windows. There appears to be some debate in the SL forum.

First, download and install the Wings 3D Development Rel: 0.98.36 from the Wings 3D website. Be sure that you use the Development Rel (0.98.36), and not older Stable Rel.

Next, download the Wings 3D exporter from the link in the SL forum. Thanks to Omei Turnbull for creating this great tool!

(Note: If you dont have access to the SL Forums, Omei Turnbull (the author) has kindly made it available for free from PK Pounceworks. The files start with "wpc_sculpty_080707".)

The Wings 3D exporter comes with a bunch of files. Just copy all of them to the Wings 3D Plugins "import_export" directory. This directory is pretty buried. On my computer, its at "C:\Program Files\wings3d_0.98.36\lib\wings-0.98.36\plugins\import_export".


Creating a Sculpt Map in Wings 3D

And heres the Wings 3D main screen. Doesnt look that bad, does it? :)

The Wings 3D exporter supports only spheres. So we are going to create a sphere, make some changes to it, then create a sculpt map from it.



Right-click on the Wings 3D main screen to bring up the popup menu. Click on the little box to the right of the word "Sphere".
















This will open the Create a Sphere dialog box.

We need to pick a set of dimensions for the sphere. The exporter only supports one of the following dimensions:

     8 sections and 7 slices (avoid this...)
     16 sections and 15 slices
     32 sections and 31 slices
     64 sections and 63 slices

Think of this as the resolution of the sculpt map. The higher the resolution, the more definition you can have in the shape. But at a higher resolution, there are also more points you have to move around.

For now, enter "32" for Sections, and "31" for Slices.



And heres our sphere!

Its actually ready for export as a sculpt map. But lets make some changes to it first to make it a bit more...unusual. We are going to shape it like a mushroom and add some "organic" bumps :)

Remember the 32 Sections and 31 Slices we picked above? We cannot change these dimensions, or else the sculptie exporter wont work. Thats because SL sculpties require very specific dimensions. That means you have to limit the changes to Move, Rotate, Scale, Tweak, and a few other functions that will not alter the dimensions of the sphere.



Click on the Select menu option at the top of your screen, then select the "All Faces" option.















Next, Right-click anywhere on the main window, select "Scale", and "Y".









Move your mouse to the right to stretch the sphere. Left-click on the main screen when you are done.









This step is a little tricky...

First, press the [Spacebar] to de-select everything. The sphere should turn black.

Next, click on the second pyramid in the top middle of the screen. This pyramid means you are going to select an Edge.

Finally, select one of the horizontal Edges in the top half of the sphere, somewhere towards the middle. Its only important that you select a horizontal Edge (and NOT a vertical one). You dont need to be precise...its a mushroom after all :P



Click on the Select menu option at the top of your screen, then select "Edge Loop", and then the "Edge Loop" option.






The middle of the sphere should now have a thin red ring.






Next, click on the Select menu option at the top of your screen, then select "Edge Loop", and then the "Edge Loop to Region" option.







The top of the sphere should now be red.

If the bottom of your sphere turned red, its because the Edge you selected is too low...try again a little further up. You can go back by repeatedly selecting Edit/Undo.





Right-click anywhere on the main window, select "Scale", and "Radial Y".





Move your mouse to the right to make the mushroom cap larger. Left-click on the main screen when you are done.

And we have a mushroom :) But wait! Lets make it more realistic by adding some irregular bumps...





Click on the Tools menu option at the top of your screen, then select "Tweak".

















The main screen will change slightly. You will see a bunch of little black squares at the corners around the mushroom.



When you are in Tweak mode, you can click and drag these black squares in or out to modify the shape.

Try it! Grab one and move it around :)




We just want to add some realism to the mushroom by randomly pulling and pushing these little black squares. So tweak away and rough things up!

If you make a mistake, you can press "Ctrl-Z" to undo your change.

To rotate the image, click the middle mouse button. When you are done rotating, click the left mouse button to stop rotating. I know...this takes some getting use to... :P

When you are done tweaking, press the [Esc] key to exit Tweak mode.

Now, lets create the sculpt map...



Select the File menu option at the top, then Export, "Second Life Sculpty (.bmp)...".

Enter a name for the .bmp file. Call it "Sculptie Mushroom.bmp".

Now, lets upload the texture to Second Life...





Upload and Make a Sculptie

Go to the Second Life program. Select File from the top menu and "Upload Image (L$10)...".

Select the "Sculptie Mushroom.bmp" file we just created. At the Preview Image window, click "Upload (L$10)" (This step will cost L$10...)

Once the texture is uploaded, rez a Box on the ground. Edit the Box, and select the Object tab in the Edit window.

Change the Building Block Type to "Sculpted".

Click on the picture above "Sculpted Texture" and select the "Sculptie Mushroom" texture we just uploaded.

You should see something that looks like the mushroom you tweaked in Wings :) Second Life does tend to smooth the edges, so the shape make look slightly different...

Go ahead and change the color and texture, or resize your new sculptie.

Congratulations...you just made your first sculpted prim, complete with your own custom sculpt map! :)

To learn more about Wings 3D, there is a nice tutorial in the Second Life Wiki.

For general Wings tutorial, check out the Puzzled Paul website. Note that most of the tutorials either dont use a sphere, or change the dimensions of the sphere. However, the techniques in the tutorials are useful for learning the program.



Hi cutie! You definitely remind me of someone :)

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Day 256: Caledon SteamSkyCity

Ive always had a special place in my heart for Caledon. Maybe its all those fancy dance balls they have :)

So when my friend Virrginia told me about the new Caledon SteamSkyCity sim, I had to go take a look...



Like many of the Caledon sims, SteamSkyCity follows the Steampunk Victorian tradition.

Except SteamSkyCity is a sim-sized airship powered by um...steam...

*Yikes* What happens if they run out of steam?



Like the other Caledon sims, the residents of SteamSkyCity has cool homes and often sell interesting gadgets in their shops.



But its a bit weird knowing you are walking around the giant airship. I feel like a fish out of water up here! (wait...Im a mermaid out of water...)



Take my friend Virrginia, for example. She has a shop here that sells cool Victorian womens sportswear :), bicycles, steam piggy (dont ask :P), and ornithopter.

An ornithopter is a scary steam-powered flying thingie that you can try out for free at her shop. She took me for a ride once...it looks like a lot of fun if you like to fly (um...did I mention Im half fish?)

Oh, and thats a steam-powered mechanical goldfish above my head. You gotta love those steampunks :P



And there are many other interesting shops and homes in SteamSkyCity. Just be careful of where you step :)



Oh my! Look at all those guns around the airship!

It seems Caledon is at war with some other sims (to raise funds for the Relay for Life charity). What is it with boys and guns? *sigh*



You can find out more about the Caledon war at the SteamSkyCity telehub/landing point. Just touch this sign for a Notecard. Theres also this cool machinima clip sorta about the Caledon war. And the Governor of Caledon, Desmond Shang, is the star...isnt he cute? :)



SteamSkyCity is still relatively new, so some stores are still being built.

But if you like Caledon, you have to come see SteamSkyCity for a different perspective of Victorian steampunk. Click on Search, select places, and enter "steamskycity" as the keyword. Just pick any of the locations inside SteamSkyCity: they will all go to the same place, since Caledon uses telehubs. The SLURL is SteamSkyCity (108,106,76).



And heres the office of the big man himself: the Governor of Caledon, Desmond Shang! I hear all the girls fawn over him at the Caledon balls ;P

Day 254: Linden Village

Have you ever wondered where the other half lived? No...I dont mean the guys (but do tell me if you find out where cute ones hide ;P)

I mean the masters of Second Life. Those who could use those weird menu options in the Second Life program. Im talking about the Lindens :)



The Lindens live inworld at the Linden Village. Its a group of sims currently made up of Ambleside, Borrowdale, Grasmere, Hawkshead, and Waterhead.

To find your favorite Linden's home, be sure to stop by one of these signs and grab a Notecard. The Notecard has Landmarks to all the Linden homes.

Have you ever met a Linden? They are giant 20M fire-breathing avatars...just kidding :P Actually, they look just like the rest of us (OK, mostly like us...except Im sure they have weird hidden antennas or something :P)

Some of the Lindens actually have office hours inworld. Some even on a weekly basis. So its actually easy to find them, hear the latest gossip, and check for the antennas yourself :P You can see their office hours here online.



Robin Linden was the first Linden Ive ever met. Shes the Vice President of Community and Support. Heres her cool garden retreat where she has her weekly office hours...



And heres my hero's office...Torley Linden. Stop by for free textures, watermelons, and meet Torley in person!

And you would NOT believe what Im standing on to take this picture :P



Heres Pathfinder Linden's office, one of the coolest in the Village! He's famous for his Pathfinder Picks and community activities...



Here is the office of the big man. According to the SL Wiki, "Founder and CEO of Linden Lab, wearer of codpieces, All Your Sims Are Belong To Him." :) This is Philip Linden's forest...

Hmm...somehow I was expecting a castle or something. Im sure the role-playing sims took them all :P



Most of the Lindens have relatively "normal" homes, like Matthew Linden's cozy little cottage...



Mia and Lexie Linden have the cutest collection of bears! These are Resident Bears, so Im not sure if they have anything to do with the Linden Bears...



A few Lindens have scary spots, like Michaelfrancis Linden's place. He's definitely up to no good :P

If you have never met a Linden, or just curious what your favorite Linden is up to, stop by the Linden Village and take a look! A good starting point is the Linden Village and Office - Main Landing Point. Click on Search, select Places, and enter "linden village" as the keyword. The SLURL is Kirkby (177,209,45). Be sure you grab a Linden Village Notecard!



And heres Blue Linden's office with the giant chair! You know I have a thing for guys named Blue ;P

Day 253: Sirena 5 New Hairstyles (Dance and Romance)

Its Monday! Time to release those 5 brand new hairstyles Ive been working on last week :)

This week, its dance and romance!



You know I like to dance Salsa, so Ive always wanted a Salsa dance hair...with lots of flexi, of course :)

The back of the Salsa hair is all flexi, so it will follow you through all your Salsa styling turns :) Hair thats guaranteed to hit your dance partner :P

Try out the demo! Theres a Salsa dance poseball right next to the hair, so you can see it move for yourself :)



Pamela is the attention grabber! With lots and lots of flexi in the tails, its great for dancing or just getting noticed. Comes with 2 separate hair bow-ties that can be tinted with different colors...



Catherine is romance, whether its dinner, dancing, or taking a stroll through a romance sim. With waves of curls and a string of color-changing pearls...



Penelope is a bit shy, giving a glimpse of the eyes and framing the face with a stream of long hair that opens to the back. Has a cute color-changing butterfly to match your outfits...



Nelly is the modern girl whos not shy about colors. Its a shorter style just made for tipping :) Comes with 2 streaks of highlight that can be tinted to match or contrast your hair...

All hairstyles come in 3 sizes, (S)mall, (M)edium, and (L)arge for easy fitting and adjustment.

There are 48 textures in 12 color packs to choose from. And all hairs can be color-tinted (with 66 colors) to give you even more color choices!

So check them out at Sirena Hair & Fashion. Click on Search, select Places, and enter "sirena" as the keyword.



Say, cant I just make a blue poseball?

Day 251: Prim Hair Adjustment

(Note: no laughing allowed...its not funny! :P)

Do you have a bald spot on your head when you wear certain a prim hair? Dont you wish you could move that one lock of hair that keeps poking your nose?

Because we are all unique in Second Life, each of us has slightly different sized heads. So for prim attachments, particularly prim hair, you may need to adjust them to get that perfect fit.

Since I make prim hairs now (yay!), I thought it would be a good idea to write a tutorial on adjusting prim hair :) There are quite a few things you can do to get that perfect fit. I will start with the easiest and continue to the more complex.

This tutorial should help you get the perfect fit from just about any prim hair in your Inventory, not just Sirena Hair. Of course, this tutorial works particularly well Sirena hair styles ;P


Pose-Stand and Camera Controls

Like me, you probably spend most of the time looking at the back of your avatar's head :) But when it comes to adjusting prim hair, we need to see the hair from many different angles. A couple things really help with this: a pose-stand and the SL Camera Controls.



A pose-stand is one of those bumpy things you find on the floor of most shops. Just Right-click on one and select "Stand" to use it.

Pose-stands freeze your avatar into a fixed position thats lined up with the compass points. This makes it easier for you to adjust any attachments you might be wearing.

There are pose-stands available in many places, including the floor of the Sirena Hair store. Free free to use these pose-stands to make any adjustments you might need!

Most hair designers include a free pose-stand with their hair. If you dont have one, you can pick up a free one from the Sirena Hair store. This enables you to make adjustments in private.

Be sure to go somewhere that allows you to build things. Drag-and-drop the pose-stand from your Inventory to the floor. Then just Right-click on the pose-stand and select "Stand" to use it.

Now we need to get a good look at ourselves :)

There are 2 different ways to control the SL Camera. You can use the Camera Controls. Or you can use the "Alt" key and zoom around. For simplicity sake, I will just talk about the Camera Controls here.



To open the Camera Controls window, click on View at the top menu bar, and select Camera Controls.

The Camera Controls is a little pop-up window that lets you adjust your SL Camera. This window enables you to pan, zoom, or tilt your view.

Once you are on a pose-stand, try pressing the various buttons in the Camera Controls window for different views. When you are adjusting your hair, be sure to check the hair from different angles.


Resizing Your Head

If the prim hair appears too small or too big, the easiest thing you can do is change the size of your head to fit the hair. This may sound backwards, but its something to keep in mind if youre in a hurry...

BTW, this only works if you have Mod permission to your avatar's shape. If you purchased your avatar's shape, theres a good chance you may not be able to modify the size of your head. Fortunately, you can resize most hairs :)

There are 3 settings under Appearances that really affect how well a prim hair fits: Head Size, Head Stretch, and Head Shape.

Most hair designers build their prim hairs using certain settings. The designers will usually tell you the settings in a Notecard they include. For example, Sirena Hair comes in 3 sizes: (S)mall, (M)edium, and (L)arge. They are fitted for:

     (S)mall- Head Size:35, Head Stretch:50, Head Shape:50
     (M)edium- Head Size:50, Head Stretch:50, Head Shape:50
     (L)arge- Head Size:75, Head Stretch:50, Head Shape:50

This doesnt mean you have to use Head Size:50 to wear a (M)edium hair. A (M)edium hair should fit someone with Head Size:60 quite well. But if the hair appears a bit small, try lowering your Head Size slightly until the hair looks nice (say, to around Head Size:55).



To adjust your Head Size/Head Stretch/Head Shape, first Wear the prim hair you are trying to fit. Then Right-click on your avatar, select "Appearance..." from the Pie Menu. In the Appearance window, select the "Shape" tab, and click on the "Head" button.

From here you can change the Head Size, Head Stretch, or Head Shape. They are the first 3 settings.

Once you have the perfect fit, click "Save As" and enter a Name for the new shape. Alternatively, you might want to click on "Make Outfit" to save a copy of everything you are currently wearing.


Repositioning the Hair

Some hair designers include different-sized hairs in the package. For example, Sirena Hair comes in (S)mall, (M)edium, and (L)arge. This makes it much easier to fit a wider range of head sizes without having to actually modify the hair. You can just pick a hair size that fits you best :)



Sometimes, a hair style may seem a bit out of place (perhaps too high up or too low). Fortunately, its quick and easy to reposition the hair.



First, Wear the prim hair you want to adjust. Then Right-click on the prim hair on your head and select "Edit...". Make sure the Ruler Mode at the top of the Edit window says "Attachment".



Now, click and drag the Red/Green/Blue arrows to move the hair around. Do this slowly, since you only need to make slight adjustments in most cases.

When everything looks good, close the Edit window. Right-click on the prim hair and select "Detach". This will "save" the changes youve made. When you Wear the hair again, it will be in the right place :)


Making a Backup Copy of a Hair

If you would rather modify the prim hair instead of your head (I dont blame you :P), be sure you make a backup copy of the hair first! Theres nothing worse than having SL lag ruin the only copy of your hair while you are resizing it.



Almost all SL hair designers give you Mod/Copy permissions to the prim hair. You can tell by looking at the hair in your Inventory: it should only say "(no transfer)" next to the name.

If you see "(no mod)", you would not be able to modify that hair. If you see "(no copy)", be very careful when making changes, since thats your only copy!

To make a backup copy of a hair, find the hair you want to backup in your Inventory. Right-click on the hair and select "Copy". Right-click on the hair again and select "Paste". This will create a duplicate of the hair.



(Optional) You can change one of the hair Names to make it easier to distinguish. Right-click on one of the copies and select "Rename". Now add a note to the end of the name, like "(backup)" or something.


Stretching the Hair

OK, so either you cant or dont want to resize your head (like me :D). None of the sizes provided by the hair designer seem to fit. And repositioning the hair didnt seem to fix it. Its time to make some real changes :)

In all likelihood, the hair is either too small or too big. Fortunately, we can resize the entire hair at the same time by stretching it. After you resize the hair, you may also have to reposition the hair.

Make a Backup Copy of the hair first!!! Dont modify the original copy...lag makes funny things happen in SL :P And its a good idea to use a pose-stand if you want to seriously modify your hair!

Try to go somewhere with relatively low lag (a sim with few residents). Dont do this in the middle of a Dance Club :P

First, Wear the prim hair you want to adjust. Then Right-click on the prim hair on your head and select "Edit...".



Click on the "Stretch (Ctrl-Shift)" button at the top of your Edit window. You will see some small white boxes appear around the hair. Click and drag any one of these white boxes to stretch the hair. Move the white box towards the hair to make it smaller. Move the box away from the hair to make the hair larger. Be sure you do this SLOWLY!!!

On a busy SL day, you might need to stretch your hair in several steps. Try stretching it a little. Stop. Then stretching it a little more. Lag really has a big impact on this!

Its possible that a prim hair might refuse to shrink below a certain size. This happens when one of the prims in the prim hair is at 0.01M (the minimum size for a prim in SL). Unfortunately, theres no easy way to tell which prim. Try shrinking the hair slowly in little steps. If it refuses to shrink below a certain point, then you know one of the prims is at 0.01M...

Once you stretch a hair to the right size, you might need to reposition the hair. Just close the Edit window and follow the steps for "Repositioning the Hair" above.


Repositioning Individual Prims

Lets say theres a lock of hair that pokes at your nose, or comes through the back of your ear. Or you want that bang just a little higher or lower.

As long as you have Mod permission to a hair, you can reposition any piece of hair you like. You can even stretch any single piece of hair.

Just be sure you make a backup first, particularly if you want to work with individual prims!

First, Wear the prim hair you want to adjust. Then Right-click on the prim hair on your head and select "Edit...".



Click on the "Edit linked parts" box at the top of the Edit window. Now click on any single prim in the hair. Only that prim should be selected.

You can now move that single prim around using the Red/Green/Blue arrows. You can also stretch the prim by selecting "Stretch (Ctrl-Shift)" from the top of the Edit window.

To move another prim, just click on it to select it.

When you are done adjusting a hair, be sure you Right-click on the hair and select "Detach". This will "save" the setting you made.



Thats it! :) That wasnt so bad, was it?

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