..not in the metaphorical sense...in the literal sense. Or, I guess, the virtual sense.
I've put in some time with both the books and the Internet, trying to figure out how to get waves to break on my new beach. I would tend to assume it's a scripting thing, though I haven't found any definitive guidance on that.
I did look in the Wiki library for scripts that might have something to do with waves, and didn't see anything. Online searches led me to the Second Life Surfing culture--I didn't see anything on their website about how wave-making is accomplished; I guess it's just another one of those things that seem obvious to those with more tech-savvy (or to those who've been in SL for a while).
I had figured out that they must be---made---the night I flew around between auctions. Sitting at the edge of those coastal sims, it was clear that the 'ocean' was as I'd seen it around, inworld, but that unlike nearly all the developed coasts I'd visited, there were no waves. So clearly, waves are not created by the Lindens for all coasts.
So, 'a script' was the most logical choice.
I suppose people must create waves out of prims, and script them to periodically go through a series of transformations....Well, I may have to resort to what I said I'd resort to a couple of weeks ago: go to a class. Not that I disdain going to classes---it's just that I have so little time to devote to this, and of course a class would be an investment of time.
But for now, I have to concentrate on getting one of my original 512's cleared and listed for sale. I'm not sure how complicated it is to get land listed on the Search - Land; possibly not complicated at all. We shall see. I guess I need to upload my first Texture, too---a For Sale sign (I'll put it on a flattened cube---no big rotating signs for me. I actually have one---when I bought one of the first two parcels, it was one of the objects given to the buyer [me]. But I don't want to put it out there in that mostly-residential 'neighborhood'.)
Also, I want to take some snapshots, inworld, of the original land as it's set up At some point I might well enjoy being able to see evidence of my first days as a landowner. And a nice 'photo' put onto one of my freebie easels might be a nice momento.
"Make waves".....sure, I do have some thoughts of getting good enough at building to have a good reputation. But luckily, I don't have the kind of ambition that 'making waves' implies.
However, I really DO want to be able to sit on my beach and experience the sight and sound of the water crashing on that virtual shore.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Lacking the Discipline
...to blog.
This morning before work I decided to look at land prices through Search, in-world. I hadn't done that since 2 1/2 weeks before, when I'd first bought land after three or four days of intensive research (or as intensive as my work schedule permitted).
The prices are going down, still, it would appear. Which makes perfect sense, given the number of new sims being created.
So my eye was caught by a "coastal + oceanview" for L$4.1/sq.meter. That turned out to be false about the parcel. (I gather it's not uncommon to advertise a parcel with terminology that's not true for that parcel, but only for other, possibly quite far-away parts of the sim.)
But I suppose these deceptive ads serve the good purpose of getting people thinking of buy land to teleport over. If that parcel is annoyingly unlike its description, at least there will be other parcels nearby worth consideration.
And so it proved today.
A very long 4080--with more than just the 16 cut out for the Linden road-space bordering on the east--was irresistable at L$15.30/sq.m., since its northern 32 meter width is on a coast. (with Protected land just north.)
So for a bit more than $200 (a lot for me--I just have to give up other things) I have waterfront to play with, and plenty of land to rez all the freebies I'd gotten on my first visit to YadNi's Junkyard last night, and to make and work on buildings, vehicles, and whatever else grabs my interest.
Sure, the value of a parcel with 32 meters of waterfront will drop over the coming months.
But, I didn't want to wait six or eight months for the price of waterfront to drop substantially (my crystal ball may well be faulty, of course, but that's what I'm now assuming will be the case).
So.....back to terraforming....yippee!!!!!!!!!!!
This morning before work I decided to look at land prices through Search, in-world. I hadn't done that since 2 1/2 weeks before, when I'd first bought land after three or four days of intensive research (or as intensive as my work schedule permitted).
The prices are going down, still, it would appear. Which makes perfect sense, given the number of new sims being created.
So my eye was caught by a "coastal + oceanview" for L$4.1/sq.meter. That turned out to be false about the parcel. (I gather it's not uncommon to advertise a parcel with terminology that's not true for that parcel, but only for other, possibly quite far-away parts of the sim.)
But I suppose these deceptive ads serve the good purpose of getting people thinking of buy land to teleport over. If that parcel is annoyingly unlike its description, at least there will be other parcels nearby worth consideration.
And so it proved today.
A very long 4080--with more than just the 16 cut out for the Linden road-space bordering on the east--was irresistable at L$15.30/sq.m., since its northern 32 meter width is on a coast. (with Protected land just north.)
So for a bit more than $200 (a lot for me--I just have to give up other things) I have waterfront to play with, and plenty of land to rez all the freebies I'd gotten on my first visit to YadNi's Junkyard last night, and to make and work on buildings, vehicles, and whatever else grabs my interest.
Sure, the value of a parcel with 32 meters of waterfront will drop over the coming months.
But, I didn't want to wait six or eight months for the price of waterfront to drop substantially (my crystal ball may well be faulty, of course, but that's what I'm now assuming will be the case).
So.....back to terraforming....yippee!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Auction Flight
Like a lot of people in Second Life, I'd guess, I have a Grand Plan for developing a full sim. Quite frankly, if I were richer than I am, I'd probably have no trouble coming up with several Grand Plans. But since I'd have to sell off most of the hypothetical sim---both to recover as much of the price of it as possible, and to avoid tier---I'm concentrating on the one Grand Plan. The one about making the land as attractive to buyers as possible. (Yes, yes, that's hardly a new idea!)
Being practical, I'd decided that an interior Mainland sim would be best, since it would mean the least possible initial outlay. And in the event I couldn't sell off all the parcels I want to during the first month, my tier payment for that month would be less than if I'd splurged on an Island.
But those coastal sims truly are seductive.
It's difficult to understand how sitting in front of a computer monitor, watching a little avatar sitting in front of 'waves' breaking on the 'beach', can be so soothing and compelling. But such is the case.
Still: it would be more practical to go for the interior.
Friday night I watched six or eight full-sim auctions. Naturally, I teleported to the first one's sim (or to one nearby---several people were doing the same thing, and teleporting was dicey). Like the others, I suppose, I flew over, and walked, each one.
The continent the Lindens are selling off currently has a Western end that minimizes interior sims. (Long and thin--possibly the entire continent is like that. Some of it was just gray squares, Friday.) Maybe that's the plan for future continents, too: it's smart, because as potential buyers get used to the idea that lots of brand-new land will be being offered, the less-desirable sims become even MORE undesirable. After all, many must be thinking, why not just wait a few weeks and get a really nice waterfront property?
And in fact, unless I was misreading the auction action, two interior sims didn't attract any bids at all.
I can't help wondering if eventually there will be differing levels of minimum bids, with a smaller minimum for the all-interior, no water-feature sims. Since the company's goal is to get as many Second Life users to own land as possible, with profits coming from the tier payments, that would make sense.
Anyway, Friday night I was enjoying the process. I suppose if I watch enough auctions it will become dull, but for now the interplay between the characteristics of the land, and the way people bid on that land, was quite entertaining.
I tended to avoid the others flying around. I assumed they were there to take care of business quickly and expeditiously, and wouldn't be in the mood for chat...and of course, who knows how many of them were English-speakers, anyway?
Well, I need to continue to educate myself about this process---to watch as many auctions as I can.
If I do end up buying a Mainland sim, the ideal time would be just after my account is billed for the land I have now. I'll be liable for the full $195 tier no matter when in the month I buy, so of course I should give myself as many days as possible to develop the land according to my Grand Plan, and sell it off---and hope to have a smaller tier payment for the following month.
(Yes, I am Captain Obvious!)
And, of course, I'll leave myself enough land to do some of the building projects I'm excited about.
Being practical, I'd decided that an interior Mainland sim would be best, since it would mean the least possible initial outlay. And in the event I couldn't sell off all the parcels I want to during the first month, my tier payment for that month would be less than if I'd splurged on an Island.
But those coastal sims truly are seductive.
It's difficult to understand how sitting in front of a computer monitor, watching a little avatar sitting in front of 'waves' breaking on the 'beach', can be so soothing and compelling. But such is the case.
Still: it would be more practical to go for the interior.
Friday night I watched six or eight full-sim auctions. Naturally, I teleported to the first one's sim (or to one nearby---several people were doing the same thing, and teleporting was dicey). Like the others, I suppose, I flew over, and walked, each one.
The continent the Lindens are selling off currently has a Western end that minimizes interior sims. (Long and thin--possibly the entire continent is like that. Some of it was just gray squares, Friday.) Maybe that's the plan for future continents, too: it's smart, because as potential buyers get used to the idea that lots of brand-new land will be being offered, the less-desirable sims become even MORE undesirable. After all, many must be thinking, why not just wait a few weeks and get a really nice waterfront property?
And in fact, unless I was misreading the auction action, two interior sims didn't attract any bids at all.
I can't help wondering if eventually there will be differing levels of minimum bids, with a smaller minimum for the all-interior, no water-feature sims. Since the company's goal is to get as many Second Life users to own land as possible, with profits coming from the tier payments, that would make sense.
Anyway, Friday night I was enjoying the process. I suppose if I watch enough auctions it will become dull, but for now the interplay between the characteristics of the land, and the way people bid on that land, was quite entertaining.
I tended to avoid the others flying around. I assumed they were there to take care of business quickly and expeditiously, and wouldn't be in the mood for chat...and of course, who knows how many of them were English-speakers, anyway?
Well, I need to continue to educate myself about this process---to watch as many auctions as I can.
If I do end up buying a Mainland sim, the ideal time would be just after my account is billed for the land I have now. I'll be liable for the full $195 tier no matter when in the month I buy, so of course I should give myself as many days as possible to develop the land according to my Grand Plan, and sell it off---and hope to have a smaller tier payment for the following month.
(Yes, I am Captain Obvious!)
And, of course, I'll leave myself enough land to do some of the building projects I'm excited about.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Bratz Lips
I had a lot of fun in my last session, mainly because I solved some small problems.
To put my 2-prim pond up for sale (not that I'm assuming I'll ever have a customer--more on that later), I needed to have all self-created content. The pond water and the pond-surround were no problem. The problem was the fish.
A swimming fish (koi, presumably, for an outdoor pond) would make the item much more attractive than would the plain water-and-surround, or even water-and-surround-with-plants. (On that last--I'm kind of assuming that we CAN sell items made with Library components, such as the 1-prim plants. Ethically, I mean. I'm starting to get a handle on all the complications that go with the various forms of Object Permissions, though I still have plenty to learn on that topic.)
Anyway, of course it will be great when I learn how to make a swimming fish. That time has definitely not yet arrived, though!
I've looked for free scripts, and haven't yet found one, though I'm thinking that 'swimming' wouldn't have to be in the title. After all, an object scripted to move around on a single plane in the air is what I need, as there is no actual water involved.
Anyway, I don't yet have the skill to accomplish that (though I'll continue to work on it).
So I figured I'd make an attempt to at least create low-prim unscripted fish to put in the pond. What with the flowing water (thanks to the Library script "anim SMOOTH", with the speed dropped from the given 0.25 to 0.05, as suggested in Brian A. White's very useful book "Second Life: A Guide to Your Virtual World"), even stationary fish would look kinda-sorta-okay.
I did end up making a 2-prim fish of about the size of a koi. I made it late last night, rather hurriedly, so it won't win any beauty prizes. When I have more time, I'll look for better textures to use for body and tail. (I'd used two Fabric Library textures, having nothing better---I did try out a couple dozen Library textures---no reason to be limited to Fabric textures when making clothing, or to building-oriented textures when making walls, etc. Try them all!)
So I duplicated the fish twice (okay, triplicated the fish), and put them in the pond; I made a note card with some information and my avatar's name and location, and put that in the Contents tab. I do need to 'create a Landmark'---I think it's possible to have a notecard with a Landmark button on it. I need to check into that. Though of course all this is very preliminary--it's not as though I'm Setting Up Shop. Not for a while.
(Though I do have a great idea for a low-prim house that kept me awake much of last night. I can hardly wait to work on it!)
So......Bratz lips. I had a visitor last night---a female avatar landed, walked all over my land, looking into the cabin, etc., while I was 'out back' working on a sculpture. I finally opened Chat and typed "Hi there." She (as always, I'll refer to gender by whatever the person is presenting themselves to be---assuming that's detectable!) said Hi back, and "arent u bored" [sic].
I typed 'No, this is interesting, I'm having a lot of fun making stuff'--and without a word she teleported away. Kind of rude by my First Life standards, but many things are different in Second Life. (She may well have thought my response rude, too.) And I suppose it's quite common--for a certain percentage of the population--to occupy themselves by flying around, looking for green dots, and dropping down to see if they can find someone who wants to do...whatever it is they are wanting to do.
So, no biggie.
Seeing her reminded me of something that annoys me: the way the default female avatar lips are big ol' Bratz lips. (Her avatar, like every single avatar I've ever met or seen depicted on websites or in books on SL, had them.)
To have lips that aren't as gigantic means moving the relevant sliders in Appearance all the way to the left---and the result is a completely flat upper lip. There's no way to have a normal upper lip without having a lower lip that's bigger than a RL croissant. A big pink croissant.
So either I have to give in and have Bratz lips too, or try to invent some sort of attachement. I can only guess how difficult it would be to accomplish that. But hey, if I did, I could get rich, rich, RICH!! Even if most people with female avatars in SL truly want the Bratz lips, those of us who dislike them would be willing to pay as much for good non-Bratz lips as for a waterfront 4,096!!!
(Okay, that's probably a bit of an exaggeration. ^_^ )
To put my 2-prim pond up for sale (not that I'm assuming I'll ever have a customer--more on that later), I needed to have all self-created content. The pond water and the pond-surround were no problem. The problem was the fish.
A swimming fish (koi, presumably, for an outdoor pond) would make the item much more attractive than would the plain water-and-surround, or even water-and-surround-with-plants. (On that last--I'm kind of assuming that we CAN sell items made with Library components, such as the 1-prim plants. Ethically, I mean. I'm starting to get a handle on all the complications that go with the various forms of Object Permissions, though I still have plenty to learn on that topic.)
Anyway, of course it will be great when I learn how to make a swimming fish. That time has definitely not yet arrived, though!
I've looked for free scripts, and haven't yet found one, though I'm thinking that 'swimming' wouldn't have to be in the title. After all, an object scripted to move around on a single plane in the air is what I need, as there is no actual water involved.
Anyway, I don't yet have the skill to accomplish that (though I'll continue to work on it).
So I figured I'd make an attempt to at least create low-prim unscripted fish to put in the pond. What with the flowing water (thanks to the Library script "anim SMOOTH", with the speed dropped from the given 0.25 to 0.05, as suggested in Brian A. White's very useful book "Second Life: A Guide to Your Virtual World"), even stationary fish would look kinda-sorta-okay.
I did end up making a 2-prim fish of about the size of a koi. I made it late last night, rather hurriedly, so it won't win any beauty prizes. When I have more time, I'll look for better textures to use for body and tail. (I'd used two Fabric Library textures, having nothing better---I did try out a couple dozen Library textures---no reason to be limited to Fabric textures when making clothing, or to building-oriented textures when making walls, etc. Try them all!)
So I duplicated the fish twice (okay, triplicated the fish), and put them in the pond; I made a note card with some information and my avatar's name and location, and put that in the Contents tab. I do need to 'create a Landmark'---I think it's possible to have a notecard with a Landmark button on it. I need to check into that. Though of course all this is very preliminary--it's not as though I'm Setting Up Shop. Not for a while.
(Though I do have a great idea for a low-prim house that kept me awake much of last night. I can hardly wait to work on it!)
So......Bratz lips. I had a visitor last night---a female avatar landed, walked all over my land, looking into the cabin, etc., while I was 'out back' working on a sculpture. I finally opened Chat and typed "Hi there." She (as always, I'll refer to gender by whatever the person is presenting themselves to be---assuming that's detectable!) said Hi back, and "arent u bored" [sic].
I typed 'No, this is interesting, I'm having a lot of fun making stuff'--and without a word she teleported away. Kind of rude by my First Life standards, but many things are different in Second Life. (She may well have thought my response rude, too.) And I suppose it's quite common--for a certain percentage of the population--to occupy themselves by flying around, looking for green dots, and dropping down to see if they can find someone who wants to do...whatever it is they are wanting to do.
So, no biggie.
Seeing her reminded me of something that annoys me: the way the default female avatar lips are big ol' Bratz lips. (Her avatar, like every single avatar I've ever met or seen depicted on websites or in books on SL, had them.)
To have lips that aren't as gigantic means moving the relevant sliders in Appearance all the way to the left---and the result is a completely flat upper lip. There's no way to have a normal upper lip without having a lower lip that's bigger than a RL croissant. A big pink croissant.
So either I have to give in and have Bratz lips too, or try to invent some sort of attachement. I can only guess how difficult it would be to accomplish that. But hey, if I did, I could get rich, rich, RICH!! Even if most people with female avatars in SL truly want the Bratz lips, those of us who dislike them would be willing to pay as much for good non-Bratz lips as for a waterfront 4,096!!!
(Okay, that's probably a bit of an exaggeration. ^_^ )
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Dealing with the Aquifer; The Best Business To Be In!!
My land was still brown when I was able to log in, last night (Internet service has been spotty).
I'd looked up ways to find an Object that's underground: in the course of putting one of the free koi into the pond I'd revamped so that it could work on flat land, I'd lost the water underground. (Which I mentally labeled an aquifer, though of course in literal terms, that's absurd.)
But when I lost it, it was late and I was sleepy. So I'd given up and decided to deal with it the next day.
I did find a number of tips, many of which were about objects lost inside other objects (a fairly common occurence, apparently) and so not necessarily helpful in this instance. But unlike the 'storage prim' problem, the problem of Lost Objects is one that has a lot of presence on the Internet. (Search "finding lost objects," and of course "second" and "life", too, and you'll find plenty.)
As it happened, I'd decided to just leave the aquifer alone for a while, since it's only 1 prim. But when I used Camera Controls to look down on my newly-created 2-prim Pond-and-mossy-surround, and used the Shift, left-click on land, and draw a box method to Link the two together, the procedure also linked the underground aquifer. How that works, I do not know! But I was able to lift the whole linked apparatus into the air, then unlink and drag the newly-raised aquifer/pond off to the side, then relink the other pond and surround.
So that turned out okay.
In re The Best Business To Be In: surely it's the one in which your customers gladly pay you for a service that you're not obligated to provide! Yes, this is NOT best in terms of one's karma. But certainly it's best in terms of one's bottom line. Which will be healthy!
Why bother to invest in equipment and personnel to properly service the Internet access you purport to sell, when you can charge people a hefty monthly fee, whether you provide the access or not!
Okay, enough sarcasm. But seriously, it DOES make good business sense to sell people something they'll pay you for even if you don't provide it.
It's icky, ethically, of course.
But, who cares about that!
(denied-access would-be Internet users of the world, unite!!)
I'd looked up ways to find an Object that's underground: in the course of putting one of the free koi into the pond I'd revamped so that it could work on flat land, I'd lost the water underground. (Which I mentally labeled an aquifer, though of course in literal terms, that's absurd.)
But when I lost it, it was late and I was sleepy. So I'd given up and decided to deal with it the next day.
I did find a number of tips, many of which were about objects lost inside other objects (a fairly common occurence, apparently) and so not necessarily helpful in this instance. But unlike the 'storage prim' problem, the problem of Lost Objects is one that has a lot of presence on the Internet. (Search "finding lost objects," and of course "second" and "life", too, and you'll find plenty.)
As it happened, I'd decided to just leave the aquifer alone for a while, since it's only 1 prim. But when I used Camera Controls to look down on my newly-created 2-prim Pond-and-mossy-surround, and used the Shift, left-click on land, and draw a box method to Link the two together, the procedure also linked the underground aquifer. How that works, I do not know! But I was able to lift the whole linked apparatus into the air, then unlink and drag the newly-raised aquifer/pond off to the side, then relink the other pond and surround.
So that turned out okay.
In re The Best Business To Be In: surely it's the one in which your customers gladly pay you for a service that you're not obligated to provide! Yes, this is NOT best in terms of one's karma. But certainly it's best in terms of one's bottom line. Which will be healthy!
Why bother to invest in equipment and personnel to properly service the Internet access you purport to sell, when you can charge people a hefty monthly fee, whether you provide the access or not!
Okay, enough sarcasm. But seriously, it DOES make good business sense to sell people something they'll pay you for even if you don't provide it.
It's icky, ethically, of course.
But, who cares about that!
(denied-access would-be Internet users of the world, unite!!)
Monday, June 2, 2008
Mole Crickets?
My nice green land was brown when I logged on, last night.
How is that possible? I haven't raised or lowered or smoothed or roughened or done any Edit Terrain on it since the first day or so that I had it. So that's not the explanation.
This is Mainland (I think I said), on one of the newer Class 5 sims, near a 'coast' (within a few yards of an inlet---there's an unsold 1024 in between the inlet and me. I knew that my nice view could vanish at any moment, if anyone were to buy that land and build something big....but it's a nice area even without the view. On the Mainland, you can't count on views remaining, after all.)
But, point is: I know there are layers to terrain, but I didn't realize that they could manifest themselves without my having done anything.
(It's not a 'trick of the light', either---I routinely go to the bottom of the World drop-down menu and change the Environment to Midday, should it be 'night' when I log on. It's fun to look at places in all the options--both Sunrise and Sunset can be very beautiful. But for making things, I want Midday. So it's not that my grass suddenly looked brown last night because I had a different hour-of-the-day setting.)
And my post title is facetious, of course. I suppose it's possible that some Second Life resident has created mole crickets (notorious eaters-of-lawns in the US South). But they could hardly script them to actually turn people's land from green to brown! Surely Linden Lab wouldn't permit such a thing!
(Would they???)
Nah.
Anyway. Getting over my dismay at the color of my land, I resumed looking through all the freebies I'd acquired the other night. Finding two swimming (scripted) koi, I happily put them in the back pond--the one that I'd made by first 'digging a hole' in the ground, using Edit Terrain tools. This is important, I think, because I doubt that the koi could swim 'in' a pond that's been made flat to the land.
I should check on that. But it would make sense--unless one had flat, 2-D koi that only looked 3-D while 'swimming' just under the surface of a pond-on-land. And that would be hard to pull off, visually.
I guess I should make plain that I am not a graphic artist nor engineer, and I have no experience whatsoever with 3-D modeling or even with 2-D graphics programs such as Photoshop. Of course, if my desire to get good at building things in SL continues, I will have to gain some familiarity with such programs.
But I think this is one of the most interesting things about SL: the way it can inspire people like me---people who have never before felt any impulse toward learning about 2-D and 3-D programming---to not only want to learn, but to be willing to put in hours doing it. And to have fun in the endeavor.
The creation of a world that can motivate people that way is a pretty unusual and notable achievement.
And I'd say so even if LL did put mole crickets in my lawn.
How is that possible? I haven't raised or lowered or smoothed or roughened or done any Edit Terrain on it since the first day or so that I had it. So that's not the explanation.
This is Mainland (I think I said), on one of the newer Class 5 sims, near a 'coast' (within a few yards of an inlet---there's an unsold 1024 in between the inlet and me. I knew that my nice view could vanish at any moment, if anyone were to buy that land and build something big....but it's a nice area even without the view. On the Mainland, you can't count on views remaining, after all.)
But, point is: I know there are layers to terrain, but I didn't realize that they could manifest themselves without my having done anything.
(It's not a 'trick of the light', either---I routinely go to the bottom of the World drop-down menu and change the Environment to Midday, should it be 'night' when I log on. It's fun to look at places in all the options--both Sunrise and Sunset can be very beautiful. But for making things, I want Midday. So it's not that my grass suddenly looked brown last night because I had a different hour-of-the-day setting.)
And my post title is facetious, of course. I suppose it's possible that some Second Life resident has created mole crickets (notorious eaters-of-lawns in the US South). But they could hardly script them to actually turn people's land from green to brown! Surely Linden Lab wouldn't permit such a thing!
(Would they???)
Nah.
Anyway. Getting over my dismay at the color of my land, I resumed looking through all the freebies I'd acquired the other night. Finding two swimming (scripted) koi, I happily put them in the back pond--the one that I'd made by first 'digging a hole' in the ground, using Edit Terrain tools. This is important, I think, because I doubt that the koi could swim 'in' a pond that's been made flat to the land.
I should check on that. But it would make sense--unless one had flat, 2-D koi that only looked 3-D while 'swimming' just under the surface of a pond-on-land. And that would be hard to pull off, visually.
I guess I should make plain that I am not a graphic artist nor engineer, and I have no experience whatsoever with 3-D modeling or even with 2-D graphics programs such as Photoshop. Of course, if my desire to get good at building things in SL continues, I will have to gain some familiarity with such programs.
But I think this is one of the most interesting things about SL: the way it can inspire people like me---people who have never before felt any impulse toward learning about 2-D and 3-D programming---to not only want to learn, but to be willing to put in hours doing it. And to have fun in the endeavor.
The creation of a world that can motivate people that way is a pretty unusual and notable achievement.
And I'd say so even if LL did put mole crickets in my lawn.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
A Frenzy of Pond-Making
Well, "frenzy" may be over-selling it a bit. But I did make alot of attempts.
The idea is 'fewest prims'. Though from my reading, I also need to think about 'fewest triangles'. For instance, the two-prim Pond with Surrounding Mossy-Covered banks that I made from a cube (mossy banks) and cylinder (pond) might cause problems for computers with less-new (or less-powerful) graphics cards.
It seems that when we twist and turn and path-cut and taper and top-shear prims, we increase the number of triangles needed to draw them. So this puts more of a strain on graphics cards.
But that 2-prim pond-with-surround costs only 2-prims against what might be a modest Prim Budget.
So, no doubt, there's a trade-off that people just have to work with. (And if I put this thing up for sale--it would be the first such item, as I hadn't thought of it, before!...then I'll have to make clear in the Description that the one prim was very tortured in the creation of the pond.)
I also made what's sort of a 10-meter river from two prims. But it doesn't look as good as the pond-and-surround.
So....gotta keep working on them....
The idea is 'fewest prims'. Though from my reading, I also need to think about 'fewest triangles'. For instance, the two-prim Pond with Surrounding Mossy-Covered banks that I made from a cube (mossy banks) and cylinder (pond) might cause problems for computers with less-new (or less-powerful) graphics cards.
It seems that when we twist and turn and path-cut and taper and top-shear prims, we increase the number of triangles needed to draw them. So this puts more of a strain on graphics cards.
But that 2-prim pond-with-surround costs only 2-prims against what might be a modest Prim Budget.
So, no doubt, there's a trade-off that people just have to work with. (And if I put this thing up for sale--it would be the first such item, as I hadn't thought of it, before!...then I'll have to make clear in the Description that the one prim was very tortured in the creation of the pond.)
I also made what's sort of a 10-meter river from two prims. But it doesn't look as good as the pond-and-surround.
So....gotta keep working on them....
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