Congratulations to the winners of the Twisted Thorn Texture competition! The winning entries prove that expert texturing is neither for the faint of heart nor the non-detail oriented. It takes skill, an artistic eye, meticulous attention to detail, time and patience. Contestants textured a 62 prim scaled down version of the Twisted Thorn Textures main store.
- 1st Prize ($5,000 Lindens): Seshat Czeret
- 2nd Prize ($1,000 Linden TTT gift certificate): Indira Lemaire
- 3rd Prize ($500 Linden TTT gift certificate): Wyn Nitely
Seshat’s first place entry paid homage to the Twisted Texture build, retaining the hallmark purple windows and using some of the same base stone as the castle that houses Twisted Thorn Textures. She also retained the medallions on either side of the build and the gold trim, although Seshat has applied that to the base rather than the building itself. What is special about this texture scheme is the choice of trim for the supports under the central tower, and the careful texturing of each face, so that the trim stands out. The use of copper in the central structure, for the columns and cornice adds character to Seshat’s take on the challenge.
Seshat Czeret's First Place Entry
Attention to detail pays off
Seshat commented on her favorite elements, “I think the buttresses. The crosses, then the parallel lines, on the cream background, just add that final finishing touch of detail. It ties the whole thing together. And the same texture is used on the buttresses on the sides – if you cam into the underside of those buttresses, you see the same parallel lines. It’s a re-use of textures. The same texture is used for them and for the curved roofs. There’s all sorts of detail in this. Like, if you look at the gable’s roofs, the edges are using the ‘trim’ version of the Old Stone that forms the roof tiles, and the edges of the curved parts of the windows, and the undersides of the curved part of the windows, and the little ropey bits on the ‘steps’ under the gables, and the edges of the ‘steps’ under the gables. There is no visible surface I didn’t put the best available texture on. I like doing things well.”
Seshat posted a card of the textures she used. “It’s a way for people to learn,” she said.
The second prize winner took a darker look at the build, well in keeping with the Twisted Thorn name. It has the rich hematite burnish of an Ivan Albright painting. I asked Indira Lemaire about her inspiration.
“I’ve always loved gothic and medieval styles and architecture.” However, it was not without challenges, ” The central portion was a problem, since I didn’t have any columns textures from Twisted Thorn, so I did some manipulation of the texture to get a result I was happy with. I offset the texture to make the border appear and make 2 columns look like one large one.”
Second Prize to Indira Lemaire
Texture manipulation created columns
The ability to adapt textures to various uses, to make the texture tab options work for you, allows a builder to get more mileage out of each texture in inventory. As Seshat told me, “repeats and offsets are golden.”
And Indira’s advice for beginning builders? “Practice. Practice, practice and more practice. I didn’t learn what I know by going to classes, though the classes are good and you should attend them if you can. If you cannot, just sit down build something basic and play with the textures and the build itself. Experiment too! I’ve discovered so much about building and texturing by experimenting. And a few things from my friends too who build. And if you can’t figure something out, just ask someone! Most builders are willing to help novices learn and become better.”
The third prize went to Wyn Nitely, who had a decidedly different take on the Twisted Thorn build. Wyn’s entry is all light and gold, a sharp contrast to the Gothic darkness of Indira’s.
“I wanted to do something that would be a totally different feel while still keeping the bones (2 stories – glass roofs).” Wyn also added something no one else did . . . a clock in the central tower. “I was lucky that I had the set with it.”
Wyn Nitely's Third Place Winner
Golden Entry
Wyn derived the greatest satisfaction from “the entry area because I couldn’t figure it out for the longest time. The least satisfying were the flying buttresses; I never could get them quite the way I wanted and had to settle for plain sides on them. The buttress and support edges turned out great, just what I wanted. The door gave the whole entry the flavour that I went with in there.”
Wyn’s initial inspiration, “light colours and not a gingerbread house,” suggested specific texture packs from TTT. “Age of Innocence and Gold Leaf Manor were the obvious choices for main textures.” Builders use textures in inventory like painters use a palette. “It’s amazing how you can pull things out of the back of your mind, when you’ve thousands of textures tucked in over a dozen organizers,” she said.
Wyn’s advice for beginning builders is to “start organizing your textures immediately so you can find them when you need them. My biggest problem is that I’ve never kept the TTT textures separate, so it took a full day just to gather them together. It gets overlooked, but it’s the most basic thing that I regret. I’m still playing catch up.
Then it’s all a matter of proportion and camera controls. Which sounds funny, but without camera control and a sense of proportion you get from being able to put your camera where an avatar would be, you end up with a muddle. When I’m building a house, or other building, I walk around inside it a lot. Do most of the building standing right inside it.”
Her parting advice to new builders, “If you can’t build buildings and want to build, keep trying other things until you find the one that you can do.”
Both Seshat and Wyn recommended NCI for beginners. Their free classes are excellent, and they provide great free resources as part of each class, items that become an indispensable part of your builder’s tool kit. As Wyn said, “I’m so grateful that I had NCI from the first day I was in-world.”
Congratulations to the three winners and to all the competitors. Lesson learned: High quality textures can make a low prim build look very detailed.
And if photography is your thing, the Symphony Photo Competition still has a bit over a week to run. Get your entries in. Submissions are posted in Symphony Square near the landing point. Stop by and take a look!
