Neferia Abel . . . the Builder

Typically, this blog is focused on recounting the adventures of a master builder and SL architect, Ando Joubert, and his newbie builder apprentice . . . me!  As well as reviewing texture and other providers of the tools for building, offering tips for new builders and so forth. 

However, today is a special day for those of us who love Second Life’s high quality content creators.  Today is the day we honor one of our greats – Neferia Abel. 

True to form, I will focus on what this blog is all about . . . building . . . because Neferia is a consummate builder . . . of clothing and of a well remembered beautiful sim, a tribute to her Norwegian homeland.  Sadly, I have no pictures of the old sim, but many fond memories of chilling out in the little Norwegian town at the edge of the sim, or flitting about the Viking ship moored there.  Perhaps you remember it as well.  And then there were the hunts.  Nef is famous for them and for the very high quality treasures she gave away.  I think the first hunt I participated in as a new player was one of hers. One designer offering as many items as some of the collaborative hunts do now.  Amazing!  Generous!

With that in mind, I decided to model one of the goodies from this past Easter hunt.  It illustrates two things that in my estimation make Nef not only a distinguished clothes designer, but also a really great builder:  fantastic texturing and the building of arguably some of the best prim skirts in Second Life.  When you’ve moved in an Ivalde skirt, you don’t settle for anything less ever again.  Quite simply, they are fluid, graceful and beautifully constructed. 

Summer in Ivalde at Symphony

The texture of this lovely dress is subtle and understated, with a lovely old fashioned quality.  The skirt . . . sorry this is a still photo  . . . moves with exactly the right feminine sway.  In this dress, there is eternal summer, when girls of all ages indulge their romantic fantasies.  A dress like this makes that possible.  No, it makes that inevitable!

There are other gowns of hers I love . . . her Marilyn Monroe dresses are to die for, especially the famous Wiggle dress in black, and I have a lovely pale green Edwardian number of hers that makes me feel like Katherine Hepburn in the African Queen.  But you can see, that even in a simple freebie, everything Neferia Abel does is executed with love and painstaking care.  And, novice builders, take note, this is exactly how it should be.  It’s all in the details.  The great builders give painstaking attention to them. 

I was sad to hear of Nef’s real life circumstances that would subtract her considerable talent and great kindness from this world of ours and absolutely thrilled to hear that friends had rallied, so that we would all still be able to indulge our Ivalde habit while she is away . . . hopefully to return in the fall.  Kudos to everyone involved in making that happen. 

Now, if only someone would do the same for Miriel Enfield.  Her extraordinary sim is soon to vanish as well, along with the best eyes, beautifully constructed jewelry, genius vendors, a stunning forest complete with bracket funghi growing on some of the most realistic trees in all of Second Life.  And Miriel made all of it . . . textures, objects, scripts.  That will sadly all be gone soon too.  This is the point in chat where I would type “/me sighs.”

Saying Goodbye at Miriel

We can only wish both remarkable and talented women the very best and hope that they will return to share their talents with new generations of Second Lifers.  Ladies, you will be missed in your absence.

~ Cacie

I am wearing

Dress:  Ivalde, Juliette, Lavenderros, Easter Egg 5 from 2009 hunt

Necklace:  Miriel, Limited Edition Heart, Rose Gold (made to support an ill friend)

Eyes:  Miriel, Standard Eyes, Mossy Rock (free)

Shoes:  Pixel Mode, Leeza Stilettos, white

Hair:  Damselfly, Verena, Cinnamon Warm

Skin: Belleza, Belle Medium Smokey Mocha

Nails:  Kunglers, Pearl

Shape:  my own

Poses:  Torrid Midnight

Photos taken on Symphony and on Miriel

“Living Oprah” . . . in Second Life

So . . . I caught part of an interesting program on television last night (television has taken a decidedly back seat since I discovered Second Life) called The Oprah Effect, describing the impact exposure on The Oprah Winfrey Show has had on various products, and one segment really caught my eye.  So . . . (grrr . . . there’s that “so”-logism all my thirty-something friends seem to use, beginning every other sentence with “so”). Anyway, Living Oprah is a blog written by Chicago actress (and now writer J) Robyn Okrant, chronicling a full year of living her life following the advice of Oprah Winfrey.  For one full year, Robyn watched the show, read O Magazine, and kept up with the Oprah website, culling advice about everything from what to eat, what to read, what movies to see to major life revisions and makeovers.  And she wrote about it every day, with humor, self-reflection, and commitment to the project.

The idea of Robyn’s blog (http://www.livingoprah.com) really appealed to me, so I spent a little time this morning reading both recent and early entries.  And, I can see myself going back to it regularly.  It’s well-written and interesting, plus you get some good tips on reading and recipes and all those other lifestyle things that can pull you out of your daily rut.  I’ve been making the same round of recipes for far too long.  You know, the tried and true, that you can make in your sleep.  Really good but really boring after a while.  Sooo . . . long story short, I decided to do a little bit of “Living Robyn” today.

Second Life, which used to be all about relaxing for me, has more recently become more goal-driven.  I try to take classes, from 2-3 every weekend, mostly at NCI.  I’m trying to wrap my brain around scripting, which is akin to the melon surrounding the prosciutto.  And I’m trying to make something new for Minuet, my shop on Symphony, every couple of days.  Then there’s Symphonic Notes.  Seriously, I go into every weekend with a “To Do” list, something I don’t do very often in first life, for heaven’s sake!

One of Robyn’s observations from Oprah hit home: 

“Surrender to the idea that I can’t run myself ragged and I must take time to relax.”

Now, you would think that living on Symphony I would have figured this out long ago.  The sim was built with peace and relaxation in mind, from the rocky beach with little tide pools and cozy beach log fire, to the dreamily realistic coral reef with its melancholy wrecks and myriad sea creatures.  There is the Honkyoku* Bath, with the strain of a Japanese flute (shakuhachi) rising just above the sound of the waterfall and steam rising from what is decidedly a very warm and relaxing tub.  I can almost feel the deep heat easing my knotted muscles, painful from too many hours in front of a computer.  But perhaps best of all for relaxing on Symphony is Serenity Point.  I have to say I think both Robyn and Oprah would love Serenity Point. 

Ando put in a gong that responds to the intermittent SL wind. Bronte added a Tibetan Prayer Wheel and some circling dolphins from Serenity Falls.  There are birds, butterflies, realistic waves, trees, and flowers.  Cushions for meditation or for lazily dangling your hand in the incoming surf beneath a cascading waterfall, one of four on the island.

 

Listening to the Sound of Waves

 

It’s really a peaceful and serene place to which I have brought my friends when they were having a bad day and needed a getaway that didn’t involve airfare and a rental car.  So . . . without anything further, I’m off to Serenity Point.  I’m going to set my sun to something delicious, using the Advanced Sky settings, and just sit.  No clearing out inventory . . . that would be multitasking and 15,000 items is not too many.  I met a woman yesterday who carts around over 100,000.  I didn’t even think that was possible.  I’ll just sit and relax and dream and revel in the fact that Second Life affords these wonderful resources for taking time to relax and smell the virtual roses.  Thanks, Robyn!  And, as always, thanks, Ando!

 

Serenity Point with Seagull

 

Visit Symphony by typing Symphony into your world map.  The Photo Contest ends June 5th. 

~ Cacie

*Honkyoku (本曲, “original pieces”) are the pieces of shakuhachi or hocchiku music played by mendicant Japanese Zen monks called komusō. Komusō played honkyoku for enlightenment and alms as early as the 13th century.  (Thanks, Wikipedia!)

A few notes on some of the creators of Serenity Point and Honkyoky Bath items.  

Waterfalls, Bath House spa, Japanese Garden Lantern: Ando Joubert; Monarch Butterflies, Emerald Forest tree, Emerald Forest Willow:  Straylight; Critters: natural rabbit, seal from Sculpty Creations; Dolphins:  Julia Hathor; Jay, Loon, Seagulls, Hummingbirds:  Animania; Koi Japanese Scroll:  Hosoi Ichiba; Japanese flute:  Max Pitre; flower field: Mikatsuki Matova (forest feast); Stump:  Truth Hawks; Maritime Pine, Broom, Birch, Olive and other trees:  Lilith Heart; Meditation Cushion (free): Acacia Merlin; Old Bench:  Mystery Moonlight; Sounds:  Cardinal and Mourning Doves, SoundBrite; Tibetan Prayer Wheels: Donk Kongo; Chinatown Wind Gong:  Chelsea Malibu; Poses: wade and daydream, TorAn Cruyff; Candles: Naiman Broome.

I’m Twisted . . . Again!

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.

• 1^st Prize ($5,000 Lindens):  Seshat Czeret 
• 2^nd Prize ($1,000 Linden TTT gift certificate):  Indira Lemaire
• 3^rd 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!

I’m Twisted!

Today seems the perfect day to talk about a wonderful resource for all of us builders in Second Life:  Twisted Thorn Textures . . . and even more importantly, the Twisted Thorn Textures group. 

Perfect because today in the courtyard of TTT, members of the group have displayed photos for a competition offered by Nighty Goodspeed, Twisted’s owner.  Group members were invited to retexture a scale model of the Twisted Thorn Textures main store in whatever style they wished using Twisted Thorn Textures.  To avoid the traditional popularity contest mentality surrounding so many SL competitions, photos were submitted to Nighty who put them on prims arranged around the courtyard.  Members get one vote each and vote by placing a notecard in the entry of their choice.  What a great way to encourage people to choose good design rather than popularity.

A sampling of the texture competition entries

 

Stop by today to see the photos . . . but you have to be a group member to vote.  The sim is called The Twisted Thorn. 

While you’re there, check out the shops around the courtyard, the main shop, a shop for textiles textures and another for flower and plant textures.

Here’s what I love about Twisted:

• The weekly half price boards of some of the wonderful textures in the shops
• Nighty’s willingness to feature the work of other texture artists in her shop
• The bi-weekly members’ exchange of their works, all free, held in the courtyard
• The free items Nighty and other members of the group bestow on their fellow Twisties
• The occasional hunts around the sim for texture sets

But even more, I love the quality of the Twisted Textures and their ingenuity.  This isn’t the largest texture shop in Second Life, but you can count on high quality, and the prices seem more reasonable than others.  Packs are often quite large, offering many color options.  I especially love the exotic woods, which are my go to favorites for furniture.  There are four sets of these with around 30 plus different woods in each.  I’ve learned about wood varieties just by using these textures.  They sell for $500 Lindens each and are well worth the price.  Twisted also carries sculpt packs, which are well worth checking out.

Finally, I love the Twisted group, always so willing to help each other out.  The group chats are a repository of great information about resources for builders, a place to ask for advice in solving a technical problem or finding the best of something whether it’s animations, textures, scripts, vendors or whatever, intelligent conversation about Second Life, and the often witty repartee that gets exchanged on a daily basis with an uptick on weekends.  Group members freely share knowledge and resources with each other.  This is a real community.  Sometimes I just “listen” while I work.  Sometimes I chip in my two cents.  But whatever the case, this is one group I don’t click off, because I continuously learn from them.

With the 25 group limit, I find myself dropping groups as others appear that capture my interest, but I can’t see dropping this group any time soon . . . like never . . . because it’s more than a group, it’s a community.  I give my thanks to Nighty and all the Twisties, Thorne, Seshat, Nissa, Fort, Ludo, and the almost two thousand other members of the group.  If you are a builder or an aspiring builder, you owe it to yourself to check out Twisted Thorn Textures.

And don’t forget the Symphony Photo Competition  is still on.  See the previous entry for details!

Pieces from a Symphony Photo Contest

Symphony will be having its grand opening soon, and we’d like to invite you join in the festivities with a photo contest worth L$10,000! Ando Joubert worked hard to bring Symphony to life, now it’s your turn: the goal of this contest is to gather impressions of Symphony from the best photographers in SL to celebrate its grand opening.

RULES & GUIDELINES—————————————-

Entry is free, and the rules are simple:

 1) The photo must be taken on location anywhere on Symphony, and post-production very welcome.

 2) You can enter up to 3 images

 3) There are no restrictions regarding content (though it’s unlikely overly “intimate” portraits will make the final cut 😉

Guidelines: use high resolution pictures to disk, with the smallest dimension at *least* 1024. While excellent work at lower resolution will be considered, high res pics will present both to the judges and to the public much better.

SUBMISSIONS —————————————-

Send a notecard to Ando Joubert inworld, entitled [your name] [Symphony photo]; in the body of the notecard, include a statement about your photograph including picture dimensions in pixels, and include the high-resolution photograph in the notecard.

JUDGING————————————-

The contest will run from now until June 1. Selection will be by a panel of judges, and their decision will be final. We’ll look for all the right notes – composition, originality, creativity, and how well the image captures the essence of this Symphony.

WINNERS————————————

The winners will be announced at the Grand Opening celebration Friday, June 12th, at 4pm SLT

First prize: L$10,000

Second prize: L$5000

Third prize: L$1000

The top 10 entries will be displayed in the Hopper House Gallery on Symphony through June. These 10 artists may choose to set their work for sale, with no commission charged for the duration of the display.  Contest entries will be posted on flickr as they’re received.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andojoubert/sets/72157618018996337/

 

 

Follow the Yellow Brick Road!

The Emerald City on Wizard

5/5/2009

Wizard is the world of Catalina McCaw, and has seen several incarnations. In this latest one, it is host to the famed Emerald City. As I reimagine Wizard, I will document it from the ground up. Literally!

When Catalina contacted me to create the Emerald City, what I was handed was a Tabula Rasa. A flat, square patch of sand rising a scant meter above sea level! She told me how much space she wanted allocated for the Emerald City, and for all the rest of the sim. I submitted a drawing, and when it was approved, it was time to terraform.

The first draft

The first thing I did was carve out the waterways that will course through Wizard. I laid out a grid, whipped out the bulldozer, and dug the interconnected channels that provide each parcel with access to all of Wizard, plus the neighboring sim Paradisos. I made the canals wide enough to allow passage of most SL watercraft, with enough bends to make it look relatively natural. (In all my builds, whether a full sim or a desk lamp, I try to bring a strong sense of realism into play).

Wizard Terraformed

The next, perhaps most crucial step, was to create the look of the terrain. I raised a couple higher plains and mountains up so I could gauge the effect, and then dove into my frighteningly large texture library. After much trial and error, I found a warmer sand than the SLDefault, a good, rich green for the lowlands, a moss-and-stone middle ground, and a nice gray granite for the peaks. With that step done, it was time to paint the landscape!

Wizard Purple Mountains Majesty

While the bulldozer is too reminiscent of the old Sim City tool, I tend to think of it more as a paint brush in Photoshop, or the terrain editor in Bryce. I imagine the terrain as a grayscale map, using the various tools such as Raise, Lower, Flatten, Smooth, and the rest to carve my landscape. It’s my hope that someday soon, Lindens will spend a little time improving these tools so that it doesn’t feel like I’m performing brain surgery with a screwdriver!

Wizard reimagined

Update: As of RC 1.23, the bulldozer has taken on much more subtlety – it’s smoothly sizable instead of small/medium/large, and the largest option seems to be about twice as large as the previous “large.” Thanks for the gift, Lindens!

The Yellow Brick Road

5/8/2009

Construction on the Yellow Brick Road commenced, marking the installation of the first prim on Wizard. I tossed in some summer grasses from inventory to get a feel of what it might look like. Next step is to add bridges across the water. Then it’s time for waterfalls!

Ando Joubert - out standing in his field

Wabi Sabi in Second Life

 

Mill House Water Pump and Old Wood Bucket

Ando and I both love textures that are a little rough around the edges.  Old brick with patches of moss, crumbling plaster exposing the underlying wood lathes, peeling paint on a wind weathered door – objects that have become venerable with use or have decayed through neglect – a rusty bucket, broken stone path, abandoned rowboat.  There is a name for all of these, an aesthetic.  The Japanese call it wabi sabi, which roughly translated (no pun intended) means ‘rustic beauty.’

Wabi sabi is the unsophisticated and humble beauty we associate with places in the American Southwest, with Provence and Tuscany, and, of course, with rural Japan.  It is applied to the rough-hewn object, strangely beautiful in its simplicity and humility.  Made of natural materials and by hand or by nature, of wood, stone, clay, metal, wabi sabi objects are unpretentious but able to evoke rich aesthetic feelings, a sense of the transitory nature of life and the inevitability of change.  Easily overlooked, wabi sabi objects reward the observant eye with a rich aesthetic feeling.

An oft-quoted poem by William Carlos Williams captures this simplicity and serenity.

 

so much depends

upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

 

Wabi sabi conjures a world that is imperfect and transient, and a meditative acceptance and serene appreciation of that reality.

Honkyoku Bath House with Flute Playing

Ando and I notice we are not alone in this appreciation.  In a world like Second Life that can so easily present objects that look brand spanking new, a surprising number of builds have this very quality, and texture makers like Jewell Lamourfou of Distressed Textures provide ample materials for us to use to recreate the worn, the rustic, the abandoned, both natural and man-made – to recreate, in the timeless world of Second Life, the marks of time’s passage.  (Visit her shop to see an extensive collection of wabi sabi textures.)  This beauty in imperfection is an antidote to the all too perfect world of Second Life.

Detail from Lighthouse Interior

Visitors to Symphony will find wabi sabi elements throughout the sim.  The Lighthouse, Mill House and Honkyoku Bath House are all good examples.  Please stop by for a visit sometime soon.  And let me know what you think about wabi sabi.  Arigato.

~Cacie

Notes from Ando

OK, OK, I know it’s been a while, but things have been busy for me! A quick update – I’m now the Senior Writer for ICON Lifestyles Magazine, having just submitted my work for the 3rd issue due out in May 1. Stop by the ICON kiosk on Symphony and subscribe – I guarantee it’s a good read!

I’ve also completed the town square on Symphony, and am in the process of setting it all up for commerce. My partner Acacia Merlin is way ahead of me on this – she’s been building like there is no tomorrow, and is rapidly filling up her store, Minuet Designs, with beautiful, inexpensive low-prim accessories for your SL home.

My store, across the plaza from Minuet Designs, is Bauen Precision Instruments. It is in many ways the opposite of Acacia’s store – expensive, high-prim unnecessaries for the home! But there’s a reason I’m proud of my stuff, and for the high prim count – these items are very detailed, realistic, feature unique handmade textures, and (I hope) are very pleasing to look at. Many items are limited editions, such as the Dagurreotype Camera, which you can actually use for photographs. Its aged lense will add a touch of antique to all your shots. (There’s even a HUD included so that you can shoot on location!) Only 20 will ever be sold. There is a display in Bauen, and if you are interested in purchasing one of these, contact me in world via IM if I’m online, or notecard if I am not, and I will give you an individually numbered camera and personalized usage instructions.

What else? I just inked a deal with Catalina McCaw to create an amazing build for her on Wizard, one of her beautiful sims. I will update this blog with scenes from the project as I proceed with the building of it, so stay tuned!

That’s all for now, folks. But before I go, let me remind you to stop by Symphony any time – there are many wonders, delights for the senses, horse trails that ring the island, easy sailing/boating, hidden poseballs scattered about, and many more things to discover from the highest hills to the depths of the lagoon. If you would like an exclusive booking at the Lodge for a conference or company retreat, let either me or Acacia know in advance and we’ll set it up for you.

-Ando

Minuet . . . Wherein a New Dance Begins

Once Ando lit the creative spark in me to build, thoughtfully guiding my work and sometimes setting challenges for me to meet, I began to fill up the lighthouse studio with things I made. I fell in love with the exotic wood textures at Twisted Thorn — there are four packs with over 30 wood textures in each, and they are amazing! — richly detailed, high resolution, lovely to work with. (I’ll be writing about Twisted Thorn in an upcoming blog.) Those textures led to an armoire, magazine holder, umbrella stand, lamp, and table. A well-done texture can spark ideas.  

Soon after my first successful project, I wanted to create a separate entity for the things I was building, but I also wanted to stay in tune, pun intended, with the spirit of Symphony. Wikipedia provided the perfect resolution . . . the third movement of a classical symphony is the minuet, which is also a lively and elegant dance. So Minuet Designs was born. It seemed perfect for the small decorative accessories for home and avatar that I was drawn to build. All that remained was to grow into it. And that meant weeks of Saturdays and Sundays practicing this new craft.

One thing led to another until, in this creative dance we seem to be doing on Symphony, Ando or I thought it would be nice to perhaps have a shop. And that seemed like a great idea because the lighthouse was becoming so full of things that it was getting harder and harder to find a square meter of space to rez a prim. I was also having more frequent texture emergencies . . . applying textures meant for new pieces on already finished ones that just happened to get in the way. Not to mention  turning the windows into table tops and the wood plank floor into stained glass by overshooting my mark in an overzealous approach to texturing. Patient Ando had to follow in my wake putting things back to rights. 

Something had to give.

As it turned out it was Ando, generous man that he is. He cleared a space on Symphony, and almost overnight put in a town square complete with a shop for me, a shop for him and a coffeeshop, just because “it feels more like a community.” A dancing fountain, working sundial, magazine kiosks, chirping sparrows and trees soon filled the square.  

 

Ando Joubert's shopping build for Symphony

 

Very gratefully, I moved all of my completed projects from the lighthouse to the new shop ~ Minuet. 

Some of the items for sale at Minuet

 

To someone who builds with prims in SL, an SL sandbox or studio is not unlike a writer’s blank page. A clean slate, empty canvas, and hopefully some new ideas to fill them soon. The lighthouse stands almost empty now, except for the armoire, which still needs the right door script. You can even get to the circular staircase again, without bumping into tables and lamps in the process. It’s an open, inviting space, just waiting . . .

For now, I’d like to invite you to visit Symphony, to browse Minuet and Bauen (Ando’s shop where you can find precision primwork items that are among the finest in SL — including a highly realistic daguerreotype camera ). Please feel free to wander the beautiful Symphony sim. It was created to be enjoyed. (Symphony 92 111 29, should get you there!)

And the coda?  

If I can do this, so can you. If you aren’t already building in Second Life and are intrigued by the possibilities . . . there is no better time than now to begin. Rez a prim . . .play! Con brio!

~Cacie

 

Prim Doodling

The other evening I surprised Ando!

While waiting for him to show up at our appointed hour, I did not, repeat, did not . . . . drum roll . . . go shopping. Yep! You read that right. Until fairly recently, my pastime of preference was to scan the blogs and then fly about to snag the latest pair of jeans, or go on the current sim-wide holiday hunt – right now it’s all Easter eggs, or take in a fashion show or a new store build. Ando had gotten into the habit of asking on log in not what am I doing (he knew the answer – SHOPPING!!!) – but where am I doing it?

Lately, though, something has shifted. Call it a change in my learning curve (seems a bit less steep these days), a new addiction – I am seriously hooked on flow (see last entry) – or an evolution in my avatar consciousness, but I have been staying home . . . or rather, staying in the studio/workshop the Symphony lighthouse has become for me.

And engaging in my new favorite pastime – prim doodling.

Prim doodling is easy and fun and absolutely free! My Linden balance loves that last part! Here it is in a few easy steps:

First rez a prim . . . a cube is fine.

Then begin altering its shape by playing with the various sliders on the edit menu.

Twist it and torture it, change its size and rotation. Give it some siblings. Change their basic shapes from cube to cylinder or prism or torus ~ the wildest of all ~ and continue playing with the sliders. Seriously, this is a great jog to creativity! One of my prim doodles gave me a single prim object that looked like a door handle, which led me to build an entire armoire around it.  Another gave me a Market Basket, for which I used a free texture available from http://www.cgtextures.com.

A great way to pass the time . . . and furnish your house!

It gets even more fun when you move from the edit tab to the texture tab and begin adding textures to the various faces of the prim, and tweaking those sliders as well. Try adding glow in various increments or some degree of transparency or shine. Give it color. Rotate and repeat. And use as textures anything from your own SL snapshots to metals, woods or fabric. Some are even included in your inventory’s Library. Again, all free, as you can also easily import images from outside SL to become textures (10 lindens per download) or pick up free textures from various locations in Second Life.  There are also some amazing texture shops, which will be the subject of future blogs.  And the textures, full perm, and usually bundled as sets, are well worth their cost because textures can be very versatile . . . again thanks to the edit features SL provides.  

The final tab I’ve been playing with is the Contents tab. A simple slow rotation script can give movement to your prim doodles and produce absolutely mesmerizing shapes, providing hours of creative play and relaxation.

A single prim with a slow rotation script can yield beautiful sculptures.

What I come up with is not great SL@art, but it is helping me become a better SL builder and providing inspiration and starting points for new projects. Give it a try! Play with your prims!

~Cacie