Pygar and the Missing Prims

Pygar Bu, Boy Genius and All Around Good Egg, taught me a really cool trick the other day when a discussion of non-rezzing prims went on somewhere I don't recall – probably the MySL feeds. But anyway, you've been in situations like the picture below when you arrive some place and the building refuses to rez or your attachments aren't visible or both or both and then some?

Usually a good, swift right-click in the prim gives it a jumpstart and it appears right away. With a building, it's not hard to figure out where to do this ... the wall, the window, the other window, a bit of the floor. You know, the obvious. That can be time consuming. With body parts or other attachments, it's a matter of guess work and probably even more time. I got pretty good at finding my tail, ears, eyes, and ... um ... The Girls ... when trying to get things to rez with a right-click (not to mention finding them in a dark bathroom so forget I mentioned it). Pygar said he turns on Wireframe mode, turns it off, and all is right with the world (except maybe at Paula Deen's house ... I mean she's kinda screwed, huh?).

This is what Wireframe mode looks like. Handy for spotting stray prims and freaking out people trying to look over your shoulder (Oh, Frak! What's wrong with Windows now?). Follow this menu path to turn it on or off:

Develop > Rendering > Wireframe

There you'll also see your viewer's Wireframe keyboard shortcut which you will quickly memorize if you use this trick more than thrice. On a Mac it is Command-Shift-R (and the same to turn it off).

You don't have the Develop menu? Your viewer may have options to display it with a checkbox somewhere in the Preferences. But if you have the Advanced menu active, look at the very bottom.  If you don't have the Advanced menu, try Ctrl-Alt-D on a PC (or the same on a Mac, but you can also call the Alt key "Option" 'cause Macs are about creativity).

When all is said and done and you've tied your fingers in knots, you should see ...

That's right! You should see my house. I fooled you into teleporting to my lair to bake me cookies. If I had a stove. Or cookie dough (*puts that on the shopping list*). As if that's what I had really done. Actually, you should see the scene as it should be. I found out by happy-stance that turning Advanced Lighting on/off or off/on does much the same thing. Likely there are several ways to skin this gopher and if you are bored enough you just might find them. But Pygar's trick via the keyboard shortcut is fast and efficient. He really is a Boy Genius.

Caturday!

Happy Caturday! When I saw a cat shirt gacha at Patchwork Heart (SLurl) the other day I knew my next Caturday outfit was halfway complete. That's Lion-o from Thundercats, a cartoon I have to admit I've never really watched. The Thundercats logo is on the back.

3D in Your Browser

Engadget reports that the Firefox browser has been upgraded to support 3D games, particularly those that run the Unreal 3D Engine (think Epic Citadel, the game I've written about before on this blog). This should prove once again that Second Life can be run in a Web browser so I have to ask "Why isn't it being done?" The Lab tested it at one time (see here) but we've heard nothing since. Google keeps improving Cloud Party (see here) with the latest iteration looking very, very good. Sometimes I feel as if Internet/game technology is passing Our World by while The Lab sits on it's laurels.

Minna@SL10B

Ansi Sodersrtom and Kennylux Luckless have brought a bit of the Minna region madness to SL10B (SLurl) for an exhibit that is in my Top Five Must See spots. I happened to wander by while a very quiet mole in dark glasses was taking pictures and notes.

Minna is one of Second Life's first sims (source) and like most of the oldest ones, it is fabulously unique. Ansi and Kenny seem to work very hard keeping the region wild and interesting but for them, really, it is just play, play, building, and more play.

Yes, that is a functional Torley Trap on exhibit. I don't understand Kenny's fascination with SL's (probably) most famous resident, but I certainly support it if it keeps being tons of fun.

Need one really say anything at this point?

Behold, the sacred Cotton Swab. Moles, for some reason, have an affinity for cotton swabs and Minna has the world's first (and probably only) shrine to this instrument of cleanliness. Of course, this is a replica, the original being far to valuable to transport. Note, mind you, that this exhibit has "materials"-enabled texturing. The creative (and likely cracked) minds of the Minna builders are always on the cutting edge.

More of the new texture technology as the secretive mole watches a rogue angry cube confront an alligator from the Turtle Stage elsewhere at SL10B.

This replica of the secret Cotton Swabs Main Storage locker has many clever and amusing freebies inside, available to anyone (including moles) for just a click. Keep clicking, though, as you only get one at a time. Actually, most everything at this exhibit is free. Either buy it for L$0 or take a copy. Some of the items are even educational despite being fun. By the way, the original locker is securely hidden in the Minna region, but a with a little snooping, I bet you'll find it.
(Like here, maybe).

*snerk*

One of the angry protest cubes got loose.
Oddly, it's sign uses the new "materials" texture technology.
(shhh...sekret ... that's Kenny in a fun avatar.)

Despite all these pictures, there is far more to this 1024m² exhibit than I can show here. I have spent hours on-site before and after the event opening and I still can't get enough. Ansi and Kenny very well could be the heart of Second LIfe just as Minna is in the heart of the Old Sims.

Infographic: 10 Years of Second Life

Source: Linden Lab (URL)

An SL10B-themed advert about winning a new computer at the top of the page when I viewed the infographic on the official blog.

SL10B - My Year

SL10B - My Year
Originally uploaded by UccelloSL

2006 saw many things on the Second Life Main Grid, including the arrival of a shy girl fleeing the Teen Grid ... ME!

SL10B: Some Photos

Without getting into a lot of hoo ha, I'm not involved with SL10B this year. Yes, I was for a short time, but it seems I'm not really welcome there. I had planned on some photo essays and had a head start, but it's just not going to happen. Here are some photos that I've already stocked up and I may well sneak back in for more photos. There are some exhibits that weren't finished when I was ejected and would like to see in their completed glory. Without much comment and no SLurls, here are some highlights. I encourage you to explore, ask Greeters for gifts, compliment anyone you see with a Sim Coord tag, and generally have a good time.

This picture of the Turtle Stage was published on this blog earlier, but at the creator's request I removed it. You might have seen it, though, as it has been on the official event Flickr since then. I guess no one else was asked to remove theirs. Since this was taken some waterfalls have been added and quite a few details. Flea Bussy and Toady Nakamura have created one of the most wondrous places in all of Second Life and I truly wish The Lab would find a way to preserve it as a "national" treasure. You can't see me in this picture as I had hidden myself, but I would have been a tiny speck on the snout of this massive creature.

Bear Island is back, largely thanks to Marianne McCann, I suspect, as most of the bears are hers. This picture was originally posted on MySL so you may have seen it.

Another picture of Bear Island from MySL. You can grab copies of some of the bears.

The Lake Stage is one of many venues for DJs and live performers. Its beautiful is a bonus.

Another view of the Lake Stage.

New England is represented again this year. I visited often and felt right at home.

Another view of the New England Exhibit.

Now & Then is a brilliant art project that fuses portraits of a Resident's oldest avatar with their current one into a single piece. Several of my friends have their portraits here and I was lucky enough to be asked to pose, too.

The first floor of Now & Then is a gallery while the second floor has several studios so that you can create your own dual portrait and add it to a free frame.

Some of the best exhibits this year are from the kid community in Second Life. Soken Kids beautifully fits the event theme of Looking Back, Looking Forward and is fun to explore. Oh, and lots of gifties.

Oldbies ... well, people of my SL generation, too ... will recognize The Cornfield.

I always enjoy Transgender Lounge's exhibit. This color-shifting umbrella is fun to watch as you read through the informational displays.

SL10B Celebration Snapshot Contest

CC has been planing his picture for the new SL10B photo contest sponsored by Linden Lab. The winner can receive use of a Homestead sim. Oddly enough, so can two runners up. See the official blog post for details.

Yes, I'm Alive

Yes, I'm alive, but I'm having a hard time caring about Second Life of late.

The Drax Files: World Makers 7 - Rod Humble

Right. Skip all the stuff with Drax and Rod Humble (AKA Rod Linden; AKA Fearless Leader) and zip up to 4:49 where you'll see ME, all close-uppy and personal with my wife on my head.

Seriously, it's a nice interview and well worth five minutes to watch or ten to watch it twice. I am in the video and the bear that Rod is holding is my bear... hay! He owes me a bear! Dang you, Rod! I want my Rod Linden Bear!!!

Speaking of bears ...

Hit up the Marketplace (here) to get your FREE SL10B commemorative bear avatar. It uses new texture technology to look extra realistic when you use the Materials Beta Viewer now and future viewers with the new tech installed. No need to be a Premium member so grab this freebie now as it goes away at the end of June. My brother, CC Columbo, was playing with the new viewer this morning and you can see his pictures here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Getting My Lazy Bahookie in Gear

No, I haven't blogged much of late. Only 13 posts in May after 15 posts in April, both well below my average, if you look at the Archive. I've just been totally lazy. Lots of things have not gone well in Second Life for me of late and it's just disheartening, taking away the fun and my desire to be in Our World. The other night I was actually thinking of just tossing in the towel.

Once, long ago (probably six years now), I saw something wondrous. It made me cry. I had been wandering around a shopping center documenting Lucky Chairs for a group I was in at the time when I saw some stylized obsidian dragon statues, all bedecked in Eygyptian-inspired finery. I wandered over to look at them more closely and suddenly one turned it's head to speake to me.

Mind you, I don't usually have my Preferences so that I always seen name tags over people's heads so I didn't realize that these were avatars ... Daryth Kennedy's Isle of Wyrms Anubis dragons, to be exact. The surprise and the beauty and the novelty overwhelmed me until I cried. For the longest time I couldn't respond to these marvelous creatures as I was too stunned to even move. It was pure, wondrous Second Life magic.

Eventually, I acquired my own complete set of the Anubis dragons (as seen in this older picture of me giving Angela a ride around on my back). I was part of the magic and I eagerly shared it with others, often parking myself in Ahern, Waterhead, and other places that attracted new Residents so they could experience the wonder, too. Since then I've added many other dragons to my collection including some truly massive ones that are stunning from not just size, but also from detail though none have the unique beauty of the Anubis.

In the last month too many disappointments piled up and took the enchantment out of Our World for me and led to those thoughts of finding other things to do ... then I saw something else truly marvelous.
I was flying around the Second Life 10th Birthday regions, just getting the lay of the land, when I crossed some lovely landscaping lush and green and filled with exotic ruins. Everything was well above average for even the higher quality of landscaping that has been appearing in SL of late but it was nothing to lift my mood. Then I turned a corner ...

PICTURE REMOVED FOR VARIOUS REASONS

... and I cried. My hands trembled so badly I had to just sit in my seat, staring at my monitor. It was wondrous. Mind you, my first look was in the standard Noon light of a Default day but the entirety of the experience was still so breathtaking. Some time passed before I could do anything but look. Since then I return often just to savor the view and relive my first visit.

On one such trip the other day I set to work to create an image for my desktop that would let me enjoy the moment even offline. This enhanced* picture only hints at the full majesty of this build from Flea Bussy and Toady Nakamura and it doesn't even give a clue as to the scale. Before hiding my avatar for this shot, I was a mere twig on the [redacted]'s [redacted body part], that's how big this is "in person." Far bigger than is needed for a mere event stage, this build is a joy to explore as well as look at from afar. When you visit, be sure to explore the hidden magic. I drop in every day now for a few minutes or more and still haven't seen everything.

Flea and Toady have rekindled at least some of the wonder that SL held for me at one time and it strengthens each time I see their work. It is helping me get off my bahookie and "get back in the game," as it were. There is magic out there. We just have to find it.

___________

* Combined elements from many different shots with different Windlight settings in an attempt to capture all the magical nuances.