Random Thoughts on SL Viewer 2.0

If you've missed the news, iteration 2 of the Second Life viewer is in public Beta. I had a pretty long discussion via IM with noted SLebrity and all-round good guy Daniel Voyager while playing with the software and he has some great insights on his blog. Following are my disjointed observations after tweaking and adjusting the software to meet my tastes. Please keep in mind that some of my comments are biased by my heavy reliance on the fabulous Imprudence viewer by Jacek Antonelli.

• The 2.0 viewer is faster and more memory-friendly than any other viewers I've tried, official or otherwise. When I task switch on my i7-powered 27" iMac the other programs have whatever access to the 4GB RAM they need. Start up and shut down are also faster and even my avie seems to fly faster.
• Some changes will take a while to get used to due to extra steps needed for access or some new locations. File uploads are the 'worst' of these. Instead of using File > Upload one needs to open the Inventory pane then use the File menu there to upload. Next worse? Using About Land. No more simply clicking in the menu bar.
• Related to About Land and sorely missed: Avie coordinates in the menu bar.
• Chat is easier for me to see. Actually, the UI is generally easier on my eyes. I did bump the size up a bit, though, to compensate for what seems to be smaller fonts than in other viewers. The cute little profile pix in chat are ... well, cute. Handy, too. Not having the Inventory (and related windows) go translucent when not in focus makes them easier to use.
• Everything takes up more screen real estate, particularly the Conversations (AKA Communications) window. I quickly searched for a way to bind all the individual windows into one tabbed unit to preserve my sanity.
• I'm probably going to make a special folder for Favorites Bar LMs. Each will have an edited name for clarity.
• There are some items in the Advanced menu that need to be accessible otherwise, such as Stop Animating Me, Set Window Size (formerly in graphics preferences), Rebake Textures, and the Lag Meter. These are not Power User tools and should be more easily found. Horizontal tabs in the Conversations window would be nice, too.
• The 2.0 viewer needs to steal some items from Imprudence, such as double-click Inventory items to wear/take-off (including prim attachments). Every mini-map enhancement needs to be ported, pronto. Also, the quick access draw distance slider. Having fast access to the Sky Editor and presets is more for a Power Users, but it is sooooo handy.
• Inventory sharing is a nuisance in 2.0 if you are not close to the other avie and I can only guess why a separate Conversation window needs to activate if an IM chat is not active.
• As you see in the picture above, the Clothing folder from the standard Inventory is quickly available. I have yet to read about this, but I suspect it might have a relation to the "Link" function buried in the Inventory's advanced menus ("Select an original item, then choose this to highlight all linked items to it," says Help, whatever that means.). It does not increase your inventory size unless you wear an outfit. Then it is fully imported into the My Library's Clothing folder, just like before. "Clothing" is a misnomer as these are now and have always been complete avatars. I'm sort of excited, though, if this feature can be used for favorite outfits.
• The media Play button uses the Pause ❙❙ symbol to show it is playing and the Play ❯ symbol to show it is paused, just like an older iPod I have. All other media players I use are just the opposite. The volume control is "hover to see" and clicking it mutes everything. Quick access to details is via the "configure" button if you hover to get the volume slider. If I mute my computer via the keyboard, the SL volume speaker shows the International NO sign.
• And that brings us to Voice Chat, something I seldom use but had to hunt for to deactivate. It is in Preferences > Sound & Media as opposed to a conveniently named Voice Chat section.
• The Color Picker has many issues. The standard colors are not there and saving a custom color usually fails. For example, I can make and save a custom color to change the URL color in chat but that same color is not available for other items. Probably a bug.
• I like the Info buttons in the place tool bar and if the pointer is hovering over certain objects.
• Texture sizes and aspect ratios in Profiles are now all different. Many folks spend money or spend extra time making Pick pictures and profile pictures extra nice. The new viewer does these no justice. There is plenty of room to make these bigger. Let's get some standardization going as well. Here are the current aspect ratios of some SL textures. If you look you'll see the sizes were chosen by committee or chance. Or both.
• Also concerning the People tab: The Groups section of a person's profile needs a lot of work. The text is too small and the list is clumped together. Make the font bigger and set them all as bullet points, please. Blogger Hamlet Au has written about a controversy with the new Profile format's clumping of Second Life and Real World information on the same pane. As far as I'm concerned: Meh. I have fun with the RW section. As far as you should be concerned, this is my First Life.
• Now and then a pose ball stays highlighted after sitting on it (Right-Click > Sit Here) or object that you've edited or inspected (via the Info button on the hover tip).
• In the picture above the hover text in my hugger is off center. This happens with other HUDS that use hover text, too, but only in the 2.0 viewer.
• Ban Lines are now translucent yellow on yellower "warning" stripes like a police line tape.
• The top bar with Favorites and such needs to be collapsable to save screen space.
• The My Appearance pane could be done away with if the Wearing tab is moved into the Inventory panel. Usra, my model in the pic, pointed out that obviousness to me.
• I like the bottom tool bar. The new basic buttons can be hidden but the usual buttons are gone. Nope. No Build button. Mostly I used that to see if I could rez something on the parcel I was visiting. It will take some getting used to, but I like the tool bar in general.
• Of course a transition period is needed, but I'm very excited about the new layers available in Appearance. A tattoo layer has long been needed and the alpha layer will make boots and attachment-intensive avies a lot nicer.
• What?!? No more Inventory count? How many Whatsitz do I have?
• [17:49] Angela Seale: mention taht your wife HATES the interface [17:49] Angela Seale: the whole thing, it's just inconvienent, it's not user configurable, adn it feels clumsy like 2-5 building blocks [17:52] Angela Seale: it feels like it's "playskool" interface
• Conversely, I generally like the interface. If I hadn't seen v1.x first I'd probably be rather happy with this one.

On the whole I would have to say I like v2.0 and that most of the criticisms I've heard in-world and seen in print are mostly from folks who don't like change. Remember those who didn't like Windlight? There will be alternative viewers based on the Open Source Snowglobe and I'm sure these will have more appeal to Power Users and those with specialized needs. This viewer is aimed at new and casual users with many features that should still appeal to even more advanced users. It certainly meets that goal and then some.

New Skins

When I first met my wife, Angela, a couple years ago she said she'd make a really freckly skin for me. For various reasons that never happened and now my RL freckles are mostly gone, at least from the shoulders down, but I kept shopping for one in Second Life® (SL) and despite the high quality of Angela's work at Dream Images (SLurl). Just the other day I found some great skins at Curio (SLurl). The demos didn't wildly stretch my mouth like many skin tend to, there were some freckles, the shadows and highlights were good, the makeups weren't too severe, and I could get a both a tanned and less tanned skin with the same basic hues. So I dropped a few thousand Linden$ and got the most basic skins (I'm still a butch at heart, if not in SL) and trotted out in my Bare Rose Microkini (Web) to take pix.

Despite the tremendous lag I almost always have there, Las Arenas Rosadas (SLurl) is one of the most beautiful tropical islands in all SL, so it was my first thought when I wanted pix of my new skins. Yes, I tossed on a face light as I had set the Advanced Sky settings to Barcelona and needed the boost. Actually, I tried a number of settings and several hair styles. But this was the best. I might tweak it in post. If I do, I'll post it here, though all the pix will be on my Flickr page eventually.

Déjà Vu in SL

While dancing with my wife last night I kept seeing our movements momentarily freeze and even "rewind" a few seconds then proceed again, much like a bad sim crossing when your avie keeps moving for a while then "jumps back," but more briefly in these incidences. It reminded me of the déjà vu graphics glitch scene in the movie The Matrix (Web).

[Neo sees a black cat walk by them, and then a similar black cat walk by them just like the first one]
Neo: Whoa. Déjà vu.
[Everyone freezes right in their tracks]
Trinity: What did you just say?
Neo: Nothing. Just had a little déjà vu.
Trinity: What did you see?
Cypher: What happened?
Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.
Trinity: How much like it? Was it the same cat?
Neo: It might have been. I'm not sure.
Morpheus: Switch! Apoc!
Neo: What is it?
Trinity: A déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.
(Web)

Stargate!

Updated the Stargate in Dolce Valentina (SLurl). Changed it to a higher-prim, cooler-looking Pegasus style gate at the wife's request. It's network profile (Web) has it's dial codes or go to most any gate and say /d Earth Park to access it.

Year in Review: 2008

Apologies for the lack of posts since the first of the year. I've been busy in both lives and feeling a little bit ill in one of them. I've been doing my best to keep up with the Lucky Kitty Crew blog (Web) that I contribute to as well as commenting on other blogs. But to get back into the swing of things I thought I'd tiptoe through my photo library and grab images that leaped out for comment in a Year in Review of 2008. No particular order here and it is far from inclusive. Just some extra insights.

Coming face-t0-face with Governor Linden I learned a few things. First, Lindens really can remove themselves from the presence server. You may be able to see one, talk to one, or transfer inventory, but any scripts that depend on agent detection simply won't work. Thus, the Gov missed a hug from a really smexy lion. The second thing I learned is that Lindens really are people. The human behind this version of the Gov had trouble getting a simple giver script to run and couldn't set the box for sale at L$0. She turned down my offer of a free giver script. FYI, that is my wife, Angela, to my right with the white hair band. We wuz holdin' hands ... xtra kute.

I did quite a bit of exploring. Usually I'd grab something from a Lucky Chair then I'd wander around to see what else the region contained. That's how I found this giant sign for Sun Microsystems. Sometimes I'd just open the map and pan around looking for interesting sim names or patterns then teleport. Many blogs reported interesting places, too, that were well worth exploring. At least once a week I use the Stargate at home to find a '/drandom' place. Seeing what others are doing in-world is definitely one of my most favorite things to do.

:::sighs::: Moved a lot. This is a shot of my home in Navi. It was a bit expensive, especially compared to the sweet deal my sister Threshin gave me, but it was still rather nice. This is where Angela and I fell in love and it was her first home in-world. You'll find lots of pictures and posts about my "favorite" home throughout this blog, including later in this post. Today Angela rents a sim that we call home but in reality I have several spots I now roost, including the Isle of Lesbos, one of my first homes in-world.

It is on the Isle I have family, friends, and a job. It's a great place to laugh and play. Nary a day goes by that something silly doesn't happen to brighten my moods. A lot of remodeling had happened and I've been blessed to be part of it. I don't host events on the Isle at this time, but you'll still find me assisting with Security, building, landscaping, and being a mascot (?). Just as my blog has had many posts about my lands in 2008 you'll find many a post about the Isle if you hit the archives. Two words about this pic: Anti-Gravity Boobies.

2008 was the year I came out to my family, much to their chagrin. It may be the 21st century, but being a lesbian is still not completely acceptable. My alt also came out in 2008. I stopped keeping her secret but I don't exactly advertise who she is, either. When I "wear" her I feel like a different person in many ways, though since her outing we've become very much alike. I guess that was inevitable. Of late she's started making new products for my line of goods for tiny avatars, MicroSTUFF. Most of my tiny avatar things disappeared along with tens of thousands of L$ of other items in my inventory in 2008 but she still had her stuff so she's better off working on that line. I re-branded The Poultry Company into The PoP Department store and added a line of bikinis. Now to get off my butt and make more stuff. The region that Angela rents is not just home to me, but home to my store.

Really, though, home is where the heart is, and that is with Angela. I'm in love with her. Really. Real Life means that we can't spend a lot of time together but every moment is precious. We both find it hard to log out at day's end. She's very good to me, from letting me landscape and build the infrastructure for her region to seeking my advice on nearly everything she builds to being a fabulous cuddler and lover. We celebrated our 1st year together as a couple, spouses, and partners in 2008.

It seems I spend more time with the Lucky Kitty Crew (LKC) than I do my wife despite the many down moments. But up moments like this one make it worthwhile. A number of us were on a hunt for prize-filled flamingos and decided to all meet in one place for a breather and a pic. To my right is one of my bestest friends in-world, Serenity. She can be a blast. Lately I've been modifying LOL Cat pictures to look like her avie and posting them to the LKC blog ... or sending private ones to her. Just as she's an easy target for my humor she's also been an easy target for griefers. Remember, people: She is my friend and thus falls under my protection.

The Second Life 5th Birthday celebration was a joy because I got to do a couple things I really, really enjoy: Build and promote the Isle of Lesbos. I made an abstract miniature of the Isle so people could get a taste of the landscape, activities, entertainments, and culture of the Isle and to learn more about the lesbian lifestyle. Constant fussing and picking at this display took up more time than it should have, but I had a great time and I think it was worth it. Sure, I had to airbrush out the nipples on some classic paintings. Sure we had one (minor) griefer, but overall it was a great experience that I hope to repeat for the 6th birthday celebration.

Scenes like this should have been at the birthday party, but I didn't have the room or the prims. To me, the Furries & Friends Deck in the jungle at the Isle of Lesbos represents what I think the Isle stands for ... a peaceful, relaxing natural environment, free from most of the drama and negativity found elsewhere in-world where people can gather and just be themselves. The Deck is a microcosm of the Isle with cuddles, music, free goodies, fishing, fantasy, secret suprises, intimacy, whimsy, beauty, and so many more things. Probably my favorite place on the Isle, if you were to ask.

All that describes Grendel's Children, too, a wonderful collection of regions with the best values on innovative avatars, a fabulous landscape, and plenty of places to have a good time. The regions were remodeled in 2008 and, frankly, I prefer the previous structures (like the one shown here) but the ground level landscape still rocks (pun intended). It is a beautiful desert trying hard to be verdant. 2008's intricate cave system is gone, but it is still a wonderful visit.

My home. "Uccello's Land" at Whispering Big Pines. This was my dream home. I say that because I found that I just couldn't tweak it any more. I kept finding it was perfect, just what I wanted and needed. Many thanks to the Bestest Big Sister a girl could ever want, Threshin, for letting me live there. One day I may be able to create something simliar, but my home was more than prims and mesh landscape. It was a part of me. A part of my head and my heart and my soul. If the rest of the Grid had gone away I'm sure I could have been quiet happy here. (/me pats her Inventory knowing that the components are there, waiting to be let loose ...) I'm so glad to have had this, probably the highlight of my 2008, right after being married to my Angela. When she was there with me, life was near perfect.

This is where Angela and I live now, with several items from my previous home making this corner of the world extra special. Likely I'll be tweaking for some time to come. Just today I was doing some building and landscaping. Really, I should have been swimming and playing. Or working in my store. Three-quarters of the region is dedicated to retail space (Angela's store, mine, and some tenants) but it is spread out enough that the whole environment is inviting and attractive. I should work on an interactive element, maybe adding to the back story that the region is a former volcano undergoing succession from rock and grass to more sophisticated plants (an animals? Thinking about that one.). Thank you, Angela. I know you did this as much for me as you did for having a retail space.

Not my favorite build, but Burning Life was still fun. I dipped my brushes in every primary color paint can I could find and splashed, splashed, splashed. Many folks told me they liked it so I guess it worked. At least it gave me some ideas for Burning Life '09 if I get a spot. And it was an opportunity to experiment with scripts and wild design. Hopefully folks used it for my other intended purpose: learning about diversity and the lesbian lifestyle.

Oh, the pix I left in my inventory. I could have added a dozen more, easily. Maybe some will show up here in the future as part of another retrospective or to show how things change over time. Maybe they won't. Hopefully I'll be busy making more memories, ones as happy as those I have of 2008.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!
From Angela and Uccello

Decorating for Christmas

Just wandering the Interwebs today I ran across a notice from Rezzable Greenies that they were accepting decorations for their tree. Since I had recently made a bunch to give out as gifts I figured I had a shot. Bam! There she is ... wooters! Drop in to see it yourself and grab some nice freebies under the tree (SLurl).

After my wife logged out for the night I started wrapping her presents and found the process getting out of hand. This is what happened nearly 200 prims later... (SLurl).

New Home > Earth Park @ Dream Images

With my Dream Home gone (see previous post here) I have to wink at the spectre of Irony that my new home is hosted by Dream Images, the group that occupies the Dolce Valentina sim (SLurl). Disclaimer time: Angela Seale, my wife, owns Dream Images and the sim hosts our stores as well as our home. One corner is Earth Park, a peaceful place to relax and play (7Seas fishing, swimming, diving, cuddling, socializing, etc.). It incorporates many elements from my previous home, such as the gazebo, ocean dock, trees, and tire swing. As you can see in the picture it also has a Stargate (#75314 on the Pegasus network) and a few surprises for explorers.

Angela has been very good to me with this sim right from Day One. For example, I've always wanted to see this image made into a Second Life^® region so she let me run amok. I laid down a sim-sized megaprim and with this texture so I could carve and sculpt away. Practical needs required some changes, but with some custom textures from Angela my goal was pretty nearly achieved. That little island you see in the bottom left is Earth Park. Between us an informal mythology of the region grew: An extinct and time worn volcano in the late stages of land succession. Fairly low in all but the hardiest of vegetation except for Earth Park, an area obviously in the process of guided landscaping.

This corner is just one of four, the others being Air, Water, and Fire. The landing zone welcome area features wonderful art depicting the Four Elements as beautiful women and ramps leading to large decks with more art in elemental themes. My shop is in the Water corner and has a nice fish pond with a beautiful Torii gate made by Angela (it may be replaced with a lower prim version so drop in and look soon; SLurl). I made a sculpture for the Air corner and Earth Park features a huge, functional globe made by Pumpkin Tripsa (SLurl). The best art, I think, is the volcano in front of Angela's shop (SLurl). When she finishes her shop the whole complex will be a work of art.

The passion she put into her builds and the trust she shows in letting me design and build the rest of the region is quickly making me feel at home. I'll miss Whispering Big Pines for quite some time, but I'm learning that most any place you give your love to can be a home.

Now that I'm done (LOL ... like I'm ever done) with Earth Park I need to get moving on an actual home. Angela suggested that we could use my airship but she also mentioned something about a huge waterfall coming off a huge, inverted mountain over Earth Park. I'm kinda leaning toward getting a Rezzbox or two (Web). I guess we'll have that discussion sometime. First, she has to finish her shop. Mine has been ready and actually had a couple sales yesterday.

Happy Anniversary, Angela

One year ago today, you accepted my love, devotion, and collar, first allowing me to become your pet and then your wife. Thank you.

Die, Zombie, DIE!!

I don't exactly know the name of where I was in Nipponbashi (SLurl), but my friend Serenity found the place so it is a Japanese sim and I took a while to figure out some things. But after you grab a free gun and free HUD that seems to be of little use, you get to kill ZOMBIES! Or be killed by them. Or, as I managed, kill yourself.

um .. yah .. I tried to use one of my own guns a few times and found that if I shoot anything close to me I somehow hit myself and .. um .. Anyway, the game can be fun, especially playing with another shooter. My wife, Angela (shown above trying to rescue me from zombies in a staged scene outside the game area), and I made a great team. We managed to kill nearly a hundred or so over all with relative ease.

At first Ange died right away, not realizing that she couldn't really use her katana. I suppose we were pretty lucky that the guns could do no damage to humans as a 3rd party joined us for a while. He insisted on hand-to-zombie combat while Ange and I shot away from the perimeter. A later strategy should have left me bullet-riddled, but worked: I ran around like a chicken while Ange shot at the top, evil, hard-to-kill zombie. Then we hugged and kissed amid the bloody carnage, me thanking her for saving my life, before lovingly walking hand-in-hand to the first level where Ange killed one last undead.

Then we went outside and took the pics in this post. The one at top is mine and is titled Ange to the Rescue! Hers (click for larger versions) are titled, in order, Too Late to Save Her Wife and Trying to Get the Zombies Off Her Love. Should I worry about the tenor of her titles?

Thanks, Twilight!

An hour or so before this picture was taken I had logged out of the Second Life™ viewer for some regular First Life© activities. What I hadn't noticed is that the process crashed in the last seconds, much like some 60% of my sessions with SL™. In the interim the sim I had been in crashed thus locking my avatar in a semi-permanent logged-in state. So returning I was told the system was logging me out and that I should try back at the usual five minutes. It told me that every five minutes for several attempts.

In the meantime I signed in with an alt and tried to find "my" body so I could kick it or something, but "I" could not be found. Fortunately my wife doesn't mind snuggling with my alt and I was able to cuddle while working with the very patient and helpful Twilight Linden. She soon had "me" logged back in quick enough I was able to catch my wife with "the other woman" and chase away the interloper.

Quick Pic - Lettuce & Lemons

My wife, Angela, is in Japan, waiting for her flight home. Made me think of this shot I have floating around. Nothing comforts like mutant veggies and fruit. I don't recall where this is so I should ask my friend Serenkitty ... she's up on the Japanese sims.