SL9B: Second Life Birthday News

Seen in the Second Life Birthday Greeter Chat tonight:

[17:44] Honour McMillan: Attention! SL9B is going to happen - watch this space for information on volunteering for the best party around. :)

And then if you checked Prim Perfect (Web) today ... "There is good news about a resident-initiative for a centralised birthday celebration. It’s in the pipeline and details will be released on Monday."

Let the party begin!!

Astigmatism in SL

Aside from needing bifocals in my Real Life eyeglasses, I also suffer from Astigmatism. It is especially pronounced in dim light, like when riding in a car at night. The lines on the road blur and multiply almost to the point of complete double vision. Well, it seems that the Second Life viewer has the same issue.

As seen in the Vehicle Sandbox, Fortuna (SLurl) and mainland roads, as well.

The further you look into the distance on SL roadways that are created with side-by-side prims and mirrored textures, the more pronounced the blurred, astigmatic effect becomes.

A possible explanation? The construction method. This is from back in the day when the maximum prim size that Moles were allowed to use was 10m³.

I've seen this in not only the Official Viewer, but with Third Party Viewers, as well so it might be the rendering engine or it could be my graphics hardware. It doesn't seem to affect all receding straight lines, just the ones created by abutted prims with textures like these road markings. Anyone else notice this?

Storm Giant [Update]

Everyone is blessed with having a few talented friends and I'm no exception unless you consider that I have some exceptionally talented friends. My IM windows get a regular workout with "Hey! You gotta see ... " or something to that effect. Today my friend Kaelin caught me with "Just in time" and seeing via the Mini Map that she was at the courtyard on Lesbos I teleported down right away knowing she had to have something new with an IM like that one.

From Chat History: [13:49] Height Detector (Accurate) - Prim Height: Kaelin Westland is 2.708965 m (8 ft. 10in.) tall. (counting shoes) - Prim Height
But from measuring, she's more like 6 meters (19.6850 feet) tall, making me so happy I just the other day made my own avatar shorter so I'd need a platform to put me on eye-level.

The Something New was a Storm Giant avatar, a custom mesh demi-god with hand-painted skin and it is every bit as detailed and delicious as the smaller fantasy mesh avatars she's been making for herself of late. I don't know if she'll sell this one (find her on the SL Marketplace here) as only a few of her earlier avatar projects have gone public, but I'm sure she could make a small fortune. She does this sort of thing for fun, however, and I'm sure enjoys the challenge more than the potential income. Maybe I'll set another challenge: Create a pantheon of giants from various mythologies. I'm sure Kaelin would be far more than equal to that task.

[Update: May 10, 2010 - The Storm Giant is now for sale on the Marketplace here (L$389).]

New Premium Gift [Update]

Premium account Residents check your emails! There's a new gift for you and it looks pretty cool! Or skip your mail and head right to a gift kiosk (list here) and get started right away at a railroad near you (here or here or here).

[Update May 9, 2012 - Added a pic of my customized handcar below and more info.]

Zipping through the yards in Calleta (SLurl).

The handcar is customizable via a menu system. I made the body of mine a shade of purple, changed the wheels to red-centered, and plastered it with rainbow stuff all over then took a copy back into my inventory after renaming it. With full Mod/Copy perms (No Trans) you can make "manual" tweaks, but the textures on the mesh prims are very, very shape specific. There's no way you would be able to match the baked in shading, for example, so your edits would be rather cartoonish. Maybe not even as good as cartoonish.

Any rider can help you drive — using the Up arrow key repeatedly and endlessly, otherwise you stop — but only the owner can apply the brakes. Three friends can join you and each position is animated. If you rez the handcar away from approved railroad tracks you are tossed off and the car suggests in chat that you visit the train station in Tuliptree (SLurl). An included note card lists other suggested starting points (no pun intended, I tell the English railroaders who read this) and explains all the options for customizing and driving. This really is a pretty cool gift. I've seen over half-a-dozen folks out on the rails having fun already and I've been out for no more than a couple hours total.

What's in My Closet? A New Me

One of my blog posts yesterday concerned the evolution of two alts, Zyx Flux and Zyx. They've made quite a few changes in the last year, so it got me to thinking, "What have I changed about me?" After all, people gain or lose weight in Real Life and they get shorter as they age (danged gravity). Why not in Second Life?

At Forest Floor (SLurl) for my new portrait.

It was May 22, 2010 when I last modified my shape (shapes, really ... I have barefoot and shoe-fitted versions, each with large and small bust sizes for every day use depending on the clothes or lack thereof) and I was a tall 1.88 meters with a very narrow waist, too narrow for even my tastes and far more narrow than my Real Life shape. I figured if my pixy alts can evolve, it was about time that I did.

So I'm now just 1.8 meters tall —sure, not a big deal but oddly it seems like a lot as I adjusted overall height and hip length for the effect — and I made myself thicker around the middle with the saddlebags slider and the tummy slider. I added some muscle to my legs, too and widened my hips. That change looked fine from behind when I was naked, but .... . Anyway, I also took 5-10 points off my bust size (each variation) so clothes could be a better fit.

And then my wife, Angela, took me shopping and I bought that baggy mesh blouse you see in the pic above so I look really pudgy, especially with the wider hips that make my butt look bigger even though I didn't touch the butt slider (fill in your own jokes, folks). Life is not fair, even a second one.

But I'm actually happy with the changes. I look far more natural now — less Barbie-fied and ultra-femme — and I feel more like me, a fairly soft butch (RL my hair is very, very short and I dress very, very plainly). The adjustments I made were small and subtle, but just enough, I think. What do you think?

Yes, I like it. Even the thicker waist.