What you see is not always the way it is

What you see in SL is not always what others see.  I was sitting there in my cat suit and wearing my butterfly wings in place on my back and my tail snuggled into the ground.  A picture popped up on my screen of me sitting on the ground with my wings attached to my ears and my tail coming out of my head like a pony tail.  I have been in situation s where I was seeing me wrong and where others were seeing me wrong.  I crashed before I could find out if I was messed up or not.

My head in my what?

I teleported to my home from Club Extreme.  When I arrived my head  was in my butt, my tail was attached to my head.  I could not find my shins.  My feet were around because I could see my toes sticking out of me.  <sigh> This could only happen in SL.

Sculpture

I have finished my giant tortoise.  I started making him over a month ago, shortly after my release from Big Brother.  I enjoy making 3D sculptures in SL.  These tend to take me countless hours; I refuse to keep track of my time that I spend on them.  Often I can only work a few hours at a time before reaching frustration.  Prims must be manipulated to simulate the look of real life.  It is a challenge.  Though I am not making a real life looking object, I want it to look enough like what it is without having to tell anyone what I made. 

My first sculpture was a sea otter that I did for a Dreams competition.  I copied a small sculpture that I brought home from my Alaskan Cruise.  My finished product amazed me, it was a duplicate.  But being me, I felt like it wasn’t totally my art work.  I needed to work from something besides something someone else had made.

The next one I did was an elephant.  Though it started from an inspiration of a sculpture that is at the Omaha Zoo, the two do not look alike.  The only similarity is that the elephants are both in the sitting position.  Working from a 2D picture and forming a 3D image presented a new challenge.  I used picture mainly to develop a sense of proportion.  I had trouble with the feet.  I don’t remember how many different ways I did the feet, but I know the delete key was used liberally.  The biggest problem was the texture.  I had intended to make it look like a brass sculpture.  Nothing I did worked for me.  One day, while taking what I called a frustration break, I checked out a few lucky chairs.  The black and red décor of an Asian inspired store gave me the idea of an Ebony Elephant.  Using the blank texture and then black did the trick.  I learned that the blackest black hid the lines and shape.  I had to use a less intense black color.  The different lighting from the different times of day changes the look of the elephant with light reflections.

I saw a cat made out of a sphere in a RL store.  I took home the memory and made a cat.  It is very symmetrical and went together quickly.  I used the basic idea, but the cat is definitely something that came from my mind.

And that brings me to the tortoise.  My favorite sculpture at the Omaha Zoo is the giant tortoise.  I had wanted to try this earlier, but felt overwhelmed.  Other than my photos from the zoo, I did a lot of on-line research.  I watched a video of a walking tortoise to help with feet and leg placement.  My biggest problem was the feet.  I finally gave up and not even looked at my project for over a week.  Then I had inspiration about how to handle the feet.  Within a few hours I had the feet on and the tortoise textured. The rock texture I used came quite by accident.  Often I use different colors or textures while building to help with prim placement and size as it is easier to see shape and placement when things aren’t the same color.  I don’t know what possessed me to use rock texture during this phase.  While I worked on the sculpture and studied giant tortoises, I felt that the rock gave a sense of antiquity and survival.  My favorite part is the face.  It went together quickly for me and developed a neat personality. 

After I complete a sculpture I bake it.  Well, at least that is what I call it.  I place it where I will see it regularly.  This gives me a chance to tweak things before setting it out to sell. 

I have no idea what my next sculpture will be, except it will be an animal.  I have some on going projects that need working on.  So, until I get an inspiration from somewhere I will be busy, but not sculpturing. 

Road Trip

 

I got a new car this week.  It is totally unnecessary in SL, but I got it anyway.  It all started when Dorie announced that she was hired to teach a SL class on customizing the Toyota Scion.  Prior to the time she gave the actual class, she did a lot of changing and customizing the look of the car. 

 

I attended one of the first classes and got my car.  I have one other car in my inventory, but it is too big for rat.  After sitting in this car the first time, I determined that it fit the rat perfectly.  The HUD made it easy to change colors.  I could hardly wait for class to be over.  I don’t care about customizing, I wanted to drive.  I knew who was behind the development of this car and I figured it would be fun to drive.

 

After class I teleported to the Hobo place which is situated along the old brick road.  The trip went from bad to worse.  I had a hard time staying on the road.  I sunk in the road.  I crashed into a building.  I disappeared. My computer crashed.  After logging back in, the car was in lost and found.

 

The next morning I took the car for a spin at a place that sold houses.  The land was flat.  I crashed a few times but nothing serious.  But, since it was Wednesday, and the
Linden monkeys needed time to bang around, I returned to the real world.  I drove the mini van and, in spite of the snow and ice, didn’t crash.

 

That brings me to today.  I have so many projects going, that I decided to go for a road trip instead of working.  That is a basic ratatude, you know, part of rat ADD.  Dorie wanted me to let her know how things went so she could give her students hints on driving.  That gave me a cover up for my laziness.

 

So here are some of my tips for taking a Road Trip in Second Life.  Before I continue, those who know me in real life know that I worked for AAA in domestic travel.  I plotted out trips on maps, made hotel reservations and made suggestions for sight seeing.  My favorite vacation is packing up the mini van and heading south west.  Travel is different in SL.  You don’t have many roads.  Gas stations aren’t needed.  But, using a form of transportation in SL that is common in RL is a fun but different experience.

 

The first problem is getting onto the road.  Governor Linden, who owns the public roads, does not permit you to rez prims on them.  I flew above the properties next to the road until I found a place that did not ban building.  I rezzed the Scion, sat in it, edited it and placed it on the road with me in it.  Sometimes when I did this the car wouldn’t run.  I found that if I stood up and then sat back in it, it worked.  It seems strange that once a car is on the road, it will stay there, even if you aren’t attached.  Once I crashed, and before relogging, cleared my cache.  The car was still there when I returned. 

 

Crossing sim lines can be exciting.   I would move slowly across the borders but would often find myself and the car beneath ground level.  I learned if I didn’t move and just waited I would soon be back on the top of the road and ready to move on.  I kept my mini map showing.  I had to move the HUD so I could read both.

 

I learned it is easier to drive the car while in mouse look.  Relogging will help with car performance.  You can’t talk and drive at the same time.  And, watch out for hitchhikers, they don’t wait for an invitation to ride, they just jump in. 

 

I enjoyed today’s road trip.  But now I would like to modify my car just a bit.  It needs to look more like Rat’s car.  I hadn’t listened during Dorie’s class, so I started to ask her about things and she told me to join the class again.  I have until February 8^th.  I guess I’ll just have to go back.  I’ll try sneaking in the back door; maybe she won’t see me.