One Lucky Elf - Aggi's Blog

In this post I'm going to show you a way to change your snapshot resolution in Second Life, which can make a huge difference in your photos. Basically, more pixels = clearer, higher quality photo, and that is calculated by the width times the height of the image. We can change that for photos in the Avatar/Snapshot menu. Check out the items under the Disk section at the bottom of the menu.   They offer a few preset aspect ratio sizes in the first dropdown menu. You can use those if you want.  You will be able to see what part of the screen it covers in the preview window at the top. For this example I made a simple custom 1:2 configuration that fit around my avatar: 100 x 200. That covers the area I want to photograph, but the resolution isn't nearly high enough. so I need to scale it up.  My laptop struggles to produce a photo with any numbers over 5000, so I try to keep the larger dimension around that size. Yours may do better. Time for some math! I take those n...

I love how you can customize everything in Second Life.  EVERYTHING.  From the pores on your face to the colors in the sky. Yes, that's right. You can control the sun. You have that power.  It's all in your windlight settings, or environments, or EEPs (environmental enhancement program). I'm calling it all these things because people use them interchangeably. EEP is an upgrade to the original Windlights.  There's so many options, and I don't feel qualified to talk about them at all. I've never made one. I mainly use them for photos. I set up a scene, and then scroll through the options forever until I find one I like, then take the picture. You can read all about the technical aspects and learn how to customize or make your own on the Second Life Wiki , and in the SL Forum Knowledgebase . If you also just want to play around with presets, read on. Setting the Environment in your Viewer You can find some basic environment files in Firestorm by clicking on the Wor...

You've probably seen an object called ' Facelight ' in your evoX heads folder, or sometimes they come with an outfit.  Just what are they, and what do you do with them? Read on to find out! Glowing Objects A facelight is a very basic build - an invisible round ball that gives off light. They're very helpful in creating light effects for photography, or to make shimmer effects on skin or clothing more noticeable. I use them particularly in darker scenes when I want my avatar's face to be more noticeable. Before Facelight (left)            After (right) You can either add them to your avatar or rez them on the ground.  You can add multiple facelights, move them around, and adjust their intensity. Moving Facelights Right click on a facelight in your inventory and select 'add' to wear it. Then right click on it again and select 'edit'. You'll get a Build menu and a bunch of multicolor arrows around an invisible spot in front of your avatar. That'...

What is Gacha? In the real world, gacha comes from the Japanese word for toy vending machines: gachapon. Put in a quarter, get stickers, or a ball, etc.  In Second Life, it's pretty much the same thing.  You pay a vendor display or machine (they vary depending on how the seller sets it up) and get an item from a random selection that the machine has been loaded with. These items are no copy and transfer, meaning you only get one, but you can resell it or give it to others.  A sample gacha key by Raindale Participating vendors tend to make them in themed sets, some of which become limited edition. Some of the items in the set are rarer than others. The items are whatever they want to make: clothing, home decor, houses, polish for your nails, etc. Prices range from 25L to 100L for each 'pull' of the machine. Is it legal? Back in 2021, randomized gacha machines were banned in Second Life due to gambling laws in certain countries, but machines that displayed what you were ...

  How To Test A Texture In-World Without Paying To Upload Making your own textures can be a complicated process, particularly if you are trying to fit a 2D texture to a 3D shape. For best results, you'll want to see how the final product looks in the game. You also don't want to have to pay 10 lindens every time you look. Fortunately, you don't have to!  There are several places where you can do this, but in any editing window where you are expected to select a texture, look at the radio buttons directly beneath the texture square. The Inventory button is generally selected. To test your texture: select the Local button. This will open up yet another window, allowing you to browse your computer for a texture file.   Select the texture file that you want to test, and click 'Open.' That window will close and you'll go back to the previous window. The texture's file name will appear in the big box to the right of the window.  Click on it.  You should now see t...

Eventually you'll come across mesh clothing that doesn't fit properly, and bits of your body poke through, or you want to wear something special, like a peg leg, that obviously requires part of your leg to be gone.  Alphas to the rescue!  No, not that kind. These are texture files that are worn on the skin layer of BOM capable bodies. They make your body, or parts of it, invisible. Most mesh bodies have a built in alpha section in their HUD, but not all do, and not all of them can be lined up properly for some clothing. Or, sometimes, you have a piece of clothing meant for another style of body, and it ALMOST fits, but there's just this one section . . . Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.  Fortunately, you can make and upload your own. This requires 10 lindens, a UV body grid, and a little work on your computer with image editing software capable of transparent layers. I use Krita , which is a free, open-source program.  Second Life UV Templates The best way to m...