UV Moan :D

It never ceases to amaze me how BAD the UV layout for Secondlife is.

Considering this was a program built with the aim of user made content, why everything is laid out in such an obscure and difficult to manage way has always been a source of confusion and frustration to me. (That along with little things they could have done to keep SL looking fresh that needn't have added much in the way of resource strain to existing users, such as newer default mesh support inherent to the program, bmp mapping, stuff like that.)

Today after a long hiatus (Due to computer migration, and multiple windows re-installations, why do these things always work against me! Hah!) I needed to tackle the issue of the alpha's for the new demon avatar, this apparently, was not going to be the easy 5 minuet job it should have been, oh no.

You cannot make the file size small, ergo quick, because if you do, the UV areas between the legs and feet are so close, that the pixel blur makes Secondlife respond (understandably) unreasonably.
This in itself as a UV mapping issue, is not neccessarily a problem in a system where the UV only needs to do one job, but in SL it must be very flexible, and preferably as small as possible most of the time. Sl does not give you that option here, it is even something that could be fixable.

We have the issue in SL, of people expecting one size to fit all av's - though I believe with Mesh people are beginning to realize that is not always practical, it is the desire for consistency that has kept our default SL mesh as it is. But sometimes you -must- fix things in order to facilitate quality in the long term, but then the oversight of such quality draining problems has been a problem with SL for a long time. I imagine over time more and more people are going to move towards new mesh avatars, that can offer better realism and better support for those who create clothing and accessories for them, the Furry community has understood the limitations but more importantly the benefits of moving away from what is there as default for a long time, I think it might be good for everyone else to embrace it too. That said, there is something comforting about the built in meshes, knowing that you can just... Make, and there will be market, a market that no doubt diminishes as transfer to HQ meshes continues, but perhaps this will inspire SL to put in a new default mesh set themselves.

Puppy

I've been pretty much MIA due to hot weather then puppy time! But now that I have my computer set up downstairs I can get back into Iz and SL and pick up where I left off on my current projects...

I picked up some awesome things in Trafalgar today, and decided it was time to make a new photograph.

No.1 Screen shot, No.2 PS Composite.

 

Wearing :

Modified - RIOT Skull Gas Mask by Sade Trafalgar

Rose Tattoo upper and lower by jillytopaz wasp

Lexie Dress Pink  by Dawn Harbour

SidheStruck = Demon Eyes 2

SidheStruck = Elven Ears = Chain

SidheStruck = Mystic Fire = Scales = Makeup 1

My plans now mostly revolve around finishing the store lay out that should have been done months ago, and finishing my current skin base project - There are going to be new more comprehensive additions to various 'species' based lines, to make finding the perfect perfectly strange skin easier.

Playing in the Mud(box)

I've gone on a spree of trying out new softwere this week... And here's the current result...

I hope to be making some boots to go with the three bits too, though this obviously is slightly more of a task than the hat, my first Mesh item.
I think the mesh should translate fine into a sculpty (Theres no need for weighting on a hat anyway, I just did it for a bit of implimentation of method :3) so they might turn up on Inworldz but the texture parts certainly will.
For how I like to work I really hope Inworldz will have mesh one day, I know they focus on stability before thrills but mesh for me is a really important way of bringing 3d realms based on the LL tech to compete. that and they are a lot easier to work with than sculpts! (Now we only need the Normal Maps to get implimented too... Hopefully they won't take so long about this!)

I'll probably end up releasing this in some different colours, all of it is a bit mismached (The drawback of it being a outfit made while I was still unsure on what I was doing :D ) but I think it adds to that 70's ish look, it's always a little odd when textures match perfectly anyway :D And certainly this outfit cannot be faulted on lack of texture or near perfect seams, ah the seams... I love mudbox to bits, it is revolutionising cloth design for me, and hopefully it will be very useful for my skin projects too. However I have an issue with the mapping on the head where it 'skips' about, I'm not sure how to fix it, but when I can... Then we'll be in business.