Mistakes are the most fascinating design element.
It seems to me that mistakes which occur during the actual design process are a synchronicity...... with??
I have this picture in my mind of a grid, and this grid symbolises all the rules, constraints and theory that you can pour into a piece of work... meticulous detail, exact penwork (e.g.), perfect alignment...then.....reaching for your coffee, you knock a can of red paint all over the piece.
Why.
Well...why is the most important question. Your body is a highly accurate mechanism... you can manipulate precision instruments, put on mascara without blinding yourself.... you are fully aware of how much time/money/prestige you have invested in this 'grid', this piece.. Then you pour red paint all over it.
"It was a mistake". End of story?? I think not, not at all. Synchronicity, not mistake.
"I don't need this !!" ...hmmm...well, maybe I do. I try and listen, more now than in my past, to what my mistake is trying to tell me.... and if that sounds a bit weird... I can clothe it in theory.
Your unconscious mind has a suggestion on the piece that you are designing, but you aren't listening to it because you haven't reached that "zen" state where things flow. ...so.... your unconscious is gonna make you listen.
It is a great design tool.... a mistake... don't ignore it.
It's everyday magic.
:))
Friday, 29 May 2009
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Land Expo 09
Well, I have a little plot, sqeezed in between a grey building, a grey garden and a grey Mall.... so..perfect backdrops to my little build...
Its 750 prims, rather than the 1000 I was lead to believe, but I have some low prim stuff...:))
The following is a quote from LL wiki.....I don't really know what a wiki is .... looks like a web page to me...
"In Second Life, land is what gives your content presence, boundaries, and a sense of permanence. In the last six years, Second Life's land mass has gone from 11 regions up to (at last count) 27483 total regions. Reminiscent of the unwieldy wild west in the United States 1800s and around the world in times of frontier exploration, some have found settling on land in Second Life to mean great opportunity and a means to enhance business, community, and collaboration in innovative ways.
To support the growth of innovative uses of land, to share best practices in virtual land management and development, and to support flourishing land businesses in Second Life, Linden Lab is proud to announce the first inaugural Land Expo!"
Well...I'm not sure how much good stuff is gonna be there...I will keep you all informed.
:))
Its 750 prims, rather than the 1000 I was lead to believe, but I have some low prim stuff...:))
The following is a quote from LL wiki.....I don't really know what a wiki is .... looks like a web page to me...
"In Second Life, land is what gives your content presence, boundaries, and a sense of permanence. In the last six years, Second Life's land mass has gone from 11 regions up to (at last count) 27483 total regions. Reminiscent of the unwieldy wild west in the United States 1800s and around the world in times of frontier exploration, some have found settling on land in Second Life to mean great opportunity and a means to enhance business, community, and collaboration in innovative ways.
To support the growth of innovative uses of land, to share best practices in virtual land management and development, and to support flourishing land businesses in Second Life, Linden Lab is proud to announce the first inaugural Land Expo!"
Well...I'm not sure how much good stuff is gonna be there...I will keep you all informed.
:))
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Adieu a l'Orange
photo courtesy of Lem Skall
photo courtesy of Lem Skall
My little Orange Island which I have bedecked with strange vegetation for a year now is going.... Orange, who have always been very cool, are re-doing their place and want to try something new.
I have to thank Fab Outlander for his outstanding work as liaison between myself and Orange, he has done his job with a cool efficiency... xxx
French Closed
and French Open.... I have been watching the tennis, as I am a tennis nut...
and have to remark on how "Soror Nishi style" our friend Nadal is...his choice of colours would look good in any of my builds....[no photo].....
if only Serena could take a few lessons...:((
:)))
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Lexture.. chat log
Well, the lecture at Angelgate went very well I think, there were 38 people there, I think someone said....although they may not all have made it to the end......and I am reproducing the chat notes which White kindly took ... cos a few friends couldn't make it, what with it being a holiday both in UK and US.....
The photos are to show what I rezzed at the time...
[12:02] White Lebed: are we ready?
[12:02] Ally Aeon: hello everyone
[12:03] soror Nishi: ":))
[12:03] Dekka Raymaker: got my tea
[12:03] Corcosman Voom: Hey, Goose : )
[12:03] Goose Wycliffe: hihi
[12:03] soror Nishi: hi goose
[12:03] windyy Lane: earl grey tea?
[12:03] Goose Wycliffe: cant see ayone yet
[12:03] Dekka Raymaker: yes actually
[12:03] windyy Lane: oh yummy
[12:04] White Lebed: it takes a moment to rez here - 26 people
[12:04] Dekka Raymaker: with milk not lemon
[12:04] White Lebed: plus some art downstairs
[12:04] White Lebed: btw - I am removing Primavera show tomorrow
[12:04] White Lebed: you have the last chance to see it after the class
[12:04] Dekka Raymaker: tip zoom into the textures on the wall to pre rez them
[12:06] Goose Wycliffe: i am not on someones lap am i??
[12:06] soror Nishi: :))) they won't mind
[12:06] Apollo Reinard: youre good goose
[12:06] Goose Wycliffe: lol
[12:06] soror Nishi: anyway, shall I start
[12:06] White Lebed: I think we are ready
[12:06] FreeWee Ling: Yes you are not.
[12:06] White Lebed: Please, welcome, Soror Nishi
[12:06] soror Nishi: it doesnt matter if people come in late
[12:07] soror Nishi: hi
[12:07] Corcosman Voom applauds
[12:07] soror Nishi: well, some of you know me...and some don't, obviously... I make mainly trees and flowers and do landscaping
[12:08] soror Nishi: Well, behind me is a wall of some of the textures I have made and used over the last two years. These are permanently on show at my place...
[12:08] soror Nishi: I use paints and pencils on paper, mainly...then play with them in Photoshop or Gimp.
[12:08] soror Nishi: The following talk will be a collection of tips and tricks I have used....some of you (there are great texture artists in the audience, I know) will know all these and more, but most of you will get a new idea or two...I hope.
[12:09] soror Nishi: If I could only tell you one thing that I have learnt, it is............If a texture you make looks good enough to put in a frame and hang on the wall in RL, it will look great in SL.
[12:09] soror Nishi: first up I want to talk about why I dont use photographic textures
[12:10] soror Nishi: There are some brilliant photographic textures in SL and thousands of terrible ones. This, my dislike of photographic textures is personal, so I won't dwell on it, but just offer some of my reasoning.
[12:10] soror Nishi: There are three main problems that I register with them.
[12:10] soror Nishi: but..it may not be a rational thing,...:))
[12:10] soror Nishi: 1. Surfaces in SL are often flat so the “realistic’ texture is applied to an unrealistic surface.... so the “realistic” effect works only at some angles and often only at a distance.
[12:11] soror Nishi: 2. We upload at a resolution of 72 and are used to seeing 300 ppi or more in magazines and other printed matter. This makes things look poor quality.
[12:11] soror Nishi: 3. A photograph has a very large number of grey pixels of different tones. This means you are loading thousands of different grey pixels..... which come to the fore when you get in close or stretch the tex too far.
[12:12] soror Nishi: best if I try and demonstrate
[12:12] soror Nishi: The photo has not been ‘posterised’ in a paint program, the wooden planks one has been ‘posterised’ down to 4 colours.
[12:13] soror Nishi: on close ups...you get thius foggy look
[12:13] soror Nishi: makes you think your eyes are going wonky
[12:14] soror Nishi: Most of my textures are 1024x1024.
[12:14] soror Nishi: especially.....
[12:14] soror Nishi: Textures that are going to be stretched to 10 meters, or more,
[12:15] soror Nishi: Textures with large areas of simple colours,
[12:15] soror Nishi: and textures with lots of 'alpha" i.e. more transparent than coloured...
[12:15] soror Nishi: I don't have trouble with them loading because I often "posterise" them in Photoshop down to 4, to 8 colours.
[12:15] soror Nishi: close up.....I think the hand made tex looks less out of focus and blurry than the photo.
[12:16] soror Nishi: OK, so this is all a personal choice thing, and I will not convince everyone that Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night is more realistic than an RL photo of the night sky......
[12:16] soror Nishi: so...moving right along....I’m gonna show you some ways of fitting a texture to a sculptie.
[12:16] soror Nishi: I'm quite happy to be interrupted if something is unclear
[12:17] Opensource Obscure: why using hi-res for Textures with large areas of simple colours ?
[12:17] soror Nishi: there isnt much to load in terms of different pixels
[12:17] soror Nishi: lots of pixels of the same colour load pretty quick
[12:17] soror Nishi: same with trans
[12:18] Opensource Obscure: and that's because of posterisation, right?
[12:18] soror Nishi: yes
[12:18] soror Nishi: its like on your printer..... how your printer prints faster if the design is simple.
[12:18] Opensource Obscure: thanks.
[12:18] Corcosman Voom: So, the variety of pixels is the first consideration? Less is better, in your experience?
[12:18] soror Nishi: i think less is faster
[12:19] soror Nishi: and for me there is no point in uploading ots of "muddy" coloured pixels
[12:19] soror Nishi: so I posterise
[12:19] soror Nishi: and it seems a bit faster
[12:20] soror Nishi: Firstly, the easiest way to tex a sculptie is to use the sculpt map.
[12:20] soror Nishi: The map its self has often been used, to very poor effect, as a surface texture and it looks terrible, mostly.
[12:21] soror Nishi: However..... it does fit exactly for obvious reasons.
[12:21] soror Nishi: If you take the sculpt map of a very complicated shape, and play with it tho....
heres an example.
[12:21] soror Nishi: This map was enlarged to 1024x1024,
[12:21] soror Nishi: 1) The colours were inverted, then posterised,
[12:21] soror Nishi: 2)then I increased the saturation
[12:22] soror Nishi: 3) stroke some edges or add a complimentary colour.... (the dots)
[12:22] soror Nishi: and it can work OK in some places
[12:23] soror Nishi: you can see that the sculpt map and the tex are the same??
[12:23] Goose Wycliffe: so that is the sculpt map of the trunk of this tree????
[12:23] Corcosman Voom: Now that you point it out, yes
[12:23] FreeWee Ling: very clever..
[12:23] soror Nishi: yes
[12:23] soror Nishi: its the easiest one to use
[12:23] soror Nishi: but in the original colours....too boring
[12:24] Corcosman Voom: : )
[12:24] Goose Wycliffe: wow
[12:24] soror Nishi: A second way is to use a "stretchy tex"
[12:25] soror Nishi: As we have the ability to move tex once they are on the sculptie, it can be a good idea to enhance this, giving your self a larger margin of flexibility.
[12:25] soror Nishi: Here we have 4 mushroom, and, I know they are similar in shape although the proportions differ., as you can see from some of the sculptie maps.
[12:25] soror Nishi: On this tex I have made sure that at the top and bottom of the tex the colours are, firstly unpatterned, and secondly exactly the same colour and tone.
[12:26] soror Nishi: This gives me an enhanced possibility to stretch the tex vertically. so one tex fits all.
[12:26] soror Nishi: is that OK??
[12:26] soror Nishi: :))
[12:26] Dekka Raymaker: sound to me
[12:26] soror Nishi: cool
[12:27] Yoyita Benoir: are we using audio?
[12:27] soror Nishi: For some tex you will need to locate and high-light specific points. e.g. eyes on an animal, or lips of a flower, whatever, the placement must be exact.
[12:27] White Lebed: no, text
[12:27] soror Nishi: no, sorry...just chat
[12:27] Yoyita Benoir: ok
[12:27] White Lebed: those who came late, IM me - I will send you the chat log later
[12:28] soror Nishi: I will use the mushroom again, simply because its easy to demonstrate.
[12:29] soror Nishi: This Test Pattern is widely available...I believe it is Robin Sojourner's..I have posted it on my blog for you to have on your hard drive if you don’t already.
[12:29] soror Nishi: The idea is... apply the test pattern to the prim in SL..
photograph the result
[12:29] soror Nishi: Load the test pattern in photoshop as a template.
[12:30] soror Nishi: .....apply details to your tex in Photoshop or Gimp on your computer after studying the photos you took of the sculptie in SL
[12:30] soror Nishi: upload to SL... and retry
[12:30] soror Nishi: re-photograph in SL, if necessary
then do it again until its perfect.
[12:30] soror Nishi: for example........we can see that the lip of the mushroom is here.. at the line where the colour changes from pale orange to lemon yellow.
[12:30] Bau Ur groans at the idea of ever getting anything perfect :)
[12:30] soror Nishi: :)))
[12:31] soror Nishi: well, until the imperfection doesn't trouble you too much..:))
[12:31] Apollo Reinard: smiles
[12:31] soror Nishi: for example........we can see that the lip of the mushroom is here.. at the line where the colour changes from pale orange to lemon yellow.
[12:31] Bau Ur: :)
[12:31] soror Nishi: so......make a mark on a separate layer in photoshop at home.
[12:31] soror Nishi: Above that line will be the cap, below the gills and stalk.
colour it in accordingly.
[12:31] soror Nishi: easy, but a little long winded at times.
[12:32] soror Nishi: fairly "intuitive" you just use it like a 3D measurement
[12:32] soror Nishi: OK?
[12:32] Corcosman Voom nods
[12:32] Apollo Reinard: yesss....... very nicely explained
[12:32] soror Nishi: cool
[12:32] soror Nishi: :))
[12:33] Dekka Raymaker: this techique also applies to normal prims
[12:33] Canterbury Kappler: Yes very clear
[12:33] soror Nishi: yes
[12:33] soror Nishi: most of these do
[12:33] soror Nishi: I suppose
[12:33] soror Nishi: well...not the sculptie map one
[12:33] soror Nishi: :))
[12:33] Dekka Raymaker: :)
[12:33] soror Nishi: Those are the three main ways that I know of, of fitting a tex to a sculptie, outside of baking the textures on in Blender.
[12:34] soror Nishi: After a while you will get a feeling for how you need to colour your tex, even as you are making the sculpt map,...
[12:34] soror Nishi: and if you use Blender then you can use the Texture Paint to highlight areas you need to work on in a paint programme....but thats going beyond what I want to talk about today.
[12:35] White Lebed: we can always schedule a class on that topic :)
[12:35] White Lebed: if there is some interest
[12:35] Bau Ur: /I need to fool around with Photoshop a lot and then take this lesson again. Or maybe three or four times. Til I get it perfect. :)
[12:35] Bau Ur: /Yes yes more classes!
[12:35] soror Nishi: Bumpy, for those of you who don't know it is an option in your texture edit mode called "bumpiness"
[12:36] soror Nishi: I only ever use one setting there...the one called "brightness" and, I know that in so doing, I lose detail on close-ups.
[12:36] soror Nishi: This pot I did for Avgi, however, shows that it can be used to advantage at times.
[12:36] soror Nishi: In this case, and in many cases, in fact, I use it in conjunction with "Emboss" on my paint programme, as you can see from the tex.
[12:36] soror Nishi: So, to clarify
[12:37] soror Nishi: the texture was "embossed" in Photoshop...then uploaded and the pot was "bumpied" in SL.
[12:37] soror Nishi: The "shinyness" (low) seems to smooth some of the negative effects that bumpiness will give you.
[12:38] soror Nishi: is that clear ...probably many of you use it already
[12:38] windyy Lane: it certainly brings out the text
[12:38] Dekka Raymaker: very clear
[12:38] soror Nishi: ok
[12:38] Bau Ur: /I find Bumpy nauseating. I suspect it results in some visually illogical or paradoxical effects that subconsciously confuse me.
[12:38] Bau Ur: /this is very well done though.
[12:38] Dekka Raymaker: it should be used sparingly
[12:39] Dekka Raymaker: imo
[12:39] soror Nishi: so I have an observation to make about colour in SL....it of no real practical use....but maybe good to know
[12:39] soror Nishi: yes, like glow and shiny too...less is more...:))
[12:40] soror Nishi: OK, so here you see a very familiar spectrum. Above it is the spectrum our eye sees.
[12:41] soror Nishi: ...converted to the same scale and aligned you will see that SL is poor on oranges and browns..(and deep purples) . its just something you need to be aware of.
[12:41] soror Nishi: Compensating for that is a topic we may not cover here today.
but I have covered it fairly well in my post
http://sorornishi.blogspot.com/2009/01/textures-in-second-lifeworkshop-4.html
[12:41] Apollo Reinard: mm.. wavelength chart... love the graphic illustration
[12:41] soror Nishi: anyone who's tried to colour hair in SL may have noticed this
[12:41] soror Nishi: :)))
[12:42] soror Nishi is a sucker for charts
[12:42] Bau Ur: I often note that is is hard to get a moderate strong deep aqua. Aquas in SL only want to be pale.
[12:42] soror Nishi: yes...its the problem all artists have when trying to photo their work in RL
[12:42] Dekka Raymaker: /typically monitors only show 70% cyan
[12:43] soror Nishi: lime green and electric pink too
[12:43] Yoyita Benoir: are you talking about applying a transparent color over something or textures per se?
[12:43] soror Nishi: many colours dont convert to RGB very well
[12:43] soror Nishi: both really
[12:43] soror Nishi: I use the colour spectrum in SL VERY little
[12:44] soror Nishi: I find it muddies tex
[12:44] Yoyita Benoir: yep
[12:44] soror Nishi: I prefer to colour something in Photoshop
[12:44] soror Nishi: even if it costs 10L$
[12:44] soror Nishi: :))
[12:44] Yoyita Benoir: you have more control in Ps
[12:44] soror Nishi: yep
[12:45] soror Nishi: so....is that enough or shall I go on??
[12:45] Ally Aeon: go on
[12:45] windyy Lane: please go on
[12:45] Ally Aeon: pls
[12:45] soror Nishi: you wanna ask questions??
[12:45] soror Nishi: ok
[12:45] soror Nishi: There is one more thing that you may find useful
so-called Multiple Textures
[12:46] soror Nishi: OK, so this is about putting two tex on the same prim..... well, actually its a cheat,
[12:46] soror Nishi: it looks like two tex on one prim, but actually its two tex on two different prims. I will talk about why you would want to, later, and give some examples.
[12:46] soror Nishi: Here's how its done
[12:46] Lisa Tebaldi is Offline
[12:46] soror Nishi: First rezz a prim and put your base tex on it
[12:47] soror Nishi: Then make a copy of that prim
[12:48] soror Nishi: Put your overlying texture on the copy. It is usual to use an alpha tex for this, although you can use a normal prim and turn up the transparency on it, so you see the underlying prim through the top tex.
[12:49] soror Nishi: Then, in Objects increase the size of the overlying prim so its about 3 to 5 mm larger in all direction.... so...in this case, the original prim is 2x2x2, and the copy is 2.005x2.005x2.005.
[12:49] soror Nishi: Move the copy down onto the original prim and locate it with the same centre as the original.
[Soror then repeated the process with a third prim applying a different texture to the third prim, increasing the size to 2.010x2.010x2.010, and centering all three prims around the same centre.]
[12:51] soror Nishi: So... why bother?.....:))
[12:51] soror Nishi: Well, I can now change the colour on all three layers.... that gives me great possibilities. I can even animate some of the layers....
[12:51] soror Nishi: or....taking a screen shot I can use it as a new tex after having worked on it in Photoshop
[12:51] Apollo Reinard: flexibility
[12:52] soror Nishi: yeh...
[12:52] soror Nishi: and details....for me..like moss on rocks and things like that
[12:52] soror Nishi: If this was all a bit much......this information is covered in
http://sorornishi.blogspot.com/2008/07/textures-in-second-lifeworkshop-2.html
[12:52] soror Nishi: it works well with sculpties too
[12:53] soror Nishi: but sculpties can rotate a bit when you enlarge them
[12:53] soror Nishi: so its tricky
[12:53] White Lebed: very generous of you to share "secrets" like that, Soror :) thank you
[12:54] soror Nishi: my pleasure
[12:54] Thend Destiny nods
[12:54] windyy Lane: thank you soror
[12:54] soror Nishi: :)))
[12:54] White Lebed: something that takes a lot of time to figure out
[12:54] soror Nishi: hope some of them are useful
[12:54] soror Nishi: :)))
[12:54] DeAnn Dufaux: wonderful, soror. thank you so much
[12:54] White Lebed: Thank you for coming to the class :) The Masterclass seminars happen Mondays, usually at 7PM. Ocassionally at other time. Next are Alizarin Goldflake and Glyph Graves. Subscribe to the list (golden board) or join AngelGate Arts group to be informed.
[12:54] Ally Aeon: thanks
[12:54] Hephaistos Semyorka: thank you!!!!
[12:54] Betony Greggan: (`'•.(`'•.¸ ¸.•'´).•'´)
[12:54] Betony Greggan: APPLAUSE!!!
[12:54] Betony Greggan: APPLAUSE!!!
[12:54] Betony Greggan: (¸.•'(¸.•'´ `'•.¸)'•.¸)
[12:54] Thend Destiny: Brilliant :)
[12:54] Narita Rayna: thank you so much soror :)
[12:54] soror Nishi: and i'm happy to answer questions and for those of you that have to dash....thanks for coming
[12:54] White Lebed: great class, Soror
[12:55] Bleu Oleander: !!! APPLAUSE !!!
[12:55] Corcosman Voom: Thank you, soror. Always nice to see how people work.
[12:55] White Lebed: we will have to invite you for more :)
[12:55] soror Nishi: yeh..it is
[12:55] Wrenja Czaczkes: thank you Soror :)
[12:55] Goose Wycliffe: thanks very much Sorror
[12:55] Firery Broome: Thanks very much Soror
[12:55] Lnn Nishi: Excellent class. Thank you!
[12:55] Dekka Raymaker: thank you soror
[12:55] White Lebed: I will send the chat log after soror approves it via subscription box
[12:55] White Lebed: so those who want it, please sign up
[12:55] Hephaistos Semyorka: thanks, White - great!
[12:55] White Lebed: no spam - only about the classes
[12:56] FreeWee Ling: Thank you WHite. This is a great series..
[12:56] White Lebed: very welcome
[12:56] Pielady Smalls: thank you very much
[12:56] Corcosman Voom: Yes, thank you, White.
[12:56] White Lebed: give me some ideas who else you want to hear
[12:56] Thend Destiny: Yes, this is great, really
[12:56] White Lebed: I will make it happen
[12:56] White Lebed: I have a list of my own
[12:56] White Lebed: but always welcome new ideas
[12:56] Bleu Oleander: Thanks! very good series White!
[12:56] Goose Wycliffe: i can't wait to go play with some of these ideas
[12:56] White Lebed: glad you are coming, guys ;)
[12:57] Apollo Reinard: soror.. thank you very much
[12:57] White Lebed: please, look aroudn the gallery
[12:57] White Lebed: the last day of Primavera
[12:57] White Lebed: soror's sculpture is there too
[12:57] Hephaistos Semyorka: yes, thanks again, Soror!!
[12:57] soror Nishi: :)) my pleasure entirely
[12:57] Corcosman Voom: soror, do you use Blender to make your sculpties?
[12:57] White Lebed: on the Red floor i think
[12:57] soror Nishi: yes...all made in Blender
[12:57] Tamil Cerveau is Online
[12:57] Thend Destiny: Thanks so much soror :)
[12:57] soror Nishi: :)) my pleasure
[12:57] windyy Lane: cringes at blender
[12:58] Goose Wycliffe: oh i forgot rik is AFK
[12:58] soror Nishi: ahhhh...I have an easy system with Blender
[12:58] Corcosman Voom: I was going to ask....
[12:58] soror Nishi: about Blender?
[12:58] Corcosman Voom: Yes
[12:59] Corcosman Voom: Seems to have such a forbidding reputation
[12:59] White Lebed: the donation box is in the middle next to tp
[12:59] White Lebed: i have a lot of people asking
[12:59] Bau Ur: /if there were decent instructions somewhere Blender might be better :/
[12:59] White Lebed: hmm actually it is gone lol
[12:59] White Lebed: the owners removed it
[12:59] White Lebed: sorry
[12:59] Thend Destiny: Eek
[12:59] soror Nishi: well...the problem with Blender is that its like trying to learn to drive a car....and the only videos you can get are about the thermophysics of the combustion principle...:)))
[13:00] Corcosman Voom: : )
[13:00] Bau Ur: /oh well put Soror!!!
[13:00] White Lebed: I will install it next time, save if ;)
[13:00] DeAnn Dufaux: ㋡
[13:00] Apollo Reinard: blender allows you to preview a texture on a sculpt?
[13:00] Corcosman Voom: Blender For Dummies could be a best seller
[13:00] Goose Wycliffe: i need to take a photoshop class
[13:00] soror Nishi: well...to bake a texture onto a sculpt in Blender is very complicated
[13:01] Goose Wycliffe: i am clueless there
[13:01] Thend Destiny: www.secondlifeartist.com (minus its step 7) is what got my feet wet in Blender
[13:01] Apollo Reinard: how about Photoshop?
[13:01] soror Nishi: well...blender is like PS...just use a bit at a time
[13:01] Apollo Reinard: hmm so. really then. just trial uploads to SL to get the texture fitted and designed.
[13:02] Apollo Reinard: ?
[13:02] DMom2K Darwin: Thanks a lot, soror this was excellent
[13:02] soror Nishi: i think thats the easiest way, Apollo
[13:02] soror Nishi: you get a feel for it
[13:02] soror Nishi: and textures are interchangable
[13:02] Bau Ur: /soror it is terrific of you to do this for us. Willyou be doing it again?
[13:02] soror Nishi: my pleasure Dom...thx for coming
[13:02] Apollo Reinard: yes.. i can see that in time familiarity will lessen the number of uploads and thereby the cost.
[13:03] Apollo Reinard: very nice thank you
[13:03] Corcosman Voom: Or use beta grid to test, Apollo
[13:03] windyy Lane: or use the preview grid where it's free to upload
[13:03] windyy Lane: lol corcosman
[13:03] Corcosman Voom: jinx : )
[13:03] Bau Ur doesn't see tip jar for the teacher. Tips Soror.
[13:03] Donations: Lnn Nishi donated L$100. Thank you very much for supporting us, it is much appreciated!
[13:03] Apollo Reinard: i've never used the beta grid. . i know. shocking .lol
[13:03] soror Nishi: yeh...and like I said...theres lots of possiblities to stretch a texture
[13:03] Corcosman Voom: Neither have I
[13:03] Apollo Reinard: i might try it
[13:04] soror Nishi: thank you Bau
[13:04] White Lebed: we probably will repeat Madcow class
[13:04] soror Nishi: Lnn....a sister...:))) Hi....
[13:04] White Lebed: since a lot of people coudln't fit in
[13:04] White Lebed: after the scheduled classes
[13:04] Lnn Nishi: Thank you : )
[13:05] Thend Destiny: Coool
[13:05] soror Nishi: wow, thx everyone...:))
[13:05] White Lebed: Soror, it was really great
[13:05] Betony Greggan: thank you, soror! this was really helpful
[13:05] White Lebed: very informative and well prepared
[13:05] White Lebed: I love it when the instructos are so organized :)
[13:05] soror Nishi: good...I'm glad if it helps
[13:05] Narita Rayna: yes - excellent lecture - thank you so much :D
[13:05] windyy Lane: i will have to find posterise on gimp
[13:05] Yoyita Benoir: thank you
[13:06] Ally Aeon: thanks see ya all
[13:06] Callipygian Christensen: am I totally blind or not rezzing prims? I don't see a venue donation jar
[13:06] Ally Aeon: bye bye
The photos are to show what I rezzed at the time...
[12:02] White Lebed: are we ready?
[12:02] Ally Aeon: hello everyone
[12:03] soror Nishi: ":))
[12:03] Dekka Raymaker: got my tea
[12:03] Corcosman Voom: Hey, Goose : )
[12:03] Goose Wycliffe: hihi
[12:03] soror Nishi: hi goose
[12:03] windyy Lane: earl grey tea?
[12:03] Goose Wycliffe: cant see ayone yet
[12:03] Dekka Raymaker: yes actually
[12:03] windyy Lane: oh yummy
[12:04] White Lebed: it takes a moment to rez here - 26 people
[12:04] Dekka Raymaker: with milk not lemon
[12:04] White Lebed: plus some art downstairs
[12:04] White Lebed: btw - I am removing Primavera show tomorrow
[12:04] White Lebed: you have the last chance to see it after the class
[12:04] Dekka Raymaker: tip zoom into the textures on the wall to pre rez them
[12:06] Goose Wycliffe: i am not on someones lap am i??
[12:06] soror Nishi: :))) they won't mind
[12:06] Apollo Reinard: youre good goose
[12:06] Goose Wycliffe: lol
[12:06] soror Nishi: anyway, shall I start
[12:06] White Lebed: I think we are ready
[12:06] FreeWee Ling: Yes you are not.
[12:06] White Lebed: Please, welcome, Soror Nishi
[12:06] soror Nishi: it doesnt matter if people come in late
[12:07] soror Nishi: hi
[12:07] Corcosman Voom applauds
[12:07] soror Nishi: well, some of you know me...and some don't, obviously... I make mainly trees and flowers and do landscaping
[12:08] soror Nishi: Well, behind me is a wall of some of the textures I have made and used over the last two years. These are permanently on show at my place...
[12:08] soror Nishi: I use paints and pencils on paper, mainly...then play with them in Photoshop or Gimp.
[12:08] soror Nishi: The following talk will be a collection of tips and tricks I have used....some of you (there are great texture artists in the audience, I know) will know all these and more, but most of you will get a new idea or two...I hope.
[12:09] soror Nishi: If I could only tell you one thing that I have learnt, it is............If a texture you make looks good enough to put in a frame and hang on the wall in RL, it will look great in SL.
[12:09] soror Nishi: first up I want to talk about why I dont use photographic textures
[12:10] soror Nishi: There are some brilliant photographic textures in SL and thousands of terrible ones. This, my dislike of photographic textures is personal, so I won't dwell on it, but just offer some of my reasoning.
[12:10] soror Nishi: There are three main problems that I register with them.
[12:10] soror Nishi: but..it may not be a rational thing,...:))
[12:10] soror Nishi: 1. Surfaces in SL are often flat so the “realistic’ texture is applied to an unrealistic surface.... so the “realistic” effect works only at some angles and often only at a distance.
[12:11] soror Nishi: 2. We upload at a resolution of 72 and are used to seeing 300 ppi or more in magazines and other printed matter. This makes things look poor quality.
[12:11] soror Nishi: 3. A photograph has a very large number of grey pixels of different tones. This means you are loading thousands of different grey pixels..... which come to the fore when you get in close or stretch the tex too far.
[12:12] soror Nishi: best if I try and demonstrate
[12:12] soror Nishi: The photo has not been ‘posterised’ in a paint program, the wooden planks one has been ‘posterised’ down to 4 colours.
[12:13] soror Nishi: on close ups...you get thius foggy look
[12:13] soror Nishi: makes you think your eyes are going wonky
[12:14] soror Nishi: Most of my textures are 1024x1024.
[12:14] soror Nishi: especially.....
[12:14] soror Nishi: Textures that are going to be stretched to 10 meters, or more,
[12:15] soror Nishi: Textures with large areas of simple colours,
[12:15] soror Nishi: and textures with lots of 'alpha" i.e. more transparent than coloured...
[12:15] soror Nishi: I don't have trouble with them loading because I often "posterise" them in Photoshop down to 4, to 8 colours.
[12:15] soror Nishi: close up.....I think the hand made tex looks less out of focus and blurry than the photo.
[12:16] soror Nishi: OK, so this is all a personal choice thing, and I will not convince everyone that Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night is more realistic than an RL photo of the night sky......
[12:16] soror Nishi: so...moving right along....I’m gonna show you some ways of fitting a texture to a sculptie.
[12:16] soror Nishi: I'm quite happy to be interrupted if something is unclear
[12:17] Opensource Obscure: why using hi-res for Textures with large areas of simple colours ?
[12:17] soror Nishi: there isnt much to load in terms of different pixels
[12:17] soror Nishi: lots of pixels of the same colour load pretty quick
[12:17] soror Nishi: same with trans
[12:18] Opensource Obscure: and that's because of posterisation, right?
[12:18] soror Nishi: yes
[12:18] soror Nishi: its like on your printer..... how your printer prints faster if the design is simple.
[12:18] Opensource Obscure: thanks.
[12:18] Corcosman Voom: So, the variety of pixels is the first consideration? Less is better, in your experience?
[12:18] soror Nishi: i think less is faster
[12:19] soror Nishi: and for me there is no point in uploading ots of "muddy" coloured pixels
[12:19] soror Nishi: so I posterise
[12:19] soror Nishi: and it seems a bit faster
[12:20] soror Nishi: Firstly, the easiest way to tex a sculptie is to use the sculpt map.
[12:20] soror Nishi: The map its self has often been used, to very poor effect, as a surface texture and it looks terrible, mostly.
[12:21] soror Nishi: However..... it does fit exactly for obvious reasons.
[12:21] soror Nishi: If you take the sculpt map of a very complicated shape, and play with it tho....
heres an example.
[12:21] soror Nishi: This map was enlarged to 1024x1024,
[12:21] soror Nishi: 1) The colours were inverted, then posterised,
[12:21] soror Nishi: 2)then I increased the saturation
[12:22] soror Nishi: 3) stroke some edges or add a complimentary colour.... (the dots)
[12:22] soror Nishi: and it can work OK in some places
[12:23] soror Nishi: you can see that the sculpt map and the tex are the same??
[12:23] Goose Wycliffe: so that is the sculpt map of the trunk of this tree????
[12:23] Corcosman Voom: Now that you point it out, yes
[12:23] FreeWee Ling: very clever..
[12:23] soror Nishi: yes
[12:23] soror Nishi: its the easiest one to use
[12:23] soror Nishi: but in the original colours....too boring
[12:24] Corcosman Voom: : )
[12:24] Goose Wycliffe: wow
[12:24] soror Nishi: A second way is to use a "stretchy tex"
[12:25] soror Nishi: As we have the ability to move tex once they are on the sculptie, it can be a good idea to enhance this, giving your self a larger margin of flexibility.
[12:25] soror Nishi: Here we have 4 mushroom, and, I know they are similar in shape although the proportions differ., as you can see from some of the sculptie maps.
[12:25] soror Nishi: On this tex I have made sure that at the top and bottom of the tex the colours are, firstly unpatterned, and secondly exactly the same colour and tone.
[12:26] soror Nishi: This gives me an enhanced possibility to stretch the tex vertically. so one tex fits all.
[12:26] soror Nishi: is that OK??
[12:26] soror Nishi: :))
[12:26] Dekka Raymaker: sound to me
[12:26] soror Nishi: cool
[12:27] Yoyita Benoir: are we using audio?
[12:27] soror Nishi: For some tex you will need to locate and high-light specific points. e.g. eyes on an animal, or lips of a flower, whatever, the placement must be exact.
[12:27] White Lebed: no, text
[12:27] soror Nishi: no, sorry...just chat
[12:27] Yoyita Benoir: ok
[12:27] White Lebed: those who came late, IM me - I will send you the chat log later
[12:28] soror Nishi: I will use the mushroom again, simply because its easy to demonstrate.
[12:29] soror Nishi: This Test Pattern is widely available...I believe it is Robin Sojourner's..I have posted it on my blog for you to have on your hard drive if you don’t already.
[12:29] soror Nishi: The idea is... apply the test pattern to the prim in SL..
photograph the result
[12:29] soror Nishi: Load the test pattern in photoshop as a template.
[12:30] soror Nishi: .....apply details to your tex in Photoshop or Gimp on your computer after studying the photos you took of the sculptie in SL
[12:30] soror Nishi: upload to SL... and retry
[12:30] soror Nishi: re-photograph in SL, if necessary
then do it again until its perfect.
[12:30] soror Nishi: for example........we can see that the lip of the mushroom is here.. at the line where the colour changes from pale orange to lemon yellow.
[12:30] Bau Ur groans at the idea of ever getting anything perfect :)
[12:30] soror Nishi: :)))
[12:31] soror Nishi: well, until the imperfection doesn't trouble you too much..:))
[12:31] Apollo Reinard: smiles
[12:31] soror Nishi: for example........we can see that the lip of the mushroom is here.. at the line where the colour changes from pale orange to lemon yellow.
[12:31] Bau Ur: :)
[12:31] soror Nishi: so......make a mark on a separate layer in photoshop at home.
[12:31] soror Nishi: Above that line will be the cap, below the gills and stalk.
colour it in accordingly.
[12:31] soror Nishi: easy, but a little long winded at times.
[12:32] soror Nishi: fairly "intuitive" you just use it like a 3D measurement
[12:32] soror Nishi: OK?
[12:32] Corcosman Voom nods
[12:32] Apollo Reinard: yesss....... very nicely explained
[12:32] soror Nishi: cool
[12:32] soror Nishi: :))
[12:33] Dekka Raymaker: this techique also applies to normal prims
[12:33] Canterbury Kappler: Yes very clear
[12:33] soror Nishi: yes
[12:33] soror Nishi: most of these do
[12:33] soror Nishi: I suppose
[12:33] soror Nishi: well...not the sculptie map one
[12:33] soror Nishi: :))
[12:33] Dekka Raymaker: :)
[12:33] soror Nishi: Those are the three main ways that I know of, of fitting a tex to a sculptie, outside of baking the textures on in Blender.
[12:34] soror Nishi: After a while you will get a feeling for how you need to colour your tex, even as you are making the sculpt map,...
[12:34] soror Nishi: and if you use Blender then you can use the Texture Paint to highlight areas you need to work on in a paint programme....but thats going beyond what I want to talk about today.
[12:35] White Lebed: we can always schedule a class on that topic :)
[12:35] White Lebed: if there is some interest
[12:35] Bau Ur: /I need to fool around with Photoshop a lot and then take this lesson again. Or maybe three or four times. Til I get it perfect. :)
[12:35] Bau Ur: /Yes yes more classes!
[12:35] soror Nishi: Bumpy, for those of you who don't know it is an option in your texture edit mode called "bumpiness"
[12:36] soror Nishi: I only ever use one setting there...the one called "brightness" and, I know that in so doing, I lose detail on close-ups.
[12:36] soror Nishi: This pot I did for Avgi, however, shows that it can be used to advantage at times.
[12:36] soror Nishi: In this case, and in many cases, in fact, I use it in conjunction with "Emboss" on my paint programme, as you can see from the tex.
[12:36] soror Nishi: So, to clarify
[12:37] soror Nishi: the texture was "embossed" in Photoshop...then uploaded and the pot was "bumpied" in SL.
[12:37] soror Nishi: The "shinyness" (low) seems to smooth some of the negative effects that bumpiness will give you.
[12:38] soror Nishi: is that clear ...probably many of you use it already
[12:38] windyy Lane: it certainly brings out the text
[12:38] Dekka Raymaker: very clear
[12:38] soror Nishi: ok
[12:38] Bau Ur: /I find Bumpy nauseating. I suspect it results in some visually illogical or paradoxical effects that subconsciously confuse me.
[12:38] Bau Ur: /this is very well done though.
[12:38] Dekka Raymaker: it should be used sparingly
[12:39] Dekka Raymaker: imo
[12:39] soror Nishi: so I have an observation to make about colour in SL....it of no real practical use....but maybe good to know
[12:39] soror Nishi: yes, like glow and shiny too...less is more...:))
[12:40] soror Nishi: OK, so here you see a very familiar spectrum. Above it is the spectrum our eye sees.
[12:41] soror Nishi: ...converted to the same scale and aligned you will see that SL is poor on oranges and browns..(and deep purples) . its just something you need to be aware of.
[12:41] soror Nishi: Compensating for that is a topic we may not cover here today.
but I have covered it fairly well in my post
http://sorornishi.blogspot.com/2009/01/textures-in-second-lifeworkshop-4.html
[12:41] Apollo Reinard: mm.. wavelength chart... love the graphic illustration
[12:41] soror Nishi: anyone who's tried to colour hair in SL may have noticed this
[12:41] soror Nishi: :)))
[12:42] soror Nishi is a sucker for charts
[12:42] Bau Ur: I often note that is is hard to get a moderate strong deep aqua. Aquas in SL only want to be pale.
[12:42] soror Nishi: yes...its the problem all artists have when trying to photo their work in RL
[12:42] Dekka Raymaker: /typically monitors only show 70% cyan
[12:43] soror Nishi: lime green and electric pink too
[12:43] Yoyita Benoir: are you talking about applying a transparent color over something or textures per se?
[12:43] soror Nishi: many colours dont convert to RGB very well
[12:43] soror Nishi: both really
[12:43] soror Nishi: I use the colour spectrum in SL VERY little
[12:44] soror Nishi: I find it muddies tex
[12:44] Yoyita Benoir: yep
[12:44] soror Nishi: I prefer to colour something in Photoshop
[12:44] soror Nishi: even if it costs 10L$
[12:44] soror Nishi: :))
[12:44] Yoyita Benoir: you have more control in Ps
[12:44] soror Nishi: yep
[12:45] soror Nishi: so....is that enough or shall I go on??
[12:45] Ally Aeon: go on
[12:45] windyy Lane: please go on
[12:45] Ally Aeon: pls
[12:45] soror Nishi: you wanna ask questions??
[12:45] soror Nishi: ok
[12:45] soror Nishi: There is one more thing that you may find useful
so-called Multiple Textures
[12:46] soror Nishi: OK, so this is about putting two tex on the same prim..... well, actually its a cheat,
[12:46] soror Nishi: it looks like two tex on one prim, but actually its two tex on two different prims. I will talk about why you would want to, later, and give some examples.
[12:46] soror Nishi: Here's how its done
[12:46] Lisa Tebaldi is Offline
[12:46] soror Nishi: First rezz a prim and put your base tex on it
[12:47] soror Nishi: Then make a copy of that prim
[12:48] soror Nishi: Put your overlying texture on the copy. It is usual to use an alpha tex for this, although you can use a normal prim and turn up the transparency on it, so you see the underlying prim through the top tex.
[12:49] soror Nishi: Then, in Objects increase the size of the overlying prim so its about 3 to 5 mm larger in all direction.... so...in this case, the original prim is 2x2x2, and the copy is 2.005x2.005x2.005.
[12:49] soror Nishi: Move the copy down onto the original prim and locate it with the same centre as the original.
[Soror then repeated the process with a third prim applying a different texture to the third prim, increasing the size to 2.010x2.010x2.010, and centering all three prims around the same centre.]
[12:51] soror Nishi: So... why bother?.....:))
[12:51] soror Nishi: Well, I can now change the colour on all three layers.... that gives me great possibilities. I can even animate some of the layers....
[12:51] soror Nishi: or....taking a screen shot I can use it as a new tex after having worked on it in Photoshop
[12:51] Apollo Reinard: flexibility
[12:52] soror Nishi: yeh...
[12:52] soror Nishi: and details....for me..like moss on rocks and things like that
[12:52] soror Nishi: If this was all a bit much......this information is covered in
http://sorornishi.blogspot.com/2008/07/textures-in-second-lifeworkshop-2.html
[12:52] soror Nishi: it works well with sculpties too
[12:53] soror Nishi: but sculpties can rotate a bit when you enlarge them
[12:53] soror Nishi: so its tricky
[12:53] White Lebed: very generous of you to share "secrets" like that, Soror :) thank you
[12:54] soror Nishi: my pleasure
[12:54] Thend Destiny nods
[12:54] windyy Lane: thank you soror
[12:54] soror Nishi: :)))
[12:54] White Lebed: something that takes a lot of time to figure out
[12:54] soror Nishi: hope some of them are useful
[12:54] soror Nishi: :)))
[12:54] DeAnn Dufaux: wonderful, soror. thank you so much
[12:54] White Lebed: Thank you for coming to the class :) The Masterclass seminars happen Mondays, usually at 7PM. Ocassionally at other time. Next are Alizarin Goldflake and Glyph Graves. Subscribe to the list (golden board) or join AngelGate Arts group to be informed.
[12:54] Ally Aeon: thanks
[12:54] Hephaistos Semyorka: thank you!!!!
[12:54] Betony Greggan: (`'•.(`'•.¸ ¸.•'´).•'´)
[12:54] Betony Greggan: APPLAUSE!!!
[12:54] Betony Greggan: APPLAUSE!!!
[12:54] Betony Greggan: (¸.•'(¸.•'´ `'•.¸)'•.¸)
[12:54] Thend Destiny: Brilliant :)
[12:54] Narita Rayna: thank you so much soror :)
[12:54] soror Nishi: and i'm happy to answer questions and for those of you that have to dash....thanks for coming
[12:54] White Lebed: great class, Soror
[12:55] Bleu Oleander: !!! APPLAUSE !!!
[12:55] Corcosman Voom: Thank you, soror. Always nice to see how people work.
[12:55] White Lebed: we will have to invite you for more :)
[12:55] soror Nishi: yeh..it is
[12:55] Wrenja Czaczkes: thank you Soror :)
[12:55] Goose Wycliffe: thanks very much Sorror
[12:55] Firery Broome: Thanks very much Soror
[12:55] Lnn Nishi: Excellent class. Thank you!
[12:55] Dekka Raymaker: thank you soror
[12:55] White Lebed: I will send the chat log after soror approves it via subscription box
[12:55] White Lebed: so those who want it, please sign up
[12:55] Hephaistos Semyorka: thanks, White - great!
[12:55] White Lebed: no spam - only about the classes
[12:56] FreeWee Ling: Thank you WHite. This is a great series..
[12:56] White Lebed: very welcome
[12:56] Pielady Smalls: thank you very much
[12:56] Corcosman Voom: Yes, thank you, White.
[12:56] White Lebed: give me some ideas who else you want to hear
[12:56] Thend Destiny: Yes, this is great, really
[12:56] White Lebed: I will make it happen
[12:56] White Lebed: I have a list of my own
[12:56] White Lebed: but always welcome new ideas
[12:56] Bleu Oleander: Thanks! very good series White!
[12:56] Goose Wycliffe: i can't wait to go play with some of these ideas
[12:56] White Lebed: glad you are coming, guys ;)
[12:57] Apollo Reinard: soror.. thank you very much
[12:57] White Lebed: please, look aroudn the gallery
[12:57] White Lebed: the last day of Primavera
[12:57] White Lebed: soror's sculpture is there too
[12:57] Hephaistos Semyorka: yes, thanks again, Soror!!
[12:57] soror Nishi: :)) my pleasure entirely
[12:57] Corcosman Voom: soror, do you use Blender to make your sculpties?
[12:57] White Lebed: on the Red floor i think
[12:57] soror Nishi: yes...all made in Blender
[12:57] Tamil Cerveau is Online
[12:57] Thend Destiny: Thanks so much soror :)
[12:57] soror Nishi: :)) my pleasure
[12:57] windyy Lane: cringes at blender
[12:58] Goose Wycliffe: oh i forgot rik is AFK
[12:58] soror Nishi: ahhhh...I have an easy system with Blender
[12:58] Corcosman Voom: I was going to ask....
[12:58] soror Nishi: about Blender?
[12:58] Corcosman Voom: Yes
[12:59] Corcosman Voom: Seems to have such a forbidding reputation
[12:59] White Lebed: the donation box is in the middle next to tp
[12:59] White Lebed: i have a lot of people asking
[12:59] Bau Ur: /if there were decent instructions somewhere Blender might be better :/
[12:59] White Lebed: hmm actually it is gone lol
[12:59] White Lebed: the owners removed it
[12:59] White Lebed: sorry
[12:59] Thend Destiny: Eek
[12:59] soror Nishi: well...the problem with Blender is that its like trying to learn to drive a car....and the only videos you can get are about the thermophysics of the combustion principle...:)))
[13:00] Corcosman Voom: : )
[13:00] Bau Ur: /oh well put Soror!!!
[13:00] White Lebed: I will install it next time, save if ;)
[13:00] DeAnn Dufaux: ㋡
[13:00] Apollo Reinard: blender allows you to preview a texture on a sculpt?
[13:00] Corcosman Voom: Blender For Dummies could be a best seller
[13:00] Goose Wycliffe: i need to take a photoshop class
[13:00] soror Nishi: well...to bake a texture onto a sculpt in Blender is very complicated
[13:01] Goose Wycliffe: i am clueless there
[13:01] Thend Destiny: www.secondlifeartist.com (minus its step 7) is what got my feet wet in Blender
[13:01] Apollo Reinard: how about Photoshop?
[13:01] soror Nishi: well...blender is like PS...just use a bit at a time
[13:01] Apollo Reinard: hmm so. really then. just trial uploads to SL to get the texture fitted and designed.
[13:02] Apollo Reinard: ?
[13:02] DMom2K Darwin: Thanks a lot, soror this was excellent
[13:02] soror Nishi: i think thats the easiest way, Apollo
[13:02] soror Nishi: you get a feel for it
[13:02] soror Nishi: and textures are interchangable
[13:02] Bau Ur: /soror it is terrific of you to do this for us. Willyou be doing it again?
[13:02] soror Nishi: my pleasure Dom...thx for coming
[13:02] Apollo Reinard: yes.. i can see that in time familiarity will lessen the number of uploads and thereby the cost.
[13:03] Apollo Reinard: very nice thank you
[13:03] Corcosman Voom: Or use beta grid to test, Apollo
[13:03] windyy Lane: or use the preview grid where it's free to upload
[13:03] windyy Lane: lol corcosman
[13:03] Corcosman Voom: jinx : )
[13:03] Bau Ur doesn't see tip jar for the teacher. Tips Soror.
[13:03] Donations: Lnn Nishi donated L$100. Thank you very much for supporting us, it is much appreciated!
[13:03] Apollo Reinard: i've never used the beta grid. . i know. shocking .lol
[13:03] soror Nishi: yeh...and like I said...theres lots of possiblities to stretch a texture
[13:03] Corcosman Voom: Neither have I
[13:03] Apollo Reinard: i might try it
[13:04] soror Nishi: thank you Bau
[13:04] White Lebed: we probably will repeat Madcow class
[13:04] soror Nishi: Lnn....a sister...:))) Hi....
[13:04] White Lebed: since a lot of people coudln't fit in
[13:04] White Lebed: after the scheduled classes
[13:04] Lnn Nishi: Thank you : )
[13:05] Thend Destiny: Coool
[13:05] soror Nishi: wow, thx everyone...:))
[13:05] White Lebed: Soror, it was really great
[13:05] Betony Greggan: thank you, soror! this was really helpful
[13:05] White Lebed: very informative and well prepared
[13:05] White Lebed: I love it when the instructos are so organized :)
[13:05] soror Nishi: good...I'm glad if it helps
[13:05] Narita Rayna: yes - excellent lecture - thank you so much :D
[13:05] windyy Lane: i will have to find posterise on gimp
[13:05] Yoyita Benoir: thank you
[13:06] Ally Aeon: thanks see ya all
[13:06] Callipygian Christensen: am I totally blind or not rezzing prims? I don't see a venue donation jar
[13:06] Ally Aeon: bye bye
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Texture Lexture at Angelgate.
This is the test pattern by Robin Sojourner, I believe, but I'm not good with names...:))
Yes, I will be holding a talk at Angelgate... here.... on the Blue Floor
at Noon, SLT, on Monday 25th May....(tomorrow)
I hope to be talking about the following..... (press release)
"I will be talking about textures for scuplties and hand made textures in general. and plan on covering all (or most) of the following points.
My personal feelings about the limitations of photographic textures.
Optimising loading times and when to use larger textures.
Fitting textures on sculpties,
Using a sculptie map to plan your hand-made texture.
Using the Test Pattern to locate points on the texture for accentuating.
Stretchy Texures.textures can be designed to stretch easily if you are uncertain of the "fit".
Colour in SL, its limitations and strong sides.
"Bumpiness", and 3D surface treatment. How to improve the 3D look of your textures, and when to use "bumpiness'.
Applying 'multiple textures' to a prim.
This is a practical talk based mainly on my own personal experiences, i.e. tips and tricks.....
I will also show some recent textures and how they were developed as examples of these techniques.
This would probably need the audience to be fairly well aquainted ("intermediate") with Photoshop, Gimp or some other painting programme."....message ends...:))
anyway....if you have been an avid reader of this blog then you may already have read a lot of the stuff that I plan on saying in my previous posts, and may not want to have to hear about stuff you already know.
textures in second life workshop 2, textures in second life workshop 3, textures in second life workshop 4
(the first one was pretty crap...:))
If you can't make the talk and need the notes, I'm sure White Lebed or I will be able to supply them afterwards.
:))
Yes, I will be holding a talk at Angelgate... here.... on the Blue Floor
at Noon, SLT, on Monday 25th May....(tomorrow)
I hope to be talking about the following..... (press release)
"I will be talking about textures for scuplties and hand made textures in general. and plan on covering all (or most) of the following points.
My personal feelings about the limitations of photographic textures.
Optimising loading times and when to use larger textures.
Fitting textures on sculpties,
Using a sculptie map to plan your hand-made texture.
Using the Test Pattern to locate points on the texture for accentuating.
Stretchy Texures.textures can be designed to stretch easily if you are uncertain of the "fit".
Colour in SL, its limitations and strong sides.
"Bumpiness", and 3D surface treatment. How to improve the 3D look of your textures, and when to use "bumpiness'.
Applying 'multiple textures' to a prim.
This is a practical talk based mainly on my own personal experiences, i.e. tips and tricks.....
I will also show some recent textures and how they were developed as examples of these techniques.
This would probably need the audience to be fairly well aquainted ("intermediate") with Photoshop, Gimp or some other painting programme."....message ends...:))
anyway....if you have been an avid reader of this blog then you may already have read a lot of the stuff that I plan on saying in my previous posts, and may not want to have to hear about stuff you already know.
textures in second life workshop 2, textures in second life workshop 3, textures in second life workshop 4
(the first one was pretty crap...:))
If you can't make the talk and need the notes, I'm sure White Lebed or I will be able to supply them afterwards.
:))
Saturday, 23 May 2009
Glyph Graves at IBM, and Gary Kohime
Hmmm....I love this stuff underwater, it seems so 'at home' here, this is Glyphs stuff at IBM.....
and this is like playing with light....excellent
I like the scale of these, kinda pre-historic, but the Not Very Poetically Named "pod plant3Silican-T2" (Glyph, really!!...) is a real treat.... just be patient it's on a slow biological clock...:))
Gary Kohime has a new build..... The Theory of Everything and Nothing (probably got the name wrong, will check it tomorrow...it's far too late now to be blogging...) ..... which is well worth a visit...it's to be found here at Trinity Falls... v cool....but only up for a week I understand...so catch it..
:))
Friday, 22 May 2009
Out of Touch
4 years... hmmm.. .its official, I am 4 years behind the times (at least I guess).
Now its a case of being steadily bombarded over a good many years with acronyms, 4 million, apparently at this site....so thats a good excuse for my brain just shutting off completely when I see or hear one.
It took me ages to find out things like HUD and UI and stuff like that too, cos my brain just blanks them.
Now I know that BLTA is the British Lawn Tennis Association, because I am a tennis fan...
and I know a BLTC sandwich when I see one..
and LTGB has always been Long-Term Government Bonds, right?
NOOO!!!
I am 4 years out of date cos, LTGB, or LBGT, or, most other combinations of these letters have, according to Wikipedia, meant gay, for the last 4 years...DUH! sorry, no-one told me.
Anyway....the big news is that LL have given me a plot of land to show off on at Land Expo... 2000 odd m2...with "approx 1000 prims"...so all I need now is an idea (not a narrative....) and we're cooking...:)))
I popped over to see Physeter Nicholls show at Gullara Gallery and enjoyed the work he had on show, particularly "face to vase 8" altho I was less impressed with the architecture (nothing new there then) and when I was told it was Northern Scotland where the gales were so severe that the houses were built without eaves, I said "I thought it was Second Life',...... but then I hope that some people realise I am a more severe critic of my own work than other peoples.. and, by the way, it seems to me a poor idea to build a place in SL that people have been abandoning in droves in RL..... houses are really cheap up there....because no-one wants to live there.
Maybe AM Radios next build could be the Arctic.... 4 sims of white ...he could retex his train again, red with a white star...and hey presto.....before you can say Siberianski Russki... he has a new build, with loads of prims spare to build a igloo with each snow particle exactly modelled on "reality".
Anyway...then I popped over to Pixis to see her new tree and we just sat around in her shack exchanging pleasantries..
oh, yes, and I thoroughly enjoyed Crap Mariners contribution to the alleged 5 million people who use voice....here....
I guess thats my style of constructive criticism too...
:)))
Now its a case of being steadily bombarded over a good many years with acronyms, 4 million, apparently at this site....so thats a good excuse for my brain just shutting off completely when I see or hear one.
It took me ages to find out things like HUD and UI and stuff like that too, cos my brain just blanks them.
Now I know that BLTA is the British Lawn Tennis Association, because I am a tennis fan...
and I know a BLTC sandwich when I see one..
and LTGB has always been Long-Term Government Bonds, right?
NOOO!!!
I am 4 years out of date cos, LTGB, or LBGT, or, most other combinations of these letters have, according to Wikipedia, meant gay, for the last 4 years...DUH! sorry, no-one told me.
Anyway....the big news is that LL have given me a plot of land to show off on at Land Expo... 2000 odd m2...with "approx 1000 prims"...so all I need now is an idea (not a narrative....) and we're cooking...:)))
I popped over to see Physeter Nicholls show at Gullara Gallery and enjoyed the work he had on show, particularly "face to vase 8" altho I was less impressed with the architecture (nothing new there then) and when I was told it was Northern Scotland where the gales were so severe that the houses were built without eaves, I said "I thought it was Second Life',...... but then I hope that some people realise I am a more severe critic of my own work than other peoples.. and, by the way, it seems to me a poor idea to build a place in SL that people have been abandoning in droves in RL..... houses are really cheap up there....because no-one wants to live there.
Maybe AM Radios next build could be the Arctic.... 4 sims of white ...he could retex his train again, red with a white star...and hey presto.....before you can say Siberianski Russki... he has a new build, with loads of prims spare to build a igloo with each snow particle exactly modelled on "reality".
Anyway...then I popped over to Pixis to see her new tree and we just sat around in her shack exchanging pleasantries..
oh, yes, and I thoroughly enjoyed Crap Mariners contribution to the alleged 5 million people who use voice....here....
I guess thats my style of constructive criticism too...
:)))
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Narrative is primary? .... I have my doubts
When I was young I went to Paris to see the Museum of Modern Arts there. One piece which I will never forget is an ugly thing with a toilet, a neon toilet seat, a pipe going across the floor, up the opposite wall finally disappearing behind a venetian blind. The thing which I hated (more than was reasonable) was the 6 pages of explanation which the artist had fixed to the wall, explaining the piece.
I thought that art was a communication and thus the 6 pages simply highlighted the fact that the artist had failed.
Maybe this early trauma [:))] has lead to me having trouble with “narrative”. I also hate fashionable terms and jargon.
Now, in the story of the emperor’s new clothes, the emperor was told a story, and stupidly he let the story influence his mind to such an extent that he disregarded the visual information he was getting in favour of the narrative he was told.
If someone plants an ugly plant (there are ugly plants in SL) in front of an ugly wall and tells me that the cement for the mortar in the walls was mixed with the tears of angels, and the plant was taken from the garden of the Queen of Sheba, and the whole installation was to highlight the plight of prisoners being tortured by fascist regimes..... I trust I will say “thats hell of an ugly thing you have there”.
Imagine a train wreck... imagine a photographer taking a doll to the site.... imagine the photographer placing the doll in front of the wreck so that he/she can get the image of the childs toy with the destruction in the background.... yukk.
These are a few of the problems I have with “narrative”.
If narrative is “primary’ as has been suggested recently then we could all be in trouble.
I much prefer enigma to narrative.
:))
I thought that art was a communication and thus the 6 pages simply highlighted the fact that the artist had failed.
Maybe this early trauma [:))] has lead to me having trouble with “narrative”. I also hate fashionable terms and jargon.
Now, in the story of the emperor’s new clothes, the emperor was told a story, and stupidly he let the story influence his mind to such an extent that he disregarded the visual information he was getting in favour of the narrative he was told.
If someone plants an ugly plant (there are ugly plants in SL) in front of an ugly wall and tells me that the cement for the mortar in the walls was mixed with the tears of angels, and the plant was taken from the garden of the Queen of Sheba, and the whole installation was to highlight the plight of prisoners being tortured by fascist regimes..... I trust I will say “thats hell of an ugly thing you have there”.
Imagine a train wreck... imagine a photographer taking a doll to the site.... imagine the photographer placing the doll in front of the wreck so that he/she can get the image of the childs toy with the destruction in the background.... yukk.
These are a few of the problems I have with “narrative”.
If narrative is “primary’ as has been suggested recently then we could all be in trouble.
I much prefer enigma to narrative.
:))
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Monday, 18 May 2009
White Lebed at Artemesia
I don't know anyone who can bend a regular prim like White. To imbue a prim with movement and grace is extremely well done, and True Sculpting. .....so....combine that with some good music and you have to have a good show.
This is exactly what happened at Artemesia... the music started and Whites sculpted musicians appeared.... great. IM White for details of the next show.
Bettina has been kind enough to blog one of the great photos of my place taken by Lem Skall who is a real gem , its to be seen on her blog.
Meanwhile the view of Lifstaen from the air is getting better I'm glad to say.... and shows exactly why I hate those canopies that are not canopies...i.e. the crossed transparencies used by Lindens and others .
Also, last but not least, Bettina is heading a Will Your Work Day... 18th May, the idea is that if you don't will your Virtual Assets to anyone...formally, properly... they will all disappear after your death (except those already rezzed of course)... so the push is to get people to remember that their Virtual Assets are as important to think about as their cars and fridges.
I'm sure there will be a few posts mentioning this blogged today...
:))
Sunday, 17 May 2009
gjenter i bunad
There are dozens of different patterns of national costume (called "bunad") in Norway and I managed to snap 4 versions at the dance after the 17 Mai procession on the second Norway dance floor.
I was nostalgic after my little visit...it was cool to see a little group, 55 people were in the procession, doing their thing in SL, I thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of it all.
Gratulere med dagen alle sammen...og takk for meg.
:))
Fireworks, then 17 Mai in Second Norway
Went to see Jopsy Pendragon's fireworks today.
I spent a good half hour there with Wizzy just taking photos.. it was good fun.
I got my Norwegian flag so plan to go celebrate 17.Mai in Norway later... will report back..
:))
Saturday, 16 May 2009
New Tree, The Wizardfuit Tree
Well, this is my latest one, the Wizardfruit Tree, and you can have a look here.
Its more or less finished, I think, although fiddling may occur...:))
:))
Thursday, 14 May 2009
lots of stuff
Petlove Petshops flowering maypole at Raglan Shires Art Fair.
I hate this screen when it gets stuck....lol....Friday wasn't a good day....pizza in LL hard drive again
Puma, (unnapuma Nakamori for short...:)) has put out some of her jewellery/accessories for sale on my land....here so go take a look
This is Aliz and I not showing or telling at Builders Brewery Show and Tell
But, altho I hate kitchens, this was cute...
And i really loved this Cat by Lovimae Undercroft also at Raglan Shire.... if I only had somewhere to put it, I would buy one.... at 500L$ it seems a snip...but it is 100 prims.
:)))
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
The Art and craft...
Now its an interesting thing to do, making stuff, and as with all jobs or hobbies there are times when you take a good hard look at what you spend your time doing.
The borderline between Art and craft is pretty vague at times, and to my mind it doesn’t matter too much which you prefer to do (they overlap a lot), but it is a different viewpoint.
Thinking about yourself as an artist can put a strain on your creativity to always come up with a new idea; as an artisan or craftsperson the pressure is simply to make another well made piece.
Mastering a craft is a lot to do with honing a technique til it gets about as near to perfect as you need it to be to feel satisfied with your labours.
Art, if it is, as quoted here before, “long, immense and deliberate derangement of the senses” has a kind of inbuilt escalation. There’s a desire or need to make the piece more and more.... deranged? Not quite the right word. ... but you maybe get the idea.
So, if you feel able to make anything.... what do you make? It’s a common problem for builders, and SL offers lots of new avenues for creativity, when you are competent in one field you can simply move on to the next. Good with prims?...learn scripting. Good with scripting......learn anims. etc. etc.
The thing that gets lost, however, is the idea that, actually, the thing you make, the product, the piece.... is really speaking a bi-product. It is the physical/virtual husk or shell which, like a photo, is only a reminder of the process you went thro to get to where you are.
The real Art is what happens in yourself. Alchemy is called The Art for this very reason.
A craft has a similar effect on you psychologically, but with a craft it is your interaction with Matter (or virtual matter) that is the crucible in which you cook your alchemical potion.
My favourite saying of all time, possibly, is one from Gerald Dorn, a 17th Century Alchemist,
“You will never make from others the One thou seekest save first there be made one thing of thy self.”
...which means, roughly, that striving for perfection outside of yourself is gonna be fruitless unless you aim for a harmony inside too.
Luckily, for us poor imperfect beings, there is Grace, and Grace sends us the occasional visit from the god Genius (or her daughter, baby genius) and the joy that brings us is remembered most of our lives.
:))
The borderline between Art and craft is pretty vague at times, and to my mind it doesn’t matter too much which you prefer to do (they overlap a lot), but it is a different viewpoint.
Thinking about yourself as an artist can put a strain on your creativity to always come up with a new idea; as an artisan or craftsperson the pressure is simply to make another well made piece.
Mastering a craft is a lot to do with honing a technique til it gets about as near to perfect as you need it to be to feel satisfied with your labours.
Art, if it is, as quoted here before, “long, immense and deliberate derangement of the senses” has a kind of inbuilt escalation. There’s a desire or need to make the piece more and more.... deranged? Not quite the right word. ... but you maybe get the idea.
So, if you feel able to make anything.... what do you make? It’s a common problem for builders, and SL offers lots of new avenues for creativity, when you are competent in one field you can simply move on to the next. Good with prims?...learn scripting. Good with scripting......learn anims. etc. etc.
The thing that gets lost, however, is the idea that, actually, the thing you make, the product, the piece.... is really speaking a bi-product. It is the physical/virtual husk or shell which, like a photo, is only a reminder of the process you went thro to get to where you are.
The real Art is what happens in yourself. Alchemy is called The Art for this very reason.
A craft has a similar effect on you psychologically, but with a craft it is your interaction with Matter (or virtual matter) that is the crucible in which you cook your alchemical potion.
My favourite saying of all time, possibly, is one from Gerald Dorn, a 17th Century Alchemist,
“You will never make from others the One thou seekest save first there be made one thing of thy self.”
...which means, roughly, that striving for perfection outside of yourself is gonna be fruitless unless you aim for a harmony inside too.
Luckily, for us poor imperfect beings, there is Grace, and Grace sends us the occasional visit from the god Genius (or her daughter, baby genius) and the joy that brings us is remembered most of our lives.
:))
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Sunday stuff
Pixi has built her shed in SL and i popped over to see her new bot-bellied stove... v cool. Like all these things, unless you are AM Radio, you have to stop somewhere on the detailing cos of the prim count....tho...I may go mad one day and do a multi hundred prim tree, just for the hell of it.
Well, Sunday is one of those days when I get to catch up a bit on what other people have been writing about in their blogs and here's a few things I have seen.
NPIRL, Bettina has drawn my attention to Frank Biocca ...now this is not light entertainment..its a 'paper' and I would need to read it a couple of times to get the full gist of everything he's saying, but like all these sort of deep thoughtful pieces they get me thinking and, cos of how my brain works, it takes a while for stuff to hatch properly.
It's worth a read tho, it's about us, people with virtual lives (on top of 'real' ones) and how we experience where we are....its called "presence"... like we are present at the computer and present in SL, and apparently, a third place is in our imaginations....so theres three types of 'location'.
He talks about how we are extending our body/world interface and using the machine to do stuff we used to use our bodies to do.....this is kinda catchy....
"The cyborg's dilemma: The more natural the interface the more "human" it is, the more it adapts to the human body and mind. The more the interface adapts to the human body and mind, the more the body and mind adapts to the non-human interface. Therefore, the more natural the interface, the more we become "unnatural," the more we become cyborgs." (Frank Biocca)
On the subject of paranoia tho I am a bit less sympathetic, cos I think Landsend Korobase is making too much of a big thing about it...after all, in a world where you can write (and looove this about SL) "Would you like to be my friend"....surely its just as easy to ask...."are you pissed off with me?"... so...wheres the need for drama??
Then I also saw in passing some stuff by ACHARIYA REZAK on working on photos in photoshop..and tho I haven't yet had time to try it out, I thought it could well be useful for some of our budding photographers. It's always nice to see people passing on skills, I think.
In local news, I have a tree at Raglan Shire, they are doing their Art Walk this weekend...and that'll be worth a visit especially if you have a tiny avi as there will be clothes that fit for sale and some other tiny stuff....also my Nishi Taglatelle sports coupe is there as a freebie (mod/copy) in the woods for all and sundry.
I went to Quadrapop Tree Gallery last night for a reopening.... its on Dragonfly Dreams sim... Alizarin Goldflake, Sunn Thunders, Glyph Graves and many others have work showing there......
And....Alizarin Goldflake has a blog now too.... so....worth following if you are a fan like me.
Meanwhile the discussions continue on the mess this new Adult thingy is gonna cause, and apparently the new viewer has bugs....and design faults....so nothing new there then. I have not been tempted to download it.
In my workshop the latest tree is nearing completion and this is one of those that I have had to texture several times to get it right...and I may redo it all again before its released....I don't know if it's me getting more fussy, or my standards have increased.... maybe a bit of each...anyway..it'll be a biggy, over 100 prims and I like it so far......
Have a nice chilled day dear reader...xxxxx
:))
Well, Sunday is one of those days when I get to catch up a bit on what other people have been writing about in their blogs and here's a few things I have seen.
NPIRL, Bettina has drawn my attention to Frank Biocca ...now this is not light entertainment..its a 'paper' and I would need to read it a couple of times to get the full gist of everything he's saying, but like all these sort of deep thoughtful pieces they get me thinking and, cos of how my brain works, it takes a while for stuff to hatch properly.
It's worth a read tho, it's about us, people with virtual lives (on top of 'real' ones) and how we experience where we are....its called "presence"... like we are present at the computer and present in SL, and apparently, a third place is in our imaginations....so theres three types of 'location'.
He talks about how we are extending our body/world interface and using the machine to do stuff we used to use our bodies to do.....this is kinda catchy....
"The cyborg's dilemma: The more natural the interface the more "human" it is, the more it adapts to the human body and mind. The more the interface adapts to the human body and mind, the more the body and mind adapts to the non-human interface. Therefore, the more natural the interface, the more we become "unnatural," the more we become cyborgs." (Frank Biocca)
On the subject of paranoia tho I am a bit less sympathetic, cos I think Landsend Korobase is making too much of a big thing about it...after all, in a world where you can write (and looove this about SL) "Would you like to be my friend"....surely its just as easy to ask...."are you pissed off with me?"... so...wheres the need for drama??
Then I also saw in passing some stuff by ACHARIYA REZAK on working on photos in photoshop..and tho I haven't yet had time to try it out, I thought it could well be useful for some of our budding photographers. It's always nice to see people passing on skills, I think.
In local news, I have a tree at Raglan Shire, they are doing their Art Walk this weekend...and that'll be worth a visit especially if you have a tiny avi as there will be clothes that fit for sale and some other tiny stuff....also my Nishi Taglatelle sports coupe is there as a freebie (mod/copy) in the woods for all and sundry.
I went to Quadrapop Tree Gallery last night for a reopening.... its on Dragonfly Dreams sim... Alizarin Goldflake, Sunn Thunders, Glyph Graves and many others have work showing there......
And....Alizarin Goldflake has a blog now too.... so....worth following if you are a fan like me.
Meanwhile the discussions continue on the mess this new Adult thingy is gonna cause, and apparently the new viewer has bugs....and design faults....so nothing new there then. I have not been tempted to download it.
In my workshop the latest tree is nearing completion and this is one of those that I have had to texture several times to get it right...and I may redo it all again before its released....I don't know if it's me getting more fussy, or my standards have increased.... maybe a bit of each...anyway..it'll be a biggy, over 100 prims and I like it so far......
Have a nice chilled day dear reader...xxxxx
:))
Friday, 8 May 2009
Second Life Healing and Alchemy
The fairly common image of the ailing King in folk tales and the "wounding" of mythology have their equivalent in Alchemy known as the Nigredo. The Nigredo descends into the Mortificatio, often pictured as the king being buried in a coffin, ....so that's pretty ill.
Jung saw this as an archetypal image depicting the meeting with one's shadow as a result of the quest for self knowledge. That means that when you look in the mirror to see who you are, you can see both angel and devil. Seeing the devil looking back at you is a bit rough.
This Chaos situation is brought about by the unconscious (all our buried psychological baggage) rising up and flooding us.
I'm not really surprised that we all suffer from this to some extent as our Christian tradition (which permeates our culture, laws and education) has this nasty habit of branding the unconscious as evil and consciousness as good, unlike an Eastern tradition where Yin and Yang are understood to be equally necessary and no moral values attached to either one.
Jung suggested using a technique called Active Imagination. In this process you take a dream image or a phantasy and develop it, bit by bit, fleshing it out, changing and upgrading, recording it as you go,(or it just turns into day-dreaming).
Why?
Well, Active Imagination is a process of consciously dialoguing with our unconscious "for the production of those contents of the unconscious which lie, as it were, immediately below the threshold of consciousness and, when intensified, are the most likely to erupt spontaneously into the conscious mind."
It's like getting the microscope trained on what is trying to break through into our consciousness.
Everyone in Second Life is doing this.... from day one when you choose an avatar, even if you stay Ruthed forever.... you are involved in this process....
...the choices you make, the people you meet, the places you go...all of these factors are a development of your "virtual psyche". Your Virtual Psyche is a part of your unconscious made visible.
And so..... where does all this lead, and why should I be interested~??
Well, to put it quite simply, in amongst your unconscious baggage is some hidden treasure, and SL will help you find it.
It's a healing environment.
:))
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Chill
Well, just as there is written "Do Not Panic" on the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide, so these words should be engraved on your SL computer screen from time to time...
Chill and Do Nothing.
xxxx
:)))
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Oh dear...
Ahhh...well... I hit the "stand up " button and ended up levitating like in some strange hypnotists show...
so...I relogged... and lost 5000 items from my invent... then I relogged again and seem to have a couple of hundred more items than I thought I had... oh well....
and while I was waiting to clear cache (which always takes ages for me....) I signed up as a Plurker, and after all those things I said about Twits it is a bit daft as I am never online apart from being in SL, so this may all be a waste of time, but I guess its curiosity that has driven me.....
meanwhile, back at the ranch...... well, I have started on a new tree...but have yet to get my head around the fruit or flower decision....
also I signed up for the Raglan thing...will probably show a tree... (surprised?).....
and Pixi blogged me....thx a lot, Pixi xxx
ahhh, yes, confirmed, it seems, my talk on "Hand-Made Textures' at Angelgate on Monday 25th at 12, noon SLT.... a good amount of the stuff I will talk about is in my Texture Workshops, to be found in these hallowed pages (use search)... but there are things I am learning all the time...so maybe a few ideas going that could be useful....
other news is sorta all in the realm of maybe's.... so I will have to wait and see, but it looks very much like I will get to do a book cover for a friend (RL) ... so all sorts of things happening....
:))
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Sunday, sunday
Yes, one of those very sunday-like sundays.... I went to the Show and Tell with the Builder's Brewery folks, and showed them my Steam Funk Tree. There is a vote at the end and I won third prize..... I voted for the tapir above....here ridden by its creator, Bloodsong Termagant (who won first prize...well deserved.)
I went to catch the end of Aliz's new show, Wizzy bought a piece, which is great. Aliz has done these amazing pieces with music and visuals...well...Flivelwitzelsnitsel..... (why?? he could have called himself Fred???) has done the music..... and Aliz has done the moving images. Its at her gallery In Huntsman.... find it in Alizarin Goldflake's profile picks. (or IM me)...
Then I caught up on some blogs...a good haul this weekend..... Bryns very funny video... which I loved, .....Pixis new flower is a stunner..... and Botgirl touches on an interesting point about communication..
I hope to follow up with a bit more on this soon....just as soon as I get my self organised enough.
I started on a new Pine tree, although it is still early days, I am hoping to do something slightly different with the textures on this one.....and sold a Chemist's Tree to Alex, he is getting a quite extensive collection of my work together.... luckily for me..:)) thx....
:)))
Saturday, 2 May 2009
AngelGate , AG3
I went over to Angelgate, scene of last months Primavera, so well curated by White Lebed to check out the new shows she has opening.
On the green floor Special Jewell has some photos of Second Life scenes on show, and, as you may know I am not a great fan of this type of work normally, although some of them showed a nice composition and colour sense.
My main problem with it is that as most of the textures are photographic, we end up with photographs of photographs ...which is why I haven't taken a photograph of the show....it would be just too much, although the surreal possibilities have yet to be explored...e.g. if I had done so....then maybe I could have photographed my blog pages and hung them in a gallery in SL....:))
On the violet floor, however, is a show that I am a bit more supportive of, as the artist, Hephaistos Semyorka, (don't you love these simple names) is a Jung fan and her talk was quite interesting.
Her collages (yet another art form I am a bit negatively inclined towards) of gods and goddesses and general mythological entities is "right up my street". She has used this art form in the same way that some people doodle, and for her, as a type of Active Imagination (a technique suggested by Jung to enhance/develop images from dreams or fantasies) to try to get a bit nearer to the Archetypes.
They are worth a bit of time just staring at, and, for the more intellectually inclined theres lots of words written alongside.
So...of course.... I got to thinking a bit about Archetypes and stereotypes. As a comedian once pointed out...the Jesus who looks like a member of the BeeGees inside your head is nothing to do with a short sun-tanned guy who may have lived 2000 years ago. He would have, in fact, looked more like Danny deVito.
Danny deVito could never be the saviour of mankind....such is the power of the stereotype... :)) a six foot tall blonde BeeGee could....such is the power of the Archetype...:))
Well....that last sentence doesn't really make sense, its a bit too Oscar Wilde for that.
but hey....the show is worth a visit..
:))
On the green floor Special Jewell has some photos of Second Life scenes on show, and, as you may know I am not a great fan of this type of work normally, although some of them showed a nice composition and colour sense.
My main problem with it is that as most of the textures are photographic, we end up with photographs of photographs ...which is why I haven't taken a photograph of the show....it would be just too much, although the surreal possibilities have yet to be explored...e.g. if I had done so....then maybe I could have photographed my blog pages and hung them in a gallery in SL....:))
On the violet floor, however, is a show that I am a bit more supportive of, as the artist, Hephaistos Semyorka, (don't you love these simple names) is a Jung fan and her talk was quite interesting.
Her collages (yet another art form I am a bit negatively inclined towards) of gods and goddesses and general mythological entities is "right up my street". She has used this art form in the same way that some people doodle, and for her, as a type of Active Imagination (a technique suggested by Jung to enhance/develop images from dreams or fantasies) to try to get a bit nearer to the Archetypes.
They are worth a bit of time just staring at, and, for the more intellectually inclined theres lots of words written alongside.
So...of course.... I got to thinking a bit about Archetypes and stereotypes. As a comedian once pointed out...the Jesus who looks like a member of the BeeGees inside your head is nothing to do with a short sun-tanned guy who may have lived 2000 years ago. He would have, in fact, looked more like Danny deVito.
Danny deVito could never be the saviour of mankind....such is the power of the stereotype... :)) a six foot tall blonde BeeGee could....such is the power of the Archetype...:))
Well....that last sentence doesn't really make sense, its a bit too Oscar Wilde for that.
but hey....the show is worth a visit..
:))
Friday, 1 May 2009
Rezz Boxing Day
Today was my Rezz Boxing Day and some people came over to see the new Chemist's Tree.... and some very nice compliments....thank you all..:))
Pixi went off surfing.....
and Wizzy was doing push ups on her hands... (v strong)....
such an amazing group of imaginative people.......wow...
v nice to share time with you...xxxx
:))
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