DESC9177 Tutorial 4 SecondLife
25th August 2008
Adding friends to your contacts list:
There are a few ways to add someone to your Contacts list:
If you're near them, just right-click their avatar in-world and select Add Friend.
If you're not near them, or if they're offline, click the Communicate button at the bottom of
the Second Life window and click the Contacts tab to bring up your Contact list. Then click
the Add button to open a search window where you can type in your friend's name and add
him to your list.
You can also add someone to your Friends list from the Search window:
Click the Search button.
Click the People tab.
Type the Resident's name.
Select the Resident from the search results.
Press the Add Friend button.
To simply give another Resident your calling card without adding them to your Contacts list,
right-click on their avatar and select More > Give Card.
Advanced Snapshot Magic:
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=4258
Handy user interface and shortcuts:
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=4599
Knowledge Base
Avatar Movement: How do I walk or run?
How do I move my avatar?
Walk:
Always Run
Tap-Tap-Hold To Run (Double Tap Run)
If you don't want to "always run", you have the option of making your avatar walk or run with
use of your arrow keys. Double tap and hold your Up arrow to run forward. Tap and hold the
Up arrow again to walk. This feature gives a more realistic appearance to avatar movement.
How do I enable Double Tap Run?
Access your Advanced Menu On your keyboard, press Ctrl+Alt+D or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D.
On a Mac, press Option+Control+D.
Turn off Double Tap Run: From the Advanced menu, go to Character, and click on Tap-TapHold To Run again.
Creating, editing, and uploading sounds - Video Tutorial:
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417
Finding your chat logs - Video Tutorial
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417
Assorted Tips & Tricks
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=4259
Steps to be followed:
How do I log chat and instant messages?
Have you ever wanted to go back and re-read an old conversation? Setting up your logging
options is essential for those who enjoy the ability to recall every detail from past
conversations.
You can find your Logging Options in the Communication tab of your Preferences
window. To open your Preferences window, go to Edit > Preferences or press Ctrl+P
Here is a brief description of each logging option:
Log Instant Messages: This checkbox enables logging of all IMs you receive.
Show timestamps in IM Log: Appends timestamps to each line of your logged IMs.
Show end of last IM conversation: Uses your saved logs to show the end of your last IM
conversation with another Resident when you open his IM window.
Log Chat: This checkbox enables logging of all public chat your avatar receives.
Show timestamps in Chat Log: Appends timestamps to each line of your chat log.
Show incoming IM in Chat Log: Includes incoming IM chat (but not your IM responses) in
the public chat log.
Include Date with Timestamp: Includes the date in all timestamps.
Change Path: This button allows you to change the location where your chat and IM logs are
stored.
Building object:
- Short cut for editing the object:
Ctrl: rotate
Ctrl+shift: expend
- Texture your object: Bump Mapping
Bump mapping is a graphical rendering technique in which a "bump map" texture is applied
to the surface of a 3D object in order to give it a richer visual appearance closer to that of the
real world. You can apply bump maps to some of your objects in Second Life to create a very
stimulating visual experience!
To apply a bump map to an object:
Right-click the object and select Edit.
If the tools window is not already expanded, press the More >> button.
Click the Texture tab.
In the Bumpiness dropdown menu, select a bump map from the list provided. The bump map
will be applied over the existing texture on the object, giving the object's surface a more
tactile look.
More information: for Design and Textures FAQ
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417
-Uisng Photoshop to improve the Texture
Alpha Channel Primer: Transparency in Second Life
In an attempt to explain the complexities of the alpha channel, Nicola Escher presents a very
simple Alpha Channel Primer.
Software Required: Photoshop 7.0.1 or above or Paint Shop Pro 9
If you are willing to translate this article into another language, please send me an email .
Thanks!
If you are using Photoshop 7.0, please make sure you upgrade to Photoshop 7.0.1. See this
post for more details.
ALPHA CHANNELS
Alpha channels, also known as alpha masks, can be a confusing concept for the novice
clothing designer, but once mastered they are the key to creating dynamic and exciting
content using textures. The concept itself is not a complex one, and once understood, the
designer will wonder what she did without them.
LIKE A STENCIL OR A HALLOWEEN MASK
The best real-world example I can think of is the stencil. Hopefully you all have used stencils
at one time or another, but for the uninitiated here's a brief explanation. Letters, sometimes
pictures, are cut out of a single sheet of paper, cardboard, or plastic. This sheet is then placed
on top of another surface (paper, box, wall) and painted over. Thus the paint is applied to the
areas where the cut-out holes are in in the top sheet and nowhere else.
The stencil is acting as a mask -- similar to a halloween mask where the eyes are cut and the
rest of your face is covered. Instead of telling the computer (or the rendering engine showing
the image) what part of the image should be shown and what part should be concealed, we're
telling it what should be opaque and what should be transparent.
Channels Tab
Images in the digital world are made up of small dots on your screen called pixels. Each pixel
can contain a mixture of three colors: red, green, and blue (also known as RGB). You can see
these three color channels within Photoshop in the Channels tab. Unfortunately Paint Shop
Pro's implementation of RGB channels is not quite as elegant or useful, but you can view
them by selecting the Image menu and choosing Split Channel and Split to RGB from the
sub-menu.
An alpha channel is a black and white (or greyscale) image whose values denote levels of
transparency. Black represents 100% percent transparency. White represents 0% transparency,
in other words, completely opaque. Grey, the scale of tones between black and white,
represents varying levels of transparency (1% to 99%).
WHAT ARE ALPHA CHAN NELS USED FOR?
In Second Life you will most likely use alpha channels to define the shape of your clothing or
to make parts of your objects transparent (windows?). You should now have some
understanding of what alpha channels are. The following example will hopefully make it all a
bit more clear, so if it's still a little fuzzy, roll up your sleeves and plow on.
AN SIMPLE ALPHA CHAN NEL IN PHOTOSHOP USING A
SELECTION
This will be nothing fancy. The point here is to create a simple texture with an alpha channel.
You are going to create a blue texture with a transparent border.
Figure 1
Open Photoshop and create a new image that has both a height and width of 256 pixels.
Figure 2
Fill the image with blue (or any color of your choosing) by navigating to the Edit menu and
choosing the Fill... menu item. In the dialog that appears select Color... from the Use: menu.
Figure 3
Use the Rectangular Marquee Selection Tool
center of the image.
to create a square-shaped selection in the
Figure 4
Under the Select menu choose Save Selection.... The Save Selection dialog box appears.
Don't name the selection because Photoshop will automatically name it "Alpha 1" for you. Go
ahead and press the OK button.
Figure 5
This step isn't required, but I want you to see what has been created. In the Layers palette
switch the Channels tab and notice the new channel at the bottom called "Alpha 1" -- that is
your new alpha channel. Notice that it is a black box with a white square in the center. The
white represents the area that will opaque (in this case blue) and the black represents the area
of your image that will be transparent.
Flatten the image by going to the Layer menu and choosing Flatten Image. This is an
important step and always needs to be done before saving your image as a TGA file.
Figure 6
Now navigate to the File menu and do a Save or Save As... and choose Targa as the format.
Also, make sure that Alpha Channels is selected below that (this should be checked by
default). When the Targa options dialog box appears, make sure you choose 32 bits/pixel.
Upload your new image to Second Life, create a box, and apply the your new image texture to
the box. Notice how the area around the colored square you created is transparent? You've
created your first texture that includes and alpha channel.
Figure 7
A SIMPLE ALPHA CHANN EL IN PAINT SHOP PRO 9 USING A
SELECTION
It's been pointed out to me that PSP's alpha channel support has changed in the latest versions,
so this tutorial is a bit out of date (and I won't be updating it since I don't have a copy of the
software). Sorry!
Figure 1
Open Paint Shop pro and create a new image that has both a height and width of 256 pixels.
Fill the image with blue (or any color of your choosing). Select a color in the Materials palette.
Then choose the Flood Fill tool from the toolbar or hit F on the keyboard. Once the tool is
selected click anywhere in the image to fill it with color.
Figure 2
Use the Selection Tool (hit the S key on your keyboard) and create a square-shaped selection
in the center of the image.
Figure 3
Under the Selections menu choose Load/Save Selections > Save Selection to Alpha Channel.
The Save Selection to Alpha dialog box appears. Go ahead and press the Save button.
Now navigate to the File menu and do a Save or Save As... and choose Truevision Targa as
the format. A warning dialog will appear that mentions saving only one alpha channel in the
image, which is what we want, so make sure to click Yes in the warning dialog.
Upload your new image to Second Life, create a box, and apply the your new image texture to
the box. Notice how the area around the colored square you created is transparent? You've
created your first texture that includes and alpha channel.
Figure 4
More information: please visit here
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417
Creating clothing
Depending on permissions settings, you may be able to modify clothing using the appearance
editor. Using paint programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photopaint, Jasc's Paintshop
Pro, or the Gimp you can create custom textures which can be used in the appearance editor
to create new clothing.
Tutorials and guides can be found on the Resource Matrix.
To get your clothing inworld, do the following:
1) If you have a custom clothing texture, open the File menu and choose Upload Image to
bring your texture into Second Life.
2) Right-click your avatar and choose Appearance.
3) Click on the tab for the clothing you wish to create (i.e. Shirt). If you're currently wearing
that type of clothing, click Take Off.
4) Click on the Create New (clothing) button.
5) Adjust the sliders until the clothing is the shape you like.
6) Drag your new clothing texture onto the Fabric box for your clothing.
7) Click on Tint and add an additional color to the entire article of clothing, if desired.
8) Add a description, and click on Save As to save your work.
- Give an object as a gift to someone:
You can send items to any resident in Second Life; they don't have to be on your Friends list,
but it does make it easier; the key is to view their profile. You can access someone's profile
several ways:
Right-click on someone in front of you and choose Profile
Use the Search window's People tab to look up their name
Once a profile is open, find the Give item field that says "Drop inventory item here" at the
bottom of the Profile window.
Click-and-drag an item from your inventory to their profile.
The cursor changes to an arrow with a plus.
Let go of the mouse button when you're ready.
You can also do this with a resident who's not online, in which case it says "User not online inventory has been saved."
If this doesn't work, the item you're trying to send may be "(no transfer)". Look next to its
name in your Inventory window to be sure.
-Create an object temporary:
Temporary objects are automatically deleted after a short time. This is great for any shortterm object you don't intend to keep. Examples include bullets from guns, physics
experiments, or test scripts that involve motion or might otherwise get away from you.
To make an object Temporary:
1) Right-click the object and choose Edit. Or press Ctrl+3 and click on the object.
2) Open the Object tab. Click More if you don't see it.
3) Click on Temporary.
-Give the permission to your parter:
Permissions let you control what other people can do with the things you create. The current
permissions involve Copy (whether someone can make copies of your work), Modify
(whether someone can change your work), and Transfer (also known as "Resell/Give Away").
If the the object is inworld (rezzed), right-click it and choose Edit, then navigate to the
General tab. If the object is in your inventory, right-click it and choose Properties.
The entries you want to change are listed under Next owner can:
Modify: Checking this lets the next owner modify your creation. Unchecking it denies any
modifications.
Copy: Checking this lets the next owner copy your creation. If they drag the object from
inventory to inworld, they will retain a copy in inventory. Unchecking it denies any copies; if
they drag the object inworld it will leave their inventory until taken back into inventory.
-Glow
Glow is a flashy tool for your special effects palette. Increasing this value creates a glowing
colored aura around the selected prim; the color is determined by the prim's color. To alter a
prim's glow setting while editing it, go to its Texture tab and set a Glow value between 0.0
and 1.0.
-To make an object “do” something:
Linden Scripting Language, also referred to as LSL, is a programming language that allows
you to add interactive behavior to any object in Second Life. For example, you can make
doors open when you click them, lights that move or flash different colors, create fire, rain, or
snow with particles, or even create an entire game itself. Learning how to write scripts will
open up creative possibilities, bringing your objects to life and making them interactive.
A script is a list of instructions that are to be executed in the order they are written. Since
these instructions are to be performed by a computer, they need to be very explicit and in a
specific format and grammar (called syntax). Learning a scripting or programming language
for the first time can be a daunting task; however, if you've used other programming or
scripting languages, you should be able to grasp LSL quickly.
Some scripting guides can be found at the LSL Portal on the Second Life Wiki and the
Resident-maintained LSL Wiki. Be sure to check the Event Calendar inworld for scripting
classes hosted by knowledgeable Residents.
More information:
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/KBList.asp?folderID=239
How do I take pictures or snapshots of things inworld?
Second Life lets you easily take screenshots of the things you do or see inworld.
These pictures can be saved to your own computer's hard drive or to your Second Life
inventory. Save as many snapshots to your hard drive as you'd like. Snapshots saved inworld
to your inventory cost L$10, just as if you uploaded a new image to Second Life.
Snapshot Preview
When first using your Snapshot Preview tool, it will appear on your screen in a condensed
version. Click on "More>>" to expand the tool options. The "More>>" button changes to say
"<<Less". Click here to hide the expanded menu.
Taking Snapshots to Inventory
1) Click on the Snapshot button. The Snapshot window soon appears with a preview of your
snapshot.
2) Select Upload a Snapshot if you wish to keep the snapshot. Your inworld balance will be
deducted L$10 and the snapshot will be saved to your inventory.
3) Select Save snapshot to hard drive if you'd rather save this snapshot to your hard drive.
4) Select Send a Postcard to send the screenshot in an email to a friend, if you want.
5) Check Show interface in snapshot if you want the chat windows, inventory, map, etc. to
be visible in your next snapshots.
6) Check Show HUD objects in snapshot if you want objects attached to your HUD to be
visible in your next snapshots.
7) Depending on the method you selected for saving your snapshot, click Send, Upload, or
Save to save your snapshot.
8) Click on Discard if you don't like this snapshot and don't wish to pay for it. The snapshot
will be discarded.
9) Click on Freezeframe for a fullscreen preview of the snapshot. Uncheck to turn off
freezeframe.
10) Select Auto-Refresh to have the snapshot image automatically refresh instead of using
the Refresh Snapshot button.
Taking Snapshots to Disk
1) Press Ctrl+'. (This is sometimes the ~ key, and is usually located next to 1 and above Tab.)
2) The Save dialog appears. Choose a location to save your snapshot(s), and the filename you
wish to use. (You won't be prompted for a file name again this Second Life session; see
below.)
3) Your file will be saved as the name you specified, with a _001 appended to the end of the
filename. If you choose the default of Snapshot.bmp, for example, the file will be saved as
Snapshot_001.bmp.
4) You can press Ctrl+` to take more snapshots; the new snapshots will be given the same
name as the previous file, with the number incremented by 1. The next snapshots in our
example would be Snapshot_002.bmp and Snapshot_003.bmp.