Second Life Tips – Profile Pictures Sizes

Just a reminder as I get asked about this often:

Profile Picture First page – 512 x 512 pixels

Picks Pages Pictures -  768w 512h pixels

You can elimate that squashed effect by using these sizes.

A Scupltie Shoe Fix

Sometimes when you zoom out on sculpty shoes you may see some skin showing through, what a unsightly pain!! I just love sculptie shoes too!

Here is what you can do, I did it and it does work.  Go to the top tool bar to Advanced/Debug SETTINGS/ scroll down the list  and find Render Volume LOD Factor, then change the value to 4.000

Tip courtesy of Lestat Reuven.  Thank you Lestat!

Second Life Tip #8 Profile Pictures

If you resize your profile pictures to 768w and 512h, you can avoid that stretched look that you get with a 512w 512h picture.  You can save a picture from Second Life when you take it by picking the Snapshot to Disk option rather than Take a Snapshot from the File menu drop down at the top of your screen.  Open your picture in your favorite graphics program and resize it.  I like to sharpen it slightly too to make it more clear to see. You can jazz it up a bit too by adding text, if you like.

If you took a picture using a photo booth in Second Life, you can resize it too by opening the photo on your screen and pick Save Texture As from the File menu drop down at the top of your screen.  Once saved to your hard drive you can resize it as you would one you took yourself.

Second Life Tip #7 Emoting

You can type anything you would like to express with the /me emote command in Second Life like /me laughs. would then say Laurelyne Laville laughs. on my screen. Get creative with it and you can do lots of things like one I use very often on Del /me playfully ruffles your sexy chest hair.

Second Life Tip #6 – SL’ang Life Magazine

Did you know you can get a totally free Second Life magazine delivered right to your real home? Go to http://www.slanglife.com/ and fill in your address and it comes once a month enclosed safe in a black plastic bag from Poland. I’ve gotten it for two months now and it has news on events in Second Life, places to go and interviews.  It is printed in English, if you can read that language then you are all set. The magazine is very professionally done, you won’t believe it is free.  They are shooting for a a subscriber base of 400,000 by the end of the year and the more subscribers the better the magazine they can put out.

You can read your issue then pass it on to a RL friend.  It’s really nice to explain what Second Life is all about to someone who might not otherwise understand what you are up to tapping away at your keyboard. Enjoy!

More on Buying Dances in Second Life

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Brightown/223/139/33/

I was surprised today by Dave Bellman of Animazoo Animations. He had come across my post about buying dances in Second Life and sent me a thank you gift of some of his new dances. Ooooo a freebie and I didn’t even have to beg or whine to get it! That’s the best kind! So I went back over there and bought still another one of his dances for my Chimera because I’m not really a freeloader and I wanted more of his dances anyway. Yea, my Chimera is quite spoiled. Dave’s new line of dances is Burlesque and they are quite nice with his normal fluid & natural quality of his other dances.  I bought one of his Chevvie dances, which I don’t know what Chevvie is but they are a good club dance for guys or girls thus a good addition to my Chimera.  I do like how he has grouped his dances as to style because then when you find a dance you like…others you will also like are right there in the circle. Be sure to turn off or remove any AO you are wearing when trying the dances on the dance pads or you will just sit…not dance. At Sinewave, you have to work your way down a line and the dances can vary a lot so it makes it a bit harder to select ones you want to buy in that visit or return to find more. 

Dave also has dance balls for clubs which would be a great way to bring some of his great dances to your Second Life venue. Not everyone has a Chimera or Dance Hud so tend to flock to places that have good dances already available…those freebie dances just don’t cut it.  You can buy Dance Huds from Animazoo as well that work like a Chimera does only cheaper.  He has quality AOs, gestures and other animations to bring your avatar to life.  On this visit, I also noticed some dance packs which can really save you some Lindens if you are buying multiple dances at one time.  Still more dances I want from Animazoo so I will be back again. Thanks Dave for the thank you gift.  It wasn’t expected at all which made it more of a surprise and thank you for making some of the best dances in Second Life.  I hope you have many more in the works!

You can see the new Animazoo Burlesque dances here in the video. Dave sent me all of the dances in the video to try out. Won’t Del be surprised! *laughs*

New Avatars for Newbies

Newbies to Second Life can now pick from a range of less obvious newbie looking avatars.  You can read more about it and see pictures of the new avatars.  http://fabfree.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/new-freebie-avatars-in-your-library/ Nice job on these and they came from avatar designer residents! You can find these new avatars in your Library folder of your inventory.

Slow Radio Url For Your Second Life Land

Someone asked yesterday what the url was for Slow Radio that is used in many SL dancing venues so I thought I would post it here in case anyone else needed it. http://82.94.204.111:80  put that in your media tab on your land and you have Slow Radio! Del and I prefer The Heart http://mp3uplink.duplexfx.com:8006 in case you want to try that one too and see which you prefer.

Buying Dances in Second Life

Once you have tired of the generic dance balls and dance bracelets it is time to move up to a Chimera or maybe a Dance Hud.  I use a Chimera myself so if you see me out dancing somewhere you can click on the top of my head to join in.   Chimeras are 800L from Owenimations which is considered one of the better Chimeras in Second Life.  The SL Exchange has some Chimeras even cheaper if you do a search for Chimera on their marketplace.  http://www.slexchange.com

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hiaka/145/170/28/

Once you have your Chimera or Dance Hud, you will want to load it up with some of the hottest dances.  Try Sine Wave for a wide variety of very realistic dances both both men and women.  Most of my better dances have come from here. You will want them all! Guys dances form one long line on the island and girls on the other side with some specialty dances in between.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sine%20Wave%20Island/87/136/22/

Another hot place to buy dances from is Animazoo. I bought two from here to try and they as fluid and as original as my Sine Wave collection.  You can find some of the hip hop dances here that are hard to find elsewhere.  I’m not a big fan of Hip Hop….*whispers* hate it *whispers* but I know it is beloved by others. Guys in particular seem to look smoother doing this dance style than girls do in my opinion.  Other dances here too like belly dancing, nod and sway and many others.  The dances are grouped in styles which makes shopping easier. 

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Brightown/193/94/33/

Buying dances can easily eat lots of Lindens up quickly so your best bet is to try a few and add a few more when you get bored of what you have.  I think I have about 30 or more dances myself loaded in my Chimera. 

If you know more places to get quality dances in Second Life, drop a comment on this thread or to give your opinion on which place has the best dances overall.

Second Life Tip #5 – Unpacking Boxes Without a Sandbox

For those without land or maybe you don’t want to teleport home right away but still wear something you just bought, there is a way to unpack those boxes from shopping without having to teleport to a sandbox.  Just select wear the object, it will then show on your hand and you can then open it from that location to unpack the box.  Just detach the box then when you finish.  *smiles*  Smart…very smart!