Second Opinion Second Life people
NOV | 2006
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The Teen Grid


Hello and welcome to a second round
of video Tips & Tricks!

Thanks graciously to each of you who commented last time. I want to clarify that for the sake of brevity, as noted in November, I didn't provide Mac-specific and international shortcuts in all cases, but the equivalents are often easy enough to work out if you watch the menus in the videos and observe what I'm doing.

This month's Tips & Tricks covers a yummy stew of:

  1. Movement keys can replace Camera Controls

  2. Space Bar can freeze your fall

  3. Make your own personal light

  4. Click actions can make your Second Life a lot easier

  5. FollowCam (most underrated feature EVER?)
Now then, enough words -- enjoy!

View the full-size video at YouTube

Additional notes:

  • To use those cool glowy lights, make sure Preferences > Graphics Detail > "Nearby local lights" is selected. If it's grayed out and you've updated your drivers sadly, your graphics card likely doesn't support it.

  • You're more than welcome to grab a free transparent texture in my texture pack at Stillman. Use 'em any way you want, they're fully permissive.

  • Also as mentioned in the video, get FREE FollowCams at Montara. If you make something awesome with FollowCam, please let me know!

  • I recorded this video using the shiny new (as of this writing) Second Life Focus Beta. That's why some of the interface elements look sleeker. Give it a spin for yourself, and send us feedback. It'll help us make SL better!

 
© 2006 Linden Research, Inc. Any personal information we collect will be used only by Linden Lab. Please see our Privacy Policy.

 

 

Name Dropping


Advanced Snapshot Magic

The more snapshots you take in Second Life, the better you'll want them to be. It's only natural after learning the basics, you'll look forward to playing with techniques which will give your pictures more breadth, depth, and ultimately make them stand out in the crowd.

Watch this video tutorial to learn more
(requires a very fast broadband connection):

Smaller streaming version on YouTube (blurrier, works on slower computers)

Direct download in MP4 video format (78 megs)

Key Points
There are some key things to remember when taking snapshots:

  • Hold down the Alt, Alt-Ctrl, and Alt-Ctrl-Shift keys while clicking-and-holding your mouse to camscan around a scene.
  • View menu > Camera Controls is another way to fine-tune your shot.
  • Also under the View menu, Ctrl-0 and Ctrl-8 zoom in and out. Ctrl-9 resets.
  • By rotating an object, sitting on it, and going into Mouselook (press M when chatbar is closed), you can take pictures at exciting angles.
  • Ctrl-Alt-D activates the Client menu with extra features, so you can take Quiet Snapshots to Disk and Disable Camera Constraints to see further away.
  • Setting up lights to enhance a scene is easy. Preferences (Ctrl-P) > Adv. Graphics tab > Nighttime Brightness will make lights stand out more in the dark.

* Note: On a Mac, Cmd is used instead of Ctrl in the above shortcuts. Cmd-Option-Shift-D is used to activate the Client menu. Refer to the menus.

Setting your Fog Distance Ratio to 10
Normally you can only set this to 4, but if you want to see further away, here's a little trick.

First, backup a copy of this file before making any changes: C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USERNAME\Application Data\SecondLife\user_settings\settings.xml

Then right-click it and open it in a text editor. Notepad will work and look for:

Next, change whatever "X" is to:

Save the file and start Second Life. When you look in your Preferences > Adv. Graphics tab, you should see a perfect 10!

Similar steps can be done on a Mac in here:
YOUR USERNAME > Library > Application Support > SecondLife > user settings > settings.xml

To Setup your Own Invisible Lights
Want to make your own invisible lights? First, pick up a free transparent texture in Stillman facing east. Just click the colorful sign. Then use it however you want! May your Second Life snapshots be superfantastic!

 

© 2006 Linden Research, Inc. Any personal information we collect will be used only by Linden Lab. Please see our Privacy Policy.

 

 

>>>>>>> 1.1 =======

Name Dropping


Advanced Snapshot Magic

The more snapshots you take in Second Life, the better you'll want them to be. It's only natural after learning the basics, you'll look forward to playing with techniques which will give your pictures more breadth, depth, and ultimately make them stand out in the crowd.

Watch this video tutorial to learn more
(requires a very fast broadband connection):

Smaller streaming version on YouTube (blurrier, works on slower computers)

Direct download in MP4 video format (78 megs)

Key Points
There are some key things to remember when taking snapshots:

  • Hold down the Alt, Alt-Ctrl, and Alt-Ctrl-Shift keys while clicking-and-holding your mouse to camscan around a scene.
  • View menu > Camera Controls is another way to fine-tune your shot.
  • Also under the View menu, Ctrl-0 and Ctrl-8 zoom in and out. Ctrl-9 resets.
  • By rotating an object, sitting on it, and going into Mouselook (press M when chatbar is closed), you can take pictures at exciting angles.
  • Ctrl-Alt-D activates the Client menu with extra features, so you can take Quiet Snapshots to Disk and Disable Camera Constraints to see further away.
  • Setting up lights to enhance a scene is easy. Preferences (Ctrl-P) > Adv. Graphics tab > Nighttime Brightness will make lights stand out more in the dark.

* Note: On a Mac, Cmd is used instead of Ctrl in the above shortcuts. Cmd-Option-Shift-D is used to activate the Client menu. Refer to the menus.

Setting your Fog Distance Ratio to 10
Normally you can only set this to 4, but if you want to see further away, here's a little trick.

First, backup a copy of this file before making any changes: C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USERNAME\Application Data\SecondLife\user_settings\settings.xml

Then right-click it and open it in a text editor. Notepad will work and look for: RenderFogRatio value="X"

Next, change whatever "X" is to: RenderFogRatio value="10"

Save the file and start Second Life. When you look in your Preferences > Adv. Graphics tab, you should see a perfect 10!

Similar steps can be done on a Mac in here:
YOUR USERNAME > Library > Application Support > SecondLife > user settings > settings.xml

To Setup your Own Invisible Lights
Want to make your own invisible lights? First, pick up a free transparent texture in Stillman facing east. Just click the colorful sign. Then use it however you want! May your Second Life snapshots be superfantastic!

 

© 2006 Linden Research, Inc. Any personal information we collect will be used only by Linden Lab. Please see our Privacy Policy.

 

 

>>>>>>> 1.4