A Question About Sandboxes

Hi everyone,

I am very new to SL and am still in the discovery period of what all SL has to offer. It looks good to me so far but I had an encounter with someone yesterday that I would like some clarification on.

I invited two friends to SL, who I've been playing SWG with for the past year, and after showing them the Ivory Tower and all its tutorials, (which are excellent!), we teleported to one of the two Ivory Sandboxes. There was a group of three people there in a clear structure they had built and my two friends were close to them just checking out the structure and basically watching what they were doing. All of a sudden they begin harrassing us and telling us to get away from there in not so pleasant language. I appologied for any intrusion explaining that we were all new and were only curious. They were furious about us being there and threatened to report us for harrassment. I again appologised and asked if we could practice building small objects in one corner of the sandbox. They reluctantly agreed as long as we didn't interfere with their business and stayed away from them. Apparently they were doing a photo shoot being so called'supermodels' and all. I have their names but am withholding them from this post.

Ok, to the point. Aren't the two Ivory Tower Sandboxes public sandboxes to be used by anyone for practicing building techniques? If so, what right did they have to use it for their personal business and basically smack new players down just for being there? They built their structure right on the teleport point so we all just dropped in on them unintentionally. I would really like to know if we were in the wrong as to not make the mistake again.

Thanks for lending an ear... Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Brig

hi brig, well you've already had the unpleasant realization that some people in SL are wonderful and some.... are not. That's the reality of having humans behind all these pixels walking around.

doesn't sound like you did anything wrong, rather it sounds like they thought they could make a sandbox a private free workspace just by trying to bully.

If someone is building in a public sandbox, they should expect others to come check out their work, so at face value it doesn't sound like you did anything wrong or rude. If someone asks you to give them some space and there is plenty of room in the sandbox, it's only polite to give them room. On a separate note (doesn't sound like this was involved here), sandbox etiquette is that if someone is building, you don't start building right on top of them.

If you are building in a sandbox, and someone acts like a jerk, just ignore them. If they try to push you, just sit down. Most griefers get bored. If they don't, then pick up and teleport to another sandbox (if you are in cordova, go to morris or island, etc)

on the positive side, you can meet some really interesting, creative people in a sandbox
good luck!

There is a sandbox at The Learning Center in Mauve that has a great group of regulars.

hi brig. sorry that had to be one of your first experiences. i love the ivory tower sandbox because it's usually empty. don't let the actions of a few foolish people deter you.

Welcome to Second Life Brig! I have been here for over a year and I am still in the discovery period too!

Please don't allow an experience like this to discourage you. As is real life, Second Life is full of all types of people. I think you will find most residents here to be very friendly and helpful.

Sandboxes are a great place to explore, learn and make friends. Nobody should expect privacy in a sandbox, and I am not really sure it's the right place for a "supermodel" photoshoot. That being said, no matter where you are, if you are going to float around and observe somebody, it's usually a good idea to introduce yourself and ask if that is okay.

Brig, don't forget that there are lots of public sandboxes for you to play in. If you happen to encounter an unfriendly group in one sandbox and want to avoid the hassle, just collect what you are working on and move to another. I know, it sucks to have to give in to bullies. But sometimes you just want to work, ya know?

If you ever need help or want a few building tips, please feel free to IM me in-world. I would be more than happy to show you a few things.

You see, unlike the boneheads you encountered yesterday, I am a bit of a prim "exhibitionist" ... I love to show new players a few tricks and get them as excited as I am about Second Life!

Thx everyone for the welsome and encouraging words! Due to yesterdays encounter I don't believe one of my friends will be returning. I'm still working on him though. SL is unique amongst the games I've been looking at and of course you will find all types of people playing any of them so I'm not deterred in the least. As for building, don't be surprised if I do call on you, Persephone... I have been doing quite a bit of testing and manipulating of basic prims so I am almost to the point where I will need guidance on intermediate building. I do have some xp in making items using HL Hammer. I'm just getting used to the tools in SL. Two differences between Hammer and SL is Hammer allows you to cut objects in any way you want and scale up/down. I'm not sure if SL has those options. The MOST unique difference between SL and all other building software is that in SL you build objects ingame while the others require you to use other software then compile and import into the game. SL is WAY COOL!

Anyway, Thx again. You all have been an inspiration to me.

Brig

Brig,

Let me add my "Welcome" to the pile...
and assure you that what happened to you in the Sandbox is, thankfully, no a common accorrence... at least I haven't encountered it yet...

As for the scaling question, the tools that I have found thus far allow scaling in one of two ways...

Stretching: If, while you are in edit mode for your desired object, you hold down Ctrl-Shift, it puts you into stretch mode... if your object is a single prim, you can actually stretch or squash one of the three dimensions separate from the rest...Simply left-click and drag one of the poles (Red/Blue/Green) and move it in the directionof the desired stretch. Otherwise, you L-Click-Drag any of the white corner points to scale proportionally in all dimensions. There is a checkbox for "Stretch both sides" that can be selected or not according to your current need.

If the selected object is a compound object (made of multiple prims), then the only option is full proportional scaling. No single dimensional manipulation. Though you can adjust single prims in a compund object as usual by checking "Edit selected prim" in the edit options window.

By the Numbers: In the edit options window, you can actually adjust the size numbers of a prim directly. This way is more finely controlled, but also more tedious... I usually use the stretch points for gross manipulation, and then the numbers for fine tuning the prims one by one until they are just right.

The Ivory Tower has a full Tutorial on building, and I think the scaling is addressed in there., but it's been a while since I was there, and I have learned a lot of stuff on my own since then.

If you want help with modeling anything, especially for creating organic shapes and curves, IM me in world and I will be happy to help. I find that I pretty good at pushing prims together. Now if I could just get a handle on articulation...

I look forward to it ... and bring your friend back for one more try ... we can fix his impressions and get him hooked on Second Life in no time!

Thx to you both! I will reinvite my friend and find an empty sandbox this time so no distractions...

Alain, I may have used the wrong term when I said scaling. I'm familiar with the stretching (but thx for the ctrl+shift, didn't know that one). What I was referring to was the grid size. I find it easier to piece prims together if the grid size is smaller since there is less room for error working closer to the seams. I guess my question is what is the easiest way to get prims to butt up against each other without a gap, or too much of one? Thx.

This may sound crazy but I've had really great welcome here in the forums, moreso than ingame...lol Well, truthfully I haven't met that many people ingame and I've been concentrating mostly on building, but everyone here in the forums have been really helpful and forthcoming with any questions I've had. I'm always skeptical when I'm new to a community like this since there are always those who want to take advantage of the new guy. I've seen it a lot in SWG but so far, except for that one sandbox incident, a lot of folks have been offering to help me with my ingame needs and that is so commendable. I am looking forward to my Second Life and what adventures/friendships it may bring.

Brig

Brig...

There is a "Snap to grid" option in the builder's menu...
and you can set the gridsize in the options menu.

IM me inworld and I can show you easier than I can describe across the lines...

Buggs Bunny rawks.

-Ghoti

To align prims of the same type without a gap, for example to make a larger floor, i find the "copy selection" mode very useful. (Select the prim you want to copy, check "copy selection" and "center copy" in the "Create" menu, then touch one face of the highlighted prim. A copy will be rezzed, adjacent to the original prim at the face you touched.) Or just go by the numbers and have a pocket calculator handy, sometimes that's the easiest way

Thx a bunch Jackal and everyone else! I am learning a lot from you all and from ingame friends I met last night.

Many thx Alain Talamasca for showing me a really cool, easy way of creating an organic structure and for introducing me to some cool peeps ingame.

Ghoti, hehe I was wondering if anyone would pick up on that. -Looney Toons RULE!!!

Well, back to building practice...

Brig