partial-build etiquette

HAHAHA w00t w00t Jesse!

SCORE!!!

When I build, I normally change the plywood texture to the "blank" texture or I quickly add a 256x256 cute image to it with "please pardon our appearance while building" on one of the pieces. I haven't had any complaints about my building.

lol

I had a partially-built plywood thing next to me for about 7 or 8 months - someone left for good. Although plywood wasn't the best thing to look at it didn't demand any headspace like words or pictures would. Anything would've been tiresome for that length of time, but something textured "Pardon Our Mess - Under Construction!" with a picture of kittens in hardhats would've been far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far worse.

I never minded neighbors using the default texture while a build is in progress. It only gets to be an eyesore for me when it's a build that stays half-done for months on end, and you realize the owner is probably never coming back for it.

I do like the idea of scaffolding and other construction trappings, though. Gets the message across with a touch of humor and realism.

I couldn't find any pictures of kittens in hardhats, but how about this? (If I wasn't feeling so lazy at the moment, I'd write 'Sowwy about da mess!' across it in cutesy lettering.)

Why not texture it with that system default cloudy texture that is applied to everything when the asset server is bogged? Then folks flying by would just think it is rezzing slowly and not be bothered by it. We're all used to slow-rezzing by now. =)

You actually need a script to make that effect show up, but you raise an interesting point.

Unless you're like me, and you stop to stare at it when you realize it's the only thing whose textures don't seem to be loading. o.o

Did that in a neighbor's build once, when they somehow managed to texture their windows with a cloudy texture very similar to the loading one used by the system. I couldn't stop looking at it!

I have a texture in my inventory that looks very much like 'un-rezzed'. It's just called Smoke. I'll drop it on you next time I'm in world.

When i built my area of miramare i just built the foundation in Miramare and took it off sight for actual construction. Miramare is kinda laggy for building (for me at least) also the little shops I own get a pretty steady flow of customers so i didnt want to take it all down and not have anything back up for awhile.

it worked well for me, plus its a little more private and less distractions, you can work at your own pace with out inconveicing others.

i'm truly honored! i can't recall the last time i saw something moved from Off Topic to General! /bow

*ahem*

back to the thread..

Barnesworth, i had considered going and throwing everything together in a sandbox, but figured it'd be just as laggy.. if not more. especially under current conditions. i'll try to build in steps that look decent though. what you currently see should, in theory, end up being simply a basic form which will be slwoly replaced with prim-crafted and textured pieces to complete a groovy build. ..hopefully

and i hear those saying that plywood is cool because it's denotes construction is underway. i also hear the part about "if it's not untouched for months" and that's where my original dilemma lay. ask Marcos or Barnesworth about how quickly i build.. lol.

in the interim, i'm planning on switching from black to something more neutral.. avoiding textures that would eat up more loading time. so probably just "Blank" texture with a grey color of some shade or another.

I use the untextured gray approach myself. hehe. A bad habit from 3D modeling software.

Personally I just have patience with them, plywood textures or not. In fact I tend to leave my builds as default plywood until I've pretty much finished the structure. At which point I'll add the neon

But seriously, most people have enough trouble and strife building anyway, so just have a little patience. I've always found the default plywood quite easy to match up with as well, which is another reason I use it.

It can also be really difficult to link large and/or prim heavy builds to take them into inventory. I have one particular build in my inventory that I never actually got around to texturing. Now, because of bugs in SL, if I rez it and move it all up or down, lots of the prims don't move up or down the right amount (because it's not all linked) and it's a pig to re-align. That's why it's stayed in my inventory never to see the light of day again!

Hey Cybin,

What I do is build in the sky on my sky platform, sometimes I will also just take it after I link it all, just depends on how big it is.

When I was building my Tower, I had a construction sign and a crane up. On the other hand, I had plywood textures, too. To me, that's what plywood is for ... incompleteness.

Anything you replace it with as a default will eventually seem just as annoying, and I can certainly think of MUCH MUCH worse alternatives (caution stripes? caution stripes EVERYWHERE?)

At least it's better than the grey semi-transparent blur of incomplete rezzing...

My build "Heatsync" in Patatgonia has been a work in progress for too long now. I'm thinking of tearing it down. I managed to get around the no suitable texture blues by using black and grey.

And this would be different from typical navigation in what way?

Even thinking about it is terribly considerate of you, but I don't think there is an optimal solution. As most of the grid is always under some form of constuction, I wouldn't fret about it too much. Or, you could always texture the whole thing with political slogans, the odder the better. I've attached an example for your use.

Cybin, you can be sure that your unfinished build will offend me less if you make it shiny.

It's not that big of a deal, really. I appreciate your worrying about our artistic sensibilities.