Is anyone using SL to test RL building ideas?

I occurred to me after I built a bed here that SL would be a fabulous place to do 3D modeling of RL projects you wanted to build. And not just objects. I'm actually better with a sewing machine than a graphics package... I've got a couple of RL clothing projects grabbed out of SL. And when I get back to the States and have an apt to furnish again... there's this bed .. and no need for pose balls!!

Actually Surreal for me its a reverse.

RL I engineer furniture for a living thus I dont do it in SL because it would be too easy for me to recreate RL Items

hence why I love the obscure..

Shadow

Actually, yes I have. I've used SL in the past to test the scripting/coding involved, as well as applications, of a few programs I may eventually be hired to write.

Actually, that 3D importer I wrote was the upshot of that. Friend of mine would like to hire me for a secret project along those lines. How that relates to RL, well... if it works, it'll be interesting.

I'm a first timer to retail design, so SL is a perfect place for me to try out my ideas before I start moving heavy fixtures around.

It will be a little tough though, because the scale is so much bigger in SL. Aisles that have plenty of room in RL will seem tiny in here by comparison.

I've used it to figure out how my apartment would look with the furniture moved.

I built a model of my RL house to see how it would look with a room addition.

I know that http://www.spacethinkdream.com had done that accidentally (I think). Someone who I'd love to name complementarily had created something in world that was so cool that they used it as a prototype for an RL construction.

I built a model of some wacky L shaped shelves my gf wanted.

I believe we have several RL building architects in game; I know some of them have done stunning layouts of builds with blueprints before deployment into SL. I wonder if they've ever gone the other direction, or a hybrid of the two?

-Flip

heh is furniture engineer the glorified title for carpenter of furniture builder? I guess thats like the title for garbage man is sanitation manager.

No, I've got better modeling tools for my RL job. I use SL to make things I'd never be able to build on Earth.

Someway, we may have 3D printers that are in the same price range as today's household inkjets, and be able to print out scale models of out SL creations -- and obviously, by then, the state of primology in SL will have advanced by leaps, bounds, and perhaps even a skip + hop.

It would be cool to make some toys!

Acutally Billy its a very Limited Profession offered in one School in the world.

I dont build cabinents,
I dont construct out houses and I dont futz with the saturday morning New Yankee work shop projects.

A Furniture Engineer Takes a simple Design drawing and transforms it into the Armoire/Couch/Bed/Night Stand and any other household article that you may purchase from names such as Henredon/Thomasville/Lane/Lazyboy/Kincaid/Broyhill/Maitlen Smith/Baker/Century/Pensylvania House/Saunder and a multitude of other Manufactures.

In the Transformation process this detail has to be broken down part by part and detailed instructions giving to a manufacturing environment as how to process the materials to obtain the finish product.

What would take your average handy man to create in 2-3 working days via normal carpentry tools I can through engineering manufacturing processes produce 500x as many in the same time interval.

Currently there are less than 150 Funiture Engineers in the world of those 150 they are resposible for 99% of the furniture you see in homes today purchased through a retail store or outlet. Of those 150..12 are responsible for High end furniture production with articles of furniture ranging upwards in the 25,000 per piece price range.

So no Im not a carpenter, Im not a cabinet Maker and I dont do handyman shit.

Shadow Weaver

*raises her right eyebrow, then her left one, then her right one, then her left one, then her right one, then her left one ... *

You mean there's only 150 people who make ... or figure out ... or whatever you guys do? How RICH are you guys? Wow.

I gotta get me one of those professions!

im still confused. lol so you make the models to be mass produced? could you make me something and ship it to me?

Torley, some months ago someone floated the idea of producing one-off 3-D models of people's SL avatars. These were to be produced from one of these 3-D printers, and if I remember correctly, painted or colored correctly. Several hundred dollars for a mini-Torley, but for some who are very passionate about their SL experience or always wanted to be an action figure, a very cool souvenir.

No Billy I dont make models anymore I tell people how to make them by giving them the complete set of specifications that I set on how to make it.

But for $5000 US Currency I can design you something that you can put into a little shop and manufacture yourself and guarentee if you follow my specifications it will produce a useable product that will withstand Federal tolerances and guidelines for Furniture production.

The Information would contain Moisture content specifications for each part.
Glue specifications per joint application and viscosity rating for each point of contact.
Screw and Staple information as per size and placement of each.
Sanding specifications to include which sand paper to use what grit and what manufacturer of Sand paper is best used for furniture application.
Full set of Details being 1 to 1 drawings to match the parts too.
Bill of Materials-generally 50-250 pages of line by line instructions on how to manufacture each part.
Species specifications sheets so you can order the wood material you need to manufacture it with.
Vendor information for parts not covered through standard manufacture such as Drawer pulls, CD Trays, Hinges, Levelers, Drawer Guides.
Complete detailed assembly Instructions to include hardware application.
Complete Finishing specifcations to include which finishing step process to use.
Complete Cartoning Information that will Pass ISTA Shipping Standards.
Complete Cartoning Materials list and the Manufacturers to order them from based on myspecifications.
And Lastly Machines needed to Manufacture

...unfortunately I dont think you have 1.9 million dollars to set up a Mini manufacturing facility that could effectively produce something I am speaking of let alone the "SKILLED" employees it would take to follow an industry standard bill of materials to produce the product.

Oh yeah and we havent even touched on warehousing requirements but thats another 5k US for that information.

But hey Billy if you got that kinda Money to blow then you can pay my salary as well to come work for you and get you started in the furniture industy.

Sincerely, Shadow

LOL just wittle me a throne =) and i try not to associate myself with manual labor =\ who makes the specifications for that tacky particle board stuff they make now days?

Lo I wish we were rich the manufacturing end gets the shaft when it comes to the money coming in. Now the Merchandisers and Sales people those are the ones making a Killing.

Just remember this the next time you go to your local furniture store to buy a piece of furniture. its a 350% mark up so basicaly devide that price by 3.5 and you will have what it costs to manufacture through the plant.

Shadow

jeebus there isnt even that big of a mark up on hand made.. atleast its justified.

I have used it to model a change I was going to do for our kitchen.

I have some concerns though.. It doesn't feel like everything is to scale. I tried reducing the size of my avatar, but no go.

Any ideas?

get the measuring stick from someone =)

Yes....I'm a construction manager and I've actually worked out some steel shop drawings to see if they should be altered before we started work...it worked out better than I had hoped.

I've also done some scale work on certain aspects of a job

Blaze calculate a Dimensional exchange to compensate for the cameras of about 1.3875 this increase in size should be enough to accomodate the realism needed for SL.

Ie if its 1 meter make it 1.3875 meters this was a fair balence exchange I figured out during beta and should still hold true today.

Shadow

I haven't used SL for help in rearranging my apartment, yet. But next time I move I probably will.

I've always thought that one potential commercial use of SL was in "showing" apartments or housing. In many cases of course, it would just be easier to tour the place in RL, but in markets where you are building from scratch (log cabin kits, custom built homes), I've thought SL could provide value for clients. Of course for the high end stuff, there probably is a dedicated application for it, needless to say I'm not in the market for a custom-built $5 million house at the moment.