Some hopefully obvious, simple things :)

I have been using some of the generally wonderful SecondLife editing tools, and have a few minor suggestions.


(1). Land editing.

The land is a very bright green when edited, making it remarkably difficult to see the contour of the land until leaving the land edit function.

Perhaps a more softly shaded land edit color would be greatly useful to everyone?



(2). Effective camera controls.

a. - Upon every login I must re-enable the camera control box.

b. - Subsequently, a shockingly high percentage of my Second Life experience is spent locating that box with the mouse, repositioning the camera, and then returning the mouse to my build edit tools.

A simple checkbox option for number keypad camera controls in Preferences would not just save time but possibly enhance the Second Life experience for all but the newest residents.

For example: Key mapped 8/4/6/2 for camera rotate, 7/9/1/3 for camera pan, -/+ for camera zoom, 5 for center camera on edited item.




Altering the client interface is a serious thing - does anyone see disadvantages that I have missed? Did I simply miss how everyone else circumvents such issues?


Respectfully,

Desmond Shang

(1) I'm 95% sure there is an option to disable the artificial green coloring when you're editing land. I forget where, but there is an option to turn that off/on.

(2) Have you tried the very intuitive keyboard/mouse method of working the camera? In fact, I had no idea there was a "camera control" box until very recently. To work the camera in the most simple and basic sense, hold your <alt> key with your left thumb, then left click on the object you want to inspect (the clicked object will be the camera's focus point or pivot point.) Then move the mouse forward/back to zoom in or out and left/right to rotate the camera around that object. You can get fancy and rotate the camera up/down by holding <ctrl> while sliding the mouse back/forth.

For instance, hold <alt> and left-click your av's head. Then, move the camera left or right so the camera orbits your head until you're looking at your face. If you want something like an up-skirt shot, press <ctrl> as well, then pull your mouse back.

Ah, thank you for the reply.

I was completely unaware of a land editing color option - I shall look more closely. This would be most helpful!



With regard to <alt> and the camera key: yes, I use this extensively.

But during detail work, subsequent focal points for the camera are rarely in the field of view.

The effort required to control both editing and view with the same tool (the mouse in this case) is significant. Dual controls for world actions and views, such as found in flight simulator games, are far more immersive, intuitive, and effortless in my personal opinion.

In the ideal world, a set of four tiled views for design would be most suitable: front/side/back/perspective - but that seems to be far too much to ask.

Perhaps few are interested, and if so I withdraw my suggestion. I'll get by just fine