Avatar Rendering Cost: Change Your Habits?

I find it interesting that during the numerous crashing, lagging, assets, TP, IM problems that LL comes out with some faulty 'tool' that allows avs to start pointing fingers at each other and detracts from LL. Jus wonderin ya know

LMAO you're quite the extortionist hmmm? I like your style.

Kinda makes me nostalgic for the "Broadly Offensive/Rat out your Neighbor " days.

no doub t hehe

Now we can say "Your ARC is broadly offensive."

GENIOUS!!! \(^_^)/ I'm sooo using that tonight! (^_^)y

My favorite avi comes with an ARC of over 12,000. I won't be wearing that one when lag is an issue. I am definitely conscious of my ARC now that we have the new tool. I have a hard time getting my ARC out of the red and still feel good about the way I look. My male alt can get it down to 1 and not look like a complete noob.

How I will act if asked to reduce my ARC will depend on the circumstances. If it's just a control freak or some already laggy club, I will leave and probably not return. If it's a popular event with high attendance, I would try to reduce it or politely agree to leave. I don't see this as an individual rights issue as much as trying to provide a quality experience for all involved. It's not always about me.

I think low ARC prim-wear will be in higher demand, and those that can create it while maintaining quality will have a better chance to prosper in SL.

One thing for sure, you won't find me complaining about LL and how crummy the SL experience is and then refusing to reduce my ARC. Sometimes your experience is what you make it.

If it helps, you need a new video card. Not seen this since I upgraded.



Nope, for some kinds of characters it CANNOT be done (1018-25 ARC With nothing but head, feet and tail attached), so for me it is NOT possible to cut down without looking like an OI noob in a freebie outfit, so please qualify your 'it CAN be done without' to 'For some avatars, it can be done'.

As far as trying to cut back, I don't intend to. I will not give the pinheaded Linden who came up with this distraction (not to mention the fanboy legions running around pointing out arcs ingame) the satisfaction of changing.

When I complained 'lag' I meant the network lag that showed as nearly a full second under stats, the constantly slow asset server, etc. -- NOT framerate lost when someone is in visual range. Per usual, LL heard what they wanted to hear and took the 'easy route' to fixing 'lag'....shuffle the blame to player AV's and throw in unwanted features to make it easier to scapegoat. I for one, am not playing that game.

Alpha counts per face not per prim, just in case it's not a typo .

I suspect you're incorrect here, but it depends on whether alpha sorting algorithms ignore totally clear textures.

I find it interesting that many people who rant about poor SL performance are unwilling to make compromises on the things that cause poor performance.

The problem is, SL content is user created. LL doesn't limit much what we can build and wear, while what we build and wear has a huge impact on performance. Makers tend to make, and wearers tend to wear, whatever they can that doesn't make their performance obviously suffer when they wear it. Put a number of high-ARC avs together, and it's a recipe for a disaster. This will be true REGARDLESS of how efficient LL makes the SL client! The faster they make it, the more stuff we'll layer on, for the obvious and straightforward reason that it looks good, we like it, and it seems to work fine (when we're not in a crowd).

So we can't blame LL for the lag problem caused by avatar attachments. The only way they could solve this problem would be to limit the number of prims you can wear, or some such. Frankly, I prefer the approach of giving us info and letting us take rational action if we so choose.

I should do that with my alt....

As a maker, it will definitely affect my designs. As a jeweler, I've often wondered about the ramifications. Now I'll have a tool to help estimate the rendering cost of my creations. I think that's great!

I think it's great that we can see everyone's ARC. It's nice to be able to see who's pissing in the pool.

I understand the position of those who have avatars where a high ARC is currently essential to their avatar appearance. I feel for the poor furries here. I have a bit less sympathy for those who simply choose to look how they look and to hell with the consequences, "Let everyone else suffer for my beauty". I suspect that in most cases, there are lower-ARC alternatives. For anyone who has searched diligently for one and isn't able, I applaud the effort and pray for faster video cards.

Right! I hope that this is how most people will respond -- it's really the best we can expect. I also hope that people who are tempted to be ARC police keep this mentality in mind. They can easily do more harm than good by being oversimplistic in their policies and applications, or offensive in their actions.

I know of a popular club that is laggy as hell due to the overly complex build (Ceera would puke, I'm sure!) They have a strict "no bling" policy. Frankly, it's simply ignorant. Anyone who doesn't want the lag (or clutter) caused by bling can easily turn it off in their client. OMG, that makes the (annoying) bling built into the venu disappear! Horrors!

The goal here should be to encourage cooperation. No doubt there will be abuses. Well, if a venue's management is abusive, I'll vote with my feet and move on.

somehow the comment 'pissing in the pool' sounds like Arc Nazism. I wont change, I was given, and still retain the tools LL gave me for building. When they step forward and limit those then I will act. I refuse to take part in any form of finger pointing.

Actually, I hope I'm incorrect too. But, testing this makes it appear that I'm not.



I never said I wouldn't compromise and I do try to wear lower ARC things if I know the place is going to be crowded. But there is only so far I am willing to go with that.



That is exactly the kind of attitude that will get someone on my mute list in a really big hurry.

I went to an event the other night where there were over 40 avatars and I think I was the lowest ARC there at 1700. Most were well over 2500 and some were, well, a LOT higher than that. And one was sporting head to toe, full intensity, high radius body lights that washed out everything within a 20 meter radius.

Rather than standing there complaining about who was "pissing in the pool", I turned down my draw distance, killed my water and sky shaders (couldn't see the water or sky anyway), turned off local lighting (took care of the body lights) and enjoyed the evening with a reasonable 20 - 25 frame rate.

I have fun goofing around with it when I should be doing more important things.

666 - the ARC of the beast? (not far from my typical 630!)

how about 1337?

I'm a firm believer you should only see your ARC and not others simply from the witch hunt mentality some have shown in the forums and in world

am I going to change my avatars and appearance?

Not much, may not wear certain outfits (don't wear them all that often anyway) much

My avatars tend to push a little higher than most, but that is a price for being something different in SL



I've created low ARC lag monsters... max linked prims, all attachments... no textures...


The tool needs work before it can be considered a tool

Tempting... Full body claw avatar... Tortured toruses all around. (=_=) .... 255 prims per attach, or per avatar? (^_^)y

per attachment slot

/me agrees, though it sounds more like there are conditions where it under-reports ARC instead of ones where it over-reports.

Or, except for ARC possibly counting 100% transparent textures which the rendering code may or may not be smart enough to ignore, are there cases that it reports a higher number than it shout?

The easy answer.... Yes. (^_^)

That's why it's only in the RC for now. It's extremely flawed and too easy to mis-interpret. It's an okay 'step-1' for a feature that may be meaningful, but, has so many errors and exploits that it's hard to take seriously so far. (=_=)

I still consider it a griefing tool at best. (^_^)y

It does need work (take prim count, prim type and texture sizes into account), but it needs a big disclaimer and explanation as well.

Is a 400 ARC attachment "better" than a 1200 one? If the 400 has 200 flexi prims and then 1200 no flexi prims but lots of alpha, I know which one my puter will choke on and it won't be the high ARC one.

Given how people are already trying to assign meaning to an inherent meaningless number (in the sense that the total is somewhat indicative but it doesn't lend itself to comparison per avie, let alone per attachment) it would be better if it just showed "low", "medium" and "high" instead of a number.

As far as "it's useful for building" goes, it just isn't. You'll get a more efficient creation just following general guidelines than building to ARC/shame.

I switched to ZHAO A.O. instead of Wet Ikon to save something like 500 ARC points. The behavior is the identical as far as i can tell, but the ZHAO is worn on the HUD instead of on your hip (or wherever). I believe the animated textures on the WET IKON to make it look like an MP3 player were responsible for the ARC increase. I usually wore it in such a way that you couldn't see it. (and what are you doin' lookin' at my bum anyway?!?)

Avatar is under 500 ARC even with sneakers, hair, and several animation attachments. so i'm happy with that.

People still use Ikon? (o.o)