Raw files for islands

I am considering buying an island soon and noticed that LL only do a basic 6 pack of templates/raw files. It led me to wondering whether there is someone or some people out there who are selling or offering raw files.

If not, why not?

I saw some "island starter kits" for sale at Bora Bora - all seemed to be modelled on rl islands.

Zog

I just did a search in world for 'raw files' and came back with one result. I'm pretty sure i have seen some for sale on SLX as well.

I've seen them for sale. Maybe it was on one of the shopping sites.

Here a link to a raw file editor for SL: http://www.spinmass.com/bailiwick/ .

Here's a link to an island designer who produces raw files: http://www.parisdruart.com/terrains.shtml .

Here's a link to a SL sim terrain editor: http://www.notabene-sl.com/Backhoe/ .

Another SL sim terrain editor: http://www.freeworld3d.org/ .

Zog, I remember seeing those now on a previous visit, thanks for the reminder.

Arden, thanks for that. I did search but got nothing back, probably my bad.

SuezanneC, fantastic! Many thanks.

Thanks to all of you that should be enough to crack on with for now.

The market for custom .raw files is pretty good. But in general, if you're going to get a non-standard .raw file made, you may as well get one that is exactly what you want. If you look in the developer's directory you'll find a lot of people, like me, who offer services as a "sim architect", or similar functions. We'll get your requirements and generate a .raw file that is just what you want. That service usually also includes manual fine-tuning after upload, to smooth out any odd glitches that might show up. Prices vary from one provider to the next, depending on how big their staff is and how well their skills stack up.

I've considered preparing an inventory of "off the shelf" .raw files. But unless you have at least a spare Openspaces sim handy to test and fine-tune the file with, it's difficult to prepare a quality product. I'm negotiating now with the owner of a large collection of sims, who tentatively offered me an OpenSpaces sim to use as a test-bed for preparing new .raw files. So I may offer the off-the-shelf files soon.

Also, please note that .raw files are only useful for private sim owners. LL won't allow Mainland property owners to upload or save .raw files, even if they own the whole region.

Re. the six 'standard' templates - I've only seen five of them. There's the four island types, and then the fifth one is the default for openspace which is actually just empty water and no land. What's the sixth one?

BTW when you order an island, you only get to choose from options 1 through 4... you can't select the empty water choice and I didn't see any way to send them a RAW file to use for the creation.

I have an island on order and while I'm waiting (impatiently) I've been designing my own RAW file using a program called Backhoe. It's not bad, kind of basic, but you really can't get a full feel of how it's going to look till you're in SL looking at it.

-Atashi

Once you have your island you can download and upload RAW files to your heart's content.

For mine I then used Paint Shop Pro to edit the height channel (it's just greyscale) this gave the basic island shape then went in with terrain editor in world to put the finishing touches.

There's quicker ways (see above) but this did the job at very little cost.

Stock options 1 through 4 are single-sim designs. Options 5 and 6 are for a 4-sim cluster of full-purpose sims. Sets of 4 OpenSpaces sims are usually delivered as flat sea bottom, but can also be specified as any of the 6 templates when you place your order.

I use Photoshop to hand-paint the greyscales for my .raw files, and then I use Backhoe to insert that into a new .raw file and get a rough preview of the result. I also use Backhoe to set the water plane height and to set the multiply layer value in the.raw file. I don't care for the actual terrain editing tools in Backhoe, however. They do too much, too fast. No fine control.

That comes out of the knowledge base I think, right? But what is option 6? In the knoweledge base you can download the RAW files for island types 1 through 4, plus the flat sea bottom which I assume to be 'option 5'. I've not seen the elusive option 6 though... and you can't use the land store to order open space sims as far as I know, I think you have to do that by calling or contacting the concierge team directly.

Ah well, just one of those mysteries I guess

I fully agree with you about Backhoe's indelicate terrain editing... it's useful for some things, not useful for others. I have tried editing the height layer in other graphics programs but I don't have the skills at the moment, to do it well. So I combine the rough work in Backhoe then fine tune inworld.

-Atashi

I can't find pictures of them on the SL website any more, but in the land FAQ they mention that templates 5 and 6 are "special 4-region islands". As I recall, 5 has a central mountain peak at the center of the 4 sims, while 6 was shaped more like an atol, with a lake at the center where the 4 sims meet. Obviously, you must purchase 4 sims at once, arranged in a square, to order templates 5 or 6 as your new sim's terrain file.

Cool! Thanks for solving that mystery for me, Ceera!

-Atashi