Navigating - Am I missing something?

Is there some sort of trick to navigating? Is mouse and keyboard the way to go? I have been working at it, but simple things like turning myself around so that when I edit my appearance I see my face, are cumbersome and difficult. And hey, people walk in to me. And hey, I always walk in to people. And why do I keep ending up in the water? lol.

It seems like I push the forward arrow, and I don't go straight, or I push it a couple of times and I don't see it move that many times so I push it more, and then I end up going way more forward than I wanted.

I am just confused how I am supposed to master this as a basic skill, and get down gestures and other stuff.

Any tips?

Thanks!

Go to View > Camera Controls. It will make your life considerably easier

Takes some getting used to but being able to see your face when you want to makes it all worth it

Sounds like you know how to move, just dealing with lag. If you push the forward arrow, just wait a little and you should move. This sorta thing happens to me all the time, it's just a matter of finding a non-laggy sim, and figuring out how long lag will make you wait before moving, and compensating for it.

Edit: The above advice is also sound, although lag will mess with the camera controls as well.

Hold the Alt button down and left click and hold to move the camera around. Easiest way for me to move the camera. A hell of a lot easier than camera controls in my opinion but they have their advantages also.

When you enter a new sim do not immediately start walking. Wait for things to load up first for the sake of everyone you just pissed off by running them over. Click on the mini map button an zoom it all the way in and walk around the green dots if you insist on moving before everything loads. I suggest waiting for a while before moving though so you don't end up rubber banding and sling shotting through people and objects.

I find any and all gestures to be highly annoying (more so with sound effects I am not expecting) and keep them disabled. My own preference though.

Unfortunatly this is what SL has become over the last few years so you will have to get used to it.

You can hold the ALT key and use the mouse as Laura said, or you can also use the ALT key and the arrow keys and PageUp/PageDown keys to control the camera. You will have to experiment with the various methods to find which works best for you.

Oh - and WELCOME!!!

I hate the camera controls! lol Also not a fan of Alt-mousing, except for zoom. There are several options, though, so everyone can pick what works best for them.

Oh, and you can use AWSD to move as well, as long as the chat bar is closed.

Camera controls and movement controls are two different things.

As far as movement, some people swear by a trick where they grab their avatar with the mouse, go into mouselook, and steer with the mouse while using movement keys to go forward and back. I can't do it. Absolutely can not. I use the arrow keys - with a very light touch, especially in laggy areas.

(lol Okay, I just checked - personally, I use three fingers on the arrows - middle for forward/back, index and ring finger to steer. Sounds wacky, but I did data entry on a numeric keypad for a few years, so my fingers "think" that way.)

As Berith said, if you press the key and don't move, let go and wait for SL to catch up with you. You'll probably move in that direction after you've stopped expecting to. Sigh. That's nothing you're doing wrong, it happens to us all.

Turning around in appearance mode was broken, may have been fixed, may be broken again. I've heard it may work to go into Appearance, close out, then go back in, but I can't confirm whether that works.

If you just want to look at your face, you can use the camera controls - OR you can press Ctrl+Alt, click and hold on your shoulder, and swing around yourself to see your face. You can also Alt-click on any object to focus on it and then zoom in for a closer look. (If your camera ends up somewhere unexpected and you lose sight of your avatar, pressing ESC once or twice should bring it back to the normal orientation. You can't get "lost," promise!)

The Academy of Second Learning (ASL) used to offer a couple of great classes on movement and camera controls - they may still; try the Events tab in Search.

The best advice I can give is to practice - before long it'll seem like second nature.

I can confirm that this does work. Go into "edit appearance", and you'll see yourself from the back. Close it out, and your av will probably turn around. Then go into it again, and s/he should be facing the correct way. Go to "view" and "camera controls" and you can move up and down your av as needed.

You guys are awesome! I check the post earlier and saw the first one. I came home, went on and tried the camera controls. Perfect!!! I am still imagining an easier way to control things (did anyone see the controller they were using on CSI when they were in sl? cool!)

All of these suggestions are great. I was able to see my face. Yikes!!! Whew! Spent some time fixing my nose, cheeks, lips, chin, etc. hehehe.

Thanks again!

Awwwwww.... poor Lysila! Hasn't anyone helped you get some free newbie skins and shapes yet? I'm going out of town but will be back in on Saturday, and can send you a "care package" when I get back!

Was it this viewer?

http://csi-ny.reg.electricsheepcompany.com/join-secondlife/download

no. Thanks. It was the wireless hand controller the people were using in 1l.

I despised them at first too. But now that I've gotten used to them, I've GOT to have them up or I'm lost!

Lysila, check out Sin Skins for the freebie skins for those younger than 30 days. There are other places I'm sure some friendly person will point out ....

Well, they cost L$1

EDIT: There's also a fabulous newbie pack chokkerblok with all sorts of useful info and more. If you want one, just ask.

if you click you avatar (or an attachement that doesn't have a touch effect) and hold, it makes steering a little easier than the arrow keys.. you still need to use foward and back, but the left right keys should now act like strafe left/right