I've built my deck, any constructive criticism welcome

Hi all, I did it, I built a deck, me thinks it's not bad for a first proper build. I would really appreciate any constructive feedback or tips to improve it. BTW, I learnt about the phantom check box, I couldn't understand why I kept falling through it lol

It's beautiful.

If I had to pick one thing to er, pick upon, I'd say maybe a bit narrower, so it is more in balance with the size of the building it's attached to.

But very nice build, Bella.

Oh yes, thank you, I think you might be right, I thought it was a bit out of balance but could quite put my finger on it.

^ You are very welcome. ^

Yes, nice build!

Maybe the flower arrangement in the foreground could be scaled down slightly as well, it looks very big compared to the avatar behind.
Many things tend to be built overscaled in SL compared to real life, I suspect that it's because the camera POV is usually higher in SL than your eye level in real life. Sometimes it's good to go into mouse look and take a look at your build and you very often see that many elements are bigger than they should be.

I just stood next to it, god it is big lol.

I have no doubt I will completly rebuild it within the week. I am quite happy that there are no major seams or joins showing and that I managed to line the bottom up. I'm sure one day I'll look back at it and think OMG what was I thinking............and I showed THAT to everyone!

Hmm. . .

Forum flies building things. And building nice things.

What IS the grid coming to?

It's pretty damn good Bella. I create quite a lot on SL and my advice is to just keep on going, practice in SL does help you get better with every build. Once you have one build done and if you want to make a second improved version, try and think upfront about how a different cut of prims can reduce your overall prim usage the second time around.

You realize that building is an addiction of course?

But don't worry. You can stop any time you want to. You just won't want to.

Great work Bella Keep it up!

it's terrific. you did a great job.

that's awesome Bella .... you did a outstanding job!!!

are you a new builder bella?

the reason I ask is due to the glass windows....

I am not sure if you wanted it to appear as one complete glass window, or separate panes...

If you wanted it to look like one glass window, you can make the edges of the prims transparent where they join, and it will give the appearance of one complete sheet with no seams


here is a tip for doing those edges

(if the pieces are linked, temporarily unlink them)

Jot down the cords for the location of the prim (for back up just in case undo doesn't work)

then move one, transparent the edges using select texture or just drop a totally clear texture on that face of the prim, then use ctrl Z (undo) to snap the prim back in place

repeat the procedure for each piece you wish to modify the texture on

Nice work, I like it.

If you look at the av and the furniture, I'd say the size is ok. I would agree that scaling down the plants/planter might be an improvement.

My only other comment would be to consider some type of railing along the two exposed edges. It's just my opinion but I think the proper railing would be a nice addition to the appearance of the deck.

Of course railings or fences present problems of their own when building in SL. Using a single prim or two and a "rail" texture just never works quite as well as I would like. Building a railing with prims will look great, but of course you can burn up a lot of prims doing that.

Once again, nice work. Keep building!

One trick for the "building a rail with prims" is to build it, photograph it, then after clean up use that picture as a texture on one prim, thus giving the illusion of many prims- I have done this with windows - shoot once from outside then again from inside- when properly lined up the two textures look like see thru windows.

To add to the window edit idea. ((oops I miss quoted, sorry for the confusion))

Or using edit linked parts select all the windows > go into edit texture > hold shift and unselect all the visiable faces of the windows. With only the hidden faces selected now, drop a transparent texture in the edit window.

Personaly I like the lines in the window. =). And the deck is great too!! As a OCD texturerer I can offer some simple advice.

Try selecting one stair texture at a time and use offsets to somewhat radomize the look of each step. This is a neat trick that helps with realism. A minor change but it will impress OCDers like meh.

Great build congrats!

Awesome trick!!! One I am seeing more often around the grid. I was looking at a bike the other day that used the same trick to make the spokes. It can be rather fun too using SL as a giant 3D photoshop.

this will only work if one wants all the hidden faces transparent

the way I described allows the creator to easily move a prim, texture the sides they want, then put it back exactly where it was, without worrying about having to realign it (that is if SL is being nice at the time)

hehe

but both are good suggestions on how to texture hidden faces

personally I dislike the lines on the window (which is why I offered the suggestion on how to apply the transparent texture hehe)

Ooh- confused- I thought she built the deck only- the actual house too? Awesome squared Bella!

Very good point. This is one that a lot of people overlook and it always bugs me. (A bit of an OCDer myself). Offseting textures in this manner can make a dramatic improvement.

I also like Amaranthim's idea about building and photographing a prim railing to create your own texture. I'll have to try that.

I am assuming she built the house too (even if she did not, and it is mod, she could still follow the suggestions given if she wanted to remove the seams in the glass)

heh

(yeah I know what they say about assuming)

Some external lighting would be nice but my main thought is the jagged edge around your build...is that just down to the format and scaling of your pic or is that how you see stuff in sl ?

If it is you might want to try tinkering with your graphic settings to get a perfectly smooth edge.

I mention this cos I have had that problem myself and so have others who dont realise they cna get a better view.

heh and I am again the opposite... I prefer the matching stairs (but I tend to be that way in RL too, I prefer things to be matching, balanced etc)

for instance... picture a fireplace, with a pic on one side... yuck

need a pic on both sides, of equal sizes for it to look right to me

there is a word for it.. I just can not remember it

con something or other

the bottom line is.... as long as the creator likes it then it is the way it should be

Thank you Rhaorth. Yes I'm a baby builder, I built a planter a couple of days ago and then decided to do a deck. I didn't make the house with the windows LOL, god I wish I was there but I have a long way to go.

I can use photos as texture, ohhh this brings on a whole new dimension, I never thought of that. Thank you.