Different computers....different SL......

I am just posting this out of curiosity because it occurs to me that a lot of the differing opinions and arguments that crop up regarding SL probably have a lot to do with this very fact......... so I'm interested in your opinions, experiences.

My PC is a desktop Dell XPS410 with a 24" moniter..... I run SL in full screen and my graphics are beautiful. Most of what I do in SL is create new avatars for characters in photo projects.....so I am constantly tweeking my AV and taking snapshots.

I went to my brothers for TG last week and he's got a pretty basic laptop. I don't recall the model but out of curiousity he told me to try running SL on it....and to our surprise it worked. I had to lower all the graphic settings.....but it ran. I showed him an avatar I'd made of him a while back....he thought it was cool and wanted me to do one of his wife. I noticed while in-world that the avatar looked a lot thinner then on my screen at home. So....anyway.....I did an avatar to look like his wife....on HIS laptop...she came out pretty cute.

When I got home.....fired up my desktop and logged into SL......I hadn't changed out of that shape.....and the difference of how she looked on my PC was freakish. The avatar that looked so cute on his laptop....looked like a bloated cow on mine. LOL But seriously....it was such an extreme difference that I realized right away...... there's just no way of knowing how any of us really appear to others when there can be such extreme variations of the same avatar, depending on the computer being used.

That said......I wonder if content creators take that into consideration.....most especially when designing avatars.....be they simple human shapes.....or prim creatures. It also makes me realize that one of the reasons buying shapes IS such a gamble for folks....is because they aren't going to look the same for everyone. Early on I used to go into one of the popular celebrity shape shops and after buying a few......I ended up ditching them to create my own because they just looked way wrong....mostly too huge with faces way too wide.

So..... what are your thoughts here......and not just concerning shapes..... but how much do you suppose this effects content creation and perception in SL? I'm guessing it has to be a lot......especially when I read complaints about graphics..... and folks later get an upgraded computer and are startled by the difference. To me....that seems like a huge stumbling block for SL......there's just no way to regulate....no way to really see how things are appearing on everyone's moniter. I had to take probably 20lbs off my avatar when I got home LOL just to make her look the way she did on my brothers laptop......and not only that...but facial features had to be altered too. Our screen shots tell one story.....but we never really see ourselves the way others see us......kinda scary isn't it...

Sounds like his monitor had a badly adjusted aspect ratio. Send him a .jpg file that has a 1 inch square on it, and I'll bet it displays as a rectangle that is thinner than it is tall.

Content Creators usually are pretty picky about their monitors and how they are adjusted, so it tends not to be an issue for us.

I find even switching between fullscreen and a maximised window makes a really noticeable difference to shapes, even though the actual difference in the area on which SL is displayed is very small.

Well.....my brother isn't interested in SL really...he was just curious to see if I could get it on his laptop (the guys were playing PS2 all weekend so I think he felt bad and figured I'd be content if I could log into SL lol)

Anyway......I did wonder if it were aspect ratio......but everything else he had on that laptop looked fine. His own files were not distorted....and his GTA game ran perfect. It was just a surprise to see things so different in SL. But...I uninstalled it before I left because he wasn't going to be using it and I didn't want the program taking up space on his laptop.

I'm sure many content creators have got to realize this, and make adjustments accordingly.....but that doesn't change the fact that new comers to SL wont necessarily be tech savy enough to make adjustments of their own. I have to believe this effects a lot of their decisions and how they perceive things in-world. That is until they upgrade or finally get things tweeked just right. But I can't tell you how many people I've run into in-world who are on less then adequate systems......who have no idea what SL is 'supposed' to look like......and they complain about it..... *shrug* It was just an eye opening situation for me. My nephew was intrigued by the concept of SL......but when he saw it on my brothers laptop...I could see he was less then impressed.

This shouldn't happen, assuming we're talking about digital flat panels running at full native screen resolution. (And assuming they have square pixels, I suppose.)

I really hesitate to make this suggestion but... could it be that the Full Screen Mode settings aren't exactly the same as the monitor's native resolution?

Granted, I have a weird Linux setup, but if I try to run in full screen, it somehow only offers me 16x9 (HDTV) aspect ratios, no matter what I tell it. So the closest I can get to native resolution is 1920x1200, but my monitor is actually 1920x1280, and so full-screen confuses the hell out of my monitor and everything looks a little wider than it should.

So I guess I'm suggesting that just maybe bro's laptop could be the one that's correct.

(Why might nephew be "less than impressed?" Perhaps "the concept of SL" with which he was intrigued involved stuff you're not supposed to be able to find on the Teen Grid. )

My husband and I visit SL at the same time sitting side by side using the exactly same computers (I know this is true as I built both of them specifically for SL), same monitors too...and SL looks different. His SL is more muted than mine even if he runs the same graphics setting.

My pants can be tight at the ankle on his and not in mine. I can be sitting fine on his and not on mine. We can be dancing in sync on mine and out of sync on his.

Just like FL, SL looks different to each one of us it seems.

It's possible that my brothers is correct.....but then again everything on my desktop looks fine...nothing else seems out of whack....other games look great.....files look normal. But as far as my nephew being unimpressed......that was because the graphics in general weren't great on my brothers laptop. It took much longer for things to load.....and draw distance had to be set way low. I couldn't really do much with the atmosphere settings on his laptop eihter......the sky just barely changed.....and poorly at that.....and the water I couldn't adjust at all. So....his graphics card was about minimum for running SL I'd think. I only showed my nephew my beach house....was barely on 5 minutes.....so it's not like he saw anything offensive. (the kid is 15....I doubt SL could shock him lol....and I'm not into any SL adult goings on anyway..... I stay clear of any R-rated static in SL lol)

Not all content makers have money for fancy machines, those who are low income artist
do best they can or ask friends with better computers what they see.

By the way, the numbers I posted are completely wrong: my screen has 1920x1200 resolution like most widescreen computer monitors; HDTV is 1920x1080 (of course; hence "1080p" etc.). Nonetheless, when I go to fullscreen mode in SL, something sure freaks out and I end up with a somewhat horizontally-stretched view, compared to what I see in windowed view. I just tried this on my crappy old Windows box, though, and full-screen is the correct resolution and aspect ratio, so I have no idea what's really going on with the Linux box. (Not much motivated to find out because I've never been able to really function in full-screen mode anyway.)

Graphics capabilities make a big difference imho as to what newcomers to SL think of the grid. I sent some snapshots of what I see to a friend and he was blown away by the graphics but when he played he thought it was all a bit 'meh'.

A friend of mine told me the other day that for a long time she's been able to see my bald head through most of my hairdos. This is because she runs SL with the 'objects' setting under graphics set to low. Nice to know that I've been looking like a half bald freak to her!

You're completely right imho Milla, we all see something completely different and content creators often forget that when they design something. For example people building using shiny, local lights, and glow and a lot of people can't have those options on.

The problem is that often I don't think players realise that their graphics are making such an impact on how things look. I know that sounds crazy but if i play a standard game and set things to 'medium' or 'normal' in the graphics settings it doesn't usually make things look rubbish, just not quite so good. However in SL the difference is much more dramatic.

I don't think content should be 'dumbed down' just for those on lower graphics settings, but it's certainly something that is worth remembering next time someone says that your home looks dull and you're in need of hair implants