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Newbie Help: How easy is it?

Rocco Bukowski
Junior Member
Join date: 13 May 2004
Posts: 2
07-08-2004 05:21
How easy is it to learn how to build? I have only been in the game a couple of times using a friends avie and have been amazed at some of the builds I've seen....how much time should one allow to learn to build a basic building? Also I have heard/read that you can use a digital photo of a RL persons face for your avatar. True?
Hawk Statosky
Camouflage tourist
Join date: 11 Nov 2003
Posts: 175
07-08-2004 05:39
Some unhelpful answers... :)

1) Easy enough. It's not rocket-science, and the tools are practical enough so that with minimal practice you can make (approximately) what you want.

2) As long as it takes for you to feel satisfied with it/finish the building. You can drop enough "bits" in-world as to make a rough house in a matter of minutes. The real time-sink is getting it to feel "right". Scales, texturing, decor, furniture, home appliances, garden, garage, etc... ;)

3) Yes, it is possible, but requires texturing skill and an understanding of how the face textures work. And a high degree of Photoshop-fu, probably. But yes, possible.

Hope that helps.

edited to remove dumbass typos
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Goodwrench Grayson
Classic Gaming Nut
Join date: 18 Jun 2004
Posts: 223
07-08-2004 08:38
I'm not even a month old myself, and let me tell you: Building is easier than it looks, but takes a while to master. That said, I was very nervous that building would be more difficult than it actually is.

I found the Intro to Building class to be a phenomenal help. There are any number of mentors in-game willing to offer advice and technique. If you liked Legos as a kid, you'll love Second Life.
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Nergal Fallingbridge
meep.
Join date: 26 Jun 2003
Posts: 677
07-08-2004 12:45
1. It helps a lot taking a building class. If you're smart, you can skip the "This is your menu, and these are the options you can try" part and go straight to experimentation. Don't be afraid to try it out! (just find a nice spot to build that people won't object to you building on)

2. As part of common courtesy, when you're finished, clean up after yourself by deleting your prims or taking them into inventory. I can't emphasize this part highly enough.

3. Read the building forums -- often there are useful hints or tips about existing bugs-as-features with the building tools.

4. Take a building class. I'm eternally grateful to Shadow Weaver for hosting an advanced building class that I took and proceeded to go, "HEY! This is cool! Lookit what I can do!" No real substitute for hands-on experience.

4a. What Goodwrench said, really -- mentors and other folks are often very willing to help out with questions and technique.

5. Good luck with collecting building-fu! (and, y'know, I thought I was the only one who actually used the -fu suffix like this)
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