Newbie Questions

I just recently started up in Second Life and I've found that, well, I'm not really sure what to do when I log in. This isn't because I'm confused about what Second Life is, it's more that I seem to be missing some very basic things.

I have no scripting/programming background whatsoever. With that said, I'm a very bright person and I'm particularly adept at learning through both tutorial and trial and error. For comparison, I bought my first computer 6 years ago with no computer knowledge whatsoever. Today I build my own pcs and am the one all my friends turn to for computer advice/help.

I think the problem I'm running into is that there is simply so much to SL that I am unable to find where to start. I've managed to hop around a bit and meet a few people. I even joined a group. I'm not sure what the benefits of being in a "group" are yet, but rest assured it gave me a giggle when I accepted the invite and "Sex Commissioner" appeared above my head (I quickly learned how to disable that when I didn't want it to show) I've purchased some new clothes, some new hair. I had another fit of giggles when I chose to "wear" something and it appeared as a giant box on my head.

Anyway, on to the questions.

First and most important, I constantly hear the term "rez" used both in game and on the boards. What does this mean exactly, and how is it done?

Someone said I should get new animations, since my clunky and stilted walk immediately signals to others that I'm a newbie. Where would I find such animations? And how would I go about using them? I did see some shoes advertised with walking animation attached, but I did not purchase them.

What is the best way to learn the basics of creating things in SL? I am not particularly hooked on any one type of thing, so beginning with whatever is easiest would work fine for me. I saw there were some sticky threads with tutorials, but overall what is the easiest?

Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Rez is a term they use (from tron if you want the real meaning) but basicly its whenever you introduce something into the world

like dragging from your inventory to the ground.

it also means loading (this hasnt rezed yet)

theres tons and tons of animations out there, some are ok some are super, you can pick them up at places that offer freebees or they can be bought from dealers (for starters probally yandi's junkyard) to use them on a regular basis you need something called an Animation Overrider (AO) again theres different types and ect

but dont let ppl force you into them if you dont mind your duck walk you dont have to use one... in reality its just another script running constantly to add (abit) of lag

The best way to learn SL's creative tools is to sit down and play with them ... theres some excelent tutorials on these forums and inworld (such as Ivory tower of Primitives or the Particle lab)

Theres places like New Citiziens Inc and Teazers that hold regular classes as well

Good luck

Osgeld's advice is solid -- the "Find" button is your friend. Think up categories and just sit and play with it for a while. Find the Ivory Tower of Primitives, the Particle Lab, Brainiac's, Robin Sojourner's Texture tutorial, Chosen's "Scifi Museum" among others. Go to clubs, find some games to try out, look up "Discussions" under the Find menu categories. Check Events for current time/date. You'll soon find that there's no lack of things to do if you want to reach out and expand your horizons.

If you haven't been to Yadni's Junkyard, start there. More free stuff ($1L for a box bundle) than you'll know what to do with. Twelfth of Never, The Shelter and other spots are also great for getting some basic play toys to start with.

For animations, I'd suggest looking into an Animation Overrider (AO) which you wear on your avatar and which overrides the default walking/running/sitting animations. Reverie's AO is popular, but there are many others like EAO. You can drop new animations you find into the object and reset it, changing how you move and pose whenever you wish.

Thank you for the advice. I've been using the find button and having a good time jumping around from place to place. I'm very intrigued by both the roleplay aspect of SL, and the ability to create and add to the world.

Sounds like you'll fit in to SL nicely, Lillianna. Welcome to the world!



Rezzing prims is done by right clicking the floor or ground then hitting create. The shape you rez (create) is a primative (known as a prim) and all objects are made of them. If you are curious how many prims are in an object, you can right click it and see how many individual shapes it took to make it by selecting edit in the pie menu. You can also see who built the object, etc.

A great place to go for a tutorial on building is The Ivory Tower of Primatives. It has a walk through system with stations so you can learn in the middle of the night when classes aren't going.

Animation Overriders cause people to walk with interesting walks. Some are available free to copy (I had a WET Ikon one (sp?) that was free to copy somewhere, I'm pretty sure. I've also used the Tipod from Pixel Mode and the bellybutton AO from !Exotica. You can follow the instructions to put poses in any of those. Franimation AO script is free, I believe, in the scripting library.

If you are interested in using GIMP to create textures, keep your eye open for a class from me on the subject. GIMP is downloadable at www.gimp.org (I'm pretty sure, anyway) and there you will just have to download the operating environment and then the program itself (two downloads). It is downloadable for free or by donation. I use it so much that I donated. You then save those textures to 512 x 512 pixels (at the most) and import the file into world. Look for freebie places (you can get free clothes, free animations, and free scripts all over the place, with Yadni's Junk Yard and Dark Dharma being my two faves. Also there used to be awesome stuff at GNU Wave Architects, and we have free textures and swimwear and jewelry at the Phoenix Spa Resort in Sylvina (the jewelry is in treasure chests under water tho, so you have to hunt for it. ))

Anyway, I hope that helps. Start with the Ivory Tower for building and good luck! Feel free to say hello anytime you see me online.

Definately take classes.

You can find classes in the events list, see what times they're scheduled for and work out a weekly class schedule for yourself. I would suggest starting with a beginning prim building class because even for the scripting classes you will need to have some basic prim knowledge. Teazers is one good place to look.

As for the walking issue. A lot of people I know use AO's and I did try one, but frankly I hated it. It got in the way when I tried to sit one pose balls, I was constantly needing to turn it on and off and the standing poses.. well most of them made me feel a little silly, like I was constantly modeling for some hidden camera. What I use instead is a walk replacer that I picked up... oooh long time ago... at Sensual Animations in Lecadre. Just type LeCadre in the search box of the find menu and it should come up. The walk replacer is an invisible prim that I wear. I can take it off if I happen to be wearing a pair of shoes that also have a walk replacer built into them but if I don't take it off they don't tend to interfere with each other. The replacer makes my AV walk in a more realistic way (well realistic for a hooker maybe, there's a lot of hip swaying LOL) but it doesn't interfere with other animations when I sit and it doesn't cause my AV to constantly strike ridiculous poses when I'm standing.

Hope some of this helps... and btw welcome to SL

Welcome aboard!

I always recommend building as a first exploration for the enthusiastic newcomer. Of all the things you can learn in SL, building seems the most analogous to skills and experiences we have in RL. It's intuitive and provides instant gratification -- either the shapes are right or they're not.

Once you know how the build tools work, you'll probably have a pretty good feel on what you'd like to do next. For example, you may love the cow you just built, but feel compelled to make that cow explode violently. For this you'll need to find a few scripts, which will provide you a new challenge. Conversely, you may decide the cow you just built lacks dimension and warmth. This may send you down the road toward learning to texture it and unlock some other artistic juices.

Just some silly examples, but the point is, objects form the basis for a whole lot of your time in SL. Get comfortable making or manipulating objects and you'll be all set to conquer the next set of challenges. Building touches on every other SL discipline:

- You'll need an object to house any sort of script you might want to use in-world
- You'll need prims to build structures which you may be most enthusiastic about texturing
- You'll need boxes and pedestals to sell T-Shirts or Propeller Hats
- You'll need to use the build tools to set up pre-fab houses and mailboxes

The best place to learning building is the Ivory Tower of Primitives, in Noyo. Check Find, you'll see the listing. It's a self-driven 3D tutorial, so take your time, learn at your own pace and build some stuff! Best of luck.

Hi Lillianna! welcome to SL. I recommend getting one of the free hud animators to override the default movements. They are far more versatile then one animation in a shoe because you can do many more things with it besides walk cool hehe.
Also to find almost anything you want in SL, use the search tool in the blue find button. It will put you in touch with all kinds of things. Good luck and have fun!

Heh. Not necessarily. I've been stuck in SL since 2003, and I have *never* wanted to use an animation override. They're lag-magnets and pointless. Just my opinion.

I know Teazers University holds a lot of classes - I've dropped in on them 'incogneto' a few times and found the instructors there both competent and patient.

For learning things about Second Life I have no hesitation in reccomending them as a source for the new player to learn.

(No I'm not affiliated with them in any way - I don't even think they know me from Adam).

The Ivory tower has been mentioned as a great startpoint for building - its a 'take at your own pace' tutorial that is great.

For the 'were to start' I can sympathize - even when I started back in 1.0 I found myself wondering the same question. I can suggest socializing and looking around at what is happening until something grabs you as interesting and try it.

The main thing to remember is that rather than looking at it as goal oriented like a hack and slash game - think of it as a blank canvas. With time and tenacity you bring to life just about anything you can think of. Nowadays I don't have the 'where to start' problem more the difficult choice of 'what to do next' out of literally hundreds of projects.

The more I do - the more ideas I get of further things to do.