Tabletop Items: Am I on the Right Track?

I'm just getting into making things and finding it lots of fun and very satisfying. My first build, some Buddhist prayer flags turned out great! (to me at least)

Now I want to make some things to sit on tables like potted plants and statues. The approach I'm taking is to make a texture image that is completely surrounded with transparency. When I get back in world (can't at the mo because I'm stuck at work) would I just slap that image on a flat cube prim of the same aspect ratio and then make it transparent? Or is there a better way to make simple items like this? I'm just wondering if the edges of the prim are going to show and what other things I'm not considering since I'm so new to this.

Thanks for any wisdom and advice you might share!

~B

EDIT: Instead of starting another thread I'll just tag this on here: I can't use transparent gif files for this, can I? What I've read here says it has to be tga as far as I can tell. The forums are tough in this area since you can't search for three-letter words.

Yes, you need to use .tga format to have transprency on anything you import into SL. Read carefully the thread stickied at the top of this forum, entitled "Transparency and Alpha Channels: The Definitive Guide", by Chosen Few. It explains that very well.

Yes, have the prim be the aspect ratio of the original art. But bear in mind that before importing the pic, you're going to want to alter it to a "Powers of two" dimension in each direction, from the choices 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024 pixels. It does not need to be square, but the two edges need to be one of those values to work well. Anything else, SL will rezize for you, and likely won't do as well as your art program can. So if you had a picture with a 1.25 to 1 ratio, squash it to 1 to 1 in your art program, as 256 x 256 pixels or 512 x 512 pixels, and then display it on a 1.25 to 1 ratio prim. It will look like it did before you squished and imported it. 256 x 256 or 512 x 512 is adequate for most textures. Keep the value small, to speed up texture loading times.

When applying a texture to just one or two faces of a prim in-world, for edges that you don't want to show, apply a 100% alpha texture to those edges. There's a bunch of them available in-world, or you can make your own as a 32 x 32 TGA that is all transparency.

As for constructing the item itself, how you form the prims depends on what it is, and how it will be viewed.

If it is only going to be seen from a limited viewing angle, a single flat prim may suffice. For example, a "cardboard cut out" of a receprionist behind a hotel front desk, or a bartender behind a bar, where everyone will always see that "person" only fron the far side of the counter or bar.

If they need to see it from any angle, sometimes using two or three intersecting planes, in the form of an asterisk when viewed from above, will work well. Most prim plants are done this way.

I've seen other things made using cylanders or other prim shapes with partially transparent textures on them. I have a quill pen that I made, the feather of which is on the outside and inside of a hollowed and cut cylander.

Thanks, Ceera! That information will help me a lot. Unfortunately now that I've cranked one up in Paint Shop Pro I'm finding that having to make the mask is essentially repeating the hours of work I did yesterday of cutting in around the images to make transparent gifs. Live and learn, I guess. I think I'll investigate if there's any possibility of flood filling to make the mask, otherwise this may be more work than the payoff is worth. Danged image has too many little bits sticking off it.