Want to learn terraforming/landscaping

So, here I finally am with my own land...and I can't find any classes in terraforming and landscaping, at least not through the Eventful calendar.

Any suggestions?

right click on your land and choose "edit terrain"


be gentle
...nobody likes sharp drops between properties.


also..if you look in your inventory...the library has a folder with lanscaping items in it...rocks, plants, trees
You can use these, but there are better versions in SL (you'll just have to pay for them)

In my opinion, Lilith Heart makes the best plants in SL..plug the name in your search (people) and follow her profile links to the store.

If you already have a piece of land, why don't you just try it out there? Landscaping is pretty easy after you understand the difference between smoothen & flatten and know how the various landscaping functions work.

You can't go far wrong by just playing Lindal. A bit daunting at first that edit box but there's always the restore button

I guess I could just play around...but my godlike powers scare me a little.

I did try out the raise land function...I didn't make a real large change, but it reminded me strongly of California earthquakes I'd been through, so I put it back. I also got a demo copy of a big yacht and rezzed it up. This huge collection of prims starts appearing, pointing the wrong direction and spilling over onto my neighbor's parcel. Eek!

I instantly deleted the build; all that was left was the rotating radar antenna.

Well, actually, the next day I did find the nameplate still floating in the air...


Sigh. I'd at least like to look like I knew what I was doing, at least SOME of the time.

(All right, Lindal...play to your strengths, girl. Guys, can I shop or what! I found the hottest jumpsuit in Nicky Ree's last night! But I barely escaped with my $L account intact. EVERYTHING looked so fabulous!)

Thanks for the advice. I'll screw up my courage and take another shot at it!

I think we definately need a class on terraforming. It seems easy enough except that there's some kind of weird terrain normalisation thing going on, which basically creates the wonderful effect where you raise a hill outside your house and then when you get back indoors the ground has been raised through your floor, even though you didn't touch it with the cursor..

Hee hee, one of the best I've found Lindal. Yes girl, you *can* shop!

Terraforming, like avi refining, is just one of the many fun things that bowled me over to start with.

I have to read manuals and things in Real Life. Sure as heck don't wanna do it in playtime!!

No class on earth will help with that particular SL quirk. It's something you find out the hard way. And you modify. And modify some more. And more.

Oh yes, done that! In fact I got a green deposit at the foot of my stairs which I just haven't bothered with. I think it's down to the maximum gradient you can have between lines of the grid. When I made my terrace since I live on a hillside I could only flatten it to a certain degree, the final 'flat' of the floor level simply being a deep prim base sunk into it.

What really gets on my nerves about it was that, around the time, I asked the Lindens (via the old Linden Answers forum) if they could describe exactly what a terraforming command does.

They told me that it's equivalent to applying the same terraforming tool and holding down the mouse button for a second.

Yes, I said.. but what does it actually do? What math operations does the server apply to the height array?

After some delay I got back the response that this was too complicated to post

Do *you* think .. that *they* think .. we really *are* just avatars?

Word of caution here - the "Revert Land" option doesn't revert the land to the state it was in before you mucked it, but the to the default state according to the original terrain map for the sim.

I'm in the same boat. I've drawn out a plan for my land on graph paper, with some ideas on terrain and building placement, and I'm still learning by doing--I'm already on my third re-terraforming and re-building effort in three days...but I've learned a lot (and I have not irked the neighbors too much...).

Is there a way then to be able to "backup" the land you bough so you can revert it back to the way you bought it?

Only if you bought an island, unfortunately

Likewise, the tools can be "fiddly." use 'em lightly, else you'll end up with an unintended mountain.



In defense of the Linden trees, though, they do not look bad, have built-in motion, and count as only a single prin



Seconded. Heart Garden Center has got some amazing, gorgeous stuff.

Mari