How to learn SL - inworld??

Are there any places I can go to, in world, and meet live persons that can teach me how to make things in real time ???

I have been trying to build , and trying to make sculpties for 3 months.

I spend more time looking though these forums and online manuals, than actually being in world.

It’s depressing that there are no in world learning centres, and the merchants that make and sell these things do not want to reveal their secrets, and give you no advice or tips, just point you to the generic SL video tutorials that do not teach you anything.

Second life is a very lonely place, and so highly technical it is difficult to realise your creative vision.

There are plenty learning places. The thing is the search function is not so helpful if you look at Search Places. It's best to look at Search All.

I can name a few: Fermi University, Ivory Tower of Libary Primitives, SL Learning Center

Unfortunately I've never been to school so I cannot recommend any!

Alternatively you can look at the freebies places such as Yadni junkyards for tutorials.

And finally you could visit some sandboxes and chat with designers. Don't be afraid to speak up in local chat, if they are busy they simply won't answer. But it shouldn't be too hard to find someone willing to help you.

Oh and look at Events for Educational stuff.

There is at least one NCI class on sculpties (might be more), and I believe some tutors do one-on-one tutoring for a fee. Try putting "NCI" (without the quote marks) in Search/Events.

If you want to learn sculpting inworld, there is even a tool that lets you do the sculpting itself inworld. Take a look at Sculpt Studio:

https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=278458

They do give regular classes, from beginner level to pretty advanced stuff, and have some great tutorials on the web as well. It did not take me long before I sculpted my first 1 prim table

If you're interested in sculpties, I suggest downloading Blender (it's free), and the Primstar plugin that let's you import/export sculpties. There are several tutorials on youtube (and other blender specific sites) that will teach you the basics of Blender, and there are also Blender specifics tutorials for scuplties on youtube by a guy named BlenderSL. Also, Machinimatrix.org has some great tutorials by Gaia Clary and her crew and Domino Marama (the creator of primstar) and Gaia, and myself frequent the building tips forum here.

As for other building (standard prims). One of the best places to start is the Ivory Tower of Prims. As a matter of fact, it's such a great resource, LL has given the sim owner the sim for free so that he can continue to provide the resource (free) to the community. I suggest starting there, and learning the basics behind building with standard prims, and then work your way into making sculpts because that's a more advanced thing, and you want to have the basics of object creation and linking down before diving into sculpted prims. Feel free to post questions in the building tips forum, responses are fast and plentiful.

As far as classes at NCI are concerned, I can't comment on them recently, but 3 years ago when I tried to attend classes there, they were always canceled except for one time, and the one time I managed to catch a class, it was extremely basic and I had already learned everything they were showing by myself, so, I'm not really a huge fan of that suggestion, although that was 3 years ago and things may have changed since then.

The sculpty classes offered by NCI focus on smipler programs like Rokuro, Tokoroten, and Sculptypaint. Blender is a creature all its own and, quite frankly, is very difficult to address in the context of SL. You'll do far better looking at tutorial videos which give a flow of how commands work for each effect. (^_^)

Though, I'm seeing a pattern with the OP. He's persistently saying "Nobody is helping" while being helped the whole time. (=_=)

GG; Second Life, as seen today, is a product of residents working individually and with each other to make it what it is. (^_^)

You describe it as a "lonely place". I conclude it's because you haven't put any real effort into finding people. (^_^)

You say people "don't want to reveal their secrets". I conclude it's because you either never asked or didn't listen when the person responded. (^_^)

You say the tutorials "don't teach you anything". I conclude it's because you only skimmed past them and never patiently followed along with what's been said. (^_^)

Why do I make these conclusions? Because I made the same mistakes early on. (._.)

Slow down, relax, have fun, and absorb the community. Use keywords of your favorite things in search and see what comes of it. Start establishing a network of creative and like-minded people instead of demanding tips, advice, and "secrets" from people who are still probably strangers to you. (=_=)

SL isn't a game and we're not NPCs to spoon feed you a walkthrough tutorial to Level-1. We're real people that you can collaborate with and learn from if we're treated as such. So, please do so, have some patience over the learning curve, and try to enjoy yourself. (^_^)y

Please tell me you are kidding about recommending search all over search places.

It depends what you want to focus on for where to send you. For many building things and clothes you will need custom textures. Robin Sojourner teaches some excellent classes in the Livingtree sim, I am not sure what the current schedule is, but there is a self-paced introduction (the round gazeboish structure) with tutorials/textures in the building to the right of it. The classes are behind those two buildings.

Well try these words:

learning sculpt

in Search Places .

Then try again in Search All, you will see what I mean.

Who is kidding?

You should learn some better search-fu. Try on, oh, just the word 'learning'. Or if you use 'building' the Ivory Tower of Primitives is near the top.

Yes, there is lots of unwanted hits, but it is easy to see they are not relevant (and there are a lot per page). Versus only a few per page on 'search all' with not much information and MANY more junk hits (7K+ for 'learning').

Like my self many of us have taken the long path to learn this.
I have spent many hours and years trying and failing .That is how we learn.
I find every one one wants some one to hold their hand and teach them.Sorry no one did that for me or any one I know.Also SL wiki is a great tool to learn,That is where I lean to script.
The fact we all do it different is a big part of what things look like in the end.
I do not think any one is holding a secret from you,just many have a RL life a SL life and not all the time in the world to teach others.
SL is about being creative and having fun.
The first boots I made in 2007 took me 2 weeks about 4 hours a day...I just did not give up !! and that is what you must do.
Just keep trying,also that is the fun part!!
If you have dreams of making things and selling them for money then just give up.....That is not how it works.
If you are trying to be creative and have fun you are on the right path.Nothing in life SL or RL comes easy!!

No. I don't get the Ivory Tower at all by typing 'building' in Search places.

Learning sculpt returns 325 hits from Search All and zero from Search Places. And guess what? It's about learning and sculpts. Now up to you but I prefer my method hehe.

Well, I tended to presume that if people wanted to give away information about how something was done, they'd have posted it somewhere already.

I agree with Immy. I mean, no, a highly successful designer probably isn't going to walk you, step by step, through everything needed to duplicate one of her products. But that doesn't mean she is hiding her "secrets". Most people are very willing to share the basic steps and techniques used for making things. But to get GOOD with those techniques takes effort and practice on your part. You have to put in the time, no one can do it all for you.

As far as being "too highly technical", I have to disagree. The building tools in SL are incredibly simplistic and easy compared to, say, Maya or LightWave 3D. Other parts of creating SL content are done with outside programs, like Photoshop...and yes, Photoshop IS highly technical. You can take whole college courses on it. But if you want to create digital graphics, once again you have to put in the hundreds of hours needed to master the tools.

I don't know sculpties, I've been avoiding them for two years now. But if you want help on using the other building tools, IM me in world.

I find myself feeling like that very often. At the same time I find myself having to beg people to ask questions during my classes. It just takes one little bold leap from utter silence to "Hey! How did you do that!?" to really lead to a learning experience. (^_^)

I'm often on the other side of the equation. For example, NCI Mall; The notecard says in plain text to IM me for more information and set up. But, people tend to be afraid to message me directly. They make a lot of assumptions as to how busy I am, how willing I am to work with them, and even if there's space at the mall at all. All assumptions being wrong. So I find I often put myself in a place where I'm available to the N-th degree to get approached. (._.)

To make such an assumption that people would put the info you want out there in the first place assumes too much. Never be afraid to ask. And, if you get shot down, there's always someone else. Maybe even me. (^_^)y

When I started SL, I learnt to build by taking apart freebies and looking at how they were made. I found I couldn't use Ivory Towers as was on an old computer then and the lag was horrendous.

Learning to build takes time and most of us have spent months alone playing with prims and looking at other prims and gradually improving our ability. Very few people have a personal teacher to all creating and why it normally takes more than a few months to build up a good business.

I have had loads of newbies come to me and ask me to teach them to build, including customers ask me to teach them how to build items in my shop so they could make their own! While I am happy to help people with specific problems, I am not a teacher and busy enough with my own businesses and when not doing that like to see my friends.

There really isn't a quick fix to creation and while you may feel people aren't helping, it's the same for everyone. Three years in and I still pull my hair out when need a script to do something and I don't script and can't find what I need or have someone to do it for me.

If you have something specific you need help with, then you will probably find many will help. It's just not easy when people ask in general how to build.

Why? From what I gather in my limited look at building, there are few "secrets". It just takes time and practice. There aren't magic shortcuts. Once again you seem to want others do do the heavy lifting by posting the information "somehwere". How about going out and finding it yourself.? The few times I've asked people questions on any content creation, people have always been helpful, either giving me answers, or pointing me toward resources where I can learn for myself. There are resources out there. I do grant they are hard to find at times, but all it takes is a little effort. Places like Robin Wodds' clothing tutorials or The Mermaid Diaries are great places to start.

I do think that there needs to be better resources for the basics of building, more readily available inworld,but for the most part Mohammed has to go to the Mountain.

Well, it's kinda like Immy said - I tend to figure that I shouldn't irritate people by asking them questions if they aren't interested in helping beginners - and if they were interested, they could easily run classes or post info on the wiki.

Also, I don't really like the idea that there's lots of valuable information that requires you to ask people to get. The problem is, for everyone who asks there are hundreds who can't ask because they never meet the person. Which isn't really in line with a welcoming creative platform.

On the OP, I do think there's a lack of teaching in SL at anything beyond the prim-cutting level. There's nothing I've seen in SL that corresponds to an RL art class, for instance.

That's silly, Yumi. People may be too busy to run classes. Or maybe they just aren't the type to be a teacher. But most people I have found are happy to answer a question here and there, or point you to where you can find the information for yourself.Most people are delighted to help someone _help_ themselves. But you still have to do the work. After all, how did they learn? They didn't just wake up one day and start creating.

You often mention irritating people, and getting negative responses from them. Without knowing you it's hard to say, but maybe the problem is with you, and how you approach people. Do you approach them with a "I want to learn how to do this" attitude, or is it "Show how it's done"? There is a difference.

More nonsense. You meet people by getting out there and..meeting them. Once you establish a conversation, take a look at their profile, see if they are builders. Ask a simple question or two. Make friends. I know sandboxes are nightmares, but take a chance and visit a few. Politely ask someone who is building if you can watch. Some won't mind, they may even enjoy chatting while they build. You have to at least make some effort.

I do agree that there does need to be better basic information available for new builders and creators. That is one of the many areas where LL has failed miserably.

The SL platform doesn't have to be "welcoming". It's up to us to get from it waht we desire. It needs to be functional , with good tools and good instruction on their use. Whatever else it is is due to what it's users make of it.

To the OP- search in Events, under Education - there are TONS of classes with real life teachers willing to teach. Remember the majority of those are regular people like you and me and they are basically volunteering to sahre their knowledge. It is customary to tip the teacher- dont be stingy we are talking pennies here - as most are not paid for the classes or the materials.

Above all have fun and a "Can-Do!" attitude - and don't fall into the trap of expecting others to do for you- not saying you are, this is the first I have read you but we see a lot of that in here- you want soemthing- go out and make it happen! Good luck!

Oh, sure, I'm not saying people aren't generally helpful and welcoming. The problem is that, no matter how friendly and welcoming people are and no matter how much effort people make to find each other, there can never be a sure guarantee that someone will meet someone who can help them. It doesn't even reach 100% coverage - eventually, no matter how helpful a person is, they'll become overwhelmed or burn out. If that information is on a publically visible website, then the coverage can be 100% and the probability is much higher.



No, entertainment platforms need a bit more two-way than that, even if they're challenge-based.

Of course there is no sure guarantee. NOTHING is 100% guaranteed. C'mon Yumi. Do you really want everythig spelled out, diagrams drawn, and laid out for you on a platter? You have to try and fail, learn and improve, take risks and gambles. How many people on this very forum alone have been in SL, creating for years? They haven't burned out. They didn't what they needed to know from wiki's and how to sites. They_just_went_out_and_ did_it. Each taking whatever road worked best for them.

Every discussion with you centers around how this isn't guaranteed, or that is too hard, or I have failed at this, or I can't do that. It seems to me you are either incredibly insecure, or incredibly lazy.

This is coming from someone who can be incredibley lazy at the drop of a hat, btw.

Of course. But I'm not talking about an individual experience: I'm talking about the whole population. Anytime there's a risk, it means some people fail - after all, otherwise it wouldn't be a risk. But when scaled up to the whole world, that corresponds to a proportion of the population who effectively lose the ability to do that thing. So we then need to think, how are that proportion going to react?



I wasn't talking about people burning out on creating (although many do). I was talking about people burning out on _helping_, which almost everyone eventually does, because you quickly tire of having to answer the same questions over and over again.



Me personally? It simply doesn't seem to be worth it, to me, to spend months working on learning to create, only to them have to face a chance of simple failure by being missed (which comes down to, if I roll low on the dice, all those months were wasted); and then, even if it's successful, to have the reward be basically more work (and potentially RL money, but I'm not all that bothered about that). Ultimately, the kind of rewards I want are things that tend to be more socially related, but most of them have a fairly big dice factor involved too and are doubly different for a non-US person who hasn't spoken any European languages in years.

Aside from NCI, what are some of the places and people that offer the chance to meet live people willing to teach how to build?

In other words, if you do the searching suggested in the thread, what are the useful results?

For once, I think Yumi has a point.

My own preference is to do my helping one-on-one. I'm lazy, and making a tutorial about an SL topic and posting it on a website takes work. And it might be wasted work -- what if nobody reads it, or they do read it and it doesn't help them?

But at some point, after you've explained for the 1,000th time how to open a box, or why shoes have three parts, not two, you do start to think, "maybe I could make this automatic somehow".

And there ARE helpful SL websites out there. The Mermaid Diaries, for one example. There are also helpful notecards, and even books, in world. So this form of teaching DOES exist.

There is room for both the pre-packaged help lesson, available to everyone, and one-on-one tutoring.