Residents oppinions on must have items for SL?

I've seen "Giants" that moved "naturally," and "Giants" that moved "unnaturally." I've seen massive dragons dancing like the best dancers around, and others that move worse than the newest newbie. Depends on animations and the like. There are scripts to get a giant to sit "naturally", to dance, walk, make love, etc. Just as there are scripts to give a humiod at "normal" height the ability to sit, move, make love, etc.


Wish some of those that use "Giants', and use them "naturally" would jump in. I mostly hover between tallish human, "natural-sized" bird, tiny, with the occasionally leap to biggish dragon when I'm annoyed.
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I consider the tall hat to be a tall hat, not an extension of an avatar's body.

Right, I thought you might. What I'm asking is "why?"
Why is one prim a body part and another is not. Because they don't look like bodyparts? A dragon's wing doesn't either, since there are no such things as dragons. If the distinction you are making is that dragons can exist in SL, then what i want to know is why people with tall-hat-shaped heads can't also exist?

Don't make me take a picture of me with massive prim hands - I warn you, it'll happen!!

Looking over the stuff in the Mysti-Tool, I'd say it's a really great thing to have. The non-phys vehicle alone is worth the money IMO - it should make you immune to nearly all avatar griefing I am aware of. I don't own an MT myself because I have other things that do what I want - including Force Prophecies available on SLExchange, which I would also recommend - but what the Mysti-Tool offers is undeniably great. Beyond that, yeah, a flight feather or equivalent flight assistor allowing you to fly to essentially any height and maneuver there freely. Also, I'd say, a presentable avatar - that is, skin, body, hair, eyes, clothes that look, you know, ok. Fortunately, you can find plenty of options in the freebie warehouses and dungeons or by checking with Yadni (close enough clue without naming names more explicitly) to do the job for nothing or maybe L$1. (Of course, if you plan a career as a poledancer or escort you are going to have to pony up whatever it takes to look state-of-the-art.) Beyond that, I'd say as others have, it will depend on what you want to do in SL.

Welcome, and good luck!

Oh, sorry. You meant that the hat was on a really big hat shaped head? Ok then. In that case it would be an extension of the avatar. A wing is a part of a body, a giant hat shaped head is a part of the body. A giant hat, or a hang-glider glued to someone's back are articles of clothing, and not part of the body. A giant prim hand is an extension of the body.

One prim is designed to be an extension of the body, another is designed to be worn, to rest on top of or around a body. That is the difference. Again, if you meant that the picture you showed me was of a giant hat shaped head person, then that would be a body part. It looked like a hat crushing a human.

But both are built and worn in exactly the same way. A massive head, forexample, "rests on top of the body", as there is another head underneath it that the massive prim head is stuck to. My massive hat does not have a hat shaped head inside it; it has a perfectly normal head beneath it. However, it is attached to my head the same way a massive prim leg would be attached to my actual avatar leg. So I ask again, where is the distinction - I feel that you have still not distinguished between the two.

It seems that the only distinction you are prepared to make between a body part and an item of apparel is what the designer had in mind. Is that what you are saying? My tall hat is a body part if I, the wearer and designer mean it to be, but is not a bodypart if I don't mean it to be, even though they manner of their use does not change?

Sorry, but I think you're wrong. The nature of an object does not alter because the way in which the owner thinks of that object changes. The manner of an objects use - it's function - dictates its nature. If I start thinking of my car as a family pet, it is still just a car and will always remain so.

I have a prim horse attached to me now, in exactly the same way as these so called "giants'" legs. Does that mean I have a horse shaped groin? Or am I simply wearing a horse attachment?

Leading me into greater confusion. The wings on the dragon move, flap and provide lift . . . as is the intention of the object. The toes on my human foot are stuck-together and look very very unnatural. Which is natural, which isn't? Is it either or, cannot both be "natural"? "It's function - dictates its nature" - the wings of my dragon "function" to provide lift and to flap, therefore its nature indicates that it is something that provides lift and flaps.

Oh, and one of my dragons does look like one of those "guys dressed up in a cheap suit for a cheap movie" dragons. The other looks a lot more realistic.

Oh and the tall hat isn't part of the body, it is the hat shaped head that is part of the body.

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edited to respond to edit:
re horse: If you are shaped like a centaur and the function of the horse attachment is to give you the shape, look, and image of a centaur, then the horse attachment is part of your body.

If instead you are "sitting" on the horse, with visible legs gripping the horse body, then the horse is not a body part. The horse is a horse of course of course, not a body part.

We're beginning to get somewhere now. First though, I am not sitting on the horse - it is quite clearly attached to my groin. It is in every other respect a normal horse.

There is no hat shaped head. I think you are missing my point. We are talking about two prim objects - one looks like a hat, another looks like a pair of dragon wings. Both attach to the body in the same way. Neither function in any way whatsoever, they are merely decoration. There are two ways to make dragon wings flap - one is to have them attached to the avatars arms and have an animation whereby the avatar flaps their arms. If this is the method and you still acknowledge them to be bodyparts, then that means a pair of Icarus wings is also a body part.

The second method is to have to pairs of wings, one above the other. A script causes both sets to become invisible or visible at a staggered phase, giving the illusion that the wings are flapping when infact they are doing no such thing. If this method is the one being used, then your wings do not function at all, they are merely stationary.

We seem to be back to the question of whether something looks like a body part or not. It seems to me that the logic you are following is that it if it looks like what we would recognise as a body part, then it must be so.

Let's step out of SL and into the real world for a second. If I wear a rubber witches nose glued to my own nose, does that become a part of my body? I would suggest not. I believe the same applies in SL - it may appear that you are dragon shaped - infact your human avatar is still there stuffed inside the dragon. You are, in essence, flying the dragon like a pilot in exactly the same way that you said I was sat on my horse rather than being part of it.

For SL there is nothing you need. Building is built into the system, scripting is done via their interface. If your talking outside SL to make things like textures or sculpties it honestly depends on what you know already and what you have already. In my case I need nothing, but I want things (there is a difference there hehe).

I love the rezzbox...it sets items as temp and constantly re-rezzes them, so the prims aren't counted towards your prim usage. There are some limitations, like the items have to be copy perms, but it's SO worth it and makes owning land much more fun if you have a smaller parcel with limited prims. If you want to know the maker or what it's called exactly, IM me in-world because I forgot.

I agree with the poster about having at least a walking AO..it's really not mandatory or even completely essential to the experience, but I hate the default walk lol.

I just had to take this part out of context!

No, that remark needs no context.

It is entirely free standing, and can be put "out there" by itself. Much like my horse shaped groin.

OK, I must say the Av size argument is getting old and clouding the main question, but I got my answer. 7' 5" seems to be the maximum without using prims, though I have to recheck my and my sources math. I was hoping for a target of ~8' 5" and an appearance of ~465 Pounds without the use of Prims as I hoped to make prim armor around the Av in question.

I am mostly interested in getting into building and scripting, maybe some animation where applicable. The project above will likely require some animation as well to make the Av walk propperly in the armor.

I already have an AO I have mostly customized to my liking, an Av Radar that also gives flight assist, and a freebie Multitool that I think is rather close to MystiTool. Of course I will continue to read so feel free to offer any other suggestions you may have even if they are similar to those already suggested or those I have. I may find some things that work for me better than those I have now.

How about things for Home owners? Anything as a SL Home owner you think is a must have? Please, like one responce I have read reframe from the blatently obvious answers like "A computer" or "SL Land", I don't see how those advance the general topic at all.

That's the difference of course. You see a dragon and think, ah yes, somewhere in that dragon vehicle is a human. I see a dragon and think, ah yes, a dragon. The wings of an angel sticking out of a humoid shape, even if they need scripts to function, are "bodyparts" of the humoid angel (or, I should say, the wings of a dragon). The wings of Icarus are not bodyparts, they are artifical wings attached to Icarus through the use of wax. The angel wings are intended to be part of the avatar's body. The wings of Icarus are not intended to be a part of Icarus' body, but attachments to Icarus' body.

I have driven my car while I was in the shape of a small otter. I did not see the car as a part of my otter body, even though I was "attached" to it, because the car was not intended to be a body part, but a car. An object. On the other hand, I did see the otter, which used several prims to create "me", as my body. I did not look at the tiny otter and think, ah yes, I am 0.5 meters of human ball inside that otter vehicle, driving around in a larger vehicle shaped like a car. I saw an otter, me, driving around in a car.

I have worn a parachute while in cat form. The parachute was attached to me. Did I think, gee, my cat grew an odd body part? No, I thought that I, in cat form, was riding underneath a parachute. The fur on my body, provided by prims, I saw as part of my body, the clothes above those prims, I saw as clothes.

We obviously are seeing SL different.

Yes, I think so. To me, what matters is the bare facts of what an object is - what's it made of, how does it work. Whereas you seem more concerned with the over-all aesthetic created by an object. That's a perfectly valid way of looking at it though.

A word to the OP. Making armour is great, but remember that it's easier to change the body underneath the armour than to change the prims themselves. For example, I have built what I consider to be a fairly convincing samurai armour, but the first few versions were too bulky. You can do things like reduce the size of the pectoral muscles, so that the armour can be more streamlined. Best thing to do is have a specific shape in your inventory that matches each suit of armour, and a separate one that you wear when not wearing armour.

Home owner? If you have taken photos in real life and wish to put them up in SL (or painted, or etc.) there is a free-frame wizard that allows you to add a frame to the object. You create an object, insert the free-frame wizard, add a frame, upload a picture you took in real life, add that as the texture, and attach to your home wall. Now you have a 1 prim painting/photo/etc. decorating your home.

I rather like the free-frame wizard.

Hi again Mortus!

It sounds like you're already pretty familiar with the basic "necessities" of SL life, and now it's more a matter of what it interesting just to you. In other words, it's time to SHOP!!!

Searching for products is very hard inworld, so I rely on outside websites, primary SL Exchange. You can browse the marketplace or search on keywords, and they have a whole category for builder tools. The good sellers will provide several pictures of the product and how it works, along with a thorough description of all its features.

Here's a link for the "Building Aids" section:

*sigh* - this is embarassing - but my must haves are a hug anim, and Slow Dance v3....
oh, and, an attachable object by Stroker Serpentine...................

My Cubey hot air balloon, my Dominus shadow motercar, and a decent pair of shades.

Femillior? Well I guess in a sense though most of what I picked up were the suggestions of other residents in world, some being more "Trendy" than others, so I would everything I have put together so far is top notch. I know there are some that are not 100% to my liking, but I tend to knit pick and find things that "Can be done better.", which may be a good thing.

Well it will be Mechanised so I have no doubt it will be bulky. The trick will be making it bulky enough to put an appropreately sized Av inside. I wonder if making as a two piece vehicle would be better? Then I could animate the Av to move with it, and even allow for Av size variance?

Good thread on the subject:
http://forums.secondcitizen.com/showthread.php?t=2750

My favourites:

A good AO (I use Reverie).
A nice animation docker for hugs and similar (I use Francis Chung's Hugger.. pre-Huddles )
The Timeless MultiGadget (what my generation had before MystiTool. )
AubreTec Protec Shield (a bit of a shame that you need this, but..)
Something that emits a followable beam (I use a Wyvernclaw Wand, but there's newer things)

Plus of course:

All of the fine HUDs I make.

Rubber Chicken

1) AO
2) rocketpack and/or some form of flight assist
3) ProTec shield...it has helped me get into as much trouble as it has helped me get out of!
4) shades
5) goatee and chops attachments (for me, by me!)

The rest of my inventory is luxury!

* AO
* Decent hair/skin (you can get the shape right by yourself, fine tuning over time)
* Flight feather

* A place to call home... even from the beginning, I was seeking out secluded places to change and practice dancing. I had one spot I called "home" even though it was a public sim. Then, me and a roomate started out renting a 512 sqm lot and had a two room house, but at the time, I thought it was fabulous because it was ours. I still only rent land and have my own house now, but I couldn't stand being homeless again.

* HUD for dances and poses. I'm not a professional dancer but I like to frequent some clubs. When I first started, I use to open all my dance animations and line them up at the top of the screen. A HUD is so much easier. I like to match my dance to the beat of the music and not get stuck with a random (sometimes silly) dance choice of a dance ball.

* Good shoes or boots. I'm sorry, but most freebie/newbie shoes are not prim and they suck.