Newbie question warning.....

Hi All

Really sorry but it's the noob here again!

I keep reading about items having PRIMS - can someone please explain what this means!

Thanks - am trying really hard to understand it all!

TIA

BB x

Prims, a short form of the word "primatives" are the fundemental building blocks of the objects you see in Second Life. Think of them as basic legos that come in simple shapes, like cubes and spheres. Everything you see in Second Life, from buildings to vehicles are made up of linked sets of prim.

The reason people often speak of "things having prim" is that when you own a small piece of land, you are limited in the number of prim you can place on your land. For a 512m2 parcel, you are permitted only 117 prim. So, if you have a house that is comprised of 50 prim, you only have 67 prim left with which to furnish your home.

I hope this helps

Got it- totally understand!

Oh it's all beginning to make a little more sense now!!

Thank you

BB x

And just for the hell of it, here are a few more prim notes of interest:

Skin, default hair and base clothing are not prim-based. They can be made by using the Edit Appearance panel and applying a custom texture.

You can, however, buy hair "wigs" that are made of prims, as are some pieces of a clothing outfit (like a sword or belt buckle). Any prims that you wear attached to your avatar do not count against the prim limit of land.

But they CAN contribute to lag.

Hello again Barrowness
Check out the knowledgebase entry http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=164 for more prim info

Hi Barrowness-good for you for asking questions...I wish I had asked more so I could have not made some avoidable mistakes.

Also, in case this hasn't been covered, if you buy more land in the same region(sim) the prims add up so that you can use all the prims on one parcel and leave the other unused. This may explain to you why people go on to buy more land when they have their house set up..they buy a parcel in the same sim but leave it empty so they can use the prims for furniture in their house. Be sure the parcel is in the new sim tho, recently a friend of mine thought a parcel was in the same sim because he took the reading off the top of the screen and it was showing him his position, not the parcel's position. I haven't been able to find a way to tell where the parcel is without standing on it.

Any prims worn by the Avatar don't count as has been mentioned but this also includes prims you are riding so if you ride over a parcel in your rocket ship or flying horse (I love SL) it won't count against the prims for the land unless you dismount.

IMHO prims are the real base of the economy in SL, $L are just a way to get prims lol.

Have fun, questions help all of us

Another question about prims (on my land).

When I check my prims, it says 13 are in use by others. I clicked to see who owns those 'others', it just highlights the border of my plot of land.

Does this sound right? Or could something be hanging over by a neighbor by just a tad?

Thanks in advance.

Quixotica, something "hanging over" will usually not count against your prim allotment. The reason for this is that a prim lives on the parcel where it is centered. So, if your neighbor has a 10x10 meter prim that overlaps your parcel by a couple of meters, it will still be centered over his own land, and count against his own prim.

That being said, also note that an object comprised of many prim lives on the parcel where its root prim is located (the last prim linked into a link set is the root prim). So, it is also possible that neighbor has a linked object, like a home, with a root prim that is mostly or entirely over your land.

But the most likely scenario is that you have some very small objects on your land that aren't very easily visible. They wereprobably placed there mistakenly and can simply be returned to their owner.

Look at the list of names for the items owned by other people (refresh list). If it's one of your neighbors, ask them to find and remove the objects from your land. If it's not your neighbor, or if your neighbor refuses to help, just return the items to their owner.