Building query

Hello All,
I am a new member in second life and am trying to build a structure - however, I realise that in any 3d software, you have to think the way the software thinks to make a successful build. I have been playing around with the tools and have gone through the help topics, however, I do need some basic conceptual understanding of how detailing works in second life. For eg.
Q1. how can I create windows in my building? Can I cut into the mass that I create or am I supposed to leave openings for the window and build everything around it?
Q2. If my window is not a prim, then can I just texture so that it represents a window? In that case doesn't it look fake as I will not be able to see through it if I come close?
Q3. can I detail out window frames or cornices or are they just images?

I do have many more detail questions like these. I know they are very basic, but I absolutely have no idea where to find my answers. If any one could please guide me on the above or if you could also let me know of a website/tool i second life where I could find more building tutorials/guidelines, that would be very helpful!

Thank You for all your help.
-Leopan-

Some of this was covered here:
/8/1d/168300/1.html

SL does not use subtractive geometry. But you can cut a hole in a prim, only in a certain dimension.

The opengl transparent sorting bug seems to be less prominent with the latest viewer, so maybe textures are now the way to go.

1. You can hollow a box.
2. You will be able to see through.
3. Detail it with more prims, or a texture.

For the house I just built, I used hollowed prims, a prim for the window and another prim for the window ledge/sill - this adds a nice bit of detail.

This did restrict my design and would not do at all if you were building to a set plan.

For my club, a much larger building, I used textures with pictures of windows - it looks fine from the outside and the inside does not need windows - so - horses for courses...

Cat x

Very good... I'll start with one very basic thing before I answer your questions: everything is built from the 7 types of primitives provided. You can stretch, twist, cut and combine them (all within certain limits), but they will always consist of those primitive shapes, visible individually within the Edit mode.

That's always an interesting question to face. Indeed you cannot just cut out any part of a prim you wish; you have to work with it's limited settings. Many will say Yes, just build around it, but there are alternatives. For example, one might surround the entire window with a Box prim that has its Hollow setting turned up. In some cases this proves to be quite efficient, while with other windows it can end up using no less prims than some completely different construction. I recommend you learn well how to use cut-and-hollowed prims to form the shapes you need, just in case.
Here's the good news: you can have see-through textures, creating a rather nice-looking window simply by turning down the alpha channel on those particular pixels. However, then there's the bad news, which isn't likely to entirely go away any time soon: the viewer has some trouble assigning the order of semi-transparent images, such that if you see a semi-transparent object close behind your window-textured wall, it may show up as if it were in front of that wall.
That depends on your budget... of primitives, that is. All land has some set limit of how many primitives it can hold. I don't know everything about assigning those limits, but you can read some information about the current plot's limits by clicking on the name of the land, at the top of the screen. Anyhow, chances are you won't want to spend many primitives on modeling things like window frames, but it's all up to you. You can play with the Bump Map settings (particularly Lightness and Darkness), but that's just a texture effect that's sensitive to the direction of light.


So, as you may suspect, it's like Chosen Few once said: "The system is entirely additive." Non-physical objects - from which the vast majority of this world is built - can intersect with each other as much as you like, but there is no way to cut a hole in a primitive shape other than to go into it's settings and change the Hollow or Hole Size. You can also make a cut from the outside by changing the Profile Cut or Path Cut (the latter of which is actually like slicing a donut).

Once again, all truly 3-D structures in the world of Second Life are nothing more than primitives ("prims" reshaped according to their own simple internal settings, textured to look like what they should be, and meticulously arranged and attached to each other (well, they can have contents like scripts added inside to do stuff like spin, but I'm just talking about the basic, stationary 3D modeling). Even the avatar body functions basically like a prim. It is through this simple system that Linden Labs streamlines its 3D content to be delivered so quickly to so many viewers around the world.

You are quite welcome. Glad to be of assistance.