Making opennings for windows...

I can build baically only. I know how to make the type of object that I want....but not the size for SL ...OR... how to make square etc. opennings in a block of wood that may turn into the wall of a house...

What is the normal size for the wall of a house? How do you figure these demensions when building? When I build and look at it afterwards...it's just so funny. It's either WAY too small (most of the time) or too big...but never right. When I'm building my avatar is under my view so that I can't judge.

And... I have NO idea how to cut window opennings. HELP! LOL!

Scale is pretty much down to the individual - it's a cross between what looks right and what works with the game. For example I have a very small cottage which whilst it looks perfectly in scale is a bit of a bummer to move around in because of the camera views (still cute though!)

Think about the size of an average person - 2m-ish. So your walls could be between 4-10m high, for example. Try it with you av whilst you're building, not after - drop a wall down next to you and tweak the height until it looks right for you. There's no 'standard' wall height in RL, nor is there in SL. Just try it with one wall before building a whole house and then you'll know what size to stick to.

As for windows, I don't believe you can 'cut' them the way you can in some 3D packages. I either break the wall into four sections to surround the window space (top, bottom and sides) or else use a texture with an alpha'd window where I want it. Both have advantages and disadvantages. The building method requires more prims but gives you more freedom with texturing. You can also fit a window that's a different width to the wall for more realism. With the texture method, you'll need matching textures for each side of the wall you build, else you'll have a window that's only visible on one side. Texturing means you can have a wall with a window that's only 1 prim as opposed to 4 or 5, but creating the textures can be fiddly. However, perfectly alligning the sections of wall for the first method isn't exactly a stroll in the park either.

Those are the only methods I know of, but there may well be others. Hope that makes sense.

Thank you for the examples and help. It was really good. I have one more question:

When using alpha textures for a window on a wall, what happens to the wall under the texture? Doesn't the wall show through? I'm just trying to find out how to do things that I never did before. LOL! Thanks so much for helping.

Yes, you can. Set the Hole property to 25-50, depending on the size of window you want. You'll have to make the wall with X and Z and then rotate it to have a vertical wall.

Oh aye. But bear in mind that's going to be right in the middle of the wall. What I mean was you can't link two prims and then remove one from the other leaving a hole that shape, which is a pity The hole thing is handy for making arches - you can set the hollow to circle and then cut the prim so you have the top arch, and then add bottom walls to finish it off.

If you have a texture with a part of it alpha'd out so it's transparent, when you put that on the face of a wall you'll be able to see through to the other side. Is that what you mean? The wall under the transparent bit is invisible. This is why it can get a bit odd if you have thick walls using an alpha texture, because the texture is flat but your brain expects to see some 'thickness' to the cut-away part because it knows the wall is thick. Also, if you go round to the other side of the wall which you haven't textured, it'll just be a blank face. So if you do it this way you'll either need to use the same texture on both sides, or edit it in PS or whatever so you have a matching copy but with a different 'pattern', for example.

I have a couple of buildings using this technique if you want to PM me in game and see them. The outer wall is bricks, for example, with an alpha window, and the inner wall is exactly the same texture, but I've replaced the bricks with wallpaper and uploaded it as a second file.

I'll have to wait to see your windows. I'm confused and can't picture it. I'll have to see it. I'll be here tomorrow sometime between 2 and 3 PM SL time. I hope I don't miss you. Huggggggggggggs and thank you so much for offering to show me..I sure do want to see them