new at houses--windows and curves

Not new to SL or general building, but new to houses. Have read things, but....

I'm trying to build a circular structure with oddly shaped windows (so inworld holes not an option) and a standard doorway. Sounds like alphas are the way to go, but what exactly do I do in Photoshop? Make a long rectangle with windows and doors placed? Then apply to a cylinder? will the doorway really be open and allow me to attach a door?

Thanks!

Well the alpha channel will only visually open the space, it won't necessarily make it a physical doorway. You may have to get crafty with the cloning tool and cut away sections of the cylinder. Cylinders are quite easy to work with. Just snap it to the grid at all it's axis and then when you clone you just snap the sections to the same spot. Then cut and rotate away anything you dont need. The only problems with using alpha channels on a cylinder, especially if it's hollow, is that you get a lot of ghosting and alpha layer crap that is really unattractive. Sure alpha layers save prims, but you can't use two in a row or you get all that video flickering.

thanks--that sounds like a good start for the door certainly. the windows are a kind of mushroom shape, not glassed in rl--wondered how makers of gothic windows handle theirs

to make them look good, by using more prims

One of the coolest builds in SL using curved windows is in Seacliff....

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Seacliff/210/231/125