Yet Another Newbie Question

I'm certain that this has been asked dozens of times over the years, but I couldn't easily find it here in the forums. So please forgive another redux of the same query... But...

Textures seemed relatively simple to me, and I'm already on a good track with that. But what's the best way to get started using the building tools? At the moment, I've experimented, but I'm having an absolute devil of a time trying to get things to line-up properly.

Primarily, I'm playing with very small objects, like trying to craft a piece of jewelry or a pair of eyeglasses, and I've never been so frustrated by (what is ostensibly) a graphics tool in my entire life.

A related question is this: Let's assume I master this. My next objective would be to map realistic textures onto these things. Is there a general approach here to precisely position textures onto the 3D object, or is that sort of thing even attempted?

Bottom line: The PDF guide in the texture samples was awesome, and got me going quickly. So far, I've just not been able to find something that comprehensive for building things and mapping textures. Maybe I've not looked hard enough.

I'm sure y'all spent weeks and months learning it all, I just wish I knew where and how to jump-start the learning curve. Any specific pointers to resources would be appreciated -- especially with regard to aligning prims with each other on small objects.

The Ivory Tower of Primatives (I think that's the name) in-world is where I learned. I'm sure you can find it in Find. It walks you through step-by-step and you actually use the tools which is better than reading about it.

You don't have to build small things small. As long as you build it to scale, you can reduce the size of it when you are done.

If you do use this approach, though, (and many people do) be aware before you start that no prim can have dimensions less than 0.01x0.01x0.01. This is a problem when you build a beautifully detailled pair of eyeglasses at 10 times real size, with finely crafted screws on the ear-pieces, which measure 0.02x0.02x0.13. Then you try to size the glasses down and the smallest you can reach is 5 times real size - after 4 days of lost design.

People that do use this technique are aware of this problem, and take it into account before they even start building, to avoid nasty surprises later.

Many others (myself included) prefer to build at real size right from the start.

Wes, to get things lined up, try to keep your build aligned on the world co-ordinates - play around with, and get to know, the grid and its options - and don't be afraid to build by the numbers every now and then.