Rainy Night

I rely on windlight settings for my Second Life photos so much that I occasionally forget how interesting local lighting can be. I must remedy that. This photo was a happy accident when I turned on the lamp on my Digs Mapleton Dock in the dark. 

There are always new releases to blog, but I'm saving my money for some of the big events that will be starting in September. (Can you say Arcade Gacha's first anniversary?) I figured I could surely put a mix of designers look together out of my ever growing inventory. I'm kind of loving this casual look for my rainy night.

Credits:

D!va Hair "Flora" (Type B)(Red amber)

Yummy Sea Trinkets Charm Necklace
Tres Blah Half Tucked Tee - Peach
Tram -J.I cardigan
HANDverk April Showers Parasol.salmon.rabbit
Mon Tissu Cotton Pants ~ Grey

Slink Mesh Feet (Av) Toes
Slink Tri-Colour Wedges Multipack
Glam Affair - Cleo - America - 06 F

Slink Mesh Hands (av) 

Pose by Exposeur

Almost the End of Summer

When summer comes to a close the days are warm but the evenings get a little nippy. Usually. Where I live we're having the hottest weather all summer, but at coldLogic there's a chill in the air. So the new release dress and jacket combos are perfect for the changeable weather. To add a little color from my black and white Karr dress, I combined it with the berry jacket from the Roberts combo. I'm feeling quite the lady today!

I realized something when I saw Strawberry Singh's meme this week. I can't do it justice. I want to - it's a terrific meme about taking pictures of favorite sims. But I'm on a four year old MacBook Pro and for me Second Life is lately (and by lately I mean about the past six or seven months at least) a blur-rez-blur-rez cycle of textures. To get a halfway decent photo I need to be in controlled circumstances and either hold everything in the picture in edit mode, or check in the develop menu under rendering "render full textures" and hope I don't fry my graphics card in the process. On my favorite sims I've been unable to take a picture with textures that fully rez.

I had hoped that once server side baking was up and running that maybe it would ease that blurring cycle, but it hasn't. I hate that improvements to Second Life mean that a four year old laptop, otherwise in fine shape, becomes obsolete, but it seems that is what has happened. I'm kind of bummed about that.

The background for my photo above is my home at Alterior Living. My friend Aprilmae Devin owns the sim. Ayla and I rent from her. If you're looking for a beautiful place to call home, there are a couple of parcels unrented. Here's the best that I can do in the spirit of the meme. This is a raw shot of the place I call home in Second Life.

Credits:

coldLogic dress - karr.cotton (New Release)
coldLogic jacket - roberts.berry (New Release)
Pure Poison - Black Viper Necklace

Hucci Embessa Leather Sandals - Collection
Slink Mesh Feet (Av) Toes
Slink Mesh Hands (av)
TRUTH HAIR Chilali [NoRoots] - Gingers02Fade
Glam Affair - Cleo - America - 06 F
Beetlebones Mesh Lashes V.01 (Dainty brown)

Mayfly - Liquid Light Mesh Eye (Summer Shore, w3) 

Pose by Picture This

Let's Give the Girl a Hand

I've been away or planning to be away for a few days. Between that and discussing new roleplay characters for the Wendigo Lake roleplay sim I've hardly taken a picture lately (more about Wendigo Lake in another post). As I mused about what to do for a photo, I received a notice from Valentina E of a new product. WHOA! End of musing. My Applause Bikini is inspired by none other than Lady Gaga. Come on everybody! Let's give the girl a hand (or two to cover her backside). Also it's a great excuse to get the Hucci sandal/boots that fit my SLink feet. What else could I possibly wear with this bikini? If you run out to buy the bikini (you know you want to) check the marketplace first. It wasn't in the store when I rushed over to buy. Just so you know, the second photo is a teensy bit NSFW.

Credits:

Dura hair - Boys&Girls 46(Sienna) (New Release)

Hucci Akita Leather Boots - Moonglow (New Release)

Valentina E Applause Bikini (New Release)

Mayfly - Liquid Light Mesh Eye (Summer Shore, w3)

Slink Mesh Feet (Av)

Slink Mesh Hands (av)

Glam Affair - Cleo - America - 12 F

Mandala SILVER tukemono earrings

Beetlebones Mesh Lashes V.01 (Dainty brown)

It's MY Ice Cream

From the look in my eyes you can tell that Ayla and April are trying to wheedle my ice cream away from me. GO GET YOUR OWN! I'll even give you the landmark! This delicious confection comes from the Atelier Kreslo Ice Cream Festival. There are plenty of yummy flavors from which to choose.

Another delightful confection is the cropped tank top and matching flirty skirt from 22769 Casual Couture. It's their offering for the Gallery Gift Shop this month. Are you happy now? So shoo - do your shopping and let me eat my ice cream in peace. (wink)

Credits:

Dura - The 3th year Anniversary hair(Sienna) (group gift)

22769 ~ [femme] Mary Skirt Blue/Pink (at The Gallery Gift Shop)

22769 ~ [femme] Mary Tank Pink (at The Gallery Gift Shop)

Atelier Kreslo Festival: daisy cookie cream

Maxi Gossamer - Earrings - 92 Summer Of Love Peace Sign

Slink Mesh Hands (av)

Glam Affair - Cleo - America - 06 F

 Mayfly - Liquid Light Mesh Eye (Summer Shore, w3) 

Beetlebones Mesh Lashes V.01 (Starstruck brown)

Are You a Joiner? A Strawberry Singh Meme

Strawberry Singh wants to talk about groups in Second Life, and it's a good topic. Do we have enough group space? What do we use them for? What makes us want to join a group?

Meme Instructions: Answer the following questions about groups and share some of your favs with us. Don’t forget to leave your link in Berry's comments!

1. Have you reached the 42 group limit? I've reached the limit a few times. It's embarrassing to not be able to join an invitation only group because my groups are full! I have winnowed them down to 29 at the moment. I used to be a builder and had a lot of groups related to that. Recently I left all but a few I can't bear to be without, or ones that would be a hassle to rejoin due to fees and other requirements. Of course after reading everyone else's submissions to this meme, I'll probably probably be begging for 84 groups.
2. Do you do a lot of group hopping to keep up with all the groups you want to stay a part of? Some, but not a lot. I love creators who have the web-based group option and and prefer to join those groups whenever I have the choice.
3. What makes you want to join a group? There are different kinds of groups. We have a land group on our sim which is a must. Roleplay groups serve a different purpose and every roleplay sim has at least one, and usually several groups that you must be in if you play there. There are some groups which are purely informational. I belonged to an Elect Barack Obama group in 2008. But of course, the majority of my groups are store, event and blogger groups. Store and event groups I join to keep up with new releases and events, or because they have a great group gift.
4. A lot of store VIP groups have a group fee which you have to pay to join. How do you feel about paying group fees? I'd rather not but I do belong to a few groups that require a fee. If the group receives frequent group gifts I'm OK with that. But believe me, if the creator goes months without a group gift I won't be a happy camper. I might join if the VIP group gets discounts on merchandise, but I often forget which groups offer that, so it's not as big an incentive even if I love the creator.
5. Name a few groups that you are a part of that you feel everyone should look into joining and share your reasons behind that.
   
   •  No group is for everyone, but if you want to learn to build in Second Life, I highly recommend Builder's Brewery. Every week a new schedule is released for classes on everything from building with prims to making textures to learning Blender. One minus for me is that the group chat is VERY chatty. But it's a nice group of people sharing their skills.
   •  The Fifty Linden Friday group is a must for me. I don't always shop the event, but I don't want to miss it either!
   • I belong to the Lelutka group because I can't bear to miss a new release and the Dura group because they send demos of new releases to members, which I find very handy. I'm still in the Celoe group because if they DO release something new I'll be there in a flash.
   • Honestly, most of the other store groups that I like are the web-based groups that don't require a group spot. Truth Hair and Hucci come to mind. Both have group gifts on occasion, and they both keep me up to date with new releases. The only downside to the web based groups is that (a very few) creators add you to their group just for visiting their store. DON'T do that. I' still trying to figure out how to leave one particular group!
     
   Credits:

One Bad Pixel Cigarette Pants Black

Pure Poison - Amelia Studds Earrings - Gold

Ricielli Mesh - Spiked Bra + Pullover /#pow (at The Dressing Room Fusion)

Slink Mesh Hands (av)

[LeLutka]-POCAHONTAS hair - IrishRed

Glam Affair - Cleo - America - 01 F

Beetlebones Mesh Lashes V.01 (Starstruck brown)

Mayfly - Liquid Light Mesh Eye (Summer Shore, w3)

Luxurious Materials In Bed

I made an interesting discovery as I was setting up this photo. My plan was to take a photo of Fashionably Dead's bra and half slip set and clever garter and flask which were released at Collabor88 for August. I used the Claryon bedroom set from The Loft, also a Collabor88 item. The discovery came when I turned on shadows and started playing with lighting. The bedspread began to shimmer like a real silk spread. The new Claryon bed is Materials ready - Linden Lab's latest shiny (literally) for our viewing pleasure.

Materials is a texturing process creators can use to give added depth to our Second Life objects. With it, texture responds to light and shadow. So far it's only available in the official viewer. I've taken photos of a few items using Materials, but this was the clearest expression yet. I had to share because this bed is lovely if you can't see materials, but with them - it's breathtaking. I added the raw shots below to show how dramatic a difference Materials can make.

This photo (a raw shot) uses Strawberry Singh's onyx windlight setting.

This photo (also a raw shot) merely adds the light of one table lamp at the right side. See the difference?

Credits:

Fashionably Dead Garter Flask - black (at Collabor88)
Fashionably Dead Roaring Night Clothes Bottoms - Black (at Collabor88)
Fashionably Dead Roaring Night Clothes Top - Black (at Collabor88)
Slink Mesh Feet (Av)
Slink Mesh Hands (av)
TRUTH HAIR Gattina - Gingers01
Glam Affair - Cleo - America - Clean F
 Glam Affair - Cleo - Freckles 2

Book pose prop and pose from Magnifique Poses

At Home with Dolly

When I go to events I don't just buy new release clothes, I buy furniture and houses, too. The Modern Villa is the new release by Trompe Loeil at Collabor88. I'm slowly decorating it and the great room is shaping up nicely with Dig's new Douglas sofa, table and wall art at Liaison Collaborative's Garden. The rug and floor cushion are from Pilot, the floor lamp is from Trompe Loeil's Oceana group at this month's FaMeshed. Other assorted accessories are from Dutchie, Post, and Mud Honey.

Part of the fun of decorating a home in Second Life is the pleasure of mixing the work of different designers into a cohesive look. For my fireplace grouping I used the Trompe Loeil Oceana sofa, chairs, trunk and coffee table. I mixed in a floor lamp from the Digs Douglas grouping, a table lamp, mirror, wall art, and some accessories from The Loft's Alders grouping at Collabor88. The Mission style dresser and the books on the trunk are from Apple Fall at Collabor88. The only items NOT from a new event are the Pilot rugs, the hydrangas in a glass vase from Apple Fall and touch of greenery in the right corner from Rustica.

I think I'm going to be happy at this new house for awhile. Did I tell you it has a pool?