Animation, Scripting, Building, etc

So, the last few days I haven’t been able to focus on any one thing…… the whole grid being down knocked me out of my productive streak, and my whole 30 animations in 30 days thing was not likely to be reached since 4 or 5 days were more or less unavailable. However, I’ve been spending some time creating silly animations, just practicing various tricks of the trade….. timing, smooth motion, etc. I’ve made a few sillies ranging from a spinning head to a forward flip, to a cartwheel ending with a round house kick to just floating in the air. Each one, helping hone my animation skill down even further. Sometimes, just playing around and trying to achieve nothing at all will help further skills along than attempting a goal……

Although, I do have a goal.

I want to have a complete set of marketable skills.

Right now, my top skill is scripting (by far)…… followed by animation. Once I’m done refreshing and skilling up in animation, I’ll tackle building which is probably my least capable skill. If Second Life were more like 3D Studio, I could do a fair bit better because I could shape and texture anything I can imagine, but with additive 3D, I can’t picture how to get the prim shapes I have into the prim shapes I want. With true 3D software, it’s easy…… I can directly manipulative vertices to the shape I want, no matter what the form. In this aspect, Second Life is very….. limiting.

I don’t know why SL doesn’t allow actual mesh objects….. they say it would be “bigger”, larger to download data…… but then I have to ask. Is one mesh larger to download than say 250+ prims twisted tortured to form one specific object you *could* build with one mesh (especially considering the number of hidden faces and vertices often included in this type of complex object). You could also directly UV map the whole object in one TGA file, which means less textures to download as well. Sculpties are nice, but really….. I don’t think an actual mesh would increase the load on Second Life. One mesh is certainly far more efficient than 250 prims. If they were worried about people uploading huge objects to grief…… well, add a L$ X fee upload for Y # of vertices. Anyway, enough ranting about that!

So building….. yes, it’s the one skill in Second Life that I really am not proud of. Generally, I hire trusted, high quality builders to do builds for me while I concentrate on either scripting or animation. The time it would take me to build something significant….. it’s just far more efficient for me to hire someone and get it done 20x faster. Mind you, I don’t hire builders for *everything*…… just the really complex or detailed stuff. Even if I have uber building skill, chances are, I’d still out-source so I could achieve my goals faster and more efficiently. Sometimes, it’s not a matter “If I can do it, I should do it” but a matter of, “I can do it, but someone else can do it faster”.

Anyway, I’m skilling up! Releasing products and animation sets along the way…..

Matriarch Online, Grid Wonky

Matriarch was brought back online yesterday by Ethan, so a lovely thank you goes out to him for responding as quick as her could to the ticket request, despite the plethora of grid issues.

However, with that said, it seems the grid is still having some serious issues….. even deleting basic, unscripted prims has been failing at times. So, I don’t think we’re anywhere near the end of this virtual natural disaster for Second Life. While it is displeasing that the grid is down so often, or so much…… I look at them akin to natural disasters, acts of virtual gods. There’s little that can be done to stop them except wait for the government (Linden Lab) to clean up after the disaster strikes.

While occasionally, my patience does run thin, I do understand one thing…… Second Life will never be a perfect, smoothly running entity. That would be impossible. How do you make software capable of creating almost everything and anything….. run smoothly?

Matriarch….. like Atlantis….. Sank!

Well, it’s been 24 hours since Matriarch has vanished from the map…… completely…… as in crashed a half dozen times, went offline for several hours, and then popped off the map.

While I appreciate there are grid issues…… I don’t appreciate I’ll be billed full tier for an island which I have no access to nor seems to even exist.

Released……

Two wonderful new combat weapons have been released in the last couple days. The rocket launcher and the grenade launcher. The Rocket Launcher is by far my favorite. It’s a lot of fun, and it has AV seeking rockets while can make launching them a little entertaining. Both are wonderful for combat sims, and have been designed to be powerful, but fair.

Sex Rez Animations

I’ve decided to jump into the animation business….. in an attempt to produce 60 sex animations (in 30 sets) in 30 days. Today is day six, and I’ve released the 6th animation pair today. I’m trying to add a little variation into my animations and once again diversify the Dictatorshop’s product line. I’m creating 10 second animation loops with subtle variations throughout the animation, instead of just 2-3 seconds with one single loop. The animations are coming out slowly, and I can see myself significantly improving my animation skill by the end of the 30 days. I’m learning the one necessary attribute for animating….. patience.

Anyway, by the end of the month….. the Dictatorshop will have a vast new product line.

FemDom Faire

Well, it’s about the end of the 2nd day in the FemDom Faire in the Matriarch estate, in support of the House of X….. which has, so far, been incredible. A variety of events have occurred, from discussions to demos to D/s scenes, and a *fantastic* live music concert performed by ColeMarie Soleil. Hire her for your event, you won’t regret it! If I weren’t so tired and exhausted from today’s heatwave….. I would probably blog more about it.

Cargo Van *Released*

The Dictatorshop has released the *first* drivable, roleplay and abduction van in Second Life where you can drive your victim around, pull over, open the cargo doors, and then engage in satisfying your most primal sexual urges.

Well! After being on my “To Do” list since last September….. yes, that far back, I finally took the opportunity to work on a project which I had wanted to do for awhile. The pose system I developed really allowed me to create it the way I wanted it.

Another fine product in the Dictatorshop line! And, many many many more to come!

Chain Whip

The “Chain Whip”, the latest product released from the Dictatorshop. Whether you are into hard kink, punk, or the Fallout wastelands….. the chain whip is a great addition to any cyber outfit. It’s a set of chains hanging from wrist shackles which double as a roleplay whip and combat weapon. Now for sale @ the Dictatorshop!

Expressions “Live”

So, last night I released the latest product from the Dictatorshop: Expressions “Live”.

Expressions “Live” is the alternative to Second Expressions. While Second Expressions is good for maintaining an expression (or multiple) on your face, and is great for models and dancers….. Expressions “Live” takes the opposite approach. Expressions “Live” scans your chat, compares your words and emotes to various triggers in its database which are tied into facial animations, and will then produce an expression corresponding to the triggers which were fired off by your chat. Expressions “Live” has a few 100 triggers, which it is generally (lag forgiving) able to scan within a fraction of a second. The triggers are also easily edited, allowing you customize your own triggers and even add in your own animations. Myself and Emma have found Expressions “Live” really add a bit of life to your avatar, helping to easily reflect moods via avatar facial expressions….. without having to press buttons.

Expressions “Live” is on sale at the Dictatorshop for only 200 L.

Real Life

Well, I haven’t been online quite as much the last two weeks, I’ve been doing some dog sitting for family in real life….. so, my Second Life has taken more a backseat, but I’m still trying to maintain as much of a presence as I can. Anyway, yes, that’s where I’ve been much of the time for people who have asked…… I have been in real life! *Gasp!*