Monday, March 22, 2010

Want a Frame on That Prim? Here's How.

Have you been wondering how to frame your pictures in SL?  Here's a simple frame script you can use to make a frame out of a prim.  You can use any texture for the frame edges, and stick your picture on the front.  I'll go through it step by step.  First, here's the script:

default

{
state_entry()
{
llSetPrimitiveParams([PRIM_SIZE, <2.0
,3.0,.1>]);
llSetPrimitiveParams([PRIM_TYPE, PRIM_TYPE_BOX, 0, <0.0,1.0,0.0>, 0.0, <0.0,0.0,0.0>, <0.9,0.9,0.0>, <0.0,0.0,0.0>]);
//llSetPrimitiveParams([PRIM_ROTATION, <90, 0, 0, 1>]);
//llSetColor(<0,0,0>, ALL_SIDES);
//llSetColor(<1,1,1>, 0);
}
}

That script will turn any prim into a 2 meter by 3 meter prim with a beveled edge if you drag or drop it into any blank prim.

Here's how to use it:

Create a prim, right click on it, and pick edit
Notice the two blue buttons just above the middle of the edit box?  The one on the left says New Script.  Click on it to make a new script.  You'll see a message that says "Hello Avatar" on your screen, and a script will appear in the edit box.


Use your mouse to cover the default script and paste in the one I provided above instead.  You'll be replacing the script that says "Hello Avatar" with the script that makes your prim into a frame.  Your prim should now look like a 2m x 3m prim with beveled edges.  Inside will be a script, which you should rename.  Right click on the script and choose Rename, then type in the name you want--I called mine Frame Script.  You won't want to leave your script in the prim after it has done its work, so drag it into your inventory to save it, and then delete it from the prim.

Now you are ready to texture your frame and add a picture to the front.  Choose a texture from your inventory.  If you don't have any textures you've picked up from a freebie store or purchased, you have some in your Library (the stuff we all come into Second Life having in our inventories.)  I'm using the Brazilian Rosewood texture from the Library here.

Click on the Texture tab on your prim's Edit box and drag the texture from your inventory to the box on the left (it says texture under it.)


Now you have a wood texture on all of the sides of the prim.  You could use any texture.  I like to use a shiny metal texture that is freely available in SL.  The next step is to get the picture from your inventory and put it on the front of the prim.  Search for the picture you want in your inventory, and once you find it, drag it onto the surface of the frame prim.

As you can see, my picture is sideways, but I can easily turn the prim.  If I want the frame to be a different size, I can do that, too.  To resize, click on the Object tab on your prim's edit box.

You can change the size of your prim by changing the numbers in the size section in the Object tab.  Alternately, if you hold down Ctrl and Shift, you can use your mouse to drag the prim out to the size you want.  While you are in the Object Tab, you can also straighten your prim out, so it will hang on the wall straight.  In the area labeled Rotation, make sure all of the numbers are a multiple of 90 (0, 90, 180, 270, or 360.)  I made my prim 3m x 3m and straightened it up, here.

As a finishing touch, you can go back to the texture tab, and turn on Full Bright.  You will probably also want to give your prim a name, so that it won't be in your inventory as "Object"--which will make it pretty hard to find :)

I called mine My Picture Frame--now you can set the permissions on your picture--in case you want to give it to someone.

Notice that on the bottom of the Edit Box, there are 3 checkboxes.  It says Nex owner can: Modify, Copy, Resell/GiveAway.  If you want to give your picture to someone, and also want them to be able to use it to make their own picture fram, you will want to set it to allow Copy and Modify.  If you want them to be able to share it with friends, you will want to set it to be transferrable (Resell/GiveAway).  If you don't want it to be given or changed, you can click only on Copy, leaving Modify and Resell/Give Away blank.

Remember that script you dragged into your inventory at the start?  You can use it from now on to make frames out of any prim you make or have modify rights for.  Just drag it into the contents of the prim (or even onto the prim itself.) Be sure to remove it every time you use it, so that you don't have unnecessary scripts left hanging out to cause lag. That's it--I hope you found this useful.

Keywords: How To Make A Frame, Second Life, Frame Prim, How To Texture Prim, How To Bevel Edges

New Hair that is Really Cute & Different & New Dresses & More @ PixelDolls

A really cute new hairstyle has come in at A Wild Hair, and it is really different from anything I've had on offer before.  It's not really curly and not really straight, instead falling to shoulder length in soft waves.  Beth comes in 9 colors: brown, blonde, red, black, black night, coral, dark brown, light blonde, and white with touch color change.  A picture of Beth hairstyle in brown (and me in the new PixelDolls dress, Madeline, is below.)
Madeline comes in 5 colors, and is available as a dress, highwaisted skirt, corset, and top.  The colors are white, pink, violet, blue, and teal.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Tips for Getting Around in Second Life

Renaming Landmarks

Recently someone visiting the Free Store at MIA Island asked Alanis how they could get back to a certain spot more easily.  They had taken a lot of landmarks while visiting various areas of MIA, but they couldn't remember which one went where.  It turned out that they did not realize you can rename your landmarks, so I will go over the basics here.

When you are visiting a place in Second Life, and you want to get back to that place--here's how.

Click on the World tab at the top of your screen, and choose Create Landmark Here.

In your inventory Recent tab--look for Landmarks.  Find your most recent landmark, and right click on it, then choose Rename.  Type in a name that will describe that spot for you, such as "5th Floor Free Store MIA Island".  When you want to return, without starting at the bottom, just use your landmark.  Some places have their landmarks set so that you always land in the same place. That makes it so your landmark will take you to the common landing point for that sim (or island or smaller piece of land.) When that happens, you can still use your landmark to get where you want to go, you just have to land at the common landing point first, and then click on your landmark again.  That will take you to your saved spot.

But, what if you want to put a place in your "Picks", so you don't have to find the landmark in your inventory?

Here's how to put a place in your picks.  When you are visiting a place that you want to return to often (or just easily), you can put it in your picks.  Putting a place in your picks is also a nice way to show your appreciation to a favorite spot, and lets your friends and acquaintances know about cool places to visit.  So, when you are in a spot you want to put in your picks, just click on yourself, choose "Profile", then choose  "Picks", and then "New".  Now you can easily return to a favorite spot without searching through your inventory or even waiting for it to load.  You can edit your picks, too, so you can add in a picture of yourself and your sweetie visiting that favorite spot, if you want to--or rename it to make it customized to you.

Here's a link to a video on editing profile picks:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/How_to_fill_in_your_Profile_-_Video_Tutorial

Alanis says be sure to tell everyone they should always be at MIA Island when they make a Profile Pick--otherwise there could be smoke! LOL!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Another Day, Another Hairstyle--& New Dresses at the PixelDolls Outlet, too!

I love this new Iara hair--it's just so fresh.  It makes me think of summerfests and outdoor music.  When the new dresses came in for the PixelDolls Outlet Depot--they just went together like Summer and Sunshine.
Here's a closer look at the Iara Hair--It comes in 9 colors.

Monday, March 15, 2010

New Hair @ A Wild Hair & New Outfits at Chez GiGi

Spring is in the air, and some hot & cute new outfits have arrived a Chez GiGi for the warm weather.  Veronica comes in 5 colors: green, blue, grey, brown, & pink.  It's really cute, with stripes & suspenders & plenty of skimpy :)


Annie also comes in 5 colors, but more in the pastel ranges: cream, green, blue, pink, & lilac.  Lovely lace trim makes it extra special.


Take a look at the hair I am wearing in the pictures of Annie--That's the latest style in A Wild Hair, called Zahara, and available in 9 colors.  Majestic went out as a freebie to the A Wild Hair update group today.  Be sure to stop in and touch one of the Subscribe-O-Matic kiosks to join the update group.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Gorgeous new hairstyles @ A Wild Hair

There are so many gorgeous new hairstyles at A Wild Hair, I can't even show you all of them here.  I'm going to put in a few more pictures over the next few days, but the first one I want to show you is Ambar.
Ambar comes in 8 colors, and is so delightfully flexi and shiny, it just makes everything else look good that you're wearing.  The blonde reminds me a lot of pictures of Marilyn Monroe, and it is so flattering!

Besides Ambar, I've added about 10 new styles since opening the newly expanded A Wild Hair store.  The old building was so crowded, and there was just no place to expand.  So...
I moved another island next to MIA Island, just to put in the new building.  The new island is called Hairtopia--and you know that means it is going to be THE place for great hair in SL.  There is lots of great hair for women, and also a good selection of men's hairstyles.  I have put up a bunch of Midnight Mania boards and some Subscribe-O-Matic membership kiosks, so do come visit & click on both.

I added Subscribe-O-Matic to give A Wild Hair its own group (besides the MIA "West World" group.)  The West World group will continue, and will be the place to find out about hunts and specials and group grifts for MIA Island.  The Subscribe-O-Matic group for A Wild Hair is great, because it doesn't use up one of your llimited SL groups, and it does give me a place to let you know about new hairstyles and to send out special group gifts for the people who are interested in hair, but not necessarily everything else that is going on in the West World group. I'd love to have you join the "A Wild Hair" group--you can certainly belong to both groups if you're interested.  I will not be sending out daily notices to the A Wild Hair group--so don't worry about being buried under group notices.  I do plan to  make it an especially rewarding group for its members--I know how much I like great free trial items, and I'm pretty sure you do, too!

BTW--if you like the dress I'm wearing in the pictures of the Ambar hair, it is in Chez GiGi in 7 colors (this one is silver), and it's called Jacie.