How to build and make objects in Second Life

(Picture Above: Kaomea is trying to build poles for our platform J)

I already had a mindset that “building is going to be hard” in my head. After going through hard time and struggling with Power Point, I did not expect myself to be able to learn quickly and create a plat form in SL. Thank you to Kaomea for showing me some of the basics! I was able to acquire some of the skills by creating a platform with her.

There are three basic icons you can use to build simple objects in SL.

1. Positions – Positions key will help you to move your object around in SL. You won’t be able to move around freely, yet you can move up/down and right/left. This icon will help you when you want to connect multiple objects together and establish one.

2. Rotate – Rotate key will give you a freedom of positioning the object in any angles you want.

3. Stretch – Stretch key will help you to change the size of objects.

How to change colors and textures of the object? You click on Building on your screen and you will see five different tabs (General, Object, Feature, Texture, Content). After you establish an object in SL, you are mostly looking at Texture tab.

1. When you select Texture in Texture tab, you are able to import textures from your inventory (and also you can chose it as blank too).

2. Changing colors is easy. You need to select Color in Texture tab.

3. Make sure you check Full Bright (it’s located next to Color in Texture Tab). When you select this, you are able to see your object very clearly.

4. You can also make the object Glow and Transparent.

5. This is an option, but if you would like to see what you are building more clearly, you can go to the World on your top right-hand corner of your screen and select Environmental setting to change the place to Midnight.

With the icons I mentioned above, you are able to create basic objects! I created a ice cream cone to practice.

There are more things to learn (e.g. permissions, grouping objects together), which I am still learning. I will keep updating with how to build objects in SL as I go through more practice and being more skillful. Lastly, it is very important to DELETE what you created in SL. If you leave them, the action will be considered as griefing. Deleting objects are very simple. Right-click your object and chose More, then select Delete.

Here is another video I found in regards to Building:

· Noob Be Gone – Second Life Building Tutorial by NSS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmN_hAHlF0M&mode=related&search=

How to make Power Point presentations in Second Life…

I attended another class in Second Life. This was a class that was taught by Adra (who taught us inventory management before). I was expecting to master power point in SL but it did not go smoothly. I ended up struggling and not getting much done during class. Adra goes over every single step with us to make sure that we are following her, yet things could easily go wrong in SL… My problem was I could not find textures in my inventory. Adra sent us IM before hand saying that we will need pictures. I had plenty of pictures on my desktop so I was not worried at all. But I misunderstood and found out that I needed the pictures to be in my inventory. When one thing goes wrong and cannot move on to next step, I began to feel frustrated. My classmate was following her without any problems. Why can’t I do it?? Plus, when I do not get it, it will slow down the class. I really hate that feeling. When my frustration hit the maximum point, I just wanted to give up. I usually never feel that way even if I faced difficulties. I craved for some immediate help. I wanted someone to show me how to do it from my point of view, but that was impossible. I realized the importance of mastering the usage of power point in terms to applying it for our class project, so I decided to practice more on my own. Adra gave us notecard, which has all the steps that I need to follow to create ppt. I tend to come to Info International – Resource Center Building Zone to practice, because I do not get any destruction and it’s a rezz free place. I would recommend everyone who wants to practice some of the skills and open boxes safely to visit this place! It is near LIS Student Union. My difficulty was solved after tying few times on my own. Monile gave me some of her textures and I was able to make ppt without any problem. I also recommend these two Youtube videos I listed below:

· How to make a power point in Second Life - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gA8kp-vbGo

· Second Life Power Point Tutorial: Beginner’s Guide to PPT Presentations in Second Life – Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAbFkPOjg5w&feature=related

These two videos show you basics of making ppt in SL. They are similar to Adra’s lecture too. I recommend you to watch it before attending a class or reading notecard to work on it on your own. They help you to visualize things in your head when you read notecard J

(Picture Above: From left to right: Me, Adra, and Monile. Adra is showing us LILT – University of Hawaii, POST building)

(Picture Above: Me accomplished creating Power Point at Info International Resources Center Building Zone)

Step by Step – How to make Power Point presentation in Second Life….

I will briefly write some of the basics of how to make ppt. All the information is based on Adra’s lecture and notecard, which she sent us that day. My purpose here is to help the future generation students to have some ideas before attending class or start to learn about ppt.

The first requirement is Textures uploaded in your inventory. Some of you will already have Textures inventory, if not, you need to take pictures and save them in your inventory. It costs L$10 per picture. I would recommend taking three to four pictures. Some of the textures might help you when you decide to build something, because you can use them as your texture for the objects.

You need to have a Presentation Box in your inventory. You can get it at LILT – University in the second floor. If you could not find any, I recommend you to contact with Adra and receive it from her. Once you got the box, you need to rezz and copy it in inventory.

Step 1: Rezz Presentation Tools Session FREEBIES, then right-click the box and select Open. When you Open the box, chose Copy to inventory.

Step 2: drag practice presentation from your Presentation Tools Session FREEBIES. When you do that you will see a screen at wherever you dragged your box at.

Step 3: Right-click the screen and choose Edit and you will see a window. The window will consist of five different tabs so choose Content. Then, delete all the textures except the one says Flip board by right-clicking each of the textures.

Step 4: Go to your inventory and find Texture folder. Select the textures you wish to put in your presentations and drag them into the Content window. After that, you need to Rename each of the textures (same name) and give them numbers. Use 01-09. Finally, you will drag each of the textures into the screen you rezzed. Sometimes you need to Reset the script. Double click script and choose Reset.

There are a lot more (e.g. how to use SpeckEasy) to give effective presentations. I am still learning so I will keep updating with new skills as I acquire them. These 4 Steps I went over will help you to get familiar with creating Power Point in SL J Again, I would highly recommend you to contact with Adra if you bump into problems and difficulties!

MystiTool HUD

Many of you will wonder what MystiTool HUD is… I did not know what the hud is used for until I get it and practice using it. In the picture below, Kaomea is trapped in a small box. This is one of the features that MystiTool HUD will provide you. One of the features is to protect you from griefers. “A HUD us a Heads-Up Display. It is an item your avatar can wear, and it displays extra information, buttons, controls or views on your screen. The MystiTool HUD combines the functions of about a dozen other HUD's and utilities into one handy, usable device (http://www.sltriptips.com/node/23). Also, MystiTool will tell you who is around you and how many meters away they are. Kaomea found me by following the distance that MystiTool gave her and she found me! I have not met any situations where I need to use the HUD yet. MystiTool HUD has so much power and I wonder if people abuse it. When I just started becoming a resident in SL, I had another resident who kept pushing me into the corner. If I had the HUD already, I probably trapped him. But is it the right thing to do? Sometimes it’s the technological problem residents are having could effect others negatively. I am still not sure when I need to use it… It will require more observations to find the answer.

(Picture Above: Me trying out MystiTool HUD on Kaomea)

Our First Meeting in Second Life…

(Picture Above: from left to right: Kaomea, me, and Dr. Kiranov discussing our future plan for Avatar Psychology place in SL)

My experience during Summer Session one was beyond what I was expected to be. I became more active, improved my appearance, and became more skillful at finding information. My accomplishments would not have happened without Kaomea’s presence and her mentorship. In the beginning of the semester I was a bit frustrated because I thought I would not enjoy working with somebody else in SL. I was so used to just observing and doing things (e.g. doing exercises, shopping, etc) by myself and not used to communicating with others in SL. As semester goes on, we found each other multiple times a week and sometimes multiple times in a day! I liked the immediate feedbacks and opinions on what I was working on. They helped me to notice more and see things in a different perspective. For those of you who will be taking this course in the future, I will highly recommend you to work with a partner or a group. I also would like to thank Adra for helping me to improve the skills and knowledge I’ve acquired throughout my studies in SL J