Emerald Viewer. the end.

Linden Lab has enforced their policy regarding third party viewers for Second Life.
The issue is about a violation of terms of service in regards to Emerald Viewer.

This decision of Linden Lab will affect anyone using Emerald Viewer, which is what I used. I adamantly refused to use the default SL viewer.
Emerald Viewer is a vastly superior third party viewer in all aspects. The vast number of people using Emerald is testimony to that fact.

Emerald gave the user many options and many controls.
The feature which I used the most was the control of lighting. I relied on this for my photography in Second Life. Any professional photographer knows that the mastery of light is paramount to producing quality photos. Without this ability, a photo is nothing more than a Polaroid snapshot.

Linden Lab is forcing users to use Viewer 2. This program is inferior to Emerald in so many way and lacks the many options which Emerald offered.

Many users of Emerald are refusing to log in to Second Life if they are forced to use Viewer 2. I am one of those users.

Until such time as a third party viewer comparable to Emerald Viewer comes along, I may not log into Second Life.

I am too busy in RL to research other third party viewers. If anyone knows of a decent third party viewer please post to my blog.
If I am not able to log into Second Life using Emerald Viewer, then I will use MetaBolt (metabolt.net) to check messages. This is a non-graphics text client.

To my dear and valued friends in Second Life, I miss you greatly, more than you know.

Until I return.

sincerely,
Regor Romano
Romano Photography

--
more information can be found on the Emerald Viewer blog:
http://blog.modularsystems.sl/2010/09/01/the-end/

animate Linden Trees & Plants

How to animate Linden Trees & Plants:
go to: advanced on the top menu
CTRL + ALT + D  to toggle it on

click Debug Settings
a window opens at the bottom left
type:
RenderAnimateTrees
set the value: TRUE
close the Debug window

stop my hands from typing!!

ok, folks, hands moving when you type is so NOOB!!  please stop :)

there are 2 ways to stop the Typing Animation

1)
- at the Top Menu click Advanced. if not there, press Ctrl + Alt + D at the same time
- click Debug Settings
- another window opens at the bottom left of the screen
- in the white box, type PLAY.  the word playtypeanim will appear
- in the grey box below, the value says True. change that to False
- close the Debug Settings box

this is the long way, there is an easier way :)

2)
- on the Top Menu, click Edit, then Preferences
- on the left of the Preferences window click the Text Chat tab
- uncheck the box: Play Typing animations when chatting

I'll have further posts about other settings.

emerald viewer

you may have heard of Emerald Viewer. if not, check it out here. download the normal version.
Emerald Viewer is the most used third party viewer for Second Life, and it packed with some very cool features.

after much research, these are my personal preferences, but not written in stone, because i'm still poking around with the settings :)

many of the Emerald Preference pages have a Question Mark
click on that for brief information

Main Setting for Emerald Viewer:
- page 1 -
TP/LOGIN:
- uncheck: Double-click Teleport
- check: Double-click Autopilot
- uncheck: Send teleport destination
- check: Velocity Interpolate
- uncheck: Rotate Camera
- check: Always fly after teleports
- check: Additionally offset up by half
- check: Rotate avatar according to camera
- uncheck: Play Teleport sound effect
- check: Download new Client Tags
- uncheck: Display Client Tags
- uncheck: Color name Tags
- uncheck: Disable Teleport Screens (this way you can see if there is a delay in teleporting)
- check: Disable Login Process Screen
- check: Disable Logout Progress Screen

VOICE:
- do NOT adjust (unless you really know what you're doing)

SHIELDS:
- check: Clothing Layer Protection
- check: Dialog Anti-Spam
- check: CallingCard Anti-Spam
- uncheck: Show Load URL dialogs
- check: Disallow LLMapDestination
- check: Broadcast viewer effects
- check: Broadcast camera focus point
- uncheck: Broadcast pointer target
- check: Enable the active CryoLife code
Revoke Permissions
- check: Never (Original behaviour)

IM:
- check: Announce incoming instant messages
- uncheck: everything else below
- check: Request OTR if available (Off The Record)
- Vertical IM tabs: if you check this, changes the IM window to vertical format.  my preference :)

CHAT:
- uncheck: everything

MISC:
- check: Enable Always Fly
- check: Enable Ctrl-Alt-P to become visually phantom
- check: Enable Ctrl-Alt-S to ground sit anywhere
- uncheck: Block sitting on objects via left-click
- check: Show agent name for LookAt beacons
- check: ESC key to reset camera position
- check: Enable Minimap Rotation
- uncheck: Show the Search Bar
- uncheck: Always rez objects under the land group
- uncheck: Enable Restrained Life
check: Enable LSL-Client Bridge
- check: Radar use bridge
- check: True online status in profiles
- uncheck: Use IIMoveToTarget TP

CMDLINE:
- do NOT adjust (these are local chat commands)

AVATAR:
- set: X Modifier = 0.0000
- set: Y Modifier = 0.0000
- set: Z Modifier = 0.1000 (stops your feet from sinking too far into the ground. you may want to try setting 0.1500 or 0.2000. which, btw, will give an inaccurate setting to your height. i'm, like, 8' 4" when set to 0.1500 :)
- set: Agent Updates = 10
- uncheck: Render Avatar Invisible
Enable Selection Beam: personal preference

BUILD:
- check: Enable the highlighting of select prims
- do NOT adjust anything else - yet

- page 2 -
IRC:
- uncheck: both boxes

UTILITY STREAM:
- uncheck: everything

INVENTORY:
- check: Enable Mirroring
- SET: choose a directory on your computer to store
- check: Mirror Gestures
- check: Mirror Notecards
- check: Mirror Scripts
- check: Auto open Inventory window
- check: Wear objects in Inventory  via double-click (this works about 99% of the time)
Import/Export Backup Settings:
- check: all 3 boxes

EFFECTS:
- check: Enable enhanced physics on avatar breasts. click the Question Mark for details)
breast mass = 100
breast rebound = 60
breast max vel = 100
breast friction = 7
breast min vel = 7
- check: Enable New Shiny rendering

more information can be found on the Modular System website
further info found at: Freebie Telegraph

is the sky the limit?

Is there a limit to altitude in Second Life?  I don't know. But just for fun I thought I'd test that.
I ended up flying to 100,000 meters.  Yes, that's right - 100,000 meters! That is equal to 62 miles.
When I began my descent I started the stopwatch.  It took approximately 32-1/2 minutes to land; which also included the last 100 meters when my parachute opened and slowed my descent.  My speed of descent would be something like 124 mph.  Okay, I'd call that fast!

second life settings

here are settings, for the Second Life client, which I have come up with.

first, you will need to have ADVANCED on the top menu.

if you don't see advanced, press CTRL + ALT + D

click ADVANCED and activate these features also:

- Hi-Res Snapshots

- Quite Snapshots to Disk

- Show Mouselook Crosshairs.

- Limit Select Distance

- Disable Camera Constraints

- Mouse Smoothing

go to: ADVANCED > CHARACTER > CHARACTER TESTS

- uncheck GO AWAY/AFK WHEN IDLE.  this stops your avatar from folding in half when you are away.

go to: ADVANCED > CHARACTER

- check ENABLE LIP SYNC. your avatar's lips will move when you talk voice in local chat

go to: EDIT > PREFERENCES

following the Tabs on the left

GENERAL

- if you have a home, choose: My Home. otherwise choose My Last Location. you can choose a HUB as your temporary home, at least it gives you a Landing Point

- uncheck: Show Start Location on Login Screen (not necessary)

- Show Names: default is ALWAYS. you can decide what you want (I choose NEVER - name tags just get in the way, and will increase lag)

- check: Small Avatar Names

- check: Hide My Name On My Screen (you should know who you are)

- Group Titles: personally, I turn off both.  I don't really care about what groups people belong to.

- click APPLY

NETWORK

- there are 2 sliders. slide both to the extreme RIGHT

- click CLEAR CACHE. do this when you login.  does not have any effect until next time you log in

however, the cache is information stored on your computer of places you've been to. this information helps the SL client load your places faster
- if you have a second hard drive, change the location of the temp folder to the second hard drive

click APPLY

WEB

- you probably don't need to clear the built-in browser cache. it will clear when you turn off your computer

click APPLY

GRAPHICS

- top right corner, click the box: CUSTOM

- under that there are sliders

- set DRAW DISTANCE from 64 to 100m. you can experiment, but this determines are far you see objects. if you are in a busy area, you might want to reduce the Draw Distance. it's all fine and dandy to see far, but this will increase how you experience lag

- set MAX PARTICLE COUNT from 1024-2048. this determines how many simultaneous particles appear at once

- Post Process Quality to LOW

- set OBJECTS to MID

- set FLEXIPRIMS to MID

- set TREES to MID

- set AVATARS to HIGH (once notch above MID)

- set TERRAIN to LOW

Lighting Detail: NEARBY LOCAL LIGHTS

this is most effective when you change the lighting to MIDNIGHT

Terrain Detail: LOW

select: Avatar Impostors

click APPLY

AUDIO & VIDEO

- Master about 80%

- Music about 50% way

- Media 75%

- Voice 50%

- Sounds 75%

- Ambient 75%

- UI 50%

(my preferences. adjust to your own tastes)

click APPLY

Streaming Preferences:

- check: Play Streaming Music When Available

- check: Play Streaming Media When Available

- uncheck: Automatically Play Media

click APPLY

Audio Preferences:

- check: Mute Audio When Window Minimized (my preference)

click APPLY

TEXT CHAT

- Chat Font Size: Small or Medium (personally I choose Small)

- Chat Console: Fade After 50 seconds. 10 lines (my preference. adjust to your own tastes)

- uncheck: Play Typing animations when chatting

click APPLY

VOICE CHAT

* if you have a MIC *

- check: Enable Voice Chat

- check: Hear Voice Chat from Camera Position

Privacy Options:

- check: Only Accept voice calls from people on my Friends List

- check: Switch off mic when ending IM calls

Device Settings:

- put slider about halfway. talk. make sure squares DO NOT go red. Red means you are over modulating

click APPLY

COMMUNICATION

- check: Only My Friends and Groups can see me

- check: Send IM to Email (if you want)

- check: Include IM in chat response

- check: show Timestamps in IM

- check: Show online Friend notifications

Logging Option:

- if you want to save a log of IM's to your computer, check this

- uncheck: Save a Log of Local Chat

click APPLY

click OK

further information:

- Help for Navigation

- Configure a Firewall or Router

saving the appearance of your avatar

there's an old adage: "if it's important back it up. if it's really important, back it up TWICE"

I strongly advise saving the appearance of your avatar - you really want to do this, often!
consider it a backup of your body shape, just in case things go wrong.

the Appearance of your avatar has to do with body shape, and features.  i.e. you've made your avatar a certain height, feet a certain size, eyes, ears, nose, etc...

right-click on your avatar, select Appearance

when the Appearance Window opens, look at the bottom.  select: Save As 
another window will open

for the file name I suggest this format for saving your first body shape:

! My Body Shape [current date]

• exclamation point
  
• two (2) spaces
  
• My Body Shape (just a suggestion :)
• current date in square brackets (using the date for reference)

this format serves three purposes:
i) the exclamation point denotes this as very important! :)
ii) because of the ASCII values of characters, the ASCII value of the exclamation point (33) will place this at the top, preceding all common characters.
iii) only a space (32) precedes an exclamation point, hence the 2 spaces :)


click: Save; OK

this file will end up in the system folder: My Body.  located at the top of the inventory window.

if anything goes wrong with your avatar shape, you just WEAR your Shape again.

using this method you can make other shapes with the same body, or try different body shapes and save those under a different name.

Step Closer Instead of Cropping for More Interesting Photos

Step Closer Instead of Cropping for More Interesting Photos [Photography Tip]: "
Nowadays, we can do so much photo editing after the fact that we often don't realize what a difference framing makes. Despite what you may think, stepping forward will probably be better than cropping later (or digital zoom) when taking photos.
Photo by ralphbijker.

Helen Bradley explains on her Pro Photo Blog:

If there is one technique most digital camera users can use today to instantly improve their photos it is to stand at least two or three steps closer to their subject. Most photographers stand too far away from their subjects so the subject ends up being very small relative to the rest of the photo. When you move closer to your subject you make them larger in the viewfinder so they fill the photograph.

When you're taking a picture of an actual object, like a person, a tighter photo is far more interesting and dramatic than one with lots of background. In the age of digital cameras many of us less seasoned professionals often think that we can just crop and zoom after the fact, but that isn't necessarily so—cropping and digital zooming do not achieve the same effect as actually getting the lens closer to the subject (note that optical zooming does work, in this case—most cameras have both, so if you have to use the zoom, make sure you're using the right one). Got any other tips for more interesting photos? Share them in the comments!

Better Photos Tip #8 - Take 2 steps forward [Pro Photo Blog via Lifehacker Australia]

Logins, Inworld Services and Support Down for Maintenance February 8th at 5 a.m. Pacific

Logins, Inworld Services and Support Down for Maintenance February 8th at 5 a.m. Pacific:
Monday, February 8 2010 at 5:00 a.m. Pacific, we’ll be closing logins and disabling major inworld services for ninety minutes of upgrade work on our databases.
During the maintenance, logins, account registrations, XStreetSL, and the land store will be unavailable, along with Support Ticketing, Live Chat and telephone support.
The Knowledge Base will remain available.
Residents who are in world will not be disconnected when maintenance begins, but will lose access to services such as mapping, teleport, inventory, object and L$ transfers, and LindeX.
We’ll warn in world several minutes before the outage begins, and we’ll post any changes to the scope and schedule of the work here as they develop.
We appreciate that this will inconvenience a number of our Residents. The maintenance work is to enhance the stability and performance of our database-backed services.

new photos online

I have new photos online in my portfolio.
Romano Photography
My girl, who is also my business manager, also doubles as my very gracious and wonderful model :)
If you would like unique profile and/or portfolio photos done, contact me in Second Life and request an appointment for a photo shoot.
Go to my profile for prices and details.

second life tips

I've learned many tips and tricks in Second Life, and I'm happy to share them with others.
hey, we were all newbies :)
so I will be posting tips, tricks, settings, and such, on my blog.
check back often. heck, become a Fan of my Blog :)

however, my passion, my business, in Second Life is photography.
I specialize in portrait and fashion photography.
Click on my Google Profile for details, and check out my online album :)

avatar is a white particle cloud

you're going to see white particle clouds often in Second Life.  it might be someone else, or it might be you.
sometimes the cloud seems to hang around for quite a while.  don't worry, your avatar isn't broken :)
this is a function of the Rendering Engine of Second Life, and there is a simple fix.
you need to access Advanced on the top menu. if you don't see Advanced, you can activate it by pressing: CTRL + ALT + D
click on Advanced, scroll down the list and click on Debug Settings
a Dialog Window will open at the bottom left of the screen.
enter: renderUnloadedAvatar (all one word, no spaces)
when that shows, change the default setting to True, and close the Dialog Window.
exit out of the Second Life client, and restart it.
you should see a noticeable difference in the rendering of avatars, and you should never see white particle clouds again :)
rendering is also affected by Avatar Rendering Cost.  I'll cover ARC in another post.

got FREEBIES?

you want freebies on Second Life?  sure, you could hunt around on your own, join groups or hunts, etc. but why waste your time?
the quick and dirty way to find a whack of freebies on Second Life is to visit: Second Life Marketplace
login using your Second Life name and password, and select free
there are numerous categories to choose from. many items are free, or very cheap.
you can mark items as favourites for later retrieval, you can buy right away, or you can email yourself a reminder.
if you choose to buy an item, it will be sent immediately to your avatar in Second Life.
if you decide to go on shopping frenzy then it would be best if you log into Second Life.
some good spots in Second Life for freebies are:

• YADNI'S JUNKYARD
• ENKY'S DOLLAR$TORE
• FREEBIE STORE