Ivory Tower Library of Primitives

Honour has been suggesting to me for a long time now that I should visit the Ivory Tower Library of Primitives and learn some building fundamentals. Hmmm. Perhaps she phrased it more strongly than a suggestion. I kept insisting that I am a scripter. But lately I’ve needed to do a lot of building-type things – offices, graphs, malls. So I finally decided that Honour is right and I need to learn some of this already. Ever lazy and always enjoying company, I coereced Dale into joining me. I figured Dale would give me fellow-scripter support. We’d both been playing in our respective inventories, so I may be sporting a bit of a different look in these pictures. Trust me – I sure did my best to crop them.

We made it to ITLP uneventfully. It is a very pretty sight, even for one dreading what she feared would be an ordeal. *grin* That would be me. We wandered from the landing site to the entry. There was an adorable whatever there to greet us and explain how the ITLP worked. I’m cheating. I’m too lazy to write up a description of ITLP – I’m going to steal relevant information from the first notecard. ITLP is an on-going project by Lumiere Noir. At this time Linden Labs has underwritten the costs of the sim.

I made this tower in the hopes that it would give you a substantial headstart on your arrival here. It contains a lot of tips and tricks of the building system that have taken a good while to develop and collect. Over time I’ll include a vehicle tutorial on building and scripting vehicles and a website (both in the works as I write this, go to http://ivorytowerlibrary.com for the website), a module on sound, animations, avatar customization and attachment building. That’s in planning for the forseeable future…maybe a month or twelve away (this was written July 10, 2006). Long term I’ll include an extensive module on scripting, script building, weapons making…and…more advanced building techniques. Don’t hold your breath, all of that is still just the gleam in the milkman’s eye for right now!
What the tutorials are: The tutorials are a thorough grounding in the properties of the different primitive types (building blocks), and the editing tools that are used on those primitives. Several techniques to make building with prims more easily are described in detail.

Far from being an ordeal, the tower is actually very interesting and informative. I was pleased to realize that I knew most everything in Module 1 (the first floor). Things got a bit more complicated as we went up the tower. I knew a good bit of Module 2, but certainly not everything. So I began collecting the notecards and reading the exhibits a bit more carefully. At least ONE of us was paying attention to the exhibits. One of us was playing on the exhibits. I don’t really learn this way – by reading. That’s why I have Hell as my scripting teacher. I learn by doing things. By having actual goals that I need to achieve. That’s why I keep throwing myself under that darn bus. I’m not going to learn building by reading note cards either. That’s why Honour gave me a building assignment (yes, yes, yes – I KNOW I owe you that box…. 9 prims… I remember). But these cards and the exhibits will definitely be handy when I need to remember where to find various edit commands, and what kind of functionality is available.

Everyone comes to the ITLP. Do you think the horse (yes – that horse is an avatar) is building a barn or a race track? Or something else entirely?

Cowgirls

We were both having a hectic week. A lot to do, deadlines, not much time. The beauty of living in a virtual world is that it takes no time to commute. We can say – I have 15 minutes now – do you? And if the answer is yes, well, there we are. Together. So we got lucky amid our respective craziness and I tp’d to see all the possible ponies that you can rez at Shengri La. We each picked a pony and set off for a gallop. We galloped til we both crashed. Hey – it’s like running or working out. Do it til it hurts. No pain, no gain. I love the ponies of Shengri La. Thanks, Shen.

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More Newbies

I was hanging about, doing some odds and ends when Shenlei IM’d me. She had some newbies who wanted to learn to ride. Oh wow, twist my arm. An excuse to take time to go riding in SL? I am so there. So I tp’d into the gateway at Shengri La and met the newbies, Gaia and Annia. The 4 of us tp’d over to the stables. Shen and I were explaining SL nuances, assuring them both that all would be fine.

I realized as I listened to them how far I have come. I remember a friend saying to me that he wished he could go exploring with me because I got so excited and had so much fun. That he had lost some of that joy and excitement. I hate to say this but I think that perhaps I, too, am getting somewhat jaded. I listened to Annia and Gaia exclaiming and reacting, and I realize that I now take a lot of this in stride. I EXPECT there to be horses and carriages and animals and such. They were incredibly excited and pleased to hear the horses neighing to us. I remember being that enthusiastic. Now I smile when I hear such sounds, but I am not stunned or delighted. I EXPECT those touches.

The thing that was truly disconcerting about this particular adventure was Annia. She chose the same default avatar that I chose. She went nuts over the horses. So much else of our conversation sounded as if I’d gone back in time and was talking with myself. Disconcerting because I “feel” the same inside, but I can see how I’ve changed. Annia is the Ahuva of 7 months ago. She looks as I looked, sounds as I sounded, wants to do much of what I wanted to do then. LOL. Of course, I did manage to shock her, EXACTLY as *I* would have been shocked. After the ride, Shenlei and I were discussing the auction for Cancer Research UK and I was trying on outfits. Annia did not understand the auction at first. *grin* She thought I was actually auctioning myself off for well, I guess for nefarious purposes. As if. Shenlei and I both passed inventory to her: skins, AOs, clothing, hair. It was so much fun to do for her what so many others had done for me. Paying forward yet again.

Soothing my Soul

Sometimes when I feel stressed or overwhelmed or confused, I want to “run away”. At those times, even the beach is not quite the right answer. I don’t want to be with friends, I don’t want conversation, but I don’t want to be alone either. At times like this, I want to ride. Thanks to Shenlei, I can. And my faithful steed carried me through the meadows of Shengri La and through the orchards and along the coast line. We finally rested and watched the setting sun and the orca playing by the abandoned pirate ships.

Butterfly meadow

The beautiful water of Shengri La

Sunset into the waters

Playful orca amid the ships

Shengri La shoreline

Staring into infinity

Serenity

HORSES!!!!

I am incoherent with joy!! I haven’t been riding in years. And that was a controlled experience – trail rides in Bryce and Zion National Parks. But last night I was in heaven. Shenlei Flashheart was having a riding party to demo her free horse rezzer. (See Shenlei’s article here. )As soon as I heard “horses” I wangled an invitation. There we were in beautiful Shengri La. I didn’t think anything could be more beautiful than Shengri La but I was wrong – Shengri La with HORSES!!! I got up on the saddle rezzer, “wore” my horse and was transported. We had our choice of saddle style, blanket color/pattern, gait, wings and more. We walked and cantered and galloped and flew. I could hear my steed’s hooves thundering on the turf as we charged across the hillside. We galloped across the land, splashed through the surf, flew across the water. Then when we finally “tired” we stood in the beautiful swirling water, resting our faithful mounts, chatting with friends. Oh Shenlei – thank you, thank you, thank you for allowing me to ride your horses. Such a wonderful, fantastical evening. I am beside myself with happiness! For everyone else who wants to go riding, see Chestnut’s wonderful write-up of our ride.

Riders Up!

Ready to Fly

Pegasus

Cooling Down

In Heaven