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Blender and Second Life
Published by Tim Formica [Room335] on May 21st, 2007 in 3D News, Tutorials
During a recent return flight I came upon an article in the airline's on board magazine discussing a virtual world program on the internet called Second Life. Up until now I had never heard of it. Essentially it's a Virtual Reality World where the users can meet, build products and buildings, buy and sell property, goods and services using "Linden Dollars"
My initial reaction was that it was just another virtual simulation game of which I had no interest in it. However Last week, someone sent us a link to a tutorial on "How to Make Sculpted Prims with Blender." Prim as in primitive shapes IE: cylinder, cones, cubes etc. It's a good tutorial in using primitives to create a shaped object such as a vase. Nothing that an intermediate Blender user couldn't already do. A good tutorial for the beginner no doubt. But I kept thinking, so what's the big deal about this, why would you want to make an object for this game.
So I did some further investigation about Second Life and what I have found interesting about it is how serious this virtual world is. Along with the average person who joins, there are major corporations and various government agencies using it as well. And, as in the real world, you get the good along with the bad (Virtual crime) and this translates into Second Life as well. So be careful.
Here's the interesting part, apparently you can sell your Prim (Object) and convert the "Linden Dollars" to real currency. People are making and or losing real money in a virtual world! Buying and selling virtual real estate, islands buildings and products. Sorry but this boggles my mind. Take a bunch of bytes and pixels, create virtual products and sell them in a virtual world for real world money. Yes, you heard this correct, not one "real" hammer or nail in the place! Just a bunch of pixels. I'm reminded of what P.T. Barnum's allegedly said, "There's a sucker born every minute", yet, its here and growing.
So I'd like to get some feedback from all of you who have used this "game". Have you made any real money out of this. Is it living up to all of hype, is it fun and is it really the next big thing?
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I signed up in Second Life a few months ago and wandered around a couple of times. But it was really pretty boring. I wanted to create something in SL but the 3D tools they have are terrible after using apps like Blender. I never could figure out how to make something in Blender and then import it into SL. If I could do that, then I think it would be interesting.
This reminds me of Face of Mankind, that game was fun until they went commertial wiith it.
hi…i agree with the previous commenter…its pretty boring.
you can not import your own models created with other software…you have to create them inside second life….there is a lot of interesting places, every place, or area has its own owner, and they can control their areas, for example, you can not create nothing until you have became a member, or a citizen of that particular area for a small fee per month (real money), then you can get the right to create…but of course, if the owner of the land does not likes it, he, she can ask you or not to remove it…but you have also the chance to buy land there, so you can be the big boss….its basicaly modeling, scripting, loading up textures….there are some pretty nice designs, customisable avatars, but mostly "not very good in 3d user" created buildings tiled across a tousand times with fivehundred kilobyte star trek textures or gifs… its interesting, but the overall look is not sony ps3 home style, rather something from 1998. oh, and the everywhere present money or linden dollar concept bugged my open source user feelings.
I've only looked at SL for a few hours, but I have read several articles about it. The majority of people who play SL don't make money off it. The ones you read about who do are very much the exception. It's also not as easy to get your money out as some articles might claim. This article has a good overview of the money aspect:
http://valleywag.com/tech/second-life/virtual-worlds-supposed-economy-is-a-pyramid-scheme-230813.php
Of course, you don't have to play for the money.
It sounds like an interesting concept. I have heard about it before on a podcast I watch called IzzyVideo. Virtual money is kind of strange since money is only a symbol for value anyway. It is like virtual virtual value. Hey that would be 3V!
Hi!
I have been playing with second life for a while now. Great place to meet people.
My only complaint is that they CHARGE YOU $10 lindens just to upload a texture…
another $10 for your models, and animations. (you can build things in game for free)
YOu can earn money in second life doing various jobs…do a search for camping.
SOme places will pay you as high as $5 per 10 minuets of camping
As soon as I get another $10 I will upload some blender Tshirts I made…
I will give them free to everybody :)
We should do a fund raiser, so that Blender nation, and Blender artists have a piece of land.
Would be neat to meet with and chat with other blender users. (and give away free blender t-shirts :) )
the real challange about second life modelling is that everything has to be build from primitives and parameters. You can change some values that changes its behaviour (like cylinders with a hole) but you still have no traditional poly or nurb modelling with very limited uv wapping abilities so creating something in second life is very complicated and very expensive on a polygon base but its very small on the dataside so it is very different from traditional modelling tools like blender, 3dmax, maya, lightwave etc.
I think the only interesting things are that you can make yourself look like a Dalek, and that it has gone Open Source.
I'de love to look like a Dalek in real life.
It being open source means you can probably make a python script for Blender to export to its format.
However, my own computer doesn't have internet, so I'm not really that interested.
Second Life: When your real life is beyond repair.
"Sorry but this boggles my mind. Take a bunch of bytes and pixels, create virtual products and sell them in a virtual world for real world money. Yes, you heard this correct, not one "real" hammer or nail in the place! Just a bunch of pixels."
Right! Because in the world of CG, nothing is worth real money, that wasn't made using a hammer and some nails.
paulR
I realize there's an entertainment value but when I read that someone has made $300,000 US in virtual real estate, where's the value?
"The lady behind the avatar called Anshe Chung runs a thriving real estate operation selling mansions to newcomers. It's reputedly worth $300,000 and growing." http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21755619-664,00.html
I got into SecondLife a few years ago and started creating scripted objects. I did it mostly as a hobby but I slowly took to the people and environment. I now make about $1000 a year on SecondLife (I know, not a lot but better than nothing). It's the only hobby I have right now that pays for itself.
If you are looking for a great 3d modeling environment, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a place to socialize, create, program and maybe make some pocket change the it might be for you.
To make money you must spend money. SL real estate is NOT cheap, and that's the best way to make cash in SL (by renting it out to suckers like you and me)
The building tools are primative, but with some creativity, you can make anything you want.
I've wondered about this, one of my friends plays second life, he doesn't make alot of money, but it's enough to pay for all of the various video games he buys. $1000 is alot if you don't have a job. I actually thought of doing just this, but i never checked to see if you could upload things made in blender, but it can't be that hard of a thing to do, i don't know i know just about nothing when it comes to scripting, it could be almost impossible for all i know. But if someone did make a script to export blender objects, i would do it in an instant. That'd be kinda cool, to have a virtual blenderworld. We could become the object-creating center of the world!
Interesting there is not more comments here from Second Lifers! I've been "In World" for nearly 3 years and still love it. Coming from a background of designing models in AutoCad and 3ds; I obviously thought the modeling tools sucked. That was then, now I appreciate the tools and look at them more as a road bump than a road block. Soon (with the next release I believe) SL will have "sculpties" and it's only gonna get better from there. As a matter of fact, here is new news as of today!
Atmospheric Rendering In regards to "earning money" in world… I can't say it's impossible cause I've been doing it for years. Only, it certainly hasn't made me rich yet, but I'm workin on it ;-D About creating objects in Blender for Second Life, I've been waiting for the day and, my day shall come soon! I hope this thread can drum up some interest in SL, anyone can feel free to contact me in world my name (in Second Life) is Treacly Brodsky.
Cheers
This isn't a "new" concept. Check out places like http://www.project-entropia.com where a full MMORPG revolves around owning land and making real-world currency. Other "social games" like There (www.there.com) and IMVU (www.imvu.com) are using similar models.
I've been using Second Life for over a year now, and I have to say it grows on you.
I make a decent profit doing digital painting portraits for users (haven't spent a dime on it yet)
Making complex objects out of primitives…. DAMMIT! I should have stuck with Bryce! Seriously, as soon as I found out I couldn't import and sell meshes, I dragged SL to the bin. I can understand the concern about connection speeds, but why not implement a lod-mesh system? Models made entirely out of primitives are horribly inefficient on the local side.
About Face of Mankind:
Man I loved the Beta! Stupid Commercial Release!!! It went commercial when I finally got the game right and when I could play it at the high video settings because I bought a new video card. Stupid publisher. Beautyful game!
-AniCator
Wonder why we couldn't make a "second life" like using Blender GE and Blender as an internal modeler to build stuff for the virtual world.
People would use Roosendollars to buy and sell stuffs. And convert the Roosendollars into real dollars (with a 10% cut for Blender foundation)
If it can be done, I am sure we will hear of it someday (just keep reading BlenderNation :p)
I've tried 'Second Life", but I must say "Real Life" is a far superior game. And the graphics resolution is amazing !
You seem to be out of the loop. I've heard stories about this on the news for years now. China is leading the way in virtual property laws after a case of murder over a stolen in-game item. Although this wasn't related to second life. There are sweat shops in china that pay people a dollar a day to play these types of games for 16 or more hours at a time. Simple to "farm" for game items which are then sold to players over e-bay and alike. Scary as that is, in the few hours they do get to themselves many of the "farmers" goto internet cafes nearby and keep playing the same game!
In the USA there are people who write programs to "farm" for items as well. Game companies have gotten wise to this and send in their people to stop and question these virtual-virtual players. Some of the time the programming is so good it can fool and human into thinking its a real person. Other times the robots just say "Oh my gosh I gotta go!" and logout or stop when a game admin is playing. A novel method mentioned on the NPR piece last year was a guy who set up his robots to call his pager when they were stopped so he could take over for them until the danger had passed.
I don't claim to understand it but there it is, one guy payed 26,000 (twenty six thousand) dollars for an virtual island. Real world companies have opened virtual stores inside second life as well.
Poof wrote:
"As soon as I get another $10 I will upload some blender Tshirts I made…"
Does this mean you have cracked how to upload Blender created objects to Second Life?
If so please elaborate.
Man, the end of the world is coming. I`ve heard about this whole Second Life thing some time ago, but never tried it myself. And I hope I never will. Computers already take too much of my time. And besides, it`s whole better to meet people in real than in VR. Sure, you may say that it`s something like IRC, but with graphics, but… they take your money! And make you think they don`t. You can play for free, but uploading textures costs you money. And the second thing - because of such projects/games people are getting more and more addicted to the internet and VR as such. Don`t forget there`s Real Life. This game is much more interesting and has got better textures, resolution and etc. than Second Life ;-)
Strange that you mentioned the sculpted prims and not the original prim.blender script, which is IMO a thousand times more useful.
I actually use SL every now and again to make money. I'm with a group of builders who do all kinds of things for more and more high-profile clients in-world. Some of the companies pay good money hourly for something that I do for fun (modeling in SL is like playing with a rubik's cube– the limits of the prim system make it fun and challenging to model), which is cool, and you can pull out the money you make when you want.
Paying "money" to upload makes sense. If you didn't have to do that, they'd probably have to institute a mandatory monthly fee. As is, I'm making money in-world but as I don't own land (I have a house in my pocket, as it were) I don't pay a monthly fee.
Anyway, yes, you can make money in game. I know a few people who pay their real-life rent from in-game sales. In the end, though, your in-game experience is all about the people you meet and what you want to make of it.
boring? nooooooo at worst a time waster, but to anyone with a creative streak it offers possibilities the real world cannot.
Perhaps SecondLife is more of a fit with the artistic type than the hardcore gamer but at it's lowest common denominator it is a pretty chatroom and sometimes that's enough to escape the the real world and help you relax.
Actually, Second Life has been around for quite awhile and has some interesting educational aspects. It's not really a game. It's more of an open-ended collaborative space. I was at the launch of the New Media Consortitum's "university" island last year and was pretty impressed. We had a live video feed going from our conference into SL to be displayed on a screen for other NMC members who were joining us virtually with their avatars. At the same time we had the computer display piped to a projection screen so that we could see what was happening in SL.
One interesting example of using SL for teaching purposes is an Iowa State University professor having his students in SL to document and study the economics that you were talking about. The goal of his course, I believe, is for the students to identify areas of economic development and come up with a business plan to implement it.
Mike
'Spanish demonstrators burn down "virtual" party offices'
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL173529220070518
"Buying and selling virtual real estate, islands buildings and products. Sorry but this boggles my mind. Take a bunch of bytes and pixels, create virtual products and sell them in a virtual world for real world money. Yes, you heard this correct, not one "real" hammer or nail in the place! Just a bunch of pixels."
Well then what about all the movies that has been made, and sold? Is that stupid, too you? after all, They "just a bunch of pixels". Dude, c'mon… that was just silly.
I have tried SecondLife on and off a few times in the past. Just recently, I decided to give it a "real" go after consistently hearing the hype of real corporations getting into SecondLife. To me, SecondLife reminds me a LOT like the internet in the early days (animated gifs, ugly designs, things dedicated to people's hobbies). A lot of wacky stuff, where anyone can put together something for the world to see. Of course, you do run across some areas where people have mastered the tools and are creating stunning visuals.
The in-game building tools are actually pretty cool. I've been using Blender for years, consider myself a decent modeller, and yes it's frustrating I can't just design something in Blender and import it. However, I DO understand why Linden Labs doesn't allow that (for now). By forcing everyone to use the in-game tools (which are worth checking out… seriously) they LEVEL the playing field. Creating cool looking stuff in-game is a time involving process. The created objects have more VALUE if they are well done and it is going to take TIME to do it. Kinda like real life.
The fun part of SecondLife is exploring. There is a TON of stuff to see and try out. Check out the virtual New Orleans (where I am originally from) with the hurricane katrina display, the cathedral in Jackson square, cafe du-monde, visit IBM's section and go through the circuit city where trailers play on the plasma screens. Linden Village has an interactive planetarium (amongst other things). I went skydiving at some place (forget where), and rode bumper cars in an amusement park. The guy that "owned" the park was actually making a train while I was there. I got to watch him modify the track in real-time, and even got to try it out for an initial run (probably one of the best on-line experiences I've had, since the physics and scripting for the train obviously had issues and at one point the car I was in flew up to an altitude of around 2000 feet). And in copenhagen, denmark there is a sandbox where you can build anything you want and store it to your inventory. At any time there, you can watch a number of people building virtual buildings, vehicles, clothes, etc.
The previous poster talking about uploading blender shirts prob meant a texture that you can wear (not an actual model - I could be wrong).
SecondLife is one of those things that you have to put in effort to see any value. It is not a game, more of a 3D Internet. If you are the type of person that checked out the internet in the beginning, saw web pages dedicated to cats or monty python and quickly logged off with the feeling of "that was a complete waste of time"… then you prob shouldn't try SecondLife. Maybe wait a few years and see if it develops into something more mature.
Hi,
I've been a member of Second Life on and off for three years. I'm well known in that world because I built a self-paced tutorial on the building system called the Ivory Tower. Come by and visit, it's in the sim (region) called "Natoma". I came to Blender a long while ago too, and parlayed what I had learned in Second Life into Blender, and vice versa. Sure SL's building system is infantile compared to Blender, but to someone like me it was a revelation that got me interested in 3D modeling. I tried a lot of programs but once I got used to Blender's interface, I love it best; I'm astounded by it. I use it for a lot of things and am very happy that I'll be able to use it in a limited way in SL with sculpted prims.
I've made very good money in SL, but mostly through commission work for companies and individuals. My personal work that I make for sale are things I'm interested in for their own selves…Flash Gordon rocketships, and the like mostly sell enough for me to pay my land fees, so I'm satisfied with that.
I can't defend SL's building system against Blender, that would be foolish since Blender is so much more powerful and versitile. SL has a limited building system that is meant to conserve bandwidth and be accessable by the layman (like me), but in pushing against the bounds of those limitations, we have to be creative. Marcel Duchamp said, "Poor tools require better skills." We work pretty hard to make up for those with texturing and other techniques.
I have a lot of fun in Second Life, but I mostly make things, I don't socialize so much. I'm very self-entertaining so I don't usually get bored as much as get frustrated with the frequent challenges I have with getting my scripts to work as I want them to. I hope to see you in SL sometime, Instant message me as Lumiere Noir in world.
Yours,
Lumi
The Croquet Project (www.croquetproject.org) is an interesting open source sort of alternative to Second Life. It allows you to host a virtual world on your own machine and uses a messaging system to keep copies of the world up to date on the users' computers.
One of the interesting things about it is the names behind the project: Alan Kay, Mark McCahill, et.al. They have released an SDK, so you can (in theory) create your own worlds using Squeak. But unless you are a hardcore coder, it might be a bit …challenging. You can, however, download the package and easily try out the sample worlds that they've provided.
This is an attractive option for education not only because of its cost, (open source, remember) but also because it was designed from the ground up to incorporate legacy content.
Worth a look if you're interested in this sort of thing.
It seems there are exhibitions and art performances on second life, commented on this very good game artists blog: http://www.selectparks.net/
and another quote dug out form the site, more relevant!
http://www.selectparks.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=617
I heard of ppl going on Second Life as kids 'selling' themselfves to paedophiles so they can live out their sick fantasies!!!
That's sick!!! (insert icon for vomiting!)
"Wonder why we couldn't make a "second life" like using Blender GE and Blender as an internal modeler to build stuff for the virtual world.
People would use Roosendollars to buy and sell stuffs. And convert the Roosendollars into real dollars (with a 10% cut for Blender foundation)
If it can be done, I am sure we will hear of it someday (just keep reading BlenderNation :p)"
I think you are onto something here if something like this is possible. I think this sounds like a great idea…
Recently it came to me all of this Second Life revolution, so i decided to write down an article in my lonely blog, it's about some ideas and thoughts which can be used to create an Open source alternative online game engine, and of course using blender. Check it out: http://mobilmente.blogspot.com/2007/03/online-videogames.html
BTW the $10 fee to upload a texture to SL is equal to about 3 cents USD. There is an anctual virtual economy so the value fluctuates.
Hope this doesn't seem too radical, but isn't "second life" a low quality and mediocre experience. - shouldn't we be more demanding in life- just create stuff - it's just another form of corporate mental expliotation - "Second life" is another example of intelligence downsizing
Sorry guys, i don't mean to be rude or arrogant regarding "second life", but there is an insidious quality to these kind of sites where we are just being sold something. Blender sites seem to have a great positivity to them, and second life gives off a bad vibe - personal thing i suppose
Absolutely! I fully agree with you, MartinR!
The blender shirt I made is just a texture "Skin" for an existing SL t-shirt.
I think the animations are BVH
I have no idea how to import a mesh. but it seems possible, people are selling custom avitars , and assorted body parts all over the place.
I've been a resident of Second Life since before Public Beta (Jan '03). While no system/game/platform is perfect (after all they are created and populated by people), Second Life is one that stands out in the croud. It has more that 6.6 Million 'residents'. All the content is created and owned by the residents (users), copyrights included.
There is no 'goal' of Second Life, it is not a game. It is more of an environment, a platform, that the users create or do what they want with it. Whether it be a social, creative, inventive, commerce, artistic, or some combination of these endeavors, Second Life lets you be you, or someone else (Elvis is in the building).
I have been a builder (mostly boats and yachts) since the beginning, and while I don't make a living wage from SL (yet), I do make a few thousand a year (more if I spend more time there). As a couple others have said, it is a hobby that can make a profit, not cost you. While the 3D tools are 'primative' by Blender standards, they are designed to work within the streaming technology that makes SL possible. The new Sculpties form of Prim, that takes its shape from a sculpt texture, will add some much needed flexibility and created a whole new paradigm shift in SL (old objects vs. new sculptie based objects).
This gives you, the 'Blender crowd', a big leg up over us mear prim mortals of SL. Use your experience in using Blender to create 3D RGB textures that can be sold for REAL Dollars is Second LIfe (via Linden $ and their Lindex exchange system - currently 267 L$ to 1 US $). FYI, my boats and yachts sell for anywhere from $1 to $10 US Dollars each.
If you arn't interested in getting into SL, then maybe I could talk some of you into selling me Blender 3D textures that I can re-sell in SL for sculped prims (for a tidy profit of course).
Cheers.
Wonder why we couldn't make a "second life" like using Blender GE and Blender as an internal modeler to build stuff for the virtual world.
I agree make it more open sourced and connected to the normal internet through blenders internet plug. instead of linking 2d pages we then can link 3d worlds.
this might be a good project like the orange movie thing.
Yes, it is very addictive.. stay away. But, if you don't heed my warning.. come visit me in Solvang (Tieut SIM), where I also have a toy train to ride, Bowling alley, Welcome area, Danish stores to rent and sell your in-world sculpted prim objects at, and coming soon.. A catch the flag paintball game called K66 Arena.
Yes, my name is Corvaire, and I am an addict ;O)-
Just do a search under "places" for "Solvang" or under "people" for "Corvaire." If I have time, I may even show you how to build something.
In answer to your question, yes you can make money in secondlife, but usually it's a very small trade. The 10L$ mentioned to upload a texture translates to less than 1c US so it's not usually an issue. Selling objects in world I make maybe a buck US every few days, which is enough to pay for my membership if I was a paying customer. I pay rent for a small shop which costs maybe 20% of my income from sales. All up from my very modest object sales I probably cover the $10US a month to be a premium member if I could be bothered to do that. People who concentrate on selling as a business can earn substantially more - basically I don't bother.
Secondlife is not a game per se, but more a platform and community of creators. In terms of typical game technologies SL operates like the bad old days of mmorpgs, and is buggy as heck. In terms of being a system and space where one can practice real creativity, a true virtual world, it's pretty much unsurpassed. Full timers are very protective of it's space and feel that they actually belong to a real community in there. Others play games within the sl environent. Myself, i kinda live there and do business and artworks.
Outside of the linden economy I build for a commercial company and various projects. My avatar earns more than I do in real life that way at the moment. Education has a strong interest in it, as do companies that wish to do "branding" somewhere new - everyone wants to be a "first" for their PR. SL is maturing technologically, but brings with it a strong enough community of creators that It'll probably last the storm and emerge as the forerunner in a significant new trend for 3d convergence. Many like to think it's there already - well the tools are still in beta but it's getting there.
Feel free to visit me in world - Pavig Lok
…. Oh by the way - the SL browser is currently opensource so the blender crowd could fiddle with it's internals if they wished. Server technology will opensource "real soon now".
There are some common misconceptions about what Second Life is. Yes, there is an in-world currency that can be traded against US$ but you don't need any money to enter the virtual world and survive in it. You can spend money (and earn it too), but it's completely optional. Renting a patch of land in Second Life is really nothing more than the 3D equivalent of renting server space for running a website.
The choice of parametric building blocks ("prims") over free-form meshes was made to conserve bandwidth since all the in-world content is subject to change and has to be streamed to the clients. Sculpted prims are a workaround for the limitations imposed by this approach. A sculpted prim is a building block whose shape is defined by a texture. Blender can be used to model those shapes and generate textures ready to be uploaded to SL. And Blender can also be used for offline building using the Prim.Blender extension ([url]http://primdotblender.sourceforge.net/[/url]).
Second Life is actually a lot of fun once you know how things work in-world. You can meet people from all over the world, explore a vast virtual landscape and collaborate on projects (modelling, texturing, scripting, animating). The free basic account comes with all the building tools, and there are public places where everyone can build stuff. You can earn some virtual money by selling your creations or getting hired to work on somebody else's projects. Or you can just keep all the things you build for yourself and customize your avatar to show off your skills. It's quite addictive. And there's a native client for Linux and Mac too. :)
Second Life® is the next big thing.
Threads like this are interesting, fun to see how people see second life. I'll make this brief as there is quite a bit of responses. I'm currently attending college about to graduate with my associates in multimedia graphic design, studying Lightwave3D next quarter,..than I graduate. I've been working full time in second life for almost 2 years. I do not work for Linden Dollars, only paypal or check by mail, as I am a freelance designer and I charge RL rates to work on Second life marketing and advertising campaigns.
I personally know several "entertainment" companies looking into developing in second life ontop of what they normally work in.
I left the US military and went to college all because I joined second life and realized that I should pursue a career in graphic design.
I owe alot to Linden lab for creating Second life, what I see as the worlds most advanced marketing and social networking platform.
My SL name is Crash Prefect if anyone is interested,…
I have been a member of SL for about 8 months now. I was blown away by the entire environment and soon realized that it was not a game but was something far greater. The more time I spent in SL, the more I realized that they were onto something big. Whether you like corporate America or not, they smell blood in the water. In 1995, they smelled blood too..and because of that..we are all where we are today :)
I am currently involved in land development and resell, new member integration, and starting a RL consulting company. Do I make real money in SL? Yes. How much? I would rather not say. But..I'll let you do the math. Create one super object, house, boat, car, airplane, talking dog, etc. and sell it for 250 Linden (roughly 1 dollar and about what a set of avitar clothes costs in SL). Now..with 6.6 million members and about 700,000 of those are active regular particpants who spend real money in world…that's 700,000 potential $1 us dollar sales. With projected growth of up to 32 million by end of '07, increase that potential sales base to 4.2 million users. I think you can do the math from that point.
I agree with Mickey Roark, sculpties represent a new paradigm for SL, which in my opinion is the beginning of the web of the future. AS dr0ld mentioned in their post…if you were turned off by the web in 1995, don't bother with SL. If you saw opportunity and were excited by the potential…then SL is for you. And as another post stated..thanks to sculptie prims, you Blender guys have a huge advantage over us SL mortals, as they put it.
Now…I have land and lots of it. I need talented artists, because SL is as much about art as it is business. This is 1995 all over again. Don't be left behind. When I joined in October '06, there were slightly under 1 million members. Today, they have 6.6 million and are on pace to hit 9 million by June. Some estimates put population at 30+ million by end of '07. I am willing to provide plenty of land to start a Blender user artist enclave and give you guys a place to learn SL, its tools, and how your skills can blow away what you see there when you first visit.
So..if you aren't completely against the idea of making money with your talents contact me either through my email address or in world .. just send an im to Jessie Beckham.
Now..I'm off to download Blender and try to catch up with you guys :)
Ciao
Jessie
Been playing SL for a little over a month now. Building there was actually my first experience with any kind of 3D design, so the limitations didn't bother me much. If anything it quickly became a challenge to create the most realistic objects I could with my limited tools! The thing I really love about it though, is that I can be standing around a public sandbox making whatever has come to mind that day, and some stranger from around the world will stroll over and say "Hey! That's cool!" and strike up a conversation about it. To create 3D objects is one thing, but to be able to look around and see people ideas taking shape all around you is just fascinating. You can even collaborate on projects in real time!
It is also a great introduction to 3D design… it may be limited, but it sure is easy!! After a month I now find myself looking up blender, as apparently it will help me create the new sculpted prims, and I can't wait to get started with the tutorials here.
In addition, the ability to add scripts to your creations that make them do just about anything within the games limitations (and a few things beyond) is great! My latest toy is a scale replica of a harmonica. I added an animation so my little guy taps his foot and moves his head, and recored myself playing a short blues burst. Now I get to walk up to people and play them a tune! I can even busk, hehe :)
What I feel about SL, it's not a game, it's an open world where anyone can create content, just like Internet is. When I first came to SL, I really had the feeling it was like a 3D version of Internet where you just walk (or fly) from websites to websites. This gives an incomparable experience of surfing the web. The lack I see for the moment is that you can't have HTML content in-word and this reduces communication a lot, but it sure will come one day (SL upgrades every Wednesday …).
Think of it a 3D Internet where you can feel yourself moving from one website to another like just crossing the street from one shop to another in real life : SL is definitely what's going to be called Web3.0 sooner or later !
By the way, BlenderNation on SL, that could be a second media on which you could spread the same content (there's a way to link in-world content with traditional websites) with extra features like meeting you, talking with you (voice is coming soon, was expected on May 23rd, maybe next Wednesday) or seeing your blender . This is a place where you could communicate on blender and get people interested in it, that's 6 millions potential 'residents'
Hope to see you in-world and if you're looking for some place to start with, you can come home and I'll let you use my place for free for a while :)
Hi, I am a member of another 3d world called IMVU. I think it is sooo much better than Second Life. And it is growing. And yes, you can make real money if you work hard. And with any business, advertise! Check out IMVU.com. You will be pleasantly surprised! Donnae….look me up when you come online!
I reley Love to build and since i know there is a way to create forms as individual as i like i cant stop seaching for the aknowledge to do it.so let us be creative and let us find the good toools for it
I've been playing Second Life since November 2004, I started out just playing it as a game. Eventually I wanted to learn how to script and build. I met and have become friends with a lot of people who were like me, just curious about building, and it was never in the beginning about making money. I was only in the game a couple of months when I fell in love there, and found that the products we were able to make could be sold for profit in the game and the money could be converted to real life dollars and that income could be used for us to meet in real life. Being that we lived in two different countries and were quite poor in real life, we decided we'd design, sell and save to meet and marry in real life. It has been well over 2 1/2 yrs since I started playing, almost 3 yrs ago now, and in that time we have made tens of thousands of US dollars just playing this game for fun. As an artistic outlet it's fun, as a medium for meeting other artistic people it's just amazing. For income it's not a bad way to make a little extra cash to help when times are hard in real life. For me, it's making a dream of mine come true. I'm finally getting to meet the man I love and the whole thing is being filmed by a production company in the UK as our love story has become of interest to the media and such… so not only did SL make this possible for us, it's made it possible for a lot of unemployed people to have an income from home, and made it possible for a lot of lovers around the globe to afford to meet. I'm not the only one. SL is not a get rich place for people to come and try to make a quick buck, it's a place for artistic people to express themselves, and for game players who have wants and needs for the in-game content and do not have a problem paying real cash for the items. Lindens are purchased with real cash and can easily be converted back into real cash. You get something for your money, and in the end you are helping someone else earn a paycheck. I love Second Life.
P.S. The reason you wont see many comments here from long time Second Life users promoting Second Life is because if people who are talented at 3D programs like Blender read about how easy it is to make money in Second Life then Second Life will be flooded with talent and the competition would increase. Right now Second Life is filled with designers who have learned how to create in game by fiddling with prims, and who may or may not have had much experience modeling. If Real Life modelers, and artists start flooding Second Life, it would put a lot of mediocre designers out of business and for a lot of people in Second Life it is actually their only form of income, and none of us want to lose business to a "real" artist.
I for one like seeing talented people in game. With luck, Blender users will start joining and teach the rest of us how to use it, and how to create the new prims using it. There are a few Blender users in there that are long time players, and I can see them making all the money in the next few months. People like me who do not know how to use Blender will fall way behind. Hopefully some Blender users will come in and give lessons to some of us who do not understand it.
I'm just waiting around for better tutorials for now…
P.P.P.S.
Would any Blender user want to tell me the steps to turn something made in Blender to a sculpt map?
I've never used Blender before, my boyfriend has used Cinema 4D for many years… but he has no idea if he can create a model / shape in it and convert it to a sculpt map, he can't seem to find the words sculpt map anywhere in Cinema 4D, so he downloaded Blender, however, he's never used it before. The thing he wants to do is just create a shape and then convert that shape to a sculpt map, so that he can upload that sculpt map to Second Life and convert their sculpt shapes into the shape he made in Blender. If anyone is willing to explain this to me, or take time to tell me step by step just how do you convert a shape to a sculpt map, then I would take the time to explain to you how to go about earing a real income in Second Life.
Thanks a lot. :)
Heart Wisbringer of Second Life
email: heartshinegirl@yahoo.com
P.P.P.S.
Would any Blender user want to tell me the steps to turn something made in Blender to a sculpt map?
I've never used Blender before, my boyfriend has used Cinema 4D for many years… but he has no idea if he can create a model / shape in it and convert it to a sculpt map, he can't seem to find the words sculpt map anywhere in Cinema 4D, so he downloaded Blender, however, he's never used it before. The thing he wants to do is just create a shape and then convert that shape to a sculpt map, so that he can upload that sculpt map to Second Life and convert their sculpt shapes into the shape he made in Blender. If anyone is willing to explain this to me, or take time to tell me step by step just how do you convert a shape to a sculpt map, then I would take the time to explain to you how to go about earing a real income in Second Life.
Thanks a lot. :)
Heart Wisbringer of Second Life
email: heartshinegirl at yahoo.com
I read in the comments that it might be a good idea for blendernation to go into Second Life. If you guys are considering that I'd like to offer you, on behalf of my group, 'Rent a Land', a nice plot of land to rent for free. Come in-world and contact me or Jeremiah Whitfield on IM. We'd love to get you guys on board! Second Life is cool, especially if you know 3D.
OddesE Oh
For many, SL is considered boring–but in an age of ADD and ADHD who do we blame?
Second Life is a fantastic technology, and depending on your level of commitment, can harbor incredible gain–social gain, monetary gain, gain of a useful skill-set. The SL world is HUGE! You think games like WoW have large maps? You think Oblivion has a big world? Nothing compared to the SL grid. Now'adays, you can walk around in this MMO-VRML with 40,000 other users at one time (and this is increasing exponentially).
Some people get their jollies by simply hanging out…chatting. Going to dances, openings of events or new clothing stores, amusement parks, live music or theatrical shows—it’s all there. But the real fun is when you jump in the mix yourself, and begin to create for yourself. One user mentioned above that you have to be a paying member to create…well, this is actually not true. You can go places that allow you to practice building and/or modeling (whichever you call it), and then you can package anything up you build, and store it in your inventory forever…you can then sell these objects, outfits, prefab-houses, etc, to companies or citizens.
I run Glowbox Designs in Second Life…and I am also a freelance modeler and texture artist. Currently I am working on projects fully-funded by real world Hollywood production companies…this is where the big bucks come in—“Sim Creation.” One of the standard pay-rates for a builder is $6,300 Lindens an hour. Some people bitch about having to spend $10L just to upload a custom texture…well, the truth is, if you are actually skilled and freelancing…$10L doesn’t even phase you. And after I’ve put in a week on a project (around 15 hours at the moment) I just made $94,500 Lindens—the current average exchange rate is around 250-275 Lindens for every $1 USD. That means, I just made over $300 USDs doing something I love, and would be doing anyway. Not to mention I work with other great artists, and am surrounded by thinkers and inventors.
Again, for some it may be boring. For others, it may be a nice relaxing way to experience a unique online community. But for the creators and the real estate moguls…it’s a heck of a lot more. Fun that is.
:)
Wow, a lot of great responses about SL. I guess it is something worth looking into if I have the time in the future.
Hearth Wishbringer wrote:
"P.S. The reason you wont see many comments here from long time Second Life users promoting Second Life is because if people who are talented at 3D programs like Blender read about how easy it is to make money in Second Life then Second Life will be flooded with talent and the competition would increase. Right now Second Life is filled with designers who have learned how to create in game by fiddling with prims, and who may or may not have had much experience modeling. If Real Life modelers, and artists start flooding Second Life, it would put a lot of mediocre designers out of business and for a lot of people in Second Life it is actually their only form of income, and none of us want to lose business to a "real" artist."
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Second Life is already flooded with amazing talent. I guess you haven't done much Sim searching. Real world modelers and texture artists (like myself) who learned on programs like Max, Maya, Lightwave and Softimage come to Second Life and have no problem creating quality content–they've been doing it for years. Not to mention graphic designers (again like myself) who have real-world degrees, and fully implement their skills.