I logged into SL the other day for the first time in ages, and only one of the old gang was online. I haven't been a regular here in years, so I guess this should be no surprise. I IM'd my friend and then ended up hanging out with her. For old times sake, we went to a fashion show.

I used to go to two or three fashion shows a week because I covered them for a number of blogs and I hadn't been to one in ages. We hit the Viktor-Viktoria Fashion Show that is part of Menswear Fashion Week. It's my understanding that there are multiple shows this week and lots of sales and freebies. Here's a slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Menswear%20Fashion%20Week2012/122/214/24/

We were late to the show, and there was a lot of lag in the sim next to the fashion show sim, but once we'd navigated ourselves to the actual runway, it was heaven. The designer and builder of the set, Lexie Jansma, CEO of Siren Productions, created a 3D multi-level runway that winds around the audience.

The audience was seated in upside down umbrellas that levitated at staggered heights, allowing us the opportunity to focus on one part of the runway, or follow an espeshially fabulous model and outfit all the way around the circuit. I loved the design.

The show's concept was gender bending and androgeny, as the models used were female and the clothes presented are sold for men. The gray and black and white motif in the design was perfect in support of this theme, and the models, who were instructed to go easy on the make-up and work with the theme, were fabulous.

Though I had intended to merely go as an appreciative member of the audience, I must say I was swept up in the excitement and immediately started begging my friend to let me blog it on her blog. You can find my breathless account here, as well as some pictures that aren't shown here.

Later, I got to thinking that since I apparently need to let the world know that fashion and creativity is alive and well in Second Life, and the Herald can always use some articles, I would pen a second rave review of this show and send it in.

Because I hadn't intended on blogging this, I am not as replete with descriptions of each outfit or the models or anything as I would have been, (though I will say that Gryphon Ronas of Siren Productions did her very best to get me up to speed late in the game when I knew I'd have to blog this, and I thank her!)

Visit this Slurl for more information and outlet stores for many of the designers and brands shown in the Viktor-Viktoria show.

I joined Second Life in 2006, and it wasn't long before I was meeting folks on the grid and making a digital name for myself, something I never had when I was growing up. As a child, I was far too smart and far too shy to be bothered with any social aspects of life. Second Life, strangely, was my foray into a niche-type fame (or infamy as many of you may be apt to categorize me) from running a 2,000 to 3,000 and sometimes 5,000 hit-a-day website that operated solely on the gossip on the grid and attempting to fight the good fight -- and making enemies in the process.

Tenshi Vielle in Second Life (file photo)

My time spent on the Second Life grid was an entire escape from reality. In late 2005, I was pregnant, going to school, and working 3 part time jobs. By 2006, I had my baby and had joined Second Life after seeing an article in Wired magazine - and joining simply to laugh at the ridiculous hype this virtual world was getting.

I began making friends in-world, and logging in was a daily thing after my morning cup of coffee. When I wasn't out with my family, my newborn slept on my lap or in a seat near my feet. The burdens of my real life built up, so I threw myself into building something I could actually manage in Second Life - a small, stong website, a reputation, a cause to log in. I spent a lot of time supporting the artists of SL, large and small. They became my close friends.

When I found myself with one part time job and the baby, I found employment in the virtual world with a real-life company on a short term basis. It became more of an excuse to log in, because they were sending me actual checks with official pay stubs. My newborn was growing, I couldn't shake the baby weight between caring for him, my so-called depression, and attempting to care for my injured baby-daddy who had also moved in with myself and my family.

The burdens grew. Folks who didn't like me in the virtual world stalked me, called me all kinds of names, harassed me, blamed me for ruining their birthdays, even their anniversaries. It got ridiculous.

Shortly afterwards I was also moving in real life to find a job. The economy in my home state was tanking hard, and I was sorely affected. I worked a job as a janitor - yes, any port in a storm - and not only caught scabies that year, but pinkeye, two cases of the flu, and god knows what else. It was not a job I wanted to continue.

Logging in became more and more of a chore, and I had lost my desktop computer in favor of a laptop. In desperation, I elected co-administrators on my website and began dealing with social issues and helping with stories for the site via text message while at my new job. It was just too much.

I never realized I was so deep into Second Life until a tiff over administrative rights on the website caused me to dump my virtual best friend, which pulled a domino affect into other online friendships and caused me a lot of personal pain. I'd never cried over anything in the virtual world before - not the digital riff raff, griefers, nothing - but this was different and I realized I was far too invested with people I didn't even really know anything about.

My virtual life fed my ego in a way my real life couldn't - my word was important to other SL users. I could assist making a virtual artist, or help bring them down - something I attempted to avoid doing until I felt just cause for it. The group I fell in was small, cliquish and petty, sniping at each other and then being the world's greatest frenemies scripted by a bad episode of Desperate Housewives. Ostracization was a favorite technique of theirs.

I had more virtual shoes and clothing than I did in my real life - and I had, at one time, owned a lot of shoes and clothing in my real life. I had more hair styles in my virtual life.

After being homeless in real life for about a month, after getting kicked out of my "midway" place after moving (but thankfully keeping my newly aquired job) I attempted to continue work on the site as I had before, but couldn't.

My life was still a mess. In the course of three years, we rented an apartment; we bought a house; then my relationship went so far south that I thought I was at the cusp of hell. I sold my web site for $200 and used some of the money to pay for an apartment for a month so that I could escape my dissolved relationship and move on.

I kept my virtual friends up on what was going on in my real life and why I was absent, but my own life narration began to sound absolutely ridiculous even to me, despite the fact that I was living it. How could anyone go through so many horrible things and be able to talk about it online and believe it? There are so many sociopaths in Second Life who make up horrible stories (including medical diseases and traumas) for attention, but I wasn't one of them. I was simply logging what was actually happening to me, which was as hard for me to believe as the one living it as anyone reading it.

My virtual life is in shambles now. I rarely ever log in - I think I was last online about two weeks ago, for a half an hour. I couldn't find anything I wanted to do, and everyone who was online on my friends list seemed completely foreign to me.

Those friends I had in Second Life that I truly loved, I took with me to my first life. They are on my personal Plurk account, they are on my Facebook. I stayed at one SL friend's for a week after I left my relationship and my home. She allowed my son and I to shack up over there until other arrangements could be made, and even drove with me a good 100 miles to make sure everything was going to be alright.

Although my virtual life no longer exists, I prefer my real life. Second Life has become secondary, although I am not completely sure whether it's due to my real life becoming so busy (work and a small child) or if it's because Second Life, in general, seems vacant save for my old friends that still hang around. I now have a low profile and the virtual stalkers have moved on to other prey. I have no idea what is going on with the artists I used to help protect - I believe many of them have moved on from Second Life as well.

I firmly believe the worst and best thing about Second Life was how heavily it was propelled by its users - and how often it was held back by its developers.

As for Second Life in my real life, I spoke about it often while I was still involved heavily. Now it's like a dirty secret. My friend asked me how I knew one of my Second Life friends last night, and I hemmed and hawwed and avoided answering all I could until I could avoid no longer, and gave a very vague answer. It's not the friends in Second Life I'm trying to keep hidden; it's the fact that I was once so deeply involved in something that revolved so heavily around basic social psychology, and that I so easily handled it, that becomes embarrassing.

Those of you still hanging around Second Life more than 2 hours a day, I would advise you to please consider logging out for a while and doing something else. Go out, talk to a stranger, ask them about the weather. Keep your virtual life, but learn how to keep it proportionate. Video games only temporarily assist in making a person feel better. The secondary benefit is that Second Life, as a platform, appears to be tanking. Unless there's a sudden resurgence of popularity due to the open development available (with no support from the developers themselves) you are, so to speak, putting your money in a hole.

Shocked players across the grid struggled to come to terms with game god Philip Linden’s new look reacting with disbelief, facepalms, and sqeee shrieks. Informed of Philip’s new style, performance artist Vaneeesa Blaylock said, "wow – out of all his SLCC promises… one actually came true! "

Philip poses before heading to the biker bar

A sample of the Second Life resident reactions:

• saucy!
• Damn, he’s married
• Honestly? Looks like a character from the Blue Oyster bar of Police Academy fame.
• I thought the skull and the doo were much improved
• he’s too fat
• I think he’s too slim not too fat. That’s not a male waistline.
• I’m impressed that the artist managed to retain the original feel, in a more real look. That was well done
• doesnt look SL-like, needs to have a skinner waist and bigger chest and biceps
• yeah really well done
• perhaps replace the psycadelic shorts, they might be sending the right impression
• It’s ok. I like his old look better though.
• the new avatar for philip looks like he will rape you tenderly
• looks like a pimp. His former avatar looked more harmless actually.
• is this SL or is it Queer Eye? Someone needs to give this to Fred Phelps. he looks like someone you’d meet at a gay biker bar … not that I would know … first hand    >.>
• I’m surprised. Phillip doesn’t look like shit now. He just has a corrupt crotch texture

acting game god’s before and after mug shots

I contacted Tenshi Vielle for a fashionista’s take on the look – and what message it sends.

Tenshi Vielle: my first question was whether or not he’d actually employ the new look (it’s taken this long?)
Tenshi Vielle: my second question is, if LL wanted a completely unique look from a creator, they should have said so… Abyss makes hair, skins, the works.
Tenshi Vielle: And my last comment is, at least it’s someone I recognize vaguely winning this time. Sometimes I wonder if the contest winners are Linden alts.

Pixeleen Mistral: what sort of message or style is the new avatar conveying?
Tenshi Vielle: Well, for one, Philip is more interested in playtime than business.
Tenshi Vielle: Two, they’re obviously looking to show off what the residents have done on their platform, how we’ve made it look
Tenshi Vielle: Which really amuses me… creators, while they make a bit of cash, are really just working for free for LL… advertising wise.
Tenshi Vielle: I mean, when did LL ever really give content creators the backing they need versus content theft or things of that nature?
Tenshi Vielle: They tried the brown bag meetings, and I have yet to see anything that really helps protect creators come out of those
Tenshi Vielle: Creators are still being ignored when they have a theft issue
Tenshi Vielle shrugs

Pixeleen Mistral: LL is not staffed to deal with the content theft issue
Tenshi Vielle: No, but they could do a little better.

There is a flickr photo collection here for those who want to see what might have been.

Since I are a fashion expert (I done found me the best set o’ clothes ever and don’t change ‘em, till they wears out) I got me some "ethos" (that am what a city feller said, but I punched him anyhow) on this-here subject.

Ol’ Hamlet Au, over at New Fake World Notes, done writ up a bit about this fashion site.

Thank’ee, Mistopher Hamlet. I needed to make some money to git drunk so I done stole your idear.

Even if’n Pix won’t payin’ me, I had to have a gander at these boys, because even in my part of ol’ Virginny, them dang Hipsters am a-showin’ up. You know who they am. They gots them skinny ol’ dungarees on, a-peddlin’ them one-speed bisickles an’ wearin’ pork-pie hats. They drinks fancypants drinks like gimlets and Rob Roys and eats little ol’ horse-douvers like raw fish and smelly cheese, and never any real food that God made for human people to eat.

Most hipsters got so much ink on ‘em that you’d reckon the pen aisle at Staples done gone loco and run ‘em down for a scribble-fest or sum’fin.

So now them Hipsters done come to the fake world, too. It had to happen! But them racscals don’t know one thing: We hillbillies done invented irony. So here goes.

Now this feller here am *almost* Billy Badass. That hairdoo am pure Hillbilly psycho, a style I knows well. The jacket got itself a certain "flyaway" ellygance, but this boy needs to learn a couple things if’n he wants him a wild hillbilly gal (like my rotten sister, who I are anxious to git rid of).

1) Don’t hide no shootin’ iron behind yo’ back less’n it am little-bitty. A scattergun like the one he am totin’ do BEG to git pointed RITE at the camera.

B) Roll down them paytyloons, boy. This ain’t no clam-dig. Tuck ‘em into sum motorsickle boots an you’ll be nigh unto ol’ Marlon Brando who played Johnny frum "The Wild One."

Well, maybe that am a stretch for you, but a feller gots to have role models.

III) Put on some weight and don’t let the gals tear that-there shirt so much, less’n it are in the bedroom and y’all am tusslin’. Showin’ off chest-carpet done gone out o’ style in 1979.

Bein’ skinny am a general proberlum with the site, don’t you know. These boys couldn’t stand up to a stiff breeze, let alone the likes of my rotten horrible sister, Jezz Enoch.

Consider this feller, wearin’ a basket for a hat. What kind o’ rascal wears him sum’fin that dang dumb in public with them sassy Bermuda-short pantyloons? Hell, he’d not make it to the end of the sidewalk in Chilhowie on a Saturday night without needin’ to go the hospital.

And what in the hell am in his ears? Bottlecaps? Thank God I don’t git down to town more often. I might go on a shootin’ spree.

Okay, Slipsters! Y’all be warned. Next week I’ll cover some other wonderful aspect o’ fahsions in the fake world o’ Second Life.

PS from Jezz Enoch: Ol’ fat stuff done passed out from drinkin’ with the cornputer machine still on, so I wants to tell these skinny boys from down in the town how to git a gal, if’n that am what they am after. I ain’t sure o’ that, but just in case:

A) Wipe the dang smirks off’n them faces. I loves to punch a boy in the face when he whispers sweet nuffins like "I love your chainsaw," or "let’s git nekkid and shoot some rascal, then shag," but some faces cain’t be punched JUST one time. These faces am a-beggin’ for multiples.

And they ain’t the kind of face you wants to git nekkid with in the hayloft.

Two) Pappy am right. Don’t wear no bottlecaps in yo’ ears. Open a bottle with them teeth if’n you wants my love.

#3) Put on weight. I’d bust you up good shaggin’ don’t you know!

Maybe I should write up some o’ these-here fashion reviews, Miss Pixeleen. Pappy don’t know Calvin Klein from Calvinism.
 

Amethyst announces the after-show party

Nervously waiting backstage, I watch two channels of chat scrolling up the screen: the public announcements to the audience, and the private instructions to the models. They've taken away spotlight we had at rehearsal (it made the clothes look too washed out); we're supposed to click the pumpkin when we walk off stage.

Click the pumpkin? What on Earth? Oh, ok, it's so Cuppycake can teleport us off the catwalk.

Cuppycake on the catwalk

They're playing a French remix station over the speakers; wall to wall ToToM. A Britney Spears impersonater complains they're not playing enough of "her" hits. A few of the European models are drinking black coffee to stay awake; this show is in the middle of the night, their time.

Trash under the spotlight in fashion show rehearsal

And then it's my turn to be on stage. With a whoosh, I'm teleported behind the curtain. I can't see a thing: the curtain keeps the audience from seeing us changing, but it also stops us seeing what we're doing. It's just as well we've practiced this. I change out of my street clothes and into a red evening dress, silently praying that I've not suffered some wardrobe malfunction in the dark.

With a deep breath, I step out into the light. Maybe it's just my nerves, but this is the first time all evening I've felt any lag. Not very much, but just enough to feel slow and heavy as I dance down the catwalk. I fervently hope it's not going to make me lose my balance and fall off. (Is that even possible? Now would not be a good time to find out).

I turn and wave to the fashion press in the audience (Hi Pixeleen!), then down to the end of the catwalk, and back behind the safety of the curtain. Blundering about in the dark, I hope I don't bump into some abandoned lighting control gear. Now, where is that stupid pumpkin? Another woosh, and I'm teleported back with the rest of the models.

Finally, it's all over and we can wind down at the after-show party, dancing to more ToToM.

dancing at the after-show party

Susan wore: red mid length dress, available at The New You for 25,000 metacredits

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

a wonderland of stolen content – courtesy of the Neillife viewer?

Tenshi Vielle at Shopping Cart Disco just broke a shocking story – a huge cache of pirated content has been passed around at the Burning Life. Yet despite frantic reports of ongoing theft by Stroker Serpentine and Tenshi, LL seems powerless – or unwilling – to do anything other than suggest filing of more abuse reports.

How is this possible? The SCD story says the stolen items retain the original creator name and information, but are transferable and many items include a blank box, suggesting the use of an exploit – and so the search for culprits begins.

The box holding the cache of stolen goods was created by Damen Hax – a long time SL resident and Open Source advocate. When the Herald contacted Mr. Hax for comment he denied involvement and suggested  he has made more than a few enemies who might be eager to frame him.

Pixeleen Mistral: there is a story that just ran about a big box of allegedly copied content at http://shoppingcartdisco.com/?p=5484
Damen Hax: So nothing new on the news front then? heh

Pixeleen Mistral: well – you are named in the story
Damen Hax: Oh my.. seems fans these days have no bounds

Pixeleen Mistral: what do you think is going on then?
Damen Hax: Fans on both sides of the fence.. I'm the creator of the Open Source ReSource & have been releasing free open source content for years now, I have a cold hard approach to truth etc.. it's created fans on both sides
Damen Hax: I'm actually a strong advocate against theft & closed down the resource last year to help work on better methods of preventing people selling my free content

Pixeleen Mistral: so do you think someone used a container with your name on it and modify permissions to hold the stolen good as payback?
Damen Hax: I own alot of land here & every knows I do nothing to give anyone any reason to take away what I've created.. only a fool would do such a thing

Pixeleen Mistral: these days releasing anything with mod permissions means it could end up as a container for something you wouldn't want associated with your name
Damen Hax: I always talk knowing LL can at any time review things i've said.. I enjoy schooling people looking for hacker type things due to my name & group(s).. They once put out a free T-Shirt trying to call me a thief etc.. what can you do.

Whomever is responsible for the big box of pirated content has been busy. According to Shopping Cart Disco, the affected content creators include:

3FX (jasmine Godenot)
Blaze Nielson
TOM Burt
FNKY! (Funk Schnook)
CobraTech (BlckCobra Shika)
*Kabuki (Naku Nishi)
AQUALOVE Zen and Serenity (Luigi Dickens)
Raziel Foggarty Sexbeds
LA JAZZ (Jennifer Brennon)
::Bloodlines:: (Mars Bracken)
Zyngo (Aarggle Zymurgy)
Bojan Allen Sexbed
CM Designs (Corrin Maitland)
Ecclectic Randomness (Whinter Ventura)
Bits and Bobs (Craig Altman)
Ocean Lane
Damania (Demanios Thetan)
Lovebirds Paradise Furniture (Bird Lilliehook)
Shiny Things (Fallingwater Cellardoor)
Stiletto Moody
Midnight Lotus (Hasuko Kuramot)
Quantum Products (Darling Brody)
5ifth Order (Johnny Dusk)
AKEYO (artoo Magneto)
Arcane (Eyllen Allen)
MystiTool (Mystical Cookie)
Overlord Combat
Ce Cubic (mirari Jun)
BARTLETT & NIELSON (Belle Bartlett)
Vamporium (Trijin Bade)
Kowalski Erin
.::MADesigns (Maddox DuPont)
Sixty Nine (Kumii Yosikawa)
:sey (risey Arai)
Redgrave ()
SiniStyle (Krius Misfit)
SineWave (Easy Babcock)
VISTA Anims (Vista Barnes)
Henmations (Hendrik Schroeder)
Abranimations (Abramelin Wolfe)
!-Ce Cubic
Aridi (London Armidi)
@HOME (nightlife Overlord)
SOREAL (Kwarney Pinion)
Animation Wharehouse (Jonny Dusk)
[ hoorenbeek ] (Limer Kosten)
*Gritty Kitty (Noam Sprocket)

I recently ran a very informal survey at Shopping Cart Disco in attempt to learn what Second Life's fashion designers cash out of Second Life per month. The results are summarized in the table below — the average earnings for all designers was $850 USD/month.

Inexperienced designers claiming to take home an average of $490/month and experienced designers make $1145 on average.

The figures in red represent claimed income (withdrawn from SL inUnited States Dollars) averages across the comment input board. Eachcolumn is labeled on the bottom for experienced or inexperienceddesigners.

Here are some comments  from both experienced (1+ years) and inexperienced (under 1 year) designers:

"I’m a new designer, I have a small store with less than 20 products init and not even a customer group. The past couple months I’ve cashedout $100usd. I made more than that, that is what was left over after Ishopped and played around all month, that also is the amount minus myland expenses, etc, and with me leaving some in SL to use. While ahundred dollars isn’t allot by any stretch, I can see how the largerstores with allot more products, a large customer base, as well asseveral bloggers and magazines that promote them, could be pulling in aliving. I’d like to be there some day, but for now my store covers mycosts, lets me play and buy what I want, and also gives me a littleextra RL cash. "

"I have been around designing for over 2 years (what a shame… LOL), have growns slowly and have been doing it as a game for most of the time. Id est: I have RL stuff to do during the largest portion of my day, am on SL usually after dinner -which means I won’t be tiring my eyes in front of a design to get shadings/seams/prims movement right- or in rare spare days. Plus I like to think that I should better enjoy my RL than be bound to spend my nights working on SL anyways.

I can see, myself, a huge difference between the times I can stay on SL a decent amount of hours and the times when I just log in to chat to my bf. When I was active and still sucked at designing (self teaching does mean it will take TIME to get something decent out) I could make around 400/500 USD a month. That is considering the 300 or more USD I paid monthly for my stores around the grid.

I am now on less and make even less than that as cashiable out. And it’s a pity, cause I know it’s a shock for some of my friends who have seen me around so long (and are probably laughing behind my back cause they’re cashing out 2K a month, and me 200… LOL).

Regarding the anonymousity (is that even how you spell it?) of this comment: I don’t have huge issues talking about my income with some friends. But as I don’t like sharing my age, my RL activity and so on with everybody, I think it’s understandable that I want to keep this information as private as those other things:) This IS a private matter, and there are many who are touched and hurt by the economic situation and all that… not ALL, but many… and it hurts to have to admit that you’re doing bad, I guess.

I am therefore sharing these facts just as journalistic material (lol). Let’s see if Tenshi will come out with some decent picture of what we are doing!"

"I average 30k-40k L$ a day. On release days up to 100k, and if I haven’t released anything for a while it might go down to around 20k."

"I make silks and dresses. It’s taken me a while to get to where I’m at, but I regularly pull in 1000-2000 USD a month after in-world expenses.This is definitely my full time job, and will remain so until SL goes completely down the shitter."

"I’vebeen running a clothing store since the end of 2006. As you can seefrom the numbers below, business ramped up, peaked and for some unknownreason – took a dive.

Truth? Padded figures? What do you think?

Skin: Blowpop Skins, Bikini: Shai, Hair: ETD

Ladies, digital boobs are no longer good enough for us. There are places the skin layer simply cannot go. That skin you love so much might just need a little enhancement for that special night out on the town. Nobody wants to look like a Spaced Out Sally in a tube dress. You, my dear, should look at least twice as valuable as the Olive Garden-esque meal he is now treating you to.

A new era of digital female enhancements brings the shirt and jacket layer "cleavage enhancements". See for yourself: [photo after the jump]

What does the creator of this particular version of the Digital Boob Job have to say about it?

Tenshi Vielle: Might I ask what your reasoning for making a product would be, instead of just doing skins?
Ayumi Shinn: A lot of people have skins that they're very happy with. Finding the right makeup/lips/shading that removes nose triangles can be very difficult, especially since most skins only work for a small handful of shapes. Currently in SL, there are thousands of female av's, walking around with square looking breasts, with their cleavage sliders set to "lumpy mashed potatos", and no skin makers providing realistic cleavage or.. well, even nicely shaded skins for larger breast sizes

Tenshi Vielle: LOL
Tenshi Vielle: I get that.
Ayumi Shinn: I originally made it for myself, I'm a uhm.. larger chested woman in RL, and I was decidedly unhappy with the results I could get

Tenshi Vielle: Understandable
Ayumi Shinn: and then a few of my friends asked for it, and a few more.. which prompted me to make versions for different skin tones Ayumi Shinn: and then a year later, I'm on version 2.6, and its now selling quite well

The Creators

Ayumi's cleavage currently fluctuates between the #2 and #6 best selling item on xstreetsl.com, brought to you by the adult content hating Lindens. It will run you about $200L and can be purchased here.

slmesh.jpg – Courtesy of Annyka Beckers, creator of Blowpop Skins

Inan amazing feat of web-stumbling, it has been revealed that 3D mesheswork best when they do NOT contain triangles. 

Triangles, due to theirodd nature when subjected to division createbumps and humps in the avatar's appearance. We, of course, see thisnearly every damned time we take a screenshot in Second Life.  You cansee it on my avatar in this shot, mostly on the inside of my right elbow and just below the avatar's breast.

Please allow me to quote Blender Newbies (lulz, Newbie facts) for their "a3D Modeling For Dummies" explanation:

bumps and humps – due to triangled avatars meshes

"Friday, November 14, 2008 3D Mesh Topology Tip: Quads vs. Triangles

So,what's the big deal about whether you use quads or triangles in your 3Dmesh? It's really a very simple issue but, it does cause some confusionfor beginning modelers. Let's take a look at some of the issues.

First, let's make sure we understand the terms.

Atriangle, of course, is a polygon that consists of three sides. In 3Dmodeling, you also have to consider that those three sides (calledEdges) are connected by three vertices.

A quad is a polygon, but with four sides and vertices.

In3D modeling, the issue with using quads or triangles revolves aroundsubdividing, edgeloops, and smoothing. Generally, this would includeorganic-type modeling (faces, bodies, animals, etc.), things that havepotential for movement (bending and flexing) or are designed with anorganic aspect to their style (sport cars, overpriced uncomfortablefurniture, etc.). These are generally modeled with mostly quads.

Subdividing

This one's easy. You can see the issue in basic math.

Quads: Four divided by Two equals Two. Very nice. Balanced.

Triangles: Three divided by Two equals One-and-a-half. Yuck. Unbalanced. How do you resolve the half-part that's left over?

Thisbecomes an issue with 3D modeling because the purpose of subdividing amesh is to allow for more detail to be added to the model. This is mucheasier to do when you have quads because the results are predictable.With triangles, subdividing can become tricky because the balance ofthe flow of vertices gets interrupted."

For more information, you can also visit this link.

There are many processes any goodFashionista goes through when becoming properly attired for an eventor blog post. Tonight, my friend Niki played National GeographicPhotographer to my wild African Lioness as I got dressed for a blogpost at Shopping Cart Disco.

In good NG fashion, Niki joined me forshopping at “&bean”, a newer store in SL and promptlydiscovered, unlike myself, that I was actually shopping in mypanties. The fantastic glitches between the Linden Lab viewer and thenow-debunked Kristen Viewer caused me to believe I had “pants” on– in fact, I did not.

Oh well. I was well aware that I was shoppingbald though, and in a pair of totally inappropriate boots.

In hindsight, least I was WEARINGunderwear

&bean had a preview of their“Angry” skins for a big whopping $1L, and in my fashionableboredom I picked one up. Angry is a fitting moniker- the heavy browsare enough to shame any McQueen model. I looked perfectly emo-angsty;the Herald commenters wouldn't find me in this getup! I'd blend rightin!

The tutu was something I just couldn'tpass up. Every girl dreams of being graceful and strong like aballerina, I think. Unfortunately, some of us were dealt the“Computer Geek” lot of cards in life and all we can do ispretend, locked in our basements. Le sigh.

There was a problem with the tutu- itshowed my panties like I was a $2L truck stop whore in Ahern. Thepanties had to go. So did the hair I had picked out of my inventoryon first shot… I looked ridiculous.

I dug through my inventory some moreand found the right hair from Zero Style. (Yup, that's right, I haveZero Style. I know. Irony.) I also found some nice accessories fromFour Yip hanging around in my inventory. I tried her polar bear bootswith my skirt, but, meh. Too much carry over from winter – itdidn't go together well. What DID go together well was a few bitsfrom her Spring ensemble from last year – the flower belt over thetutu, and the cute bugs. Yes, that is a bug over my right eye. Yes, Iam going to rock that like it's 1999. It fits, and it's cute. The bugstays.

Hrm. A little more inventory diggingbrought up some adorable ankle boots from Tesla in a not-matchingpurple color. You can tell how excited I am by how wide open my mouthis. I just hope the bug on my eye doesn't decide to go for my mouth.

One more layer because Spring tends tobe the season of strange weather. Denim jackets are indeed back thisseason, at least temporarily – I'm rocking one from En Svalde.

Niki's last picture of me was taken intrue blogger fashion, high-rez with a plain white background. We likea little vanilla with our fashion.

And now, just to round off my post withsomething totally cliché:

“A girl should be two things: classyand fabulous.” –Coco Chanel

Fashionable Credits can be found @Shopping Cart Disco. (http://www.shoppingcartdisco.com)