DAZ Studio 4.5: First render

I've installed the new version of DAZ Studio, as well as some morphs for their DAZ's new flagship figure, Genesis. This is my first render, featuring the Young Teens version of Genesis with the Andrea morph and texture. She's wearing the Frangipani top, which is intended for V4 but converts extremely well.

Eventually I'd like to create content for DAZ / Poser as well as for SL. I'm not there yet though, not by a long stretch!

Timetwist: Thin Park Bench

Invite your best friend to sit with you on this bench to hold meaningful... or silly... conversations, or relax on your own, while you ponder on the meaning of life.

This old park bench, inspired by a real Victorian-era design, is a bit rusty, but still sturdy (we hope). It contains a mix of adjustable poses (single sits and conversational couple sits).

Featuring original mesh and textures, your park bench also benefits from fine-tuned Level of Details and Physic shapes. What it means to you is that it'll look good up close and personal and from afar too, while still keeping a reasonable land impact.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT:
The animations aren't mirrored. The female avatar has to sit on the right, the male avatar on the left. It's really only suitable for m/f couples and friends at the moment.

FEATURES:
- Mesh, Land Impact 2
- 20 animations: 6 solo female sits, 7 female couple, 7 male couple
- Powered by AV Sitter
- Optional prim shadow

We hope you'll enjoy this Timetwist product!

Get it in SL
Get it on the Marketplace

Essential Bowler Hat

This classic bowler hat will sit just as well on your head as on a hatstand.

The hat is an unrigged mesh: you can resize it just like a standard prim or sculpt. However, don't worry if you don't feel comfortable resizing it with the Build menu: we've included a resizer script.

In fact, you'll get four versions of the hat: 
- A black bowler hat, unscripted 
- A black bowler hat, with resizer script 
- A tintable version, unscripted 
- A tintable version, with resizer script.

Please remember to make a backup copy of your hat before modifying it.

FEATURES: 
- Land Impact 1 
- Includes a tintable version

CREDITS: 
- Brushes by Obsidian Dawn: http://www.obsidiandawn.com/

We hope you'll enjoy wearing your new hat!

Get it in SL
Get it on the Marketplace

Vintage Little Christmas Bells and Tree Topper

Is it time to decorate the Christmas tree yet? Yes, I believe it is, indeed!

These mesh ornaments have a very low land impact (1 for each bell, 3 for each tree topper), which is just right, as prim count is the last thing you want to have to worry about when decorating your tree!

The bells ring on touch, as you would expect. :-) There are 6 different bells (gold, silver, and three different ribbons), and 4 tree toppers (gold, silver, and combinations of gold and silver).

Little Christmas Bells - on the marketplace
Christmas Tree Topper - on the marketplace
In SL

There's also a little freebie in the store: the first version of the bells.

Unhinged: Business Woman

I've been playing with various iterations of Geometry's Eku Tank and Eku Crop tops, trying to pair them with mesh items from other designers... and the crop top fits just right with the pencil skirt from Maitreya!

It all goes very well with my new hair and my new shoes, too. :-)

Let's see:

Unhinged: the Savannah dress

I love the Savannah dress by Geometry. The textures, with little flowers on the main fabric, and a shimmering effect on the coloured accents, are lovely. There are enough colours to suit every taste, too.

I'm wearing:

Skin: Pink Fuel Elly Milk - Baby Doll
Makeup: Pink Fuel Elly Milk - Sheer Balm (Sherbert)
Tattoos: Nomine Cleavage Enhancer, Nomine Tatto beauty mark 2
Eyes: Kosh eyes - Silverrush Laguna 6
Hair: Elikatira [e]Over Blonde 07
Outfit: Geometry Savannah* at Unhinged

Poses: Adorkable
Sim: Creative Fantasy and Garden

*review copies

Unhinged: To be blue or not to be blue

Still blogging about my favourite event on the grid... The designers there must have conspired to create clothes / outfits that work well together.

Case in point, Bilo's eyes and Pin Me Down's Skully Lashes make-up complements the Monster skins really nicely. I'm not wearing the actual lashes, but that's only because my laptop doesn't render very small items properly -- I wouldn't do them justice.

If you want to see them in all their glory, go and check that post by Sonya Marmurek!

I love the texture on the Morticia velvet dress. All the colours are gorgeous and well-detailed, even the black one (a colour that is hard to get right).

And as for the Skull? It's simply amazing. These skulls are (very existential) pose props. Show that skull around. Lean against it. Look into its oh-so-thoughtless orbs. Oh yay for DRAMA!!! These should get some good use!

What I'm wearing:
Skin: Monster Silver 3C* at Unhinged
Hair:  [e] Over - White 05
Eyes:  Bilo - Najwa Eyes (Mist Blue)* at Unhinged
Makeup:  Pin Me Down: The Skully Lashes #7 at Unhinged
Nails: Pixel Mode Sculpted Nails - Color Change
Dress:  PE Morticia Blue* at Unhinged
Pose: Monster Skull* at Unhinged

Sim: Wizardhat Studios

* Review items

Unhinged Skull Light

I've been working non-stop on this Unhinged product for three days (except for the times I actually had to, you know, go to work), so I'm incredibly pleased and proud to have finished it!

It's a light. It's a floating skull. It's a bit weird, and it's mod - so, even though I haven't tried it yet, I'm pretty sure you could wear it as a mask, and if you want to look extra-weird, alpha your avatar out and appear as a floating skull to every one around you.

That'd be a bit freaky, though!

Another stupid trick is to turn the eyes transparent and stare at the world from the inside of the skull. Useless, I know, but I've had fun doing that while testing it on my local OpenSim. I'm easily amused!

Anyway! Touch it to turn the light on/off (owner only), or mod the script inside to make it sing a lullaby.

You can see it inworld and buy it at Timetwist, and you can also buy it at Unhinged. You should buy it at Unhinged, anyway. So much cool stuff around!

Pink and Green and Orange, oh my!

I've always been a bit shy with wearing colours. Time to change that. I can paint myself with whatever colour takes my fancy, so why limit myself to grey?

Front shot:

The back: (This is my favourite picture of that series. How weird is that? I like a pic of my back!!!)

Full body - including the boots. I love these boots. I hope you like them too, because I guess it's not the last time you'll see me wearing these!

Close-up of the makeup and eyes:

Credits
top: Geometry Eku Tank - Pink at Unhinged
boots: Lassitude & Ennui - Sugarskull Boots  at Unhinged
jeans: my own, not available anymore (sowwwy!) - but any green, or teal leggings should do! Or maybe leather? Hmm yes that could work. Try Lapointe & Batschild.

skin: Illusory Skin - Love Caramel - Organic (got it a while ago at Collabor88)
tattoos: Nomine Cleavage enhancer, Nomine tintable hairbase
makeup: Beautiful Freak Obake Makeup - Copper at Unhinged
eyes: Bilo - Najwa Eyes (Light Green) at Unhinged
hair: [elikatira] Over - Black 04

poses: Stroll series by aDORKable
sim: Tableau

Caveat emptor: the Unhinged bits are blogger copies. I love so many things from there, I could blog it all, really.

Unhinged dancing

Busy night in SL last night!

Unhinged: what to wear on the dance floor

The Unhinged isn't just about shopping -- it's about dancing, too! It's great fun, but the trouble is, everyone there looks stunning. Especially Siggy. So I spent a lot of time putting an outfit together!

On the way I also hit the gatcha for some plants, because I dig plants.
Arctic Greenhouse made a fun skull planter, to give that special welcoming touch to any garden. Arctic's Gacha is extra special, as you get a random chance of getting three items instead of just one... and I struck gold. I'm only showing my favourite one, but I got two others that I like a lot as well: a golden skull with red roses (Rare), and subtle dark purple flowers in a dark skull.

Lassitude & Ennui has been my favourite shoe designer for a long time because of her attention to detail and the quality of the modelling and texturing. The mesh Sugarskulls boots she made for Unhinged are yummy. There's lots of colour - pink, brown, red, blue... I forget... the rare one is black/greyscale. The stitched skull blends perfectly with the main fabric of the boots. The red ones are my favourite.

The Nomine dress can't be found at the Unhinged festival; however it fits the theme just right, as there's a skull on the front of the dress. Which you can't really see in my pictures. I guess I won't be elected fashion blogger of the year quite yet! o.O

It's a mesh dress, with two sizes included. The standard size fits me like a glove. It moves nicely with the body -- good weighting! I like how cheery the cherry pattern is, and that it looks like it has some thickness to it (like a real dress). There's a bit of anti-aliasing going on at the back; it's a minor fault, as you'd really have to zoom right in to see it.

The skull makes this dress edgy and quite versatile, as you can wear it with classy pumps, with worn Docs, or with the most punkish NewRock-like boots you can find on the grid. Or, indeed, with the Sugarskulls boots.

Anyway, 'nuff talking, here's the list of what I'm wearing:

Outfit:
Dress: Nomine Mesh Rockabilly Tank Dress Standard - White Cherry
Boots: Lassitude & Ennui - Sugarskull Boots Red at Unhinged (review item)
Jewellery: Miriel Everyday: Find your Way Necklace / Silver/White (not on the grid anymore)

Skin: Pink Fuel Elly Milk - Scene
Tattoo: Pink Fuel Elly Milk - Juicy Gloss (Strawberry)
Tattoo: Nomine Cleavage enhancer - Light
Eyes: Kosh Eyes - Silverrush Laguna 6 (discount zone, click on the trapdoor)
Nails: Pixel Mode Sculpted Nails - French Manicure (not on the grid anymore)
Hair: Maitreya Lotte - Charcoal

Decor:
Plant: Arctic Greenhouse Skull Planters - n.17 at Unhinged
House by Kismet

Unhinged: Skulprit avatars

I went in-world a bit today just to unpack a few boxes bought at the Unhinged festival... and ended up playing with that little dude for a good half hour!

It's, quite obviously, a mesh avatar. Cute and quirky. There's three little dudes and one little dudette to chose from.

You can also get two Gacha vehicles for your Skulprit: a hot air balloon, and a hover car. I haven't bought the balloon yet. I will, because if it's just as awesome as the car, then well, I want one!

The reflections on the goggles and on the headlights are splendid. And look at the back of that car: I love the shading!

It's on the Unhinged sim!
Full credits and link to the neat sim where I took the photos to come -- I'm knackered!

ETA: Here we go:

Sim: Spaceport
Avatar: Skulprit Avatar Red by Culprit, at Unhinged
Wearable car: Skulprit Hovercar RedRacer by Culprit, at Unhinged

Unhinged: Death's-Head Hawk Moth Collection

As I mentioned a few days ago, I'm taking part to Unhinged: A festival for Eku's Head. I toyed around with a few ideas around the theme of the skull, and I finally settled on an insect that I've always liked: the Death's-Head Hawk Moth.

In the end I've come up with 6 variations, from natural to futuristic, with a nod to the Victorian era as well.

These moths are decorative only (i.e. they're static: they don't fly around like, say, flutters). I've also included two free frames that you can get by touching the poster in-world, but you can of course put them in your garden to add extra life to your plants.

They're mesh, with a land impact of 4 each -- lots of work went into this model. They're quite detailed, and degrade beautifully from a distance.

Oh also, did I mention it's a gatcha? There's one rare, the Arborealis one (shown on the main poster) - the wings of which make use of a picture I took of some surprisingly pink leaves (yes, this amazing colour is real).

But enough talk: where to get them?
- At the festival, of course!
- And also at our store

Pastel Candle House

The warm glow of lovely, handmade ceramic Candle Houses fascinates me whenever I visit my local Christkindlmarkt; I wanted to bring some of this warmth into SL.

The Pastel Candle House consists of course of the ceramic house and its candle; we've also included a spare tea light candle, because it's cute and small and can be added to lots of places!

Simply zoom in and touch the candle wick to turn on or off.

Get it on the marketplace
Get it in SL

Unhinged: a festival for Eku's head

So you may have heard of the "Unhinged" festival for Eku - a great event with DJs, gatchas and lots of cool stuff, all for Eku Zhong. You don't know Eku? You're missing out! She's mega-awesome.

Anyway, the theme of the festival is the skull. So we made a little something -- six little somethings, actually! for Timetwist's very first gatcha. Exciting times!

More info here: http://unhingedsl.com/

Cloud Party: first try

(Note: This is an almost word-to-word copy of a post I made on SLUniverse)

Cloud Party is a new virtual world that runs within a standard browser. At the moment it only allows you to create a permanent avatar if you log in from your Facebook account (which I won't do); you can also start a temporary session with an anonymous avatar.

I've given it a try last night, and just now again (with an Anon account), and I'm of two minds about it.

I'm impressed by the texturing capabilities (normal maps!). It has the potential to look great.

I quite like the idea of showing separate islands as floating bubbles. The cell phone is great, really unobtrusive - really, really cool. Moving around felt intuitive. The double-click-teleport is super smooth.

I also liked how easy it was to change the shade of the outfits. The colour picker is neat.



What could be improved, imho:
- Inventory. There's no way that will scale! And while storing tops in one category, and bottoms in another, is a viable option in some cases, it's definitely not a one-size-fits-all. Let's say I buy a swashbuckler outfit, a casual one, and a kinky one. With that system, they'll be split into tops/bottoms/shoes, and mixed with each other - not that convenient.

- I started out with a dude. He had T-Rex arms syndrome. I maxed out the arms length, and that's *just* enough. I didn't play much with the other sliders, so I can't comment on these.

- Couldn't find a way to tweak the head -- at the moment it looks like you'll have to get pre-set heads, but won't be able to customise them.

- Couldn't see a way to switch from a male to female shape for the same character. I don't see non-humanoid options, but that, I hope, might come in the future.

- Animations: can I stop running? can we fly? I love flying. PageUp didn't work, but that might just be the wrong key.

My biggest issue, however, is that it feels a bit disjointed. It's hard to describe; it's almost like the avatars have no weight, if you see what I mean? Or almost like they aren't really part of this world. I tend to relate to toons, even temporary ones, almost instantly -- but it didn't feel that way this time. It might be caused by how far away the camera is by defaults, for all I know. Or the shading might be subtly different. Dunno.

I had the same feeling in Blue Mars.

Continents would be good. It's early days, but continents would probably help making this world a bit more coherent.

In the meantime, I don't think I'll log back in all that often... that might change once I can create a permanent toon.

Knottic Birdbath

Knottic is a celtic-style birdbath that features celtic knots lovingly engraved on its sides, water, a little fountain, a soft shadow for the ground, and two couple poses for Petites.

Get it on the marketplace

Get it in SL

Linden Lab removes ability to connect to a custom grid from the official viewer (3.4)

Starting from version 3.4, Linden Lab's Second Life Viewer can no longer connect to a grid of your choice (they have removed the '-loginuri' command).

This means if you use Virtual World Starter, or even just shortcuts to log into a non-Linden Lab grid (for example, a local opensim for testing), the last official viewer that can be used is 3.3.4 (just make sure that you have auto-update turned off, and in the future, changing the channel may be required to continue to log into their grid), otherwise the only choice is to use a third party viewer.

Kubismos

The A2NZ team is back in Second Life with a new brand: Timetwist. Our first Timetwist creation is a mesh build, lovingly made in Blender: Kubismos.

Get it in SL

Get Kubismos on the Marketplace

Inspired by a real build seen in Hyde Park, London, Kubismos is the faux-greek temple your garden needs.

It will shelter secret romances in its alcoves while standing proudly in your park.

Featuring original mesh and textures, Kubismos also benefits from fine-tuned Level of Details and Physic shapes. What it means to you is that it'll look good up close and personal and from afar too, while still keeping a reasonable land impact.

We hope you'll enjoy this Timetwist product!

Raindrop and Abyssin - A2NZ Timetwist