RL vs SL: 2-0

The next month is going to be busy again... guess RL has scored yet another one. But don't worry, once I get over the busy times, there will be more new products coming up. I already have the ideas in my head, just no time to get down to doing them. And of course, once things have settled down a bit, I will get back to putting time into Taiji Circle.

Bra and panties set

The latest in my lingerie collection is this bra and panties set. Besides the standard colours of white, beige, yellow, pink and cyan, I have decided to try making it in black this time too, just to see how well the lace designs turn out. And guess what? It came out well, so I am selling this set in all 6 colours.

If the panties are distorted at the pubic area, just change your hip length to 100 and things will be fine.

More skins by Miki Jannings

Here are some more skins made by me. As you can see, I like to make skins with pale or light skin tones. As usual, all my skins come with an accompanying shape to bring out the best in their facial features.

The first one is "Yukie", a Japanese avatar with sparse eyebrows, a light skin tone, and slightly dark brown nipples. The pubic area is a bit sparse but highly realistic.


Next up is "Michelle". She is blonde with curvy eyebrows and a slightly darker tone of red for her lip stick. As with my other skins, she has realistic nipples and pubic area.

Last up is "Aki". Very pale skin tone, with brownish eyebrows, though a bit thick. A more pinkish set of nipples with realistic pubic area too. She has a small nose, much smaller than most of my other skins.

Speechless

There is an optional SecondLife client just out today, implementing voice. As of now, it is an option, so I chose to disable it. Officially, I am now speechless. But I wonder how that is going to be implemented... those of us who choose to be speechless, do we now wear a tag on top of our heads saying "Speechless", or do we just become dumb/mute?

New store - XD Trading Mall

Update:
As of 28 Jul 07, all those renting spaces within XD Trading Mall have been returned their objects, and the mall owner stove Lu has been manually refunding rent. Apparently, this has to do with the LL policy on gambling in SL. So that's the end of my store here, a bit short-lived. But I have other stores elsewhere.
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I got myself a new store today. It is at this place in Mooter, the SLURL is here. The rent here is cheap, with a 50 prim limit. For the price, this is good. And reasonable too, since the space isn't exactly small. I mean, the shop at Keswick charges more but has a lower prim limit. Do come and get what you need from my vendors here, be it female skins, clothes, lingerie, weapons, even my vendor kit. And the ever popular newbie glasses.

New bras and panties (thongs and shorts, actually)

I don't know why, but I suddenly was in the mood today to work on underwear. I guess it must be a break from making skins, which I have gotten the hang of. But while I think I can still improve, I guess it must be boring to be doing the same thing for so long. So I decided to switch back to something that I have tried in the past but didn't really pursue.

So this is my first bra, or rather, the whole set of 5, in white, beige, cyan, yellow and pink. It is full cup, with lacy top, as well as lacy straps.
Next comes this 3/4 cup bra (again, a set of 5) which also has a lacy top, though not as thick a border, as well as lacy straps. And a small simple ribbon in the centre.
I had avoided making underwear because I was afraid of smudging. The crotch area is always very difficult to make, or so I hear/read from the online forums. But somehow, things turned out well with this thongs, no smudging or anything. I guess the crotch area is actually a very thin line in the template, just don't bother to add any details to the crotch area. Anyway, this set of 5 thongs has lacy edges as well.
The last piece is this set of 5 shorts for ladies. The edges are again laced. There is a slight glitch with this piece, though. Your hip length must be quite long, else there will be some distortions near the crotch area. If you see any distortion, just adjust your hip length (in Appearances -> Torso -> Hip Length) and things should be fine.

More new skins

With some time on my hands, I got down to working on what has been my interest these days, making skins for myself. And of course, after making them, I get to sell them too.

First of all is "Shalise", with blonde hair both on the eyebrows, and also a very realistic blonde pubic area. And realistic nipples too. Both the nipples and the pubic areas were taking from photos of real nipples and pubic hair. So are the eyebrows. The lips are also taken from a photo of a real life model too. For my latest creations, I have made the body more defined, with more shadows and highlights.


Next up is "Ashlee", with a light skin tone. This skin comes with both pubic hair, as well as a shaved pubic region (again, very realistic since it was from a photo...)

Then we have "Akiko", a skin made for Japanese avatars. Unlike previous, similar skins, I have made the skin tone more tanned, not as pale as before. This skin also comes with both shaved and unshaved pubic regions, as well as an accompanying shape with a size more suitable for Japanese.

Last we have "Joanne", with her brown hair (eyebrows and pubic region). Her pubic region is more sparse, but still as realistic and highly defined.

More skins!

I spent some time and came up with some more new skins. Seems like the current craze for me is making skins.

I have started to get the hang of it too. Using photos of real-life models, I draw facial features onto the templates, fitting them into the correct positions. After uploading the textures, I create the skins. And I came to realise that good looks do not just depend on the skins, the shape is important too. So using the same models, I create a shape that best shows the facial features that I have drawn.

First up is "Mariko", a Japanese look with very pale skin. Don't use light-coloured hair with this skin, since the skin tone is too light.

Next is "Angelina", with brown hair. She has thicker lips, and a small nose.

Then we have "Brooke", who is blonde. Her face is more squarish, and her lips are wider too.

"Katie" here has dark brown hair and a darker skin tone.

New Products - Skins!

As mentioned in my previous post, I have been trying to create my own skins. And finally, I have managed to do so, and I have not only created one set of skin, but four of them! All of them come with their own shapes too. The basic body shape is the same, but the head has been modified to bring out the best in each of the skins. The skins are shown below, with the more private areas pixeled out.

"Cristine", as seen below, is by far the best. She was made based on a blonde model, with light eyebrows. As you can see, my skins come with light makeup (not a lot of lipstick, etc.) She has a soft. demure look, as you can see.


"Keiko" below is based on a Japanese model. If I had done a better job with her pubic area (it is actually slightly smudged, but otherwise okay, and not noticeable at all if you are wearing clothes) I would have asked more for her.

"Kelly" was made based on a lady with brown hair. She has a more confident look, compared to the others.
"Eve" was the first skin that I made. It was an experiment to see how to make skins in Second Life, and well, that explains why it is not as fine as it could be. The eyebrows are slightly thicker than what I would like, the face a bit too rough. But as a basic starter skin, this is something that will do, considering the low price. And the skin is actually cut-and-paste from a photo of a real person.

New steps... Skins!

After a small little venture into sculpted prims, my next venture is into making skins. I have already made my first skin, and I will continue to make a few more before I present them to everyone through this blog. It was lot more challenging than I thought, especially since I don't know how to use GIMP well enough. If only GIMP has some automapping function that allows me to set specific anchor points on a photo, then shift those anchor points around to distort the photo to fit onto the UV map...

First Sculptie

I made my first sculpted prim. And have a problem.

As you can see here, this is actually a katana, made from a 16x15 sphere. I made it using Blender, exported to the OBJ file, opened the OBJ file with Wings3D, and exported it from there to a sculpted texture for use in SecondLife. I also used UVMapper to create a UV map of the prim, and used it as a template to draw a test texture for the sculpted prim. As you can see, the texture did turn out quite well.

The problem is the sculpted prim itself. The original object in Blender looks like a katana. The OBJ imported into Wings3D looks like a katana. But once it has been exported as a sculpted texture, and uploaded into SecondLife, it just doesn't retain the original shape. I wonder if anyone knows why. The tip of the sword is distorted. And so is the hilt guard. While the hilt guard should be a flat disc (and looks so in Blender and Wings3D), it is distorted when uploaded. The blade should be slightly curved with a sharp tip, but it ended up being distorted too. I guess it has to do with exporting to a sculpted texture. I tried the tutorials on baking textures in Blender, but they came up with flattened shapes as well as weird protrusions.

Anyone knows what to do?

Sculpted?

The recent craze in SecondLife seems to be sculpted prims. After all, what used to require lots of prims and even more prim torturing can now be accomplished with ONE single prim. But then, unless you have experience working with 3D software, it may be easier to stick with simple prims, rather than try to make the same thing out of a sculpted prim.

Just what are sculpted prims? Basically, instead of the standard cubes and spheres, sculpted prims loads in a texture map that you create. If you make a texture map of your avatar (using the OBJ files that SecondLife provides for free on their download page), you can even make a sculpted prim of yourself (or at least, the basic avatar in SecondLife). With a bit of imagination, you can even make a 3D mannequin out of sculpted prims! But that is a challenge best left for the experienced 3D artist.

With no prior knowledge of 3D programs, I am still finding my way around with regards to sculpted prims. My first creation should be a simple katana, which is currently what I am trying to do. I am using Blender, though it is VERY hard to use. But once you get used to it, things get slightly better. Wings3D seems like a simple enough program to use too, but while it looks like a simple program, the interface is not easy to get used to. And if you are thinking about creating textures to use on your sculpted prims, you will probably need UVMapper to create a texture template of your sculpted prim, so that you can use it to paint a texture using your favourite paint program (GIMP, Photoshop, Paint, etc.)

Watch out for my first sculpted prim!

RL vs SL: 1-0

Wow, Real Life really does wonders. I have been busy of late, and have not had time to do any designing, so for those of you out there looking for additions to my creations, sorry! It will be a bit more time before I can find time to come up with something. However, I did do up a simple T-shirt design, for use as freebies/free gifts to hand out. Once I have some time, I will put it up in my stores in-world, you can go there and get a copy for yourself. Meanwhile, do look through my previous creations and who knows, you may just find something that you might have missed out in the past.

New Weapons

I got down to making a whole series of simple, decorative weapons today. They are purely for decorative purposes, so you can put them up as displays in your home or shop, or you can walk around carrying them to look impressive.

The first is a set of simple longsword and shortsword. The two swords are based on the same simple design, with a two part hilt.

Then I made a simple scimitar, which is a large curving blade. This is also another simple design, no engravings on the blade or elaborate hilt designs.

Next I made a naginata. This is a Japanese polearm, which has a short, slightly curved blade mounted on a pole. It is a popular foot soldier's weapon, and in modern-day Japanese, the art of using the naginata is very popular amongst women.

And why stop at one polearm? So I decided to make another one, this one based slightly on the curving blade of the scimitar. It is actually a Chinese halberd, since the Western one has a different blade design. The famous General Guan Yu from the Three Kingdoms Period of China uses a polearm such as this, though with a shorter pole to make it easier to use from a horse.

And finally, a set of longsword and dagger. This is the more basic of designs, very simple, just the bare minimum. For those who just want something simple, and don't want to pay too much for things.

White outer long sleeve blouse

This new blouse is semi-transparent, allowing you to show off what you are wearing underneath it. It is meant to be an outer blouse, worn on the jacket layer. As you can see above, I am wearing my light blue tank top underneath the blouse. The ruffles along the neckline and on the sleeves are made of prims. While the prims on the sleeves probably do not need any repositioning, those on the neckline made need to be repositioned, depending on your shape. So I have given modify permission to the neckline prims, for those who need to reposition the prims.

GNU and Linux t-shirt

Being an advocate of open source software and Linux, I decided to make my own contributions to open source and Linux in Second Life by making this particular t-shirt. The logo on the front is the GNU mascot, while the familiar Linux mascot, the penguin, is found on the back of the t-shirt. Support open source, support Linux, get this t-shirt and wear it, and help spread awareness about Linux and open source software.

Taiji Circle white t-shirt

Those of you may remember the other set of taiji t-shirts that I recently made. Well, this new t-shirt is made specifically for members of my group Taiji Circle. Besides the taiji symbol, the name "Taiji Circle" in Chinese characters is written under the symbol, and on the back of the t-shirt are the Chinese characters for "Taiji". So if you are a member of the group, do pick up a copy of this t-shirt for yourself, and wear it to help let others know about the group. Hopefully we will be able to find more people interested in taijiquan this way, and who knows, maybe one of them is good at animation and can help us make a set of taiji moves.

Little red dress

A simple yet sassy design. This new addition to my summer clothing collection is a short red dress with a prim skirt. If red is not your colour, let me know and I will be glad to change the colour to something that you fancy. IM me in world.

Meditation Point

Welcome to Meditation Point, a place for you to relax and enjoy the serenity of the surroundings. This is an Oriental place, with two main parts. The first is a building where you can sit and meditate, as you can see in the picture below.
The other part of this place is actually an open air space where people can practice taiji together. Currently, there are a few mats here, with animations. The animations are still quite simple ones, but I am sure they will be upgraded to better ones once someone comes up with a more complete set of taiji movements.

Hiro Pendragon's Shop and Dojo

This is where Hiro Pendragon has his shop and dojo. It is a very beautiful place, with bridges and pavillions made from red colour wood, as well as the main shop itself. Inside the shop, you can find Hiro's free vendor kit, which is a bit unlike my own. His kit is configured using chat, while mine is configured using notecards. So if you are looking for a vendor kit that allows you to configure it using chat messages, you can come here and pick up a copy of Hiro's vendor. Otherwise, it is also a nice place to visit just to feel the tranquility and enjoy the serenity.