My basic OpenSim Travel Kit

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

While living in California, I put together a backpack filled with all kinds of emergency supplies to get me through a bad earthquake. There were Powerbars, a flashlight, a hand-cranked radio, a first-aid kit, some single dollar bills, etc. I tossed it into the trunk of my car and figured it would be with me at most times. In fact, I've given backpacks such as these to all my closest friends and loved ones in California as gifts. I usually tuck in a deck of cards, a pencil and notepad and sometimes a funny book. Even a yoyo!

Most of us have a little travel kit for toiletries, and frequent international travelers take that a few steps further: noise-cancelling headphones, jet lag meds, adapters, converters, a cozy pair of socks... you get my drift.

Nowadays, I am more in need of a kit for the virtual traveler, and these are especially important - and appreciated - if you are not a builder or a scripter.

These are all things I carry with me as I travel from one OpenSim to another...

Bettina's Basic OpenSim Travel Kit:
- One script for personal radar
- Good freebie skin, such as Sezmra Svarog's Splendor skins
- One transparent texture (I forget where I got mine)
- A basic particle script (good for testing), such as Jopsy Pendragon's Barebones Particle script (thanks for posting it, Ordinal!), or Ama Omega's ExampleParticleScript
- Eye textures, such as Vint Falken's pretty, free, and very NPIRL creations for Valentine's day.
- Of course, Torley's funtastic textures!

What else should we pack in our virtual travel kits? Got any good links? What could I be doing better?

On my wish list:
- Portable prim hair
- My fave June Dion bodysuit (ARC friendly!)

Arrival tips:
- Friend a few folks right away
- Ask for LMs, where the sandbox is, and where the freebie area is
- Check out the map right away. Where are you? Make a Landmark!

Grab your recycled shopping bag and head over to Sabine Stonebender's temporary store

October 6, 2008 update: Sabine has been hard at work rebuilding Zero Point. Her permanent store is now open for business (teleport directly from here).

On Thursday, Sabine Stonebender woke up to some dreadful news. Due to a billing error bug, her Zero Point, certainly one of the most admired and NPIRL sites on the grid, had vanished into some database limbo and gone from this...





... to this...



The situation has not yet been resolved. This is particularly painful because Zero Point, which housed her store and an important source of income for Sabine, is also gone. Effective immediately, Sabine has a temporary store and you are cordially invited to shop.

You might pick up an elegant Radiant Nebulae Chamber...



... and by all means, get yourself a proper telehub!



If dancing is your thing, you'll be needing a glamorous floor...


The Psycho Vinyl Dance Floor changes colors


For black tie dancing, I recommend this one prim marvel that brings the universe into your living room


Her lastest release is both a sculpture and a toy


He goes boom


Her dragon sculptures are considered the finest in Second Life®

And here's a sneak peak at something coming down the pipeline...


BIG guns... and if you are in the mood, the whole thing blows to pieces (literally)

Sabine's textures (I own a bunch!) are jewels in the hands of any builder, and there are numerous sculptures, skins, particle effects, vehicles and all sorts of toys, too.

Show the love, why don't you?

3star Tyne does it again

3star Tyne makes things I want when I'm in a special mood. Today was a day like that. Deep Sea Fluorescent Flower is a mermaid outfit, complete with skin and fins and wings, but I played with it. She gives you a lot of choices. I added my own electrified hair.

To visit her shop, teleport directly from here.

See also:
Dear Fashion Designers of Second Life
3star Tyne's Creeping Frog Princess

Fashion that would make any engineer proud

Is steampunk NPIRL or isn't it? That is a question that has surfaced many times over the past few months amongst the members of the working group Not Possible IRL. As an example, Inigo Dench practically gave a dissertation on this topic here, way back in August and just a few weeks after the group was formed.

I'd say that skin, clothing, accessories (and vehicles, you will soon learn) creator Pandora Wrigglesworth (rez: 10/25/2007), has laid the question to rest. In her dream-weaving hands, steampunk - that celebration of an Victorian era that never took place - can most definitely be NPIRL.

Take her Clockwork Automaton Lady skin, available in many metals and colors. Here, she has thoughtfully included adjustable leather straps (surely for those days when too much chocolate has added extra pounds), hidden all the cogs, and given the Lady an extra springy waistline. While Pandora - modeling the skin herself - is petite, gals of any size or girth are sure to charm whilst galavanting au naturel or fully garbed.

In Pandora's Clockwork Brain, steampunk brain surgeons must have a degree in engineering, and buy all their supplies at the hardware store. Clockmakers, too, do a little moonlighting on the side to boost their Linden finances during periods of economic recession.



Men and women alike appreciate the smart thinking behind (literally) her Topter hat which, in flight-mode, triggers springs that open the doors to allow for helpful propellers. Admittedly, the hat does jangle the nerves, but perhaps V2.0 will do a better job of suppressing the accompanying commotion.


Not all steampunk design is about cogs and wheels. It often involves all manner of hidden compartments and trapdoors and, on the other side of the spectrum, the evidence - via exposure - of how things work.

Corseted ladies understand best how important it is to be able to get-in-there and scratch, or perhaps make needed adjustments, and they were surely the inspiration for this layer that can be worn over skin or clothing. Per Pandora, it is perfect "for when you want to show people that, while you may be soft and warm on the outside, you are still cold as clockwork on the inside."

Perhaps the most useful invention in Pandora's arsenal of goodies is the very surprising yet eminently practical gown shown below. "Here I am in my Horseless Gown, inside the Hall of Mirrors at Chateau de Versailles (teleport directly from here)," said Pandora. She added,"This gown is my most recent vehicle creation, a merging of the French pannier gown and the California "Woodie" roadster. I'm using low gear for indoor driving." Of course, this raises all sorts of questions regarding wardrobe registration and proper governance, but society will just have to find a way to keep up with all of the new scientific developments this steampunk fashionista is introducing.


"Do you pass on the left or the right in Rococo-era France?" asks the ever-polite Pandora Wrigglesworth

You may peruse and acquire these lovelies at her shop, Curio Obscura, by teleporting directly from here. All photography by Pandora Wrigglesworth.

Fantastic ape avatar - Who made this?

Second Life is a misery tonite... Now I've crashed, and logins have been disabled. :( This would be bad news most any time, but tonite it is terrible because I had just discovered the most astounding avatar.

All the info I know:
His name is apes later, and he rezzed today: 4/4/2008. He doesn't speak... at least not to me. I found him at Privateer Space, and he was going through a series of precision animations with a long baton. The animations were perfection. But look at this avatar! Sadly, I was just about to film him when I crashed, and this is all I have.


Click to see large

I tried to inspect his face, but could not. Is this a skin on an ape's shape? Who made this? The effect, I have to tell you, was mind-bending!

One more shot, sadly a poor one... but I will post it here to give you a better idea.

Thierry Mugler's sim hits a cool groove, but the clothes, the skins! o.O

The opening splash page of Thierry Mugler's United States website asks: "Will you dare the metamorphosis?" (sic) That's correct. I checked it three times. That's how it is worded.

It's that same this-could-be-cool but out-of-sync feeling I get from his debut in virtual worlds, now manifested by his own sim in Second Life, which is slated to open to the public in March of this year (teleport directly from here).



Fact is, I revel in the playfulness of his Real Life fashions - for the most part - and wish I could be typing at this very moment, fully outfitted in one of those little silver numbers he's so well known for.

Wikipedia describes him as: "Thierry Mugler, born 1948 in Strasbourg, France is a fashion designer, photographer, and creator of a fashion design company of the same name."

His sim, featuring "Dr. Muglerstein," was created by the company Balistik Builders, and is in Mugler's signature colors of silver and soft blues and shades of violet, taking full advantage of Second Life's Windlight and the glow feature. It's offbeat and spacey, and the terrain texture - a silvery sand that's been stained here and there in purple and blue - is worth a visit alone.

But shouldn't the real draw... the reason the sim exists, be his designs for skins and clothes offered there?

Last night, a friend who asked not to be identified because she'd rather not be remembered looking like this, modeled a couple of Dr. Muglerstein's skins and outfits for me. What's your opinion?



This skin was presented at a press party yesterday...



Um... what was Mr. Mugler thinking?

Afterwards, my friend and I did a little wandering and discovered a hidden crypt underwater at the lake.



Inside, some freebies. Being a SecondLife Hobo, I rarely turn down a chance to check out a freebie - my poor disheveled inventory - so I decided to try on the "electric hair." Here's the before shot...



...and after! We lol'ed and lol'ed.



Actually, I thought the electric hair was sorta fun in a for-a-little-while kind of way. And that's pretty much how I feel about Thierry Mugler's hip new presence in Second Life. Let's hope he takes heed and listens to what is surely going to be an outcry from Second Life's demanding fashion community. He would do well to sign up some good clothing and skin makers who undoubtedly would do a far better job of translating his Real Life designs into pixelated threads.

Many thanks to Aenea Nori, blogger extraordinarie, for sharing her find with us.