Has this happened to you? Calmly standing on a pose stand when my avi’ s head suddenly spins around? I think it is quite convenient really. How many times have you tried to get a good look and see if your butt looks big in an outfit. Well, if your head spun around it would be easy to see then!!  When this happens though, I always think I am having an Exorcist moment, although since my head doesn’t do a full 360 turn I suppose it is a half an Exorcist moment. But, regardless, I’d say to avoid my avi when I am in this mood just to be safe. lol

1)  Clear Your Cache:

    a.  Prior to the Show use  Edit -> Preferences -> Clear Cache.  Close the viewer -> Restart the SL viewer.   Once restarted, open your Inventory, and in the Search bar type a long string of characters like “***********”.   This forces SL to immediately reload your inventory.  Give yourself at least 15 minutes.  This can take some time especially if you have a lot of items in your inventory.

    b.  After your inventory items have reloaded, Cam out into the audience and showroom to reload all the textures in that area.
   
    c.  Try on all the outfits you will be wearing in the show to make sure everything can attach.

2)  Edit Your Preferences Settings:

    a.    General
        i.    Show Names -> Never (if you can get by without seeing the names of your team members)
        ii.    Start Location -> My Home (if you crash on the runway, you do not want to rez back there in the middle of someone else’s walk.
        iii.    Small avatar names -> Hide My Name on My Screen, Hide All Group Titles -> checked
        iv.    Show Online Friend Notifications -> unchecked

 b.    Network
        i.    Maximum Bandwidth -> A mid range setting is probably best.  If too low, your pipe to the internet is too small.  If too large, you may be trying to take more data in than your computer can sustain.  If you are experiencing high packet loss, you may want to reduce this setting. (Monitor packet loss with View -> Statistics Bar).  If you find yourself “rubber banding” (your avatar walking a short distance and suddenly snaps back) this is a sign of packet loss.  If this is happening first try to do everything described below.  If it continues, reduce your bandwidth setting.

        ii.    Disk Cache Size -> Set to the maximum that your hard drive can sustain.
       
    c.    Graphics
        i.  Set the Quality and performance slider to low.  If you have trouble seeing if you are in a dark place, World -> Environment Settings -> Midday.  This is one of the most important things you can do.  It reduces significantly reduces the work your computer must do to render the scene.

        ii.  Check the Custom check box.  Further set the following:
            1.  Shaders: Uncheck everything
            2.  Avatar Rendering: Check: Avatar Impostors and uncheck the rest
            3.  Draw Distance: 64
            4.  Max Particle Count: 0
            5.  Move all remaining sliders to low
            6.  Lighting Detail: sun and moon only
           
        iii.  HARDWARE OPTIONS – Click to open menu
            1.  Uncheck Anisotropic Filtering
            2.  Antialiasing choose Disable
            3.  Uncheck Enable OpenGLVertex Buffer Objects
       
       iv.    Check “Run SecondLife in a Window” and consider reducing the size of that window as you would when running any program in a smaller than maximum window.
           
    d.    Audio & Video
        i.    Turn off the sound by clicking on the speaker icon to the right of the master volume.

        ii.    Uncheck all the other boxes
       
    e.    Voice Chat
        i.      Uncheck the Enable Voice Chat box.
       
    f.    Communication
        i.      Uncheck everything you can get by without.

3)    Further Reduce Unnecessary Rendering -

  Uncheck the following to revert to the default settings when you restart the viewer:

    a.    Advanced -> Rendering -> Types
        i.      ctrl-alt-shft 3     Tree
        ii.     ctrl-alt-shft 6     Sky
        iii.    ctrl-alt-shft 7     Water
        iv.    ctrl-alt-shft 8     Ground
        v.      ctrl-alt-shft 0     Grass
        vi.     ctrl-alt-shft -      Clouds
        vii.    ctrl-alt-shft =     Particles
        viii.   ctrl-alt-shft \      Bump
       
    b.    Advanced -> Rendering -> Features
        i.      crtrl-alt F5            Foot Shadows
        ii.     crtrl-alt F6            Fog
        iii.    crtrl-alt F7            Palletized Textures
        iv.     crtrl-alt F8            Test FRInfo
        v.      crtrl-alt F9 (opt)  Flexible Objects
       
    c.   Press CTRL+ALT+D to open advanced menu, then click Advanced- Debug Settings
        i.      Type:  RenderAvatarMaxVisible
        ii.     Change the value to 15 (or lower) if you dare BUT CAREFUL it will affect your view you will not  see all avatars anymore.  Only 15 or whatever number you allow will be visible, the ones that are most near.  But it is great for lag reducing.

4)    Reduce Load on the Servers (the sim) at Linden Labs
    a.    Detach any HUD attachments that you are not going to use during the show.
    b.    Keep shoes and jewelry as low prim as possible.
    c.    Do not wear bling items.
    d.    Do not wear anything with scripts in it (except of course your walk replacer and pose player)

Here are some other helpful tips. This part of the list is from JCNY for tips when in a show.

    Other Recommendations:

    a.    Advanced -> Rendering -> Axes
        i.    Turn this on and a vertical white line will appear through the center of your body and upward.  Use this to line up with where you want to walk.  (It tends to be a little inaccurate in tight places where you can not see very far ahead, like when the camera auto zooms in over your head because of nearby invisiwalls)
   
    b.    After every wardrobe change, immediately Edit Appearance and close the window.  This forces clothes to appear more quickly.  Then rebake textures (Advanced -> Character -> Rebake Textures or Ctrl-Alt-R)
   
    c.    Avoid wearing sculpties because if they do not rez you are wearing balloons.  If you need to wear them, make sure you have a quick alternative available.

    d.    Turn off the typing animation.  This keeps you from inadvertently starting to type if you accidentally enter text in the chat box. Advanced -> Debug Settings -> PlayTypingAnim -> False.

    e.    Uncheck Advanced -> Character -> Tap-Tap-Hold to Run.  If this is checked and if you inadvertently hit the forward arrow key twice in a row quickly, you start running down the runway.  (Not cool).

Sunday Showcase at JCNY

   So today was like most weekends in SL for me -very busy. I went to compete in a contest and wasn’t eliminated which is always good. After that I went to JCNY for the Showcase models get to do on Sunday. It was sponsored by Divine and I got this great dress to wear. This is me after the show modelling for a while. This morning I was at House of Beningborough and tonight I have an audition. Then after the audition I have to go to a grand opening for a friends  magazine. Docseree Mistwalker opened DMG Creations and E-Style fashion magazine. She’s great so people should check her out. A magazine people can  read. What a great concept. I can’t tell you how many times I got a magazine to read but the print was so small or the magazine so poorly done I was thinking what’s the point.

So very busy,this is how weekends are a lot for me. I have to go from 1 thing straight to the next. But, it’s fun and I enjoy it. I hope I did well in my audition. I didn’t have a chance to change. We were told hey there’s an audition in 30 mins but I was afk working on my blog! lol By the time I popped my head back into SL I had 10 minutes to get there.

  If I had a store or an agency I would give out more notice. It is just a pet peeve of mine. Only models online during that specific time frame could audition which leaves a lot of people out. Granted even with last-minute notice there were still maybe 15 people there. I just feel bad because I know how I feel when I miss opportunities because I didn’t know. I think it is fairer if more notice is given so people have a chance to audition.

 On a positive note, I entered the Vanilla C Calendar Contest with a picture that can be seen on my flickr. I didn’t win, Katherine Comet won with a terrific picture and I am very happy for her. However, I was chosen to be on May in the calendar. I took the picture myself so getting anything from my own pictures is very rewarding and makes me want to keep pursuing photography.

Striking a pose at the gardens

pretty location in SL

I really don’t think enough people spend time exploring all the awesome places there are to see in SL. Above are pictures from 2 places I found. The first is the Botanical Gardens of SL. They have very pretty gardens with nice water views and sunrises and sunsets to see. You can buy some of the plants too or just hang out and enjoy the beauty.

The second picture is Japan Tempura Island. This Sim is so pretty with the forest and colors. There might be more to see in the Sim, but I can never get past this area because I like it so much. My point however, is there are so many Sims to visit in SL. Some people never leave their small chosen areas and explore. I’ve been to outer space, Paris, Atlantis,beautiful gardens, wild animal parks. The list is endless. I highly recommend doing a search for something you like and just going to check it out. The other plus in doing this as a model is that I find places to take pictures. Pictures taken in world instead of in a studio can be quite nice. All you have to do is go look.