I think I figured out where I initially found this very helpful hint and wanted to give them credit - www.vintfalken.com. There's lots of other useful info there as well so please pay them a visit if you are so inclined.

I wanted to address a question that someone left in regards to my last post. They wondered if you couldn't just use the /1 show or /1 hide commands to achieve the same effect as the technique I described. I was under the impression that those commands didn't work unless you owned or had permission to edit an object but I wanted to check it out. I went back to the couch I used as a demonstration in the last post and discovered that I could indeed type "hide" in the chat window and the pose balls disappeared. I was pleasantly surprised because I had just learned a new helpful hint and I appreciate the person who asked the question for opening my eyes to that capability.

So then I was wondering if I had just wasted my time making the blog post and decided test it out in different parts of the sim. It turns out that the "hide" command doesn't work everywhere PLUS it gave me a chance to test an even more helpful tip that I got off of Vintfalken.com using the same process.

Press the Read More button below to find out even more uses for this technique....



It seems you can also use this technique for just about ANY object that is in your picture and you don't want there. Notice the difference between the two pictures above. I have used this technique to not only remove the pose balls but also several boxes, a cherry stem, big red letters, etc. from the background.  This is an amazing find for me and I hope it helps other SL photographers get those perfect pics.

Best wishes everyone!

Hello again everyone. This post is brought to you by a gentle reminder that I haven't posted in awhile from my friend Maia. Thanks girl. *hugs*

It seems that most of my time in SL these days is dedicated to creating outfits, taking pics of them, working on those pics in the GIMP and posting them to my Flickr account. I know that probably doesn't sound like it should take up that much time but I would have to beg to disagree. It can take me up to an hour to figure out an outfit I want to wear then match up skin, eyes, hair and jewelry with it. Then, once that is done I have to figure out what background I want for the pic and then what pose. You might as well add another hour for that. After the pic is actually taken then I take it into the GIMP and work on it for another few hours in some cases. So, as you can imagine, a full day of my SL time can be used taking and processing a single pic. *Sigh* But, I do it because I love it and it's a wonderful creative outlet for me.

So, since SL photography seems to be my main passion at the moment I thought I might as well bring some of that here and share it with my readers. I thought that I would pass along an awesome and useful tip that I read about on another blog. My apologies for not remembering which one so that I could give them their deserved credit.

Press the Read More button below to see the tip...



Have you ever been out exploring and found a great place with very scenic views and a ton of pose balls to play on and you are all ready to snap that perfect picture but find that the pose balls that you aren't using are cluttering it all up? Nothing ruins a romantic picture quicker than Pepto pink and baby blue pose balls laying all around you. Sure, you can edit them out after the fact in Photoshop or GIMP, but that can be a real pain in the ass and completely unnecessary.

Here's what you do to make those ugly pose balls disappear before you even take the picture.

1. You will need the Advanced option on your menu at the top of the screen. If you don't already have it, you press Control+Alt+D to make it visible. This menu option has lots of other neat functions, other than the one I'm about to discuss, but also be aware that you can screw things up pretty good from this menu so use with caution.

2. Once the Advanced option is showing, click on it to get the full drop down menu. Now, go to and select the Rendering option to get that menu and then finally the Hide Selected option. Selecting this option will make anything you select to "Edit" disappear even if you don't have permissions to edit that item.

3. Now all you have to do is a right mouse click on a pose ball and select Edit. It should disappear when you do this and then you can press the shift button and click on all the other pose balls that are in the way and they should disappear too. As long as you have the edit window open, the pose balls you selected should stay invisible.

4. If you are seeing particles coming from your hand to the first pose ball you selected then there is a remedy for that as well. Simply go back up to your top menu and select the View option and then the HIde Particles option from that drop down menu.

If you follow these steps, then you should never have to deal with ugly pose balls in your pictures again.

Best wishes everyone and thanks so much for taking the time to read my little blog!

I made a post waaayyy back about downloading the GIMP and my intentions on learning how to use it but I haven't been as proactive on that front as I would like to be. I've looked up several YouTube tutorials and such but it's difficult for me to learn such a complex program in a piecemeal fashion. That fact and trying to find the time to experiment and play around with it has made for slow going to say the least.

I did manage to find a few hours the other day to snap a pic in SL and work on it a bit in the GIMP and here is the outcome.



Click the Read More button below for details on how photo was altered using the GIMP.

First thing I did was create a duplicate layer to work with so that I didn't mess up my original. I actually ended up creating several different layers, one for each type of adjustment, but I'm not sure that was entirely necessary. Still, it gave me some practice in that area.

In the original picture, the arm behind her had a hand that came up and hovered over her hip. I really didn't like how it looked so I used the Clone Tool to clone the wall color and cover over the hand and the Smudge Tool to blend it better. In retrospect, the hand would look cute actually resting on the hip and I suppose that it is possible to cut out and adjust using the GIMP but for now I chose the path of least resistance.

Next, I used the iWarp Tool (Liquify in PS) to round out her booty. As you probably know, many poses in SL result in lots of ugly angles and corners that don't look remotely realistic. With a few swipes of the iWarp Tool in both Grow and Move modes I was able to give her a much more smoothed out and natural looking derriere.

My biggest accomplishment, and the one I am most stoked about, was the addition of the heart shaped ball of yarn stock image. The pose had the hand closest to the floor kind of angled up and I thought that a ball of yarn would be cute to add under the hand (being that I planned to name the pic "I Love It When You Call Me Kitten") as well as give it a reason to be angled like that. So I went to DeviantArt.com, found the most perfect stock image and downloaded it. I then opened the newly downloaded image in the GIMP, copied it and then pasted it onto a new transparent layer. The red heart was on a white background so I then removed the background using the eraser and the color selection tool until I was only left with the ball of yarn. I then moved and sized it until it looked right with the SL pic.

I used the Clone and Smudge Tools again to try to smooth out all the edges and corners on her entire body as well as correct a few clothing issues that the pose caused. I used a Gaussian Blur overlay for the first time as that seems to be one of the most basic tools most people use. I think it did help soften things up a bit and helped it to look less flat.

Overall it took me waaayyy longer than it should considering the minor changes I made but I feel that I made some significant headway in learning a bit about layers and stock images so it wasn't a total loss. I'm looking forward to learning and practicing more so that the only limits to my creativity will be my own imagination.

Eyes - Tekuteku - Eko-eye - Wine Pink - store freebie
Shape - Alady 2009 Perfect Tribute to Jula
Skin - Dulce Secrets - Ammi Champagne Skin - DSN freebie
Hair - Tea Lane - Cindi - silver / tearose w/ Tea Rose Sequined Hat - freebie
Outfit - Thalia - Belted Top (pink) & Pink Pants - freebie
Necklace - Tickled Pink - Hearts Cascade Necklace
Pose - XStreet box of free poses - tablewoman
Photo taken in La Petite Morte Photo Hall - DSN freebie

Second Life has been around for six years this month and to celebrate they have all kinds of activities and displays for you to check out. You can find landmarks to all the event areas by doing an in-world search and going to the Showcase tab. Just like that, you have five different landmarks to various SL6B celebration areas at the very top of the search window.

More after the cut ====>

There's obviously a ton of things to do and see but for now I'll be showing you the Linden Labs Expo area that I ran across. This place is packed full of SL history and lots of Linden memorabilia, past and present. It is also full of pictures, art works and generally interesting things from around the grid.







If all that wasn't enough, the Lindens are giving US gifts on their birthday! Inside the building you will find a huge collection of quality, full perm textures from Torley Linden as well as TONS of adorable teddy bears. I guess the Lindens have made lots of commemerative teddy bears for holidays and special occasions over the years and now is your chance to pick them up. In fact, that giant teddy bear in the first picture is available as a freebie along with a smaller version.

Go check out the celebration and enjoy learning a bit more about Second Life's history and let them know we are looking forward to being a part of it's future.

Party on and best wishes!

As if going head-to-head with GIMP wasn't enough to torture myself with, I just had to upgrade the blog template / layout today.

I have less than 10 posts on this blog so far and being that it is my first blog you would think that I might be content with a basic layout and generic template while I get the hang of things. But nooooo. All I could do when I saw it was think how bland it looked in comparison with the other blogs I kept up with. I had played with changing the background and text colors a bit, but nothing really appealed to me.


Then I thought that I'd use my newly downloaded GIMP program to at least create a custom header for the blog. HA! Read the post below to understand why that won't be possible anytime in the near future. Next I turned to trying to find a non-standard Blogger template. There were many websites that offered them and I settled on the one you are seeing now. I think that I may have swung a bit far to the opposite end of the bland spectrum but at least it appeals to me and I enjoy looking at the page now.

Of course, by the title of this post you know that can't be the end of the story. I downloaded and installed the new template with no problems and the text and pictures copied over just fine. The insanity began when I started to try to add back some widgets, get the menu links to work and find and insert HTML code. I also wanted to make it easier to navigate and read without having to scroll like crazy just to read a single post. Many frustrating yet rewarding hours have gone by today and I've learned a bit more than I knew before but still have some issues to resolve. Yeah, I'm looking at you Mr. Search bar.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new template as much as I do and don't hesitate to let me know if something isn't working properly.

Oh don't worry, you'll be fine. The only true danger is to my mental health and well being. I'm sure you are relieved.

I've gone and done something that is guaranteed to drive me certifiably insane. It will overwhelm and consume me until I hate it with every fiber of my being and want nothing more than to walk away and never look back.

There in lies the rub.

I won't be able to walk away because as much as I hate it I will be obsessed with conquering it and won't be satisfied until it is my bitch.


The atrocious act which I've committed and has potentially changed my life in both positive and negatives ways is that I've downloaded GIMP. Da..da..da...dummmmm! If you aren't in the know, GIMP is a 'poor man's' Photoshop. It's free to download and is said to be approx. 90% as robust as Photoshop although the interface is supposed to be less intuitive.

I've been thinking of buying an image editing program so that I can do more with photos taken in both the real and virtual world which I inhabit, ranging from minor touch ups to major artistic manipulation. I've also been curious about making clothes and hair in SL and know that at the very least I'll need a program such as this to get into that hobby. I knew that I didn't want to pay almost a grand for a full blown copy of Photoshop and had considered the much more reasonable Elements but finally settled on giving GIMP a try first.

I was able to find excellent instructions on where to locate the download and how to install the program and I was able to accomplish both those tasks with no issues. So far, so good. Then I opened the program...

um...

WOW! So many buttons, brushes, tools and menu selections! I had a two hour class on Photoshop Elements a few months back so I had a rudimentary understanding of some of the functions so forged forward despite the sense of trepidation I was feeling at this point. I wanted to try to cut out an image from two different photos and put them side-by-side onto a white background in typical fashion blogger fashion. Long story short..i cut, I pasted and I layered and I cried. I like to think of myself as someone who has some skill with computers and technology in general but GIMP reduced me to a simp very quickly.

That was a few days ago. Since then I have learned how to crop, adjust brightness, color and contrast and have played around with the clone and burn tools. I'm still recovering from my first foray and want to take it slow for my own sake. Thank goodness there are lots of great online tutorials for GIMP. I think I can do this....I think I can...I think I can.