Month: June 2024

Mirrors!

blue Moments

Back in 2016, I faked a mirror in SL with photographic post processing trickery.  It didn’t look that great, but at the time, there were no real mirrors in any virtual world (or any video game) as far as I knew.  Now SL has real time, dynamic mirrors!

Currently, mirrors are only supported in the official SL viewer, however, as I compile Firestorm for myself, and the “Materials Featurette” release was just merged into Firestorm’s source code repository, here’s a first look from the upcoming Firestorm!

As you can see, while impressive (it’s even more impressive when you see it update in real time!), it’s still not perfect.  There are obvious “bevel” effects around the edges.  Before I blame FS/SL for this too much, I must note that this is the first mirror I’ve created and I understand that there might be some level of fiddling with the reflection probe to get it to look just right.

But never mind the imperfections, it’s here, and it’s amazing 🙂

Update: Resizing the reflection probe eliminated the bevel effect.

So yes, play around with these to get the hang of them.  Also do realize that mirrors are expensive in terms of performance.  I run frame limited at 75 FPS (which I hit all the time in the upcoming FS) and switching Mirror Resolution to 2048 in graphics preferences dropped my framerate to 17 FPS.

Exothic

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For those of you still building up your Lara X wardrobe like me, a FREE gift that fits is most appreciated!

This bikini is a FREE group gift from Blonde Queen, and their group is FREE to join.

The top and bottoms are separates and there are size for Lara, Lara X, Reborn, and Legacy, with additional top sizes for Lara Petite, Lara X Petite, Legacy Perky, and Reborn Waifu.

There are two other color combinations in the pack as well, a red/orange and a teal/yellow.  These come as separate objects instead of a HUD.

Deya

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This outfit is a FREE group gift for members of FabFree, which is of course free to join.

The bra and skirt are separates.  The skirt comes in sizes for Lara, LaraX, Legacy, Reborn, Erika, GenX Classic and Curvy, and Kupra, and there are additional bra sizes for Lara Petite, LaraX Petite, Legacy Perky, and Waifu.

Hair Fair 2024

blue Events, LotD

Hair Fair, one of my favorite yearly events, is open!  The event covers six regions, and is chock full of the very best hairstylists in SL.  There are event exclusives, discounted items, and even some gifts for you to find.

Rush over and have a look!  The event runs until the 16th of June, and benefits Wigs For Kids, with a percentage of most items being donated (or you can donate at a kiosk, and don’t forget to buy a bandana).

No Match is offering this wonderful gift that I picked up to show you.  I’ll have to return tomorrow to browse all the booths!

This inverted bob is certainly my style!  It’s unrigged and also comes with a resize script.  The base HUD has thirty six colors and there are two other HUDS – ombré and unicorn – with twenty four more colors!

And, if that’s not enough, the hair is modify, so you can tint it to get the color just as you like.  I do this for hairs that let me so I can get close to my RL color.

The creator has also been thoughtful enough to include matching hairbases for all the base colors in both classic BoM and EvoX, which are also mod.  This is a very nice gift!  Don’t miss out!

Did I use enough exclamation marks?

Hemera

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You’ll have to run for this one!  It’s (nominally) on as a Fifty Linden Friday item, but the vendor is not in the FLF group, so it may be available for more than just the few hours left until midnight at the time of posting this.  Good luck!

This is not my usual style, but I really wanted to grab it as it’s PBR enabled, and I wanted to show you just how good PBR can make things look if it’s done right!

All the gold reflections are not textured on, but are true reflections achieved with the new texture and rendering system.  This environment is [TOR] SUNSET – Buccaneers of the coast.  If I switch it to something like Orac – green, you guessed it, all the reflections would be green!

I shot this in the pre-release version of Firestorm that “supports” PBR, which you can get by joining the Phoenix Firestorm Preview Group (or self compile the viewer like I do… join the group, it’s far easier hehe).

Beq Janus from the FS team posted yesterday about where the FS devs are with PBR support in Firestorm.  While her article sounds positive, there are still glitches (to be fair, she acknowledges this in the article).  I had to twiddle lights and graphics settings multiple times to get this to work.  We shall see if things improve after the Materials Featurette release drops.

OK, enough drooling over PBR, back to the outfit!

The back wings and small harness they are connected to are separate from the main bodysuit.  There are sizes for Lara, Lara Petite, Legacy, Legacy Perky, and Reborn.  There are two color choices at the store, this and a full black version.  Other colors are available, but are not included in the L$50 deal.