I’ve been watching Second Life residents showing off all the features on this new Third Party Viewer based on the Firestorm code, and the main thing I care about is this:
IT FIXES HAIR ALPHA GLITCH.
For a virtual world built entirely around visuals and eye candy, why have we all just been suffering through this for decades? Suddenly out of nowhere, AYAstorm comes along and delivers us from the alpha glitch nightmare. Did nobody else want to fix this? Did Linden Lab just not care? Because this changes EVERYTHING for in-world photography.
I love landscaping, plants, trees, dense nature scenes… and all of that has always been a complete nightmare because of alpha rendering issues. Hair breaking. Layers flickering. Photos ruined. And now? FIXED. OMG.
As much as I still love Aperture Viewer, it hasn’t been updated in forever and it doesn’t have this fix. This alone is enough reason for me to switch immediately.
And beyond that, there are actually a bunch of really cool features if you’re into lighting tweaks, so definitely check it out. Since it’s based off Firestorm, most Second Life residents will already feel familiar with the layout.
Also, if you end up loving this viewer too, please go thank the creator of AYAstorm either in Second Life or over on X/Twitter, because this is one of the most exciting viewer improvements I’ve seen in years.
If you get motion sickness, go to the AYAstorm menu – Motion Blur – and uncheck Enable Motion Blur. Go to SSR – uncheck Enable Screen Space Reflections to remove glitchy water shadow too.
Update: Some of you commented on the quality difference between the viewer and I just wanted to note that I forgot to change the texture resolution to 2048 on AYAstorm (it was shot at 512 by accident). Go to Preferences – Graphics – Texture Rendering – Restrict maximum texture resolution to: change to 2048 pixels.
Aren’t these Gigi Balloons from Legna the best? I love that these numbers come with two really nice poses for each hand. Even though the balloons state they are no modify, it actually allowed me to modify one, and I tinted it a light shade of blue. You can also rez these numbers for any occasion.
This is meant to be an early Happy New Year post, but I also wanted to share my reflections on last year. Overall, I feel I had a good year in Second Life! I upgraded from Lifetime Premium to Lifetime Premium Plus, which cost a significant amount, and at first, I was genuinely excited. However, as the year progressed, I began to worry about the longevity of Second Life.
I was enthusiastic about the mobile app when I tried it early this year as part of the alpha program; however, I now think it’s completely hopeless. This Open Letter to Linden Lab clearly outlines why I don’t believe we will ever see a usable mobile app.
I had a lot of fun in the Aurelias region with my friend Sparkle. Still, I ultimately decided to pull the plug when I recognized that the economy and the state of Second Life might be uncertain in 2025. It was actually an easy decision; when faced with uncertainty, it is prudent to eliminate an unnecessary expense. As much as I enjoy having a whole region, I also appreciate the freedom that comes with not having to maintain one. I told Sparkle not to let me bring the region back next year, even if I have new ideas and want another one. 2025 is not the year for significant land projects.
What am I looking forward to in Second Life in 2025? I am looking forward to Philip Linden changing his outfit. Additionally, I am eager for the next Linden Home theme, although Linden Lab has gone silent on that topic! Will it ever come? Who knows. It has been so long since the next theme was chosen via a poll that I almost forgot we were promised Alpine and Tiki as the next two themes. I am also looking forward to cleaning my inventory; right now it stands at 77k, but I know I can reduce it to 50k if I put in some effort.
What are you looking forward to next year? Let me know in the comments!
Hi!! Inaka is a popular destination for bloggers and photographers this week, so I had to go check it out! According to Ziki’s blog post, this town was built by dai Lageos and yutopian Burton. I use to know dai Lageos years ago, back when I was a newb who loved to explore Japanese sims in SL. He had a 5 prim furniture store, it was awesome! Also, he was super nice to me, I wonder if he remembers me.
Have you visited Inaka yet?
Today I am wearing the Imaginative School Girl Outfit from Katat0nik! This outfit includes lots of themed accessories, click the link to see all the details on Kat0nik’s Flickr. My favorite part of the outfit is the tulle skirt!! I need this skirt as a separate attachment; it is the best mesh tulle skirt I’ve ever seen in SL.
What I’m Wearing:
Pink Fuel – Harley (Peach)
Truth – Candy (LightBrowns01)
Katat0nik – (Cake2) Wonderland Pendant Arcade
Katat0nik – (ltblue/thin) Imaginative School Girl Outfit
Belgravia – Patent 120 (Fuchsia)
SLink – Mesh Hands (av)
SLink – Womens Medium Height Barefeet
Total Betty has just released the Lash Factors Collection (shown above are some of my favorites). They were super easy to fit and there's something for everyone. The lashes are $100L per pair or $900L for the entire fatpack of 12 styles! This will probably be more than enough lashes to keep even the pickiest lash-lovers happy.
Here's what you get in the fatpack:
(click image for full-size)
Tp to the Total Betty @ Juicy (satellite location) for a FREE pair of lashes!! The gift is in a blue gift box on the table.
I'm wearing Kira Ahn's newest Lilly skins in Sunkissed in this post. It's so beautiful but I'll have to show you the makeups in another post. I'm burned out from fitting 12 pairs of lashes in a row!!
What I'm Wearing:
Kira Ahn Skins – Lilly (Sunkissed) Truth – Sophia (Ivory) & Mini (Ivory) Total Betty – Lash Factors Collection Fat Pack Kunglers – Catherine Shirt (palid rose) Dazzle – Innocence Skirt (discontinued) Maitreya – Verve Pumps (Lavender Blush)
Have you been to the Hotel Dare on the ministry of media sim? Recently launched shopping/artsy area with tons of things to see, do and BUY!! This is the place to go broke, there are tons of really awesome shops here.
Mijn Boa’s place
My shop, I’m next to Cream Shop! <3
Bright happy lil signs
Those are my sexy shoes stomping through the small city.
Told you this place is cute! TP to Hotel Dare now.
I wouldn’t wear one because the major mesh bake fail lag issues… especially if you are one like me that attends a lot of live music dance events where venues often have 40 to 80+ avatars. I know one woman that had a beautiful hot mesh avatar head and abandoned it because often she had no head or grey head to most of the audience. LL can brag that they have improved lag but they just never come in world to enough venues to realize.that mesh bake fail and resizing issues are a major problem. So get a mesh body but realized that often most won’t seen your amazing mesh beauty.
I picked up The Shops body because it’s free and I’ve tried a demo of the SLink body. I haven’t tried any others yet and I don’t have mesh hands or feet (other than the free ones from The Shops, but you can’t wear them with the default avatar body).
I don’t really have the need for a mesh body because I usually wear enough clothes that having a mesh body wouldn’t really be of much advantage, but they do look nice when you’re wearing not so much.
I wouldn’t wear one because the major mesh bake fail lag issues… especially if you are one like me that attends a lot of live music dance events where venues often have 40 to 80+ avatars. I know one woman that had a beautiful hot mesh avatar head and abandoned it because often she had no head or grey head to most of the audience. LL can brag that they have improved lag but they just never come in world to enough venues to realize.that mesh bake fail and resizing issues are a major problem. So get a mesh body but realized that often most won’t seen your amazing mesh beauty.
I picked up The Shops body because it’s free and I’ve tried a demo of the SLink body. I haven’t tried any others yet and I don’t have mesh hands or feet (other than the free ones from The Shops, but you can’t wear them with the default avatar body).
I don’t really have the need for a mesh body because I usually wear enough clothes that having a mesh body wouldn’t really be of much advantage, but they do look nice when you’re wearing not so much.