The new island is more or less done. It looks OK, but it is nothing like what I achieved with Fool’s Gold in 2015. The dark sky level is probably the best part visually speaking, and the ground level seems to work, if not entirely from a design point of view (lots of flaws that I see but can’t figure out how to fix), then in terms of being a weird little playground. However the thing that makes me write this is not really about my building skills. It is the way in which the whole SL platform has progressed during the time that I neglected it. When I look at the work of someone like Cica Ghost for example, I do see that I fall short. Not so much in terms of concepts, or being able to create playgrounds or storyworlds (which, at the end of the day, is still what SL is all about for me) but in terms of technical skills.
The world has transitioned to mesh. And very skillfully created mesh at that. And I do not have that skill. It involves learning a confounded software called Blender, which is the one that seems to meet SL requirements the best. I suppose 3D Studio Max or Maya would do as well. And they do have much friendlier user interfaces than Blender. But still, even contemplating learning them gives me the chills. Blender, I don’t even want to think about.
Computer software has always been about intuition for me. Which is why I adore photoshop. And, if I say so myself, that is why I am also very good at it. Because photoshop is an intuitive software. These 3D softwares, on the other hand are not. Blender is a complete nightmare anyway, but the others are not exactly monuments to intuition either.
So, I do not know if I want to torture myself to learn them. But without that skill I am not at all sure that I can continue to build in SL. Well, I can continue to build, but would anyone ever come over to look at what I made? And while I build primarily because I have fun while I am doing it (major fun, in fact), I am not going get all snooty and say “who cares what others think?” Because, of course I do.
So… This last build may in fact be a natural parting of the ways between me and SL…
We shall see.
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