build

build.

last modified. 04-12introductory guides for building techniques.
if specific examples are given to follow, they will result in the white prim shown in their gifs.

structural techniques.

flexi ruffle.

alternating around an object with hollowed & path cut flexis can create a cute ruffle/draping look.
this is a very tedious technique. be warned .flexis have a unique quirk where the pivot point of the prim is the spot the simulation is 'pinned', instead of the center.you can see this effect happen by flicking flexible off and on. ( with 🗹 Edit Axis at Root )

rez a Sphere* >

*the sphere will be used as a guide for placement , alternatively you can try this on a cube - in that case skip steps 3 & most of 4.

rez a Cylinder >
under Features tab, 🗹 Flexible >
Object tab >

Path Cut | b: 0.0, e: 0.5 |
Taper | x: 0.0, y: -1.0 |
Hollow | 95.0 |

enable wireframe view* >

*preferably a reshader wireframe, if you don't have that, CTRL + SHIFT + R to toggle the default wireframe.

find a horizontal line to follow >
position the flexi on the center of an edge >
rotate & scale so that the flexi cylinder lays flush & fits the width of that edge.
duplicate flexi >
position on the edge next in the Loop >
flip the Path Cut, so do | b: 0.5, e:1.0 |

( at this point, if the flexis are clipping with stuff, rotate them outwards from the guide - you may need to play with the tapering to the flexis to line up after that )repeat ad nauseam .

flexi slice.

we can simulate slicing on flexis by using textures with alpha channels (transparency).

rez a cylinder >
under Features tab, set to Flexible >
Object tab >
Taper | x: 1.0, y: 1.0 |
shift-drag to duplicate the now flexi cylinder >
Object tab >
Taper | x: -1.0, y: -1.0 |
add this texture to both prims
UUID : 30d2e49a-b6d4-59e6-5049-9866f5245686
Scale | H: 0.0, V: 0.9 |
Offset | H: 0.25, V: 0.0 | or | -0.25, V: 0.0 |

mirror offset depending on which value reveals only the pointy end of your flexis.try enabling Transparent view to see how the effect works..
CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+T.hopefully you now have a diamond-esque flexi to experiment with !

splicing.

most applicable for : sphere, torus, tube, ringby mirroring a prim that has been path cut in half, a “spliced” effect is possible.example ;

Prim A ( Torus ) >
Path Cut | b:0.0, e:0.5 |
Twist | x:180.0, y:0.0 |
Taper | x:0.05, y:0.5 |
Top Shear | x:-0.5, y:-0.5 |
Prim B ( Torus ) >
Path Cut | b;0.5, e:1.0 |
Twist | x:-180.0, y:0.0 |
Taper | x:0.05, y:0.5 |
Top Shear | x:0.5, y:0.5 |

ensure these two prims share the same pos, rot, and scale.4 prim splices are possible too, for even more abnormal shapes . . .

organic blending.

creating convincing transitions between organic prims is actually quite easy.there is however, a lot of extra theory that can go into this, but first I'll provide a simple on the rails example;switch to Local Ruler Mode

rez a sphere >
shift-drag to duplicate the sphere upwards by 1x
shift-drag to duplicate another sphere by 0.5x, placing it in-between the first two.
this prim will act as the transition.

Object tab >
Size | x:0.447, y:0.683, z:0.683 |
Twist | x:180, y:180 |
Hollow | 95 |
Taper | x:1.0, y:0.25 |
Dimple | b:0.2, e:0.8 |
on the transition prim set all faces except face 1 to transparent.

congratulations! you have now 'blended' prims together! outside of this example you can usually eyeball the positions, scale, & parameters of the prims.if you wanna learn about how/why this works, learn about mesh normals.reshade is very helpful when attempting this technique, specifically for the ability to view screen space normals.

stylization & texturing techniques.

holographic pattern.

most applicable for : organic shapes( example gif has the textures rotating via llSetTextureAnim )set either the texture Scale H or V to something absurdly high. not both - for these gradient textures I've mapped them at around 2048 repeats on the direction the gradient itself isn't.. simple, noiseless gradient textures are ideal, otherwise a Moiré effect is likely to occur.Lossy Texture Compression can also cause the Moiré effect when using textures larger than 32x32(?)Anisotropic Filtering will also weaken this effect, requiring more texture repeats to achieve the same results as when AF is turned off.textures used
imprimper - standard gradients

one prim clipping pattern.

most applicable for : sphere, tube, ring, 33->shapesexample ;
Ring
Hollow | 95.0 |
Skew | 0.9 |
Taper/Hole Size | X: 0.0, Y: 1.0 |( tint each face differently to see the clipping )flickering is a very big problem with this technique. by playing with the parameters as needed, it can be lessened, but not completely removed.you are also likely to run into the bug where the flickering doesn't appear until re-rezzing or duplicating the prim(s).

outlines.

( I FORGOT TO CONSIDER HOW DARK THE SITE BACKGROUND IS, I'M SORRY )mowell head by - Drzztervery classic 3D technique that uses inverted faces to create "lines".

one-prim outlined Sphere;

Sphere
Hollow | 80 | - very thick outline
Twist | B: 180, E: 180 |

two-prim outlined Torus;

smooth cubes.

most applicable for : hard-surface shapessphere normal maps can be used to kind of imitate smooth shading on cubes ( or other similar shapes )texUUID : b30dd3c0-c02e-53b2-095e-0da3f4827f40Apply that UUID in the Normal Texture slot, and set the Normal Scale Mapping to; | h:0.6, v:0.6 |

gradients.

quick & easy technique for adding visual interest.imprimper - standard gradients
( they aren't really standard by anyone's definition )

lighting.

this encompasses a lot more than this example, I just want to highlight the hand-placed kind of 'baked' lighting. each light & shadow is an alpha texture on a prim.
also used is an opaque shaded texture.SDS Light and Shadow - Shader Kit

pending.

pipe trick.

credit - Mirror Mondegreen

animation techniques.

prerequisite read : SL Wiki - Animation Streamlined

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