20130626

141 - Samson

Where's Dim Sum? #141 - Samson


Dim Sum finds a new hero and meows, "I'm rooting for you, mister."


This is one of several sculptures of Starax Statosky, who is (in my opinion) one of the best (if not THE best) prim sculptors in SL. Long before sculpts and mesh came along, he took basic prims and tortured and combined them into amazingly expressive sculptures, like this one.

Sure, the more recent sculptures with sculpts and mesh are less primmy and more realistic, but I still think that sculpting with basic prims is way more impressive.

location: SL10B Wonderous

I haven't done Strawberry's memes for a while, and this one seems easy, so here goes.

Technical notes

windlight: Alchemy Immortalis - Fog Lifting (modified)


Strawberry's memes - Proportions Challenge

Strawberry wants proportions. Well, ... okay....

Height (floor to shoulder): 0.36m
Length (nose tip to tail tip): 0.76m, approximate because her tail won't keep still
Head: Too big
Body: Huggable size

Do you try and keep your avatar’s body proportionate and similar to the “average” proportions pictured above?
Dim Sum believes she's perfect and she doesn't care about body proportions. Opal and her human alts tend to have slightly longer legs. A lover told me of this Paris cabaret called Crazy Horse, where the criteria for the performers is that the length from top of head to crotch must be equal to the length from crotch to floor. And that lover is a "leg man" so I keep my avies leggy for him.

What do you dislike the most about the SL avatar mesh?
The butt! Actually, the part from the waist to the thighs. Why is it that in order for your hips to look like the normal length in front, you end up with a long butt, like it's sagging?!? If you want a normal-looking butt, you look like you're getting a wedgie in front. And if your butt is even a little curvier than a flat board, your thighs look fat at a certain angle.

Does it bother you when you see other avatars that are not proportionate at all?
It's not the disproportion per se that bothers me; most bodies in RL are disproportionate and they come in different sizes, including my own RL body.

What makes me cringe is the extreme unnaturalness that seem to be more about unoriginal fashion slavery and less about aesthetic creativity. Like the pony riders whose waist-to-hip ratio makes them look like clothes hangers with thighs separated by a mile. Or the alien-looking stick figures with enormous round heads and small eyes, worn mostly by fashion models. (Thank goodness that one seems to have faded out of fashion.)

If it's one or two people with an extreme look, it's awesome because it's original and innovative and creative and artistic. If a slew of people wear the same extreme look, the unnaturalness stands out and then it's just plain ugly.

Even though this is a virtual world and people can be anything they want to be, do you feel when they are in human form, they should try to keep their proportions close to average?
No. In spite of the cringe effect, I still think that people should be able to express themselves any way they want. I actually think that there's less originality in SL nowadays than during the early years, when more people had creative and unique avies, humanoid or not. I prefer a very diverse SL. Even if I cringe once in a while.

20130625

140 - Starring in CatTV

Where's Dim Sum? #140 - Starring in CatTV


Dim Sum wonders when she'll finally get her break and have her own TV series.


This is the Catznip parcel. The cats are the same as my decoy, created by Seu Ahn (Shop Seu). The cat TV was created by Trinity Dejavu.

location: SL10B Magnificent


Technical notes

windlight: Coastal Afternoon (modified)


20130623

139 - Second Life Express

Where's Dim Sum? #139 - Second Life Express


Dim Sum hears the train conductor call out, "All aboard!" So she hops on the locomotive, so she'd get there before the rest of the passengers. Wherever "there" is.


I tried the materials version of the SL viewer and decided to go back to Firestorm. I don't care if the SL10B bear looks better in it; I missed the phototools.

This would have been a reasonably fast shoot had I not been so easily distracted.

The wonderfully detailed train was built by Donpatchy Dagostino.

location: SL10B Incredible


Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] SUNSET - Oriental delight 2 (barely modified, just moved the sun a bit)


138 - Moths and lanterns

Where's Dim Sum? #138 - White moths


Dim Sum watches the white moths go crazy around the lanterns and wonders what catnip they ate. Then she watches the humans contort their bodies down below and wonders what catnip they ate.


This oak tree is actually a stage, so there were people dancing under the tree. And it took me hours to do this pic! First, because I kept crashing. Second, because I couldn't decide on the windlight. Third, because they restarted the sim in the middle of my shoot. Fourth, people kept appearing in my frame. Fifth, because I couldn't decide on the windlight. (Yes, I know I said that already.)

location: SL10B Captivate


Technical notes

windlight: Phototools- Angles Light 01 (modified)


20130622

137 - Can we cut it already?

Where's Dim Sum? #137 - Can we cut it already?


Dim Sum stretches as she prepares for her triple somersault dive into the soft white whipped cream frosting below.


This is the top of the cake stage. These objects are HUGE!

location: SL10B Fascinate

Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] SUNSET - Damage down (modified)




20130620

136 - Turtles all the way down

Where's Dim Sum? #136 - Turtles all the way down


Dim Sum examines the strange markings on the statue and wonders if they were some code from some ancient race of humans who believed that the world was carried on the back of a giant turtle, which stood on another turtle, which stood on another turtle, ....


I had seen the turtle island in other Flickr images, even before the sims opened to the public. It is an amazing build by Flea Bussy.

The best builds are the ones that tell a story, especially the ones that hint at ancient mythology. Like this one. The old stories add something intangible and indescribable to the build. Like giving it roots. Or even giving it a soul.



location: SL10B Impressive


Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] SUNRISE - Barcelon 2 (modified)
water: Glassy



135 - A cat's cat

Where's Dim Sum? #135 - A cat's cat


Dim Sum meows at her anthropomorphic distant cousin in the crisp human suit, but he is a cat of few meows.


When I arrived at the Linden Teddy Bear sim, I saw Darl flying around and around fast, like he's being twirled around by an invisible lasso. Then after a while, he landed right near me and stood there quietly. So I had to ask if he could be in my picture.

This was a bit rushed, since I wasn't sure how long he could stay, so the windlight is one I had used before with only the east direction changed. But it took me a while anyway, because his AO moved too much.

I keep only a couple of photography guidelines in mind when I shoot: the rule of thirds and the triangles. I could have moved the camera a bit more for the rule of thirds, but this photo has an almost equilateral triangle with him in the middle. So I had to shoot before he moved again, which he did in the next instant.

Throughout my photoshoot, Sovereign Engineer had his/her cross-hairs on me, so s/he was probably taking pictures too. :)

model: Darl (thedarkest.fairey)
location: SL10B Bear Island


Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] DUSK - Siennarel (modified)



370 - Eggs and bunnies and peeps (360°)

Dim Sum joins the peeps who wanna be bunnies. At least for Easter. For non-US folks, "peeps" are marshmallow candies shaped l...