Thursday, December 11, 2008

Shop shuffle

Two changes on shop locations this past month:

1. Due to Linden Lab's change of policy regarding openspace sims, Elounda Bay is gone, and the mer shops have been moved to the Island of Thera sim.

2. Shanna Sungsoo has redecorated the Sirens Mermaid Mall and, although the new structure is still in the same spot, I've moved to the other corner of the mall for more breathing room.

I've updated the links in the "Where to find Mer Betta tails" section in the side panel.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Split Legs? Animations 101 for new mers

If you're already a mermaid, you probably don't need to read through this. This is just something I'm putting in a notecard for distribution in a sign that looks like this:




Animations 101 - An introduction by Opal Lei

Animations in Second Life are what (obviously) animate our avatars. They make you walk, run, swim, sit, sleep, and, yes, even have sex. But did you know that animations do more than make your avatar move?

Yup! Animations can also:
1. distort your avatar, and
2. reposition your avatar.


Distortion

A common distortion done by animations is shortening limbs by folding up the arms and legs. This is typically used for tinies and other non-human avatars, which have short limbs.

The system shape (the one you edit when you go into Appearance mode) has limitations and can only be so small or so big. So animations and prim attachments are used in addition to the minimum shape to create the illusion of a different creature, whether a tiny bunny, a quadruped tiger, or a little dinosaur. These distortions as well as the motions are included in the animations.

Mer animations do the same avatar distortion by pulling our legs together, as we swim or sit or fall.


Position

Animations can also change the position of your avatar for a short distance. Most mermaid animations gently move your avatar to make you look like you're floating. You typically see these in mermaid dances that move the avatar up and down and around, when you're really not doing anything to move in those directions.

(Gearsawe Stonecutter once taught me how to use the animation positioning to "disappear". I used that trick, combined with a couple of other tricks, to create a fly avatar, which makes people curse the lag gods because I'm not "rezzing" for them. ;) )


What is an Animation Overrider (AO)?

Second Life provides default animations for bipeds to animate your avatar as you move around. Unfortunately, the so-called "walk" animation caused some ducks to follow newbies around thinking they're the mama duck. So a great genius invented the animation overrider.

An animation overrider is an object that you wear. It contains one or more scripts, several animations, and a notecard that tells the script which animation to use for which action.

The AOs by themselves (without the animations) are generally freebies. It's the animations that you're paying for. Most animation creators would sell the AOs already preloaded with the animations they created. You can use other animations by loading them to the AO and changing the notecard, but you need to follow the instructions carefully.

You can buy as many tails as you want, but you can use the same AO for all of them.

So, instead of ducks following you around, thinking you're a mama duck, you'd hopefully have hunks following you around, thinking you're a hot mama!


Which AO?

In general, there are two types of mer tails -- skirted tails and non-skirted tails. Even when you have a mer AO on, there's still that valley between the legs. Skirted tails use the system skirt to smooth out that valley. Non-skirted tails may or may not use smoother prims. It's a matter of preference; just different solutions to the same problem.

Some AOs are not too friendly to non-skirted tails, especially if you have skinny legs, because the legs are exposed. The knees shift or the legs come apart slightly or the smoother prims shift.

Some tail designers will recommend AOs that work best with their tails. So, *** READ THOSE NOTECARDS THAT COME IN THE PACKAGE ***. However, some mers purchase a non-recommended AO anyway and just ignore the imperfections.


I recommend EmeraldEver Cline's Preloaded AO HUD of Mer Animations for 150L, for these reasons:
- The animations are friendly to non-skirted tails.
- The graceful backbends show off the Mer Betta backfins well.
- The gentle movements in the standing animations make the large Mer Betta fins flow gracefully.
- The price is very reasonable.

DISCLAIMER: No, I do not get a kickback for recommending this AO; I don't think Em is even aware that I recommend her product. This is the one I use when designing my tails.


UPDATE: See the Mer Betta web for additional recommendations.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Subscription options

I finally found a cheaper alternative to Subscribe-o-matic -- hippoGROUPS. Ironically, I found out about it from a spam notecard.

So, now there are three ways to subscribe to Mer Betta notices:
1. Subscribe to this blog via RSS (see the link on the right-side panel.
2. Join the SL group if you have room in your groups.
3. Go to the Mer Betta main store and click on the red Subscribe sign, sitting on the raft.

#2 and #3 allows you to go back to old messages and retrieve attachments.

Upgrade packs taken down

I've taken the v2ut packs down from the main store since new customers are getting confused. Either they buy the v2ut first and then buy the v2c after realizing that the v2ut doesn't have everything. Or they buy the v2c first and then buy the v2ut because they think it will upgrade their v2c tail.

So, to cut down on the administrative work required to correct those mistakes, I've taken the upgrade pack vendors down.

If you own a Mer Betta tail that you purchased prior to April 2008 and would like to upgrade to a v2 tail, please contact me by IM or notecard instead and I'll set up a vendor specifically for you. If I don't respond within 48 hours, please ping me again, in case the message got lost.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Mers of Minos

Today, Elounda Bay opened up its waters to the mer community. Go on and check it out. Akantha Forster did a nice job building the sim.

It's part of a group of roleplay sims based on the Minoan empire.

And, of course, you'll find Mer Betta tails there.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Fitting hours, anyone?

I have three items to talk about today and they're all related:
* the mermaid fashion show
* new fitting hours
* Mer Betta tail fund jars - a free gift

Mermaid fashion show

In late February, Shanna Sungsoo told me about a mermaid fashion show that she was organizing. Well, after it's been pushed out due to several reasons, it finally happened yesterday. There were five of us mer designers featured in the show and the venue was packed.

Thankfully, the event was recorded, so keep an eye out for the movie, which Shanna will stream at the Sirens Mermaid Mall soon. Mer Betta tails are shown towards the end of the show.

New fitting hours

The past few days, while I was helping the models fit their tails, it occurred to me that not all people know how to adjust the pieces to make it look right. So, I was thinking of holding "fitting hours". You know,... like the Linden "office hours". ;)

So, drop by at the Mer Betta main store during fitting hours and I'll help you tweak the pieces into the right size and position.

For now, I'll schedule it for Mondays at 6pm SLT. But it might change depending on my other schedules. Here's a Google calendar which you can access at http://tinyurl.com/4nopmz .



A new freebie!

I know that some of you are saving up to buy a new Mer Betta tail. And I am honored that you do. For the fashion show, I figured, why not make a money jar? Just like these funny money jars.

Mer Betta Tail Fund jar

Well, now, you can get your very own Mer Betta Tail Fund jar, so other people can donate and help you save up for your new tail. Kinda like a tip jar. :D

You'll find one sitting on the raft at the Mer Betta main store.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Look, Ma! No bra!

It was a simple request from Sen Atlass. He didn't want the breast covering (he's a merman after all), but he wanted to keep the sliver of scales along the upper arm.

Well, I've been putting off doing anything for mermen because I thought they would want something fancier on the torso. But, since it was a very simple request, I figured, why not make it available for mermen and mermaids who want to bare their breasts.

So, I created new set of undershirts with just those slivers of scales on the upper arms.

You can get them for free at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Amberaldus/84/152/451. Just touch the name of your tail in the sign. NOTE: The sign only gives out copyable versions. If you want a transferrable version, let me know.

The vendors now include these bare chest undershirts, so, if you buy any new tails starting today (June 3), you'll automatically get them.

Be sure to move them to a different folder if you don't want them to be worn by default.

Friday, April 25, 2008

A busy release week

Thank goodness for the times when SL is borked. Otherwise, I wouldn't have time to blog. ;)

Anyway, the release of the new tail versions and of Pasithea went really well. The upgrades are going smoothly, except SurveyMonkey is giving me issues tonight so I can't view the results.

What I really want to talk about is how amazing it is to meet so many wonderful people these past few days! Such warmth! Sure, it took me an entire day sending out those notecards and IMs by hand. My sister asked me why I didn't just write a script to do it. But if I just wrote a script to distribute the notecards, I would have lost the opportunity to meet a lot of you. I got more feedback and more suggestions, and those give me a much clearer view of what you like about the tails and what I should change.

I had to use BabelFish for the translations to German/Italian/Japanese/French. And at least two people came back to me with "?". I just hope the translations weren't offensive. lol

I was hoping to send out the survey before packing the upgrades, but all these things had to come out at about the same time. Here's why: I wanted to release Pasithea as soon as possible. Being a brand new product, I wanted to let it "age" a little before I left for my trip so that I could answer people's questions. But since I used the new sculpties and SkimSurfaceSimple script on it, I knew that people would want those same features on the old tails, so I had to do the upgrade packs. But I'm running out of room in my existing shops, so I had to set up a main store so I would have a place to put the upgrade packs.

I was also weighing the pros and cons of going transferrable or copyable, and I finally decided to go to copyable, at least for now. I thought that Pasithea HAD to be copyable. A wedding attire is too important to leave to chance. And with SL the way it is lately, having only one copy of a wedding tail is a big risk. Then I weighed the pros and cons of going copyable for the rest of the tails. The initial results of the survey are showing a preference for copyables. But even if the results are overwhelmingly for copyable versions, those who want transferrable ones can just ask and I'll make them available to purchase.

Btw, as I was sending out the notecards about the upgrade, I noticed that a number of you had your Mer Betta tails on in your portrait pictures! Wow! I am *so* honored.

Anyway, still can't log in. I think I'll just go to bed.... :)

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Upgrades!

Since I made Pasithea with a sculpty tail and smoother, I figured I might as well upgrade the older tails as well. So, if you've been to a Mer Betta store lately, you would have seen the new ones.

And, since it always bugged me that I always end up in the sky when I'm "flying" underwater, I wrote a script to keep me just near the surface. I still bounce up a bit when I stop, but I easily get back to the right altitude with a single Page Down. You get that same script with your Version 2 tails.

Now, if you own one of the old Mer Betta tails, you can upgrade several ways. This is a bit tricky with so many options, so follow the steps carefully. (Note: You should have received these instructions by notecard too.)

1 - Decide if you want a 100L rebate on each upgrade.
(Okay, this is the easiest decision you'll make in this entire process.) If you want the rebate, fill out the Mer Betta survey. You only have to fill it out once, no matter how many Mer Betta tails you own. The survey asks for your avatar name so I can keep track of your rebate eligibility, but I don't track your IP address. SurveyMonkey only allows 100 responses for each survey on a free account.

2 - Decide if you want transferrable or copyable.
Choose transferrable if you intend to give away or resell the tail sometime in the future. However, a copyable version has more benefits:
* If SL borks and eats up your inventory, I can send you a fresh copy at no charge.
* You can have several copies for different configurations, especially if you like modifying the tail to customize it.
* You get extra copies of the SkimSurfaceSimple script to use in other tails as long as they're modifiable. And you get free updates for the script too.
* However, I cannot offer refunds or exchanges on copyable items.

a. If you want transferrable (like the old tails), go to Step "3 - Transferrable".

b. If you want copyable, go to Step "4 - Trade Up to Copyable".

3 - Transferrable
Go to http://slurl.com/secondlife/Amberaldus/86/162/451 and purchase an upgrade pack for your tail. And that's it! All done! If you filled out the survey, I'll send you a rebate automatically. If you don't receive the rebate within a week of filling out the survey and purchasing the upgrade pack, send me IM.

4 - Trade Up to Copyable
a. If you want the new tail NOW and you can afford a temporary cash outlay, purchase the Version 2 of a tail you already own. Then go to Step "5 - Pack Your Old Tail". (Note: You MUST purchase the same tail. You cannot trade in an Eione v1 if you purchase a Galene v2c.) If you own multiple Mer Betta tails, you can trade up one tail this way, wait for the refund+rebate, then trade up the next one.
b. If you cannot afford a cash outlay and you don't mind not having a tail for a day or two, go to Step "5 - Pack Your Old Tail" and include a notecard titled "Want new tail, not Lindens".

5 - Pack Your Old Tail
5.1 Make sure that you have your tail pieces sorted out by product; i.e.: All Amphitrite pieces in one folder, all Rhodea pieces in another folder, etc.
5.2 Check to make sure you have a complete set in each folder:
- undershirt
- underpants
- socks
- leg smoother (1 prim)
- tail (5 prims)
- upper leg fin (1 prim)
- lower leg fin (1 prim)
- left arm fin (1 prim)
- right arm fin (1 prim)
- chest fins (2 prims)
5.3 If you modified any of the pieces, make sure there are no extraneous prims in it. If there are extra prims on the tail, I may or may not return them. So, if you added 5 carats of diamonds to your tail, then I get to keep them. ;)
5.4 Keep the "Modify" box checked for all pieces.
5.5 (optional) If you want a new tail back, instead of Lindens, create a notecard titled "Want new tail, not Lindens" and put it in the folder.
5.6 Rename the folder to the following format: "TradeUp: <your avatar name> <name of product as it was before>" For example: "TradeUp: Opal Lei Mer Betta Eione Midnight"
NOTE: Please do NOT pack your tail in a box.

6 - Send the folder to HiHo Silvera
Yup, don't send it to Opal. HiHo is my testing alt and has a much cleaner inventory, so it would be easier to find whatever you send. :)
6.1 Go to Search > People.
6.2 Type "HiHo Silvera" and click Search.
6.3 Drag the folder from your inventory to her profile.
NOTE: No use friending HiHo since none of her friends can see her anyway. Besides, why would you want to friend a little work horse? ;)

7 - Wait
I know, I know, this is the hardest part of the entire process. I'll process the trade-ups in batches at least once a day until I start travelling at the end of the month. After that, it will be less frequent, depending on how often I can get internet access. I'll update this blog with my travel schedule once it's firmed up.

You'll know that I've started processing when you get a notice from SL that HiHo accepted your inventory offer.

If you wanted Lindens back, you'll get 400L for each mermaid ensemble traded up. If you filled out the survey, you'll get another 100L. These amounts will be sent separately.

If you wanted a new tail back, you'll get instructions on how to get the new tail for 250L (or 150L if you filled out the survey prior to sending the old tail).

That's it! Any questions, feel free to IM me.

REMINDER: The survey only takes 100 responses.

Pasithea

I've been wanting to make a bridal mer tail for months! And someone suggested white anyway. So,...

Here comes the mer bride....

Pasithea_010

You can see more pictures in the Mer Betta group in Flickr. And you can add yours too. If you don't have a Flickr account, you can view the Pasithea pictures in my set.

And already, I've gotten a request to turn it into a regular gown. Stay tuned.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Worshipping mermaids

Kyota Spiteller built a large Mermaid Temple at Gorlen Bay, where you'll find a new Mer Betta store.

She'll have a grand opening celebration in late April. I don't think she's done yet, but you can go down underwater to see more mer spaces.

PS: I love her sculpty shells.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Show off your tails

By the way, we also now have a Mer Betta group in Flickr, so take pictures of you wearing your Mer Betta tails and post them up there!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

A store with a view

If you've ever been to Sanctuary Ridge in Aglia, the little home of Mer Betta and Morphing Portraits, you know about the great view of the train tracks and the valley below.

Well, the Mer Betta vendors are on a new deck up the hill now, with a higher view of the valley. In fact, the vendors are on the floor of the deck so you can enjoy the view all around.

MerBettaDeck_001

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Tala

Tala! That's the first mer word I learned and, tbh, the only one I can really remember. :D For my non-mer readers, it means "hello".

In this blog, I'll be talking about what I've been up to mer-wise. That could mean Mer Betta products or mer roleplays I'm involved in. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time for the latter. And I'm sure you'd rather I spent more time with the former anyway. :)

Take heart, I plan to start working on mer products again. Since last year (yes, last year!), people have been asking for a white tail and other colors. Prior to that, Azheni Something has been trying me to get make more tails, including pink and torquoise. Of course, Sir Robert2000 Rhode has been giving me that advice all along.

Akasha Wachmann and her friends have kinda given me a deadline -- a mer fashion show in early April. So, after I get done with my current projects, I'll be working on at least one new tail, probably the white one.

And since this is the first blog entry, you might be interested in a little bit of Mer Betta history.

I really blame it all on a dear friend Paradox Olbers, who invited me last July to the concierge party thrown by Linden Lab for concierge-level members. Anyway, the theme was "underwater". So, I figured I'd be a mermaid. And so started my search for a good mermaid tail. But I didn't want to spend too much, since I was only going to wear it for one day. Well, okay, maybe for Halloween too.

The cheapest I found was 150L for the top and tail. I had to buy the animation overrider elsewhere for another 150L. Well, I wasn't quite happy with the tail. Actually, that was an understatement. So, long story short, by the time I got to the party the next day, the only "original equipment" from the purchased tail was the pants. And the AO, of course; I was happy with the AO.

BlueBettaMermaid001

People at the party loved my tail! At least two people asked me where I bought it. I gave them the landmark, but told them that only the pants are from there. With all the good reviews, I remained a mermaid for a week. And I got two more people asking where they could buy it. One wanted to buy it off my back.

So I created my own texture for the pants, cleaned up the other pieces some more, packaged the whole thing, and repeated the process for three more tails. I talked to Akasha about a spot at the Mermaid Mall and was floored by her and Duck's generosity. That was in August 2007. With encouraging results from that first month, I created four more tails with more subdued colors.

Akasha has been been incredibly instrumental in Mer Betta's success. And she continues to be so, as are her new partners at the new Mer Mall.

I still have projects going on, but I'm making time for this. And, speaking of time, it's time for me to shut up and get back to work. :D