Bad Kitty

More mesh! More more more. I'm still learning and so I'm just doing variations on a theme here, but I'm endeavoring to learn something new with each project. This one was a lesson in point placement and edge loop locations. It has better geometry than the Farafallina, but you don't care because you can't see it. Just know that it's surprisingly efficient, so efficient I was able to use the same model for all but the highest resolution.


Playing with point placement and mesh thickness led me to the comic book vixen look, one I used to avoid with sculpts as I was worried about sloppiness. It's about time I had that sort of minimal, sexy mask you see on some characters and it gives a great amount of mystique while letting everyone see those fantastic features. Sultry, powerful and perfect for prowling.

Out now at the store: 125L
Buy it on the marketplace

Mythic Masquerade

The air is getting cooler, and the nights are getting longer. It's getting to be the time where people would gather near fires and tell stories of incredible creatures, magical beasts and gods of old.

Sometimes it feels as if these creatures come alive, and perhaps one night they might join together in a fantastic dance...


You're invited to a Mythical Masquerade, where the creatures of fairy tale and folklore can arise and gather. What visions from myths and legends have always captivated your mind? What old gods, spirits and stories capture your imagination? Show us, by coming as your favorite fantastic beings.


When you're assembling your costume, please keep in mind a few guidelines which will dramatically help everyone's ability to rez and dance smoothly.

Please keep your prim equivalency in total to less than 250

This limit helps to keep everyone rezzing quickly. Check how many prims you have by going into Edit and holding down shift to click each item you're wearing. The window will display the collected total of those prims.

Streamline your AO, or leave it at home

Nobody likes looking like a noob while being a wallflower. However, if you don't plan to dance, fill a veritably lag free, low prim ZHAOII with your two or three favorite stands. Otherwise, just go without.

Check your script totals
Viewer 2 now has an "Avatar Scripts" total you can view, by going to About Land->Script Info->My Avatar. Try to make new, clean copies of items that have resize scripts and aim for less than 600kb

In past years, the collaborative effort of all of us has greatly improved lag. I know the costume rules are tough to follow, especially when it's so tempting to go for the excess, but I have the utmost faith in your creativity. Hopefully, this year as well!

As with past years, I will crown a male and female winner the King and Queen of the masquerade. Two previously unreleased, themed masks will be awarded as the prizes, along with 1500L Angel Cards to each! I will also be passing out gift cards to honorable mentions and other people whom I find simply fabulous. So make sure to dress your best!

Make sure you join the group, because for the first two hours (4pm-6pm SLT) the sim will be open only for the members of the Illusions Mythic Masquerade 2011 group. You also need to join to be eligible for the costume contest! Masks are required, but the mask shown in the invite will be available for free. Can't wait to see you there!

Illusions Mythic Masquerade
Saturday, October 29th, 4PM SLT
Illusions Event Hall, Carnivale
(Join the "Illusions Mythic Masquerade 2011" Group)
Formal Dress and Mask Required

I think it's funny that in 2007, when I first did my Egyptian God masks, it was right before sculpted prims hit the main grid. Now, with mesh having finally been implemented, I've completed my Egyptian God masks all over again. At that time I felt they were the best I could possibly do with regular prims, and now the same again with sculpts. I feel like the Gods are some sort of term project, like the test to take at the end of a semester to show what I've learned.

For the past month I've been working on developing a work flow for mesh, as it's not as simple as just making something that's not a sculpt. Since mesh was in beta, I've been learning how to make a clean base mesh, how to texture it, work with new programs and generally get out of my comfort zone. But, I admit, I let it slide for a while. Now that it's on the main grid, I had do to some crunch time to get everything perfect.

I got a bit excited at first, and tried to jump into the deep end (weighted cloth! multiple texture faces!) and got overwhelmed. I didn't make anything worthwhile. So, going back to basics I set simple goals for myself: neat geometry, nice UV's, low polygon count.

I'm starting off simple.


This mask is just one prim. At the level of detail shown, it's only 446 polygons which makes it less than half of the number of a single sculpt! This is just be beginning, too. I'm very excited to start playing with weight painting (items that will move when the avatar does) and with different shapes and forms of masks. I think I'll be a lot more adventurous now that I no longer have to treat a mask like a puzzle where the pieces must fit together perfectly. And, with more available detail in the textures, I might even do more interesting and detailed things with surfaces.

But for now, the Farafallina Puro is available to all with mesh enabled viewers. This includes the main viewer 3 and the latest Firestorm.


Oh! I'd also like to specify that this mask is not weighted to the avatar skeleton. This means that the mask is able to be stretched, moved and deformed just like a sculpt. If you've had a bad experience with not being able to modify a mesh item to fit on your avatar, you won't have it with this one.

You'll need a mesh enabled viewer, such as the most recent official LL release or the most recent Firestorm. Try the demo if you're not sure!


Out now at the store: 125L