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Second Life TexturesWhen it comes to content creation, Second Life textures are what make this virtual world come alive. Linden Lab provides a 10MB download file full of clothing, fabric, flooring, glass, metal, stone and wood textures to make it free and easy to clothe and house your avatar. So residents can get started right away creating and customizing their world. Basic prims
Second Life textures make the difference between your avatar being in a bland environment and wearing boring costumes, or being in a creative and colorful environment with clothing, accessories and objects that amuse, inspire and delight the eye. Using the free textures is a good place to start learning about how to build with prims. Prims, short for ‘primitives’, are the 3D shapes used to create the solid-looking virtual objects in the Second Life virtual world like tables, walls, floors and furniture. The prims are covered with ‘textures’, which is what give them patterns, colors and characteristics that make them look real. Why textures are important If you look around at your environment in the real world, you will see that you are surrounded by surfaces that shine (like the chrome bumper on a car), look rough (like the bark of a tree), are smooth and reflective (like a pane of glass) or look soft and inviting (like velvet cloth). Although you don’t usually stop to catalog each of the textures in your environment, their variety is what makes the real world interesting and appealing. Think of the difference between walking along a grassy path in a beautiful garden full of colorful flowers and leaves, compared with walking on a gray concrete sidewalk between two 10 feet high concrete walls. Which visual textures are more interesting? Of course, the garden has more visual interest. And in Second Life, textures are what create the visual appeal. Create or buy textures When you decide you want to move beyond the free textures provided by Linden Lab, you can either create your own or buy pre-made textures in the Second Life marketplace. If you have graphic skills, and enjoy the designing process, you may want to make your own. You can experiment with using free templates for creating custom eyes and hair for your avatar. And if you find that you enjoy it, you could even open up an inworld shop and sell textures of your own. But really good textures are an art form in themselves. Even if you are a talented graphic artist, you may find some Second Life textures for sale in the Second Life marketplace that would be perfect for one of your projects. Click Here to Leave Second Life Textures and Return Home
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