Lincoln Garnet

It may of be of four years vintage now (eons in terms of Second Life) but I am pleased to see my Yasumidokoro House doesn't seem to have lost it's appeal. But then, thinking about it, why would a traditional Japanese house design (albeit an interpretation) date in just a few of our modern years!
Anyway, I really love what Lincoln Garnet has done with his image below, using the house as a backdrop for a poetic and evocative scene. It is inspirational in many ways. Have a look at his flickr stream here for more stunning images.

Neva Did It Again

I totally love what Neva Crystal does with my stuff! She sent me this image with the Beach Combers' Bar. Thanks Neva!

Geometric Relief Wall Textures

Check it out! New textures! This set is design to give your interior build a bit of a feature lift. Geometric relief patterns really add to your design arsenal.
It was a fun set to make - in a slight departure for me, these are partially rendered using physical lighting. This basically means they look pretty realistic in Second Life. I hope you enjoy!

Beach Combers' Bar

Do you have tikifatigue? Are you getting sleepless nights over dry palm fronds. Here's your cure!
This is my new scene for Second Life - a beach bar thrown together from storm debris - split mast, ancient whisky crates and oil drums  and it's the perfect getaway beach hangout.
There's a bunch of animations built in with menus for up to five AVs.

It was a bit of a long haul to make - lots of textures and detailed modelling - hopefully you think it was worth it!

Boardwalk Building Set for Second Life

Somebody once said to me "omg! OMG!" which I took to mean they were excited about something. Today I can safely say "omg! OMG! OMG!!" which you can take to mean I'm very excited about something!

If there's one thing that helps tie a sim layout together it's a nice road or path. Everybody loves them.

So enter stage left the Boardwalk Building Set - a beautifully finished wooden raised path to add luscious detail to your project.

The really exciting thing is that it comes in both Beach and Grassy Flavour for ultimate flexibilty.

I've been notching together boardwalk sets all day - up and down hills and dunes - and it is a whole pile of fun!

The set includes all models and textures

Check out my demo sim areas - one for each type

Beach Boardwalk

Grassy Boardwalk

Hey BOSLers! Some free textures samples for you :)

Those lovely folks over at BOSL are writing an article on Studio Skye - so to thank them and YOU, their readers, I've posted some textures samples below - feel free to download and use in your Second Life project. Usual licence applies - please don't resell or give away as simple textures (although you may sell builds using these textures). Feel free to pass this link around of course!

And here are some other pages on this blog with free texture samples for Second Life:

Inlaid Wood  Mosaic Stone  Italian Marble  Skye Fabrics

Geometric Tiles - full set here

Laced Leather - full set here

Patchwork Leather - full set here

Snake Stud full set here

Glass Mosaic - full set here

Painted Metal Panels - full set here

Bead Charms - full set here

Italian Glass - Full set here

Exotic Skins - full set here

Izzie Made Her Jump

As you all know by now, there's nothing makes me happier than lovely people getting up to creative shenanigans with my designs. Check out Kaelyn Alecto's wonderful picture story - much fun!

Summer's about done - new work coming soon. Sand Dunes!

Hey! It's been quite. I know it. The sumer sort of took over and before you know, a month or two evaporated in the rain and now I must make new stuff. I left of on a beach theme and that's my starting point for the next wave.

One thing that's always tricky to conjure up in SL is the border between things. Black and white is easy, blurry is a doddle but interesting transition seems to elude more often than not.

To spout an example, dunes are the glue between the beach and a somewhat more expansive and grassier world. I love them, as do many - they're magical places to be.  But in SL they are tricky to conjure up. That sort of detail is kinda lost between beach sims and grassy sims.

So here starteth the glue:

Studio Skye Customer Galllery

I've been thinking for a while about creating a gallery of Studio Skye customers' work and images on the main Studio Skye website.  (Is customer the right word to use? Sounds a bit detached and dull but you know what I mean.)  It's always fascinating to see what people are doing with my textures and builds. Anyway, I've never quite gotten round to it - I swear my to do list has had babies. Today though, I  have  found my inspiration  - a gorgeous pic from Neva Crystall which I think should be an excellent start. I love the spirit of the scene and I like that fact that my build is an incidental detail!

Here's said beautiful image with Driftwood Beach Den in background. If you want to join in, email your pic to studio@studio-skye.com or IM me in Second Life. Watch this space for gallery - soon to be checked off to do list :)

Terrain Work in Progress - Rocky Outcrops

If you are anything like me, you will have spent most of your Second Life dreaming that one day maybe, just maybe, some decent rocks would turn up. As an SL old timer I predate sculpties and therefore can remember quite clearly the trauma of making rocks from deformed sphere prims, hiding the crappy texture wrapping under the ground. But hey, they looked good… in the same way that Joan Rivers does: fantastic from a distance, but just don't check too closely round the back.
And then sculpties appeared. Great God in Heaven! Now we could make rocks that resembled great lumps of stuff that elephants drop casually behind them as they chomp their way through another half tonne of eucalyptus forrest. Result!
But now we have mesh. Oh yes. Predictably, I have now made it my mission in life to make, using the dark magic that is mesh, the best rocky outcrops in Second Life. I have no idea what the best rocky outcrops in Second Life are at the moment or who makes them, so equally, I have no idea how to gauge whether I have succeeded or not in this mission.
But I guess I'll know when I've done it - cos I'll have that little warm glow deep down in my mesh winkles that tells me it's ok to unleash new stuff on YOU - my wonderful, loyal, and ever-so-discerning customers.
And if the worst come to the worst, at least I'll have made the best elephant poo in the virtual universe!

Here's wot I dun so far:

The Willow Pond - An Interactive Scene for Second Life

OK, it was the teasiest of teasers  - so sorry! But finally (after about three times more work than anticipated) it finished! My new Mesh Scene for Second Life is a quaint old mill pond complete with willow tree, pier, small stone bridge and bull rushes. It comes with complete with a lush, mossy textures and a full animation set. 

Modelling took a little while - just getting neatly mapping and tiling textures was a challenge. The willow tree saw at least three versions before I was happy (trees in SL are soooooo tricky!). Anyway, I hope you like it! More details here.

Inlaid Wood Textures for Second Life : Free Sample Textures

I've been browsing through some of my older wood texture sets, designed around three years back for Second Life and thought it may a nice idea to offer a few samples of my favourite texture as free samples. Of course, these are now available from my website for use in any virtual world or games application. The inlaid wood texture were a delight to make and are a particular favourite of mine. More details here. Please feel free to use these free texture samples in your commercial project, but please do not resell or give them away as textures only. Enjoy.

Any Bright Texture Ideas?

One of the most rewarding things when making Second Life texture sets is the feedback I get from customers. It's motivational to get positive comments and know that my work is appreciated. So thanks to you all for that :)

From time to time you guys come back with a suggestion or request for a texture set. Generally these ideas fall into the "I was looking for this kind of texture but I can't find a decent one anywhere"  category.

So my principle on this is If it Will Make a Good Texture Set That I Can Sell to Everyone I will Make It!
In other words, if I can invest the time (it can take up to day or more to make a set) and it will benefit you, me and the rest of us, then it's a fine idea. The good thing I find is that these kind of sets usually sell pretty well, as they directly fit into market gaps - it's a WIN-WIN, yay!

A good stucco texture is very hard to find? Not any more ;)

Coming Next - Second Life Mesh Scenes

I think this is about as vague as teasers get! A wire frame image indeed! Actually it's a new Mesh Scene for Second Life - a Mill Pond. It will feature the usual detailed textures and modelling with interactive animations. It may take a little while to complete, the weeping willow must be about a day's work just on it's own! It's designed to be terraformed into your sim using SL water an tie in nicely with my other mesh scenes - should be a peach! More soon :)

Free mosaic stone texture samples

Here's some more tester Second Life textures, this time from my Fragment Mosaic stone set. Feel free to use in your commercial project but please don't resell or give away as individual textures. To buy a full commercial licence for virtual worlds, indi game and 3D work see more details here.