The Kissing Gate

Today, and for the past couple of days, I've been working on another mesh scene for Second Life. The Raven Tree seems to have gone down quite well so, encouraged by that, I've started work on a rural scene - a country path with a kissing gate. It's amazing to how things like a kissing gate kick around in the subconscious and helpfully emerge when required, maybe via a connection of few trains of thought. I bit of research revealed that these, in fact, "a type gate of which allows people to pass through, but not livestock." (thanks WikiP).

Working in Blender is such a pleasure! I think texture painting is the thing I've been missing all my life!

Here's a production preview:

Sci Fi Textures for Second Life

I've always loved sci-fi art! One of my prized books, which I've had since my early teens is a Paper Tiger publication (1977) entitled The Flights of Icarus. It's a marvellous collections of works by some of the greats of sci fi and fantasy art. Roger Dean is in there of course (as it turns out, it's his publishing house!) along with Chris Foss, Jim Burns and a great host of talented artists. It was (and still is) an inspirational book. A quick shuffle round Deviant Art will reveal some amazing work  - the result of a generation inspired by these guys.
So it's logical for me to work on Sci Fi texture sets. They aren't necessarily as popular as some of the more general textures sets I have made for Second Life -  I suppose it is a bit of a niche market - but that doesn't stop me enjoying making them. 
I plan to do a whole load more, but here are the sets I have made to date:

Oh, and there are a few free sample textures on my Deviant Art gallery. Enjoy!

Terrain Textures For Second LIfe

To me, one of the challenges of Second Life is working with the rather limited terrain settings for Second Life sims. OK, you have 4 texture layers to play with but achieving a balance of good scale and detail is a challenge. Working with 512px images doesn't help but with a bit of care and consideration it's possible to make terrain textures for Second Life with a bit of style and drama!

Here's a few examples of terrain texture sets from Studio Skye:

Exotic Skin Embossed Leather Textures for Second Life

I quick scan around the web for 2012 fashion trends quickly revealed some quite nifty exotic leathers - crocodile skins and such. I have enjoyed designing quite a few fashion Textures for Second Life so in the spirit of being a la mode, I have put together an Exotic Skin Embossed Leather Texture Pack. It took a little while to create the underlying skin pattern - organic shapes are always a challenge, but once the base was there, overlays of stitch and trim were possible. I have to admit, I do enjoy making textures for Second Life!

Second Life Mesh

The most significant thing that's happened lately in my design life is the introduction of Mesh in Second Life. It's been just the motivational factor I needed to learn something new and get myself stuck right into 3D software. Blender is my weapon of choice - initially because it's free and a much more feasible programme that the hugely expensive options (no need to name them here!). But I cannot believe it's such a powerful tool! Hmm, perhaps my most significant happening is learning Blender! Anyway, hats off to the Blender Foundation for such an amazing resource.

Having created quite a few builds using SL tools, I was aware of the possibilities and limitations of the system and had grown quite confident working within these parameters. But SLMesh is a whole new ball game of creative fun. The ability to create detailed models and accurately apply textures across multiple faces is just mind-blowing! I'll be posting more thoughts on this later, but for now a little sneak preview of my current mesh project. 

A new blog for Studio Skye

…and welcome to it! I've been making textures for Second Life (and other products) for a while now so it's perhaps odd to set up this blog so late in the day! Well, why not? I'll be sharing news on new products as well as the occasional insight into the inner workings of Studio Skye. Follow it here!

To celebrate the blog launch and for a bit of fun, I made a montage image of some of my favourite texture sets. For more information check out my main website at www.studio-skye.com