Goods

Written 15 April, 2009

Goods

I am continually impressed by the creativity of Second Life's merchants and the style and quality of so much of the merchandise.

But then again, a lot of stuff is just shit.

I love Lilith Heart's plants. I don't know how she does it, but I just don't get that werid alpha effect from her stuff. Unless I really look for it. Her stuff is consistently well-made and attractive.

A lot of plant makers, however, just grab plant textures grabbed from the internet and paste them on both sides of three interlocking square prims. The result is far from pretty.

I mean, ya gotta wonder when you go to a nursery and they're landscaping with Lilith's plants instead of their own.

This morning I visited a sim-sized nature area and sales shop with every sort of plant and animal. I won't name it. The plants were all weird-- and check out the poor excuse for a whale, above. The sounds and movement were competent, but the texturing left much to be desired. I mean, who needs a galvanized sheet metal whale with crayoned-on mouth and eyes?

Compare it to this whale from Splash Aquatics.


And compare this eagle...


To this eagle,  made by Julia Hathor...


What's odd here is both Julia's eagle and Splash Aquatics' whale date from 2006 or early 2007. The ugly bird and the tin-plated whale are more recent.