Tip of the week: How to turn off the typing animation and sound
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 4:44 PM by: Torley LindenTo benefit your enjoyment of Second Life amidst the hectic days of modern society, I’m starting a new video tutorial series: Tip of the Week. The guidelines for each tip:
- Must be relatively easy to do!
- Must be less than 5 min. in length!
- Must teach you something useful and fun!
- Is likely knowledge that’s commonly passed from Resident to Resident, but hasn’t been officially shared by Linden Lab!
Suggestions for new tips in the comments please! I can’t cover them all, but I’ll read through ‘em, and but if you make video tutorials too, let me know.
So, here’s #1… ever want to turn off the default clickity-clack typing and animation and sound? Maybe it interrupts concerts or other live events you’re at (annoying!). Not satisfied with turning down the Sounds slider or using forward slashes in the chat bar (/) to hush? Watch this video to learn a better way:
Learn more about the Client menu and other Debug Settings.
I’ve also been passing this out inworld:
Also, I’d like to warmly thank the Resis who’ve been filling in info-gaps and correcting errors; while I’m a Mac user too, I found out from Montana Corleone and others that I had previously listed the wrong Mac shortcut for the Client menu — it’s Opt-Ctrl-D, not Cmd-Ctrl-D (sorry about that!). [Edit: Randall Allen also let me know that Cmd-Opt-Shift-D also works, thanks!]
In other news, I’ve been fleshing out my wiki page with more info; I’m experimenting with doing public project updates in response to questions I often receive. Let’s see how it goes and grows.
What will next week’s tip be? Come back and find out!
Get your tip on,
Torley Linden is a Product Manager & more who regularly contributes to the Official Linden Blog. Torley is a real person, like you. Read Torley’s previous posts.
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:56 PM
thanks - i like that - it useful for us
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:59 PM
We had this tip not long ago. Is this the new policy, to turn features off because the system is now so appallingly slow? Trade one feature for a new shiny? How about fixing lag, or the double tps that make you crash? Or inv loss? Or money disappearing? Or the myriad of texture and drawing problems? Or the messaging system and Group IMs still borked from 1.15 after the transfer to an external system to “improve performance”.
And when will we have a client without voice, with the old style chat, group and IM and Friends windows, but with the couple of bug fixes that are useful?
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:59 PM
Good to know! You can also use a / in front of your entry (for a quick solution).
In the opposite case (if you do would like to type while dancing or while your AO is on) go to the “Abranimations” sim and get the type restore attachment for free.
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:02 PM
Yay, something to look forward to on a weekly basis
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:10 PM
Zimmy… when? Maybe when you develop the right code for it? x)
I don’t know, I’m here for around 5 months now, and I can’t say it became any worse, rather better. But maybe thats just my objective experience ;P.
Thanks Torley; I love your posts.
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:17 PM
Hi Torley,
Thanks these weekly tips will be great. My request is to also post them just typed out. I’d much rather spend the few seconds it took to read the tip than the time it would take to watch the video.
Suggested tip: How to make your chat a narrative message, as in “PrettyFlower makes a post to Torley’s blog.” I’ve seen people do this where it looks like a message line rather than a chat line but don’t know how to do that.
Thanks
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:19 PM
@ 5 - I agree. I’ve been here nearly a year or so now, it’s actually improved.
Thanks Torley for the post. i knew there was a way to turn them off, but i couldn’t remember the exact method.
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:19 PM
Can tt aslo turn offn the banal gberrishthat torely spews
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:22 PM
Been knowing this one for long. What I like about this, is that it persists between SL sessions. Now. Any change the Lindens would be good enough to also make “Disable camera constrains” persist between sessions as well? pleeeeease!
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:24 PM
That’s a great hint, Torley. Avalon Mist has an attachment you can wear that does the same thing, so you don’t go clicktyclak while wearing their robes. I have a suggestion for your next one. Show folks how to use the rendering tab in Client for things, like Deleting the Surface Patch when the accidently rez or lose something underground. Keep up the good work. ^.^
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:32 PM
TORLEY IS THE BEST LINDEN!
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:38 PM
What an excellent idea! Posting helpful tips can greatly enhance our Second Life experience.
I’m all for this… however…
Just don’t mention the part about being able to steal any texture you’d like from anything (including attached objects on other residents) just by using the debug menus. I don’t think this feature is very helpful, but destructive and should be fixed in a future build.
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:42 PM
Thanks Torley. Keep ‘em coming…
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:51 PM
I would like a tip about how to log in, when it just sits there and not logs in no matter how long you wait
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:06 PM
I make items in world that depend on the typing anim, thanks for helping to break my content :p
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:10 PM
The client menu is great! I would suggest that everyone play with some of the Debug Settings at least once or twice.
My personal favorite is being able to change the colour of your name (the one above your head;)). I’m trying to find the name bar background colour at the moment
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:15 PM
Nice tip, Torley! After discovering it in that debug menu a while ago I’ve never looked back. Now, if only I could get camera constraints and noisy snapshots off via this menu too, to save having to reactivate on every login….
Looking forward to the rest of the series. “Banal gibberish”, Mr. Felix? As if. (By the way, you may want to check the way you type before making such claims…)
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:24 PM
Thank you Torley, I appreciate your efforts. And I, for one, applaud the addition of Voice, even if I do only use it with my partner, but for that alone it’s more than worthwhile.
I won’t be turning off the Play Typing anim because I find it useful, it tells me when my co-talker has started to reply to something I’ve said (and hasn’t fallen asleep.. lol) and avoids, mostly, changing the subject and having the confusion of two or more different threads to the same conversation. Also, even when on a pose, you can hear the ‘clickety-clack’ of an answer and save starting a new topic before time.
For a future tip, I would like to see the best method of adding new poses to already-animated furniture (that is, furniture with poses already loaded), having wrestled with this myself in the past.
Thank you LL for all your hard work.
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:28 PM
LOL YOUR HIPER TODATY!
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:30 PM
Thanks Torley, always a pleasure to watch your videos. And the link to the page with all the debug settings…super! BTW Watermelon is my favorite fruit!
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:31 PM
OK, here’s MY tip of the week (for those who still don’t know it):
You can ‘tear off’ the chat history from the Communication window and keep it separate, all by itself, just like it used to be. From that point on, you can open and close your groups/friends/IMs but the Chat History will always be there (my personal preference, incidentally). Easy as right-click pie
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:36 PM
@Darien Caldwell
It’s not like they’re turning it off for everyone. I personally like the typing anims, but it’s nice to knowe I have the freedom to turn it off if I want to. Maybe you’d like SL to force people to buy your product before they could enter the world, would that be Facist enough for you?
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:42 PM
wish the debug settings were sticky from session to session. and did they fix the afk one? it stopped working with the last client update.
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:46 PM
thnx Torley..
am still going with Avilion Mist L$20 stop-typing/anti-afkSlump/no-timeout-logoff gadget - gives a short clickety-clack to indicate the other is responding, too…
people do gripe, though voice enhances the realism of this virtual experience, massively… and as a 40wpm typer, so much more info and infinitely more *feeling* is conveyed this way…
so saying, of course telegrams are my prefered method of rl communication with friends - i mean, speaking is just so *risky*… :p
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:48 PM
Thank you!!!!!!!!! Appreciate information, and it was fun to watch!!
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:49 PM
Wow… that video was … spazzy.. But informative! But spazzy.
But I guess you have to be, to be Torley. 
Anyway, nice tip!
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:00 PM
great thanks for the tip. I like seeing this type of stuff. Very helpful.
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:02 PM
Thanks Torley! And where have you been?! Have missed your positive posts!
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:08 PM
You know … If you had given a TEXT_BASED version, I could have done it in far less time than it took me to watch the video.
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:16 PM
now THIS is what Im talking about! Great Idea Award goes to the Linden who came up with this!!
Ive learned loads already but this is awesome
Great to see something that doesn’t make me scream lol
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:21 PM
Speaking of client, i accidently clicked something in client, and now i dont see the line of particles that goes from my hand to the object i edit. Other ppl still see it there, i just dont..
Can anyone tell me what i clicked, or how i get it back?? LOL
Thank you
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:23 PM
Yup, typing animation and sound can be turned off, which is OK if that’s what you want. However, be aware that this also means those around you will have no idea that you’re typing something in.
So be prepared for multiple instances of people walking away or flying off while you’re in the middle of typing a comment… because they won’t be aware of that fact. Oh well.
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:27 PM
lol this option is nice
my tips of the week: never buy “money trees” unless you run a place with high traffic. They don’t pay off by themselves, and its hard to find people who will buy them if you cant advertise it somewhere day and night. Its a piramid game, so dont get ripped off!
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:34 PM
A whacky video, but fun to watch, definitely. Also, a feature that can be useful, inconjuction with the N30 modeling studio, for instance, and SL photos, just as mentioned…..
But, to second the question above, when will we get our separate friends list back?
In the video, it was easy to see that Lindens seem to use the client much differently from the way ordinary residents do… no one I know uses a HUGE communicate window that covers the entire world.
We like our windows small,listen to us!
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:39 PM
For those of you who can’t stand the size of the Communicate Window, here’s another helpful hint - especially useful if you have a nice crisp LCD, or a large monitor. Go to “Preferences”, then “Graphics”, and change the UI Size downward. This will shrink all of the UI elements, giving you more screen real estate as far as the world goes.
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:15 PM
Torley @prime: Thanks once again for my weekly breath of fresh air on the blog, although I’ll admit I’m actually quite pleased with how much more communicative Lindens are starting to get lately. Your video, as are all your tutorials, was crazy in a Good Way, and I’m delighted to hear you’re planning on having one every week. I do hope that won’t mean that your blog posts get shrunk down accordingly, though. My suggestion for additional Tips? Explore the Debug Settings more fully.
Zimmy @2: Give Torley a break. These are some of the same old gripes we hear in every other highjacked blog thread. They don’t accomlish a danged thing, you know — except maybe annoy those of us who read Torley’s threads because they’re entertaining and informative.
Myla @9: Texture ripping can be abused, just like almost anything else we can do here in Second Life. I rely upon the ability to manipulate textures as uuids, and not as .tga (or other graphics format) files because this means I can deal with textures purely through the use of scripts. I do agree that it’s probably not a technique that should be spread around the world to everyone, but it’s not something that needs to be “fixed”.
Arnold @11: Here’s your tip. Log into First Life when you can’t log into Second Life. Maybe you don’t know what you’re missing, but give it try one of these days. Who knows but that you might just enjoy yourself.
Nefertiti @24: I so agree. While I find Torley’s tutorial videos very refreshing, for me they are more entertaining than they are informative. Most of this stuff I figured out for myself long ago because I tinker incessantly. I’ve still watched all of them at least two or three times, though. I like Torley’s style and, while I can’t speak for anyone but myself, I think he has a cute, sexy voice. But that’s just my opinion.
So, yes, Torley … please associate your video tutorials with a short written tutorial covering the same material.
Manjagan @26: You have ShowSelectionBeam set to False.
Blinders @27: I have the opposite problem. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I frequently get stuck in a typing animation. I said what I wanted to say. It appeared in the chat. I keep right on typing ad infinitum until I do something like pound on my keyboard (actually I just usually punch the period key and follow it with . While I’m typing away, saying nothing at all, people just stand around waiting for the inevitable words to appear, which will, of course, never appear. I’ve never liked the typing animation. Instead, I wish it was gone and replaced with some other sort of indication that a person is typing something — not an animation, but maybe the equivalent of the white dot in Voice chat.
My Tip of the Week? See my comment to Arnold, above.
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:35 PM
To #17 (Ron);
THANK YOU for that — it’s not that I didn’t know it, it’s that I was starting to seriously wonder if I was the only one who’d found it! I spent all of two hours the first day whining that I wanted my IM window back, so I just went and figured out how to get it.
It continues to amaze me how people will pitch fits about things without trying to find ways around the “problem”.
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:44 PM
Short useful tip of the week…good idea! Thanks! Could you please include some bug workarounds too? I’d rather read your tips tht wade thorugh the forums. There is so much irrelevant junk in the forums; hard to search.
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:56 PM
This is very handy! I’m a child avi, and it amuses my Rl lady to watch me typing when I “talk,” but this is very useful for times you have to be quiet. Thankies!
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:06 PM
Most of my friends and family have been doing this for a while, it makes some furniture easier to sit on when you don’t suddenly tilt back into the cushion burying your head in the fabric.
As far as not knowing one of them is typing, we all tend to use a MystiTool which displays a ‘T’ next to each person’s name when they are.
Mind you as I do alot of roleplaying where my text is emoted the typing animation never showed much anyway.
/me smiles and waits happily for Torley’s next post but firms his jaw and bares his teeth a little at the howlers “There is a place and time to complain and there is a time to spread honey”
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:21 PM
#2 Non Voice Old style UI Layout Second Life DownLoad
#2 reply to where is the old non~voice SL Client / take a Look Here
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Downloads#Linux
JayR Cela :_)
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:24 PM
Hi Torley
I allways enjoy your video tutorials. They is very instructive. I look forward to learn even more ;o)
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:43 PM
Hello Torley,
thx for that hint. This feature is a real treat. Thx for support about that issue.
I have to admit I feel seriously unreal right now. I try to explain why. It’s about the log-on screen. As the average clueless SL resident, you are always hoping for enlightment. This is a wonderful term. Used to be an important term a few centuries ago. Atm I am left puzzled about the importance of the typing anim. is it just me? Love ya all
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:31 PM
I thought that the rolling restart would have helped with all the rezzing problems and slowness in general. It didn’t it’s still all grey and takes MINUTES to load when before the update everyting was fine. WTF? SL is becoming unbearable to use.
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:42 PM
As usual Torley, helpful
You go, girl!
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:50 PM
[...] (more…) [...]
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:56 PM
Amanda @: Texture ripping can be abused, just like almost anything else we can do here in Second Life. I rely upon the ability to manipulate textures as uuids, and not as .tga (or other graphics format) files because this means I can deal with textures purely through the use of scripts. I do agree that it’s probably not a technique that should be spread around the world to everyone, but it’s not something that needs to be “fixed”.
Hmmm seeing both the dante skin and the X2 skin stolen and spread in freebie bins nowadays, stolen and ripped from their creators i do think IS a problem.
A huge one it is. People spend a lot of time on creating their items, its not a very tempting idea to waste anmore time on making a quality skin, when an items which took you weeks to make can be stoln that easily
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:57 PM
OMG! Thank you so much.
I never knew that and it rocks now I don’t have that going on anymore.
You totally rawk Torley!! <3
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:16 PM
I don’t mind the typing animation or the clickty clack… It lets me know that I haven’t crashed when my lag spikes and I can’t move.
It also lets people know that I am responding to them and not ignoring them.
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:41 PM
I have a feeling this is an extremely inefficient way to convey information, and more a matter of “I like to make videos, and I’ve found a way to get paid for doing it, so I will, because I can.”
Making the knowledgebase accesible to people without having to login would make a huge amount of information far easier to access and searchable by Google and thus easier to find.
Certainly there are uses for instructional videos in conveying information not easily conveyed in words . Telling how to toggle on the client and server menus, display the debug settings, and turn off the Play Type Anim setting is not one of them.
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:54 PM
@Amanda:
Why would you need the ability to take the UUIDs of textures from things that you do not own? Everything has its own UUID, and copying the UUID of textures that I own from my inventory, then putting that into my scripts is harmless. However, being able to select an avatar (for example) and steal every texture from every face is just wrong. This DOES need to be fixed, it needs to ask the server first to see if you have permissions to get them. Why make anything anymore, hun? I make avatars, if anyone can take the textures from them and steal it– how is this a good thing?
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:57 PM
[...] Some other nice tips came out of Torley’s blog post’s comments, like this one, click on the Edit menu, then Preferences, then Graphics, now you can adjust the UI, user interface, portion of Second Life and make it smaller or bigger. It is set to 1.00 by default; I moved mine to .75 and gained at least an inch all of the way around my monitor. You can go the other way as well if you think the UI is too small. From Buckaroo Mu. [...]
August 24th, 2007 at 12:04 AM
@Amanda:
I would like to further clear this situation. Suppose I walk up to you in SL. You just finished making a new object… this object requred a lot of texturing. You are wearing said object, weather it be hair, a gun, skin, ANYTHING. I select you (with a only a few things in the debug menu enabled) and hit one set of hotkeys.
Now suddenly, I have all od the UUID’s of ALL of your objects textures… sent to me llIMOwner style, in that you have NO IDEA I just ripped you off completely. Not only this, but it tells me the name and face and size of every Texture… this way I can completely duplicate whatever it is you own.
All of this without you ever knowing! As you walk around, enjoying your Secondlife… Everyone arround you could easily be stealing your hard work.
Please do tell me how you think this is a good thing? Unless of course YOU are the one stealing avitars and objects for your own gain.
In that case, we would all love to hear your story.
~ Kenji fox
August 24th, 2007 at 12:20 AM
I notice most of the avatars in the video are ‘grey’. Is this another tip we should know about i.e. reduce some setting somewhere so it greys them and speeds up SL? Any tip on making things go nice and smooth would be handy (like all those graphics options - what is the best compromise between speed and quality?)
August 24th, 2007 at 12:27 AM
Oh and a really good tip of the week (maybe even tip of the day on the log in screen) would be to explain that there isn’t a bug in the Recent Items tab in your inventory, it’s just the way it works got changed but Linden Labs forgot to tell anyone!
August 24th, 2007 at 12:41 AM
How about we put comments on a seperate page so I have NO chance of mistakenly reading the negative garbage that people post even for short and very helpful tips like this one? If you don’t like Second Life…GET OUT. Dust off your ATARI.
August 24th, 2007 at 12:51 AM
Thanks for the tip, I’m already finding it useful and I look forwards to more.
It might be worth giving the grid monkeys a nudge, though, because login packets are failing to be received and every TP results in a crash-landing.
August 24th, 2007 at 1:03 AM
wow, thank you! on the teen grid at furry plateau, we sometimes host karaoke nights on voice and it’s so annoying when people keep typing while they’re singing, it’s nice they’re cheering, but all the click clack… i will definitely show the others this! thank you once again, torley!
August 24th, 2007 at 1:15 AM
Dang @ #39- guess visual learners can just stick it?
Seriously, a big YAY to Torley for this great idea- I’d love to see more video tutorials, because I’ve certainly tried to convey tons of “simple” tips to new avs I’ve met in-world and due to language barriers and/or learning style differences, it’s taken far longer than necessary. Just think… Help and Orientation Islands could be all video, with voice-overs done in a variety of languages… Or are they already? lol !! ^_^
August 24th, 2007 at 1:41 AM
Tip of the week and has been for months and months: Provide a better service.
August 24th, 2007 at 1:59 AM
Oh sweet! I love this, now people are trippin out when I talk to them lmao I guess a very limited people actually read the blogs lmfao Im glad to be a part of the select few lmao
August 24th, 2007 at 2:19 AM
Please concentrate on the things addressed in #2 above! Make these items and stability first priority!
And we want an optional viewer without voice (and very horrible thing that comes with it in the bar) but upgraded like the one with voice. We want to be able to choose in the future and not be prompted every time we log in to upgrade to a new viewer, please disable that message!
August 24th, 2007 at 2:20 AM
…love the tutorials though:)
August 24th, 2007 at 2:30 AM
I’d like a tip that (fixes everything|makes the system stable|stops me from whining).
Jeez guys, give it a rest.
Do your really think that one Linden distributing *helpful* hints about the debug settings and other hidden things is going to impede LL’s ability to code around bugs?
Get a grip and see this post for what it is: useful, purposeful and welcome.
Blimey.
August 24th, 2007 at 2:34 AM
Toley a useful hint - to use as music events etc - I have one suggestion - When using voice I would like that the slider set for a particular avatar remains set until changed manually. It is annoying when crossing parcels to find that it default to bearly audible and has to be reset. Or do you know of a fix for this?
August 24th, 2007 at 2:42 AM
Thank you for the tip. It can be very useful.
Personally I would like to see the feed back that people are in the
process to tell something, so that we are not going to talk through eachother and getting mixed up in the sequence of a conversation. Since non verbal feed back is already lacking in sl, this is at least one to keep ( I think ).
August 24th, 2007 at 2:43 AM
a nice tip would be:
A way to keep traffic on a steady level. I have a simple camping bench, occupied most of the time. but every morning (SL) at some point my 2-3 k traffic is down to the annoying 2-300. Is this normal or is there a setting to change? or a tips to keep it up all the time? Or is there information/help available on this traffic subject? I just cant find it.
Thanks
btw, keep up the good job with this info!! and all you whiners, get a 1st life… i agree with the positive people here! (must say the avitexture bug, concerns me yes, not in my business.. but i agree it is a concern for those people)
August 24th, 2007 at 2:43 AM
Thankyou Torley, that typing animation and sound drive me nuts usefull tips like these really will be very helpfull. =)
August 24th, 2007 at 2:47 AM
Someone please shoot Torley with some tranquilliser darts before letting him make another video.
It’s good to see you doing videos like this, even if you’re having private convos in the middle of them. But maybe we could have something you didn’t already tell us about not too long ago?
August 24th, 2007 at 2:51 AM
What a blatently obvious “break-in-the-error” posts post.
you can imagine it at LL now “We have a list forming on the blog of 9 or 10 bad days, with reems and reems of blog posts showing it. WE NEED COMEDY RELIEF TO DIVERT ATTENTION FROM OUR ERRORS”
*Torley Lindens beeper goes off.
August 24th, 2007 at 2:53 AM
your video tuTORials are always entertaining … thx!
August 24th, 2007 at 3:10 AM
I consider it to be a little rude when people turn this off.
IMO It’s better to *have* an audio/visual queue that someone is typing. Without it, most people don’t know if you are responding or not, and are likely to walk away from you while you are still writing.
Replace it? sure.
Remove it? sif!
August 24th, 2007 at 3:12 AM
Thanks Torley Linden, I love the video Tutorial and its helped alot
August 24th, 2007 at 3:47 AM
@53
Agreed! Torley, you rock, but you need some tranqs in you or SOMETHING! Too much hyper for my just-woken-up self.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:11 AM
/me loves Torley
*purr*
August 24th, 2007 at 4:18 AM
Great tip Torley! The typing sound IS annoying at concerts but not as annoying as the sad sacks responding to your light-hearted posts and using it to vent their dissatisfied spleens about other SL issues. Get a RL people or go play some other game if it’s SO bad for you. Now, if anyone wants to abuse me for this in-world, turn off your typing sounds first please
August 24th, 2007 at 4:39 AM
Nicholaz has been steadily working away on the last non-voice client, and has produced updates which fix a few bugs and suppress the login message. Check it out here.
http://nicholaz-beresford.blogspot.com/
August 24th, 2007 at 4:46 AM
btw, I have an attachment called Type Killer that does the same thing…
August 24th, 2007 at 4:49 AM
I’ll have to send this to my pet. Her typing animation has been nonexistent for over a month now since she had a huge crash. It’s hugely annoying, and she misses the sparkles of her typing poof attachment.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:02 AM
Is there a way to have various other gestures activate on text chat instead of either “nothing” or the default typing gesture?
August 24th, 2007 at 5:03 AM
Hiyo! Thanx for the comments! Just wanted to address a few quick points for da record:
* I often provide text (or picture) versions of my tips and certainly have for this one (helps to spread out the message), but for many, many Residents (as evidenced on my YouTube videos page @ http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=Torley ) who prefer an “over-the-shoulder” view and seeing Second Life in motion, this is what I provide. Different people have different learning styles, I celebrate this.
* Video tutorials is not currently one of the “main” things I do but helps tie up loose ends of “Hey, I didn’t know that! You should blog about it!” I get so much. I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for popular, and practical demand. Education of how to use some “hidden stuff” increases passion and confidence. And yeah, that includes workarounds to annoying bugs (which I abhor too, ugh). Plus, might I add that rendering videos while working in SL provides a lateral benefit of testing my Q6600 — quad-core at a bargain FTW, b@by!
* I know, I know that some of you already know this tip. That’s great, because you’re already empowered to share this knowledge. But for the many who don’t know, this is… why I’m sharing.
* I totally agree the typing anim. & sound is a useful cue when desired, but having the choice to switch it, and ONLY it off is powerful. I know in previous times, we encouraged live music attendees to turn down the Sounds slider, but that also mutes crowd applause noises and other desirables. Having been to a fair amount of concerts, I realized that wouldn’t cut it.
* I grateful to get compliments but it’s also important to remember that I am really inspired by many of my coworkers and can’t superlative myself; some of my fellow Lindens encouraged me to do this, and having seen the responses it’s had, I must thank them too… while they continue to work to make the Second Life experience better for you, as we like to say.
* I began my journey in Second Life as a nomad, an explorer, picking up stray tips. That eventually led me to helping Kex Godel edit her FAQ, and then putting together guides of my own. It pains me so much when info is available that could help someone in a given situation, but not accessible or well-known enough. One of my goals with this “Tip of the week” is to provide a fun, easy, lightweight, rewarding, etc. way to communicate this.
* My vidtut inspirations include the likes of luminaries like Russell Brown and David Pogue, both of who are really enthusiastic. I have also liked Reggie Fils-Aime’s style lately, altho while I’m not quite about “MAKING GAMES AND KICKING ASS”, I wish I had his gesticulations for voice gestures!
* As always, there’ll continue to be a diversity of posts reported on the Official Linden Blog to inform and appeal to a wide spectrum but with specific focuses. Like the mantra goes, “red is a color but not the whole rainbow”.
* Re: some of the Communicate and UI issues raised above, not only can I say I feel your pain, I’ve been run over with it multiple times. (I’m personally an advocate for vertical tabs a la widefox to rectify the Friends/IM tab aspect ratio issue). Don’t forget, Benjamin Linden holds UI office hours on Thursday and specific bug triage sessions on Tuesday; I’m in attendance and helping out so come meet us @ http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Benjamin_Linden
* Re: performance issues, my texture loading recently has sucked… so slow :\. While I’m not on the best or even nearly best of broadband connections, I’ll inquire with our engineers about it. Gray/missing image avatars not resolving as expected has been a bigger architectural set of thorns for awhile, and we’d all like to see that get better — improvements to avatar rendering pipeline and upload system are *currently* being worked on, someones like Cube and Steve Linden would know lots more about that.
* I also host office hours myself, Fridays @ 6 AM and 2 PM PDT… so yeah, that means in an hour, if you want to come by Grasmere (can’t miss where I live on the map, green + pink) and hang out, please do!
* Current listing of Linden Office Hours @ http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Office_Hours and that list is growing, with Lindens across numerous departments. I feel it’s super-important to have the company well-represented.
Thanx again and rawk on! =^_^=
August 24th, 2007 at 5:10 AM
For everyone that complains about the long list of recent items they are getting, a tutorial on how to set the filter would it seems make a lot of peoples life much better, it did mine.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:21 AM
This is a neat tip, and certainly beats the “THE ATTACK OF THE SLASHER!”
“/how are you?”
“I am ok. Say, did you know I am seeing a ‘/’ before everything you say? Is that some bug?”
“/Uhm, no it isn’t. I am doing it on purpose.”
“Well why are you doing it then?”
“/With the concert going on, it keeps the typing sound quiet.”
“Ahh I see, and since the typing sound is quieter than all the noisy yelling, clapping, cheering, screeching and “WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” I can see that it’s a big deal. Yes you should keep it down.”
“/Huh?…well, also this way no one knows I am getting ready to say anything, creating even more confusion,”
“Well what’s the point in that? Then we won’t know who you are talking to. Plus, well, no offlense, but it just it looks silly.”
“/Yeah, I know…sigh..”
—————————————————————————
You could also switch to voice, but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms, and could annoy any family members you have close to your computer.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:36 AM
“You could also switch to voice, but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms, and could annoy any family members you have close to your computer.”
especially the heavy breathing.
August 24th, 2007 at 6:10 AM
Cool, I love new thingies to clickey on and change stuff
Can I know how to tell inventory to stop “fetching” if I could stop it then it wouldn’t freeze me…..
I have been looking for help for a long time. 1.5 hours of live chat called it “interesting” and around 30+ hours after submitting my Ticket I still can’t access my inventory or the viewer crashes. Yeah I got support ticket, I cleared cache, I reinstalled SL you said it I did it, Including paying my bit this month….
August 24th, 2007 at 6:44 AM
Torley, is there some way to turn off JUST the clacky sound? I have a substitute “typing” animation that I’d like to keep running (my avatar gestures and speaks while I type)…but I’d like to lose the sound file.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:00 AM
@31 — Here’s your tip. Log into First Life when you can’t log into Second Life.
I hate smart-ass comments like that. I’m paying for a service. What do you suggest the next time my electricity goes out? “Enjoy getting back to nature!” At least I don’t I don’t get charged for electricity when it’s out.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:07 AM
Maybe it’s just my perspective as an open-source advocate, but it amazes me how many commenters seem to believe that the only incentive for people to create high-quality items is pure greed.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:15 AM
Just out of curiosity, and unrelated, sorry about that btw, is there any news on the Windlight client?
thanks
August 24th, 2007 at 7:22 AM
Only problem if everybody were to turn off their typing anim and sound… you would never know when somebody is still typing to you. You end up typing over each other. The anim/sound are there as a cue. Better solution is to get an animation override which doesn’t have sound and perhaps a better anim than typing in the air.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:26 AM
well done, torley! more of it! many of us still know not enough about many functionalities……
August 24th, 2007 at 7:44 AM
Sorry if somebody already suggested this, i haven’t read all the comments… What really would help enormously is a tip how to turn off those particles your avatar’s hand is emitting when you build/edit something!! I was just working on a braselet attached to the left hand, working with really tiny prims. I was almost blinded by those particles that hand was emitting and could hardly see what i was working on!!! I even tried to look for a variable under debug settings to switch it off but i really couldn’t begin to guess how it’s called there!
Please teach us how to switch those particles off, this is really handy and saves a lot of time!!
August 24th, 2007 at 7:54 AM
Thanks, Torley. This was great. I look forward to the next installment. The more information, the better–and the repetition is great for us technically challenged. We cannot know enough.
As a possibly inappropriate aside, it seems that some residents will take every opportunity to moan and whine about all and sundry. It puzzles me. If you are so unhappy, why log on?
August 24th, 2007 at 7:57 AM
sighs,
Dirk says
Can tt aslo turn offn the banal gberrishthat torely spews
pardon!
want to rip some one else for gibberish, try typing better yourself
August 24th, 2007 at 7:59 AM
@ 60 Torley.
Thank you, nice to know that some Lindens feel the same way about some of the bad UI changes, and that they are being thought about, and things like av rendering are being looked at too. Textures are not only slow, sometimes the incorrect one is displayed. I turn around, and back, and they are either normal, or black, or fairy lights. Clicking on them used to fix it, but this is not always so now.
The Office Hours link is great, thank you, but maybe it might be time for a blog post on which Lindens are responsible for what, so we can direct outrselves to the right one. You pick up the odd thing from a comment here and there, but it would make sense to address to the right Linden.
I currently have typing anim off, but it is useful as a talk indicator. Maybe that menu item could be split to turn off just the clack sound, the anim, or both? And also, continuous typing is an indication of a crash, so one less indicator having it turned off…
August 24th, 2007 at 8:15 AM
Oh man, there are so many great things hidden in the debug menu that absolutely need to be explained. It’s like a treasure trove of SL secrets. My favorite so far is RenderDynamicReflections. I’ve been telling all my friends to use it; it makes shiny objects look SO MUCH BETTER.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:26 AM
I wish there was a was to turn off the typing sound, but not the animation. I have a few typing overrides (a book I scribble in and bubbles for my mermaid moments), and the typing noise is incongruous with those animations. But since they work by detecting the typing animation, then overriding it with their animation, the typing animation still needs to be on for them to work.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:37 AM
Mimi @37 & Myla @40: I could make an argument for being able to rip textures that don’t belong to me, but that would result in a complaint about not being able to back up no-copy items for which I might have paid a great deal of L$. I can easily enough recreate the prims of a house. Re-texturing my new one to make it look like the one I lost permanently during a restart of a sim is another thing altogether. However, I won’t point any fingers at this obvious, and very serious, omission from the abilities we have to protect our investments.
Stealing avatar textures is one thing. Frankly, I didn’t even know you could do that, since I’ve never tried and have no reason to do so, anyway. People have been stealing textures from prims for a long time, and breaking the ability to do this with the administrative view feature isn’t going to stop it. I won’t bother explaining how its done, since that would just send another wave of pirates out to start stealing things that aren’t theirs. Perhaps that check to determine that you own copy rights to that texture would satisfy you but it won’t satisfy people who have lost things irrecovably due to glitches within Second Life because the textures on an object they own disappear forever when that object gets sucked into the Second Life Black Hole.
Piracy is a problem in Second Life. No doubt about it, and the copiers will forever remain in lock-step with the people who generate copy-protection features. If it’s not already here you can be certain that Copybot ver. 2 is in the works. And when Linden Lab breaks it, work on Copybot ver 3 will begin immediately. We, as content creators (and, yes, I’m one of you, although I haven’t put anything up on the market, yet) have to deal with that in Second Life as in anywhere else on the Internet. We deal with it by trying to find out who ripped us off and taking whatever measures we can, then getting on with business. I sympathize with people who spend a lot of time creating something unique, only to find it up for sale by someone else, or being handed out free. Perhaps it will happen to me, someday. I’ll be angry, disappointed, frustrated, maybe even a little depressed, but I’ll get over it and continue on creating. Why? Because, unlike a lot of people here in Second Life, I love making things, I’m not here to make big bucks doing it (although getting something back for my efforts would be nice), I have a thick skin, and … well, it’s in my blood.
I can rez a sim-covering platform to give a sim-sized flat surface for legitimate purposes in a sim I own — or I can cover someone else’s sim and make life very difficult for everyone there. I can create some wonderfully-detailed jewelry with tiny prims, or plant a bug in a prim so microscopically small you may never see it unless you know exactly where to look. I can create an obscene object that looks like it was made by someone else and fill a sim with them, or I can use Skidz Primz without all my things looking like they were created by Skidz Tweak. I can make a weapon that will shoot you into the stratsophere, or an elevator to take you to the top of a tall building. In short, girls, do not presume that a tool is always going to be used for malicious or selfish purposes just because it can be. If we disabled everything in Second Life that could be so used it would put everyone here out of business and make Second Life a bland cardboard copy of itself, with content only occasionally being created by employees of Linden Lab with full administrative capabilities.
Torley @60: One of the problems with Linden office hours is that those of us in the U.S. get penalized for being in the U.S., just like our European neighbors get penalized for being in Europe during Grid down-towntimes. I can’t log in to Second Life when I’m at work, and I’m at work at the same time all you Lindens are at work. I routinely go to Linden Village several times a week just to see if anyone is there. I’ve *never* seen a Linden around during times I can go there, and the only Linden I’ve spoken directly to in-world just happened to be at a meeting of Thinkers that I was attending. It is terribly difficult to contact employees of Linden Lab when you have the same working hours, or, worse, are a couple of time zones removed, meaning they’re home having dinner when you’re ready and willing to discuss issues of importance. There’s the Blog, of course, but there’s also a general perception, correct or not, that noboday at Linden Lab ever bothers to read our comments, with a few notable exceptions, of course. A lot of people complain about the utter incomprehensibility of the jira, which is why it’s so underutilized. That leaves us with the forum, and by “us” I’m not including myself or anyone else without a paid account (the vast majority of Second Life users), since we’re locked out of it, so I have no idea if Lindens ever even read/post there.
Sedary @65: Sorry you are annoyed, but there is a simple fact of Second Life. There are times you can’t log in. Period. You can’t do anything about it. I can’t do anything about it. Linden Lab can’t do anything about it. Do you really think I haven’t experienced this myself? I have four volunteer jobs *and* a business to run in Second Life. It’s as frustrating for me as it is for anyone else, but I don’t bitch about it. What do I do when I lose electricity? We probably shouldn’t talk about it in this public forum.
And did it ever occur to you that making that remark was my way of letting the poster know that complaining about it in this thread is innappropriate, here? I guess not.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:54 AM
Zimmy Ginsberg is right. It becomes worse day after day. Always more and more options, but always more and more bugs. What about group notices the membe