Color Under Cursor - Finding the RGB Values in Second Life

I'm sure that I mentioned I had a bunch of things I wanted to add here after my couple of weeks in a funk.
Here's another. I have a number of programs, mostly free, for getting the colours from objects, backgrounds, pages on my screen, you name it. Here's an application inside Second Life, it's not hidden, but, I think a lot of people don't know about it.
It can be helpful for matching colours in objects that you can modify.
Here's a short video, I've captioned it and also included the script below it.


 Click on it and watch in full screen



and...here's the script

Here's a neat little trick I use sometimes. It can be great for finding the RGB values of any object and then matching them. It is particularly useful for getting close to your skin shade for shoes.

You'll need the Developer menu to access "Color Under Cursor"

If you don't have it enabled, go to your preferences and under the Advanced tab check the box to show it. Click okay to save your new settings.

Now, left click Develop on the Menu and on the first drop down choose Show info, then on the next drop down select Show color under cursor.

Once you've done that look in the lower right of the screen to see the RGB values under wherever your cursor rests (they'll be the first 3 numbers).

When using the numbers for skin shading, I suggest that you set your sun to midday. Things like full bright settings in the shoes can affect the result so play around a little, it's worth it once you get them right.

Make Firestorm Look & Feel Like Linden Labs' Viewer 2

Just my feeling that some of our residents who learned on Viewer 2 might like the magic decoder ring to help them find regular menus and the Sidebar.
Firestorm is an excellent full featured viewer. The viewer has been set with defaults that in a few cases, not many actually, look like the old viewer 1 UI that some of you won't be familiar with. I hope the video helps.
It is in HD, for best viewing click on it and watch in full screen and set to HD



The link to the Phoenix site is...
Firestorm Beta Download


The video is captioned, but, I've included the script here...
The Firestorm viewer is a feature packed user interface based on the Linden viewer 2.  It was developed by the Phoenix team, one of the most robust third party viewer providers.  Because the viewer is intended to make the transition from the old style phoenix viewer, it contains some elements that you may not be familiar with if you currently use Linden's viewer 2.

The settings that I'll demonstrate here are only recommendations. You will no doubt customize the viewer in the future. 

If you haven't already downloaded the viewer, go to http://www.phoenixviewer.com/ and choose the Firestorm Beta viewer for the platform you use.  Once you install it, we will make some changes.

On the bottom bar there are a number of icons that we can remove.  The viewer comes without a sidebar as the default.  Later, we'll learn how to choose a sidebar version.  What you take out of the bottom bar is up to you, I've removed a few things that are either repeated in the sidebar or on the top bar or seldom used.

The old viewer one interface used a pie menu and that menu comes as the default in Firestorm.  The pie menu does not exist in viewer 2, we'll learn how to change it.

Go to the Avatar (Me) menu item on the top bar, click and from the dropdown menu choose Preferences.  Now let's begin...

Under the general tab will set the away timeout to "never" and turn off UI Hints.

On the next tab "Chat" we'll turn off the typing animation and set chat to begin when we press letter keys. Turn on Group Chat pop ups if you follow any groups.

In Sound & Media, I turn off sounds, strictly a personal preference, not a recommendation.

In Network and Cache you can increase your bandwidth, if you have a strong connection. this is where you can modify the location of your chat logs, if you wish.

I like to use the arrow keys for movement, they're set in the Move & View tab.

In the Privacy tab you can set the viewer to save your chat and IM. Showing favourite LMs at login can be useful if you have favourite locations set up in landmarks.

I sometimes use the Developer and Advanced menus, they are set under the Advanced tab

Next we'll get rid of that pesky pie menu under the UI Extras and at the same time have the script dialogs stay where we're used to them by turning off the option to see them in the upper right

Now to get the Sidebar back...open the Skins tab and choose a skin with Side Tabs

Only if you use RLV, you'll see an option under the Firestorm tab to "Allow remote scripted viewer controls(RLVa)" make sure it is checked. The same option is also available under the Advanced menu, both do the same thing.

Many of the changes we've made require a viewer restart, so click Apply then OK and log out. When you log back in the changes will be in effect.

Of SLCC 2011 - Second Life Community Conference

I'm baaaaack, so many things I want to write about. The next 3 posts should follow quickly... first the conference, more accurately, my own choice for best presentation.

Drum roll...the award goes to Aliza Sherman (cybergrrloh in Second Life) for a very upbeat presentation focusing, among other things, on what we can do to encourage new participation in Second Life.

Compared to numerous other presentations, where we heard the litany of what needs to be done, what has been done and believe it or not more whinging about the sidebar...please people just learn to use the new UI, Aliza's commentary provided practical suggestions for connecting with people, potential new users, out of world. Her overview of new apps and tried and true technologies available to connect with others is a must see for anyone with a business in Second Life or for just anyone who wants our community to grow.

You can access her presentation on ustream 
Aliza Sherman Presentation to SLCC 2011