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FUSION
issue-fifteen F E B RUA RY-2 0 1 5
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STAFFANDCONTRIBUTORS Publisher & Creative Director Libby Farleigh Business Director Lily Holsworthy Managing Editor Jordan Whitt Fashion Editor Daija Arida Senior Writers Jude Tatham Auryn Beorn Writers Compe Lockwood Photographers Micah Kalinakov Arya Braveheart Fashion Team Alex1985 Diabolito Drakkje Dailey Oakley Foxtrot 4
Cover photography by Aaisling https://www.flickr.com/photos/124126520@N04/
Hair by Lelutka � Skin by Glam Affair � Eyes by Buzzeri � Necklace by Glam Affair � Bodysuit by Foxes
FUSION www.fusionmagazinesl.com
Mesh bodies seem to be the topic of choice this month. I did try the Maitreya one when it was released and there’s no quibbling the fact it is beautiful. For people who are less than fully dressed a lot of the time and aren’t confident in their ability to modify their shape I can see its value, but for a girl like me who loves her clothes, and has spent I hate to think how much on her wardrobe, the limitations it has counts it out. I’m sure this trend will continue to get better with updates as time goes on, who knows, I might become a mesh body convert in the future. Have a super February!
F U S I O N february
Valentine’s Day is just a couple of weeks away, how did that happen? I say it every year but time really does seem to go faster the older I get. I hope everyone is doing well with their resolutions; I am doing fabulously. Ok, well no I didn’t actually make any, but at least I’m consistent!
NOTE-FROM-THE-PUBLISHER
It's a bit of a mini issue this month, primarily because there are changes afoot at Fusion! Not only are we weeks away from launching the Fusion website we also have a veritable hoard of new staff joining us. Lily Holsworthy, who has written for Fusion for some time, is stepping up as our new Business Director, handling all the advertising & financial side of things. We are also welcoming Jordan Whitt as our new Managing Editor. Those of you who have read SL magazines for a while will remember Jordan from her time at ICON Lifestyle Magazine, we’re so excited to welcome her to Fusion and see what mark she makes.
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FEBRUARY 10
THE BIG RESOLUTION
BEAT THE BLUES
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BLOGGER'S CORNER
LOOKS OF THE MONTH
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FEATURES
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x o F . J le by h a c i Jude Tath M y b y h p am & photogra
Happy New Year to all and what, you may ask, will 2015 hold for us? Good health and happiness we hope, but we also have our own desires for the year ahead, which for many start form in the shape of a new year’s resolution. There are many definitions of the word resolution, but in general terms it is a resolve; a decision or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something. So why do we make these decisions and more importantly, why do we usually break them? Common resolutions are often relating to us as people and our physicality - loose weight, be more healthy, give up smoking, drink less, get monetary affairs in order, change career, etc. We also set ourselves general challenges which are really just tasks we are avoiding - clean the cupboard at the top of the stairs, spend more time with family, wash the car once a week and so on. In SL I know many of us choose the start of a new year to clean out our inventory or perhaps give ourselves a make-over. I even have a friend who decided they wanted a child in SL and are now pregnant and planning for this happy virtual event.
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But even though all of the aforementioned resolutions are achievable, why is our success rate so low?
Perhaps we set ourselves up to fail, sometimes by expecting too much or subconsciously choosing resolutions we know we will never achieve. Also putting the label of ‘New Year’s Resolution’ on a task automatically puts pressure on to achieve it.
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So perhaps this year we should give ourselves a break and maybe highlight just one thing we wish to do in the 12 months ahead. Think of something we know is within our power and set a realistic time frame, then if we don’t manage to do it we won’t feel like epic failures. If we are successful then we can give ourselves a well deserved pat on the back and set the next target.
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Whatever you do in 2015, don’t be too hard on yourself and set goals which are positive and achievable. Remember – you can do it!
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M e y s h b o he d t i e e s : r a
here once was a time in Second Life when users didn’t spend most of their time in their inventories looking for something to wear. A great outfit consisted of mostly painted on textures, hair you had to make in appearance mode, some prim pieces you had to adjust by hand and some shoes that actually looked like you were wearing the boxes it came in rather than actual shoes. Your skin looked like when you played dress up with your mom’s makeup and your body well there was no shadowing or tinting and you did the best you could with what you had. Those of us who been around a long time then graduated to flexi hair then sculpted prims. I can tell you I remember being so incredibly excited about the sculpties (I still have most of these in my inventory). Then mesh came along, then it was on to fitted mesh and the skins got so much better along with everything else and the shoes! Shoes that actually looked like real shoes! It was an exciting time. Then came the derriere of things and some new more plastic surgery looking breasts.
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Fast forward through mesh hands and feet 14
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which I don’t need to tell anyone how much of a godsend that was and then we finally got mesh heads and bodies. I have debated and demo’d long and hard where those are concerned. When there were very few out people bought what was out there.
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Even though I’ve so far given a pass on the mesh bodies, I do give credit to our designers who take the time to make all of the extras to go with them on top of the regular stuff. It really is great to see that they value our business and stay on top of demand so kudos to them!
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The mesh body is a great idea in theory. However it’s not made to fit all of the mesh we’ve previously purchased and with the appliers it is bringing SL back to the days of painting on textures. The mesh clothing gives beautiful curves where needed, the textures are incredibly realistic and they fit (sometimes minor tweaking is required). Not to mention the prices for some of the mesh bodies; you can get the same look with a little bit of time and effort on non-mesh bodies and have more money to spend.
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article by Jude Tatham & photography by Micah J. Fox
Beat the Blues F U S I O N february
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am finding it hard to get out of bed at the moment and if weren’t for my daily obligations, I probably wouldn’t. The weather isn’t great, my unhealthy interest in chocolate has got worse and, as a result, I am struggling to get on the clothes that fit just fine before the holidays. Needless to say my mood is low and I don’t need a doctor to tell me I have a severe case of the January blues. In the Urban Dictionary it simply states that the January Blues is the ‘funk’ that you enter when the holiday season is over. It starts on January 2nd and can continue throughout the month and further. But how can we shake ourselves up for the new year and send those blues packing? Here are my top 5 suggestions:
Exercise
As many of you know this is one of the best antidotes for feeling low, especially at the beginning of the year. Positive endorphins are released into our brain when we exercise and this helps us to feel really good. But don’t worry, you don’t have to run out and join a gym or start jogging to work in your suit, simply walking more regularly, attend a yoga or pilates class a few times a week, or even just a regular swim in your local pool can start you on the right path to a great year.
Eat more healthily 18
Throw out those left over chocolates from Christmas and cut right back on your alcohol intake. Reduce your sugar, up your fruit and vegetable consumption and cut back on the amount of dairy products you eat each day. Not only will you start feeling better, but you may even loose a few unwanted pounds in the process which will also help towards improving your mood. Simple!
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Set yourself a task
If there is something you have been meaning to do and either haven’t got around to it or can’t seem to face it, then make it a priority and push yourself to get the job done. It could be something as simple as clearing out your closet or dusting on top of your cupboards, or perhaps making contact with an old friend or spending more time with your parents. If you do nothing else this year do this one thing and trust me you will feel relieved and proud of yourself when achieved.
Be more sociable
Staying tucked up at home can be tempting when it’s cold outside, but being cut off from friends or family, or not having a social support network, can worsen your mood. Face-to-face human contact is important as it prompts certain physiological responses in the brain that benefit our mental health in a way that technologybased contact doesn’t. As great as SL is, get out there and see your friends, become a social butterfly and ensure you have a healthy lifestyle balance.
Book a holiday
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It could be anywhere at any time, but the act of finding that perfect get away is always a welcome distraction. Even if you can’t manage anywhere too exotic, take the family camping, take a road trip or even plan to go and stay with friends. The thought of escaping your home for even just a few precious days can be incredibly uplifting and gives you something to look forward to.
Things you need to know about mesh bodies ……… • Part One • by Auryn Beorn
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Who hasn’t heard about mesh bodies nowadays? Like mesh hands and feet did before, they improve the appearance of our avatar, making it quite smoother than the default SL avatar. If you’re interested in acquiring one, or even if you already have purchased one (or more than one), this miniseries will clarify a few key concepts.
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Daily, I see questions about what can/cannot be done with mesh bodies, or wondering if scripts could do things to them that are simply not possible. I also see questions about appliers, and particularly, the Omega applier. My goal is to take the mystery out of all this. First of all: What is a mesh body? Technically, a mesh body is a set of linked SL primitives of mesh type, containing data about the geometry defining it, how this geometry should conform to the SL avatar and changes in some sliders (rigged mesh), and the textures to be applied. It is important to realize that mesh objects, no matter how complex their geometry, are still seen as fancy boxes by the server, fancy boxes that have several faces that can be easily textured by scripts.
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Also, mesh bodies are made of more pieces than the very simple concept shown in the picture. One of the reasons is because of the alpha zones and the fact that each mesh primitive may have up to eight different faces to be textured. If a ninth face is needed, then another mesh primitive has to be used. But let’s not confuse ourselves with this yet.Before that, let’s talk about the naked skin shown on a mesh body. Later in the series we will get into clothing and the alpha zones. Within the modelling program, whether this is Blender or others, we have several ways to texture a mesh. But because this mesh will be later exported and uploaded
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to SL, the mesh needs to be unwrapped. What does this mean? It means that we have to lay flat our mesh object (so textures can be created), creating a map, or guides if you will, indicating which point of the mesh will be textured by which pixel of the texture. In order to create a texture that will fit that mesh object, we have to use these guides, painting by following its shape. We may hear that those guides are the UVs of the mesh object.
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It’s good to be familiarized with the general idea: The UV of a mesh can be understood as the guides used to paint the texture. Of course, this is a very simplistic explanation of the term UV, but remember: the purpose of this mini series is understanding some basic concepts. We don’t need to know all thetechnical details in order to learn what can be achieved with mesh bodies, and what cannot be. Each creator of a mesh body could use their own UV if they wanted to. But this would be a nightmare for skin creators that create skin appliers. Suppose that we have three different mesh bodies, and three different UVs for them, as this picture shows:
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Now, suppose you’re a skin creator, you have ten skin tones, and you want to offer appliers for the three mesh bodies, so your customers can purchase the appliers that fit with their body. This means that you should work the ten tones over three different UV configurations. It sounds like a lot ofwork! Instead of this, what mesh body creators do (at least, the creators of the four mesh bodies I’ve tried),is to unwrap their mesh bodies so they conform to an already known UV that saves a lot of work to skin and clothes creators. This UV is the UV of... the default SL avatar.
mesh created with MakeHuman 24
Still, making skin appliers is no click and go. Each mesh body has their own appliers system, which means creating a different set of HUDs per body, and skin creators could also need to retouch the tones of their skins, fix mistakes, then upload them again. Actually, when I’ve said “at least, the creators of the four mesh bodies I’ve tried”, that wasn’t 100% accurate. There’s a mesh body from the four I’ve tried, Belleza Venus, which has different UVs for hands and feet than the UVs of the SL avatar. This means that skin creators making appliers for the Venus body, have to redo the textures of their hands and feet, in all the tones they consider they will be supporting. This may also have consequences for clothes creators making appliers for this body. We will continue in the next issue, but before closing this first part, I’d like to point a consequence of all we’ve explained here.
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See you in the next issue! Enjoy your SL.
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We’ve pointed out that some body parts, like the Belleza Venus hands and feet, do not conform to the UV of the SL avatar. There is no script solution for this. A script cannot magically transform one texture conforming one UV, to a different texture conforming another UV. A script can apply a texture onto the faces of a mesh, and that’s it. The texture needs to exist. This means, the creator has to create and upload it. This is why not conforming to the UV of the SL avatar is a bad idea. There’s already a lot of work to do creating appliers for all the systems and brands a creator decides to support. Giving them more work than necessary is not a good idea.
Second Life on
Facebook by Lily Holsworthy
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ocial media is taking over the world. We can communicate and network with people from around the world simply at the touch of a button. Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are widely used by people from all walks of life as a way to express themselves, keep in touch with loved ones, advertising and even gaming. It is one of the best ways to stay informed and in the know about literally everything. These are at least what for the most part these social media platforms are used for. However, let’s be real for a minute, we are all curious by nature and the vast majority uses it to be nosey. We use it to see who is with who, where they’ve been, what they’ve been up to and who has the best drama. Claim as you wish to not like drama but truth of the matter is where Second Life is concerned someone else’s Facebook drama and you’re running for the popcorn to watch as the story unfolds.
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I have read all of the articles and blogs about Facebook deleting avatar accounts. To be honest I was onboard with most of the Facebook side. I figured why does anyone seriously need an account for their avatar? I understand the anonymity part of it but I am also a huge nerd that knows we aren’t as anonymous on the internet as we think.
Eight years I’ve gone without having a Facebook for my Second Life avatar. I finally had to give in the beast that is Facebook for my avatar. It’s been a very interesting experience so far. I have had a real life Facebook for years and feel like a noob starting all over wondering what this new stuff is while I set up my account.
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Today I realize what an overwhelming Second Life Facebook community really does exists. Don’t get me wrong, I do know from things I’ve read and heard that Second Life drama easily transfers to Facebook and yes I am going to read every last juicy tidbit. However I’ve also seen how widely used it is to promote. Being around for as long as I have it is heartwarming to see this interesting place grow even on the Facebook platform.
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My mind has been changed and I am seeing through new eyes. The world we call SL has its own little piece of heaven on Facebook. I look forward to seeing my already established friendships on there as well as making new ones.
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blogger's corner
By Alex1985 Diabolito
Christmas is over, but the cold still remains‌.
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Skin: Echo from Tableau Vivant Hair: Colin from Damselfly Sweater & Scarf: Kishi (Mens Dept December) from Not so Bad Jeans: M5 from Kal Rau Boots: Worn lace up boots (Mens Dept December) from Aphorism
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Cape: Winter cape in tan from ISON
Pants: Gaby Pants in Black from OVH
Shoes: Lunar Ankle boots in black from Baiastice Hair: Oceana from TRUTH
Skin: Amberly II in Jamaica from Glam Affair
Necklace: Gypsy Flower Amulet of Antimony from MG Glasses: Vintage Frames in Print from EPOQUE
Styled, modeled, & photographed by Drakkje Dailey
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GET THAT STYLE
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Photographed by Parker Droverson https://www.flickr.com/photos/61522253@N07 & https://parkerslaundrybasket.wordpress.com 36
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LOOKS OF THE MONTH
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Photographed by Anne Dakun https://www.flickr.com/photos/56686711@N08 & https://wewantwegot.wordpress.com 38
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