The lives and times of Birches

Warning: This is going to be a lengthy post due to the number of pictures accompanying it, for reasons that would be more than obvious once you start to read it. And that’s because this is the story of birch trees in Second Life… or the ones I have acquired since becoming an amateur dendrologist (I’m just adding that word to pretend that I know what I’m talking about). This means, of course, that there are a lot more available in well known and not so well-known garden centers, but as usual these are the ones that, for my tastes, stand out from the rest.

SL birches have a particular RL characteristic that, in my opinion, make them pleasant to look at from any distance: their leaves are small and somewhat sparse (sounds like two traits, isn’t it?). Because of this, they easily present a 3D appeal that trees with broad and lush leaves can hardly achieve. Depending on your viewing perspective, the latter may look like flat panels that interfere with one another, while the see-thru nature of the birches’ foliage help in simulating depth all around.

The first birch trees that I bought were the Silver birch from Heart’s Garden Centre. To this date, they are still among the finest in SL, so they are worth getting if you have some spare prims to shed. They are made of regular prims (circa 2006 you couldn’t ask for anything else), so the mature specimens –which are quite tall too, though easy to shrink– are 19-21 prims, while saplings are between 4 and 8. They are available in spring/summer green, autumn orange, and winter bare (non-copyable, but sold in packs of twelve). I thought they were later reworked using sculpt models, but it seems I was wrong because I didn’t find them in store on a recent visit. But then, these are still great.

Four years ago, I only had a plot of 2048 sq.m., if I recall correctly. It used to fill up quickly with… a few objects actually. A house, some living room furniture, and a bed would leave not many prims to dedicate to the garden area as I wanted to, so among the things I soon replaced were the stone house and, sadly, Heart’s birches (together with some other primy trees from other creators). I was lucky enough to find a new set at Blue Pearl Homes & Furniture. These look pretty good too, and because they were made of sculpts, they brought down the prim count to 11 for the larger tree and 3-4 for the smaller ones. They also come in a rezzer, ready to be placed, with grass, rocks and ambient sounds, wherever you need to.

Shorty after, I discovered Organica Specialty Trees, in 2008 a “little”  shop sitting somewhere in a grayish sim in mainland. Organica trees were different: stylish, unlike anything else I have seen before.  The stock included  small junipers, large elms, huge ficus, beefy maples and gigantic oaks, among others. The most simple item (probably the only one) was a set of 5-prim spring, autumn, and winter birches that were tall, slender and flat, but quite good-looking to miss. I bought them, and planted them in the hills of my former open space sim (the precursor of today’s homesteads) until I had to abandon the land due to the mythical tier cost increase of 2009.

That set was later substituted by Birch #2, that used sculpts to give the trees a more 3D-like experience. The leaves texture was the same, but the bark took in a new one that was a lot better, marking a huge leap in terms of appearance.  They were offered as a linked grove that you shouldn’t mod to separate the trees into single units. They were actually modifiable,  but all tree trunks were a single sculpt, complicating the matters for me: From 5 prims, the birches suddenly jumped to 36. Though they are no longer sold inworld (or I didn’t find them), they’re still available in the marketplace if it happens that you want a “legacy”  product intentionally.

The next generation of Organica birches (Birch #3) showed up in the customary seasons pack. At 3 LI each (land impact, remember this is the new unit for measuring land capacity), they also returned to the single tree stage that I so much prefer. Out of the package they seem small, but you should be able to enlarge them as much as you need without altering LI value (these are sculpts though they look like mesh).

Then came alirium gardens. While their pine-like trees, oaks and some other stuff released at the same time as the birch set were amazingly colorful and indisputable nice, the birches weren’t exactly of my liking. I don’t know, maybe they’re too “fantastic”, too groovy or too funky. Maybe they’re good for specific situations, but the thing is they have an evident joint dislocation that causes a me-no-like-it impression in my case (see pic below).

The birch set includes three models in spring, summer, fall and winter variations, 3 prims each. Yet, no matter which one you choose, the branches sit in the air, never attaching to the trunk as should be expected. This flaw is unmistakably obvious due to the thin foliage, so if you’re as picky as me you won’t love it. I think this blemish has never been rectified, so be sure you really want these trees before buying.

Other birches worth mentioning are (in no particular order):

Fiddler’s Green (3 LI each). These birches come in two colors and three density variations. They are available from the marketplace only (as far as I know) as a pack of six. You can even preview them before buying (you get a demo for 0L), a feature I’ve never seen in use by other garden centers.

Amfora Garden Center (3 LI each). I’ve blogged this birches earlier this year, so refer to that post (read it) if you want to know what I said back then about them. If you prefer a quick review, yes I like them.

Plant’s Gardens also offer a series of nice birch trees with a unique look. They follow Heart’s shades of spring/summer, autumn and winter, and are equally primy, between 18 to 26 a piece.

I’ve decided to cut this review in two parts because it’s getting really long, and the least thing I would like this post to be is too dense or  heavy. So here is the first half. In a couple of days I will present more contemporary birches from stores I haven’t covered today.

Continue to Part 2…