The good, the bad, and the WTF?

Those of you familiar with computer games, graphics editing, and the like know pretty well that what you see in a computer monitor won’t necessarily look the same in another screen.  Some of the reasons have to do with hardware, others with user settings, etc. Second Life is no exception. Here is a “fine” example of this.

The picture above was taken somewhere in Caledon, and the subjects depicted in them are Uni Ninetails’ menu driven seasonal trees. Not so long ago they were sold as popcorn –that’s to say there are a lot of them decorating the gardens of Caledon and Winterfell (with all probability outside of the Realm of the Roses as well)– because they are extremely low prim. Despite their popularity, they have, in my humble opinion, a little shortcoming: a glare that can be seen as far as the Outherlands.

As is obvious, the foliage for the Summer Lit setting combines some transparency and glow values (the same is true for the Winter Lit option). When you use those two variables together, you need to be very careful as to control the ferocious gamma effect they produce in computer monitors. They may look normal in some displays, but at least in mine you only see a bright blur that negates the trees’ natural radiance. The glow is intended to give some fairy or fantasy look to the trees, but from my point of view, they need some tweaking to fix this issue.

Notwithstanding this… minor disadvantage (and I have to emphasize it is my point of view), Ms. Ninetails is a successful and prolific gardener, and her shop, Forest Floor, is located in Winterfell Amaranthine [slurl]. Most of her products are 1 or 2 prims, perfect for everyone’s landscaping needs.