The Joys of Modifying

Once the owner of a very large well known store asked me why, if I did not mind her asking, I made my things modifiable. I couldn’t really think of any advantage to me in doing it, and several disadvantages (like, people can and do break their things and need replacements). But finally I told her the reason: “I just like them to be able to change their things to suit them.”

And not only that, but I encourage people to modify – La Galleria has always been about creating an individual look that suits the buyer. I know some people like to have a nice home but don’t really want to decorate it themselves – but most of my customers love decorating, which means they love the creative part of decorating and creating a look that is distinctively their own. And part of that can involve modifying what they select.

I do get lots of requests to modify things for people, and occasionally I will, usually if the person is only a few weeks old. But I know how empowering and satisfying it is to be able to make some simple modifications – to tint something, to retexture, and with a house, unlink and copy pieces to use in extending a patio or making stairs. And some have gone much further, even adding rooms to their houses.

I remember being delighted, when I was decorating my first little rental house, to find that I could mod my things. But the first 4 prim chair I ever made, I discovered I had NO idea how to link the parts into one object, and no one I knew to ask how. I wanted to cry.

I have not forgotten that – so now I have made lots of help notecards, and most of my Picks are help files. I spend lots of time in IMs teaching customers how to do for themselves the things they want modified. Here is an example of how Kryiel Lowenhart modded her Rose Manor -- and it took it almost no time at all. She took pieces from the back terrace and made the side deck area, and it looks great:

Oh, if only I had known when I was new about the Torely video tutorials! I had no clue what a great wealth of information was to be found there. So now, I include links to specific tutorials along with step by step instructions. Torely has all kinds of beginner videos as well as great advanced stuff. I learn something new every time I look through them.

They can be found here http://secondlife.com/my/whatnext/video-tutorials/index.php? Go to the Browse button and take a peek at the Build videos. A gold mine! You may think that something like “Moving objects like furniture” is too basic – but take a look and you will see that Torley introduces some very helpful tips – some that it took me a while to discover on my own.

In the future I will be highlighting some of the videos highlighting some of the modding skills I have found most useful. Check the list of pages to the right for these pages on basic modifying ---->