Posted in Fashion, Reviews, Second Life, Shopping

Akira by PlayDevil @ Access

Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ACCESS/199/182/22

PlayDevil @ Access
PlayDevil @ Access

I love a Cheongsam / Qipao and own many, despite having a constant worry that my love is Cultural Appropriation.

This offering is currently available at Access

L$270 a pop
Fatpack L$1,100 (breakeven 4.07)
Megapack (including all shoes and fans) L$2,700

(Update: Feb-2025 – price in-store is now L$266, L$1,155, and L$2500 respectively)

 

 

Ooh!
Ooh!

 

Mmmm!
Mmmm!

 

Clipping
Clipping

I was only really interested in the dragon patterns. So I took a punt on the dark pink.

There is no HUD whatsoever on a single pack; not even the ability to colour the metals or the edging, which I think is a little stingy.

One thing I did not notice on the demo is major alpha issues on the shoulders for Maitreya Lara. Unfortunately this cannot be mitigated with alpha cuts unless for static photography (ie. mask the front and you get invisiareas at the back, solve that and you get pokethrough at the front)

Also there is no BoM alpha mask supplied.

Frankly I had my reservations when I saw the demo was called “Object”

 


Update: Feb-2025

Now that I have a BoM skin, I am able to use alpha masks. I painstakingly created my own, something which I really should not have had to do, and I have achieved generally satisfactory results although it was a huge amount of effort. I was not helped by poor weighting which means that some areas of skin are covered or uncovered by the dress depending on pose, which means it is impossible to mask those scenarios. However, what I have come up with is acceptable for most cases.

Contact me if you want a copy.

 

Posted in General, Music, Second Life

Tukso Okey


It was 5 years ago that Tukso Okey started performing in Second Life, and I’ve been honoured to have been attending his performances (or “gigs” as we call them in the UK) for more than two of them.

To be honest, I’m rather surprised to discover that I’ve only been a major fan of his since September 2009 because I’ve been in Second Life since October 2007. I was under the impression I’d discovered Tukso quite early on but it seems not. 🙁

Tukso is an amazing musician who lays down his backing track live on a digital loop playing keyboards, drums, bass guitar, rhythm guitar, and then plays awesome lead electric guitar over it and also sings.
I think he is without a doubt the best musician I have heard in Second Life and I try to get along to his gigs whenever he plays in my timezone. Tukso is in Seattle, USA and I’m in the UK, so an 8 hour difference does make it hard. But he’s dedicated and plays at all hours!

To honour Tukso’s 5 years in SL, and because one did not already exist, I have set up a Flickr Group for people to add their photos of him.
Go to www.flickr.com/groups/tukso/

As Tukso says… peace. And spread the word.