Farewell to Calla, my home.

My home, such as it was, was in the Calla sim. I had build rights in a 512 area above the golf course, provided gratis by my (currently former) Boss Sabrina Doolittle. You see, as a fashionista, I'm rarely there, and only needed a spot to put up the pose stand and background thingy plus other tchotchkes, like my pancakes. I could do what I wanted, as long as I kept it up in the sky.

Sabrina basically left SL and over time began reducing her SL involvement, which included the sim, just recently. A few days ago I logged in to find Calla gone. At first I thought it was temporary, but after a couple of days I figured it was going to be gone for good. So I asked around on what to do since I had some items rezzed, including my pose stuff. Some said, that in the old days, when sims were deleted your stuffage got returned to you, but mine wasn't. So it was suggested I contact the Lindens and they'd probably temporarily bring back the sim so I could grab my stuff, which they did. I didn't even have to beg or anything, just telling them about my stuff left on the sim was enough.

So, I received notice of the temp return of the sim, and went back to get my stuff and take some last pictures.

This is the Picture Perfect Pro



What's the Picture Perfect Pro, you ask? The enhanced super deluxe version of Sabrina's Picture Perfect Studio (pose stand and background thingy). What's that you ask? You never saw it in Sabrina's store? Of course you didn't, it wasn't 100% finished when Sabrina took her hiatus, which eventually became permanent, from SL. She and I worked on it together, which is why I know about it...but I don't have a copy of the almost ready for release device. We were talking, which led to discussion of the picture perfect and other photo thingies and talk turned to doing an enhanced version with built in lighting, but still low prim and cheap. I think we were planning between 500 and 1000L$. Anyway, I did the lighting scripts, based on those for the Picture Perfect Studio Light Effects, but it's up to version 1.4 or was it 1.5. Anyway all 4 lamps are individually controlled by chat. The rings they're on spin around, top and bottom individually, but the standard placement was designed to reduce shadows in the pre-windlight client to zero. Took 4 lamps to do it, we tried 2 and it almost worked with 3, but we couldn't get the placement perfect, so we settled on 4.

The background thingy is a cylinder so it will fit inside residences, sphere's big enough for avatars with a big enough opening were a bit too big, also getting textures to look good inside of sphere's was a bit annoying, using a cylinder was easier. Sabrina did the script for that, she's much better at texture manipulating stuff. She also did the physical build of the thing, she's so much better with prims and textures than I am.

The pose stand itself contained one of our secret weapons, a simplified version of my pose stand rotation script. You see, I was once taking pictures of an outfit and wanted to take a picture of the back with a certain pose that faced me. So I rotated the stand in edit mode and I got to thinking, hey wouldn't it be cool to be able to turn this thing with a chat command, without having to go into edit mode and then cam back in. So I figured out how to do it, and built the script. Now I wanted to test it in my Picture Perfect but I figured that since the scripts were no-mod that I couldn't put my own script in it. so I searched through my inventory and found a full mod pose stand with pose changer buttons and an invis button. I altered it, improved it. rebuilt it...I had the technology....better...stronger...faster, and then I put my script in it. And it kicked ass. I handed it out to a few people, who liked it, but I wasn't going to sell it, because it just did what the picture perfect did, only better because I could rotate it along x, y or z axis with chat commands without camming out or changing cam position. So I told sabrina about the script and she told me that even if the PP scripts were no-mod I could still put other scripts in it, just like poses. So we did, and it worked great, but the controls were a bit complicated. Sabrina said she got so many help requests for her easy to use Picture Perfect stuff as it was so she asked if I could simplify the rotation script, Z-axis only and say a dozen set positions like a clock. I could and did, and that was the version of the pose stand going into the Picture Perfect Pro. My original PP pose stand got the fully geeky version of the script though.

So now that Calla is gone, no more chance for the PP pro to be released and if I am correct the original PP can't be bought anymore. I don't think it's sold anywhere else. And the Studio Light Effects I designed and built was also sold there so it can't be bought anymore either, though I'm willing to sell them directly out of inventory.

I could duplicate the function of the PP Pro pose stand with one of my own, easy enough, and in fact I have such a stand in inventory, which I may release now that the PP is unavailable. But I don't have a replacement for either of the background things, though I could do a version of the original PP's one, given time. The problem would be the textures, I can't do em. The Pro, there's no way I could build that. I could come close in basic shape, but it would be ugly, and I don't have Sabrina's texture changing script for the cylinder.

And how many prims on the PP Pro? I think we got it down to 16...total for everything, stand, cylinder, and lights, but I think there were plans to get it to 12 or was it 10. See those lamps were "bulbs"...inside of a faux reflector, using a single cylinder and faking with textures would have removed 4 prims. Either way we got it down to lower prim than practically anything else out there. It was great, even in unfinished form.

Here's the original Picture Perfect Studio, low prim, 250L$ One of the best purchases I ever made.



My light was sold next to it, Sabrina and I shared income on that. For a while, that thing sold like crazy.

Here's the exterior of the store where Sabrina sold the PP and other picture related stuff, albums, frames, etc.



Ahhh Linden Lifestyles HQ. Where the famed LL male and female freebie packs were available. I have them too and can drop them on newbies as I see them. Oh how I miss the Linden Lifestyles blog. Sabrina and Salome wrote so well.







Calla Country club, there were games inside, pool and a couple of others, and there were a few casino machines, but they went out when gambling in SL did. If memory serves me correctly Sabrina threw a few parties there. It had a small stage and dance floor, IIRC. It was a nice cozy venue for small parties. I have a golf cart given to me by Sabrina that has my name and Calla Country Club enscribed on it. The golf course, which no one ever used, that I know of, is nearby.



Chez Petite, Sabrina's low prim furniture store.



My skybox, in the skies of Calla. That's my bed, used only for a few pictures, a Caledon dance pole, and you can see a bit of my en garde piste



There's the rest of the piste, my Picture Perfect setup, my vanity table with the Tete a Pied makeup box on it, my magazine style homage to the Hussy and the Patootie head, and my pancakes.



Calla Marina, where Sabrina sold that great little housebout, that I always wanted, even if it's too small to put a picture perfect in. She'd customize it for you too. It really is a nice little place to live in.



The bridge, leading from the commercial side of calla to the residential. The golf course was on both sides of the river/inlet



Now I'm going to have to find another spot to "live" or at least put my "studio" setup in. I don't have the L$ to spend on both a 512 and shopping. I have a L$ budget (especially these days with medical expenses). I'd like to find a semi-regular writing gig with one of the "big blogs" to earn a little L$ besides writing Elsa Klensch style reading scripts for fashion shows. Will serve as lackey/minion/weapons testing target in exchange for a 512! Back to sandboxes for SL picture taking for me, give the geeks a thrill to see me skin testing sometimes.