Second Life® for Dummies®

Chapter 13. Building Basics

In This Chapter

• What you need to know before you build

• Perfecting prims

• Using the Edit tools

• Understanding prim properties

• Deciding on colors and textures

• Working with multiple prims

• Cleaning up after building

With the exceptions of the oceans and land, and basic avatars everything in Second Life (SL) — every beach, every mansion, every car, and every boat — has been built by residents just like you. Yes, you can make your own pirate ship, castle (see Figure 13-1), or luxury loft. Anything is possible with just a few skills.

If You Build It, They Will Come

Building in SL is one of the most amazing parts of SL. It's as if you have an unlimited box of customizable building bricks and blocks that you can use to build anything. You are limited only by your imagination and where you are building things.

Who made all this?

The first thing you need to realize about building in Second Life is that everything you see — except for basic avatars — was created by users. The amazing cityscapes, the cars, and the fantastic clothes and hair are all user-created. So what the heck are all these things made from? The answer is primitives, or prims.

Figure 13.1. Build yourself a home like this.

What are prims?

A prim is the most basic building block in Second Life. It can come in a number ...