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Progress is slow... however, it's there! The first item is there but there's still a whole (mesh design) world I need to conquer. The picture here shows the mesh top I created when viewed with the materials viewer. It took me a little while to (actually find and) tweak the new settings. It's too bad materials aren't a default setting in the viewer... stuff simply looks amazing. As you can see in the picture, the shinyness / light reflection is dynamically generated (which means that it actually changes while the avatar (and / or the camera) moves. 

Most people will not have materials viewing enabled (it's the 'advanced lighting model' option in your advanced gfx settings) because you'll need some real gfx power for it... and so I will have to bake the shiny pattern into the textures... An option could be selling the items with- and without materials support as this option is bound to be standard somewhere in the future... 

Liquid mesh or standard sizes?

Another thing I'm still not sure about is the liquid mesh or standard sizes option. While Standard sizes limit the user in his or her freedom to fully adjust the avatar's shape liquid mesh is not officially supported by Linden Labs (which could mean that it will not be supported anymore in the (near) future)... Well, there still is some time before my first mesh items will hit the shelves, so who knows... Maybe a solution will present itself before then.

Happy new year! And may all your dreams and (kinky) fantasies come true... virtually or real! To kick-off the new year there's lots of cool stuff to let you in on!

Sexxx Sells

HD will be on 'Sexxx Sells', a fair which will offer you access to "A world of sin, deprevity, perversion and of course... sexxx". Well... who doesn't want that?? And the best part of it is that HD will not only be one of the main attractions, we'll also have some new items to be relased during the event! Keep your eyes open for more news as the 17th will be here in no-time!

HD Support

Then there's support... Something which sometimes isn't easy as I have a busy rl schedule... And next to that: SL isn't a perfect place and we at HD aren't perfect either... So in order to streamline the process of helping out customers that bump into an issue, We've built a support page on this website which notifies the right people in order for them to help out! 

The last year and now still, Second Life is rapidly changing where it comes not only to building, but also to avatar apparel. Mesh enables builders to build incredibly detailed objects, and this is starting to affect avatar apparel in a big way. Basically every body part can be replaced by a mesh object and right now that is just what is happening. Where I really had to warm up to the idea of mesh boobs, now hands, feet, even a head can be replaced by mesh versions. as the first prim breasts just didn't look good enough (imho too big and bulky), this changed when Lola Tango mesh got introduced.

When I found out that textures created for the Lola Tango mesh boobs showed in full 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution, I got interested. Up until then designing basic clothing for an avatar had it's limitations, especially on the problem areas like the breast(s) and between the avatar legs. Textures get twisted and stretched around these areas and detailing possibilities there were very limited. (Aside from the fact that avatar clothing textures are automatically scaled down to 512 x 512 pixels anyway!) Sure, the Lola Tango boobs can't be seen as realistic, but luckily that is not the only brand for sale in Second Life. A more realistic pair of mesh breasts is available from Lush (and yes, the appliers built for Lola tango breasts work on Lush too!). I personally like the Lola Tango's since they seem to fit the fetish style of my designs... or at least that is what I think. There is a new set of Lola's out there called 'Mirage', which is more of a push up shape. The menu of those is a delight compared to the standard set! The ones that have an old Tango set should have received an updated set by now.

Something that was released recently was a mesh replacement for the lower part of the avatar, called 'Phat azz'. The name basically says it all :) It has a pants and underpants layer and works the same as the mesh breasts: with clothing appliers. I do have some reservations when it comes to the shape (the ass is a bit big and wide for my personal taste) but the upside here too is that clothing textures are rendered in 1024 x 1024 pixels! I've always created textures in this resolution so when applier creation for this set starts, the pants will look a *lot* better and more detailed.

The only downside of all of this is that creating appliers for all these mesh body parts takes time and makes it incredibly time consuming to create a complete set. Creating the appliers (as HUD's like I do) takes so much time that creating a complete set in all colors has at least doubled in time.

Yes, that is right! a whole new website!!! Second Life is only a small time job I have (or hobby if you will) which I fill my evenings with. I own a webdevelopment company and so I decided to use knowledge to good use and build Hugo's Design a new website. As with all pet projects, it took some time (and then some more time) before it got into a shape where I dared think about publishing it (and so replacing the current website).

As you may notice, this website has a bit more functionality and I'm still not finished (yet). Here's a quick overview on what to find here, what not and what is still to come (if time permits...)

New stuff

• photo's: it was a long time goal of mine to be able to add multiple pictures of one set (or set combination) to the website. This way it's easier to show the different combinations and styles to wear and bring some more attention to the HD brand outside of SL.
• Pic of the day: Even more pictures, this time a take out of the sets which I really like. Sometimes you'll be able to find early prototypes here too.
• Links: over time I'll place banners here to other related blogs and / or brands in SL
• FAQ: some frequently asked questions can be found here including an answer

Stuff you already knew

• blog / news: I know, I'm not the most regular poster, but I try :) 
• small stuff like links to SL and the marketplace, twitter messages and the latest Flickr update.

Stuff not yet there

• products: still under development (nearly finished), but products will show you the latest releases and maybe over time I'll add the older sets here too, making it into a catalog on what's for sale in SL (the HD store and marketplace).
• The new CMS enables me to create different image styles and I want to create new wallpapers through that so those can return on the website for download once again!

Anything left out you want to see here, let me know!

update (02-10-2013): yes, it is true: this website is non-responsive... it's on the wish list :)