How to turn off those damn facelights!
Posted on: September 10, 2008
Let's not be too polar: facelights, used sagely, can provide nuances and hues to enhance your avatar appearance. But unless you have good reason (e.g., you're the only one around), there's no need to hog multiple facelights:
- on a technical level they "rob" other lights within the scene (since due to OpenGL, only a max. of 6 can be shown at once),
- and socially, they ruin other Residents' experience.
If you've ever been in a store and trying to shop when suddenly, the walls light up like the LHC is ending the world — just kidding — making it hard for you to enjoy the immersive environment, you know what I mean.
Thankfully, Second Life has a lot of choices, and in the NEW! 1.21 Release Candidate (DOWNLOAD THE TEST VIEWER HERE… it's NOT the "main viewer"), is a new feature. You can turn off facelights with Advanced menu > Rendering > Attached Lights. You can also do it for particle-emitting attachments.
Related Posts
Be my friend!
Stay up-to-date
Enjoyed this article? Subscribe to me and be auto-updated when new stuff is out!
September 10th, 2008 at 1:24 PM PDT
Huzzah!! What a fantabulous feature!! Thanks to whichever Linden/s did the work on this, and to you Torley for letting us know. (But don't think I've forgotten it was your fault in the first place ;P)
Oh, and on the subject of the LHC, Timeless Prototype posted this vid earlier - well worth a watch! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3iryBLZCOQ
September 10th, 2008 at 2:37 PM PDT
i love my particle-emitting attachment ^_~
September 10th, 2008 at 2:53 PM PDT
As a side note, for those of us who want maximum exposure, get your free FACELIGHT 3000 on Torley's HERE island..It is truly a beast , and I love it !
September 10th, 2008 at 4:42 PM PDT
Cool JohnLe, and now you can enjoy it without ruining my SL Day! Better check the Torely facelight. I currently have Caliah Lyon's free version (available at her store) which I find pretty good also
September 10th, 2008 at 5:21 PM PDT
Both facelights and blings are things that can add a lot to one's experience of the world - if used wisely and skillfully. It's somehow sad to see that we need the feature to turn them off because so many residents tends to look like cross of Christmas tree and a lighthouse. But, additional feature can't hurt. Thanks for making it! Though a bit of influence of fashionistas that will educate and form the taste of creators would be appreciated too.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:39 PM PDT
My alt recently got hair that came with facelight. Although I told her about the 6-light-limit, she still likes to keep it on. She says without it she looks terrible :/ (women… *shakes head*). I'll try to talk some more sense into her.
She also has a blingy bracelet, but it only flashes once in a while and leaves no traces. She can keep that.
That watermelony facelight is a nifty one btw
It seems the LHC is sparking imagination everywhere, I also just finished a video featuring it, it should be up soon.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:15 AM PDT
"You can turn off facelights with Advanced menu > Rendering > Attached Lights"
Excellant news & thanks for bringing this to our attention.
September 11th, 2008 at 5:06 PM PDT
I haven't looked yet, but does this mean we can also turn off Attached Sounds? Meaning any avatar with a device that makes sounds will no longer be heard, but any sound emitting device on the parcel will.
September 14th, 2008 at 12:19 PM PDT
@Efemera: That LHC rap is blowin' up all 'round the world!
@Razrcut: It cracks me up so much, ahhhh.
@Arabesque: So true!
@dandellion: Indeed. That's why I encourage not witch-hunting blindly, but using facelights/bling in socially comfortable ways. ('Course, you can't please everyone, but some things are clearly more obnoxious than others.)
@Daed: HAHAHAHA….. I am laughing so much here. I do think the 6-light max. isn't communicated well enough, and it's not intuitively obvious. But that's why I'm here to spread that.
@Dedric: No — I know muting may be too extreme/selective but turning off "Attached Sounds" is a good idea. One for http://jira.secondlife.com
September 15th, 2008 at 6:44 AM PDT
If Windlight hadn't so drastically changed light and shadow so that you need face lights just to see your darned avatar without them looking like a halloween pumpkin, we wouldn't need them *smiles sweetly*
September 23rd, 2008 at 6:34 AM PDT
This new feature will certainly be welcomed by many, however I must admit my enthusiasm is somewhat curbed by the "all or nothing" nature.
A poorly made light attachment is always a problem.
A well made light attachment may not be a problem at all. In fact it may be as much a problem to lose them just because another individual happens to be nearby with a less skillfully made attachment.
Would it be at all possible for a future option allowing one to select specific light sources worn by individual avatars and turn them off (on your own client only, of course) as you saw fit?
As lighting becomes more important to SL, as it has with Windlight, and will more-so once the "shadow client" changes are introduced, this may become more of an issue.
September 24th, 2008 at 7:43 PM PDT
THANK YOU! this is my favourite feature now… sometimes i go try to take photos in nice spooky ambient lit places only to have the mood ruined by some chick with a million face lamps on at max light!
September 28th, 2008 at 7:21 AM PDT
@KR: Turn WindLight off by unchecking "Atmospheric Shaders" in Graphics Preferences. The world will look flatter. Or, come server-specific sky settings, that'll also help.
@Sveid: I think education is *always* important to understand why things work the way they do.
We are heading towards per-pixel lighting with the shadow-draft, which you may've seen in an earlier experimental video of mine. Does away with the "6 lights" limit… so that point may be moot.
@Nimil: Whee!
October 14th, 2008 at 4:04 AM PDT
[...] 2008-10-14 Update! you can turn off the avatar attachment lights if you are using 1.21 RC or later! Check out Torley's Video on it How to turn off those damn facelights! [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 5:11 PM PDT
[...] Debbie Trilling is among those that are a bit fired up over facelights and asks us to stress to attendees: As always, we give our normal "Facelights are strictly [...]