Prim & Proper? Not Me!

OK, so.... a technical education discussion that many who are in Secondlife probably understand all too well.

What's a prim? According to the Secondlife Wiki a prim is:
In Second Life, virtual physical objects such as cars, houses, jewelry, and even less obvious things like hair are made out of one or more primitive parts called prims. Objects made from prims are usually created in-world using the built in object editing tool. This tool is used for all sorts of 3D modeling in Second Life, playing the same role as 3D Max, Maya, or Blender, but customized for the Second Life way of doing things.

OK, so, a Primitive or Prim is a building block, it's like a Lego block. Everything in Secondlife is built with these things and how you manipulate them is how you design things like castles and gothic buildings. Why pay attention to prims other then just knowing how to build stuff with them? Glad you asked. The concern with prims is this, you only get a certain number of them, and that number is tied to the size of the land you own. I can build a very highly detailed house that's 10x30, which will fit on a small 512 sq. meter lot using 312 prims, but because a 512 lot only allows the owner to use 112 primitives and therefore wouldn't fit on that land. This is why you sometimes see itty bitty houses that are highly detailed sitting on large plots of land. Although that may have as much to do with privacy and the view as anything....

So when I started building I focused on low prim building techniques, striking a balance between detail and efficiency so that anybody could enjoy my buildings on their land. Why am I mentioning this? Because I have moved away from it a little bit, I've started designing things with more detail and as a result my buildings have increased in prim limit. I realized this and tried to go back to my roots with the last build I did, I think I did a good job, but you'll have to judge when I post it. The other reason I'm explaining this now is that at the time I was building the stuff I'm posting this was a major concern. I've gotten several compliments on the way I handled the balance and I still teach my students how to build this way. It's an important first step to take, to achieve with efficiency before you get lazy and design for the person who can afford it all. After all, Honda Accords are way more popular then Ferrarri's.

That enough metaphor's for today?